Today we will travel to the intersection of money, technology, and sex. Conceived at this juncture is one of the most consequential inventions of this generation , perhaps of modern history — Tinder. Does that statement sound hyperbolic? Maybe, but only because no one has connected the dots. The forces…

You can hardly open a business newspaper or magazine today without seeing something about a tech company. Elon Musk. FANG stocks. Cryptocurrencies. These stories suck all of the oxygen out of the room because they’re sexy. But as an investor or entrepreneur, it’s hard to gain an edge in an…

A classic scene from Other People’s Money — In the 1991 film Other People’s Money, Wall Street financier Larry “The Liquidator” Garfield (played by Danny DeVito) attempts to gain control of the fictional New England Wire and Cable, a small Rhode Island-based company led by the benevolent CEO Andrew Jorgenson (Gregory Peck). A brief but memorable scene captures…

Has the Oracle of Omaha Lost His Touch? — These days, Warren Buffett works largely alone…in more than one sense. Berkshire Hathaway’s May 2 annual meeting, normally a raucous affair, took place remotely. Buffett, looking disheveled from months in isolation, delivered his remarks onstage to an empty 19,000-seat arena. It was a fitting metaphor for the present state of…

When Barry Diller took over as Chairman and CEO of Silver King Communications in 1995, the television station holding company was worth some $250 million. A quarter century later, that small company — now known as IAC/InterActiveCorp — has created equity value of $60 billion spread over ten publicly traded…

In 2005, lululemon founder and CEO Chip Wilson seemed unstoppable. His Vancouver-based yoga apparel company had already expanded across Canada and was entering the United States. Management estimated lululemon’s value at $225 million. Big investors and large retailers, including Victoria’s Secret, had written to Wilson expressing their interest in the…

Hint: They don’t do it like Wall Street — If there’s one subject that confuses finance students (and grownup investors) more than any other, it’s discounting future cash flows. Discounted cash flow (DCF) models are the foundation of modern financial analysis. The basic idea behind discounting is that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar in the…

Years ago I was obsessed with posters. When I was a teenager, nearly every inch of my bedroom wall was covered in some sort of music, movie, TV, and celebrity artwork. Even in college I looked forward to the annual September poster sale. It wasn’t until a few years ago…