- way of thinking
There is a strategy behind everything. Everything fits. Thinking this way taught me to compete in many things, not only take over but chess and arbitrage
- Empiricism says knowledge is based on observation and experience, not feelings
- Studying 20th century philosophy trains your mind for takeovers
- Chain thinking: just like chess, in any transaction, think of every single possible move and counter move
- always consider what might be the worst case scenario and then protect your downside while increasing your control
- a civilization starts to decline when a large part of its population stops working
- Icahn/Kingsley theory: focus the market's attention on the disparity in values and someone will buy you out
Take over strategy potential outcome after indicating it as a take over target
acquisition of shares by original suitor
- hostile challenger
- white knight who will come and free up the locked up value
- Prefer stocks with limited downside exposure, gravitate towards out of favor stocks that had already been discounted by the market
- When analyzing a company, earnings does not always present a clear picture. Depreciation is paper losses. Cashflow presents a better picture. Key components to analyze
asset
- return on equity
- cashflow
- capitalization
- committed the mistake of just focusing on financial engineering to reduce cost, think about how to grow the business
- Did not realize after fully taking over a company that the revenue side of the business is usually circumscribed to external factors not under direct management control
- On negotiations
everything has to be negotiated
- threaten, continuously threaten by painting a very dire picture. This helps frame the alternative which you demand as something very very reasonable
- wear down your opponent
- answer a question with a question
- always push the deal as far as it can without blowing up
- wait until a company is so stretched in need of a deal before buying on the most favorable terms
- On goal setting
have no fixed goals
- see all the possibilities
- Princeton liberal arts eduction:
exposure to eclectic mix of human knowledge teaching a student how to think, explore and question rather than prepare them for a specific career
- the best thinkers will rise to the top of their chosen careers precisely because they have not limited themselves to narrow courses of study
Related references
- [*Liar's poker*, Micheal Lewis](https://garyteh.com/2020/04/liars-poker-by-micheal-lewis/)
- [*Predator's ball*, Connie Bruck](https://garyteh.com/?p=4431&preview=true)