Category: Private Equity

An Inspirational Entrepreneur

I have dealt with dozens, if not hundreds of entrepreneurs, on five continents, during the course of my career. A disturbingly high number of them don’t really understand the basics of business, they have an idea for a product or service, or are maybe in a test stage, but there are some fundamentals not in… Continue reading An Inspirational Entrepreneur

Private Equity Could Use a Little Disruption

Lazy Cash Flow I didn’t go to B school. I was far too eager to “get out and start doing it,” building businesses, doing deals. I don’t think I missed anything with that decision, and as I sometimes contemplated returning to school during my career, I’m pretty sure I would have ended up like Rodney… Continue reading Private Equity Could Use a Little Disruption

Are We Ready for “A la Carte” “Cable” Television?

Have you cut the cable yet? There has been a lot of coverage in the news, trades, and other media about how millennials have abandoned “traditional” delivery methods for video product (like cable), and instead are relying on services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and the like. These services have not yet figured out how to… Continue reading Are We Ready for “A la Carte” “Cable” Television?

More on Uber

More on WebVan, er Uber A few weeks ago, I opined on this forum that I thought “Uber,” the technology company in the peer to peer ride sharing space, was/is the equivalent of the current bubble’s “WebVan,” – overvalued, over invested, destined to either crash and burn spectacularly or be forced to completely reinvent itself.… Continue reading More on Uber

Red Lobster – In a Pinch, Clawing Its Way to the Bottom

Darden, the restaurant operator (Olive Garden, Longhorn Steakhouse, Yard House, Capital Grille ) sold Red Lobster a few months ago. The acquirer was / is Golden Gate Capital, a private equity firm based in San Francisco, that also holds California Pizza Kitchen. Eddie Bauer, Zales and other consumer facing businesses. Golden Gate was formed by… Continue reading Red Lobster – In a Pinch, Clawing Its Way to the Bottom

What Time Is It in the Bubble?

What’s a bubble?  Wikipedia defined the dot-com bubble of the 90’s as:  The dot-com bubble (also referred to as the dot-com boom, the Internet bubble and the information technology bubble)  was a historic speculative bubble covering roughly 1997–2000 (with a climax on March 10, 2000, with the NASDAQ peaking at 5,408.60  in intraday trading before closing at… Continue reading What Time Is It in the Bubble?

Another Win for Private Equity and a Loss for America

Rumor today that a deal will be announced Monday, September 22, that Russian brewer Oasis Beverages will pick up Pabst Brewing for USD $750 mil.  In addition to Pabst, the company contracts and distributes Schlitz , Colt 45, Old Miwaukee, and a couple dozen other brands. Private equity group TSG, who likes picking up “orphan… Continue reading Another Win for Private Equity and a Loss for America

What’s Wrong With Alibaba?

The Chinese web company made history today, with the richest IPO ever, bringing in an anticipated USD $21 billion + valuing this middle-man company at over USD $200 billion, giving it a larger valuation than its nearest rival, Amazon. If you’re not familiar with Alibaba, it’s a Chinese based group of internet-based e-commerce companies, including… Continue reading What’s Wrong With Alibaba?

Private Equity Deals Hurt Consumers

Private Equity, Part 3: Bad for Consumers In a previous discussions about the private equity industry, I’ve spoken mostly about their lack of contribution to growing the economy – since the function of a private equity deal is to provide a sky high ROI to the firm and “partners,” they have no interest in really… Continue reading Private Equity Deals Hurt Consumers