Domingo
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Good for him. He's living the dream and took a hobby way further than anyone thought possible.
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LTT'S Linus Sebastian stepping down as CEO
- Thread starter Modred189
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Well that's just unacceptable.
OFaceSIG
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Exactly. I don't precisely enjoy everything he does. But credit where credit is due. He turned a hobby channel into a mega business and made a boatload of money in the process. Now he wants to chill a bit more and slam the wife from time to time. I can't blame him.
mullet
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bless your heart.
Modred189
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God love ya.
good for him, i think. He is a little annoying but for the most part harmless. I don't view him as an "expert" but more of an entertainer. or more like edutainment. I wish him well and his companies well (i think). He is at least more palatable than Jay2cents.
The people saying he is stupid to not accept 100 million just on the basis of it being 100 million are the exact kind of people that wouldn't be able to run a successful business, at least not an honest one (all bets are off on dishonest ones...you can often get away with a lot of mismanagement in that case). Linus may be leaving out of the video one possible motivation for turning it down. 100 million is a lot of money, more than enough for anyone's lifetime. Still, in the long-term, especially with a good CEO, Linus and his wife might believe it can become worth much more. And when your lifestyle wants are already met with current (and still growing) income/savings, the only reason to sell now is the risk something goes wrong and its value decreases. But if they are confident they can ensure that doesn't happen, financially it makes sense to continue growing the company's value before potentially selling it for an even larger number in the future.
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I guess I suck at business. XD
He mentioned that he would still be required to stay on for x amount of years after the buy out. You think he wants to stay there where he has no control over what happens with his company. Some people value their legacy more then making a quick buck. Love him or hate him he is trying to build something and make meaningful changes in the industry with the LTT labs.
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techie81
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You could definitely see this coming from his previous video. His company has grown so much and he probably has to work long ass days. I don't agree with everything he does/says but am very happy for him. Interested to see how the new CEO will fit into the culture.
I find that its typically, envious, mom's basement dwellers, that have a strong dislike for Linus.
I find that its typically, envious, mom's basement dwellers, that have a strong dislike for Linus.
T4rd
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If you've built a company from the ground up and developed all of the relationships he has with most of the staff, I'd hope you wouldn't sell them out so easily. He's cited his staff as the primary reason that has kept him going in the business because they all rely on him for everything and he'd kick himself hard if he left and their jobs went to shit.
Sir Beregond
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100% right. You don't tolerate willful incompetence when opportunity after opportunity was given to learn and provide coaching/guidance and it went no where. You have to cut your losses at that point.
Anyway, in terms of the topic at hand, I was never a big LTT fan after a certain age, but I can respect that he doesn't strike me as a sellout, even if I don't always agree with his takes, and I think having a company as big as it is now definitely gives them the influence to be a positive push on the industry. One thing I can definitely say about Linus is he had the wisdom to hire people who knew the tech stuff he doesn't know, and this move to not be CEO anymore is probably a wise choice long-term. Kudos to him.
Yeah I agree. I can't stand JayzNoSense.
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We do not really know how much he is worth, but if their companies is evaluated at $70-100m and they are worth 40-60millions, that a good amount of debt (still a good net worth), but you cannot divorce that almost 100% of their worth is in the company they turned down the buyout from.
It is not like if they were wealthy already outside of that.
I think he reached his reflection point and is why he is doing it. He is backing off for the very reason of micro managing. I am sure his employees perhaps might have warned him they were leaving if something doesn't change.
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Zarathustra[H]
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If you already have $60M and the company is your passion project?
Let's face it. He had already earned enough that he never needs to worry about money again. He could spend half a million a year for 120 years based on his own personal wealth already as it is, and that is not considering capital gains on his investments which stretch that even further, possibly even indefinitely, depending on the mix of investments and how much he spends.
He can afford to keep his company as what gives him meaning and as a fun project. He doesn't need to sell it.
Besides, money isn't everything. It's difficult to predict how I would personally cave to temptation in that situation, but there is at least a big part of me who would want to continue to insert myself in the scene and make sure there is at least one outlet in which the big brands can't get away with their bullshit propaganda, regardless of the amount of money offered.
If your entire goal in life is just to make enough money to live a life of luxury without any other purpose, then honestly, that is a bit sad.
Principle above all else. If money comes it comes. If it doesn't, oh well.
I'll give a little background from where my (bitter) comments are coming from.
This is coming from someone that sits in an enclosed space with no windows, with three menopausal women for 8h, only to clock out every day, and shovel dirt, move rocks, mow fields, and paint fences for a couple hours. Then to go home, and fix any one of the three shit boxes who's parts have arrived while getting eaten alive by mosquitos. Once that is sorted, get kiddo to bed, then to work on any of the house projects for an hour. Only to wake up and do it all over again. Weekends set aside for larger projects either at my place or any one of the rentals, and larger jobs on vehicles.
So, yes. Someone ever offered me $100mil for my company and I turned it down, I'd be giving myself a lobotomy.
I am not sure what you mean by that, do you think Linus and his wife has 60 millions aside and a whole company worth 50-100 million over that ?
Of you mean you have a company with only say 20 millions in debt, that is worth say $80m and not a lot of cash to your name
Flogger23m
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Exactly. He mentioned he has enough money to live in an expensive hotel for the rest of his life, and his kids lives, and his grand kids lives. He can waste money each day and still be fine. With the buy out he would still have to work, but who knows what he would have to do.
Now he steps down as CEO, can do the fun stuff, still be rich and still make money. I am sure even if he is stepping down as CEO his income probably won't change much which I think most people here are overlooking. He is the brand. He might be taking a pay cut, but I assume it is not that big. Because he is the creative lead and what generally brings the business in. He keeps his hobby, his legacy, the fun parts of his job and still probably makes a lot of money.
Zarathustra[H]
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My understanding is he has a net worth of about $65M, company ownership excluded.
That business of his has been a virtual money printing machine for a long time.
Zarathustra[H]
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I wonder if he even pays himself a salary, or if he just takes dividends.
Zarathustra[H]
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I hear you. I get up for work, work all day, come home, eat dinner, do dishes, try to squeeze in some home improvement and yard work chores and go to bed. Lucky if I squeze in a half an hour of relaxing in front of the TV most days.
I guess my point was, his situation is not ours. He doesn't need the money, he already has it.
That would be a strange thing to talk about someone net worth and not include a company.
My understanding was someone simply googling people net worth on Google and using the extremely unreliable result, which would have included mostly if not only the estimated value of the company.
My feeling they reinvest the profit inside the company a lot, could very well have less than 10 million outside of it, which would still way more than enough to not have to work ever again if it is well invested amount, when you do not fly around first class all the time and not care for expensive cars, personal help, mansion, etc....
Yea, I typed that all out when my first comment was a bit more in jest. Kind of rambled on there for a bit.
Its been a week. ¬.¬
He made the smart move, he's out of his depth and he's got a huge monster of a growing company with multiple media outlets and production to support........someone needs to talk to him about his onscreen
Damn, and I thought having to get up 10 minutes before work starts and walk 90 feet down a flight of stairs to get from bed to office on WFH Friday was a brutal day of hardships...........this really puts things into perspective.
Damn, and I thought having to get up 10 minutes before work starts and walk 90 feet down a flight of stairs to get from bed to office on WFH Friday was a brutal day of hardships...........this really puts things into perspective.
Zarathustra[H]
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I don't know exactly what you mean about this, but I think his onscreen is brilliant. It's what he does best.
It's refreshing to have someone be honest and upfront about stuff rather than trying to appear all cool and having everything together all the time.
I think it humanizes him, and makes him more likeable and is a huge part of his success.
erek
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Gn
OutOfPhase
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Good on him - sounds perfect. Someone else will do the day-to-day management. He still retains ownership, and is still the charismatic face of the company which built said company.
I always thought of him as a modernized Leo Laporte (no age offense implied). Someone who can bring a bit of the tech goodness to the every-person in an approachable way.
I always thought of him as a modernized Leo Laporte (no age offense implied). Someone who can bring a bit of the tech goodness to the every-person in an approachable way.
This is strange coming from you..
erek
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yea after him ripping off a hardforumer on that Larrabee eBay auction, i can't get behind this guy at all
it's totally blatant and they tried the same thing again for that Voodoo5 6000 that was up for sale on eBay
Zarathustra[H]
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Don't get me wrong. I don't like YouTubers and am not a big viewer of Linus, but I can see what makes him appeal to his audience, and that is something he is very good at, or he would t have made millions doing it.
erek
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If he sells out for 100+ Million then he could have a potential net worth over 1 Billion for the valuation of his companies and still be on for creating content as “the star”
Examples of overnight billionaire companies:
Once Linus catches his breath from stepping back and makes some realizations
Maybe we’ll see a better result than when Tech Report sold out
https://techreport.com/
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So that's different. What you are saying is if someone offered you $100mil, or heck probably much less, to be able to quit your job and escape from a life you are clearly dissatisfied with, you'd take it. That is understandable. However what about if you were in a position like his: He seems to really like his job, has a very nice new house, new cars, people he can pay to do projects if he wants to (though he seems to like being involved) and so on. In that case, might it be a different situation?
And shit, he already has most of that kind of stuff. I don't know if you watch his channel but his new house while not maybe technically a mansion is huge, has tons of cool high-tech stuff in it (often which was donated free by the companies for advertising) and he owns outright. He actually gets to have "help" with various things just by either hiring his employees to do additional work for him or, more often, having them do it as part of their normal job and making a video of it which then of course brings in more revenue. While he may not have super expensive cars like a Rolls Royce, he has a Porche Taycan, again owned outright.
Like he already IS living the rich person lifestyle, he already seems to have all the things he wants in life, so I can totally see how a buyout just isn't that big a deal. He really is at the point where that kind of money, as obscene as it is, probably wouldn't materially change his lifestyle. It isn't like he and his family are living modestly to try and make the company succeed, they are able to take enough profit to live extremely well.
There's also the side of it that it sounds like his wife keeps the company in a much more stable place than many so it isn't such a "we'd better cash out while we can," situation. A good example is that apparently the own their original offices, not lease. They bought it and paid off the note. The new labs/offices are something they owe on, they took out a mortgage, but again they are buying not leasing. That makes a big difference. If you have a startup, where all you have is debt, your nifty idea, and the hope of future growth it makes sense to cash out if someone offers you big money because it could all evaporate. However when you have real assets, the company is in a much different position. Even if things start to go downhill, you don't just see everything evaporate as there are real assets you have to sell if you decide to close up shop.
erek
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is that sarcasm? where's the /s
GoldenTiger
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Some sarcasm is obvious enough to not need a /s.
Starfalcon
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If he sells out for 100+ Million then he could have a potential net worth over 1 Billion for the valuation of his companies and still be on for creating content as “the star”
Examples of overnight billionaire companies:
View attachment 571635
Once Linus catches his breath from stepping back and makes some realizations
Maybe we’ll see a better result than when Tech Report sold out
https://techreport.com/
Techreport didnt sell out, it had reached a point of not being able to keep itself afloat. It had reached the point either close it down permanently, or sell it to a new owner that promised to keep it running. They went with the new owner so it would stay up, unfortunately he ended up turning it into an SEO clickfarm. I think it might have been better to just shut it down.
erek
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sad @ clickfarm
the old audio podcasts were fun before they transitioned to video and scott left
Reviews
Apple’s A9 impresses and the Nexus strikes back: The TR Podcast 188
RENEE JOHNSON
OCTOBER 5, 2015 9:55 AM
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erek
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They also used to have annual BBQs
TR BBQ XVI: That was a triumph https://techreport.com/featured/tr-bbq-xvi-that-was-a-triumph/
TR BBQ XVI: That was a triumph https://techreport.com/featured/tr-bbq-xvi-that-was-a-triumph/