NyPo has the scoop:
Vice Media CEO Shane Smith is spending money like it’s pre-crisis 2007.
Smith, 45, was outed Wednesday as the big spender who splurged on a $300,000 dinner last month at Prime Steakhouse at the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas.
He personally footed the bill for at least a dozen people at the ritzy Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurant...
The dinner held during the International Consumer Electronics Show in early January was so exorbitant that it drew the attention of Bellagio owner MGM Resorts International.
Chairman Jim Murren told analysts Tuesday that he hadn’t seen a bill that big since 2007. The tab — which included wine with a price tag north of $15,000 — was an “encouraging sign” that the Las Vegas Strip was rebounding, he said.
An MGM spokesman said it was a party of 12, but a guest at the dinner told Bloomberg the head count was closer to 25.
Here's the menu at Prime Steakhouse. Most of the price had to be about multiple bottles of very expensive wine.
Last year, Vice landed $500 million in funding from Technology Crossover Ventures and A+E Networks. That my friends is crazy Fed money.
--RW
That is outrageous! Why for that amount he could have rented a NY apartment for a whole month!
ReplyDeleteWhen it is ultimately the taxpayer footing the bill, then money is no object.
ReplyDeleteIf I were Technology Crossover Ventures and A+E Networks, I'd pissed that my investment is paying for someone's excessive lifestyle. But if there's money where that came from, then why bother?
ReplyDeleteLook at how quickly the values of multi-billion-dollar startups have multiplied
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time in Silicon Valley, a billion dollars was a big deal. These days, companies can catch multi-billion-dollar valuations on the fly. Take, for instance, the big numbers bandied about this week. Investors are waving term sheets at Snapchat for $500 million in financing under the assumption that the app is worth $19 billion. Pinterest is also in the process of raising $500 million, but at a more modest $11 billion valuation. "Facing overwhelming demand" from investors, Uber agreed to accept an additional billion dollars in financing, just a few weeks after the e-hailing app closed a $1.2 billion funding round that valued the company at $40 billion.
A quick note on how profitability relates to valuations: it doesn't! At least not yet. A source told The Verge that Pinterest is seeking an $11 billion valuation even though revenue for 2014 was under $50 million, and projected revenue for 2015 is roughly $200 million. Pinterest declined to comment. Venture capitalist Bill Gurley — an investor in Uber and Snapchat through his firm, Benchmark Capital — once called multiplying revenue a "crude tool" for calculating a startup's valuation.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/20/8075053/look-at-how-quickly-the-value-of-multi-billion-dollar-startups-have