Business

Recounting the time Blockbuster passed up buying Netflix for $50 million

/ peterbohjalian / 1 Comment

Via: Source

They say hindsight is 20/20, but this is a true case study in a tragically missed opportunity.

Those of us old enough to remember actually going to a video rental store, like a Blockbuster, usually remember it quite nostalgically, and even fondly. But of course, as we all know, the far more convenient video-on-demand method, as well as Netflix and other subscription services, have now all but completely replaced brick-and-mortar video rental stores (Red Box seems to be doing fine though?).

Nature reclaiming an empty store. (Via Reddit)

But it appears that Blockbuster had a chance to avoid its present fate; as it could have acquired Netflix all the way back in 2000, for only $50 million. To put that in perspective, Netflix is now worth between $28 and $30 BILLION, depending on who you ask, and where the market sits that day. Good God. If you’re having a bad day, we genuinely hope this revelation makes you feel at least a little bit better. Because, yikes.

As recounted in a story originally appearing on Business Insider, the two CEOs, John Antioco (now formerly) of Blockbuster, and Reed Hastings of Netflix, came together all the way back in 2000 and attempted to negotiate the deal. Why Mr. Hastings was looking to sell at that point is not noted, but whenever there is a $50 million dollar pay day attached to a deal, can you really blame a guy for trying to make it? Of course, now that Netflix is worth literally multiple billions of dollars more than that, it looks like a dumb move, but back in 2000, the internet was much less prevalent, and cable TV was much more powerful.

In 2000, Blockbuster viewed Netflix as a small, niche company; which indeed they were. And perhaps, even a merger might not have been enough to keep Blockbuster afloat in the face of rapid technological changes, but it certainly could have helped. What do you think? Was this an oversight by Blockbuster back in the day? Or was the world so different that you can’t even really blame them for not seeing what Netflix would become?

Cheaters on blast: Hackers threaten to out entire Ashley Madison usership

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Via: Source

Who needs the wild west when we all have the internet, right?

The latest addition to stories that could truly only occur in 2015, the website Ashley Madison has been hacked, with the culprits threatening to disclose the identities of every user on the site.

Why would that be so bad, you ask? Well, you’re a good person if you thought that. Ashley Madison is Tinder for married people; a website and app set up exclusively for people to coordinate affairs.

The fact that Ashley Madison provided a subtle, neat way for these people to…well, do what they wanted to do, the site has become incredibly popular in recent years, boasting close to 40 million active users this year.

However, the secure platform that made the site so popular in the first place, has come up short in relation to this most recent attack by hackers. We will have updates on this story as it develops.

Billionaire investor Yuri Milner to invest $100 Million to find alien life

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Via: Source

In what appears to be one of the more obscure (i.e. awesome) investments in an already stellar investment and entrepreneurial career, Yuri Millman, an early investor in, or co-founder of companies like Uber, Air Bnb, Facebook, Twitter, and a number of other billion-dollar-valued tech companies, will be turning his attentions to the skies above.

“Are you there ET? It’s us, humans.”

Indeed, Mr. Millman was a scientist before he was an investor and tech entrepreneur, and it now appears as if he will finally be getting the chance to meld his passion for science with his incredibly successful business career.

His new, $100 million project is entitled Breakthrough Initiatives, and was announced just today at the Royal Society in London. The project has a number of other prominent names attached to it, including Stephen Hawking himself. The program will coordinate two of the most powerful telescopes man has ever produced, the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, and the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia.

The program will survey the closest 100 million stars to our own sun, and will also extend beyond the reaches of the Milky Way, looking for conditions that are suitable for life. To help aggregate and analyze the massive amount of information these telescopes will help to collect, the program will tap the innovative SETI@home program, a computer program distributed by Berkeley in California, which will allow some 9 million people to use their home computing power to help push the project forward.

Indeed; an absolute ton of cash, and some of the best minds of a generation are all coalescing now in the name of one of the most important questions to ever face our species; Are we alone?

Open Championship weekend preview; from the oddsmakers themselves

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‘Follow the money’ is about as good a piece of advice as any to follow when you are trying to figure something out. Trying to figure out what, you ask? Trying to figure out ANYTHING, really. If you want a logical explanation for why something is the way that it is, simply follow the trail of who’s making money off of it the best that you can.

And in that line of thought, we present to you our annual Open Championship weekend preview, as seen through the eyes of the some of the most logical sports fans out there; the gamblers. Let’s take a look at some of the odds on a few of the top contenders.

Via: theopen.com

Jordan Spieth: The 21 year old phenom actually leads the field in terms of betting odds. A number of strong performances already this year, and a reputation for being consistent and calm beyond his age have earned this golfer a solid 9/2 odds rating to win the Open, making him the favorite heading into the weekend.

But, according to oddsmakers, there are a number of other strong contenders as well.

Dustin Johnson: Johnson forced Spieth into a playoff hole at the U.S. Open, the last major tournament leading up to the current Open Championship. This shows that he’s in excellent form, feeling confident, and ready to contend for the title at major tournaments. He sits at 11/1 odds to bring home the championship trophy.

Another contender is Justin Rose, who already has a number of top three finishes this year, including at the Zurich Classic in April. He sits at 18/1 odds currently, while other well known golfers like Adam Scott and Tiger Woods sit at more than 20 to 1 odds to come out on top.

Either way, the challenging links golf found at the legendary St. Andrews courses in Scotland is unlike anything stateside, and is always worth a viewing for sports fans of all sorts. Who do you think will come out on top this year?

New iPhone commercial throws some serious shade

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It is a debate that is seemingly less and less raging all the time, and a new iPhone commercial just may take the Android vs. iOS argument a step closer to the grave. Check it out, below.

And honestly, the ad makes some good points. The complete, inalterable integration of hardware and software has been a core tenet of Apple since the earliest, now legendary days of both Steves; Jobs and Wozniak. This design and construction philosophy has resulted in some of the most fluid, and revolutionary products our world has ever known. As a now famous example, Jobs would not let the original iPod be released until users could get from one point in the interface, to any other, in 3 ‘clicks’ or less. Thus, the ingenious wheel system was born; perfectly melding the exterior hardware with the internal, operative software.

But of course, this hardline approach to product construction does have it’s naysayers (remember the days when you could pop the back off your phone, and remove the battery? Not with an iPhone, obviously), and also, for the sake of competition, don’t we want a healthy smart phone market with a number of able competitors?

We absolutely do. But this writer for one, just can’t imagine ever switching away from an iPhone, and that seamless, integrated hardware and software experience that Steve Jobs mandated all those years ago. A mandate that reaps benefits to this day.

What do you think? Do you like the extra freedom that Android allows its developers and users? Or do you prefer the near-flawless user experience of iPhone ownership?

Bill Ackman views China stocks as risky to global stability

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Via: Source

Taking one big step towards answering a question that many have been batting around for a week or two now, billionaire investor Bill Ackman, head of Pershing Square Capital, said on Wednesday that he considers China a bigger global threat than Greece is, and that the nation’s stock markets scare him in their current state. Let’s dive in and take a look at exactly what was said, and why.

No bulls in this China shop. — Via LinkedIn

“China is a bigger threat by far,” Mr. Ackman was quoted as saying at CNBC’s annual Delivering Alpha conference yesterday. As noted by many recent commentators, including a recent article on this site, the Chinese stock market has been on quite the wild ride as of late. Indeed, since June 12th, almost $4 trillion worth of value has been erased from the Chinese equities indexes, as investors who were double- or triple-leveraged looked for ways to become more liquid. Other issues noted by Mr. Ackman included an overall lack of transparency, and the reliability of its economic statistics.

However, as has been noted by other executives, such as CEO of Morgan Stanley Asset Management, Mary Erdoes, the Chinese economy as a whole does not correlate with this plunge in the markets, as they have turned in roughly 7% GDP growth every year for the past 25. Even Mr. Ackman himself admitted its hard to see anything but a solid long-term future for China.

When comparing their economy to Greece in terms of a global instability threat, it is easy to see how China could represent a more existential threat. Their economy is so much larger, and so much more tightly engrained with other global economies than Greece’s is, that although they are more stable, a negative turn could have more far-reaching effects.

What do you think? Do both economies represent global threats to market stability? Or do neither?

Stay Rich or Die Trying? What exactly if 50 Cent up to?

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Via: Source

Probably-past-his-prime rapper 50 Cent created quite the internet-stir yesterday when it became public that he would be filing for bankruptcy protection.

Now, we all know the cliched stories by now of athletes, actors, rappers, or other celebrities blowing through amounts of money that should last for generations, in a span of years. However, it appears that 50 Cent’s specific bankruptcy situation may be a bit more complicated than the classic tale of celebrity money squandering. So what exactly is going on?

Via: Celebrity Net Worth

50 filed for the bankruptcy protection on Monday in court in Hartford, CT, the same day he was supposed to be in court in New York to determine if he owed damages to a woman named Lastonia Leviston, an ex-girlfriend of Rick Ross. The case was brought in 2010 and stipulates that 50 Cent had violated her privacy by posting a sex tape of hers online. She was seeking $5 million.

The bankruptcy petition was only 5 pages long, and lists 50’s assets and liabilities as valued between $10 and $50 million, non-itemized. The bankruptcy agreement allows the rapper to continue work as an entertainer, and to continue to pursue his other business pursuits, while he ‘pursues an orderly reorganization of his financial affairs. He also hangs onto his massive Connecticut estate.

So, at the end of the day, it looks very much like 50 Cent took these steps to avoid that $5 million dollar pay out, potentially, that is. Savvy move? Ridiculous? What do you think? Let us know in the comments section.

What is the ‘Sharing Economy’- and how will it affect industry, workers?

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Via: Source

Hilary Clinton made waves on Monday morning when she effectively called out the major players in the ‘sharing economy’; a new business model that uses contract labor, instead of traditional employees, to fulfill their services. The implications of this seemingly small legal distinction can be massive. The classic examples of the new ‘sharing economy’ companies are Uber and Air Bnb. In light of the varying press the undoubtedly massive, innovative companies have been amassing in recent days and weeks; we wanted to take a look at what this trend could mean on a macro level as we head into the future.

Uber and Air Bnb are fascinating companies for a number of reasons. Globally speaking, Uber is now one of the largest, private transportation companies that there is. But they own not a single car. And similarly, thousands of people now book rooms and houses across the globe via the Air Bnb app, yet they own not a single piece of property. And that distinction is far from the only one differentiating them from conventional companies.

They both use contract labor forces outside of their corporate headquarters. I.e., the Uber driver that picks you up is not a benefitted employee who works exclusively for Uber, as a cab driver for a traditional cab company would be. That Uber driver is a contract-employee, only working when they want to, but also not receiving any benefits that a traditional employee earns, like healthcare or retirement savings. Now, if you’re a college kid looking to earn a little extra money by renting out your room, or by driving people around in your car, this arrangement is perfectly fine.

Where it theoretically becomes dangerous is if these companies serve as a kind of starting point; rolling the metaphorical snowball down the hill towards a point where we are ALL contract employees, responsible for our own healthcare and retirement savings. This would represent a potentially dangerous step if it became the norm. What do you think? Is the sharing economy a slippery slope? Or is a it a non-issue, being used by politicians to garner attention for themselves? Let us know in the comments.

El Chapo on the run again; Trump responds

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Via: Source

In a move that has already drawn the ire of Donald Trump, who said he would (hypothetically) ‘kick his ass’, notorious Mexican drug lord El Chapo has tunneled his way out prison. This marks the second time in 15 years that this guy has escaped from jail in Mexico.

As noted in the video, to say this guy simply ‘tunneled out’, would be a bit of an understatement. The thing was a mile long, and equipped with a special motorcycle (run for it? El Chapo? I don’t think so.). This whole thing makes even that prison break in upstate New York last month look like amateur hour. And, it’s only the latest in a long string of absurd, tunnel-related antics orchestrated by the notorious El Chapo.

Over his time as a drug lord, El Chapo became a pioneer of using tunnels to both smuggle drugs, and move unseen throughout the cities he operated in, mainly Culiacan, the capital of the state of Sinaloa. He first used a tunnel to escape jail in 2001, and was caught again in 2014 by Mexican marines after a 13 year manhunt.

The importance of this is magnified as it undermines much of the progress (at least in the court of public opinion) that Mexican Enrique Pena Nieto has made on the eradicating-drug syndicates front.

Any updates, including on whether or not Donald Trump was able to administer his ass-kicking will be updated here.