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IAC sold 17 apps to Bending Spoons. $100M deal, all 330 employees fired

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Re: IAC sold 17 apps to Bending Spoons. $100M deal, all 330 employees fired

#161

Post by BizarroLand »

Someone wrote: post #32
DeathArrow wrote: post #18

How are they going to earn money if they fired the entire team?

Teams cost money, so that’s a cost-cutting measure. They’ll replace it with a better team, where ‘better’ is defined from a $$$ perspective. There’s a wide range of options here: - zero person team, and hope to recover cost from buying from existing subscribers and new buyers/subscribers over time before the app dies. - replace them with marketeers, and hope to get enough more new buyers/subscribers before the app di…

Also, they could dump the entire thing onto their existing team and just let them deal with it. If the pressure makes you crack then you just weren't up to snuff, right?

Re: IAC sold 17 apps to Bending Spoons. $100M deal, all 330 employees fired

#163

Post by vineyardmike »

oaiey wrote: post #12
vineyardmike wrote: post #6

Obviously sucks to be one of those 330 employees, but I wonder if we really need all these junk apps that just harvest user data. Hopefully they can get work doing something fulfilling. Every time a data harvester moves operations to Europe for cheaper labor, it seems like a game of Russian roulette. When will the day come that the EU drives Bending Spoons out of existence? The US should adopt intent nationalistic la…

Better said is: Every time a company does radical shift in company structure by shady management, it seems like a game of Russian roulette. Law-wise, your data is more safe in the EU than in most of the US even for an American citizen. An American company/management under bad privacy laws can just sell your data at the highest bidder.

Yea the whole industry sucks, but it’s just an easier political move to ban “outsiders” from doing shady things.

Re: IAC sold 17 apps to Bending Spoons. $100M deal, all 330 employees fired

#164

Post by prepend »

BizarroLand wrote: post #160
dehrmann wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for Eric Schmidt, that cap table reads like a bunch of suckers trying to "diversify their success." Barry Diller, on the other hand, is no sucker.

I also like how we are attaching these people to this company as though the Weekend and Taika Watiti sat down and sculpted a plan to get rich by being dickheads. I bet their portfolio managers did that, and then attached their names to the deal to lend it an air of credibility, probably negotiating some sweet bonuses and spiffs for themselves in the process, and now this reads like they're all a POS, which, while tha…

People need to be aware of their investments.

If I buy shares in Phillip Morris, then I better be ok with people smoking cigarettes and everything that entails.

Especially if I’m publicly attaching my name with “prepend supports Phillip Morris.”

There’s gradations of being a dick, but approving your portfolio managers plan to buy shady companies is still a dick move. So is not being aware of what your portfolio manager buys.

Re: IAC sold 17 apps to Bending Spoons. $100M deal, all 330 employees fired

#165

Post by mhh__ »

dmurray wrote: post #46
samch wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think it’s allowed without permission per: https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright Specifically, “Endorsement, trademarks, and agency logos You cannot use government materials in a way that implies endorsement by a government agency, official, or employee. For example, using a photo in your advertisement of a government official wearing or using your product is not permitted. You also cannot use federal gove…

Is that the law, or is that more the government saying, through its publicists, how it would like its image to be used? Seems crazy that, say, an outdoor clothes retailer couldn't share a photo of a group trek where the park ranger was wearing its gear. Or that SpaceX couldn't publish a photo of NASA astronauts flying in its spacecraft - even with NASA's permission.

Your first example might be a little harsh, but there is a real risk if you let these things go uncontrolled e.g. the potential for fraud is enormous.

Re: IAC sold 17 apps to Bending Spoons. $100M deal, all 330 employees fired

#166

Post by prepend »

magicalhippo wrote: post #11
Sayrus wrote: post #5

They recently acquired Meetup as well [1]. This doesn't bode well for its future. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38953242

Speaking of, is there a good replacement for Meetup if you just want to organize some informal activities, like a user group or going biking?

I still like Meetup for local hiking groups planning hikes and game nights and stuff. Basically “friendly things with strangers” type stuff.

I’m not aware of anything else out that works like that.

Re: IAC sold 17 apps to Bending Spoons. $100M deal, all 330 employees fired

#167

Post by mhh__ »

dylan604 wrote: post #115
stuartjohnson12 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The great thing about Wikipedia is that anyone can edit. Don't mind if I do...

So that's what they want you to believe, but unless you are part of the accepted editor cabal, any changes you make will be reverted by someone actually part of the cabal

I've made changes to a pretty contentious page (amongst others, but that one in particular is quite conspiratorial) and it's all still there.

Re: IAC sold 17 apps to Bending Spoons. $100M deal, all 330 employees fired

#168

Post by riversflow »

BizarroLand wrote: post #160
dehrmann wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for Eric Schmidt, that cap table reads like a bunch of suckers trying to "diversify their success." Barry Diller, on the other hand, is no sucker.

I also like how we are attaching these people to this company as though the Weekend and Taika Watiti sat down and sculpted a plan to get rich by being dickheads. I bet their portfolio managers did that, and then attached their names to the deal to lend it an air of credibility, probably negotiating some sweet bonuses and spiffs for themselves in the process, and now this reads like they're all a POS, which, while tha…

If you have money and it ends up funding dickheads, congrats you are also a dickhead. The more money you have the less forgivable it is, simply because more money buys you better insight.

Re: IAC sold 17 apps to Bending Spoons. $100M deal, all 330 employees fired

#169

Post by mhh__ »

curiouscats wrote: post #135

Is there an app that monitors your apps to see if any have been sold to such unethical companies to alert you to delete your accounts with those apps? That would seem like a useful app. Frankly Apple and Alphabet should offer such a service but I don't have much confidence that they will.

This is actually really important for things like browser extensions.

Re: IAC sold 17 apps to Bending Spoons. $100M deal, all 330 employees fired

#170

Post by Spooky23 »

BizarroLand wrote: post #160
dehrmann wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for Eric Schmidt, that cap table reads like a bunch of suckers trying to "diversify their success." Barry Diller, on the other hand, is no sucker.

I also like how we are attaching these people to this company as though the Weekend and Taika Watiti sat down and sculpted a plan to get rich by being dickheads. I bet their portfolio managers did that, and then attached their names to the deal to lend it an air of credibility, probably negotiating some sweet bonuses and spiffs for themselves in the process, and now this reads like they're all a POS, which, while tha…

Due diligence is part of being a lackey to rich guys. Barry Diller has people to worry about his people doing stupid shit. If you don’t have control of people acting on your behalf, you earn the asshole badge.

Generating the energy to fire a neuron giving the dude sympathy is energy wasted.

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