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The Summly deal makes no sense

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Re: The Summly deal makes no sense

#161

Post by mgkimsal »

rayiner wrote: post #111

This article assumes that the primary goal of the acquisition is the technology. Without having looked at the technology or commenting on its merits, I can think of a boatload of other things Yahoo is buying with its money: 1) Free positive publicity--publicity that doesn't constantly remind people how Yahoo! is circling the train; 2) The recruiting hook of "yeah, we're not stodgy anymore, we paid some kid $30 millio…

#2 - "we paid some kid $30m!" Why on earth would that be used for 'recruiting'? Getting me to come be your full time employee by telling me how much you pay outsiders (sometimes for lame tech)?

If Yahoo wants to increase their recruiting power, start rewarding - publicly - internal teams that innovate. Start a $50m innovation fund, and reward internal teams for demonstrating initiative, problem solving, innovative solutions, bold new idea, etc.

Re: The Summly deal makes no sense

#162

Post by vijayr »

xradionut wrote: post #116
IanDrake wrote: post #77

Right after college I started consulting at an eCommerce company that had bought a 17 year old's website for over 1M. Had had built a gaming community site that had become very popular and they wanted the traffic. I thought the kid was just lucky until I was in a meeting with him. His thought process basically ran circles around everyone else in the room, some twice his age. I realized then, that there are kids, KIDS…

As a counterpoint, there are real sharp people of all ages. At local meetups, I've met a couple of retirees not orignally in the programming field, (medical doctor, aerospace tech) that have picked up Linux and programming well enough, I'd hire them to build software/hardware for me if they weren't pursuing their own projects. Or the older opera singer that helped me debug code while on a flight and joked, "Programmi…

In one of my projects, two of my team mates were in their mid forties. One of them was a mother of two (pointing this out because she didn't have lots of free time to learn new stuff). She didn't know Java, but she was probably a million times smarter than the rest of the team (4 more people, all in their early to mid twenties) combined. She didn't go to college, while the rest of the team came from pretty good schools, with good grades etc. Yet, she picked up things faster than any of us.

So yeah, some people are just sharp by nature - just like some people are cute, strong etc (not saying others can't develop, but it does give the "naturals" an advantage)

Re: The Summly deal makes no sense

#163

Post by jscheel »

itsprofitbaron wrote: post #155

Normally whenever an acquisition happens, I avoid these types of posts on HN because there are often people in the comments (and even in the posts themselves) calling out the acquired company saying “I could have done this” or “Acquirer could have built Acquired Company in a day” but, this one deserves a reply. The reason why this deserves a reply is that the OP’s post does not really contain any facts rather, it con…

Thank you for bringing some sanity to these comments. Assumptions are abound, and they aren't going to benefit anyone trying to understand the machinations of this purchase. Stockholders will demand an answer if they are skeptical. This blog post may be an indication of one stockholder who wants more info, but a lot more traction will be necessary before anyone at Yahoo feels the need to explain themselves.

Re: The Summly deal makes no sense

#164

Post by Evbn »

gavanwoolery wrote: post #157
larrik wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought the point was that Yahoo, a public company, was throwing away 30 million for no apparent gain.

Actually this is a very common scheme in Silicon Valley -- public companies "throwing away" money on relatively worthless startups. It is a good way to siphon money out of the stock market and into the pockets of VCs and founders -- and I would not be surprised if the person who pushes the acquisition gets a cut of the money too, or other "favors" in the future. The company knows its going to can the product and the…

Seeing these acquisitions, it always seemed like that what's very often happening is the folks who make the Buy decisions (NOT the owners of the buying company) are basically stealing from then owners to hand money to their friends)

Or, when the bizdev team is told to spend a billion dollars this year, (1) is is easier for them to like in extra money into each deal than to find more smaller deal, and (2) they don't get bonuses for only spending 500million and saying there is nothing else worth buying.

Re: The Summly deal makes no sense

#165

Post by dougk16 »

kyro wrote: post #123

For some who need perspective: Right now, somewhere in the world, a child is being born into an uberly rich family. That child will grow up to inherit millions for absolutely no work. He'll live the good life full of yachts and private jets. Right now, somewhere in the world, there is a party happening full of gorgeous wealthy people who need not lift a finger to attain the luxuries that they have. Their success is o…

Right now, somewhere in the world, there is a person who has an empty bank account (or no bank account!), and is perfectly content.

Re: The Summly deal makes no sense

#166

Post by Evbn »

bradleyland wrote: post #131
kyro wrote: post #123

For some who need perspective: Right now, somewhere in the world, a child is being born into an uberly rich family. That child will grow up to inherit millions for absolutely no work. He'll live the good life full of yachts and private jets. Right now, somewhere in the world, there is a party happening full of gorgeous wealthy people who need not lift a finger to attain the luxuries that they have. Their success is o…

I agree that all of the events you've listed are probably happening somewhere in the world, but I disagree that we should all just accept this as "the world we live in" and carry on. Look back across history and consider what would have happened if at any point, the people on the losing end of any deal were to simply keep their heads down and keep working. It's worth talking about. It's worth criticizing. It may not…

It is only worth attention if that attention becomes productive action. So yeah, criticize, only if you think someone influential is listening.

Re: The Summly deal makes no sense

#167

Post by Evbn »

patmcguire wrote: post #146
kyro wrote: post #123

For some who need perspective: Right now, somewhere in the world, a child is being born into an uberly rich family. That child will grow up to inherit millions for absolutely no work. He'll live the good life full of yachts and private jets. Right now, somewhere in the world, there is a party happening full of gorgeous wealthy people who need not lift a finger to attain the luxuries that they have. Their success is o…

It's going to be strange 80 years from now when Web 2.0 billionaires are old money. "Oh, I don't have to work. Grandfather made a Facebook game."

One hopes selfishness and legacy, and in some cases, idealism, overcome genetics, and those billionaires give their money to others instead of their spawn.

Re: The Summly deal makes no sense

#168

Post by Evbn »

newbie12 wrote: post #138
kyro wrote: post #123

For some who need perspective: Right now, somewhere in the world, a child is being born into an uberly rich family. That child will grow up to inherit millions for absolutely no work. He'll live the good life full of yachts and private jets. Right now, somewhere in the world, there is a party happening full of gorgeous wealthy people who need not lift a finger to attain the luxuries that they have. Their success is o…

Bitter and jealous is no way to go through life. All of these guys executed on their project or have specialized knowledge. The pie is not zero-sum, and we live in the greatest, most fair time in human history.

Parent is claiming that this is not true, that they got rewarded for being gifted a controlling interest in others' productivity.

Re: The Summly deal makes no sense

#169

Post by Evbn »

itsprofitbaron wrote: post #155

Normally whenever an acquisition happens, I avoid these types of posts on HN because there are often people in the comments (and even in the posts themselves) calling out the acquired company saying “I could have done this” or “Acquirer could have built Acquired Company in a day” but, this one deserves a reply. The reason why this deserves a reply is that the OP’s post does not really contain any facts rather, it con…

Most of your comment is reasonable, except for the part about a reasonable price for Yahoo. There is no evidence that Yahoo isn't suffering a costly mistake (or worse) from a small group of decision makers on this deal.

Re: The Summly deal makes no sense

#170

Post by dominotw »

kyro wrote: post #123

For some who need perspective: Right now, somewhere in the world, a child is being born into an uberly rich family. That child will grow up to inherit millions for absolutely no work. He'll live the good life full of yachts and private jets. Right now, somewhere in the world, there is a party happening full of gorgeous wealthy people who need not lift a finger to attain the luxuries that they have. Their success is o…

Right now, Taylor Swift song is stuck in my head. Thanks man.
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