High Signal Podcasts Evidence ledger
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Public evidence record

David Rosenthal

Host · Acquired

Claims
500
Episodes
21
Shows
1
Named items
38

Books, apps, and tools

The evidenced stack.

Browse the grouped index →

hardware / owns

Rimowa suitcase

“It's similar, but I bought a Rimowa suitcase this year and I love it. It's just a suitcase, but I love it.”

Acquired · 15 Dec 2025

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

app / uses

Waymo

“Yeah. Scoping just to ride share now that we have Waymo in San Francisco, I use Waymo in scenarios where I would never use an Uber or a Lyft.”

Acquired · 6 Oct 2025

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

service / uses

Waymo

“Scoping just to ride share now that we have Waymo in San Francisco, I use Waymo in scenarios where I would never use an Uber or a Lyft.”

Acquired · 6 Oct 2025

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

app / likes

Google Earth

“Yes, Keyhole and Google Earth (I think) is my favorite part of our first Google episode earlier this year.”

Acquired · 26 Aug 2025

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

app / likes

Craigslist

“I think I talked before on the Meta episode about how much I love Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist before that.”

Acquired · 18 Nov 2024

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

app / likes

Facebook Marketplace

“I think I talked before on the Meta episode about how much I love Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist before that.”

Acquired · 18 Nov 2024

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

app / uses

Winamp

“I listen to so much music all the time on Winamp, it should just know what I like and automatically pick the next song.”

Acquired · 28 Oct 2024

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

hardware / uses

AirPods

“I used AirPods for years and years and they’re great, but if you sleep on your side or do anything you know you got the AirPod jamming into your ears.”

Acquired · 22 Jul 2024

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

app / avoids

ChatGPT

“Honestly, this is why I don't use ChatGPT for acquired work, I feel like we need to be a hundred percent all the time.”

Acquired · 20 Feb 2024

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

other / uses

Blackberry movie

“Two on some holiday travel flights, I think recommended by an Acquired listener, actually, I watched the Blackberry movie.”

Acquired · 22 Jan 2024

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

book / uses

Wool

“I have to give you a big thank you, because over the last couple of weeks since your recommendation, I have read the book Wool, which is the first in the series that is the Silo series on Apple TV+, because I'm more of a book guy than a TV guy.”

Acquired · 22 Jan 2024

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

other / likes

Nike

“That's why Nike is my favorite episode, because I feel like this way of thinking about what we do finally clicked for me.”

Acquired · 18 Dec 2023

Evidence receipt · Source ↗

Claim ledger

What David said.

500 transcript-backed records

04 / belief

Like himself? But I think really, like, what this is really about and Roy's superpower for Disney was that even if he wasn't, you know, the best executive or leader or in touch with the marketplace, as evidenced by the total flop of "Fantasia 2000.

“Like himself? But I think really, like, what this is really about and Roy's superpower for Disney was that even if he wasn't, you know, the best executive or leader or in touch with the marketplace, as evidenced by the total flop of "Fantasia 2000.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

05 / belief

The whole thing feels like a high-wire act. And right when we got to Snow White's box office numbers, we realized that a bunch of authoritative sources listed $8 million as the revenue for Snow White's box office in its original release.

“The whole thing feels like a high-wire act. And right when we got to Snow White's box office numbers, we realized that a bunch of authoritative sources listed $8 million as the revenue for Snow White's box office in its original release.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

13 / belief

Yep. So heading into 2022, Bob Chapek does a reorg, basically reorging the entire company around the streaming strategy, consolidates all the studios altogether into one reporting segment, Disney Media, I think, D-Med.

“Yep. So heading into 2022, Bob Chapek does a reorg, basically reorging the entire company around the streaming strategy, consolidates all the studios altogether into one reporting segment, Disney Media, I think, D-Med.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

19 / belief

One of the first things they do that ends up, I think, really setting up all the following success that Eisner and Wells and Katzenberg have is they raise the ticket prices at Disneyland and Disney World.

“One of the first things they do that ends up, I think, really setting up all the following success that Eisner and Wells and Katzenberg have is they raise the ticket prices at Disneyland and Disney World.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

25 / evaluation

Honestly, for Roy and for Stanley and their Save Disney Campaign, it was the best thing that could have happened because to many people, they look at this and they're like, how low has The Walt Disney Company fallen?

“Honestly, for Roy and for Stanley and their Save Disney Campaign, it was the best thing that could have happened because to many people, they look at this and they're like, how low has The Walt Disney Company fallen?”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

37 / belief

Core Disney and Disney Animation and Pixar have been so disciplined over the years about metering out their content and the core delivery of that content on an infrequent enough basis that it doesn't dilute it. And Marvel, ironically, I think really is the counterexample here.

“Core Disney and Disney Animation and Pixar have been so disciplined over the years about metering out their content and the core delivery of that content on an infrequent enough basis that it doesn't dilute it. And Marvel, ironically, I think really is the counterexample here.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

42 / belief

I think more than anything else, like through Disney films and Looney Tunes and Warner Brothers, I was just sitting there like, man, I feel like I should be watching some animation right now.

“I think more than anything else, like through Disney films and Looney Tunes and Warner Brothers, I was just sitting there like, man, I feel like I should be watching some animation right now.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

44 / belief

The other story is that Walt always had a dream since he got to Hollywood of having his name up on a neon sign. And now that they have their own real studio, he wants a neon sign constructed that says the Walt Disney Studio, which I think does happen.

“The other story is that Walt always had a dream since he got to Hollywood of having his name up on a neon sign. And now that they have their own real studio, he wants a neon sign constructed that says the Walt Disney Studio, which I think does happen.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

46 / belief

In the better economics of not having to share too much on the back end or in merchandising fees, etc, with stars. And then I think really just like the ability of people to form deep, lasting relationships with the characters versus live action.

“In the better economics of not having to share too much on the back end or in merchandising fees, etc, with stars. And then I think really just like the ability of people to form deep, lasting relationships with the characters versus live action.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

49 / belief

Now, there's a reason why the Screen Cartoonists Guild had stayed away from Disney despite it obviously being the leader in animation up until this point, which is I think Walt's utopian dream more or less was true, or at least true enough.

“Now, there's a reason why the Screen Cartoonists Guild had stayed away from Disney despite it obviously being the leader in animation up until this point, which is I think Walt's utopian dream more or less was true, or at least true enough.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

51 / evaluation

There were no sound movie soundtrack albums before then, and it is a huge hit both because, you know, it's a great soundtrack, but like before this album, there was never anything that audiences could take home actually of the picture that they saw in theaters.

“There were no sound movie soundtrack albums before then, and it is a huge hit both because, you know, it's a great soundtrack, but like before this album, there was never anything that audiences could take home actually of the picture that they saw in theaters.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

57 / belief

I mean, it's his quote from his memoir that I have right here: I realized that a mutual company would never provide me with the personal fortune that so many denizens of Wall Street would earn, but it offered, I believe, my last best chance to resume my career.

“I mean, it's his quote from his memoir that I have right here: I realized that a mutual company would never provide me with the personal fortune that so many denizens of Wall Street would earn, but it offered, I believe, my last best chance to resume my career.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Vanguard
Publisher
Acquired

60 / commitment

I don't exactly know the answer, but what I will tell you to bring us to today here is that 24 months, in May of 2024, Vanguard made another big CEO announcement that they were bringing on the first outside CEO in the firm's entire 50-year history, Salim Ramji, from BlackRock, where he was until that point in time, head of the iShares division.

“I don't exactly know the answer, but what I will tell you to bring us to today here is that 24 months, in May of 2024, Vanguard made another big CEO announcement that they were bringing on the first outside CEO in the firm's entire 50-year history, Salim Ramji, from BlackRock, where he was until that point in time, head of the iShares division.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Vanguard
Publisher
Acquired

61 / belief

All the proceeds from the book sales all go directly to the Bogle Family Foundation, where they get distributed to a whole variety of charities, including prominently the American Indian College Fund, which I think Jack was on the board of and was a huge supporter of during his life.

“All the proceeds from the book sales all go directly to the Bogle Family Foundation, where they get distributed to a whole variety of charities, including prominently the American Indian College Fund, which I think Jack was on the board of and was a huge supporter of during his life.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Vanguard
Publisher
Acquired

69 / belief

I think one time he collapsed and had a heart attack waiting for the commuter train out of Philadelphia, and he was lying there on the ground, and the ambulance and the paramedics came, and he makes a bet with them that they won't get him to the hospital in time to save his life.

“I think one time he collapsed and had a heart attack waiting for the commuter train out of Philadelphia, and he was lying there on the ground, and the ambulance and the paramedics came, and he makes a bet with them that they won't get him to the hospital in time to save his life.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Vanguard
Publisher
Acquired

70 / evaluation

So yeah, I think, uh, I, I agree with Warren, and millions and millions and millions of people have had their financial lives changed because of him and would not have happened without him.

“So yeah, I think, uh, I, I agree with Warren, and millions and millions and millions of people have had their financial lives changed because of him and would not have happened without him.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Vanguard
Publisher
Acquired

76 / belief

Luca does, but he goes day to day to Turin and kinda closer to the Agnelli empire. And I think Enzo thinks that he's gonna still have a spy now in Fiat with Luca, which maybe he does, maybe he doesn't.

“Luca does, but he goes day to day to Turin and kinda closer to the Agnelli empire. And I think Enzo thinks that he's gonna still have a spy now in Fiat with Luca, which maybe he does, maybe he doesn't.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Ferrari
Publisher
Acquired

77 / belief

Now, legends would say later, and Luigi, I think, would probably perpetuate this himself, that Luigi is the one who convinced Enzo to abandon the machine tools business and focus only on cars again after World War II.

“Now, legends would say later, and Luigi, I think, would probably perpetuate this himself, that Luigi is the one who convinced Enzo to abandon the machine tools business and focus only on cars again after World War II.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Ferrari
Publisher
Acquired

78 / belief

Sergio gets them out of the partnership and engineers GM paying $2 billion to Fiat in order to end the partnership. And I think without that $2 billion, the company almost certainly would have died.

“Sergio gets them out of the partnership and engineers GM paying $2 billion to Fiat in order to end the partnership. And I think without that $2 billion, the company almost certainly would have died.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Ferrari
Publisher
Acquired

79 / belief

I think Luca probably had zero interest in taking Ferrari public, and I think he had even less than zero interest in using proceeds from the Ferrari IPO and the other financial engineering that we're about to talk about to save Chrysler and Fiat.

“I think Luca probably had zero interest in taking Ferrari public, and I think he had even less than zero interest in using proceeds from the Ferrari IPO and the other financial engineering that we're about to talk about to save Chrysler and Fiat.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Ferrari
Publisher
Acquired

80 / commitment

The shield reflects his intention to do battle on the racetrack, and the Italian colors reflect the ultimate ambition to establish this team, this company, and its future cars as the Italian national team, and sports car company. So in our research, I spoke to Luca di Montezemolo, the legendary Ferrari chairman who would ultimately succeed Enzo, and really in many ways be his heir, as we will tell in this story.

“The shield reflects his intention to do battle on the racetrack, and the Italian colors reflect the ultimate ambition to establish this team, this company, and its future cars as the Italian national team, and sports car company. So in our research, I spoke to Luca di Montezemolo, the legendary Ferrari chairman who would ultimately succeed Enzo, and really in many ways be his heir, as we will tell in this story.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Ferrari
Publisher
Acquired

85 / commitment

Fiat announces to Wall Street as part of the merger, though, Sergio does, hey, we've got a plan. And we are going to reduce that from over $11 billion to $1 billion or less over the next 4 years by 2018.

“Fiat announces to Wall Street as part of the merger, though, Sergio does, hey, we've got a plan. And we are going to reduce that from over $11 billion to $1 billion or less over the next 4 years by 2018.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Ferrari
Publisher
Acquired

89 / belief

The LaFerrari Halo car was the first fully in-house designed Ferrari. And during those 61 years, I believe every single road-going production Ferrari except for one, I think, was designed by Pininfarina.

“The LaFerrari Halo car was the first fully in-house designed Ferrari. And during those 61 years, I believe every single road-going production Ferrari except for one, I think, was designed by Pininfarina.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Ferrari
Publisher
Acquired

90 / commitment

So, after Dino's death, Enzo stops going to races. It's sort of like a self-inflicted punishment that You know, if Dino can't be here with me to go to the races, then I will no longer travel to and go to the races, to my great, terrible joys.

“So, after Dino's death, Enzo stops going to races. It's sort of like a self-inflicted punishment that You know, if Dino can't be here with me to go to the races, then I will no longer travel to and go to the races, to my great, terrible joys.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Ferrari
Publisher
Acquired

101 / belief

Then in the 1980s when the Italian thing happens, the Paul Newman thing happens, and the collector’s market gets built, I think the first real big move that Rolex makes into the luxury world.

“Then in the 1980s when the Italian thing happens, the Paul Newman thing happens, and the collector’s market gets built, I think the first real big move that Rolex makes into the luxury world.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Rolex
Publisher
Acquired

111 / belief

I’m sure there are some people, but I think for a lot of people who love Rolex, they’re also going to own a Panerai or they’re going to own a whatever, and that doesn’t hurt their relationship with Rolex.

“I’m sure there are some people, but I think for a lot of people who love Rolex, they’re also going to own a Panerai or they’re going to own a whatever, and that doesn’t hurt their relationship with Rolex.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Rolex
Publisher
Acquired

116 / belief

Hermès didn’t, and Rolex followed this exact playbook over the last 10 years of not price-gauging themselves out of the market, but intentionally limiting supply, letting the secondary market go nuts, and then but keeping an even keel for themselves. Now that there’s been a bit of a reset, they’re stronger than ever I think.

“Hermès didn’t, and Rolex followed this exact playbook over the last 10 years of not price-gauging themselves out of the market, but intentionally limiting supply, letting the secondary market go nuts, and then but keeping an even keel for themselves. Now that there’s been a bit of a reset, they’re stronger than ever I think.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Rolex
Publisher
Acquired

117 / uncertainty

I don’t know that André and they were thinking about it necessarily as luxury yet—and it’s not really luxury yet, it’s much more lifestyle at this point in time; it would later become luxury—but this is his real, real genius.

“I don’t know that André and they were thinking about it necessarily as luxury yet—and it’s not really luxury yet, it’s much more lifestyle at this point in time; it would later become luxury—but this is his real, real genius.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Rolex
Publisher
Acquired

124 / belief

Ultimately, after the war in 1919, Hans moves both himself and the official company headquarters to Geneva, where of course it still is to this day. And even to this day—this is crazy—design, sales, marketing, and (I think) final assembly all happen in Geneva while production of the movement still happens up in the mountains in Bienne.

“Ultimately, after the war in 1919, Hans moves both himself and the official company headquarters to Geneva, where of course it still is to this day. And even to this day—this is crazy—design, sales, marketing, and (I think) final assembly all happen in Geneva while production of the movement still happens up in the mountains in Bienne.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Rolex
Publisher
Acquired

126 / belief

I think if at least you buy the premise that if they were to operate their own retail locations, they would be pushed by customers to have more things in those stores than just the six or seven core Rolex models, which you probably can’t walk out of the store holding one of them anyway.

“I think if at least you buy the premise that if they were to operate their own retail locations, they would be pushed by customers to have more things in those stores than just the six or seven core Rolex models, which you probably can’t walk out of the store holding one of them anyway.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Rolex
Publisher
Acquired

127 / belief

Then at some point in time—could be a couple of months, could be a couple of years—you’ll get the call that your model is available. The Daytona is (I think) the only model where there is no waitlist.

“Then at some point in time—could be a couple of months, could be a couple of years—you’ll get the call that your model is available. The Daytona is (I think) the only model where there is no waitlist.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Rolex
Publisher
Acquired

133 / belief

All of these innovations, even though Sol came up with them, as these other companies are scaling and I think particularly Kmart, they don't really have the large scale operational expertise, nor the access to capital to really fend off the competition.

“All of these innovations, even though Sol came up with them, as these other companies are scaling and I think particularly Kmart, they don't really have the large scale operational expertise, nor the access to capital to really fend off the competition.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Costco
Publisher
Acquired

142 / belief

What I think also, back to the membership, it all comes back to member trust. The members have to trust that they are going to get the absolute best price on everything and that Costco isn't going to be playing these games.

“What I think also, back to the membership, it all comes back to member trust. The members have to trust that they are going to get the absolute best price on everything and that Costco isn't going to be playing these games.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Costco
Publisher
Acquired

149 / belief

Interestingly, the transaction really is about as close to a merger of equals as I think we've ever seen on the show, with the caveat that Jim is clearly going to be the CEO that's going to run the combined company.

“Interestingly, the transaction really is about as close to a merger of equals as I think we've ever seen on the show, with the caveat that Jim is clearly going to be the CEO that's going to run the combined company.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Costco
Publisher
Acquired

151 / belief

If we have a small number of additional ooh, ahh, and wow, one time items, such that every time as a member you come into the store, there's something new and different for you to find and buy at a really low price, that would drive repeat traffic and make coming to Costco more of a novelty, more of an entertainment event. Today, I think about 25% of their SKUs are these treasure hunt items.

“If we have a small number of additional ooh, ahh, and wow, one time items, such that every time as a member you come into the store, there's something new and different for you to find and buy at a really low price, that would drive repeat traffic and make coming to Costco more of a novelty, more of an entertainment event. Today, I think about 25% of their SKUs are these treasure hunt items.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Costco
Publisher
Acquired

152 / belief

The individual warehouses these days, you may have the stats exactly, but I think an average Costco warehouse generates over $200 million in revenue, and the top ones generate three $400 million of revenue for a single store.

“The individual warehouses these days, you may have the stats exactly, but I think an average Costco warehouse generates over $200 million in revenue, and the top ones generate three $400 million of revenue for a single store.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Costco
Publisher
Acquired

153 / prediction

What's interesting is I think at the time, I suspect there were very few other Western style, globally aspiring retailers that were entering Asian markets, because it's not exactly obvious that a huge warehouse with bulk packaging would work in cultures like (say) Japan, where people live in tightly packed, dense urban environments, much smaller houses and apartments than in America.

“What's interesting is I think at the time, I suspect there were very few other Western style, globally aspiring retailers that were entering Asian markets, because it's not exactly obvious that a huge warehouse with bulk packaging would work in cultures like (say) Japan, where people live in tightly packed, dense urban environments, much smaller houses and apartments than in America.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Costco
Publisher
Acquired

155 / recommendation

Well, first off, we owe a huge thank you to Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg, who are the sports editors over at The Wall Street Journal, and just recently published, I think the best business history book of Formula 1 called The Formula.

“Well, first off, we owe a huge thank you to Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg, who are the sports editors over at The Wall Street Journal, and just recently published, I think the best business history book of Formula 1 called The Formula.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Formula 1
Publisher
Acquired

164 / commitment

You give me your rights for your team appearances, and I will go fight with these race promoters, many of whom are probably gangsters themselves, and I will get us the best collective deal.

“You give me your rights for your team appearances, and I will go fight with these race promoters, many of whom are probably gangsters themselves, and I will get us the best collective deal.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Formula 1
Publisher
Acquired

172 / belief

Team owner, race promoter, official FIA representative, and of course, CEO and owner of FOPA and de facto, the league itself. And I think at every point in time, he was always in at least two, if not three or four of those roles simultaneously.

“Team owner, race promoter, official FIA representative, and of course, CEO and owner of FOPA and de facto, the league itself. And I think at every point in time, he was always in at least two, if not three or four of those roles simultaneously.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Formula 1
Publisher
Acquired

175 / belief

Here's why I was going with the second reason why I think you needed a Bernie. The global nature of the sport, the insane logistics required to be operating a global sport, the idea that an employee, that the teams, the F1 teams, could have gotten together and hired an employee like the NFL did with Pete Rozelle to go and create all this.

“Here's why I was going with the second reason why I think you needed a Bernie. The global nature of the sport, the insane logistics required to be operating a global sport, the idea that an employee, that the teams, the F1 teams, could have gotten together and hired an employee like the NFL did with Pete Rozelle to go and create all this.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Formula 1
Publisher
Acquired

180 / evaluation

Obviously, there is this incredible counter example out there with the NFL of a similar dynamic, arguably a much more complicated dynamic because there were a lot more teams in the NFL that needed to be wrangled.

“Obviously, there is this incredible counter example out there with the NFL of a similar dynamic, arguably a much more complicated dynamic because there were a lot more teams in the NFL that needed to be wrangled.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Formula 1
Publisher
Acquired

181 / evaluation

We should also note here too, we being a little glib in this episode, in 2023, Bernie ultimately pleaded guilty to tax fraud as a result of all the machinations] we're about to talk about and had to pay a 653 million pound payment to the crown in back taxes and fines. And he also received a, I think 17 month jail sentence, which was then suspended, probably in large part to his advanced age.

“We should also note here too, we being a little glib in this episode, in 2023, Bernie ultimately pleaded guilty to tax fraud as a result of all the machinations] we're about to talk about and had to pay a 653 million pound payment to the crown in back taxes and fines. And he also received a, I think 17 month jail sentence, which was then suspended, probably in large part to his advanced age.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Formula 1
Publisher
Acquired

182 / evaluation

I can't imagine any other sport that is anywhere near as complex as this. And so you've had this crazy history as a result, but it's still been durable because nobody else could pull all of these disparate parties together in the way that Formula 1 has managed to.

“I can't imagine any other sport that is anywhere near as complex as this. And so you've had this crazy history as a result, but it's still been durable because nobody else could pull all of these disparate parties together in the way that Formula 1 has managed to.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Formula 1
Publisher
Acquired

184 / evaluation

He actually renews the European Broadcasting Union deal for another three year term to sort of keep growing the sport and not value maximize just yet because he doesn't want a lot of money to start going to the other organizations.

“He actually renews the European Broadcasting Union deal for another three year term to sort of keep growing the sport and not value maximize just yet because he doesn't want a lot of money to start going to the other organizations.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Formula 1
Publisher
Acquired

186 / evaluation

What Braun realized, maybe not first, but I think better than anybody, was the dynamic we talked about earlier, that after the FAA started clamping down so much on the rules, the way to win was to exploit loopholes.

“What Braun realized, maybe not first, but I think better than anybody, was the dynamic we talked about earlier, that after the FAA started clamping down so much on the rules, the way to win was to exploit loopholes.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Formula 1
Publisher
Acquired

191 / belief

Indeed, baseball had a lot to lose. And to be fair to all of them, in the early days, and I think for a long time, local market home television airing of home games absolutely depressed in-person attendance.

“Indeed, baseball had a lot to lose. And to be fair to all of them, in the early days, and I think for a long time, local market home television airing of home games absolutely depressed in-person attendance.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NFL
Publisher
Acquired

196 / uncertainty

Yeah, and I don't know if this is directly related, but I think so much of the '70s and the '80s and the '90s were also about just like the continued growth trajectory of the incredible marriage of the NFL and television.

“Yeah, and I don't know if this is directly related, but I think so much of the '70s and the '80s and the '90s were also about just like the continued growth trajectory of the incredible marriage of the NFL and television.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NFL
Publisher
Acquired

198 / belief

Rozelle will remain the commissioner and Al Davis is going to go back to running the Raiders, which Davis is fine with, that's all he really wanted anyway. Not announced, but included, this I believe only came out much, much later.

“Rozelle will remain the commissioner and Al Davis is going to go back to running the Raiders, which Davis is fine with, that's all he really wanted anyway. Not announced, but included, this I believe only came out much, much later.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NFL
Publisher
Acquired

202 / commitment

Now it doesn't actually come down to a vote, but just by virtue of having that leverage in 2023, Snyder finally steps down, stops fighting and says, okay, I will bow to the pressure and initiate a sale process here.

“Now it doesn't actually come down to a vote, but just by virtue of having that leverage in 2023, Snyder finally steps down, stops fighting and says, okay, I will bow to the pressure and initiate a sale process here.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NFL
Publisher
Acquired

207 / evaluation

NFL is a league, great, they're fine. But the players, I think other league players and especially the NBA have been able to build wealth and businesses and revenue streams much better than NFL players because they're the platform and the audience value accrues to them so much more.

“NFL is a league, great, they're fine. But the players, I think other league players and especially the NBA have been able to build wealth and businesses and revenue streams much better than NFL players because they're the platform and the audience value accrues to them so much more.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NFL
Publisher
Acquired

209 / evaluation

On any given Sunday, any team in the league should be able to beat any other team. And he pushes this through with the owners and gets them all to agree to this, like, hey, the only way we're going to survive and prosper is if we agree that none of our teams can get so dominant that we end up with a Cleveland Browns situation.

“On any given Sunday, any team in the league should be able to beat any other team. And he pushes this through with the owners and gets them all to agree to this, like, hey, the only way we're going to survive and prosper is if we agree that none of our teams can get so dominant that we end up with a Cleveland Browns situation.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
The NFL
Publisher
Acquired

225 / belief

I got to imagine for your subjects, and I think a big part of us too, is there's the truthy aspect, which is very important, but there's also the, this is going to be great.

“I got to imagine for your subjects, and I think a big part of us too, is there's the truthy aspect, which is very important, but there's also the, this is going to be great.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

227 / belief

I think we think about narrative structure, acts, and what a story is. When we're reading books sometimes, a lot of books, especially corporate history books are, this happened, then this happened, then this happened, and then this happened.

“I think we think about narrative structure, acts, and what a story is. When we're reading books sometimes, a lot of books, especially corporate history books are, this happened, then this happened, then this happened, and then this happened.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

231 / belief

Pepsi, as we’ve discussed, up until Alfred Steele came in, had always been a seat of the pants school of hard knocks management–type company. This person who joins (I think) might have been the first MBA to join the company, and he was one of the very few, even college graduates.

“Pepsi, as we’ve discussed, up until Alfred Steele came in, had always been a seat of the pants school of hard knocks management–type company. This person who joins (I think) might have been the first MBA to join the company, and he was one of the very few, even college graduates.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Coca-Cola
Publisher
Acquired

234 / belief

I can truthfully say that I haven’t seen smiles spread over a bunch of boys’ faces as they did when they saw Coca-Cola in this godforsaken place.” And then, “If anyone were to ask us what we are fighting for, we think half of us would answer the right to buy Coca-Cola again.

“I can truthfully say that I haven’t seen smiles spread over a bunch of boys’ faces as they did when they saw Coca-Cola in this godforsaken place.” And then, “If anyone were to ask us what we are fighting for, we think half of us would answer the right to buy Coca-Cola again.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Coca-Cola
Publisher
Acquired

235 / belief

As best as I was able to read from a few different sources, I think roughly, once Coca-Cola starts being produced in that first decade, (call it) four or five glasses of Coca-Cola would be about the equivalent of a line of cocaine today.

“As best as I was able to read from a few different sources, I think roughly, once Coca-Cola starts being produced in that first decade, (call it) four or five glasses of Coca-Cola would be about the equivalent of a line of cocaine today.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Coca-Cola
Publisher
Acquired

244 / belief

I believe the way it ends up coming down is technically yes what you said, Ben, but it applies to any bottler that serves retailers that are located near a military base, regardless of whether that bottler also serves civilian customers.

“I believe the way it ends up coming down is technically yes what you said, Ben, but it applies to any bottler that serves retailers that are located near a military base, regardless of whether that bottler also serves civilian customers.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Coca-Cola
Publisher
Acquired

245 / belief

Back in 1967, a young Wharton MBA graduate joins Pepsi after a few years of working at IPG, the big ad agency which owned and I believe still owns McCann Erickson, parent Company of McCann.

“Back in 1967, a young Wharton MBA graduate joins Pepsi after a few years of working at IPG, the big ad agency which owned and I believe still owns McCann Erickson, parent Company of McCann.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Coca-Cola
Publisher
Acquired

249 / observation

Blue, yellow. The point is, there was no standardization. All of a sudden now, Coke’s got this huge, industrial imagery machine of not only advertisements in the Saturday Evening Post, but all the billboards, the signs, the point of sale merchandise, et cetera.

“Blue, yellow. The point is, there was no standardization. All of a sudden now, Coke’s got this huge, industrial imagery machine of not only advertisements in the Saturday Evening Post, but all the billboards, the signs, the point of sale merchandise, et cetera.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Coca-Cola
Publisher
Acquired

252 / belief

The last one I would add is that other than software and technology products, this is the first real physical product I think we’ve ever studied on Acquired, where you can have both a low-selling price and high margins.

“The last one I would add is that other than software and technology products, this is the first real physical product I think we’ve ever studied on Acquired, where you can have both a low-selling price and high margins.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Coca-Cola
Publisher
Acquired

256 / evaluation

Because in 1931, Lee, Woodruff and the Coca-Cola crew create what I think is unquestionably the greatest lifestyle advertising success in human history, where they manage to associate Santa Claus with Coca-Cola.

“Because in 1931, Lee, Woodruff and the Coca-Cola crew create what I think is unquestionably the greatest lifestyle advertising success in human history, where they manage to associate Santa Claus with Coca-Cola.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Coca-Cola
Publisher
Acquired

258 / evaluation

Lee had already created a hit slogan for Coca-Cola in Christmas of 1922 with his ‘thirst knows no season’ campaign, which is a great phrase with a great ring to it, but was particularly good because Coke had a legacy of primarily being enjoyed in the summer.

“Lee had already created a hit slogan for Coca-Cola in Christmas of 1922 with his ‘thirst knows no season’ campaign, which is a great phrase with a great ring to it, but was particularly good because Coke had a legacy of primarily being enjoyed in the summer.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Coca-Cola
Publisher
Acquired

259 / prediction

For a token contract price of $1, which Candler never collects, the Coca-Cola company will sell syrup to Thomas and Whitehead at a volume discount price of $1 per gallon, so even less than they are selling to the individual soda fountains out there because (I think) this is going to be a higher volume business.

“For a token contract price of $1, which Candler never collects, the Coca-Cola company will sell syrup to Thomas and Whitehead at a volume discount price of $1 per gallon, so even less than they are selling to the individual soda fountains out there because (I think) this is going to be a higher volume business.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Coca-Cola
Publisher
Acquired

260 / observation

Pretty much the only way that all other grocers could deal with COVID was Instacart or doing their own delivery, which Instacart actually powers a lot of now as a white-label service, which is fascinating.

“Pretty much the only way that all other grocers could deal with COVID was Instacart or doing their own delivery, which Instacart actually powers a lot of now as a white-label service, which is fascinating.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Trader Joe’s
Publisher
Acquired

263 / belief

I kind of think, reading between the lines of some of the things some of his successors said about him and some of the stuff in his obituaries and press, I think he just really didn't want to travel.

“I kind of think, reading between the lines of some of the things some of his successors said about him and some of the stuff in his obituaries and press, I think he just really didn't want to travel.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
Trader Joe’s
Publisher
Acquired

275 / belief

I think the only other bear case I would add is that they have the added challenge now of being the incumbent this time around, and people and the ecosystem isn’t necessarily rooting for them in the way that people were rooting for Google when they were a startup, and in the way that people were still rooting for Google in the mobile transition.

“I think the only other bear case I would add is that they have the added challenge now of being the incumbent this time around, and people and the ecosystem isn’t necessarily rooting for them in the way that people were rooting for Google when they were a startup, and in the way that people were still rooting for Google in the mobile transition.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

278 / belief

I think if you look at all the big tech companies, Google, as unlikely as it seems given how things started, is probably doing the best job of trying to thread the needle with AI right now.

“I think if you look at all the big tech companies, Google, as unlikely as it seems given how things started, is probably doing the best job of trying to thread the needle with AI right now.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

282 / commitment

We plan to extend the Transformer to problems involving input and output modalities other than text, and to investigate large inputs and outputs such as images, audio, and video.

“We plan to extend the Transformer to problems involving input and output modalities other than text, and to investigate large inputs and outputs such as images, audio, and video.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

292 / belief

Sebastian Thrun brings Geoff Hinton into the Google fold after this tech talk, (I think) first as a consultant over the next couple of years, then this is a basic later, Geoff Hinton technically becomes an intern at Google.

“Sebastian Thrun brings Geoff Hinton into the Google fold after this tech talk, (I think) first as a consultant over the next couple of years, then this is a basic later, Geoff Hinton technically becomes an intern at Google.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

296 / belief

As of today in 2025, this paper has been cited over 173,000 times in other academic papers, making it currently the 7th most cited paper of the 21st century. I think all of the other papers above it on the list have been out much longer.

“As of today in 2025, this paper has been cited over 173,000 times in other academic papers, making it currently the 7th most cited paper of the 21st century. I think all of the other papers above it on the list have been out much longer.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

297 / belief

I think all that is true. Also in the intervening months to year after this meeting between Demis and Elon and Elon investing in DeepMind, Elon also starts to get really, really excited and convinced about the capabilities of AI in the near term, and specifically the capabilities of AI for Tesla.

“I think all that is true. Also in the intervening months to year after this meeting between Demis and Elon and Elon investing in DeepMind, Elon also starts to get really, really excited and convinced about the capabilities of AI in the near term, and specifically the capabilities of AI for Tesla.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

299 / evaluation

This is a small little passage in Stephen Levy’s great book that’s been a source for all of our Google episodes, In the Plex. This is a small little throwaway passage in here about this because this book came out before ChatGPT and AI and all that.

“This is a small little passage in Stephen Levy’s great book that’s been a source for all of our Google episodes, In the Plex. This is a small little throwaway passage in here about this because this book came out before ChatGPT and AI and all that.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

300 / prediction

The thought process is if you can take a given piece of information and make it smaller, store it away, and then later reinstantiate it in its original form, the only way that you could possibly do that is if whatever force is acting on the data actually understands what it means.

“The thought process is if you can take a given piece of information and make it smaller, store it away, and then later reinstantiate it in its original form, the only way that you could possibly do that is if whatever force is acting on the data actually understands what it means.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

302 / belief

Then Ben, as you teed up in the intro, the question is why did they do all this? And I think the way to answer it is to start and just tell the stories of all the individual products.

“Then Ben, as you teed up in the intro, the question is why did they do all this? And I think the way to answer it is to start and just tell the stories of all the individual products.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

304 / belief

Then my quintessence is, it is wild that this one company has eight products with over a billion users and started this era with just one Search that didn’t even have a billion users yet, but Search, Android, Chrome, YouTube, Gmail maps, drive photos, and then if you count the Playstore as separate from Android, which Google does, I think that’s a bit of a stretch.

“Then my quintessence is, it is wild that this one company has eight products with over a billion users and started this era with just one Search that didn’t even have a billion users yet, but Search, Android, Chrome, YouTube, Gmail maps, drive photos, and then if you count the Playstore as separate from Android, which Google does, I think that’s a bit of a stretch.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

311 / belief

I think that happened very quickly. YouTube traffic scaled so fast and so big. You can see how YouTube here, not only are they the correct video platform for the web and just doing it much better than Google’s doing it with Google video.

“I think that happened very quickly. YouTube traffic scaled so fast and so big. You can see how YouTube here, not only are they the correct video platform for the web and just doing it much better than Google’s doing it with Google video.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

315 / prediction

From an engineering and scientific standpoint, building things that make use of this is a really interesting intellectual exercise. I expect we’ll be working on that for a while, incredible.

“From an engineering and scientific standpoint, building things that make use of this is a really interesting intellectual exercise. I expect we’ll be working on that for a while, incredible.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

318 / belief

Google doesn’t release usage data for YouTube, but I’m pretty sure that YouTube is the biggest single property on the Internet in terms of minutes spent by humans on it. It’s not, I believe that the biggest number of users on the Internet, both Facebook Blue App and WhatsApp are bigger in terms of total number of users.

“Google doesn’t release usage data for YouTube, but I’m pretty sure that YouTube is the biggest single property on the Internet in terms of minutes spent by humans on it. It’s not, I believe that the biggest number of users on the Internet, both Facebook Blue App and WhatsApp are bigger in terms of total number of users.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

321 / uncertainty

The company started by Andy Rubin and Andy of course had been an engineer at Apple and then left Apple with a group of rebels. I don’t know, were they rebels that went to go start General Magic.

“The company started by Andy Rubin and Andy of course had been an engineer at Apple and then left Apple with a group of rebels. I don’t know, were they rebels that went to go start General Magic.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

322 / belief

By the way, also since I think the theme of this whole episode is like the dual bottom line to Google of everything they’re doing of both revenue and profits and strategic installation versus other large tech companies.

“By the way, also since I think the theme of this whole episode is like the dual bottom line to Google of everything they’re doing of both revenue and profits and strategic installation versus other large tech companies.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

325 / observation

Fast forward to today, it’s hard to get real actual apples-to-apples data on Google Workspace versus Microsoft Office users. But basically, the way to think about the market is that Google has the vast majority of users and usage of productivity software, and Microsoft still has the vast majority of dollars.

“Fast forward to today, it’s hard to get real actual apples-to-apples data on Google Workspace versus Microsoft Office users. But basically, the way to think about the market is that Google has the vast majority of users and usage of productivity software, and Microsoft still has the vast majority of dollars.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

327 / belief

Pretty wild. But to my point about the dollars, so Microsoft’s productivity and business process segment, which is mostly Office—I think LinkedIn is now part of this too—last year generated over $120 billion in revenue.

“Pretty wild. But to my point about the dollars, so Microsoft’s productivity and business process segment, which is mostly Office—I think LinkedIn is now part of this too—last year generated over $120 billion in revenue.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

329 / belief

Branding, I think in the heyday of Google that we’re talking about in this episode when they’re launching all these incredible products, yes these products won because they’re incredible and because they were free.

“Branding, I think in the heyday of Google that we’re talking about in this episode when they’re launching all these incredible products, yes these products won because they’re incredible and because they were free.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

332 / belief

Microsoft can keep all the dollars. All we care about is people use the web. In this instance, particularly with Office and productivity, really this is about putting the screws to Microsoft a little bit and distracting them.

“Microsoft can keep all the dollars. All we care about is people use the web. In this instance, particularly with Office and productivity, really this is about putting the screws to Microsoft a little bit and distracting them.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

336 / belief

Friendster was a thing at the time, January, 2004, before Gmail, before the Google IPO, before Facebook launches on the Harvard campus, in his 20% time, he launches a social network within Google called Orkut. It didn’t become that big in America, but it got at its peak, I think 300 million users.

“Friendster was a thing at the time, January, 2004, before Gmail, before the Google IPO, before Facebook launches on the Harvard campus, in his 20% time, he launches a social network within Google called Orkut. It didn’t become that big in America, but it got at its peak, I think 300 million users.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

337 / evaluation

Plus all this has turn by turn navigation is, but even to put aside whether it was better or not, it just was a real smartphone on Verizon, Time Magazine named the Droid its product of the year for 2009.

“Plus all this has turn by turn navigation is, but even to put aside whether it was better or not, it just was a real smartphone on Verizon, Time Magazine named the Droid its product of the year for 2009.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

338 / commitment

Now I believe Eric had disclosed to Steve about the Sooner project because obviously it was public that Google had acquired Android and I believe that Steve Jobs knew that Google was working on like a Blackberry style phone, but he did not know about the Dream prototype.

“Now I believe Eric had disclosed to Steve about the Sooner project because obviously it was public that Google had acquired Android and I believe that Steve Jobs knew that Google was working on like a Blackberry style phone, but he did not know about the Dream prototype.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

339 / prediction

Ben, to your point, because they have to make it look and feel and function exactly like the installed desktop apps, this is going to take them a long time and be a big investment.

“Ben, to your point, because they have to make it look and feel and function exactly like the installed desktop apps, this is going to take them a long time and be a big investment.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

342 / belief

Yup. I think that’s even abstracted. From a computer perspective, they see the master map, they feel like they have access to the whole file, but then what’s actually getting returned to them to operate on is only just the chunk data that they need.

“Yup. I think that’s even abstracted. From a computer perspective, they see the master map, they feel like they have access to the whole file, but then what’s actually getting returned to them to operate on is only just the chunk data that they need.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

343 / commitment

I would ask our listener base for help with this decision, and I would love all of your thoughts, but because of our editing process the reality is I will have made my decision already by the time this episode goes live.

“I would ask our listener base for help with this decision, and I would love all of your thoughts, but because of our editing process the reality is I will have made my decision already by the time this episode goes live.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

344 / belief

Hell, 2002, I was probably just transitioning from using AOL as my way to access the Internet as a senior in high school. I think we had maybe just gotten broadband that year, maybe the year before.

“Hell, 2002, I was probably just transitioning from using AOL as my way to access the Internet as a senior in high school. I think we had maybe just gotten broadband that year, maybe the year before.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

348 / belief

Also that Overture had really good technology too. I think that is true. But again, back to Google’s infrastructure, the commodity hardware, the scaling out data centers, the distributed file system, and distributed computing, to really scale this, you needed special infrastructure that only they had.

“Also that Overture had really good technology too. I think that is true. But again, back to Google’s infrastructure, the commodity hardware, the scaling out data centers, the distributed file system, and distributed computing, to really scale this, you needed special infrastructure that only they had.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

356 / evaluation

Finally after months of this, they come back and they tell Kleiner and Sequoia, there’s one person that we met in this whole process who we think meets our bar, who we would be willing to come in and hire as our CEO here at Google.

“Finally after months of this, they come back and they tell Kleiner and Sequoia, there’s one person that we met in this whole process who we think meets our bar, who we would be willing to come in and hire as our CEO here at Google.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

357 / prediction

Basically the light bulb now goes off of if we can have Google search, paid and organic, be part of the user experience anywhere on the Internet, we should do everything possible to do that because it will build our liquidity pool and our business, and we will just monetize the Internet.

“Basically the light bulb now goes off of if we can have Google search, paid and organic, be part of the user experience anywhere on the Internet, we should do everything possible to do that because it will build our liquidity pool and our business, and we will just monetize the Internet.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

358 / evaluation

Part of the reason I say all this, and I want to include Sergey too in what I’m about to say, even though we haven’t introduced him yet in the story, I think there’s this perception today that Larry and Sergey were these bumbling academic guys, who weren’t really business minded, and Google was a research project, and this all happened by accident that they built the best business of all time.

“Part of the reason I say all this, and I want to include Sergey too in what I’m about to say, even though we haven’t introduced him yet in the story, I think there’s this perception today that Larry and Sergey were these bumbling academic guys, who weren’t really business minded, and Google was a research project, and this all happened by accident that they built the best business of all time.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

359 / prediction

I think perhaps inspired by what Yahoo was doing, Larry proposes that they’re going to work on this idea of a system that will allow people to make annotations and notes directly on websites instead of in a centralized directory like Yahoo.

“I think perhaps inspired by what Yahoo was doing, Larry proposes that they’re going to work on this idea of a system that will allow people to make annotations and notes directly on websites instead of in a centralized directory like Yahoo.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

373 / belief

I was trying to square in my mind earlier when we were telling the meaningful use story, how on the one hand it really was obviously good for Epic, an accelerant, and it further cemented the market dynamics where they were already emerging as the leader.

“I was trying to square in my mind earlier when we were telling the meaningful use story, how on the one hand it really was obviously good for Epic, an accelerant, and it further cemented the market dynamics where they were already emerging as the leader.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

376 / belief

Judy has announced that upon her death, all of her voting shares, so the 100% voting control that she has at the company, will transfer into a “purpose trust” that will be administered by three constituencies: (1) Her family—her husband Godon if he’s still alive, and their three children, (2) A set of five longtime senior managers from Epic, and (3) I believe three customer CEOs, CEOs of big customers.

“Judy has announced that upon her death, all of her voting shares, so the 100% voting control that she has at the company, will transfer into a “purpose trust” that will be administered by three constituencies: (1) Her family—her husband Godon if he’s still alive, and their three children, (2) A set of five longtime senior managers from Epic, and (3) I believe three customer CEOs, CEOs of big customers.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

380 / uncertainty

I don’t know if it was just Northwest or they had maybe some other smaller regional operations at the time, but they had a Pacific Northwest, small region based in Portland, Oregon.

“I don’t know if it was just Northwest or they had maybe some other smaller regional operations at the time, but they had a Pacific Northwest, small region based in Portland, Oregon.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

393 / belief

Taylor Swift and Oprah, which we’ve talked about, and we did our Taylor Swift update at the Chase Center Show last year. We think the enterprise of Taylor Inc is “only” worth about $11 billion.

“Taylor Swift and Oprah, which we’ve talked about, and we did our Taylor Swift update at the Chase Center Show last year. We think the enterprise of Taylor Inc is “only” worth about $11 billion.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

400 / prediction

By the way, again, inpatient activities are probably going to be your majority revenue stream because that’s where the most expensive, most complex care is happening, kind of similar to Medicare is your most important payer relationship because old people is where the most complex, most expensive care is happening, So you’ve got that, and then you’ve got Resolute, the billing system, all single database, all tied together, all built on top of it.

“By the way, again, inpatient activities are probably going to be your majority revenue stream because that’s where the most expensive, most complex care is happening, kind of similar to Medicare is your most important payer relationship because old people is where the most complex, most expensive care is happening, So you’ve got that, and then you’ve got Resolute, the billing system, all single database, all tied together, all built on top of it.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

401 / evaluation

Which I think really should just tell you how important the stability and continuity of the system across inpatient, outpatient, and billing is, because Epic is the only one that can offer that.

“Which I think really should just tell you how important the stability and continuity of the system across inpatient, outpatient, and billing is, because Epic is the only one that can offer that.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

405 / belief

Now you’ve got one of, if not the biggest sports private equity firm in the world—I think Redbird is a $10 billion assets under management firm—coming in and investing in that franchise in the IPL.

“Now you’ve got one of, if not the biggest sports private equity firm in the world—I think Redbird is a $10 billion assets under management firm—coming in and investing in that franchise in the IPL.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

411 / commitment

” The Supreme Court here stepping in and basically saying, we are going to backstop and fix all of this, the IPL is by far the most visible industry where India is the global leader, with the global most important business brand entity in the world.

“” The Supreme Court here stepping in and basically saying, we are going to backstop and fix all of this, the IPL is by far the most visible industry where India is the global leader, with the global most important business brand entity in the world.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

423 / evaluation

I foreshadowed a little bit ago in the TV rights deal with World Sports Group and Sony that Lalit had given him his word as a gentleman that if this whole thing doesn’t work, I’ll rip up the deal and I’ll won’t carry IPL forward.

“I foreshadowed a little bit ago in the TV rights deal with World Sports Group and Sony that Lalit had given him his word as a gentleman that if this whole thing doesn’t work, I’ll rip up the deal and I’ll won’t carry IPL forward.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

425 / belief

Now, another BCCI board member, N Srinivasan, who (I think) by this time had become the chair of the board and was Lalit’s main nemesis on the BCCI board, directly owned the Chennai Super Kings through India Cements.

“Now, another BCCI board member, N Srinivasan, who (I think) by this time had become the chair of the board and was Lalit’s main nemesis on the BCCI board, directly owned the Chennai Super Kings through India Cements.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

429 / belief

If that current growth rate in the domestic Indian ad market of call it 6%–7% per year sustains over the next 20 years, that I believe compounded over 20 years is about a 10x growth.

“If that current growth rate in the domestic Indian ad market of call it 6%–7% per year sustains over the next 20 years, that I believe compounded over 20 years is about a 10x growth.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

430 / belief

Preity Zinta’s group gets the Kings XI Punjab for $76 million, suspiciously close in price to the $75 million Shah Rukh Khan bid, but only $1 million more. Anyway, this (I think) is known at the time.

“Preity Zinta’s group gets the Kings XI Punjab for $76 million, suspiciously close in price to the $75 million Shah Rukh Khan bid, but only $1 million more. Anyway, this (I think) is known at the time.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

433 / uncertainty

I don’t know what the likelihood of this is, but if true gambling were to become legal in India, given that $750 million of betting is already happening on foreign bookmaking markets per match, that’s a huge revenue unlock there.

“I don’t know what the likelihood of this is, but if true gambling were to become legal in India, given that $750 million of betting is already happening on foreign bookmaking markets per match, that’s a huge revenue unlock there.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

438 / belief

I think there’s a plausible argument to make on demographics alone that the Indian ad market will support 10x IPL media rights revenues, which gets it into the ballpark of the NFL today.

“I think there’s a plausible argument to make on demographics alone that the Indian ad market will support 10x IPL media rights revenues, which gets it into the ballpark of the NFL today.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

440 / belief

I think if you do that and you have the media rates on par with the NFL, then you bring up the rest of the revenue streams up to on par, now you’re definitely on par with the NFL.

“I think if you do that and you have the media rates on par with the NFL, then you bring up the rest of the revenue streams up to on par, now you’re definitely on par with the NFL.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

441 / belief

Armchair quarterback, armchair GM right now, I think I would diagnose the NBA as fine and in some sense doing better than ever, but some early red flags that in the long run if they don’t manage the game well.

“Armchair quarterback, armchair GM right now, I think I would diagnose the NBA as fine and in some sense doing better than ever, but some early red flags that in the long run if they don’t manage the game well.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

443 / belief

I don’t think you can bet on that, but I think you definitely can bet on 2x expansion of just simply inventory of games played, which combine that with 5x expansion in the ad market.

“I don’t think you can bet on that, but I think you definitely can bet on 2x expansion of just simply inventory of games played, which combine that with 5x expansion in the ad market.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

444 / belief

My carve out is an oldie but definitely goodie, at least as far as Acquired is concerned, because actually (I think) as much as anything, it was our original inspiration for doing the show.

“My carve out is an oldie but definitely goodie, at least as far as Acquired is concerned, because actually (I think) as much as anything, it was our original inspiration for doing the show.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

445 / belief

I think if you can find a way to smartly, without risking the economics of the league, upgrade the infrastructure and the stadium infrastructure here, there is just so much low hanging fruit.

“I think if you can find a way to smartly, without risking the economics of the league, upgrade the infrastructure and the stadium infrastructure here, there is just so much low hanging fruit.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

449 / belief

Now, you’re setting up something that in practice, I think the cap probably would do its job and there’s enough policing to ensure that the low trust environment thing you would do would say, oh great.

“Now, you’re setting up something that in practice, I think the cap probably would do its job and there’s enough policing to ensure that the low trust environment thing you would do would say, oh great.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

453 / belief

Then because they had so much leverage and there was so much money, I think if I remember right when discussions were being bandied about about this happening, Chris was like, I’m just going to go play in the IPL and no longer play international cricket for the West Indies.

“Then because they had so much leverage and there was so much money, I think if I remember right when discussions were being bandied about about this happening, Chris was like, I’m just going to go play in the IPL and no longer play international cricket for the West Indies.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

454 / belief

Point being you can’t police what happens outside of the artificial construct of a direct salary contract negotiation. And the way (I think) this plays out in practice in the NFL is let’s say you’re a player mid- to late-career.

“Point being you can’t police what happens outside of the artificial construct of a direct salary contract negotiation. And the way (I think) this plays out in practice in the NFL is let’s say you’re a player mid- to late-career.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

456 / evaluation

In many respects, the current structure where we have Redbird or CVC, big institutional investors in the IPL,” which we will get to in just a sec, “that wouldn’t have been possible without the new governance structures that were put in place circa 2015 by the Supreme Court.

“In many respects, the current structure where we have Redbird or CVC, big institutional investors in the IPL,” which we will get to in just a sec, “that wouldn’t have been possible without the new governance structures that were put in place circa 2015 by the Supreme Court.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

457 / recommendation

We talked about this a little already, but I would say until the IPL auction innovation, what was generally regarded as the most effective way to deal with this is a hard salary cap.

“We talked about this a little already, but I would say until the IPL auction innovation, what was generally regarded as the most effective way to deal with this is a hard salary cap.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

461 / evaluation

All these auctions that I keep running for all these media rights and sponsorships and everything, work really, really, really well because they collapse everything down to a super clear, one time, in the moment transaction, and I can set the guardrails for minimum, maximum.

“All these auctions that I keep running for all these media rights and sponsorships and everything, work really, really, really well because they collapse everything down to a super clear, one time, in the moment transaction, and I can set the guardrails for minimum, maximum.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

462 / evaluation

Then that happened and then the knives came out. It’s interesting, quite interesting, all these very serious allegations that get brought up against Modi, and then ultimately the BCCI decides that he did do them and bans him for life in 2013, because the chairperson of the BCCI at this point in time and Lalit’s great rival who’s one of the forces behind ousting him is N Srinivasan, the owner of the Chennai Super Kings via his family’s business, India Cements.

“Then that happened and then the knives came out. It’s interesting, quite interesting, all these very serious allegations that get brought up against Modi, and then ultimately the BCCI decides that he did do them and bans him for life in 2013, because the chairperson of the BCCI at this point in time and Lalit’s great rival who’s one of the forces behind ousting him is N Srinivasan, the owner of the Chennai Super Kings via his family’s business, India Cements.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

467 / recommendation

You can even start unprofitable with your prices in the early days in a given node generation, because the goal is to crowd out the competition, become the industry dominant number one player, get all the customers.

“You can even start unprofitable with your prices in the early days in a given node generation, because the goal is to crowd out the competition, become the industry dominant number one player, get all the customers.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

470 / belief

Then the chocolate inside. They partnered with chocolatiers all over the country, I think maybe even internationally all over the world, to just highlight some of the very best talent in the chocolate-making industry globally.

“Then the chocolate inside. They partnered with chocolatiers all over the country, I think maybe even internationally all over the world, to just highlight some of the very best talent in the chocolate-making industry globally.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

474 / belief

Having Buffett come in, put his stamp of approval, calm everybody down even in the midst of all the craziness with Lehman, I suspect there’s no way the deal gets done if Berkshire doesn’t get involved.

“Having Buffett come in, put his stamp of approval, calm everybody down even in the midst of all the craziness with Lehman, I suspect there’s no way the deal gets done if Berkshire doesn’t get involved.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

475 / commitment

A lot of the real, real richness and complexity that has for thousands of years made chocolate a super attractive food for humans, it’s in danger of being lost or being watered down. I will say, the industry is very focused on this.

“A lot of the real, real richness and complexity that has for thousands of years made chocolate a super attractive food for humans, it’s in danger of being lost or being watered down. I will say, the industry is very focused on this.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

476 / belief

The really big story, though, I think of the brothers’ tenure and Jackie too as a third owner of the business, and eventually later, she does also work in the business herself, is globalization.

“The really big story, though, I think of the brothers’ tenure and Jackie too as a third owner of the business, and eventually later, she does also work in the business herself, is globalization.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

479 / belief

I think a big part of the strategy, though, like you said about distribution of pet food, in 2002, Mars had bought a French pet food company called Royal Canin, or I’ve also heard it pronounced Royal Canin.

“I think a big part of the strategy, though, like you said about distribution of pet food, in 2002, Mars had bought a French pet food company called Royal Canin, or I’ve also heard it pronounced Royal Canin.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

481 / belief

I wonder, (a) if Forrest would have made a different decision, and also (b), if the brother’s would have made a different decision, had they had a little more confidence in their own security in their own places, CEOs. I think there was a timing element to this.

“I wonder, (a) if Forrest would have made a different decision, and also (b), if the brother’s would have made a different decision, had they had a little more confidence in their own security in their own places, CEOs. I think there was a timing element to this.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

492 / commitment

As evidenced by the fact that, here we are today eating the most popular candies in the world that Mars makes, and it’s still Snickers, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, M&M’s, which we will get into.

“As evidenced by the fact that, here we are today eating the most popular candies in the world that Mars makes, and it’s still Snickers, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, M&M’s, which we will get into.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

494 / belief

I think regardless of whether Forrest had anything to do with the Milky Way idea, launch, or anything like that, meeting his dad, seeing that there is a business in the family, starts recalibrating Forrest’s ambitions even higher than just being an engineer who can now go run a mine.

“I think regardless of whether Forrest had anything to do with the Milky Way idea, launch, or anything like that, meeting his dad, seeing that there is a business in the family, starts recalibrating Forrest’s ambitions even higher than just being an engineer who can now go run a mine.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

499 / belief

I don’t want listeners to get the sense that, oh, it’s just ad agencies that are doing this and it’s advertising. It really is the discipline of marketing, of which ad agencies, I think, were a lot more consultative in this function back in the day.

“I don’t want listeners to get the sense that, oh, it’s just ad agencies that are doing this and it’s advertising. It really is the discipline of marketing, of which ad agencies, I think, were a lot more consultative in this function back in the day.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired

500 / belief

There are also, as always, a couple of versions of this story. But I think the one that is closest to the truth is that back when Forrest was in England, he had gotten to know a chemist who had invented a new method for milling rice that was called parboiling.

“There are also, as always, a couple of versions of this story. But I think the one that is closest to the truth is that back when Forrest was in England, he had gotten to know a chemist who had invented a new method for milling rice that was called parboiling.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Publisher
Acquired
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