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Confirmed: Walmart buys Jet.com for $3B in cash

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Re: Confirmed: Walmart buys Jet.com for $3B in cash

#181

Post by mandeepj »

__derek__ wrote: post #141
rogerdpack wrote: post #92

I figured out what is going on here. Walmart thinks to themselves "we want to be like amazon, we want to be huge online" and then jet comes along and is something of an almost competitor to amazon, so corporate thinks "oh we should snap this up" but...my gut reaction here is this is going to be a terrible deal for walmart, what are they going to do, keep dumping $500M/yr for it at a loss or what? Pretty desperate, bu…

Walmart.com has much higher sales than Jet. It already is huge online, even if it's not Amazon huge. If anything, this is about pruning competition and buying potentially useful IP.

>even if it's not Amazon huge

are your serious?

Walmart's revenue was $482.1[0] billion in 2015 and amazon's was $107b[1]

[0] - https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...

[1] - https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...

edit - sorry, i missed the .com part

Re: Confirmed: Walmart buys Jet.com for $3B in cash

#182

Post by steven777400 »

mikhailt wrote: post #90
rdlecler1 wrote: post #29

I get why Walmart would buy them, but it seems to me they could have waited 6-12 months and bought the company for $300m. There's just no way they were showing growth. The only thing that makes sense is that Jet would have been damaged goods in 12 months and this was the only option for Walmart to build a millennial friendly competitor to Amazon.

Why couldn't they show growth? Amazon is getting worse for non-prime users. They've increased their free shipping limit, longer shipments, and kept pushing their deals onto Prime users only. I've bought more from Jet.com this year than Amazon in the last two years and Jet was faster with its free 2 day shipping than Amazon's free shipping.

There could be an opportunity for a competitor depending on how some Amazon issue play out over the next year or so. A lot of commentors are focused on the tech (which makes sense, being HN and all), but Amazon has some issues with counterfeit products, unequal product commingling, and unreliable third-party sellers.

Right now those issues are mostly side-line grumpling, but I could imagine a few big incidents could possibly blow up into a substantial reputation issue. The unknown, of course, is can/will Walmart do any better.

Re: Confirmed: Walmart buys Jet.com for $3B in cash

#183

Post by bluGill »

desireco42 wrote: post #167
camelNotation wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walmart has something Jet.com needs: one of the world's most advanced product delivery systems. Every Wal-Mart store is a distribution center waiting to happen. They are enormous and they are everywhere. Jet.com has something Wal-Mart can use to rocket its online presence forward: advanced online infrastructure, patents, a wealth of technology experts, and users. Together, Wal-Mart can beat Amazon at its own game by…

I am a little skeptical on Jet side, experts, patents etc. I think Walmart probably has better experts, but like someone said, this is mostly lead by corporate and I expect this to turn out to be terrible decision. But what do I know :)

WalMart has experts, but they are already busy current problems. To get into online needs experts who spend their time on the problem - but WalMart cannot afford to let their current experts leave their current jobs or the company would go under.

That isn't to say WalMart can't (or shouldn't) transfer some of their experts to Jet, and some Jet experts elsewhere. Just that they cannot afford to lose all their experts in the core business to the online dream.

I too expect this to turn out to be a terrible decision, but I've been proven wrong on my expectations before. Reasons like the above is generally why.

Re: Confirmed: Walmart buys Jet.com for $3B in cash

#184

Post by imcqueen »

swalsh wrote: post #96
rogerdpack wrote: post #92

I figured out what is going on here. Walmart thinks to themselves "we want to be like amazon, we want to be huge online" and then jet comes along and is something of an almost competitor to amazon, so corporate thinks "oh we should snap this up" but...my gut reaction here is this is going to be a terrible deal for walmart, what are they going to do, keep dumping $500M/yr for it at a loss or what? Pretty desperate, bu…

If you're a cynical person that is an easy thought... but something tells me a 3B acquisition of a company that is losing money in so many places isn't a decision taken lightly. A public company like Walmart, there's some people doing some math here.

They're definitely doing the math, but to an objective outsider the numbers won't add up. We are all likely underestimating how hard it is to innovate inside a company the size of Walmart.

Re: Confirmed: Walmart buys Jet.com for $3B in cash

#185

Post by elbasti »

throwawaylalala wrote: post #165
elbasti wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is that the stock was exchanged for something (referrals, marketing, etc), and that the contest was announced (ie, general solicitation). That no cash traded hands doesn't matter. There is precedent of an almost identical enforcement action by the SEC, but my google fu is failing me.

Would be Jet.com's issue, not the guy.

That is correct.

Re: Confirmed: Walmart buys Jet.com for $3B in cash

#186

Post by nommm-nommm »

lightblade wrote: post #157
KenCochrane wrote: post #49

Jet.com ran a contest where they gave 100,000 shares as the top prize for the most signup referrals. This Guy is probably one happy guy right now. He spent $18k and the value of those stocks are probably worth in the millions. http://www.businessinsider.com/jet-insiders-referral-program...

I'm surprised that his wife didn't divorce him for taking so much risk over this much money. Especially when they have 2 kids.

Um... Why do you believe she wasn't onboard with it? Or that $18k was an amount of money that represents an unacceptable risk for them?

Re: Confirmed: Walmart buys Jet.com for $3B in cash

#187

Post by mturmon »

untog wrote: post #140
ido wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame."[0] [0] https://slashdot.org/story/01/10/23/1816257/apple-releases-i...

Everyone always digs that out, but the first iPod was kind of lame. I don't think it's unfair for someone to have pointed that out at the time. Especially when it's a hardware product - sure, the line is going to get better but you're not going to get a free upgrade to it.

"Not unfair to point out" -- true.

But, the linked comment does miss the point. Specifically, it is doing a hardware spec comparison and not thinking about what it means when a large player is entering the market with a more-usable device.

And the linked comment (which is indeed an old chestnut) is typical of the spec-by-spec comparisons you still see in the tech press, and here on HN. It's a small reminder to look at the bigger picture.

Re: Confirmed: Walmart buys Jet.com for $3B in cash

#188

Post by chockablock »

mandeepj wrote: post #181
__derek__ wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walmart.com has much higher sales than Jet. It already is huge online, even if it's not Amazon huge. If anything, this is about pruning competition and buying potentially useful IP.

>even if it's not Amazon huge are your serious? Walmart's revenue was $482.1[0] billion in 2015 and amazon's was $107b[1] [0] - https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e... [1] - https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e... edit - sorry, i missed the .com part

Parent referred to walmart.COM. Walmart online sales only $13B/yr, per http://fortune.com/2016/05/20/the-silver-lining-in-walmarts-...

Re: Confirmed: Walmart buys Jet.com for $3B in cash

#189

Post by exclusiv »

antisthenes wrote: post #159
exclusiv wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jet.com is a disaster of a company fundamentally. However, it does make sense for a company like Walmart. I don't know about 3B, but Jet is a drastically cooler brand for them in their ecommerce battle esp. among millenials. Jet was previously fulfilling many orders from Walmart and now they can build a seamless integration to deliver competitively priced items quickly from the stores.

> I don't know about 3B, but Jet is a drastically cooler brand for them in their ecommerce battle esp. among millenials. Every time I see a comment like this, it really makes me wonder who these mythical millenials are. I work in a company with 11 millenials out of 16 employees and NONE of them have even heard about Jet, let alone bought from it. Now that Jet was acquired and will be quietly folded into Walmart, it's…

I meant Jet is a much cooler brand than Walmart.

Sure - many millenials haven't heard of it yet, but that's beside the point. Everyone has heard of Walmart but they struggle online. In your anecdote, 30% have brand recall which isn't as bad as you make it seem.

The problem with Jet as it currently stands is that it isn't very compelling for word of mouth. I've used it and had a decent experience but never told anyone about it.

Anyway, Walmart can put more muscle behind it, likely deliver a better service and push a cooler brand than their own. At the same time - they can utilize their store inventory and distribution/shipping and potentially drive consumers to pick up in store same day (and drive more in-store revenue).

You make an assumption about them folding it in. I don't think they will, but if they do it will be a waste.

Also - your note about people you know using Amazon for all shopping needs doesn't mean that it will always be that way. Do you expect everyone to roll over because Amazon is the leader? Should nobody bother competing?

- Amazon has a LOT of fake reviews. - They're pissing off merchants by competing directly with them. - They often ship other merchant's products instead of your own if it's closer to the user.

I'm not that bullish on Jet either, but I wouldn't underestimate Walmart.

Re: Confirmed: Walmart buys Jet.com for $3B in cash

#190

Post by botfly »

therealdrag0 wrote: post #166
rb808 wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I should add if Jet is now Walmart they aren't the small guys any more. Anyone have any alternatives?

Do you have any reason beyond principle to only use "small guys"?

I don't know if Jet was a "small guy" before the acquisition either if they had a 1B valuation. Plus pricing at a loss to get market share and compete with Amazon or get acquired by Walmart isn't really a small guy business plan. My idea of small guys I'd want to help is a local mom and pop stores. Maybe that guy likes the idea of helping start-ups though? It's his money
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