
Former Goldman Options Trader Becomes Argentina Taxi King - wslh
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-27/former-goldman-options-trader-moonlights-as-argentina-taxi-king.html
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brianbreslin
So what if this guy wanted to improve quality/tech in his cabs, make them
connected like ubers, he could give uber a crazy run for their money in this
market. Taxis are notorious for ripping people off in BsAs (I've been 7 times
I know).

Would be an interesting experiment to see large capital groups coming in to
big cities in LatAm and overhauling taxi fleets etc.

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molmalo
"Becomes Argentina Taxi King" is very misleading...

He only owns 30 licenses... there are players owning several thousands,
through shell companies or straw men, but the legal limit is 200... And more
importantly, the mayor owners are the managers of the Taxi Driver Union... and
the unions have a LOT of political power inside the main political party of
the country. So, it's impossible that this man would be able to become "a
King"... Just a minor player, perhaps...

But I bet that he will leave in just a few years, after realizing that he
won't be able to work here without "associating" (that is, handing over) a
large part of his company to a powerful local sponsor (probably a powerful
politician or Union leader)...

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HockeyPlayer
I'd be worried that Uber and the like are going to destroy the value of a taxi
medallion.

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opendais
It is more likely that Uber will end up having to pay for a taxi medallion or
equivalent to maintain government revenues.

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mschuster91
Taxi medallions usually are private assets, government doesn't see any cash on
them except ordinary sales tax.

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brianbreslin
I thought the medallions were issued by the government agency?

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nmcfarl
The normal way is that initially, when the taxi commission is formed the
agency sells them, and then after that the medallions are in private hands,
and are a resell-able asset of the company that owns them.

Here's an article on such a resale in New York a couple of years ago:
[http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/2-taxi-
medallio...](http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/2-taxi-medallions-
sell-for-1-million-each/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0)

