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ONO sells for $9.5 billion and nobody cares

english.martinvarsavsky.net

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Re: ONO sells for $9.5 billion and nobody cares

#21

Post by danielsiders »

People in general don't care about telco acquisitions unless there's a major strategic consequence. The example the author gives “Google buys Spanish Ono for $9.5bn to start Google Fiber throughout Europe” would have huge consequences for everyone from consumers to device manufacturers to content providers throughout Europe. Normal telco consolidation is rarely anything other than the slow march of monopoly.

A 16 year old cable company is barely a startup, and highly unrelatable to the startup community at large. The same story about a US company wouldn't get coverage here unless there was a major strategic element. Kudos to the founders and funders, but it's not a particularly inspirational story for other entrepreneurs. The kinds of companies that get the most coverage here are very young and generally have a global reach. A regional company (which most telcos are) in say New England wouldn't get much coverage in the pacific northwest. This isn't a regional or even a cultural issue, just a significance issue.

Re: ONO sells for $9.5 billion and nobody cares

#22

Post by muyuu »

RBerenguel wrote: post #12

I'm Spanish, more or less watch the Spanish media (around 3-4 times per week during lunchtime, usually I don't check most news) and I wasn't aware. So not even our media cares.

I understand it should be bigger news, but I don't understand why should anyone be celebrating. Other than the ones who are making a killing out of this deal, of course.

The Spanish telecom market is not a competitive market, it's enormously rigged and regulated. Success in this market doesn't come from innovation or better business practices, but as a result from politics and power struggles. This is probably true for any other telecom market nowadays.

Also, who in his right mind would consider ONO a startup these days?

Re: ONO sells for $9.5 billion and nobody cares

#23

Post by rjtavares »

Hermel wrote: post #8
spindritf wrote: post #3

If you primarily rely on sources of information in English (of which I'm guilty, too) then obviously you will be mostly getting information from the Anglosphere dominated by the US because it's, oh you know, richest and most powerful country in the history of the world. This is not some "Americans cover their successes" thing. It's that they matter more. There is an underlying economic reality in which we are lagging…

This effect even gets reinforced by the European journalists: a German speaking journalist will read German and English sources. A Spanish journalist will read Spanish and English sources, etc. Having the "lingua franca" is a huge asset for the Anglosphere. It not only affects the flow of news, it also leads to cultural dominance (everyone watches Hollywood movies, but European movies are primarily shown in their hom…

Indeed. I'm often amazed at the kind of American news reported by the Portuguese media and think "Why aren't we getting these news about European countries?". At the same time, I'm part of the problem: I know more about American politics than German politics, even though the latter affects me a lot more.

Re: ONO sells for $9.5 billion and nobody cares

#24

Post by spindritf »

genofon wrote: post #10
spindritf wrote: post #3

If you primarily rely on sources of information in English (of which I'm guilty, too) then obviously you will be mostly getting information from the Anglosphere dominated by the US because it's, oh you know, richest and most powerful country in the history of the world. This is not some "Americans cover their successes" thing. It's that they matter more. There is an underlying economic reality in which we are lagging…

" richest and most powerful country in the history of the world..." not even close http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-modern_great_powers

Does any of those countries come close to the GDP of, say, Alabama ($160bn)? Sure, comparing the value of organic wine form Rome to a car from Detroit is not straight-forward but technological progress and compound interest generally ensure that powers of today absolutely dwarf those of even a hundred years ago, not to mention a thousand years ago, or two.

The ancient empires had troubles feeding their populations at times. Today, most Americans are overweight.

Re: ONO sells for $9.5 billion and nobody cares

#25

Post by ivanca »

kiiski wrote: post #20
ivanca wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Anglosphere dominated by the US because it's Is because is perceived as such, regardless if it's true or not. Because under measures such as the GDP is far from the top[0] [0] http://travel.fyicenter.com/Country/List_of_Countries_by_GDP...

We're talking about nations, not people, so I don't think "GDP per capita" is relevant. USA has by far the highest total GDP. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomin...

Per-capita is way more important, a rich man doesn't need more than one toothbrush and it's detrimental for a country when other men can't afford a single one.

Re: ONO sells for $9.5 billion and nobody cares

#26

Post by oblio »

spindritf wrote: post #3

If you primarily rely on sources of information in English (of which I'm guilty, too) then obviously you will be mostly getting information from the Anglosphere dominated by the US because it's, oh you know, richest and most powerful country in the history of the world. This is not some "Americans cover their successes" thing. It's that they matter more. There is an underlying economic reality in which we are lagging…

Well, you have to put that image into context. The US hasn't been devastated by 2 world wars. I'd say that the graph proves it - the first moment where the US was massively ahead was 1900-1925. Want to bet that 90% of the European companies from that period are pre-1914?

What is more worrying is 1976-2007 -> does that mean that things are ossified already? That there's no room for smaller companies to grow? I'd blame European conservatism for this together with US multinationals.

Re: ONO sells for $9.5 billion and nobody cares

#27

Post by oblio »

spindritf wrote: post #24
genofon wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" richest and most powerful country in the history of the world..." not even close http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-modern_great_powers

Does any of those countries come close to the GDP of, say, Alabama ($160bn)? Sure, comparing the value of organic wine form Rome to a car from Detroit is not straight-forward but technological progress and compound interest generally ensure that powers of today absolutely dwarf those of even a hundred years ago, not to mention a thousand years ago, or two. The ancient empires had troubles feeding their populations at…

I think he wants to compare the relative values. The Achaemenid Empire at its peak probably produced half of the world's goods.

Re: ONO sells for $9.5 billion and nobody cares

#28

Post by RivieraKid »

At the core of the problem is that the European market is not homogenous, so building a big company is way harder.

* There's a significant overhead in expanding across borders because of different laws, language, culture, etc. That could even mean having to hire lawyers and business developers for every country.

* The pool of potential employees is smaller. Perhaps there's someone that would be a perfect fit for your startup, but he lives in a neigbouring country, so he's less likely to apply / want the job.

* For the above reasons, the investments are way lower, because startups have lower probability of becoming big.

Do you think it's possible to fix or mitigate this problem? What can the EU do to make operating across borders as easy as possible?

Re: ONO sells for $9.5 billion and nobody cares

#29

Post by idlewan »

spindritf wrote: post #24
genofon wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" richest and most powerful country in the history of the world..." not even close http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-modern_great_powers

Does any of those countries come close to the GDP of, say, Alabama ($160bn)? Sure, comparing the value of organic wine form Rome to a car from Detroit is not straight-forward but technological progress and compound interest generally ensure that powers of today absolutely dwarf those of even a hundred years ago, not to mention a thousand years ago, or two. The ancient empires had troubles feeding their populations at…

> The ancient empires had troubles feeding their populations at times. Today, most Americans are overweight.

Problem not solved: the population still has problems being fed the right things for their health to improve.

Re: ONO sells for $9.5 billion and nobody cares

#30

Post by odonnellryan »

genofon wrote: post #10
spindritf wrote: post #3

If you primarily rely on sources of information in English (of which I'm guilty, too) then obviously you will be mostly getting information from the Anglosphere dominated by the US because it's, oh you know, richest and most powerful country in the history of the world. This is not some "Americans cover their successes" thing. It's that they matter more. There is an underlying economic reality in which we are lagging…

" richest and most powerful country in the history of the world..." not even close http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pre-modern_great_powers

I don't agree with you. To quickly cite another WikiPedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wealthiest_historical_f...

How many of those figures are of the US?

Not trying to start a pissing contest. Sorry.

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