Good Monday Morning to a Hollywood ending – “La La Land” won the Oscar award for best picture for about one minute before an onstage mix up meant “Moonlight” had really won – better than Bonnie and Clyde robbing banks. It’s been that kind of year. By the way, Goldman, first thing this morning, says sell Tesla stock.
Daylight – Far from “La La Land” and closer to the movie “Titanic,” uberdams broke wide open this weekend. Popular investors Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein cried out in a Saturday tweet – When will Uber get oversight because nothing seems like it is working? Six months ago, any investor would be kicked out of the Uber club if they asked for a piece of financial information beyond top line revenue. What gives?
Buzzard’s Roost – Uber’s founder, Travis Kalanick, made a mistake that no Entrepreneur should emulate. He gave everybody whiplash, going suddenly from whom he has been, Bigfoot, win at any cost, to Winnie the Pooh, “We’ll change everything if we have to.” I wonder if Travis sees the Uber financial model. Taking about 20 percent of the rider fee is not going to turn a profit. Bottom line – Uber is still subscale. He probably needs double the 20 percent as Uber Inc is responsible for the customer experience.
Live Rounds – Received live rounds from Huffington fans when I asked if Kalanick had lost his mind by publicly involving Arianna Huffington in an internal company matter. I could be wrong about that, as we all were when we asked if Merle Haggard had lost his mind cutting a record, “That’s the Way Loves Goes” with Jewel, a pop rock star at the time. Turned out, it was the best song we had heard in a long time. By the way, Jewel went on and married Ty Murray, an American nine-time world championship bull-rider.
M&A – Time Warner agreed to sell Ted Turner’s original Atlanta television station WPCH to Meredith for $70 million, as it prepares for its $85 billion sale to AT&T. One day, Meredith says it is all in with magazines like its brand Good Housekeeping; the next day, its radio stations; and by the third day, its TV broadcasting. By the way, WPCH is Time Warner’s only broadcast television station, formerly known as WTBS, and was the station that Ted Turner turned into a national superstation, the very Entrepreneurial seed he used to build out Turner Broadcasting, which he sold to Time Warner. Meredith’s local CBS station has been the outsourced sales arm for WPCH since Time Warner acquired Turner.
Arris Technology agreed to buy Ruckus Wireless, a WiFi provider, from Broadcom for $800 million.
Bonduelle agreed to buy Ready Pac Foods, a producer of fresh, prepared salads and other produce.
Style – This weekend, we might have seen the launch of a campaign when George Clooney used his acceptance speech at the 2017 Cesar Awards in France to direct the words of legendary journalist Edward R Murrow against President Donald Trump. Clooney noted he was already “nostalgic for when America was great again.” Democrats should beg.
Economics – Your TV is Watching You to Make Money – A new company called TVision Insight has a monitor that connects to your TV and tracks a viewer’s habits like leaving the living room through facial recognition software. Don’t laugh. Companies spend around $69 billion a year on TV ads and they get billed on Nielsen TV ratings, which at best is a big guess based on their boxes of 42,500 households – biggest wink wink in business. The networks always have gone along with it because it is a billing platform – higher a show’s rating, the more a network can charge.
Hot – With a nudge from Laura Zander, I finally went with a friend to see the movie “Founder,” starring Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc, who more or less rolled the McDonald’s brothers into selling him the business after he built the company as a master franchiser. The movie was made by the Weinstein Brothers, who are hands on and always do a nice job with great stories. Keaton’s acting talent overpowered all the other supporting roles, but I kind of like how Kroc did in real life so all glided along nicely. By the way, if you are a Keaton fan, watch him in the movie “Pacific Heights.” It’s where he found his voice and role as an actor and is a beautiful development to watch.
Culture – Also many are wondering how Magic Johnson got his job promotion to GM without any qualifications. Well, first he does – he can recruit any free agent he wants and with Lakers being at the bottom of the Western Conference, it is the quickest way back to stardom. By the way, the president of the Lakers, Jeanie Buss, fired her brother Jim to make room for Magic. To be fair, she gave him three years that he asked to turn the team around – sounds like a good business decision, but more are focusing on the fact that she once posed for Playboy and dated the head coach. Los Angeles Drama makes money.
Investment Banking – Wix.com acquired DeviantArt, an online social network for artists, for $36 million in cash.
Spotlight – Friday, we rolled out our Golden Rings Renewal program, which gives a no dues renewal opportunity for any member who chooses to do new business with one of our Gold Partners or any two of our Silver Sponsors.
Gold Partner
Do business with one Gold Partner, and we’ll waive your Oxford dues for the next renewal period (regardless of membership level).
· Brenau University
· PNC Bank
· ETS Solutions (voice, data and cloud)
· Taylor English Duma LLP
· SIB (Fixed Cost Reduction)
· AMPS (healthcare)
· Aprio (accounting)
· ENT Institute(Surgery Center)
· Savant (Security)
· PayScape (merchant processing account)
Silver Sponsor
Do business with two Silver Sponsors, and we’ll waive your Oxford dues for the next renewal period (regardless of membership level).
· Chatham Capital (Investment)
· TP Corporate Lodging
· Docqmax Digital Printing
· IDR (technical staffing)
· Southern Choice Construction
· Ray’s Restaurants (one event)
· Milltown Music Hall (season ticket)
· Turner Boone
· Motivate Design
· Vanderbloemen Search Group
· Atlanta Communities (Real Estate)
· What Now Atlanta (Preferred Partner)
Deal Stream>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Exits – Axway acquired Syncplicity, a file sharing and collaboration service for enterprises, from Skyview Capital in an all-cash deal.
Madison Dearborn Partners agreed to acquire BlueCat Networks, a provider of IP address management services. As part of the deal, existing backers Trident Capital and Northleaf Capital Partners will exit the company.
STG Group agreed to acquire Preferred Systems Solutions, a provider of IT, engineering and staffing services to government agencies and commercial clients, from CM Equity Partners for about $119 million.
Layer, a developer of an open communications layer platform, acquired Cola, a messaging startup.
Venture Capital – Also, Layer raised $15 million.
Tantalus Systems, a smart grid solution provider, raised $6 million.
Mercatus, a developer of an energy investment management software platform, raised $5.1 million.
TripleMint, an online real estate brokerage company, raised $4.5 million.
Fossa, a developer of an open source management and license compliance tool, raised $2.2 million.
Hiatus, a startup that allows users to manage monthly paid subscriptions, raised $1.2 million.
Pindrop Security, a phone fraud-fighting startup, received funding from John Chambers, executive chairman and former CEO of Cisco Systems.
PMV Pharmaceuticals, a developer of drugs to treat cancer, raised $74 million.
Private Equity – The Jordan Company agreed to recapitalize Quick International Courier, a provider of priority shipping and logistics services.
Advent International has made a $3.8 billion takeover bid for Stada Arzneimittel. The company’s management has until Monday to respond. Advent has been in bidding competition with Cinven and Bain Capital to acquire the company.
Clearlake Capital Group acquired Globe Energy Services and Light Tower Rentals, both oilfield services providers in the Permian Basin. The two companies will be combined and operate as GlobeLTR Energy.
Blue Point Capital Partners acquired Fire & Life Safety American, a provider of fire protection services.
Sterling Partners invested in Grand Rapids Ophthalmology, an eye care provider.
And that’s what’s ahead, Cliff
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