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Gabe Newell applies for NZ residency
- beverest 6y agoTechnically speaking they asked if he was planning to bring developers to NZ, and he’s responded that the company had no such plans, nor did he have a meeting lined up to discuss this. Very good corporate speak. Next up, he just might be running for President.
- bowmessage 6y agoPresident would be a perfect role! There's no third term.
- sjg007 6y agoI’m convinced the NZ tech scene is going to grow significantly in the next 20 years.
- rrmm 6y agoNice place to be "stranded".
- m0zg 6y agoWow, he's lost a lot of weight! Good for him!
- EdwinLarkin 6y agoNZ is a safe haven for the rich to buy citizenship,property in case of a catastrophe in their home countries.
- lprd 6y agoHow much is citizenship?
- viraptor 6y agoYou can't really buy the citizenship. (At least officially) You still have to live there for years. But the residency starts at $3M NZ if you're a recurring visitor https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/investing-in-nz/visas/investor-visa https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/investing-in-nz/visas/inve...
- thespoonbends 6y agoI think the point is that there are unofficial routes: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/29/new-zealand-gave-peter-thiel-citizenship-after-spending-just-12-days-there https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/29/new-zealand-ga...
- techie128 6y agoThey're very much official routes. The US also has 'private bills' in which Congress can make anybody, even criminals and other individuals ineligible under the current INA, into US citizens. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-02-04-mn-1209-story.html https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-02-04-mn-1209-s...
- gnat 6y agoAfter the epic shitstorm that Thiel's citizenship caused, I don't see any appetite for further dispensations of citizenship by Ministers.
- 6y ago
- lactobacillis 6y agoDoes he have any weird political opinions/stances? Asking for a kiwi friend
- mcv 6y agoNo idea, but I once heard that at Valve, employees are completely free to choose what they work on, and that various hit games were initiatives from a bunch of developers who had a cool idea and decided to organise to build it. Gabe supposedly just hires smart people and trusts them to be smart enough to decide what needs to be done. No idea if that's true, but if it is, that attitude strikes me as left-libertarian.
- osobo 6y agoI don't know if they still operate that way, but the Valve Manual For New Employees is actually a fun read. Evidently you just roll your desk over to the project group you want to be a part of and roll with it. https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/valve/Valve_NewEmployeeHandbook.pdf https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/apps/valve/Valve_NewEmployee...
- typon 6y agoRead lots of blogs/posts by ex-Valve employees who portray this libertarian dream as a terrible place to work though. Although that could just be because its the gaming industry and not Valve specifically
- bart_spoon 6y agoIn a related article about Newell, he is trying make arrangements to have developers come to NZ for work during the pandemic as Valve, according to Newell, has seen productivity drop by 50-75% since working from home started. That’s a ton, and worse than most companies. I have to imagine this management/work culture is at least partly to blame.
- 6y ago
- boltefnovor 6y agoCraps me off that mega bajillionaires get to buy themselves a chunk of the last refuge on earth from the apocalypse.
- thespoonbends 6y agoNZ's tax policies favour the rich too. https://twitter.com/hynesalan/status/1317837979520552961 https://twitter.com/hynesalan/status/1317837979520552961
- gonzo41 6y agoTasmania is an option.
- TheSpiceIsLife 6y agoTasmania is a shit-hole, stay away! (I hope this works ;) )
- teruakohatu 6y agoAs a kiwi, I knew this was going to happen. Gabe has been camping out here for a long time and I suspected he was planning on going the same route as the many multi-millionaires and billionaires who have NZ as their backup plan. For a country with few ultra-rich, we have a really hot ultra-high-end property market catering to overseas billionaires.
- nullsense 6y agoWe also have a really hot ultra-low-end property market where 2 bedroom homes go for $2.3m on the North Shore. Sigh...
- Apocryphon 6y agoIf there are any naval powers in the post-apocalypse, New Zealand would be plum pickings for any pirate lord or renegade admiral.
- rgoulter 6y agoThere was an Australian comedy skit along these lines. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y-yT7o6y6k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y-yT7o6y6k
- aussiegeek 6y agoFrom the same episode of Gruen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xUYbI64QHI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xUYbI64QHI
- wesleywt 6y agoIt would a bit far off the trade routes for pirates don't you think? I would hang out in the Malaysian or Singaporean areas.
- hnarn 6y ago> I would hang out in the Malaysian or Singaporean areas. Not if all the billionaires are in New Zealand.
- CalRobert 6y agoI'd be a little nervous to be a lightly-defended island likely to still have arable land and pleasant weather in 100 years.
- LatteLazy 6y agoGreat country meets great prospective citizen, love ensues.
- emptyfile 6y agoMore like in covid-hiding. Stranded implies he can't return, and also portrays a billionaire as a victim.
- zed88 6y agoWell, if you have about 3 million dollar to put away, you're welcome here too. We need more Billionares and tech businesses here. https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/investing-in-nz/visas/investor-visa https://www.newzealandnow.govt.nz/investing-in-nz/visas/inve...
- 1234fdsazxcv 6y agoThis policy has lost all grip with reality. Where do you see the vibrant tech scene in Auckland? I'd love to see a some economic data from StatsNZ that supports your case. Even Theil sold out as soon as he got his citizenship. There's a little tech sector here but it is certainly not a major part of the economy. Everything is still based on the real estate ponzi scheme and resources... and a naive political class.
- zed88 6y agoThe bigger issue that NZ has is its old boys network, which wouldn't allow radical ideas and startups to succeed. The solution is to dilute it with tech entrepreneurs and investors from outside NZ and recreate the landscape. I live in Wellington and the tech scene here, although small, is quite vibrant. There is no reason why we can't accommodate those companies and workers who want to move out of SF. The govt will need to give heavy tax incentives and easy route to residency for those entrepreneurs who move their company here.
- blaser-waffle 6y agoThere's ~5 million people in the N-Zed. Greater NYC has ~20 million. The old boys are there, for sure, but a greater limitation is really just that there are only a handful of these investors and entrepreneurs, and the depth of their options and pocketbooks is limited. It's like trying to run startups only in Ohio.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- versteegen 6y ago
- sschueller 6y agoStranded my ass, he can charter the next plane and fly home. All he has to do is sit in quarantine for 2 weeks.
- known 6y agohttps://visalist.io/ https://visalist.io/ has all options