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So A Blogger Walks Into A Bar…

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Re: So A Blogger Walks Into A Bar…

#51

Post by InclinedPlane »

tptacek wrote: post #42
nostromo wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like price fixing, even though they are buying and not selling. Check out Wikipedia for a good write-up: "Price fixing is an agreement between participants on the same side in a market to buy or sell a product, service, or commodity only at a fixed price, or maintain the market conditions such that the price is maintained at a given level by controlling supply and demand. The group of market makers involved…

Would it still be price fixing if all of them got up from the table and announced the formation of Super Angel Capital Partners? I can't see how; there's tons of VC firms already. If that's not unlawful, how is a joint venture among them unlawful? Are we just stuck on the fact that they're "angel investors"? The law doesn't recognize any such sector of the venture capital business.

If they create a single super angel corporation then they could run afoul of anti-monopoly laws.

Re: So A Blogger Walks Into A Bar…

#52

Post by ctkrohn »

tptacek wrote: post #13

In what sense do antitrust laws apply to investors? Why is it unlawful for investors to band together to get better terms for themselves? Wouldn't it be perfectly legal for these people to sit around a table an agree to merge and start a fund? If that's the case, how could it be unlawful for them to work on a joint venture? Just because I don't like the JV doesn't make it unlawful!

If the FTC determines that the joint venture would form a monopoly, they could in fact block it on antitrust grounds. The FTC blocks mergers all the time.

Explicit cooperation in restraint of trade is always illegal, though.

Re: So A Blogger Walks Into A Bar…

#53

Post by tptacek »

InclinedPlane wrote: post #51
tptacek wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it still be price fixing if all of them got up from the table and announced the formation of Super Angel Capital Partners? I can't see how; there's tons of VC firms already. If that's not unlawful, how is a joint venture among them unlawful? Are we just stuck on the fact that they're "angel investors"? The law doesn't recognize any such sector of the venture capital business.

If they create a single super angel corporation then they could run afoul of anti-monopoly laws.

What? No they don't. There's no such thing as a "monopoly of angel investors". There are as many angel investors as there are people with extra money to invest. In a lot of cases already, groups of powerful people with extra money to invest have already formed very famous companies to do exactly what we're talking about!

Shouldn't the DoJ be going after Kleiner and Sequoia first?

Don't hundreds of doctors and dentists already do stuff like this?

Re: So A Blogger Walks Into A Bar…

#54

Post by pvg »

tptacek wrote: post #13

In what sense do antitrust laws apply to investors? Why is it unlawful for investors to band together to get better terms for themselves? Wouldn't it be perfectly legal for these people to sit around a table an agree to merge and start a fund? If that's the case, how could it be unlawful for them to work on a joint venture? Just because I don't like the JV doesn't make it unlawful!

I have no idea whether this specific arrangement is legal or falls under laws regulating price fixing but it is fundamentally different from a JV - there is transparency in the case of a JV so someone looking for financing knows they are dealing with the same entity. If it was the same thing as a JV, parties doing the collusion wouldn't bother to do it in secret.

Re: So A Blogger Walks Into A Bar…

#55

Post by j_baker »

jnoller wrote: post #9

I do hope he's wrong, or that this a mistake of some sort. The rise of Angel investors has seen a lot of ideas and entrepreneurs get needed money when they might not have under the traditional VC model. Something like this, if true, will cause the government to step in, and probably regulate and change things for the worse for a great many people. It won't just hurt these few super angels. It will take everyone with…

To be fair, this is Michael Arrington. He's not above sensationalism to get a few extra clicks.

Re: So A Blogger Walks Into A Bar…

#56

Post by jnoller »

j_baker wrote: post #55
jnoller wrote: post #9

I do hope he's wrong, or that this a mistake of some sort. The rise of Angel investors has seen a lot of ideas and entrepreneurs get needed money when they might not have under the traditional VC model. Something like this, if true, will cause the government to step in, and probably regulate and change things for the worse for a great many people. It won't just hurt these few super angels. It will take everyone with…

To be fair, this is Michael Arrington. He's not above sensationalism to get a few extra clicks.

I'm not going to disagree with that. As I said, I hope this is a mistake.

Re: So A Blogger Walks Into A Bar…

#57

Post by siglesias »

Game theory. 10 players make for a highly unstable equilibrium, especially given the potential for absurdly high profits for deviating to fund one hot company. One of them is even "highly uncomfortable." The key is to shop around and negotiate intelligently.

Re: So A Blogger Walks Into A Bar…

#59

Post by aaronbrethorst »

chaosmachine wrote: post #28

There's a quote I can't quite remember. Goes something like: "When merchants meet to discuss business, the public is rarely the beneficiary".

as asr points out, hooray for Civ IV!

http://www.squidoo.com/civ4quotes

"People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public."

- Adam Smith

Re: So A Blogger Walks Into A Bar…

#60

Post by mixmax »

So a blogger gets a tip from a source, knows the people involved, acts on it and smells a rat. He sticks around and talks to a few people he knows, makes a few calls and gets a breaking story.

Sounds to me like bloggers are the new journalists and that traditional media is in big big trouble.

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