The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 1,034 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Jerry Jones Bought the Dallas Cowboys After 75 Rival Buyers Passed
“Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys. He paid one hundred and forty million for they're worth ten billion today. 75 people turned down the opportunity to buy the Cowboys before Jerry Jones did.”
Jerry Jones Came Up Empty on Only One of Over 200 Wells
“Jones and McCoy had drilled more than 200 wells, and they had come up empty on exactly one.”
Leon Hess personally paid foreign bribes without seeking corporate reimbursement
“He has to write a letter to shareholders because the regulations in the oil industry are changing. So I just want to read some excerpts from this letter to the shareholders. He goes in the hope of obtaining a benefit for our corporation. I made a series of pay…”
Wallenberg Jr. preferred violating German environmental laws over paying contract damages
“Mark Jr. Had been given a interview and he was asked, like, why did the Wallenberg start building this new pulp factory in Germany without yet having received permission from the authorities? And he had answered honestly, but imprudently that it was preferable…”
Jensen Huang: 'I'd Rather Torture People Into Greatness'
“Jensen has a great line in the book. He says, I don't like giving up on people. I'd rather torture them into greatness.”
Nvidia's AI Pivot Originated From Employee Weekly Update Emails
“One of the weak signals that he intercepted years ago was a wonky, but exciting development in machine learning that kept popping up in T five T emails. Jensen decided that NVIDIA needed to invest more in tools for accelerating workloads on its GP use. This is…”
Jared Kushner invested in Brad Jacobs' latest company and joined its board
“My friend, Jared Kushner just invested in Brad's latest company and joined his board.”
James J. Hill was the only American railroad builder to avoid bankruptcy
“James J. Hill was the only American Railroad entrepreneur in history to build a railroad and never go bankrupt.”
Blackstone Financed $32B Zell Buyout Across 16 Banks to Block Rivals
“The fact that they decided to finance their thirty two billion dollar offer with six Team banks at two billion dollars each instead of three banks at ten billion dollars each might have suggested. Perhaps They were thinking that if they could get 16 banks for …”
Nick Sleep Sold Half His Amazon Stake at $1,500 in 2018
“By 2018, Amazon had risen so much that it accounted for more than 70% of Nick's net worth. Nick began to worry. Could Amazon's market value grow to three or four trillion dollars or were there limits even to Amazon's greatness? He wasn't sure. So after 13 year…”
Getty refused a ransom demand to protect his 14 other grandchildren
“His whole point is, like, I got 15 other grandchildren. If I just keep immediately, you know, paying out money, I'm signaling to the world that if you want to make money, just kidnap one of my kids.”
Rolex dominated the US market by expanding marketing during the 2008 crisis
“When the financial crisis happens in 2008, they pull back on their marketing. Rolex did not. Rolex put the pedal down, and it was really 2008, 2009, 2010, which really elevated Rolex in the United States to a level that it is today.”
Steve Jobs considered a free, ad-supported version of Mac OS
“And he's like, Hey, what if we gave it away for free? And we just did an ad supported version of Mac OS. And instead of buying them, you can get it for free, but you have to watch an ad every time before you use your computer.”
Ivar Kreuger Invented the Dual-Class Share Structure Still Used Today
“This guy literally invented the B-share, this dual class share system that is still used to this day.”
Larry Ellison Commanded Recruiters to Hire the Cockiest College Graduates
“Ellison insisted that his recruiters hire only the finest and cockiest new college graduates.
When they were recruiting from universities, they'd ask people, are you the smartest person you know?
And if they said yes, they would hire them.
If they said no, …”
Elon Musk Personally Interviewed First 3,000 SpaceX Hires
“He interviewed the first 3000 employees at SpaceX. That's how important it was.”
Cornelius Vanderbilt hired mercenaries to assassinate William Walker over seized business assets
“He literally sends people to try to kill him. Hires multiple, multiple mercenaries. That is not hyperbolic. Like, that's exactly what he did.”
Cornelius Vanderbilt personally financed and equipped a multinational military invasion of Nicaragua
“The invasion of Nicaragua by the other Central American government armies had been motivated, financed, and equipped by Vanderbilt.”
Cornelius Vanderbilt's personal wealth exceeded all Central American governments combined
“Vanderbilt had more money than all Central American governments combined.”
A competitor paid Cornelius Vanderbilt $40,000 monthly simply to not compete
“For two months, Aspen Wall had paid him 40,000 dollars a month on the condition that Vanderbilt not put his steamers on the Panama run in competition with Aspen Wall's own vessels. That money went to Vanderbilt personally, not to the transit company, even thou…”
Michael Jordan used a butcher knife to destroy a friend's Puma gear
“He goes into the kitchen, gets a butcher knife, and literally cuts up everything. This was like his second or third year in the league. He literally took a butcher knife to my shoes, ripping and cutting. When he's all done, he picks up every little scrap and w…”
Hearst rejected a $50k room, then bought it from Duveen for $200k.
“A dealer offered a room to William Randolph Hearst for 50,000 dollars. Hearst spurned it. Duveen offered it to him later. Duveen offered it to Hearst later for 200,000 dollars, and Hearst bought it with gratitude.”
Early Texas Oil Wildcatters Ran Armed Bunkers and Smuggled Crude
“They built concrete bunkers around wells and hired armed guards to defend their turf from government inspectors. They smuggled oil across state borders. They operated unregistered refineries in backwoods. They processed crude in excess of what each operator wa…”
Brad Jacobs built the world's largest equipment rental company in 13 months
“Within 13 months, we had built the largest equipment rental company in the world.”
United Rentals reached $1B revenue in 13 months; Hertz took 37 years
“Hertz did this. And they built up a national equipment rental chain to about a billion dollars of annual revenue over the course of 37 years. United Rentals did that in 13 months.”
The concept of universal love for mankind did not exist before Jesus
“Love of mankind as a whole did not exist in Jesus's day as a concept. The intellectual, social, and racial climate of Jesus's day was hostile to this message of loving mankind as a whole.”
Historical sources agree more on Jesus's death than Caesar's assassination
“Paul Johnson says something that's very interesting. He says, there's more agreement in the sources about the death of Jesus than there is about the assassination of Julius Caesar.”
Elon Musk Personally Interviewed the First 3,000 Employees Hired at SpaceX
“He interviewed the first 3000 employees at SpaceX. That's how important it was.”
Elon Musk recruited an engineer by having Larry Page transfer his wife
“So I heard you don't want to move to LA, and one of the reasons is that your wife works for Google. Well, I just talked to Larry, and they're going to transfer your wife down to LA, so what are you going to do now? To solve this problem, Musk had called his fr…”
Paul Graham: Determination matters far more than intelligence for entrepreneur success
“He was asked one time, what plays a more important role in the success of entrepreneurs determination or intelligence. And he said, determination by far.”
CNN went 13 years without a 24-hour cable news competitor
“It would be 13 years before we faced another 24 hour news channel.”
Oracle hired university graduates who claimed to be the smartest they knew
“When they were recruiting from universities, they'd ask people, are you the smartest person you know? And if they said yes, they would hire them. If they said no, they would say who is, and they would go hire that guy instead.”
Elon Musk personally interviewed SpaceX's first 3,000 employees
“He personally met with every single person the company hired through the first 3000 employees.”
Russian buyers drove half of Gagosian's global sales from 2004 to 2008
“Incredibly, between 2004 and 2008, Russian buyers were responsible for almost half of Gagosian's business worldwide.”
Senra: Jobs called early Pixar his only all-'A-player' company
“There's a famous quote that I read in one of the biographies of Steve Jobs, where he said, the only time he ever saw an entire company of A players was in the early days of Pixar.”
Pixar's Braintrust holds no authority to mandate changes to directors
“The brain trust has no authority. The director does not have to follow any of the specific suggestions given. The brain trust notes are intended to bring the true causes of a problem to the surface, not to demand a specific remedy.”
Unlike Balenciaga Christian Dior Could Not Physically Make a Dress Himself
“Dior could not actually make a dress. He was a designer, as Coco Chanel said, not a courtier.”
James Cameron Turned Down a Seat on the Ill-Fated Columbia Shuttle
“The punchline is, the shuttle mission that I refused? It was the Columbia.”
The Earliest Version of Photoshop Fixed CGI Glitches on Terminator 2
“Photoshop is actually the first thing they use it for is to solve a technical problem that James Cameron is having on Terminator two.”
A Fox President Demanded James Cameron Surrender His Titanic Profit Points
“20th Century Fox president Bill mechanic told Cameron that the film would never see a dime a profit. He suggested that Cameron should not only surrender all his points, meaning his profits on Titanic, but give back half of his points on the next film he did wi…”
Senra: Toyota reverse-engineered Chevrolet engines to accept Chevy replacement parts
“The result was an engine so exact that it could accept Chevy replacement parts, a major advantage when the inevitable breakdown occurred.”
Ogilvy strictly banned hiring spouses and relatives to prevent office politics
“I have an inviolable rule against employing nepots and spouses because they breed politics. Whenever two of our people get married, one of them must depart.”
Ogilvy: Headlines of ten or more words consistently outsell short ones
“Researchers found that headlines of 10 words or longer consistently sold more merchandise than short headlines.”
Robert Moses used investigative dossiers to leak against opposing city officials
“This was a team of investigators who had compiled dossiers on other city officials, which Moses leaked to newspaper, newspapers, if an official opposed him.”
Vanderbilt and Rockefeller praised Jay Gould as America's smartest businessman
“Vanderbilt told a newspaper that Gold was the smartest man in America. Rockefeller, when asked who he thought had the best head for business, answered Jay Gold.”
Warren Buffett Bypassed Standard Due Diligence When Acquiring Helzberg Diamonds
“When Warren Buffett bought Hellsberg diamonds, he felt so positive about the deal that he cut out the usual due diligence to speed negotiations.”
Alfred Loomis considered Vannevar Bush the second most indispensable American in WWII
“Alfred Lee Loomis is on record saying, hey, out of every single American that if they died, their death would cause the greatest setback to the American war effort in World War II. Number one is FDR, and he says Van Busch would be second or third.”