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Great story all around. A company made a product that massively benefited people and is getting a lot of money for it. Even though they are making $18 Billion,
by RcouF1uZ4gsC 5y ago
Great story all around. A company made a product that massively benefited people and is getting a lot of money for it.
Even though they are making $18 Billion, it is likely that the vaccine is actually worth trillions due to the number of lives saved and because vaccination is allowing the economies to open up again.
You hear a lot of about companies making money from developing and selling stuff that is a net harm to society, but it is good to hear about a company making money from developing and selling something that is a massive benefit to society.
- sho_hn 5y agoIt's also pretty interesting how the vaccine development was funded, and the timeline: - Dec 2019: €50 million loan from the European Commission/EIB - Jun 2020: Additional €100 million loan from the EIB - Jun 2020: €250 million from a Singaporean holding in a fairly regular investment activity - March 2020: $135 million from the Chinese company Fosun in exchange for shares and a manufacturing license - April 2020: $185 million from Pfizer as part of an equity partnership - Sept 2020: €375 million of taxpayer money from the German gov in
- runako 5y agoThere's also the IPO proceeds of ~$350mm IIRC.
- spywaregorilla 5y agoI'm curious what you find interesting about this? Nothing seems especially remarkable here to me.
- FabHK 5y agoNot GP, but what I find uplifting is that sensible institutions (the European Investment Bank) could fund things that turned out to be immensely important before the need was obvious.
- spywaregorilla 5y agoI agree its uplifting, but not especially surprising. Biotech is a fairly hot sector.
- oblio 5y agoYour timeline messed up.