4 ms·

Andreessen Horowitz Sells Some Lyft Shares to Prince Al-Waleed

18 points by sethbannon 11y ago

birken 11y ago
On one side of a transaction you have VCs, who have long investment horizons and are highly incentivized to maximize returns, taking a short-term profit on an investment long before it has (theoretically) reached its potential. On the other side of the transaction you have GM and a Saudi Prince. I wonder who is the smart money...
- zekevermillion 11y ago
  Did AH exit completely, or are they just getting some liquidity for other early-stage investments?
  - bobbygoodlatte 11y ago
    Typically a VC fund does not re-invest profits back into other startups — the profits are disbursed to LPs VC funds tend to dislike small exits: they're not enough to return the fund and they can't re-invest the capital.
dominotw 11y ago
don't twitters activists see the irony of using a platform owned by horrible misogynist and human right violaters like Prince Al-Waleed.
- mkaziz 11y ago
  From wikipedia: Al-Waleed is considered a proponent for female emancipation in the Saudi world. He has financed the training of Hanadi Zakaria al-Hindi to become the first Saudi woman commercial airline pilot and has stated on her graduation that he is "in full support of Saudi ladies working in all fields". Al-Hindi became certified to fly within Saudi Arabia in 2014. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Waleed_bin_Talal#First_Saudi_female_pilot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Waleed_bin_Talal#First_Saud... Do you assume he's a misogynist and a human rights violater because he is from Saudi Arabia?
  - huac 11y ago
    There's a lot of rumors and allegations around him - this article goes through some: http://www.businessinsider.com/prince-alwaleed-2012-1 http://www.businessinsider.com/prince-alwaleed-2012-1 - accused of rape (case went to court) - keeps dwarves as basically 'court jesters' - tosses dwarves - maims animals instead of shooting to kill - poorly treats workers - "But several sources say this pilot, Hanadi Zakariya Hindi, has hardly flown any of Alwaleed's aircraft, certainly not his massive jets. They say that when she was hired, Alwaleed told his aviation staff that she never would." then again, "Al-Waleed announced that he would donate his entire fortune to charity at an unspecified date, in order to foster cultural understanding and empower women among other motivations." is a pretty big move if true
    - mkaziz 11y ago
      There's good and bad in most people, and most people do good and bad things on a daily basis, let alone over the course of a lifetime. It's quite possible he mistreats his servants and maims animals, but also intends to donate his fortune at a future unspecified date. (And if you wanna talk concrete - he did send a large cheque to the mayor of NYC immediately after 9/11 that was ultimately refused for political reasons). I don't know the Prince at all except for the occasional news article (including the one you've linked, coincidentally), but my objection was to GP's blatant lumping in him him with the rest of the Sauds (some of whom are undoubtedly very bad), and how that's acceptable because he's, well, a Saud.
  - dominotw 11y ago
    yes hiring some female pilot makes him a champion of human rights. Are you serious? fuck him. Its disgusting to tolerate gross forms of slavery and fund his grotesque lifestyle from that money. Disgusting human being.
    - mkaziz 11y ago
      From your comments, I take it you have some idea of how misogynistic Saudi culture is. Then take a step back and appreciate the effort he's putting in to change that. Also you're welcome to criticize his actions and even his lifestyle, but the clear ad hominem in your comment is against the HN ethos.

18 points by sethbannon 11y ago

On one side of a transaction you have VCs, who have long investment horizons and are highly incentivized to maximize returns, taking a short-term profit on an investment long before it has (theoretically) reached its potential. On the other side of the transaction you have GM and a Saudi Prince. I wonder who is the smart money...

zekevermillion 11y ago
Did AH exit completely, or are they just getting some liquidity for other early-stage investments?
- bobbygoodlatte 11y ago
  Typically a VC fund does not re-invest profits back into other startups — the profits are disbursed to LPs VC funds tend to dislike small exits: they're not enough to return the fund and they can't re-invest the capital.

dominotw 11y ago

don't twitters activists see the irony of using a platform owned by horrible misogynist and human right violaters like Prince Al-Waleed.

mkaziz 11y ago
From wikipedia: Al-Waleed is considered a proponent for female emancipation in the Saudi world. He has financed the training of Hanadi Zakaria al-Hindi to become the first Saudi woman commercial airline pilot and has stated on her graduation that he is "in full support of Saudi ladies working in all fields". Al-Hindi became certified to fly within Saudi Arabia in 2014. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Waleed_bin_Talal#First_Saudi_female_pilot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Waleed_bin_Talal#First_Saud... Do you assume he's a misogynist and a human rights violater because he is from Saudi Arabia?
- huac 11y ago
  There's a lot of rumors and allegations around him - this article goes through some: http://www.businessinsider.com/prince-alwaleed-2012-1 http://www.businessinsider.com/prince-alwaleed-2012-1 - accused of rape (case went to court) - keeps dwarves as basically 'court jesters' - tosses dwarves - maims animals instead of shooting to kill - poorly treats workers - "But several sources say this pilot, Hanadi Zakariya Hindi, has hardly flown any of Alwaleed's aircraft, certainly not his massive jets. They say that when she was hired, Alwaleed told his aviation staff that she never would." then again, "Al-Waleed announced that he would donate his entire fortune to charity at an unspecified date, in order to foster cultural understanding and empower women among other motivations." is a pretty big move if true
  - mkaziz 11y ago
    There's good and bad in most people, and most people do good and bad things on a daily basis, let alone over the course of a lifetime. It's quite possible he mistreats his servants and maims animals, but also intends to donate his fortune at a future unspecified date. (And if you wanna talk concrete - he did send a large cheque to the mayor of NYC immediately after 9/11 that was ultimately refused for political reasons). I don't know the Prince at all except for the occasional news article (including the one you've linked, coincidentally), but my objection was to GP's blatant lumping in him him with the rest of the Sauds (some of whom are undoubtedly very bad), and how that's acceptable because he's, well, a Saud.
- dominotw 11y ago
  yes hiring some female pilot makes him a champion of human rights. Are you serious? fuck him. Its disgusting to tolerate gross forms of slavery and fund his grotesque lifestyle from that money. Disgusting human being.
  - mkaziz 11y ago
    From your comments, I take it you have some idea of how misogynistic Saudi culture is. Then take a step back and appreciate the effort he's putting in to change that. Also you're welcome to criticize his actions and even his lifestyle, but the clear ad hominem in your comment is against the HN ethos.