So it has been an interesting few weeks. A few shit-cannings here and there, followed by silence that has been deafening. One brand showed the door to someone who was lauded in virtually messianic language in several well-planted puff pieces back in the spring. Did things go that far south that quickly? Of course not. Things were never that good, but the belief of the puppeteers pulling the strings was and continues to be that so long as you keep telling people everything is great, they will not only believe it, but it will magically become so. This now former executive is now having his mail forwarded to the labor exchange.
There seems to be no hesitation on the part of some to claim all of the glory, and to use the type of misdirection that Harry Houdini would have been proud of. But misdirection is one thing, what about complete and total lack of attention? Now while it is true that we are all curious about the little independent brands getting gobbled up or going broke perhaps there is another, potentially more ominous reality -
What if, (and hey, we're just spit-balling here), but what if an investment group / fund with very deep pockets were to, I don't know, start acquiring a bunch of stock of a group? Do the current stewards of these groups have money? Sure. Do they have enough to prevent something like this from happening? No they do not. And although they may currently have voting seats now, all it will take is a motivated investor to buy up enough shares and insist on representation on the board and in management. And then there will be some very well-heeled former executives joining their aforementioned colleague picking up their mail at the labor exchange.
So we will see what develops, but there are more than a few rumors that a certain someone might be behind the curtain, whispering into the ears of certain Texans and residents of the Silicon Valley regarding potential investment opportunities in a different valley across the Atlantic.
As always, we shall wait, and we shall see.
There seems to be no hesitation on the part of some to claim all of the glory, and to use the type of misdirection that Harry Houdini would have been proud of. But misdirection is one thing, what about complete and total lack of attention? Now while it is true that we are all curious about the little independent brands getting gobbled up or going broke perhaps there is another, potentially more ominous reality -
What if, (and hey, we're just spit-balling here), but what if an investment group / fund with very deep pockets were to, I don't know, start acquiring a bunch of stock of a group? Do the current stewards of these groups have money? Sure. Do they have enough to prevent something like this from happening? No they do not. And although they may currently have voting seats now, all it will take is a motivated investor to buy up enough shares and insist on representation on the board and in management. And then there will be some very well-heeled former executives joining their aforementioned colleague picking up their mail at the labor exchange.
So we will see what develops, but there are more than a few rumors that a certain someone might be behind the curtain, whispering into the ears of certain Texans and residents of the Silicon Valley regarding potential investment opportunities in a different valley across the Atlantic.
As always, we shall wait, and we shall see.
No comments:
Post a Comment