Biz Doc 411 - Dec 12, 2022
Lots of interesting stuff last week. So far, it's been a busy Q4. Here we go:
4 Stats
1. Alexa Answer: 10,000.
Last week I asked Alexa how many jobs would be cut in the smart speaker / devices group. The answer is 10,000. There’s a “PS” to the story as Amazon also announced a freeze on “new incremental” hiring. All of this means Amazon will need fewer HR folks after the layoffs. So, when HR is done laying off the 10,000, HR will lay off people in HR. This may be harsh, isn’t that kinda, sorta like a murder – suicide?
2. Seven Reasons (give or take) why Startups Fail.
I I found a reasonably well-researched article with a list of reasons why startups fail. I synthesized the list and it can be summed into two “buckets.” First, “bad or wrong product” and second, “could not get investors” (money didn’t like product or team). This adds up to more than 100% because some folks gave 2 reasons. The list:
· 38% Ran Out of Cash / Failed to raise capital
· 35% No Market Need
· 10% Product Mistimed
· 15% Product Pricing
· 19% Business Model
· 14% Not The Right Team
· 8% Team Disharmony
3. What’s $20.8B – 900M?
It’s $20B, which is the market cap Carvana lost this year. This is what happens when you (1) cover losses with debt and (2) go big when the value of used cars was artificially high and (3) the prices for used cars crashes. Think 2008 on wheels. As of last Friday, the bonds representing the debt are trading under 30 cents on the dollar as frustrated analysts have given the company a $1 price target while creditors have agreed to a cease fire so they can collectively restructure the debt. This car company is… wait for it… you know it’s coming… totaled. (See what I did there?)
4. Woman earns 15% less than a man – AGAIN!
Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani the partner of disgraced CEO Elizabeth Holmes, earned a sentence of 13 years in prison for his role in the Theranos investor fraud. Holmes, who was sentenced two weeks ago, earned a sentence of only 11 years. Holmes, a pregnant cis female, earned 15% less than Balwani, a cis male for doing the same “work.” When will the injustice against women stop? Where’s Gloria Alred?
1 Hero/Zero
OK, after my kvetching about women earning less than men, a woman has earned “Hero” status this week.
HERO: Christine McCarthy – CFO of Disney.
The long-time Disney executive is known as a steady hand at the helm of the Mouse’s finances. BUT NOW we hear she was equally steady leading a group of Disney executives in quietly sounding the alarm about Chapek’s issues to Disney’s Board of Directors. Apparently, a quiet campaign to remove Bob Chapek took place this past summer. The flashpoint was the terrible Q4 earning call after which McCarthy reportedly whispered to key investors and the Board Chair that she and other executives lacked confidence in Chapek. NONE of this seemed to have leaked to media which shows just how carefully McCarthy acted in a situation requiring the highest sensitivity. Hero!
1 Very Interesting Article
Major League Baseball Pitchers Had 3 Balls In 2022
Pitchers have claimed for years that baseballs have been (intentionally) changed from time to time to influence how far they fly. The easy-to-understand theory is this: more ball flight equals more home runs equals more scoring equals more excitement equals more fans watching at stadiums, on cable channels and OTT streaming. Baseballs are handmade by Rawlings in Turrialba, Costa Rica. One factory means there’s only one place to control. Meredith Wills, a Society for American Baseball Research award-winning astrophysicist dug into the claims. Her research found that in fact MLB used 3 different baseballs in 2022: a “dead” one, a “juiced” one and one in the middle which was dubbed “Goldilocks” (just right). The more questions she asked, the more hard facts and circumstantial evidence she uncovered. (A harsh denial from MLB followed by being blocked by MLB is a pretty good sign you she was on to something.) Read the story here.
See you next week, I miss you already.