4 ms·

Div Turakhia has sold his seventh business, Media.net, for $900M

67 points by pvsukale3 10y ago

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
pvsukale3 10y ago
There are 2 kinds of startups. Those that are constantly in the news with their founders giving quotes, talking about funding rounds, and sharing their success mantras. Then there are others that work quietly in the background, without any hype or hoopla, but then burst onto the scene with news that leaves the ecosystem stunned. Media.net belongs very firmly to the latter category. - See more at: https://officechai.com/stories/media-net-acquired/#sthash.ORGVjwUH.dpuf https://officechai.com/stories/media-net-acquired/#sthash.OR...
- readhn 10y ago
  I agree and I respect more the "strong silent" type. Although this guy is not in that category. Seems pretty flashy to me.
  - pvsukale3 10y ago
    yeah . he does sound flashy . those photos and lifestyle show ! But one thing I liked about these brothers is that they bootstrapped their companies in India. Those companies made some good money. This is very important because currently in India media covers wannabe steve jobs ..who get funding for shiy ideas , buy polish offices , hire too many people ,and burn all the funding in discount coupons.
  - sonink 10y ago
    He is flashy for sure, but Div is probably the only guy in the ads business, who runs a company this size and can still talk 'code' as good as the best engineers you know. They have a huge engineering setup in India and are one of the best paymasters. Though they do fly under the radar even in India.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
abhv 10y ago
Can somebody explain what the business actually does?
- corobo 10y ago
  Essentially it's the Adsense rival Yahoo uses
- Donzo 10y ago
  They serve contextual display advertisements. The reason that their ads are effective is because they are frequently disguised as navigation. I still made more money with AdSense though, and it feels a little less dirty...
  - repomies691 10y ago
    LOL, the business model seems to fit pretty well to the douchiness of this guy.
    - puranjay 10y ago
      How did you decide that the guy was douchy? Having money and spending it shouldn't be the criteria for it. By most accounts, his company is a great place to work in. Let's not forget that before it got on its high horse (after making billions upon billions), Google was pretty okay with letting people advertise scammy stuff on AdWords too, as was Facebook (just ask people about the glory days of the "Rich Jerk" or dating offers on Facebook)
- kitcar 10y ago
  Last I heard their niche was they resell adspace on websites that Google Adsense et all refuse to do business with for one reason or another
  - puranjay 10y ago
    Partially true. Most people I know use it to fill out unused inventory. You can't have more than 3 (or 4? can't remember) AdSense ads on page. But no one is stopping you from using 3 AdSense ads and 4-5 Media.net ads
shurane 10y ago
This sounds like a plug piece about this person's life. Great, he sold a company for a large sum of money, he's stood on the top of a moving plane, he's played some video games. This article very flagrantly displays his wealth, and goes into so little detail on the business. And the staged photos alongside this are equally ridiculous. unfortunately, this is more a "rich kids of Silicon Valley" than anything else.
- niravshah 10y ago
  Pretty ironic that this uncritical puff piece makes the front page of HN the day after Gawker wrote their last
- runj__ 10y ago
  The puffiness of this is just ridiculous, I'm not sure what they're trying to say? I usually enjoy reading about wealth and wealthy people but this just felt... fake.
- repomies691 10y ago
  Maybe he is looking for a girlfriend and this is a paid dating ad.
arc_of_descent 10y ago
I believe they are from the DirectI group. DirectI started very early in India when no one had any idea what the hell a domain was. They did (and still do I think) domain registration, web hosting, etc. Pretty simple stuff, but they started it all quite a while back and captured a good percentage of the Indian market.
- antisthenes 10y ago
  Be first, be the best or cheat.
funnymikey 10y ago
All that money but <div> yearns to have semantic meaning.
- IanDrake 10y ago
  I LOL'd when I read this...sometimes HN takes itself too seriously.
samdung 10y ago
Wonder why instead of appreciating the success, most comments here are disapproving of it. I did not hear of these guys till news of this acquisition broke out. I can't help but admire them. These guys have earned their Ferraris and Houses much like the Google Guys have earned their Private Jets. Maybe we can't appreciate someone who became a billionaire without outside funding and on their own terms. I smell jealousy. This has lots to tell about us than these guys. And somehow the moderators of this forum took it upon themselves to banish the article from the front page.

67 points by pvsukale3 10y ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

There are 2 kinds of startups. Those that are constantly in the news with their founders giving quotes, talking about funding rounds, and sharing their success mantras. Then there are others that work quietly in the background, without any hype or hoopla, but then burst onto the scene with news that leaves the ecosystem stunned. Media.net belongs very firmly to the latter category. - See more at: https://officechai.com/stories/media-net-acquired/#sthash.ORGVjwUH.dpuf https://officechai.com/stories/media-net-acquired/#sthash.OR...

readhn 10y ago
I agree and I respect more the "strong silent" type. Although this guy is not in that category. Seems pretty flashy to me.
- pvsukale3 10y ago
  yeah . he does sound flashy . those photos and lifestyle show ! But one thing I liked about these brothers is that they bootstrapped their companies in India. Those companies made some good money. This is very important because currently in India media covers wannabe steve jobs ..who get funding for shiy ideas , buy polish offices , hire too many people ,and burn all the funding in discount coupons.
- sonink 10y ago
  He is flashy for sure, but Div is probably the only guy in the ads business, who runs a company this size and can still talk 'code' as good as the best engineers you know. They have a huge engineering setup in India and are one of the best paymasters. Though they do fly under the radar even in India.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

abhv 10y ago

Can somebody explain what the business actually does?

corobo 10y ago
Essentially it's the Adsense rival Yahoo uses
Donzo 10y ago
They serve contextual display advertisements. The reason that their ads are effective is because they are frequently disguised as navigation. I still made more money with AdSense though, and it feels a little less dirty...
- repomies691 10y ago
  LOL, the business model seems to fit pretty well to the douchiness of this guy.
  - puranjay 10y ago
    How did you decide that the guy was douchy? Having money and spending it shouldn't be the criteria for it. By most accounts, his company is a great place to work in. Let's not forget that before it got on its high horse (after making billions upon billions), Google was pretty okay with letting people advertise scammy stuff on AdWords too, as was Facebook (just ask people about the glory days of the "Rich Jerk" or dating offers on Facebook)
kitcar 10y ago
Last I heard their niche was they resell adspace on websites that Google Adsense et all refuse to do business with for one reason or another
- puranjay 10y ago
  Partially true. Most people I know use it to fill out unused inventory. You can't have more than 3 (or 4? can't remember) AdSense ads on page. But no one is stopping you from using 3 AdSense ads and 4-5 Media.net ads

shurane 10y ago

This sounds like a plug piece about this person's life. Great, he sold a company for a large sum of money, he's stood on the top of a moving plane, he's played some video games. This article very flagrantly displays his wealth, and goes into so little detail on the business. And the staged photos alongside this are equally ridiculous. unfortunately, this is more a "rich kids of Silicon Valley" than anything else.

niravshah 10y ago
Pretty ironic that this uncritical puff piece makes the front page of HN the day after Gawker wrote their last
runj__ 10y ago
The puffiness of this is just ridiculous, I'm not sure what they're trying to say? I usually enjoy reading about wealth and wealthy people but this just felt... fake.
repomies691 10y ago
Maybe he is looking for a girlfriend and this is a paid dating ad.

arc_of_descent 10y ago

I believe they are from the DirectI group. DirectI started very early in India when no one had any idea what the hell a domain was. They did (and still do I think) domain registration, web hosting, etc. Pretty simple stuff, but they started it all quite a while back and captured a good percentage of the Indian market.

antisthenes 10y ago
Be first, be the best or cheat.

funnymikey 10y ago

All that money but <div> yearns to have semantic meaning.

IanDrake 10y ago
I LOL'd when I read this...sometimes HN takes itself too seriously.

samdung 10y ago

Wonder why instead of appreciating the success, most comments here are disapproving of it. I did not hear of these guys till news of this acquisition broke out. I can't help but admire them. These guys have earned their Ferraris and Houses much like the Google Guys have earned their Private Jets. Maybe we can't appreciate someone who became a billionaire without outside funding and on their own terms. I smell jealousy. This has lots to tell about us than these guys. And somehow the moderators of this forum took it upon themselves to banish the article from the front page.