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I do not understood the tale :( Why it was genius?
Those employees were given options at Apple ($80M worth) that were probably lost once they left the company to work at Color. Then Apple ended up getting them back on the cheap. So instead of $160M, Apple ended up paying $80M + $7M.
I do not understood the tale :( Why it was genius?
Those employees were given options at Apple ($80M worth) that were probably lost once they left the company to work at Color. Then Apple ended up getting them back on the cheap. So instead of $160M, Apple ended up paying $80M + $7M.
One could also say that it was an employee retention disaster. Apple could not keep their key engineers happy even after offering millions to stay.
After realizing the full extent of the engineers' value after the fact, Apple had to buy a company that had no viable product just to get the engineers back.
The genius here was Bill Nguyen turning a failing company and a pittance $11mm offer from one failing company (Nokia) into an $80-160mm buyout from a real company (Apple), essentially though hustle alone. But it's zero-sum genius. I can respect him for being good at playing a specific game, but it's not a game I want to play myself.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Its a very sycophantic article that gives Apple far too much credit. No "genius" strategy was involved it was just fortunate (for Apple) that they could acquire the remnants of Color for such a low price.
I don't understand. They bought Lala. The sought-after employees left even after being offered a $80M golden leash. They were bought again with Color. What stops these employees from leaving again, with a much less lucrative golden leash this time around?
The genius here was Bill Nguyen turning a failing company and a pittance $11mm offer from one failing company (Nokia) into an $80-160mm buyout from a real company (Apple), essentially though hustle alone. But it's zero-sum genius. I can respect him for being good at playing a specific game, but it's not a game I want to play myself.
The author should have left the last word out to make a much more powerful story about Lala rather than changing the focus of the article to Apple's "genius," especially since there was no genius involved on Apple's part. Just good luck for Apple, and horrible luck for the Color team.
Why is this top link?
The genius here was Bill Nguyen turning a failing company and a pittance $11mm offer from one failing company (Nokia) into an $80-160mm buyout from a real company (Apple), essentially though hustle alone. But it's zero-sum genius. I can respect him for being good at playing a specific game, but it's not a game I want to play myself.