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Amazon Prepares to Launch Delivery Drones. Again…

13 years after Jeff Bezos promised the world drone delivery, it appears they might be making good on that promise soon. The company is planning to roll out its first city this year.

Which feels like something out of a sci fi movie. While it still seems logistically impossible for drones delivery to actually work, I wouldn’t bet against Bezos’ ability to pull it off…

If you haven’t heard of their drone delivery network yet, it’s called Prime Air.

So what the hell is Prime Air exactly?

 

What is Prime Air Anyway?

Prime Air, is a drone delivery service currently in development by Amazon that will deploy delivery drones to autonomously fly individual packages to customers within 30 minutes of ordering.

In order to qualify for 30-minute delivery, your order must be less than 5 lbs. The products also have to be small enough to fit in the cargo box that the aircraft will carry… and have an Amazon delivery location within a 10-mile radius of a participating Amazon fulfillment center.

 

Is This Actually Happening?

In late 2020 Amazon, along with Zipline, Wingcopter and 7 others were selected by FAA to participate in a type certification program for delivery drones. Operations are expected to begin in the town of Lockeford, California later in 2022.

After years of testing and delays, the company is finally set to launch. At least for products 5 pounds or less…

Watch this video to learn more.

 

WATCH:

 

How will Prime Air Actually Work Though?

When a customer places an order eligible for Prime Air, they’ll receive an estimated arrival time and status tracker for their package.

The drone uses a sense-and-avoid system to safely fly packages while also dodging obstacles such as other objects and aircraft.

“As our drone descends to deliver the package into a customer’s backyard, the drone ensures that there’s a small area around the delivery location that’s clear of any people, animals, or other obstacles,” said an Amazon representative.

Once it gets low enough, the drone will release the package and just fly off.

Is Anyone Else Doing Drone Delivery?

Walmart said their drone network could reach up to 4 million households in six states: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Items including Tylenol, diapers and hot dog buns could be delivered in as little as 30 minutes…

Similarly, drone company Wing, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, announced in April plans to launch a commercial drone delivery service in Dallas. Walgreens is among the retailers partnering with Wing to offer items delivered by drone.

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

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Best Practices Biography and History Culture Entrepreneurship Industries Investing Management Marketing Mergers & Acquisition Negotiations News and Politics Technology

The Ukrainian Immigrant Who Sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $19.3B

Jan Koum is a Ukrainian-American billionaire businessman and computer engineer. He’s the co-founder and former CEO of WhatsApp, a mobile messaging app that was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for an absolutely mind boggling $19.3 billion.

Facebook paid $12 billion in stock and the rest in cash. What’s even more badass than the exit was the fact that Koum arranged for the $19 billion deal to be signed at the same welfare center he used to collect his welfare checks in his teens. Only this time, he drove there in his Porsche.

Jan moved to California from Ukraine when he was 16. As a young immigrant, Koum and his mother had to rely on food stamps. Koum became interested in programming and eventually landed a job at Yahoo! Where he worked for 9 years.

Then in January 2009, Koum bought an iPhone and realized that the then seven-month-old App Store was about to spawn a whole new industry for app creators.

WhatsApp was initially unpopular, but it quickly became one of the fastest growing apps on the market.  WhatsApp allows user to send messages, images, audio or video at a cost significantly less than texting.

The app gained a large user base. So large Facebook was monitoring the app for years obsessively. They were paranoid WhatsApp could eventually be a Facebook killer.

WATCH:

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Best Practices Biography and History Culture Economics Entrepreneurship Industries Investing Mergers & Acquisition Negotiations

WATCH: The Secret to Five Guys Franchise Success

Five Guys is a burger chain of restaurants with over 1,700 locations doing $2.3 billion in sales founded by a dad and his 4 sons (hence, the 5 guys).

For comparison, there are a total of 378 In-N-Out Burger locations and 350 Johnny Rockets.

Worth mentioning, in addition to the 1,700 locations, Five Guys has an additional 1,500 restaurants currently in development. So if you haven’t been to one yet, just wait.

In just 2 decades, Five Guys has become one of the fastest growing, successful restaurant chains in the United States making them a brand worth knowing and a model to look into.

The Five Guys Origin Story:

In 1986 the founder, Jerry Murrel, along with his 4 sons started a single burger restaurant. As the story goes: Parents Jerry and Janie Murrell offered  an ultimatum to their four sons: “Start a business or go to college.”

The business route won and the Murrell family opened a carry-out burger joint in Arlington Virginia with the following business plan:

“Sell a really good, juicy burger on a fresh bun. Make perfect French fries. Don’t cut corners.”

When they say they don’t cut corners, they mean it. Fun fact: there are no freezers at any Five Guys locations, just coolers. Because freezers aren’t necessary when you only serve fresh food.

By concentrating on quality, they scaled the business model built on high ingredient costs, a limited menu, and absolutely zero paid advertising. They also refuse to deliver. Five guys doesn’t deviate from what they’re good at. Cooking badass cheeseburgers.

Five Guys Opened Franchise Locations in 2003

Early in 2003, the “Five Guys,” began offering franchise opportunities. In just under 18 months, Five Guys Enterprises sold options for more than 300 units. The overwhelming success of franchising a local restaurant made national news and word spread to new markets.

In an episode of Company Man (with 1.2M views), they break down the full history and the unique way the Murrell family grew the Five Guys unbelievable growth story.

WATCH:

Getting hungry yet?

Three Key Lessons Driving the Success of Five Guys: 

#1 Simplicity of menu – F#$% chicken sandwiches!

“When we first started, people asked for coffee. We thought, Why not? This was our first lesson in humility. We served coffee, but the problem was that the young kids working for us don’t know anything about coffee. It was terrible! We tried a chicken sandwich once, but that did not work, either. We do have hot dogs on our menu, and that works. But other than that, all you are going to get from Five Guys is hamburgers and fries.” – Jerry Murrell

#2 Obsession with old school quality control

“The magic to our hamburgers is quality control. We toast our buns on a grill – a bun toaster is faster, cheaper, and toasts more evenly, but it doesn’t give you that caramelized taste. Our beef is 80 percent lean, never frozen, and our plants are so clean, you could eat off the floor. The burgers are made to order. That’s why we can’t do drive-thru’s – it takes too long. We had a sign: “If you’re in a hurry, there are a lot of really good hamburger places within a short distance from here.” People thought I was nuts. But the customers appreciated it.” – Jerry Murrell

#3 No paid advertising. Word of mouth is still a thing?

You read that correctly. Five Guys doesn’t do advertising. Jerry believes that the customer is the biggest salesperson:

“Treat that person right, he’ll walk out the door and sell for you. From the beginning, I wanted people to know that we put all our money into the food. That’s why the décor is so simple – red and white tiles. We don’t spend our money on décor. Or on guys in chicken suits. But we’ll go overboard on food.” – Jerry Murrell

Badass…

WATCH:

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

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Best Practices Biography and History Culture Entrepreneurship Industries Investing Management Marketing Mergers & Acquisition Personal Development

All the Brands Pepsi Owns Will Shock You…

Pepsi is a brand that everyone knows, because as their website states, their products are sold in 200 countries. Which is pretty freaking crazy considering Google says there are only 195 countries on earth…So it’s safe to assume they have officially saturated their target market.

But as big as they are, they’re even bigger than you might think.

Pepsi is no longer a beverage brand. They are now Pepsi Co, a conglomerate that consists of 23 brands that generate of $70B in annual revenue. Pepsi is one of the biggest companies on the planet.

 

A Brief History of Pepsi:

Pepsi was originally promoted as “Brad’s Drink” in New Bern, North Carolina in 1893 by Caleb Bradham, who crafted it at his drugstore. It was later renamed Pepsi-Cola in 1898, “Pepsi” because it was advertised to relieve dyspepsia (indigestion) and “Cola” referring to the cola flavor.

You read that right, Pepsi was originally marketed as a cure to an upset stomach.

As product sales increased, the company pivoted overtime to appeal to a larger audience and diversify its products.

Fast forward to 1950 Alfred N. Steele, a former VP of Coca-Cola Company, became the CEO. He focused on creating giant advertising campaigns to increase sales. His efforts increased Pepsi’s earnings 11-fold during the 50s and made it the instant competitor of Coca Cola.

In 1965 Pepsi-Cola merged with Frito-Lay, Inc. They then diversified further with the purchase of three restaurant chains:

Looking to add even more diversification PepsiCo acquired both the Tropicana and Dole juice brands from the Seagram Company in 1998, and in 2001 it then merged with Quaker Oats company.

Here is the massive list of brands Pepsi Co owns today.

WATCH:

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

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Best Practices Biography and History Culture Entrepreneurship Industries Investing Management Marketing Personal Development Sales

WATCH: The Decline of Pizza Hut. What Happened?

Pizza Hut was a national pizza chain before there were national pizza chains. They were at one time, the largest pizza franchise in the world.

After 40 years of being America’s dominant pizza brand, Pizza Hut officially lost the lead to Dominos in 2018. In 2019 Pizza Hut announced it was shutting down 500 of their 7,500 locations.

In July 2020 their largest US franchisee, MPC International, filed for bankruptcy. This franchise alone was responsible for 20% of Pizza Hut’s operations.

The entire history of the rise and fall of Pizza Hut is documented in this video of Company Man:

 

WATCH:

 

Sad, but true. According to Restaurant Business, Pizza Hut’s overall year-over-year sales fell 2.2% in 2020. Meanwhile, its biggest competitors, Domino’s and Papa John’s, had net gains of 17.6% and 15.9%, respectively.

Pizza Hut’s declining sales were due in large part to the pandemic, which closed hundreds of locations across the country. The chain’s largest franchisee also declared bankruptcy, which caused the company to lock the doors, shutter 300 locations, and offer up another 927 locations for sale.

Pizza Hut was once known as a fast-casual dine-in pizza place with white and red checkerboard tablecloths. Fast-forward to 2021, and consumers don’t want dine-in pizza, they want to take it home…

 

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

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Accounting Best Practices Biography and History Economics Entrepreneurship Health and Wellness Industries Investing Mergers & Acquisition Negotiations Skills Taxes

How an Indian Businessman Lost a $42 Billion Fortune

Once the world’s 6th richest billionaire in 2008 with a net worth of $42 billion, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, lost it all by 2019.

Here’s how…

Anil Ambani was born June 4th, 1959 in Bombay India as the youngest son of the founder of one of the most powerful companies on the planet. His father,  Dhirubhai Ambani, was the founder of a company called Reliance Industries Limited which today is doing $7.366 trillion as a conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. It has diverse businesses including energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles.

WATCH:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_H-BoEfwjo

Dhirubhai raised his 2 sons to eventually take over the “family business”. Mukesh and Anil started as executives at Reliance in their twenties. The two couldn’t have been more different. Mukesh was more of a reserved family man while Anil earned a reputation as a flashy playboy who enjoyed rubbing shoulders with Bollywood’s elite.

 

Tragedy strikes the Ambhani family

Dhirubhai Ambani  passed away on July 6th 2002 of a sudden heart attack at the age of 69. At the time of his passing he was the 138th richest man in the world with a net worth of $2.9 billion.

Mukesh, the older brother assumed role of chairman and Anil took the office of Vice President. They were at each other’s throats almost immediately. Each had different ideas for what to do with the company and the two were making decisions without consulting each other.

It was a mess…

It became a real problem. So big that even India’s finance minister tried stepping in to get the bickering duo to make nice. After all, Reliance was one of the biggest economic powerhouses in India.

The sibling rivalry for the control for Reliance was resolved when the 2 decided to split the company down the middle. Mukesh would run the gas and petroleum businesses and Anil would run the communications and power businesses and ultimately leave each other alone.

 

Losing a $42 billion fortune

In 2008, Anil Ambani was at the top of the world as the sixth richest person in the world with a net worth of $42 billion.

But the proverbial sky was about to come crashing down.

That same year Anil Ambani made the decision to invest around $2 billion in advancing Reliance Communications Group, heavily leveraging his company into massive debt.

Then shit hit the fan…

In 2011, Anil’s Managing Director and two Vice Presidents were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to acquire mispriced mobile network licenses for companies Reliance Communications has invested in to illegally bolster the company’s share prices in an attempt to close the debt gap.

The following year In 2012, amidst scandals, Anil Ambani acquired even more debt to pay off the existing debts. Reliance Communications took a loan of over $1.2 billion from three Chinese Banks on Anil Ambani’s personal guarantee.

That’s one hell of a personal guarantee.

By 2016, many of Anil Ambani’s companies ran into debt and operational troubles. On the one hand, Reliance Power had to sell its assets. On the other, Reliance Communications lost 98% valuation in a period of just 3 short years.

RCom was unable to compete against the top reigning telecom companies and lost consumers. This brought down Anil Ambani’s net worth to $2.5 billion.

Still not a bad nest egg by anyone’s standards however, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication owed the Swedish network company, Ericsson, $80 million, which he failed to repay. Which shocker, lead to a major lawsuit.

In 2019, the Supreme Court of India ordered Anil Ambani to repay the debt along with interest or go to jail. In an unlikely intervention, Anil Ambani’s older brother Mukesh paid the money owed to Ericsson and yes little brother from going to jail.

Reliance Communications then filed bankruptcy in 2019. But Anil’s problems were still far from over.

He still owed over $700 million including interest to the 3 chinese banks he borrowed money from. In February 2020, Anil declared that his net worth has fallen to zero after considering his liabilities. He pleaded poverty and claimed that he didn’t hold any meaningful assets that could be liquidated to pay off the debts he owed to the Chinese Banks.

Who would have thought that a man who had a net worth of $42 billion in 2008 would claim poverty by 2020?

He still managed to turn out ahead. Today he and his wife Tina Ambani reside in one of the most luxurious homes in India. A 17 story home situated at Pali Hill in Mumbai.

WATCH:

Categories
Accounting Best Practices Biography and History Culture Economics Entrepreneurship Industries Management Mergers & Acquisition News and Politics Personal Development Technology

Is Netflix Collapsing? The Numbers Are Alarming…

It goes without saying, Netflix has been dominated streaming videos like BlockBuster dominated movie rentals. However new players are catching up and giving the iconic brand a real run for their money.

In a shocking reveal, instead of achieving the target of adding 2 million new subscribers in Q1 2022 that it set for itself three months earlier, they ended up losing 200,000 subscribers…Ouch

This is the first time the company has net loss of subscribers.

This could just be the tip of the ice burg as Netflix is expecting to lose an additional 2 million more subscribers in the ongoing quarter. The market response was brutal. Netflix lost ¼ of its value as the stock price tanked 25% in 1 day.

Competition is cut throat with the emergence of Disney, Hulu, HBO, Paramount, Peacock, Apple and Amazon. This has presented a serious challenge now as people are ditching Netflix for those streaming services that are available at much more competitive prices (Netflix premium is up to $19.99/month which is almost double the competition).

Pricing be damned, the other problem plaguing Netflix is their competitors are reducing the pool size of originalHollywood content they got to pick from over the last decade.

TV and film companies have more options of providers to negotiate with.

 

WATCH:

 

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

Categories
Accounting Best Practices Biography and History Economics Entrepreneurship Health and Wellness Industries Investing Mergers & Acquisition Negotiations Skills Taxes

How an Indian Businessman Lost a $42 Billion Fortune

Once the world’s 6th richest billionaire in 2008 with a net worth of $42 billion, Anil Dhirubhai Ambani, lost it all by 2019.

Here’s how…

Anil Ambani was born June 4th, 1959 in Bombay India as the youngest son of the founder of one of the most powerful companies on the planet. His father,  Dhirubhai Ambani, was the founder of a company called Reliance Industries Limited which today is doing $7.366 trillion as a conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. It has diverse businesses including energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles.

WATCH:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_H-BoEfwjo

Dhirubhai raised his 2 sons to eventually take over the “family business”. Mukesh and Anil started as executives at Reliance in their twenties. The two couldn’t have been more different. Mukesh was more of a reserved family man while Anil earned a reputation as a flashy playboy who enjoyed rubbing shoulders with Bollywood’s elite.

 

Tragedy strikes the Ambhani family

Dhirubhai Ambani  passed away on July 6th 2002 of a sudden heart attack at the age of 69. At the time of his passing he was the 138th richest man in the world with a net worth of $2.9 billion.

Mukesh, the older brother assumed role of chairman and Anil took the office of Vice President. They were at each other’s throats almost immediately. Each had different ideas for what to do with the company and the two were making decisions without consulting each other.

It was a mess…

It became a real problem. So big that even India’s finance minister tried stepping in to get the bickering duo to make nice. After all, Reliance was one of the biggest economic powerhouses in India.

The sibling rivalry for the control for Reliance was resolved when the 2 decided to split the company down the middle. Mukesh would run the gas and petroleum businesses and Anil would run the communications and power businesses and ultimately leave each other alone.

 

Losing a $42 billion fortune

In 2008, Anil Ambani was at the top of the world as the sixth richest person in the world with a net worth of $42 billion.

But the proverbial sky was about to come crashing down.

That same year Anil Ambani made the decision to invest around $2 billion in advancing Reliance Communications Group, heavily leveraging his company into massive debt.

Then shit hit the fan…

In 2011, Anil’s Managing Director and two Vice Presidents were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to acquire mispriced mobile network licenses for companies Reliance Communications has invested in to illegally bolster the company’s share prices in an attempt to close the debt gap.

The following year In 2012, amidst scandals, Anil Ambani acquired even more debt to pay off the existing debts. Reliance Communications took a loan of over $1.2 billion from three Chinese Banks on Anil Ambani’s personal guarantee.

That’s one hell of a personal guarantee.

By 2016, many of Anil Ambani’s companies ran into debt and operational troubles. On the one hand, Reliance Power had to sell its assets. On the other, Reliance Communications lost 98% valuation in a period of just 3 short years.

RCom was unable to compete against the top reigning telecom companies and lost consumers. This brought down Anil Ambani’s net worth to $2.5 billion.

Still not a bad nest egg by anyone’s standards however, Anil Ambani’s Reliance Communication owed the Swedish network company, Ericsson, $80 million, which he failed to repay. Which shocker, lead to a major lawsuit.

In 2019, the Supreme Court of India ordered Anil Ambani to repay the debt along with interest or go to jail. In an unlikely intervention, Anil Ambani’s older brother Mukesh paid the money owed to Ericsson and yes little brother from going to jail.

Reliance Communications then filed bankruptcy in 2019. But Anil’s problems were still far from over.

He still owed over $700 million including interest to the 3 chinese banks he borrowed money from. In February 2020, Anil declared that his net worth has fallen to zero after considering his liabilities. He pleaded poverty and claimed that he didn’t hold any meaningful assets that could be liquidated to pay off the debts he owed to the Chinese Banks.

Who would have thought that a man who had a net worth of $42 billion in 2008 would claim poverty by 2020?

He still managed to turn out ahead. Today he and his wife Tina Ambani reside in one of the most luxurious homes in India. A 17 story home situated at Pali Hill in Mumbai.

WATCH:

 

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

Categories
Accounting Best Practices Biography and History Culture Economics Entrepreneurship Industries Management Mergers & Acquisition News and Politics Personal Development Technology

Is Netflix Collapsing? The Numbers Are Alarming…

It goes without saying, Netflix has been dominated streaming videos like BlockBuster dominated movie rentals. However new players are catching up and giving the iconic brand a real run for their money.

In a shocking reveal, instead of achieving the target of adding 2 million new subscribers in Q1 2022 that it set for itself three months earlier, they ended up losing 200,000 subscribers…Ouch

This is the first time the company has net loss of subscribers.

This could just be the tip of the ice burg as Netflix is expecting to lose an additional 2 million more subscribers in the ongoing quarter. The market response was brutal. Netflix lost ¼ of its value as the stock price tanked 25% in 1 day.

Competition is cut throat with the emergence of Disney, Hulu, HBO, Paramount, Peacock, Apple and Amazon. This has presented a serious challenge now as people are ditching Netflix for those streaming services that are available at much more competitive prices (Netflix premium is up to $19.99/month which is almost double the competition).

Pricing be damned, the other problem plaguing Netflix is their competitors are reducing the pool size of originalHollywood content they got to pick from over the last decade.

TV and film companies have more options of providers to negotiate with.

 

WATCH:

 

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com

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Best Practices Biography and History Economics Entrepreneurship Industries Investing Management Personal Development Taxes Women In Business

WATCH: Bill Gates is Buying Up American Farmland. Here’s Why You Should Too…

Did you know that Bill Gates owns more land than the entire city of New York? It’s true and more specifically its almost all farmland.

In 2020 Gates raised eyebrows when it was announced that year he had become America’s biggest owner of farmland consisting of 269,000 acres.

For the last 10 years Bill Gate’s money manager, Michael Larson has been making massive land acquisitions across 19 states.

But why?

Why the Hell is Bill Gates Buying US Farmland?

Speculations are aplenty and there are many conspiracies. But here is an explanation from investment expert Codie Sanchez that explains why. It’s lucrative investment.

First, he’s the biggest owner of one of the most valuable limited resources in North America.

The returns on US Farmland have averaged 11.5% annually since 1990, with consistently low volatility and a near zero correlation with the stock market (according to the U.S. Farmland)

Second, the demand for food is skyrocketing. The USDA and the UN estimate the demand for food will rise by 70% to 100% in the next 30 years.  What industry can beat that demand trend?

Third, Owning farmland enables you to qualify for tax grants and credits.

Watch the video to get the full explanation from Codie on the business of farming. Plus a quick overview of the crazy Bill Gates conspiracies associated with the topic…

 

WATCH:

About Codie Sanchez:

Codie Sanchez is a reformed journalist, turned institutional investor to cannabis investor and adviser, to now Founder at Contrarian Thinking and Cofounder of Unconventional Acquisitions.

Throughout her career, she has worked at the intersection of marketing and money, finding contrarian ways to invest.

For more information visit tylerhayzlett.com