
Skype legend Morten Lund bankrupt - pclark
http://uk.techcrunch.com/2009/01/14/as-raw-as-it-gets-startup-legend-lund-bankrupt/
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laut
Techcrunch got the facts wrong (again). It's 10 million Danish kroner (DKK),
not krona, which is equivalent to 1.76 million USD at the current exchange
rate. He promised he would give 10 million to the former CEO and the former
chairman of Nyhedsavisen, the newspaper he invested in, if the newspaper
closed. They sued him because he didn't pay up, and then was declared
bankrupt.

According to an article in Børsen (<http://borsen.dk/executive/nyhed/140074/>)
he said he personally invested 105 million DKK (not 10 million) in
Nyhedsavisen. Money that he had loaned.

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vaksel
Its amazing that someone as intelligent as Morten Lund would invest every
single penny into a single venture.

But I think he'll live through this...just watch his Le Web presentation...he
seems really upbeat.

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jackowayed
He's a good entrepreneur and a tech guy. What would possess him to invest
heavily in a newspaper? It's so far from technology, and it's a dying
industry.

Memo to anyone thinking of investing in companies: when considering in what
field to invest, the word _dying_ should be a huge red flag.

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macco
He invested in a free newspaper, not a traditional one. In a speech in Berlin
he said that he is always trying to change the rules of the game. By the way
newspapers aren't dead, they are just evolving.

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jackowayed
Oh, so it had less revenue than normal. I guess it was a sound investment
then.

That is cooler, but also not the wisest idea economically. Investing so much
of your money based on your ideals rather than because you think it's a good
idea is a good thing to do principles/karma-wise, but it does make you more
likely to make a bad investment.

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narag
"Oh, so it had less revenue than normal."

It has less kind of revenues, not necessarily less revenue. I don't know in
Denmark, but in Spain free newspapers are flourishing and there's even tough
competence (Metro, 20 Minutos, ADN, Que...). They live on ads and are pretty
healthy.

Edit: In fact, paid newspapers here live more on ads and government aids than
nominal price.

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newmediaclay
I really love this talk, I've already sent it to several friends (including a
couple of McKinsey suits, ha).

I don't agree with all of the parts about strategy being pointless. There's a
grain of truth -- like go with your gut or something, but he takes it too far.
But it is probably worth noting that I think his end game is happiness,
innovation and spontaneity versus financial success.

The things I love (and I mean love) about this are: # rollercoaster of
entrepreneurship # talking about how everyday is like a recession for
entrepreneurs # his general outlook on life and doing something very
satisfying rather than scamming for a buck

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coliveira
Strange how someone can make such a stupid investment.

The bright side of the story is that it shows that anyone can hit big time --
even people with poor investment skills (in non-tech areas) like M. Lund...

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pclark
is he really bankrupt if he has stock in 88 companies?

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mixmax
His ownership of these companies is included in the bankruptcy proceedings,
and will be sold off to compensate his personal creditors.

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volida
may I ask how do you know that?

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mixmax
I'm Danish and it says so in the Danish newspapers :-)

