5 ms·

DOE needs to stop approving mergers and acquisitions over $150 mil or so. Every such merger: Facebook/Instagram, Google/Youtube, etc has been a disaster.

nashashmi 2y ago
They were great investments for soon to be has beens. And helped the acquisition flourish too.
robertlagrant 2y ago
Google and YouTube seems pretty good. YouTube is the most old school webby experience I have these days, although now in video form, now that the web web is so walled off.
TeaBrain 2y ago
$150 million is way too low today. Nearly every small acquirable company will meet that threshold. I do think that a limit could possibly be set though for companies with significant market share in the same sector. The Sprint acquisition was over $20 billion. Exxon's acquisition of Pioneer last year was around $60 billion.
bklyn11201 2y ago
What do you think would happen to the venture-capital-funded tech ecosystem and the resulting tech salaries if this were to happen?
- exabrial 2y ago
  The hope would be a vast increase in employers available rather than consolidation down to FAANG, increasing demand and driving salaries up.
  - mavelikara 2y ago
    > increasing demand and driving salaries up. Despite the demand, the revenue per employee for the company might be low, and those companies might not be able to pay high salaries to employees.
    - zer00eyz 2y ago
      do you know how easy it is to get to a million bucks a year in revenue? Do you know how easy it is to have that pass 50% margin? 75? If you know how to build a stack, and have a useful service finding people to pay 20 bucks a month for it is not that hard. 5000 users is a fairly low target...
lolinder 2y ago
> Google/Youtube Just a reminder that Google purchased YouTube in October 2006, about 18 months after it launched. Google already owned YouTube when "Charlie Bit My Finger" went viral in 2007. Google owned YouTube before they launched Chrome, back when they were still the heroes of the internet. There might be some people who are still nostalgic for a pre-Google YouTube, but for most people the better times that they're remembering were still part of the Google era. The acquisition didn't ruin YouTube, Google ruined YouTube about 10 years later when Google as a whole pivoted for the worse.
- vl 2y ago
  YouTube as we know it today is only possible with Google’s acquisition. YouTube burned through literally billions of dollars for many years until it became profitable much later. Only likes of Google could have bankrolled it. Google did this intentionally to destroy all competition in the video space. Ultimately successfully.
nceqs3 2y ago
DOE? The Department of Energy?
- mikestew 2y ago
  Department of Education. https://www.ed.gov https://www.ed.gov I can only assume a typo in the comment.
  - exabrial 2y ago
    yeah, DOJ apologies
  - 0xffff2 2y ago
    Way off topic, but apparently Energy is the canonical "DOE". https://www.doe.gov https://www.doe.gov redirects to https://www.energy.gov https://www.energy.gov. <Insert joke about whoever had the most nukes wins here.>
jahewson 2y ago
“Let’s just abolish capitalism”. Seriously though, a world in which the government runs the economy and picks the winners is a bad one indeed.
- throwway120385 2y ago
  Where in the parent comment does it say that?
- exabrial 2y ago
  That's exactly how it works right now actually. I'm proposing a rule where everyone is treated equally.
coldpie 2y ago
Yeah. The FTC under the current admin has done more anti-merger work than in the entire rest of my lifetime. I intend to do my part to let them continue on that path this November.

nashashmi 2y ago

They were great investments for soon to be has beens. And helped the acquisition flourish too.

robertlagrant 2y ago

Google and YouTube seems pretty good. YouTube is the most old school webby experience I have these days, although now in video form, now that the web web is so walled off.

TeaBrain 2y ago

$150 million is way too low today. Nearly every small acquirable company will meet that threshold. I do think that a limit could possibly be set though for companies with significant market share in the same sector. The Sprint acquisition was over $20 billion. Exxon's acquisition of Pioneer last year was around $60 billion.

bklyn11201 2y ago

What do you think would happen to the venture-capital-funded tech ecosystem and the resulting tech salaries if this were to happen?

exabrial 2y ago
The hope would be a vast increase in employers available rather than consolidation down to FAANG, increasing demand and driving salaries up.
- mavelikara 2y ago
  > increasing demand and driving salaries up. Despite the demand, the revenue per employee for the company might be low, and those companies might not be able to pay high salaries to employees.
  - zer00eyz 2y ago
    do you know how easy it is to get to a million bucks a year in revenue? Do you know how easy it is to have that pass 50% margin? 75? If you know how to build a stack, and have a useful service finding people to pay 20 bucks a month for it is not that hard. 5000 users is a fairly low target...

lolinder 2y ago

> Google/Youtube Just a reminder that Google purchased YouTube in October 2006, about 18 months after it launched. Google already owned YouTube when "Charlie Bit My Finger" went viral in 2007. Google owned YouTube before they launched Chrome, back when they were still the heroes of the internet. There might be some people who are still nostalgic for a pre-Google YouTube, but for most people the better times that they're remembering were still part of the Google era. The acquisition didn't ruin YouTube, Google ruined YouTube about 10 years later when Google as a whole pivoted for the worse.

vl 2y ago
YouTube as we know it today is only possible with Google’s acquisition. YouTube burned through literally billions of dollars for many years until it became profitable much later. Only likes of Google could have bankrolled it. Google did this intentionally to destroy all competition in the video space. Ultimately successfully.

nceqs3 2y ago

DOE? The Department of Energy?

mikestew 2y ago
Department of Education. https://www.ed.gov https://www.ed.gov I can only assume a typo in the comment.
- exabrial 2y ago
  yeah, DOJ apologies
- 0xffff2 2y ago
  Way off topic, but apparently Energy is the canonical "DOE". https://www.doe.gov https://www.doe.gov redirects to https://www.energy.gov https://www.energy.gov. <Insert joke about whoever had the most nukes wins here.>

jahewson 2y ago

“Let’s just abolish capitalism”. Seriously though, a world in which the government runs the economy and picks the winners is a bad one indeed.

throwway120385 2y ago
Where in the parent comment does it say that?
exabrial 2y ago
That's exactly how it works right now actually. I'm proposing a rule where everyone is treated equally.

coldpie 2y ago

Yeah. The FTC under the current admin has done more anti-merger work than in the entire rest of my lifetime. I intend to do my part to let them continue on that path this November.