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.

320 transcript-backed records

02 / 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

03 / 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

07 / 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

13 / 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

23 / 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

27 / 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

29 / 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

30 / 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

33 / 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

35 / 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

38 / 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

43 / 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

46 / 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

47 / 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

48 / 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

49 / 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

56 / 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

63 / 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

70 / 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

74 / 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

79 / 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

80 / 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

81 / 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

82 / 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

91 / 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

98 / 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

100 / 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

101 / 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

113 / 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

116 / 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

123 / 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

128 / 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

143 / 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

145 / 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

147 / 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

148 / 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

149 / 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

155 / 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

156 / 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

160 / 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

165 / 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

170 / 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

173 / 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

182 / 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

185 / 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

186 / 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

187 / 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

188 / 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

192 / 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

197 / 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

199 / 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

203 / 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

205 / 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

207 / 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

210 / 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

212 / 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

213 / 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

216 / 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

230 / 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

232 / 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

246 / 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

251 / 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

264 / 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

268 / 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

269 / 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

275 / 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

276 / 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

277 / 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

279 / 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

280 / 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

281 / 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

284 / 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

288 / 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

289 / 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

293 / 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

297 / 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

298 / 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

301 / 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

303 / 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

314 / 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

319 / 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

320 / 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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