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> raised over $1 billion, which is just too much for a media firm. This is not a software business with high margins to justify such capital. I'll bite. Why is

by voytec 3y ago

> raised over $1 billion, which is just too much for a media firm. This is not a software business with high margins to justify such capital. I'll bite. Why is it too much? This sum could be spent on purchasing smaller, struggling media companies covering various niches, or companies unrelated to media, to bootstrap a conglomerate.

boeingUH60 3y ago
They raised $1 billion at a valuation of up to $5.7 billion. That means the likely exit outcome for investors was an initial public offering (IPO). But media margins are thin, and any media company will find it hard to make enough profit to justify a valuation above $5.7 billion...the few exceptions are the ones that take decades to grow so big, e.g., Fox Corp and Disney...the conglomerates as you said but this takes a long time to build, longer than VCs can wait for their returns. Vice made $600 million in revenue in 2018 and earned no profit [1]. If it hit the public markets with those results, its stock will sink into oblivion. Tech companies get high valuations even without profitability because the software business is high margin and investors have hope that they'll become profitable in the future. It's not the same for media companies...the industry outlook is bleak, so there's no greater fool to sell to. 1- https://www.axios.com/2023/05/02/vice-media-preparing-bankruptcy https://www.axios.com/2023/05/02/vice-media-preparing-bankru...
red-iron-pine 3y ago
You raise the money and you have to deliver. And media, esp. things like news, have thin margins. I don't know what the going rate is these days but I recall numbers like $0.2 – $2.5 per 1,000 views. Meaning you need to get, and maintain, lots and lots of clicks. Which means lowest common denominator clickbate, while simultaneously not being too edgy and scaring off advertisers. And it's a deep, busy market, so you've got tons of competition, too. So throwing $1B at it is kind of overkill; it'll be ages before you ever get it back, and it locks you into a race-to-the-bottom market that's incredibly fickle. You coulda put that into a tech startup, or S&P 500 index fund, etc. for less risk and less BS.

by voytec 3y ago

boeingUH60 3y ago

They raised $1 billion at a valuation of up to $5.7 billion. That means the likely exit outcome for investors was an initial public offering (IPO). But media margins are thin, and any media company will find it hard to make enough profit to justify a valuation above $5.7 billion...the few exceptions are the ones that take decades to grow so big, e.g., Fox Corp and Disney...the conglomerates as you said but this takes a long time to build, longer than VCs can wait for their returns. Vice made $600 million in revenue in 2018 and earned no profit [1]. If it hit the public markets with those results, its stock will sink into oblivion. Tech companies get high valuations even without profitability because the software business is high margin and investors have hope that they'll become profitable in the future. It's not the same for media companies...the industry outlook is bleak, so there's no greater fool to sell to. 1- https://www.axios.com/2023/05/02/vice-media-preparing-bankruptcy https://www.axios.com/2023/05/02/vice-media-preparing-bankru...

red-iron-pine 3y ago

You raise the money and you have to deliver. And media, esp. things like news, have thin margins. I don't know what the going rate is these days but I recall numbers like $0.2 – $2.5 per 1,000 views. Meaning you need to get, and maintain, lots and lots of clicks. Which means lowest common denominator clickbate, while simultaneously not being too edgy and scaring off advertisers. And it's a deep, busy market, so you've got tons of competition, too. So throwing $1B at it is kind of overkill; it'll be ages before you ever get it back, and it locks you into a race-to-the-bottom market that's incredibly fickle. You coulda put that into a tech startup, or S&P 500 index fund, etc. for less risk and less BS.