Re:Ask HN: How did employees do after the Jet.com acquisition?
by KingMob on Wednesday March 08, 2017 @03:52PM
(#13823662)
Focus on value, not cost. Sure, 3 bil is too much if all you want is Jet.com as is. But 3 bil might be just fine if what you want is a team to help you catch up online and compete with Amazon.
Re:Ask HN: How did employees do after the Jet.com acquisition?
by MegaButts on Wednesday March 08, 2017 @10:17PM
(#13826634)
$3 billion to acquire a team that has not proven an ability to generate a profit? That's what boggles my mind. It's still a risk, but it's valued like a sure thing.
Re:Ask HN: How did employees do after the Jet.com acquisition?
by webmaven on Wednesday March 08, 2017 @11:48PM
(#13827061)
> a team that has not proven an ability to generate a profit
There is more than one flavor of unprofitability. On one end, you have Pets.com-style "selling stuff for less than it costs to stock and ship", and on the other end you have Amazon-style "every penny of profit and funding goes into expanding infrastructure ahead of projected demand and leveraging current infrastructure to enter new markets."
Re:Ask HN: How did employees do after the Jet.com acquisition?
by xherberta on Wednesday March 08, 2017 @05:28PM
(#13824525)
One thing you're seeing in the burn rate crescendo is that just before the acquisition, jet bought small rivals such as hayneedle.com so as to bargain based on a higher market share.
Of course, I don't know the logistics and how Walmart's acquisition could effect their burn rate and their revenue stream. My point was specifically that Jet was spending money to acquire customers, but the customers (in my anecdotal experience) always went back to Amazon.