5 ms·

I'm actually on the fence about which merger is more important. On the one hand, tumblr is a toy[0]. Warner Chilcott, founded in 1968, and having gone through

I'm actually on the fence about which merger is more important. On the one hand, tumblr is a toy[0]. Warner Chilcott, founded in 1968, and having gone through mergers before, is Serious Business. On the other hand, should we really be upset that toy makers are getting a lot of press? I honestly go back and forth on the issue. True, if I had to pick between the medical products of WC/Actavis vs the blogging platform of tumblr I would probably pick WC, because I think the net happiness for the world is probably better served via their drugs than easy blogging access. But there is something delightful about an age in which cool toys get recognized, and I think that's important to remember. Incidentally, does anyone know if mergers like these affect which drugs get offered by a company? I can see the tumblr acquisition having a larger effect on society than the WC/Actavis one if drug companies are less likely to stop producing a drug than tech companies are to shut down a product. 0. I know a lot of toys turn out to be remarkably useful and transformative. That's part of my point.

anotherbadlogin 13y ago
But seriously, "blogging"? In 2013? It's incredible that Tumblr is even a going concern, let alone a billion-dollar "company."
smsm42 13y ago
OTOH, if tumblr disappeared today, I don't see how that would change the society. Facebook or Reddit - maybe, though even there doubtful, but but I don't see tumblr among the pillars of the society.
busyant 13y ago
> Incidentally, does anyone know if mergers like these affect which drugs get offered by a company? I think the FTC can (and does) block pharma mergers which severely reduce competition -- they will either block a merger or force spin-offs of certain divisions in an effort to prevent the acquiring company to corner a market on certain drug therapies (e.g., http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/pfizer.shtm http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/pfizer.shtm) Finally, I don't know which acquisition is more "important", but I think the primary reason that the Tumblr acquisition makes news is because it has the feeling of a "lottery win". Everybody likes this story: 26-year old CEO, a handful of employees. Maybe they worked hard, but they also caught the wave at the right time. Bunch of young people get rich over the course of a few years. *edit: Many people like to believe that they could get lucky and have a similar payday. That's much more appealing than: company works hard, grows slowly, makes drugs, has setbacks, expands, has more setbacks, gets bought. Middle-aged people then get laid-off so that the acquiring company can squeeze more $$ out of WC's drugs.
lmg643 13y ago
1) I think the author completely misses the point of why tumblr is fascinating to us. But i don't think it matters whether we see tumblr as a cool toy (like an iPhone) or just a well-designed re-tread (like Facebook vs Friendster). Basically, how many people are able to accomplish a valuation of a billion dollars with just a few years' work? And with almost zero revenue to show for it? A vanishingly small group of folks, who may loom large in the consciousness of the tech world but are such incredible statistical outliers that they become newsworthy. of course, not to mention that karp accomplished this while he was so young. And people are naturally fascinated with "lottery ticket" type rewards - fantasy money earned from a few year's work. the man-bites-dog aspect is precisely why we're interested - it isn't what you normally see. 2) we expect old guys to make large business deals - that's what old guys do. and to be honest, the motivations behind M&A generally have nothing to do with "what's good for the customer." it is generally empire building, or reducing competition in the market, improving price negotiation leverage versus major customers. Since business journalists are afraid or too uninformed to call out these true motivations behind corporate M&A, the journalism becomes frighteningly boring. so there's a decent reason that business news is a backwater. and i'm sure the average writer at fortune is fairly annoyed by that. hence this article.

anotherbadlogin 13y ago

But seriously, "blogging"? In 2013? It's incredible that Tumblr is even a going concern, let alone a billion-dollar "company."

smsm42 13y ago

OTOH, if tumblr disappeared today, I don't see how that would change the society. Facebook or Reddit - maybe, though even there doubtful, but but I don't see tumblr among the pillars of the society.

busyant 13y ago

> Incidentally, does anyone know if mergers like these affect which drugs get offered by a company? I think the FTC can (and does) block pharma mergers which severely reduce competition -- they will either block a merger or force spin-offs of certain divisions in an effort to prevent the acquiring company to corner a market on certain drug therapies (e.g., http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/pfizer.shtm http://ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/pfizer.shtm) Finally, I don't know which acquisition is more "important", but I think the primary reason that the Tumblr acquisition makes news is because it has the feeling of a "lottery win". Everybody likes this story: 26-year old CEO, a handful of employees. Maybe they worked hard, but they also caught the wave at the right time. Bunch of young people get rich over the course of a few years. *edit: Many people like to believe that they could get lucky and have a similar payday. That's much more appealing than: company works hard, grows slowly, makes drugs, has setbacks, expands, has more setbacks, gets bought. Middle-aged people then get laid-off so that the acquiring company can squeeze more $$ out of WC's drugs.

lmg643 13y ago

1) I think the author completely misses the point of why tumblr is fascinating to us. But i don't think it matters whether we see tumblr as a cool toy (like an iPhone) or just a well-designed re-tread (like Facebook vs Friendster). Basically, how many people are able to accomplish a valuation of a billion dollars with just a few years' work? And with almost zero revenue to show for it? A vanishingly small group of folks, who may loom large in the consciousness of the tech world but are such incredible statistical outliers that they become newsworthy. of course, not to mention that karp accomplished this while he was so young. And people are naturally fascinated with "lottery ticket" type rewards - fantasy money earned from a few year's work. the man-bites-dog aspect is precisely why we're interested - it isn't what you normally see. 2) we expect old guys to make large business deals - that's what old guys do. and to be honest, the motivations behind M&A generally have nothing to do with "what's good for the customer." it is generally empire building, or reducing competition in the market, improving price negotiation leverage versus major customers. Since business journalists are afraid or too uninformed to call out these true motivations behind corporate M&A, the journalism becomes frighteningly boring. so there's a decent reason that business news is a backwater. and i'm sure the average writer at fortune is fairly annoyed by that. hence this article.