“Nothing any good isn’t hard.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Facebook's Motivations - by Ben Thompson (LINK)
Bob Dylan as Economic Prophet - by Mark Spitznagel (LINK)
The Last Place on Earth Where Everyone Still Loves Kmart [H/T Matt] (LINK)
The Kmart store in Guam is located 6,000 miles west of California in the Pacific Ocean, well past the easy reach of Target , Wal-Mart or Amazon Prime.
The store, open 24 hours a day, also seems beyond the reach of time itself. Inside, it feels more like 1980, when Kmart ruled the big-box retail market.
...The company doesn’t disclose sales for individual stores, but a former executive said the two-decade-old Guam Kmart produces slightly more than $100 million in annual sales—about three times the revenue of the next-highest grossing store. The average Kmart store had sales of $9 million, according to retail consultancy eMarketer, down 20% since 2012.
a16z Podcast: Reinventing Food (LINK)
Rory Sutherland in conversation with Richard Shotton on the O Behave Podcast (LINK)
Related book: The Choice Factory: 25 behavioural biases that influence what we buyA review of Niall Ferguson's book, The Square and the Tower (LINK)
Related video: Niall Ferguson on History’s Hidden Networks (also available in podcast format)
Speaking of Niall Ferguson, I think we can safely say 'Buffett 1, Ferguson 0' on Ferguson's November 2009 comment about Berkshire's purchase of Burlington Northern: Niall Ferguson on Charlie Rose
And a week or so after Ferguson was on Charlie Rose, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates did a CNBC Town Hall event together, and Buffett said the following, which is worth reviewing:
"So it's a terrible mistake to look at what's going on in the economy today and then decide whether to buy or sell stocks based on it. You should decide whether to buy or sell stocks based on how much you're getting for your money, long-term value you're getting for your money at any given time. And next week doesn't make any difference because next week, next week is going to be a week further away. And the important thing is to have the right long-term outlook, evaluate the businesses you are buying. And then a terrible market or a terrible economy is your friend. I don't care, in making a purchase of the Burlington Northern, I don't care whether next week, or next month or even next year there is a big revival in car loadings or any of that sort of thing. A period like this gives me a chance to do things. It's silly to wait. I wrote an article. If you wait until you see the robin, spring will be over."