Live data from Hacker News

Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com for $3B

wsj.com

141–150 of 196 posts

Re: Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com for $3B

#141
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For two years?

Nobody puts in that kind of money for a 3x return regardless of time window its not like the VCs can put the money back into something else. Decent article on this from Fred Wilson http://avc.com/2009/03/what-is-a-good-venture-return/

You assume that all investors follow the same profile for all of their investments.

This is a company which was all but guaranteed to succeed and sell in <3 years for billions.

Re: Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com for $3B

#142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've actually done very well with "hype" as it were. I guess this goes to show that you too can spend tons of VC dollars, make yourself "popular" and never make any money, but the popularity is enough to make you worth money, even though you're losing money. Fascinating. I almost wonder if they should sell now, just in case they run out of VC "at some point in the near future" and stuff hits the fan...or maybe the…

> I guess this goes to show that you too I'd be careful about drawing too many conclusions from this story. For one thing, you are not Marc Lore. With a successful Amazon sale under his belt, he certainly had a leg up on fundraising over almost anyone. His name alone helped to generate buzz. But even being Marc Lore is enough. I worked for his cofounder from diapers.com and you've probably never even heard of that co…

Never heard of diapers.com? No way. That site was/is incredible. Soap.com is still to this day how I go shopping on Amazon.

Re: Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com for $3B

#143
Jet is on pace to do $1B in sales this year (not profit, but gross merchandise value). Not bad for a company only selling stuff for 16 months. They aren't a direct competitor to Amazon in model, they are closer to a seamless version of Flipkart in india. My friend who works there says they see Target as their competition more so than Amazon, and that could be what Walmart sees too. I do wish we could have seen where this company could go, but likelihood is it became increasingly difficult to attract VC money in this market that is tightening.

Re: Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com for $3B

#144
I'm not sure if Jet's business model is valid, or if it's valid at all.

Back in Fall 2015, I ordered two cases of water (I think 24 count in each; normal 500 mL water bottles) for $5.70 each with free two day shipping. They ended up sending me two packages via FedEx Ground (one case per box) with Jet.com branding on the boxes. I was legitimately shocked that they actually processed my order since each case was 30 pounds. They lost so much money on my order. When I checked back two weeks later, they were no longer for sale on the website.

Re: Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com for $3B

#145
post #39
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks like the $1B figure is a pre-money valuation for the $500M raised.[0] If so, that results in a 2x exit for those investors.[1] This assumes those investors don't have rights that would entitle them to more than their pro rata of the acquisition proceeds, such as special liquidation preference rights that would entitle them to more than a 1x liquidation preference. It's these kinds of special liquidation pref…

According to pitchbook, Jet raised their latest round of $350M ($565M total) at a $1.05B pre and a $1.4B post.

Got it. With those numbers, the returns are ~1.86x for the investors of the $565M. ($3B * ($565M/$1615M) / $565M).

Re: Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com for $3B

#146
post #129

Clearly jet.com's primary user base isn't from the tech crowd. Looking at the comments, seems like a lot of people don't understand that Jet's user base is probably value-conscious consumer's that shop for household items on a recurring basis. Without knowing any numbers I'm surprised at all the backlash in the comments.

In my experience, jet.com's primary user base is deal fanatics who enjoy having their consumer goods subsidized by know-nothing VCs dreaming about being in on the ground floor of the next Amazon.

Re: Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com for $3B

#147
post #123

WTF is Jet.com? I have never heard of it, why is it worth 3B if it is not common knowledge!! Sigh!

This kind of comment comes up often in these threads. It takes a certain degree of conceit to think a company can only be valuable if you heard of it.

> It takes a certain degree of conceit to think a company can only be valuable if you heard of it.

No, but it's entirely reasonable to suggest that an e-commerce company that's trying to compete with Amazon isn't valuable if you haven't even heard about it in passing from friends or family.

Re: Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com for $3B

#148
post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Upper management is filled with cargo cult thinking around technology. I see it even in software companies. Someone advocating a rational, realistic way forward (like you) would be pushed out in favor of people who "get it" and want to "move things forwards dramatically"

Business in general is filled with cargo cult thinking in my experience.

people in general have this tendency, i think.

Re: Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com for $3B

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I guess this goes to show that you too I'd be careful about drawing too many conclusions from this story. For one thing, you are not Marc Lore. With a successful Amazon sale under his belt, he certainly had a leg up on fundraising over almost anyone. His name alone helped to generate buzz. But even being Marc Lore is enough. I worked for his cofounder from diapers.com and you've probably never even heard of that co…

Never heard of diapers.com? No way. That site was/is incredible. Soap.com is still to this day how I go shopping on Amazon.

No, I meant you've probably never heard of his subsequent company (somespider.com), where I was the first employee.

Re: Wal-Mart in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com for $3B

#150

I'm not sure if Jet's business model is valid, or if it's valid at all. Back in Fall 2015, I ordered two cases of water (I think 24 count in each; normal 500 mL water bottles) for $5.70 each with free two day shipping. They ended up sending me two packages via FedEx Ground (one case per box) with Jet.com branding on the boxes. I was legitimately shocked that they actually processed my order since each case was 30 pou…

I agree that I can't understand how jet.com will stay in business with their current shipping practices. I have ordered over 100 pounds of cat litter from them at below market prices all with free shipping.

Every other order I've had (3) something has been broken during shipping (as well as two of the cat litters) due to piss poor shipping practices. They put a whole bunch of stuff including crushable and fragile stuff along with bulky heavy stuff in one HUGE box. Of course all the bulky stuff crushed the fragile stuff, who thought that was a good idea? So they not only refunded the broken items but gave me $5 credit.

On top of that they gave 30% off my first order and 15-20% off the next few orders.

That's not a sustainable business.

They also had a couple of really good AMEX offers in the last six months but I don't know if they pay for that or AMEX does.

Post reply on HN