Adorama is one of the two best camera stores in the city, the other being B&H, both of which are owned and run primarily by Hassidic Jews. I don't really know why that particular hassidic detail needed to be in the second graf of this post though, and the fact that it did appear after the group of investors was called "shadowy" in the graf above it, and the sale "fishy" makes it seem a little anti-semitic.
Additionally, you wrote that it's fishy for 8020 Media to be acquired by 8020 Media, but that's an error, at least according to the memo sent out by Fox. It says 8020 Publishing LLC is being bought 8020 Media Inc. So, unless the Fox memo is inaccurate, you got the name of the company wrong in the first sentence of the post.
Lastly, I fail to see what's fishy about the sale. This is a positive development for the magazine, and a pretty remarkable one considering the times we live in, and it's a win for the photography community.
@RonnSicTorossian: Fox's memo is accurate enough, but 8020 Publishing LLC was doing business as 8020 Media prior to the sale. (You could have checked that on 8020's website before writing your comment!) And anyone familiar with the Jewish community would know that there are well-known cases of fraud and corruption among the Hasidim.
@Owen Thomas: Oh, and while we're linking to Ripoff Report, here's one for one of Gawker's current advertisers. Dig enough and you'll find dirt on anyone. That still doesn't justify racism.
Owen, you said that studies have show that CEO pay is the best predictor of a startups success. Based on the link you provide, it looks like it's not studies, but Peter Thiel that says this. Any actual study to go along with this claim? I'd be interested to see it, if so...
@FarfallaJellyfish: Perhaps "study" wasn't the perfect word. Thiel has certainly studied the question. He's backed a startup, Younoodle, which uses CEO pay as a metric to value startups. I don't think he's published a study with the results (since, presumably, the formula is part of Younoodle's value).
Owen I invested $6 mm of my own money against an idea I had and found others who shared to start a company. I still love the idea but I am not immune to the advertising slump or the economy in general. We took it as far as we could and we invested more than in any of our other ventures. This may have been a problem since as you correctly identified we believe lavishing cash on a venture does not increase its chance of success.
The reason we own large percentages is becuase we are not like a traditional VC. We don't take business plans but rather follow our own ideas and seek out people to partner with and fund them. Most CEO's had no intention of starting a business when we contacted them.
We had to make the tough decision about what in our portfolio might have to find another home. Many of our businesses are cash flow positive but 8020 is not and we first tried large publishers who need the business but don't know it yet unfortunately. Then we received a huge outpouring of support from people on the net who wanted to keep it alive which was very gratifying. If all goes well it won't miss a beat and a company that I am personally very fond of will be able to continue.
We build businesses that are interesting to us and are a challenge and let us work with interesting people. Not all will work but a surprising percentage actually have to date.
Hopefully JPG will find a good home and we can maintain our track record of having each business we have started to date go on to be successful as an innovative product and a business.
And lastly unkle_jeremy if only my feeble mind could remember events so vividly 12 years ago. Most people can't even describe a purse being snatched accurately 2 minutes later. However you remember such ancient events so vividly PLEASE let me know since i am forgetful to start with -- today -- and God only knows what it'll be like in 20 years.
@hminor: Oh wow, I just saw this now. Sorry for the late reply.
I was the first one in to the creative department that morning for some reason, it was about 8.30am. You came downstairs looking for Fred. He wasn't there. And you lost your shit. Like, totally. I don't even know if you knew anyone else was there to witness it.
10/01/09
02/28/09
FYI, the Times covered the same story here:
[bits.blogs.nytimes.com]
Adorama is one of the two best camera stores in the city, the other being B&H, both of which are owned and run primarily by Hassidic Jews. I don't really know why that particular hassidic detail needed to be in the second graf of this post though, and the fact that it did appear after the group of investors was called "shadowy" in the graf above it, and the sale "fishy" makes it seem a little anti-semitic.
Additionally, you wrote that it's fishy for 8020 Media to be acquired by 8020 Media, but that's an error, at least according to the memo sent out by Fox. It says 8020 Publishing LLC is being bought 8020 Media Inc. So, unless the Fox memo is inaccurate, you got the name of the company wrong in the first sentence of the post.
Lastly, I fail to see what's fishy about the sale. This is a positive development for the magazine, and a pretty remarkable one considering the times we live in, and it's a win for the photography community.
02/28/09
02/28/09
02/28/09
03/02/09
02/28/09
03/02/09
02/27/09
But the new owners can't take advantage of net loss carry forwards.
02/27/09
01/05/09
The reason we own large percentages is becuase we are not like a traditional VC. We don't take business plans but rather follow our own ideas and seek out people to partner with and fund them. Most CEO's had no intention of starting a business when we contacted them.
We had to make the tough decision about what in our portfolio might have to find another home. Many of our businesses are cash flow positive but 8020 is not and we first tried large publishers who need the business but don't know it yet unfortunately. Then we received a huge outpouring of support from people on the net who wanted to keep it alive which was very gratifying. If all goes well it won't miss a beat and a company that I am personally very fond of will be able to continue.
We build businesses that are interesting to us and are a challenge and let us work with interesting people. Not all will work but a surprising percentage actually have to date.
Hopefully JPG will find a good home and we can maintain our track record of having each business we have started to date go on to be successful as an innovative product and a business.
And lastly unkle_jeremy if only my feeble mind could remember events so vividly 12 years ago. Most people can't even describe a purse being snatched accurately 2 minutes later. However you remember such ancient events so vividly PLEASE let me know since i am forgetful to start with -- today -- and God only knows what it'll be like in 20 years.
Thanks.
03/24/09
I was the first one in to the creative department that morning for some reason, it was about 8.30am. You came downstairs looking for Fred. He wasn't there. And you lost your shit. Like, totally. I don't even know if you knew anyone else was there to witness it.
01/04/09
01/05/09
01/04/09
01/04/09
That psychedelic Aboriginal pose on the cover isn't helping.