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I don't have a firm opinion on the matter yet. I was initially suspicious of the initial report as I had never heard of them (PrivCo). However, I do work in adv
by dailyrorschach 14y ago
I don't have a firm opinion on the matter yet. I was initially suspicious of the initial report as I had never heard of them (PrivCo). However, I do work in advertising/PR and if someone submitted a claim like this to a spokesperson within four hours, we would at least say there are considerable and factual errors with your report, etc. This of course may have happened.
My interest in following this story is personal as I live in DC and have many friends still employed at the company.
I'd disagree that CNN is being unethical here, their story/angle is about the process and getting to the bottom of the PrivCo report.
- tptacek 14y agoFOUR HOURS. That's how much time they claim to have given LivingSocial before running the report. Horsewhip these clowns off the stage now. It's actually even worse if underlying trend they're "reporting" on is true, because they've poisoned the well.
- dailyrorschach 14y agoPrivCo looks even worse now with this additional update to CNN's story: "I don't think the real story here is the details of the financing," Hamadeh [PrivCo CEO] said. "It's what's going to happen to the little guys, all of the merchants who are really the company's unsecured creditors, if LivingSocial goes bankrupt... You'll see that we were right in six or nine months."
- FinTechCTO 14y agoUh you don't think the most important story from public interest point is what it means for 1,000s of barely getting by local merchants that their place in line in a bankruptcy - which looks more and more likely - since LivingSocial per Fortune says was down to just $28 M before this emergency financing - so end of Feb had $28M + $110M new money so = $138M cash now (but still owed those 1,000s of local merchants within next 30-60 days over $350M) is not the most important part of what's going on at LivingSocial, and that privco was trying to sound the alarm to local merchants and employees that LS doesn't have the cash to pay them in full?? How will merchants survive? (If you've ever had a family member run a restaurant or hair salon, they barely survive week to week. They served the food, they did the haircuts. They're owed their money. They have a right to know whether the company that owes them the money has the money to actually pay them on time or at all, don't they? If not, shouldn't they refuse to honor any more LS vouchers and save themselves? To me who has several family members who are small local business people like this (and yes some have recently run LS deals, thinking that with $850M and amazon name they can count on it coming on time on the 15th or the 20th next month and are timing their paying their bills the moment they receive that LS check. You don't care about that? What exactly is important to you? Privco exposed the balance sheet on 12/31 in black and white...massive shortfall in money to pay those merchants, massive losses, even worse terms to get final lifeline. And it was all based on math that can't be denied, unless you are a troll for livingsocial PR or have your head up your ass.
- damoncali 14y agoI think that's exactly right - this wouldn't be a story if PrivCo wasn't mostly right about the big picture. The big picture is one of impending doom at LS, and yes, if that comes to bear, the little guys will get nothing. Sure, they come off as slimy (and maybe they are - I have no idea). But the details matter less than the overall story here.
- tptacek 14y agoThat's what PrivCo would say to defend what's happened. Like you, they'd be careful to couch the defense in terms of ideas that are hard to falsify. Of course, they got to this point in the conversation by reporting a series of material falsehoods; their initial specificity is what scored them a seat at the table. But let's ignore that they have no credibility anymore and instead entertain our own biases about what's happened. It is especially easy to pull this off when the topic is a company we don't like.
- damoncali 14y agoI can't say I disagree. They displayed some pretty aggressive, and possibly unethical tactics here. But honestly, I don't much care about their account (as it seems to be inaccurate). I do care about LivingSocial's account, which is interesting to me, and paints pretty much the same picture.