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 836 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
Ludwig bypassed maritime scrap rules by splitting profits with the government
“So when he got a tempting offer, he wrote the maritime commission with a proposition. This company is offering to pay a 100,000 dollars for a turbine that he had just removed. Let me sell this engine, DK said, and I'll split the proceeds with you 50 50. On its…”
Bill Gates Left Harvard Disappointed After Failing to Find Smarter Peers
“Bill Gates would later tell a friend he went to Harvard University to learn from people smarter than he was, and he left disappointed.”
Brunello Cucinelli strictly bans group emails and mobile phones in meetings
“There's no group emailing inside the company. And he says, no emails can be sent to more than two addresses, just one or two, no group mailing. Why must a single email be read by 10 different people? Also, when you go to meetings, you're not allowed to bring y…”
Jay Gould's attempted kidnapping of a con man nearly caused an invasion
“Having failed to convince Canadian authorities to hand over Gordon Gordon, Jay Gould attempted to kidnap Gordon Gordon with the help of his associates and a future member of Congress. Future members of Congress. So you got Lauren Fletcher, John Giffelian, and …”
Zuckerberg instantly dismissed Yahoo's $1B Facebook acquisition offer in 2006
“When Yahoo offered to buy Facebook for a billion dollars in July, 2006, I thought we should at least consider it. But Mark Zuckerberg walked into the board meeting and announced, okay guys, this is just a formality. It shouldn't take more than 10 minutes. We'r…”
Sam Zell Acquired $4 Billion in Distressed Assets Between 1974 and 1977
“Between 1974 and 1977, we bought roughly four billion dollars in assets with a dollar down and a hope certificate.”
Sam Zell Sold Equity Office Properties for $39 Billion in Early 2007
“So when I completed the thirty nine billion dollar sale of Equity Office, that's his company, in early 2007, I didn't yet know how the story would play out.”
Senra: A dollar invested with Singleton in 1963 reached $180 by 1990
“If you had invested a dollar with Singleton in 1963, by 1990 when he stepped down, It would have been worth a 180.”
Senra: Henry Singleton was a 43-year-old first-time founder when starting Teledyne
“Henry Singleton founded it when he was 43 and had never founded a company before.”
Teledyne acquired 130 companies by 1969, nearly all with company stock
“And between. And 1969, he purchased a 130 companies in industries ranging from aviation electronics to specialty metals and insurance. All but two of these companies were acquired using Teledyne's pricey stock.”
Senra: Singleton Dismissed Teledyne's Acquisition Team in Mid-1969
“In mid-nineteen 69, with the multiples on his stock falling and acquisition prices rising, he abruptly dismissed his acquisition team.”
Teledyne tied GM bonuses to a cash flow metric
“They devised a unique metric that they called the Teledyne return, which by averaging cash flow and net income for each business unit emphasize cash generation and became the basis for bonus compensation for all business unit general managers.”
Senra: 129 of 130 Teledyne business units were profitable
“And I think at that point, the previous year, he had, I think, a 130 different business units, and I think a 129 of them were profitable.”
Senra: Singleton Put Over 70% of Insurance Float in Five Stocks
“He invested over 70% of combined equity portfolios in just five companies, with an incredible 25% of his portfolio allocated to a single company, which was his former employer, Litton Industries.”
Insurance float was central to both Teledyne's and Berkshire's growth
“Both Singleton and Buffett recognized the potential to invest insurance company float to create shareholder value. And for both companies, insurance was the largest and most important business.”
Teledyne entered semiconductors in 1960 for long-term growth over quick profit
“We went into the semiconductor business in 1960, even though we were in the midst of a business crisis at the time, we did it because of our conviction that it was necessary for our long-term future growth and not because of any conviction that we would immedi…”
By 1977, Teledyne was largest shareholder in nine Fortune 500 companies
“By 1977 Teledyne was the largest shareholder in nine of the fortune 500 companies.”
Senra: Henry Singleton was the third-largest US landowner when he died
“When he dies, I think he's the third largest landowner in the United States at the time.”
Senra: Henry Singleton never sold a single piece of real estate
“In fact, the book says that he never sold a single piece of real estate, whether it's a house or his ranch or just empty land in his entire life.”
Anthropic named its AI model Claude after Claude Shannon
“Claude Shannon Is the reason that Anthropic called Claude, Claude.”
Senra: Shannon's 1948 paper laid foundation for the Internet and modern computing
“Shannon's work is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientific papers of the 20 century and laid theoretical foundation for things like the Internet, data compression, error correcting codes, digital telecommunications, Modern computing and much o…”
Senra: Bell Labs kept Claude Shannon on payroll after he joined MIT
“Even after he leaves Bell Labs they thought he was so important and he was so disinterested in money for money's sake that Bell Labs kept him on the payroll. So he winds up getting paid from MIT and Bell Labs.”
Merchant Bankers Began as Commodity Traders Before Shifting to Credit
“Almost all merchant bankers were merchants before they came bankers. They traded with certain commodities in certain parts of the world and later found it more profitable to leave the actual trading to others and to deal in credit instead of goods.”
Senra: NVIDIA's Massive Value Was Created 25 Years After Founding
“Think about in Jensen's case. He's been running a company for 33 years. It wasn't 10, in NVIDIA's case, it wasn't the value came 10 to 15 years into the company. They came 25 to 30 years into the future.”
The Honda Super Cub has sold over 100 million units
“The Honda Super Cub has been in constant and uninterrupted production for over 60 years. They have sold over a hundred million Super Cubs.”
Soichiro Honda once sprayed tax officials with a fire hose
“Honda made local headlines when he got into an argument with the tax office. Honda decided to have it out with tax officials. By getting a fire engine hose and dowsing officials as they came out of their building.”
Toyota rejected 47 of the first 50 piston rings Honda delivered
“So he winds up selling like 50 piston rings to Toyota and they send 47 of them back to him.”
Honda scavenged dropped US bomber fuel tanks for precious wartime metals
“The extra gasoline tanks from the US fighter planes dropped on these attacks, supplied him with needed precious and scarce metals. Honda called this dividend from the bombings Truman's gift.”
Early Honda faced bankruptcy because retailers defaulted on credit sales
“Honda was facing bankruptcy since many of the products it sold were just not being paid for. The shops he sold to on credit would never pay or they'd go out of business.”
Takeo Fujisawa built Honda's 5,000-dealer network using a direct mail campaign
“This set up a distribution network of 5000 dealers on the basis of the replies that Fujisawa received from this letter.”
Soichiro Honda mandated that every Honda product must contain an engine
“Honda resisted suggestions that the company move into other fields. The company's products, he said, must have an engine.”
Honda rejected US joint ventures to maintain independence while competitors partnered
“Most of his competitors at the time are merging or doing joint ventures with larger American car manufacturers, so like Mitsubishi goes and partners with Chrysler, Isuzu partners with General Motors, and Honda did not”
Pulitzer acquired the St. Louis Dispatch at auction for $2,500
“So Pulitzer is able to get a newspaper for only 2500 dollars.”
Joseph Pulitzer calculated a 17-week cash runway for his bankrupt newspaper
“He figures out how much money he has left, how much the paper is losing every week, and he says if he can't turn it around, he's gonna run out of cash in 17 weeks.”
Joseph Pulitzer paid his newspaper cartoonist twice the salary of his reporters
“Pulitzer finds a very gifted cartoonist, hires him to make pictures for the newspaper, and pays him more than twice the salary that he paid his reporters.”
Paul Rand Charged Steve Jobs $100,000 For One NeXT Logo Option
“When Steve spoke to Paul for the first time, he asked if Paul could present him with a few options for Next logo. No, Paul said, I will solve your problem and you will pay me. Paul's price, a 100,000 dollars, whether or not Next ended up using the logo. It was…”
Ross Perot Invested $20 Million in NeXT For a 16% Stake
“Ross is going to put twenty million dollars into next for a 16% stake in the company. He becomes the company's largest outside shareholder. But as one prerequisite of the deal is that Steve has to have more skin in the game. So he asked Steve to put in another…”
NeXT Burned $1 Million Per Month Before Generating Revenue
“His company's burning through a million dollars a month.”
NeXT Shipped Only 205 Computers By the End of 1988
“In November, the first cubes finally shipped by the end of the year. Next had shipped a measly 205 computers.”
Canon Invested $100 Million in NeXT For 16.67% Stake
“And so he convinces Canon to put a hundred million dollars into next in return for their a hundred million dollars. They get 16.67% stake in the company.”
Canon provided NeXT an emergency $40M investment to prevent bankruptcy
“Cannon agreed to give them another forty million dollars.”
NeXT Took Nine Years to Achieve First Profit of $1 Million
“That year, the company achieved its first profit of a million dollars on revenues of almost fifty million. After nine years of losses, Next was finally stepping into the black.”
Dell's WebObjects-powered online sales grew to $3M per day
“Within a year, Dell's web objects powered online sales exploded, growing to three million dollars a day and quickly becoming the core of the company's distribution strategy.”
Steve Jobs Opened Apple Acquisition Negotiation at $500 Million
“Steve opened, offering the company at 12 dollars a share, which would have made the total acquisition price five hundred million dollars.”
Senra: The name Nike originated from Jeff Johnson's dream
“And of course, the name for Nike comes from Jeff Johnson. It says, Johnson phone first thing this morning. Apparently a new name came to him in a dream last night. What is the name? I asked Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.”
Phil Knight was worth $178 million the day Nike went public
“Nothing had changed, least of all me, and yet I was worth a hundred and seventy-eight million dollars.”
Schwarzenegger used bodybuilding principles as a blueprint for movies and business
“Arnold lays out what he learned to get to the top of this very unusual And frankly, widely ridiculed sport of bodybuilding back then and says, Hey, wait, the same principles I used to get to the top of this sport, I'm going to use to become a movie star and bu…”