welcome to the third installment
lightning round let’s get cracking okay
so Microsoft is up to dividend by
twenty-five percent do you think they
should be going on an acquisition binge
instead or do you think it’s just
accepting on a growth stock what do you
think well okay here’s the dichotomy
their revenues and income is higher than
it’s ever been but indeed it’s not
reflecting in the stock price so I
realize that they want to basically tell
investors look we can give you a greater
dividend come give us your money and buy
into our stock however because it’s
generating all this cash I think you
know and they’re still doing very well
although it’s not a sexy company
relative to everything else you’re
seeing I think they should probably go
out and buy a lot of companies provided
that then they let them remain
independent so if they’re going to buy
skype and if they’re gonna and sky
bought group me then these companies
should more or less remain keep their
brands and remain independent with
massive you know sort of targets and
financial incentives to keep growing I
think they could do both I think this is
a case where they could up the dividend
as they have but also go out and still
buy a lot of companies I don’t think it
should be either/or next okay so Google+
is adding users like wild I mean that’s
at least a headline is this a potential
you know successful product that Google
has pulled off or is it more google wave
google buzz or basically a ghost town
you know when google+ first launched or
shortly after did there was an article
on TechCrunch pretty much saying you
know Google+ could very well be a Trojan
horse before all of you hate on it why
don’t you wait and see where Google’s
going to go regardless I still think
that it’ll probably go the way of google
buzz or google wave the reason is is the
growth is kind of meaningless the fact
of the matter is is google already had
all these users all it had to do was
open it public and all these users have
by de facto become google+ users it
doesn’t mean anything and in terms of
like a product google+ doesn’t offer
anything different than what facebook
already offered i just packaged it a bit
differently there were already lists on
facebook google+ just made them a little
bit more usable and the fact that it
took facebook only a couple months to
pretty much clone that functionality
just goes to show there’s really no
unique selling proposition for users
they have no real incentive to move all
their activity over with the
unemployment rate being what it is they
should just pay people like a thousand
bucks to not use face my daughter-in-law
go ahead dollar login alright next
alright so hewlett-packard they fired
the Apothecary hired Meg Whitman what do
you think do they have the most sporadic
it’s a chronic Gordon American spin well
apparently everyone that you know has a
comment is basically saying forget
Yahoo’s board HP is the war sport in
America you know what I always think
it’s very unfair to say things like that
because it’s very you know you don’t
know what’s going on in the boardroom
but I think it’s impossible for HP’s
board not to be considered the worst out
there at least for a company at sides
within a year they brought on leo
apotheker they did not even interview
him for the job like a few of the board
members had met him i’m assuming they
did not interview him for the job the
board apparently the members hate one
another they don’t trust one another you
know they have the whole scandal from
marc her to have the scandal from the
wiretapping incident like it’s just
there’s so much there now is it going to
work or not again I’m not a software or
hardware expert I do think though that
HP despite the growth rate you know it’s
a bit like if McDonald’s I read this
this as an analyst who said it it’s a
bit like if McDonald’s just one day
decides we’re not going to sell burgers
HP I understand the growth rate isn’t
what you wanted in hardware I understand
the margins are not there you’re the
biggest freaking hardware seller IBM
yeah they r you know change what they
did Apple yes jobs came and he did all
these miracles I don’t think that’s
necessarily the answer for HP so if Meg
Whitman comes and she kills webos and
she basically spins off the hardware
unit I think that’s a bit crazy and it
won’t change anything if meg whitman if
now the reason why they fired leo
apotheker and brought in meg whitman is
to say this is why we’re now going to do
a 180 and keep the hardware unit and
maybe not by autonomy for ten billion
dollars when we have like 12 billion
dollars of cash then i think that might
actually in hindsight you know make the
board look like courageous and they did
the right thing but clearly i think
there’s something wrong in just life
when a board could do that and just flip
flops so abruptly and not really taken
to task and not really had to answer so
i think it’s just crazy but I mean hey
what else surprises you in business
seems a little bit like panic to me but
what do I know so yeah I mean yeah now
at least you know you hear two memos are
sent out friday evening one from
the chairman of the board and the CEO
and one from sorry and and the
co-founder and the other one from the
CEO that are basically saying very
different things forget all of that I
want to ask you a question I think
everybody has a comment on yahoo and by
and large it revolves the answer to how
do we solve Yahoo’s woes the answer
usually comes out to focus so assuming
focus is the path to take instead of
just you know monday morning Q being and
saying what they should do assuming
focus what are the products you use what
are the products they should focus on um
the only yahoo product i still use is
flickr and you know i’m not even a
photographer I just have a couple flickr
accounts and i do upload photos to them
occasionally i think the biggest problem
or the biggest mistake yeah who’s made
with that is if you actually go sign up
for a flickr account you have to first
go create a yahoo email address if you
don’t already have one if you look at
what Google does though you create a
google account and then you choose which
suite which products you actually want
to check off which ones you want to use
and i think yahoo has messed up the
integration there they forced me down
the email path it’s a little bit messed
up what they should do is offer you know
one global login and then you choose
what you want to use and i think that
would help their products become a
little bit more usable a little bit more
stick but isn’t the global account the
email like the yahoo email you’re saying
they shouldn’t force you to to sign up
to yahoo well what you actually got to
do is set up a yahoo email account with
with google i have i have a username
right i don’t necessarily activate my
gmail account with yahoo i have to go
and set up a yahoo email account okay i
just think you know what see how you
have to be reasonable it’s been around
for 15 plus years there’s gonna be a lot
of junk in the trunk and not all
integration is smooth not all you know
18 years is plenty of time to integrate
though you know um yeah it’s it’s a big
job but it’s not rocket science and if
the fact that Google could do it so well
just goes to show that Yahoo is leading
its main search oh that’s okay i will go
to email the week but just to comment on
that i think that’s like theory not
practice not realistic it’s like in the
video space you look at all of the
company’s let’s say who run the big o
VPS the online video platforms the
earliest ones you’d think they’d have
all the time in the world to integrate
new technologies but they’re the ones
with the legacy systems that’s why the
new guys common and they sort of beat
them at their game
they could start with a clean slate I
think Yahoo’s main disadvantage is like
there’s like a two pound bag and they’ve
put eight pounds of meat in there and
it’s hard to say i’m going to take the
sausage out and focus on the feeling you
know you can’t even see through the bag
okay that’s a weird analogy that’s like
you too let’s end it there meet in a bag
email what’s email email of the week all
right guy named Doug from Chicago hey
ash I’m raising money and investors want
to replace me as CEO is that fair life
is not fair uh I think it depends i mean
i don’t know Doug’s predicament too much
I will say this the approach to take in
that scenario and I think sometimes it’s
valid for the investors hey they’re
putting money in their company that they
might not want you running at a co they
might want you to be a biz dev guy maybe
a you know chief technical guide
depending on what your expertise is my
approach is this because I’ve been in
those situations and I’ve been asked
point blank I always sort of turn it
around to show the board that I’m
pragmatic practical and reasonable about
these things but also that you know
let’s not make a big deal about this now
I say here’s the reality if I tell you I
should be the CEO it’s my baby no way am
I not going to be CEO you’re going to be
like no no where you know we need a
adult supervision and we have our guy
you know you should be some kind of
chief creative officer or whatever now
if I turn it around and I say I don’t
want to be CEO it’s too much hassle too
much my new to manage I want to
just be like chief strategy guy they’re
like going on you know conferences on a
hydrolyzed things that I want to be the
evangelist bring in a CEO you’re gonna
say no no no ash it’s your baby you are
the captain of the ship you have to do
it and I’m not saying that that that
specific investor is unfair but I think
people like to disagree to disagree so I
do i turn it around and say why don’t
you take a piece of paper and write down
if I should be CEO or not and I’ll take
a piece of paper and I’ll write down if
I should bc or not and you know whatever
makes more sense like we discuss it and
we go there I think if Doug takes that
approach then he probably will end up
with the right decision for everybody
for all stakeholders that means maybe
you’ll end up as the CEO but maybe you
won’t but at least it’s not just people
debating to show look you know it’s my
way or the highway but at the other day
if doug has to make that decision if you
want to raise capital whether you sell
one percent or ninety one-percent or
ninety nine percent once you have
outside investors
outside investors you have to take into
account they’re going to have a say in
it that’s been the show on this week
number eight we’ll be back next week to
touch on many more topics
lightning round let’s get cracking okay
so Microsoft is up to dividend by
twenty-five percent do you think they
should be going on an acquisition binge
instead or do you think it’s just
accepting on a growth stock what do you
think well okay here’s the dichotomy
their revenues and income is higher than
it’s ever been but indeed it’s not
reflecting in the stock price so I
realize that they want to basically tell
investors look we can give you a greater
dividend come give us your money and buy
into our stock however because it’s
generating all this cash I think you
know and they’re still doing very well
although it’s not a sexy company
relative to everything else you’re
seeing I think they should probably go
out and buy a lot of companies provided
that then they let them remain
independent so if they’re going to buy
skype and if they’re gonna and sky
bought group me then these companies
should more or less remain keep their
brands and remain independent with
massive you know sort of targets and
financial incentives to keep growing I
think they could do both I think this is
a case where they could up the dividend
as they have but also go out and still
buy a lot of companies I don’t think it
should be either/or next okay so Google+
is adding users like wild I mean that’s
at least a headline is this a potential
you know successful product that Google
has pulled off or is it more google wave
google buzz or basically a ghost town
you know when google+ first launched or
shortly after did there was an article
on TechCrunch pretty much saying you
know Google+ could very well be a Trojan
horse before all of you hate on it why
don’t you wait and see where Google’s
going to go regardless I still think
that it’ll probably go the way of google
buzz or google wave the reason is is the
growth is kind of meaningless the fact
of the matter is is google already had
all these users all it had to do was
open it public and all these users have
by de facto become google+ users it
doesn’t mean anything and in terms of
like a product google+ doesn’t offer
anything different than what facebook
already offered i just packaged it a bit
differently there were already lists on
facebook google+ just made them a little
bit more usable and the fact that it
took facebook only a couple months to
pretty much clone that functionality
just goes to show there’s really no
unique selling proposition for users
they have no real incentive to move all
their activity over with the
unemployment rate being what it is they
should just pay people like a thousand
bucks to not use face my daughter-in-law
go ahead dollar login alright next
alright so hewlett-packard they fired
the Apothecary hired Meg Whitman what do
you think do they have the most sporadic
it’s a chronic Gordon American spin well
apparently everyone that you know has a
comment is basically saying forget
Yahoo’s board HP is the war sport in
America you know what I always think
it’s very unfair to say things like that
because it’s very you know you don’t
know what’s going on in the boardroom
but I think it’s impossible for HP’s
board not to be considered the worst out
there at least for a company at sides
within a year they brought on leo
apotheker they did not even interview
him for the job like a few of the board
members had met him i’m assuming they
did not interview him for the job the
board apparently the members hate one
another they don’t trust one another you
know they have the whole scandal from
marc her to have the scandal from the
wiretapping incident like it’s just
there’s so much there now is it going to
work or not again I’m not a software or
hardware expert I do think though that
HP despite the growth rate you know it’s
a bit like if McDonald’s I read this
this as an analyst who said it it’s a
bit like if McDonald’s just one day
decides we’re not going to sell burgers
HP I understand the growth rate isn’t
what you wanted in hardware I understand
the margins are not there you’re the
biggest freaking hardware seller IBM
yeah they r you know change what they
did Apple yes jobs came and he did all
these miracles I don’t think that’s
necessarily the answer for HP so if Meg
Whitman comes and she kills webos and
she basically spins off the hardware
unit I think that’s a bit crazy and it
won’t change anything if meg whitman if
now the reason why they fired leo
apotheker and brought in meg whitman is
to say this is why we’re now going to do
a 180 and keep the hardware unit and
maybe not by autonomy for ten billion
dollars when we have like 12 billion
dollars of cash then i think that might
actually in hindsight you know make the
board look like courageous and they did
the right thing but clearly i think
there’s something wrong in just life
when a board could do that and just flip
flops so abruptly and not really taken
to task and not really had to answer so
i think it’s just crazy but I mean hey
what else surprises you in business
seems a little bit like panic to me but
what do I know so yeah I mean yeah now
at least you know you hear two memos are
sent out friday evening one from
the chairman of the board and the CEO
and one from sorry and and the
co-founder and the other one from the
CEO that are basically saying very
different things forget all of that I
want to ask you a question I think
everybody has a comment on yahoo and by
and large it revolves the answer to how
do we solve Yahoo’s woes the answer
usually comes out to focus so assuming
focus is the path to take instead of
just you know monday morning Q being and
saying what they should do assuming
focus what are the products you use what
are the products they should focus on um
the only yahoo product i still use is
flickr and you know i’m not even a
photographer I just have a couple flickr
accounts and i do upload photos to them
occasionally i think the biggest problem
or the biggest mistake yeah who’s made
with that is if you actually go sign up
for a flickr account you have to first
go create a yahoo email address if you
don’t already have one if you look at
what Google does though you create a
google account and then you choose which
suite which products you actually want
to check off which ones you want to use
and i think yahoo has messed up the
integration there they forced me down
the email path it’s a little bit messed
up what they should do is offer you know
one global login and then you choose
what you want to use and i think that
would help their products become a
little bit more usable a little bit more
stick but isn’t the global account the
email like the yahoo email you’re saying
they shouldn’t force you to to sign up
to yahoo well what you actually got to
do is set up a yahoo email account with
with google i have i have a username
right i don’t necessarily activate my
gmail account with yahoo i have to go
and set up a yahoo email account okay i
just think you know what see how you
have to be reasonable it’s been around
for 15 plus years there’s gonna be a lot
of junk in the trunk and not all
integration is smooth not all you know
18 years is plenty of time to integrate
though you know um yeah it’s it’s a big
job but it’s not rocket science and if
the fact that Google could do it so well
just goes to show that Yahoo is leading
its main search oh that’s okay i will go
to email the week but just to comment on
that i think that’s like theory not
practice not realistic it’s like in the
video space you look at all of the
company’s let’s say who run the big o
VPS the online video platforms the
earliest ones you’d think they’d have
all the time in the world to integrate
new technologies but they’re the ones
with the legacy systems that’s why the
new guys common and they sort of beat
them at their game
they could start with a clean slate I
think Yahoo’s main disadvantage is like
there’s like a two pound bag and they’ve
put eight pounds of meat in there and
it’s hard to say i’m going to take the
sausage out and focus on the feeling you
know you can’t even see through the bag
okay that’s a weird analogy that’s like
you too let’s end it there meet in a bag
email what’s email email of the week all
right guy named Doug from Chicago hey
ash I’m raising money and investors want
to replace me as CEO is that fair life
is not fair uh I think it depends i mean
i don’t know Doug’s predicament too much
I will say this the approach to take in
that scenario and I think sometimes it’s
valid for the investors hey they’re
putting money in their company that they
might not want you running at a co they
might want you to be a biz dev guy maybe
a you know chief technical guide
depending on what your expertise is my
approach is this because I’ve been in
those situations and I’ve been asked
point blank I always sort of turn it
around to show the board that I’m
pragmatic practical and reasonable about
these things but also that you know
let’s not make a big deal about this now
I say here’s the reality if I tell you I
should be the CEO it’s my baby no way am
I not going to be CEO you’re going to be
like no no where you know we need a
adult supervision and we have our guy
you know you should be some kind of
chief creative officer or whatever now
if I turn it around and I say I don’t
want to be CEO it’s too much hassle too
much my new to manage I want to
just be like chief strategy guy they’re
like going on you know conferences on a
hydrolyzed things that I want to be the
evangelist bring in a CEO you’re gonna
say no no no ash it’s your baby you are
the captain of the ship you have to do
it and I’m not saying that that that
specific investor is unfair but I think
people like to disagree to disagree so I
do i turn it around and say why don’t
you take a piece of paper and write down
if I should be CEO or not and I’ll take
a piece of paper and I’ll write down if
I should bc or not and you know whatever
makes more sense like we discuss it and
we go there I think if Doug takes that
approach then he probably will end up
with the right decision for everybody
for all stakeholders that means maybe
you’ll end up as the CEO but maybe you
won’t but at least it’s not just people
debating to show look you know it’s my
way or the highway but at the other day
if doug has to make that decision if you
want to raise capital whether you sell
one percent or ninety one-percent or
ninety nine percent once you have
outside investors
outside investors you have to take into
account they’re going to have a say in
it that’s been the show on this week
number eight we’ll be back next week to
touch on many more topics
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