A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018) • Hacker News Board

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#111

Post by ceejayoz » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 6:27 PM UTC

JackFr wrote: post #103

dragontamer wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, the best "public shaming" talk I've seen are the ones given by Monica Lewinsky. When you consider that Monica Lewinsky was 22 years old during the time of the scandal, a lot of the stuff going on was simply outside of her control. Seeing things from her perspective is pretty interesting, to say the least: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq7Eh6JTKIg John Oliver starts the discussion, but there is a Lewinsky…

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/03/john-olive... I loved John Oliver on the Daily Show, but I find Last Week Tonight formulaic and dull. It's the identical shtick every week with a different topic to be outraged over.

It's almost like there are multiple topics worthy of outrage in the world.

It's an educational/advocacy show with a veneer of comedy.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#112

Post by jodrellblank » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 6:27 PM UTC

overcast wrote: post #9

What I don't understand, is how it wasn't immediately apparent this stuff was junk? You couldn't possibly think that it was equal in quality to much more expensive competitors. I guess it's just the case of not being real, until someone says it.

As someone who couldn't tell a sherry decanter from a hole in the wall, I assume it is equal in quality to more expensive competitors; that is to say, more expensive competitors charge more for effectively the same products.

It's a glass bottle, it doesn't leak, it doesn't shatter when you pick it up. Apart from appearance, how much better quality could it usefully be?

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#113

Post by Ididntdothis » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 6:28 PM UTC

gdy wrote: post #99

scarmig wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably because of the power imbalance between intern and President. But definitely because of how Ken Starr and the national media treated her.

The comment was about her being a victim of Clinton, not media.

Both.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#114

Post by fortran77 » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 6:28 PM UTC

The modern examples cited weren't nearly as bad:

- Lulumon didn't seem to be hurt by Chip Wilson. In fact, the "notoriety" made me aware they they sold men's clothes, too, and I went there and bought some great athletic wear.

- Many customers appreciated Barclays' warning not to "pile up debts." That would give me a favorable opinion of a company that offers lines of credit, not a bad one.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#115

Post by mrkstu » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 6:28 PM UTC

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #83

vinceguidry wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That board didn't have to flip. Ratner could have just kept selling the brand instead of stating his true opinions to a media circus. And the brand would have retained its value, perhaps all the way to today if he could have kept the unit economics alive. What made the brand successful wasn't what Ratner thought it was. The word at hand here is 'hubris'. Successful people slowly lose touch with the rest of the world…

No eventually it would flip - it happens all the time. It's just this time the boss of the company laid down the final piece so it sticks in the mind

The re-branded company he was forced out of is now the largest diamond retailer in the world- so I'd say that the problem was him and his mouth, not an inevitable flip in fortune.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#116

Post by eghad » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 6:29 PM UTC

chucksmash wrote: post #18

Interesting anecdote, but holy minimal-effort-article-writing, Batman: > Have you ever heard of the “Ratner effect”? > Well by the end of this post you will know what it means.

Yeah the writing and formatting were really poor, they've since changed it to theHustle's article on it, which is at least a marginal improvement.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#117

Post by throwaway6845 » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 6:31 PM UTC

> Elon Musk (right) has drawn comparisons to Gerald Ratner in recent years

The 1980s British businessman who Musk most reminds me of is not Gerald Ratner but Robert Maxwell.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#118

Post by klagermkii » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 6:31 PM UTC

This should be a lesson for adolescents who wonder why people tend to get less and less "edgy" as they grow up.

Just takes one moment of too much edge to lose the gamble and end up throwing everything away.

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#119

Post by weinzierl » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 6:32 PM UTC

dmix wrote: post #73

dragontamer wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you'd have to be a 90s kid to really understand. It was the Lewinsky affair, or the Lewinsky scandal. Lewinsky's name was attached to the event more so than even Bill Clinton. As such, it was Lewinsky's name who appeared in songs, raps, TV shows, movies, etc. etc. to describe the political drama at the time. https://genius.com/Saint-jhn-monica-lewinsky-lyrics Lewinsky also had to describe her sexual acts to C…

Got any examples of songs from the 1990s? That songs seems to be from this year.

Not a song but to give you an example how ubiquitous the innuendos were in the 90s: There was even a download manager named Monica[1].

[1] http://macintoshgarden.org/apps/monica

Re: A man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds (2018)

#120

Post by dboreham » Wed, Aug 28, 2019, 6:38 PM UTC

cmauniada wrote: post #29

mjw1007 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He'd made the same jokes in speeches several times before, and it had gone down well with the audience. Presumably he just didn't consider the possibility that the press would think it worth making a story out of.

I don't get it. So he made these jokes infront of shareholders just for kicks? Why would someone even say this infront of anyone, I don't understand. I am starting to think he might have been under the influence.

Shareholders and customers are basically on the opposite sides of a trade. All public companies have this problem to some degree: they want to tell their shareholders "we figured out how to offload stuff that we buy cheap onto unsuspecting customers, thereby making more profit for you". Meanwhile they want to tell their customers "look how wonderful and high quality our products are". These days this problem is solved with code-speak that wall st people understand but which sounds relatively benign and boring to cuswif they happen to see it e.g. "margin expansion through input cost reduction".