VC Multiple Mania, US to Block Harry's DTC Acquisition, Drowning in $300K, PE Buried Payless, Gaana Surpassed Spotify and Apple, Relative Market Capitalizations
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Drinking from the Firehose #157: 😲 Multiple mania. 😲
A weekly(-ish) newsletter on commerce, media, science, tech, investing, & internet culture by Alex Taussig. I am a partner at Lightspeed in Silicon Valley.
If we look at older companies with even greater scale like Lululemon ( $LULU ), Under Armor ( $UAA ), or even Nike ( $NKE ), we find periods of time when these stocks performed at least as well in the last decade.
If so, the median offline vertical brand multiples suggest such a company could be worth over $4 billion, with additional upside if you consider LULU to be the blue sky scenario.
U.S. seeks to block Edgewell Personal Care Co's purchase of Harry’s Inc
WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Monday said it plans to file suit to block Edgewell Personal Care Co's $1.37 billion acquisition of privately held Harry’s Inc, saying it would negatively harm competition in the U.S. shaving industry. "The loss of Harry's as an independent competitor would remove a critical disruptive rival that has driven down prices and spurred innovation in an industry that was previously dominated by two main suppliers, one of whom is the acquirer," the FTC said in a statement.
Financially Drowning on $300k a Year - Summation by Auren Hoffman
The nation's top 2% are becoming the The Elite With No Savings (TEWNS).
Case in point: there are TEWNS I know who AirBNB their home every time they vacate it (as short as a weekend), something one wouldn’t assume from a household making greater than $300k a year.
But when we read this about someone with an income at the 98th percentile renting out their spare bedroom just to get by, this story takes an entirely different (and highly depressing) turn … and this is becoming all the more common in today’s America.
How Private Equity Buried Payless
Finance-driven capitalism was supposed to make the economy more dynamic. A failed shoe chain shows why it hasn’t happened.
In 2015, longshoremen at major West Coast ports went on a slowdown at the worst possible time for Payless: just as ships from Asia containing millions of pairs of discount shoes were steaming across the Pacific ahead of the crucial spring sales season.
He attributed missteps like the World Cup flip-flops to the need to experiment and innovate — including successful efforts like a marketing stunt to trick fashion influencers into believing Payless shoes were from a luxury brand.
Spotify, Apple Music Trail Little-Known Rival in Music-Obsessed India
The most popular music streaming service in India, the world’s biggest untapped digital economy, isn’t from Spotify Technology SA or Apple Inc. Instead, it is a local rival little known outside the country.
NEW DELHI—The most popular music-streaming service in India, the world’s biggest untapped digital economy, isn’t from Spotify Technology SA or Apple Inc.
Noida, India-based Gaana, named after the Hindi word for “song,” has used a hyperlocal approach and cut-rate pricing to beat...
How Much Are We Paying for Our Subscription Services? A Lot
The dollars are adding up fast. So here are some tips for pruning the subscriptions you no longer use.
1 reason that people subscribed to a streaming service was to watch exclusive content — like original TV shows, including HBO’s “Watchmen” or “The Mandalorian” on Disney Plus.
I confess I gave her something of a hard time — only to realize later that I had neglected to cancel my subscription to Amazon’s ComiXology Unlimited after starting a free trial to read one comic book.