#led by stan on one of his money making ventures

[imaredshirt]

The thing about the Mystery Trio all living together is that they're all broke.

Stanford used all his grant money to build the cabin and to fund the portal.

Fiddleford used all the money he made from making and/or repairing personal computers on (secretly) making the memory gun and (also secretly) starting a cult.

Stanley's just broke.

And he's been broke for years. It's nothing new for him. He watches his brother and Fiddleford kinda flounder around and panic a bit because what do they do now?? How do they pay their taxes? How do they afford groceries? HOW are they going to buy vital mechanical and chemical components for the portal??

It really hits home for Stanford when he realizes they can't even afford to buy his favorite coffee.

They feel lost. They can't believe they let this happen.

But Stanley? He's in his element.

[taenys]

are you one of those jessica fans who honestly believes the girls voted/kicked her out? you'd think someone who stans the 9 of them would not have this bad take, but you'd also be surprised by the amount of "sone" who turn around and then act like the very people they stan are traitorous snakes, so i just want to know, please, if that's something you believe.

I don't know what to believe and I don't think we'll ever truly know. I'm a believer of "they're both right and they're both valid."

Jessica wrote in her statement that the other members, and the company, had originally supported her new business venture. And that one day in September, they had a meeting without her where they decided she would either leave the group or give up her business, despite her previous insistence that she'd continue her SNSD activities. Thus she was "kicked out." This is Jessica's "truth."

SM's statement was that though they initially supported her future ventures, the team and company felt she didn't prioritize her SNSD activities and that led to a "situation...where the team cannot be maintained." It reached a breaking point for them and they couldn't find a way to make it work. This is SM's "truth."

What they both have in common is that Jessica told SNSD and the company fairly early on about her plans. She was starting a fashion line with her boyfriend Tyler Kwon, and seemed to convince them all well enough that she'd be able to balance all her duties. Something changed, and caused the company (and presumably the girls themselves) that it wasn't actually going to work.

We don't know what led to the other girls deciding that they no longer (trusted?) or supported Jessica's business venture, or if it's even true that they had any say in the matter. It's possible that SM decided that on their own, and SNSD wasn't present in those negotiations. But it's also possible that they were there. Jessica believes that they were. And I believe it's completely possible that it's true.

What I don't believe is that OT8 came to that decision lightly, overnight, and without A LOT of prior discussion. For this to have happened, I would imagine it would've taken a unanimous decision, and that would NOT have been easy to come to. The girls love(d) Jessica. They loved OT9 and knew how IMPORTANT the group being together meant to sones. So the decision to remove Jessica from the group, if indeed made by OT8, had to have been EXTREMELY difficult for them. I imagine there was a lot of crying, a lot of yelling, fighting, and general disagreement.

Their reactions to her forced departure definitely reflect a great deal of pain. They never wanted this to happen. So, why did it? I don't know. But I trust the 8 girls enough to know that if they DID indeed "kick her out," that it must've been for a fucking good reason and not some petty "they're jealous" bullshit. Because we know for a fact that the girls love and support each other doing their own solo things.

And before someone asks, "well why was Jessica's fashion line unacceptable, and not Tiffany's solo career, or Taeyeon's, or anyone else's?" I don't know.

If I had to guess, it'd have something to do with Tyler Kwon, and the business aspect of her brand. I don't think Jessica starting a fashion line was an issue, but I do get the vibe from k-sones and those who maybe have more insight to what went down (like Oniontaker) that they REALLY don't like Tyler Kwon. His business practices are super sketchy, just bad. Didn't Blanc get sued for a like a fuckton of money recently? I've read a lot of twitter threads (translating korean articles and forum discussions) about him and I actively hate him as well. It seems to me he is, at best a completely incompetent businessman, and at worst just out to use Jessica's fame and money for his own benefit.

[kngweasley]

RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY.

and when my fear pulls me out to sea, and the stars are hidden by my pride and my enemies, I seem to hurt the people that care the most. just like an animal, I protect my pride when I'm too bruised to fight. and even when I'm wrong, I tend to think I'm right.

the PAST.

We know how this goes. Ron Weasley, second youngest of seven, the last son of Arthur and Molly Weasley. What the family lacked in money, they made up for with love. No finery can compare with the warm embrace of his mother after a particularly nasty nightmare. No diamond shines as bright as his father’s eyes as he tinkers with some Muggle trinket, handing over a tool to his youngest son, smiling brighter still as he watches his boy share in his curiosities. 

Ron was loved and he was happy, but he was never so certain of himself. He was not the brightest, nor the boldest. He did not tell the best jokes or pull off the greatest pranks. Auntie Muriel never doted on him for being a future heartbreaker. People were not instantly charmed by him. He was never the first pick for a friendly family match of Quidditch. 

That’s not to say he wasn’t bright or bold or funny or charming or talented or kind. He was all those things and more. But with six older brothers he admired and a younger sister he adored, he began to feel early on that he would never measure up. He did not want to be just another Weasley. He did not want to be a nobody. He wanted to stand out, to be somebody. 

Being friends with Harry Potter made him somebody. He was another red head in hand-me-down robes. He was Ron Weasley, best mate of the Boy Who Lived. And the best part was that Harry did not care one bit that he was not the brightest, nor the boldest, and so on and so forth. Harry cared that someone was kind to him, loyal to him, a true friend to him. Being Harry Potter’s best friend was a great source of pride and joy in Ron’s life. 

The fought real and metaphorical beasts side by side. They obsessed over Quidditch, laughed at nonsense, talked about everything there was to talk about (well, nearly everything). There were low points, where the idea of fame and fortune clouded Ron’s judgement and led him to lose sight of how precious, how genuine his friendship with Harry was. There were challenging times when Ron, try as he might, could not get through to Harry. Could see his pain, but could not understand it.  Jealousy and pride rattled in his brain when he knew better. 

He got a lot of things wrongs. He got a lot of things right. One day he realized that what they faced was bigger than nobodies and somebodies. He knew there would be losses. He never would have guessed how many. He never would have guessed who. 

When Harry Potter died, he took a fair chunk of Ron Weasley with him to the grave. 

Fred’s death stung. Ron could feel as an ache in his chest, a heavy weight on his shoulders. His brother’s corpse haunted him each time he closed his eyes. He struggled to look George in the eye for well over a year. Fred’s death was pain and guilt.

Harry’s death was anger and denial. Neither can live while the either one survives. Didn’t that mean one of them got to survive? The war was over, Voldemort was defeated, yet Ron still felt that he had lost. He had not considered a world where they won but Harry was not there to celebrate with. So much of who he had grown to be was because of his friendship with Harry Potter. Who was Ron Weasley without him?

First, he was depressed. Never had there been a more dreary atmosphere than that of the Burrow in the months following the war. Without Harry by his side, Ron did not feel that same drive to become an Auror and wipe out the remaining Death Eaters that he did in canon. Someone else could do the dirty work, for once. He wanted a break. He rarely left his room, with the exception of funerals and memorials, for the first month. Eventually, he ventured to other parts of the house (once he regained his appetite and remembered he much he loved his mother’s cooking). He did chores without being asked and became quite enamored with gardening and yard-work. He built a new shed for his family without using magic -- it was far from a masterpiece, but it still stands to this day. 

Slowly but surely he began coming around Weasley Wizard Wheezes more and more. It felt good to work at the shop. He kept busy and held Fred close to his heart with day of productivity. As a member of the ‘Golden Trio’ and closest friend of Harry Potter he was the subject of some media coverage. For the most part, he ignored it. He didn’t care to offer generic platitudes for the Daily Prophet. He didn’t have answers for the questions thrown at him by faceless reporters, cameras flashing and mics far too close to his face. He wanted to find peace. He wanted to make sense of the senseless. And for the first time in his life, he wanted to blend in, to be one of the masses. To be a nobody. 

THE PRESENT.

Ron is still the Ron we all know and love (assuming you know and love him). He loves butterbeer and the Chudley Canons. He tends to speak before thinking and he often makes colorful comments that have his mother scolding him. He is more confident than his eleven year old self (as many of us are). He does not feel the need to prove himself worthy of attention and praise. He does not feel that he is competing with his siblings. He gets up each morning and simply tries his best because that’s all anyone can do anymore. He works hard, because he cares about his work. He is still prone to procrastination when an unfavorable task comes his way. It’s possible he does indeed have the emotional range of a teaspoon. 

He is still Ron Weasley. He reminds himself of this each morning. He is still Ron, he is still a Gryffindor, he is still a lionheart, he is still him even when it feels like such a significant portion of him is missing. He wakes up and faces the day because there’s nothing else for him to do. In so many ways, he is simply making it through the day. Ron Weasley is alive, but it’s hard to say if he’s truly living.

THE PERSONALITY. 

WAND: 14″ larch with unicorn hair core  PATRONUS: Jack Russell Terrier (loyal, playful, hungry)  ZODIAC: Pisces (b. March 1, 1996) – devoted, compassionate, sensitive, moody, distant TEMPERAMENT: sanguine  MBTI:  ESFP (extroversion - sensing - feeling - perception)  VIRTUES: courage, generosity, wit, honesty, loyalty VICES:  envy, jealousy, indolence

OOC NOTES. 

First thing: AVPM!Ron is more Ron than Movie!Ron. 

Second thing: I am a Ron Weasley STAN. Not because I think he is perfect and incapable of doing anything bad ever. In fact! I adore him because of how wonderfully flawed and human Ron is. He is a loyal and true friend, but he can be a bit of an ass. He is funny, but too often at the expense of others. Hermione is incredibly bright, Harry is the Chosen One, and Ron is...Ron. Average on paper, but exceptional simply because he chooses to be. He has moments of selfishness 

I love Ron Weasley. JKRowling, Heyman, and Koves can get fucked. 

Third thing: Hi! Feel free to message me here on or on Discord if you want to plot/make some decisions over what is and what is not canon in this universe. For me, everything is canon for Ron right up until Harry goes to the forest. After that, it’s all still a bit up in the air. 

[notribs]

hello hello ! it is may again and i... am still 20, using she/her, and in the eastern standard timezone. i can’t say that’s changed in the amount of time between intros. anyway, i do want to say that i like this gif because i feel like it.............. is an accurate representation of ribs at........... almost all times.

‹ TREVANTE RHODES, HE/HIM, CIS MAN, BISEXUAL. › DAVID “RIBS” SHAFFER is the TWENTY-EIGHT year old from EMERYVILLE, CA. when a friend asked them what they thought of the manor they said, ❝ IT LOOKS LIKE SOMEWHERE JAMIE LEE WOULD BE LURED INTO. ❞ they claim ANY HORROR MOVIE WITH JAMIE LEE CURTIS IN IT is their favorite scary movie, and if they were to die in a horror film they would EXPLAIN TO THE KILLER THAT THERE WAS NO WAY HE MET THE CRITERIA FOR THE ‘FINAL GIRL’… JUST TO BE KILLED IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS SPEECH. their fears include HALLUCINATING, PARALYZATION and FIREWORKS, and they don’t know we know, but… HE MADE MONEY AS A DEALER WHILE HE WAS STILL WAITING FOR THE BAND TO TAKE OFF. hope they enjoy their stay. ‹ MUSE B from STRESSED OUT. ›

QUICK FACTS:

full name: david ���ribs” isaiah shaffer

date of birth: december 1, 1992

*does not perfectly reflect the below Big Three zodiac chart because that’s so much math

zodiac big three: sagittarius sun, capricorn moon, pisces rising

gender & pronouns: cis man & he/him

sexual orientation: bisexual

occupation: drummer + backup songwriter + history of drug dealing

the song i listen to on repeat while i write the intro: “make or break” - bugzy malone

BACKGROUND INFO:

triggers: violence, mentions of drug dealing, very very very brief mention of self-harm (not the product of a mental illness which is why i forgot to include this until i looked at it again this morning - the product of wanting to keep a lie), very very brief mention of guns and fire in the ‘fears’ section

born to a very loving family bc i need a sunnier background hasfkljwas 

david was never EVER academically inclined. he’ll tell you it’s because he just wasn’t interested and was too involved in music and boxing, both of which will be gone over soon, but that wasn’t entirely true. he was also very busy working odd jobs days and nights as a kid and days and nights at successful businesses when he was 16+ (see: papa john’s)

his parents did own a music shop! they were clearly doing their part! but, in the digital era and the era of guitar center, they were only getting so much traction. they were also much too calm about it, at least outwardly, so david felt as though he needed to help.

but it is true that he spent a lot of time practicing music and boxing! as just mentioned, his parents owned a music store and were both very musically inclined. they taught him how to be, at the very least, INTERMEDIATE at as many instruments as possible. he can now confidently say that, if the band ever needed it, he could play the guitar, piano, bass, or saxophone. 

that being said, his instrument of choice was the drums. he began using jazz drummers, as well as various hip-hop beats, as his inspiration. his original inspirations were buddy rich, gene krupa, chico hamilton, art blakey, and the beats of grime and 90s rap.

it shows.

when he ventured into other genres, however, he began taking inspiration from nick mason, john bonham, neil peart, keith moon, ginger baker, karen carpenter, and ringo starr 

(i have a music theory + history lesson for you if you think ringo is a bad drummer ok - he was a “songwriter’s drummer,” which is much more important to being a drummer in a band than being technically skilled or being able to show off with complex patterns and, thus, overshadowing the song. that’s why the beatles continued asking ringo to play the drums on their songs, even after they broke up. john lennon never said “he’s not even the best drummer in the beatles” - a radio dj made that joke and people started taking it literally. love that.)

(also the same goes for nick mason but his drumming is rly only brought up when he’s brought up since pink floyd isn’t as talked about as the beatles)

ALSO!!! i have decided to be passionate about karen carpenter because girl won a 1975 poll that pit her against john bonham for best drummer and he got so mad and said she couldn’t last ten minutes with led zeppelin. the following is just alleged, but oh my god i hope it’s true: then she proceeded to compliment his drumming, say that she thinks it’s all very subjective, then got behind her set and played “babe i’m gonna leave you” while singing and not missing a single note. we have decided to stan forever.

he also took up boxing. as a kid, he was just practicing and taking any excess frustration out. when he turned 14, however, he found an opportunity in an underground circuit. he started fighting against other people, for real, and would be paid if he won the fight.

so: school from 8a-3p, drum practice from 3:30p-7:30p (i know), family from 8p-10p, boxing from 11p-2a.

his parents knew he boxed, but didn’t know it was as dangerous as it was. they assumed there were more safeguards in place..... but boy was bringing in a LOT of money for there to be a lot of safeguards in place. because of this, david NEVER let them see his matches.

when he was 16, he’d broken his ribs during one of the fights and refused to see a doctor over it. what did he say happened when his parents could TELL something was wrong? he said that he’d been mugged and beaten up. to support this theory, before he ‘showed’ it to them, he dug into himself with a knife to make it look like the muggers had a switchblade.

from there on out, he made everyone call him “ribs”

did his parents ever wonder where his excess income was coming from? DEFINITELY. he told them that, yes, his MINIATURE matches did bring in some money, but the rest of the money came from tips!! because people are clearly that generous!!

he also never showed them the full amount. he’d only give what was necessary, not out of selfishness, rather to keep his secret and save them from worrying about him. he put it in a savings account.

it should also be addressed that, during this time, he became friends with who would become the guitarist in his future band, joakim. he witnessed joakim fight a homophobic teenager and desperately wanted to join in... but his ribs were broken ahflskd

he continued boxing, even after being introduced to joakim’s college friend, gabe - the future singer of their band. that being said, they began jamming with each other and played in a few local circuits.

his parents were very encouraging of this and told him that he should go for this as a career opportunity. 

can you tell they were idealists?

he wanted to... but it was very impractical. by now, however, he was out of school (and he never went to college). his parents let him continue living with them since they were under the belief they were short on cash and it’d be difficult for him to find an affordable apartment under the papa john’s salary.

he decided to take his parents up on this... but, while he was waiting for his band to find success, their music store was closed down. as they both began looking desperately for new jobs, he realized that papa john’s and the fighting payment wasn’t quite enough anymore... so he started selling drugs.

he doesn’t keep his fighting a secret anymore, but he does keep his drug dealing a secret. he fears that it’ll perpetuate stereotypes.

during one of his band’s gigs, he and the others met their future bassist - the missing piece - rory. she was marginally younger than they were, but she was an extremely talented bassist and songwriter, so the lineup was finally complete and devil’s wine was formed.

when they began skyrocketing, he quit drug dealing. he also stopped the dangerous boxing, although he continues to... box safely. he began sending money back home after they really started succeeding. his mother got a teacher licensure in music and his father got the opportunity to own..... a guitar center.

if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

VERY IMPORTANT: uses a pearl custom kit, istanbul cymbals, aquarian heads, and vic firth sticks.

that was very important.

PERSONALITY INFO:

literally obsessed with jamie lee curtis. watching her movies has also made him very genre-savvy. 

would genuinely die for her.

is the epitome of bob belcher’s “oh my god.” in his band. they get off topic during practice/recording just ONCE?? queue “oh my god.” and the gif above.

isn’t necessarily ashamed of his past dealings (literally) - like, joakim knows - but is genuinely afraid of perpetuating the stereotype of the dirty black boy. he’s open about the rest of his life, but he’s convinced that if people learn he used to sell drugs, he would be setting people back. having a black drummer in a rock band that’s on the radio? he needs to keep up appearances!!

never wears shirts during concerts. has to show off his ribs and also drumming, with a bunch of lights directly on him, is an extreme exercise and guaranteed sweat machine. dresses like bugzy malone otherwise.

ahflskjd again,,, like adrian,,, look @ his chart ig alhkfjd

FEARS:

hallucinating: he hates not only the idea of losing his mind, but also the idea of having a skewed view of reality after he really... saw reality, you know? his uncle had schizophrenia and, while he rarely saw him, the thought of going through what his uncle had/has to go through terrifies him.

paralyzation: this was a constant worry of his during his boxing matches - he was terrified someone would wind up taking out a firearm and would shoot him into a state of paralysis. not to mention, all limbs are required for both drumming and boxing.... so.

fireworks: less deep than the others. the house next door to his was set on fire due to a firework display being too close. while no one died and most of the house was salvaged, the idea of losing anything he has is terrifying to him. also the sounds they make remind him of guns so?

WANTED CONNECTIONS:

ok,,, so unlike adrian,,, he lived in california,,, a state many other characters lived in. while some cities in california can be like,,,, seven hours away,,, IT’S STILL AN IMPROVEMENT, so i’ll list a few past connection ideas too!

fans

people who hate his music

people who’ve seen one of his matches

old friends

someone who was constantly in his parents’ music store

exes

fwb

ons

???? im bad at connections!!!!!! but im down for brainstorming and/or working off of urs!!!!!!

[eregyrn-falls]

Would being an Salesman be Stanley's dream job (equivalent to Ford studying the paranormal and weirdness) if Stan didn't become fixated on proving to Filbrick that he could make millions of dollars?

Sorry to take so long to get to this!  It’s a really interesting question!

To be honest, though – I’m going to say, no, being a salesman isn’t truly Stanley’s dream job.  Rather, I think it’s a job he’s actually very *good* at; but I don’t think it’s the job he finds the most fulfilling, or that he ultimately would have been happiest doing.

(Look up that comics story and insert here.)

The thing is, I think that Stanley is really a very good salesman. After all, even as a young man, he was good at *selling* his terrible products, like the Sham-Total, and the Rip-Off bandages.  People *bought* them.  The problem was that they were fraudulent products.  That’s what sunk his business ventures, not his ability to sell.  

(The outlier seems to have been the Stan-vac, which is implied to have failed because of the slogan.  One wonders if that was one of Stan’s earlier ventures, and he learned better later?  Or whether it was a fluke of another kind, because “It’s a total sham!” is no better a slogan for a product than “It sucks more than anything!”, but the Sham-Total did sell to a lot of people, while the vacuum cleaners didn’t.)

But I tend to think that his salesman abilities were really just an outgrowth of his overall talent for showmanship and performance.  And that his being a salesman was a means to an end – he was trying to make a lot of money, quickly; and that goes back to Filbrick’s demands.

(As an aside, however… I do think that Stan wanted money *also* because… he wanted money.  After all, prior to getting kicked out, his “dream-job” was to go *treasure-hunting* with his brother on the Stan o’ War.  Stan *wanted* treasure, even before Filbrick demanded that he earn millions.  There could be a lot of reasons for this.  Stan also clearly wanted to sail away on the Stan o’ War in order to escape Glass Shard Beach.  And it’s pretty clear that the Pines family lived in fairly poor circumstances.  He might have fixated on money just because to him, it represented stability and freedom.)

I tend to think that Stanley’s dream-job would actually have been something that would combine things like his creativity, his talent for working with his hands, his talent for performance, and his love of adventure.  And really, it’s just a shame that he was never encouraged in a direction that might have led him to consider jobs of that kind.

For example – and I think I’m really not the first person to suggest this – Stan would have done great in the special-effects industry in Hollywood, especially pre-CGI, when effects were practical.  I’m going back here to the monster-movie posters he had on the wall as a kid, but can’t you imagine him loving making monster costumes or puppets or animatronics for movies?  And having a great time traveling around to all kinds of places where movies were being filmed?  Think of Stan being somebody like Adam Savage on Mythbusters…

(Oh. My God.  *stares into the distance*  GF Mythbusters AU with Stan and Ford….)

The truth is though, in a way, Stan *did* wind up in what I think would have been his “dream-job” – running the Mystery Shack.  It’s a job that combined many of his talents, both as a performer (being Mr. Mystery), and as a creator (making all of the exhibits and coming up with stories to tell), and as a salesman (who kept the place in the public eye as a popular tourist attraction for 30 years).

On the one hand, you could say that the sort-of tragedy is that he didn’t fall into that line of work earlier, somehow.  That he got kicked out, and then spent 10+ years struggling for survival, turning to bad ideas and having all kinds of bad experiences, before he finally got to do something that so suited his many talents – and that even then, he couldn’t fully “enjoy” running the Mystery Shack, because at the back of his mind was always the guilt of having lost Ford and the driving need to get his brother back somehow.  (I also wonder to what extent his ability to purely enjoy running the Shack was dampened by his harsh experiences during his decade of homelessness and criminality and danger.)  

On the other hand, he really *did* get to do something he enjoyed a lot, for most of his adult life.  And it’s clear from some things we saw that despite the many pressures he felt, he really did enjoy running the Shack, and he enjoyed being good at it.

(Really, both Stan and Ford got to pursue their “dream jobs”.  It’s just that for most of their lives, the trade-off was uncertainty and danger.    But, Ford got to explore the multiverse, which you’ve got to admit has to have been what he dreamed of doing ever since being a little kid doodling sci-fi stuff in his notebook.  And Stan got to perform and be creative and also make a lot of money, while additionally having the pleasure of feeling like he was putting one over on his customers.  It’s just that their circumstances wouldn’t allow either of them to fully enjoy those things.)

[sportsleague365]

It appears it won’t be long before Newcastle United have some new owners. And they will be rich ones. Mike Ashley, Sports Direct retail king, has endured a fractured relationship with the club’s fanbase. Mike Ashley’s controversial 13-year tenure at Newcastle looks all-but overGetty Images - GettyMany supporters were rejoicing at the news of a potential takeover with Jim White revealing on talkSPORT the £300million deal was done and just waiting on Premier League approval. PCP Capital Partners, headed by Amanda Staveley, have brokered the deal which is being backed by Saudi Arabia royal family’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). The group is led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the PIF are believed to have assets of more than £260billion. The Premier League has many billionaire owners, Mike Ashley himself is a billionaire, but the deal will make Newcastle one of the richest clubs in the world. Here is where the club will rank in terms of current owners of top flight clubs in England. Amanda Staveley is set to complete a £300million takeover of NewcastleGetty20. NORWICH – DELIA SMITH AND MICHAEL WYNN-JONES (£23M) The pair are joint majority shareholders in the Canaries and purchased the club in 1996. Delia Smith made her name as a cookery writer, author and television personality while Michael Wynn-Jones came from the publishing industry. Michael Wynn Jones and wife Delia Smith celebrate Norwich’s play-off success in May 201519. BURNLEY – MIKE GARLICK (£62M) Garlick became sole chairman of the club in 2015 when co-chairman John Banaszkiewicz stepped down. He is the found and CEO of Michael Bailey Associates, a project management and consultancy company. Mike Garlick became sole chairman of Burnley in 2015Getty Images - Getty18. WATFORD – GINO POZZO (£93M) The Pozzo family bought the club from Laurence Bassini in 2012 with Gino having full ownership and control. He is the son of Italian businessman Giampaolo Pozzo who made his money through the family business, tool-maker Freud. Watford are owned by Gino PozzoGetty Images - Getty17. SHEFFIELD UNITED – PRINCE ABDULLAH BIN MUSA’ED (£198M) Prince Abdullah is another Saudi Arabian but with nowhere near the wealth of the new Newcastle owners. He won a High Court battle with Kevin McCabe over the ownership of the Blades. McCabe had to sell his stake to Price Abdullah for £5m following a ruling last year. He is the son of Prince Musa’id bin Abdulaziz Al Said and set up a paper manufacturing company in 1989. Prince Abdullah has a 100 per cent stake in Sheffield Unitedgetty16. BOURNEMOUTH – MAXIM DEMIN (£900M) The Russian businessman became a co-owner of the club in 2011 when the club was in League One. He assumed full ownership of the club in 2013. He owns at least two companies in the UK, Wintel – a petrochemical company – and Wintel Holdings Ltd. Other than that his business background remains a mystery. Bournemouth owner Maxim Demin with Jamie Redknapp.15. WEST HAM – DAVID SULLIVAN AND DAVID GOLD (£1.2BN) Sullivan made his fortune in the pornography industry and he previously owned the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport. Gold owns Gold Group International, the parent company of Ann Summers and he previously co-owned adult magazine company Gold Star Publications with his brother. Gold and Sullivan acquired a 50 per cent share inWest Hamin January 2010 and then purchased a further 10 per cent a few months later. David Gold and David Sullivan on the day they took charge of West HamGetty Images - Getty14. BRIGHTON – TONY BLOOM (£1.3BN) Bloom became chairman of the Seagulls in 2009 and in that time he has overseen their rise from League One to the Premier League. He is thought to have acquired most of his wealth from online gambling and gaming websites. Bloom also finished fourth at the World Series of Poker in 2005. Tony Bloom became Brighton chairman in 2009AFP or licensors13. EVERTON – FARHAD MOSHIRI (£1.5BN) Moshiri was previously involved at Arsenal but sold his stake in the club to complete a takeover of Everton, which was officially confirmed in February 2016. He owns and has shares in multiple steel and energy companies in the UK and Russia. Farhad Moshiri has owned Everton for four years12. LIVERPOOL – JOHN HENRY (£2.1BN) Henry’s company Fenway Sports Group bought Liverpool in 2010 and he also owns the Boston Red Sox. The American founded John W. Henry & Company, an investment management company. John Henry also owns the Boston Red SoxAFP or licensors11. CRYSTAL PALACE – JOSHUA HARRIS (£2.7BN) Harris owns an 18 per cent stake in Palace as well as being the principal shareholder of the NHL team the New Jersey Devils and NBA team the Philadelphia 76ers. He co-founded Apollo Global Management, one of the world’s largest investment firms. Josh Harris and David Blitzer both have stakes in Crystal PalaceGetty10. SOUTHAMPTON – GAO JISHENG (£3.1BN) Jisheng became the Saints’ majority owner in 2017 when he completed a £210m deal. He was the founder of Lander Sports Development until last year when he sold enough shares to lose control of the real-estate company. Gao Jisheng bought an 80 per cent stake in Southampton at the start of the 2017-18 seasonGetty9. MANCHESTER UNITED – THE GLAZERS (£3.6BN) Malcolm Glazer gradually bought shares of the club between 2003 and 2005 to complete his takeover. He made his fortune in property, banking and healthcare before his death in 2014. His sons, Avram and Joel, have since stepped up as co-chairmen. Malcolm Glazer bought up shares in Man United between 2003 and 2005AFP8. TOTTENHAM – JOE LEWIS (£3.9BN) English National Investment Company, which Lewis owns 70.6 per cent, bought a controlling stake in Tottenham in 2001 from Alan Sugar. He is the main investor in Tavistock Group, which owns more than 200 companies ranging from sports teams, energy companies, restaurants and luxury properties. Joe Lewis has been involved with Tottenham since 2001Corbis - Getty7. LEICESTER – AIYAWATT SRIVADDHANAPRABHA (£4.6BN) The 34-year-old, known as Top, became CEO and chairman of King Power and the chairman of Leicester when his father died in a helicopter crash outside the club’s stadium in 2018. Jamie Vardy comforts Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha as they pay their respects at the sea of tributes to the victims of the crash at Leicester CityGetty Images - Getty6. ASTON VILLA – NASSEF SAWIRIS (£5BN) Sawiris replaced Tony Xia as Villa owner in July 2018 when he bought a 55 per cent controlling stake in the club. He is from one of Egypt’s wealthiest families and owns numerous construction, engineering and building companies. Aston Villa owners Wes Edens (L) and Nassef Sawiris helped the club return to the Premier League@JimWhite on Twitter5. WOLVES – GUO GUANGCHANG (£5.2BN) Guangchang completed his takeover of the club in 2016 and has made a serious investment in the team. He is chairman of the Fosun Group and has invested in insurance, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, property, steel, mining, retail, services and finance. Guo Guangchang has heavily invested in WolvesRex Features4. ARSENAL – STAN KROENKE (£6.8BN) Kroenke married Walmart heiress Ann Walton in 1974 and later founded Kroenke Group in 1983, which is a property development firm. He first became involved in Arsenal in 2007 before assuming majority control in 2011. Kroenke also owns the LA Rams NFL team, which he relocated from St Louis in 2016. Stan Kroenke also owns the NFL team the Los Angeles RamsAFP - Getty3. CHELSEA – ROMAN ABRAMOVICH (£9.6BN) Abramovich purchased Chelsea for £140m in 2003 and oversaw a huge investment in the squad that has brought great success to the club. He sold his stake in the Russian gas company Gazprom in 2005 and owns stakes in steel and nickel companies among his other business ventures. Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea in 2003Getty2. MAN CITY – SHEIKH MANSOUR (£23.3BN) Mansour is the deputy prime minister of the United Arab Emirates and half brother of current UAE president Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nayhan. He is chairman of International Petroleum Investment Company and also has a stake in Virgin Galactic. He also owns the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation. Mansour completed a takeover of the club in 2008 and has poured huge investment into the club. Since he became the Man City owner they have won four Premier League titles. Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester City in 2008Getty1. NEWCASTLE – SAUDI ARABIA PUBLIC INVESTMENT FUND (£260BILLION) They are headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who is currently serving as Saudi Arabia’s deputy prime minister with his family’s wealth thought to be worth more than £1.3trillion. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia are the group who want to take an 80 per cent stake in the club from Mike Ashley. The PIF group are thought to have assets worth around £260billion. The Crown Prince is thought to have personal assets in the region of £7billion. Mohammed bin Salman could be Newcastle’s next ownerGetty Images - Getty #PremierLeague #NewcastleUnited #AstonVilla

[rickhorrow]

10 To Watch : Mayor’s Edition 93019

RICK HORROW’S TOP 10 SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 30 : MAYOR’S EDITION

with Jacob Aere

EverFi “Runs the Right Plays.” Premiering earlier this year, The Sport Business Handbook recognizes the last 50 years as the formative period for the modern era of sport. Likewise, online education leader EverFi is celebrating over a decade of harnessing technology to equip communities with the skills they need for success. To celebrate the good work in our communities contributors continue to do, EverFi presents "Running the Right Plays: Doing Good Through Sport" on October 2 in Washington, DC. This symposium will present a rare opportunity to hear directly from key contributors in sport, business, and philanthropy and gain exclusive access to their personal insights. Panelists joining Rick Horrow for the evening include Lisa Bowman, Chief Marketing Officer, United Way Worldwide;  Jon Chapman, Co-Founder & President, EverFi; Phil de Picciotto, Founder & President, Octagon; Damon Phillips, General Manager, NBC Sports Washington; Nick Sakiewicz, National Lacrosse League Commissioner; and former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. We will also present the top five Washington, DC community impact milestones in and around sports. 

The San Francisco 49ers filed a lawsuit to "block Santa Clara's attempt to end the team's management of non-football events at Levi's Stadium," according to the San Jose Mercury News. The lawsuit filed on Friday "comes in the wake of the City Council's vote to terminate the 49ers' management agreement, effective November 15." City officials "contend the team misrepresented its experience in managing 'public assembly facilities' and has violated city and state rules governing public contracts and prevailing wages." Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor in a tweet Friday night "doubled down on those claims." She tweeted, "We terminated the 49ers non-NFL events agreement because we discovered fraud and wage theft. They mismanaged a public facility. Net profits plunge from around $5 million to $0 in two years." If the city succeeds, the 49ers would "no longer book and manage stadium events unrelated" to NFL games and activities. Santa Clara "owns Levi's Stadium and leases the facility to the 49ers." The team is "responsible for managing it year-round and generating revenue to be shared with the city through concerts and other non-NFL events." The 49ers' lawsuit requests that a judge invalidate the city's termination notice. 

Tennis Channel is going bi-coastal, opening a fully equipped broadcast control room on the site of the USTA National Campus in Orlando. The new facility is designed to give the network a year-round presence at the training center for elite American professional and junior players. The facility, which establishes an East Coast production base for the West Coast-based network, provides Tennis Channel with greater access to National Campus competitions and players, in addition to Florida's tennis community. It was put to immediate use September 24-29, as the network carried the Junior Davis Cup and Junior Fed Cup by BNP Paribas Finals for the first time. Tennis Channel has clearly benefitted operationally and financially from its $350 million acquisition by Sinclair Broadcast Group three years ago – a fact that’s not lost on Sinclair’s newly-purchased roster of Fox Regional Sports Networks and their executives.

Kroenke, Spanos reportedly at odds over Sofi Stadium PSL sales. According to a report from ABC 10 News San Diego, Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke is upset about a lack of financial contribution by the L.A. Chargers for their shared Inglewood stadium, which is set to open next summer. Kroenke was anticipating the Chargers would generate close to $400 million from the sale of Personal Seat Licenses. Instead, the real figure is turning out to be tens of millions short of the target, and Kroenke is the one responsible for making up the difference. Costs for the Inglewood stadium are skyrocketing to almost $5 billion. The facility was initially expected to cost $1.9 billion. Kroenke is responsible for everything but the money the Chargers generate in PSL sales and a $200 million NFL G-6 loan. The Chargers, though, get to keep all of their game day revenues when they play in the new building. Kroenke has very little way of recouping the money from Spanos, because it was all part of the deal allowing the Chargers to move from San Diego to L.A.

Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports agency has announced the launch of its new global division to be headquartered in London, with Michael Yormark, who will serve as president of the new venture, heading up branding and strategy. Over the past couple years, Roc Nation has drastically expanded their roster in Europe and become more involved with sports. Roc Nation Sports International’s clients currently include six soccer players: Jerome Boateng, Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne, Eric Bailly, Axel Witsel, and Samuel Chukwueze. The company will officially open its London office on October 1 with a major focus on soccer. Based on the expertise of Roc Nation, on the artist and athlete side of the business, the agency believes this is a natural next step to have feet on the ground in the U.K. and develop their company in a 360 degree fashion. The new international venture will bring lifestyle, music and sport to the epicenter of the world’s soccer market. 

Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage Field House officially open after $185 million renovation. Downtown Cleveland was "electric" Saturday afternoon for a "celebration and official opening" of the $185 million renovated Rocket Mortgage Field House, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. An "estimated 2,500 people attended the ceremony" that was followed by a "free public open house." People had the "chance to explore the space and try new dining options." Updates include a "77,110 square foot illuminated aluminum curtain, more than 42,000 square feet of new space in the atrium, a power portal entryway featuring LED panels and Soundscape technology." Cavaliers President of Business Operations Nic Barlage said, "Today was perfect.” The first event in the renovated arena "won’t be a sporting event but a concert, when the Black Keys perform" on Monday night. A fitting opening for a building mere blocks from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

ESPN and Facebook strike a deal to bring sports shows to the social media platform. Under the new deal, ESPN will distribute exclusive digital shows and content on the social giant’s Facebook Watch video platform. According to Variety, the new collaboration will begin with ESPN’s Facebook Watch lineup of additional segments from “Always Late With Katie Nolan,” the late-night sports/comedy show premiering this week on ESPN2; exclusive versions of college-football “Countdown to GameDay” and “Fantasy Focus Live,” and “The People’s MMA Show,” a weekly series about mixed martial arts fighters. With the new content, ESPN will engage with fans through Facebook Watch platform via Watch Parties, polls, or live talent Q&As. Facebook has made a huge push in the last two years to gather more sports content including live MLB games and now all-encompassing sports content from one of sports media’s titans as the push to break into OTT sports intensifies.

Burton Snowboards joined millions of students and workers from around the world in support of the Global Climate Strike. On September 20 and 27, the snowboard brand closed all its offices and retail stores in America, Canada, Europe, China, Japan, South Korea, and Australia so its employees could join the strike and attend local marches, while still being paid. Burton.com was also closed for online orders around the world on the same days. According to The Telegraph, visitors to the website were automatically redirected to the Global Climate Strike homepage instead. In addition, the brand’s flagship stores, which are largely based in the U.S., were open to the public as a space to gather before and after the marches. People in 150 countries organized Global Climate Strikes in September, in which people were encouraged to walk out of work or school to join a local march to draw attention to the need for a new approach to combat climate change.

A pair of new-found friends cycle from London to Tokyo for charity and the Rugby World Cup. James Owens and Ron Rutland cycled from London to Tokyo, a total of 20,093 kilometers and a distance that spanned across 27 countries over 230 days to reach rugby's showpiece event. The primary aim of the journey was to raise money and awareness for ChildFund Pass It Back, the Rugby World Cup's official charity. According to CNN, the aim of the project was to help children from developing communities in Asia learn essential life skills through the sport. Seeing the actual children who were benefiting from the project’s $83,181 raised was the highlight of the journey for Owens and Rutland, who had only met five days before their journey and were also tasked with delivering the official whistle for the opening match between Japan and Russia. Rutland had previously cycled 41,843 km over two years and three months in the world's first unsupported solo cycle through Africa to watch his beloved South Africa in 2015 in England. This time, he used his extreme conditioning to better the lives of others.

The U.S. Soccer Foundation donates three mini soccer pitches to Baltimore. The D.C.-based soccer philanthropy and advocacy organization plans to fund and build three $60,000 “mini-pitches” at Desoto Park in Southwest Baltimore’s Morrell Park neighborhood, the Farring-Baybrook Recreation Center in Brooklyn, and Betty Hyatt Community Park in Washington Hill. According to Baltimore FishBowl, the donations would come as part of the nonprofit’s “Safe Places to Play” program. The foundation has partnered with sports-lighting firm Musco Lighting on a modular soccer field design, roughly the size of a basketball or tennis court, for underserved areas around the country and they come with lighting to allow for after-hours play, plus storage and benches. And the effects from these “city pitches” won’t be short lived – the foundation is partnering with MLS teams, corporations, and others to install 1,000 around the country by 2026.

[kiraalexander]

So, while Kim’s scene with Paige put me through the wringer, her scene with Jimmy’s the one that really broke my heart. Let’s unpack it and compound the suffering!

We start out at the office, where Jimmy comes in from a day in which, like his car, his powers of persuasion have sputtered and ultimately died. He’s low, he’s small, he’s powerless, and he’s losing money. So his getting Kim out of the office is as much a way of exerting control over a situation as it is an attempt to blow off steam.

As an inveterate McWexler stan, it’s fun to see Jimmy playfully manhandle Kim out of her chair, and to see her play along by letting him, while halfheartedly saying no. We know them both well enough to know that if Kim really couldn’t go out, she would not be going out, and Jimmy wouldn’t fight. But here, they’re taking care of each other: Kim, by letting Jimmy control where she goes and what she does, and Jimmy by taking Kim out of what’s becoming an extremely unhealthy set of working habits. (Whether going out drinking is a healthy way to deal with overwork is open to debate, but it’s certainly a Jimmy way.)

Jimmy takes Kim to the bar where they first rolled Ken Wins. It’s a meaningful place for them both, because it’s where this cycle of their relationship started. But it’s even more meaningful to Jimmy, because that’s the first place where he showed Kim his power, his talent, and his nature. And Kim rose to the occasion by showing power and talent of her own, as well as a willingness to participate and play with him in a way he hasn’t experienced since Marco died. It’s the place where they first became partners, and the first step they took to becoming the ride-or-die legal team we saw in 3x5.

Their conversation is funny and fun, but because they have Jimmy’s PPD hanging over their heads, they can’t act on any of their schemes. So there’s a masturbatory quality to the conversation, which is fine with Kim. But to Jimmy, whose past few days have been defined by a lack of performance, it’s unsatisfying.

So Jimmy sees the rude martini guy, and his mind immediately goes to Chuck. I think specifically it’s a callback to Chuck’s treatment of Ernie while Ernie was caring for him, although martini guy’s behavior is much more strident and over the top than Chuck’s snide comments and microaggressions. It also harkens back to Jimmy’s own treatment of the delivery guy earlier in the episode, especially since Jimmy’s behavior in that instance was very out of character for him. He wants to punish not only Chuck, but the part of himself that went Chuck-ward in a moment of extreme financial stress.

Jimmy begins spinning his scheme, but it quickly devolves into less of a scheme and more of a fantasy - one that becomes disturbingly self-flagellating and sexual. Remember that Kim and Jimmy’s season 2 scams were deliberately nonsexual in nature. They posed as brother and sister, and their scams were all posed as business investments. While it's true that Kim hooked Dale by accepting his drinks and flirting with him, she de-sexualized the situation by calling her "brother" to meet them, and turning the conversation to their "business venture."

Here, though, Jimmy begins the scheme by telling Kim to "make eye contact" with martini guy, and act "interested," so that he'll try to "steal [her] away" from Jimmy. Jimmy then casts himself as a "loser," packing so much bitterness into the word that Kim physically backs away from him. Then he tells her to say to martini guy, "you can't leave me, not yet," but only because in this situation, she's pretending to scam Jimmy.

Jimmy is setting himself up as the drunk rube in what's essentially a (and I'm not going to use the term with more racial/political connotation here) cheating fantasy, pimping Kim out to someone she's not interested in to serve its purpose, and making her declare that her interest in staying with him is a scam she's perpetrating on him. It's echoing his current sense of insecurity and inferiority, not to mention his romantic past, where we know his then-wife cheated on him with Cicero Chet (and possibly his stepdad), prompting the scenario that led him to Albuquerque in the first place.

We can see from Kim's expression and body language that she's incredibly disturbed by Jimmy's scenario. She puts on the breaks, and Jimmy's so lost in this fantasy, he does a double take before coming back to the present. But Kim's already thinking about what the two of them did to Chuck on the stand, and how much it still bothers her. While initially reluctant to turn the conversation to Chuck, when she admits that it's on her mind, Kim is expressing a desire for trust, intimacy, and empathy between Jimmy and herself.

Jimmy, however, shuts her down, telling her to put Chuck "in the rear view mirror," because Chuck deserves everything that happened to him; that he's "not worth thinking about. And this disturbs Kim more, not just because of Jimmy's lack of conscience or concern about what they did to Chuck, but his unwillingness to take care of her by listening to her concerns and discussing them. And this only compounds her sense of the morally repugnant things Jimmy seems increasingly capable of doing, as well as how he's increasingly able to shut himself off from any sense of remorse.

We watch Kim struggle with this (and Rhea Seehorn's acting is just so mind-blowingly excellent here, my god) and then make a decision, not to leave, and not to press, but to actively take care of Jimmy by going back to their game, rewinding their conversation so they can pretend it didn't happen, and that he hasn't hurt her. It doesn't quite work - the fun and humor have gone - but he lets her do it anyway.

So now we have two people who began a night trying to take care of each other, and ending it with Jimmy's demonstration that he's both unable and unwilling to care for Kim in the way she needs. This is due to circumstance, but also due to his anger, fear, self-righteousness and resentment. And it's dawning on Kim as well as us that she's no longer in a sustainable partnership. She can't leave him, not yet... but it may not be much longer before she realizes that not only can she leave, she must.

[junker-town]

What if the Patriots had become the St. Louis Stallions?

The St. Louis Stallions would’ve thrown a wrench in other relocation plans.

A few decades ago — before Tom Brady was a household name, and Bill Belichick was a coaching legend — the New England Patriots were no juggernaut. They barely even stuck around in Boston.

The franchise made appearances in the AFL Championship in 1964 and Super Bowl 20 in 1986, but lost both. When the 90s began, the Patriots were one of the NFL’s worst teams. New England finished with a 1-15 record in 1990 and almost matched that level of ineptitude with a 2-14 season in 1992.

Unsurprisingly, not many people wanted to go to the games.

No team had fewer fans show up during the 1992 season. The Patriots averaged 38,551 fans per game — well south of the now-demolished Foxboro Stadium’s 60,292 capacity. For one December game against the Colts, the Patriots couldn’t even get 20,000 people to show up.

So it wasn’t too shocking that the Patriots were in the relocation crosshairs, especially when they had a revolving door of owners at the time.

First, the Sullivan family sold the team to Victor Kiam in 1988. Not long after, Kiam sold it to James Orthwein in 1992.

Orthwein was born and raised in St. Louis, and bought the Patriots specifically with the goal of moving the team to his hometown in Missouri. Had he succeeded, the NFL would probably look much different today.

How Robert Kraft killed the St. Louis Stallions

The Cardinals relocated from Chicago to St. Louis in 1960 and stayed in the Gateway City for 28 years before heading to Phoenix.

A few years after losing the Cardinals, the city got its chance at a replacement when the NFL decided in 1991 it would expand from 28 teams to 30. The list of candidate cities was whittled down to St. Louis, Baltimore, Charlotte, Jacksonville, and Memphis. St. Louis missed out when Charlotte was awarded the Panthers and Jacksonville landed the Jaguars.

So Orthwein stepped in.

The city of St. Louis already broke ground on a stadium — called The Dome at America’s Center at the time — as part of its expansion bid. Orthwein decided that he’d take his newly purchased Patriots and move them out of Massachusetts after the 1993 season. They were to become the St. Louis Stallions.

Orthwein even designed a logo and made hats to celebrate the move.

Don't worry St. Louis, you always have the Stallions... Oh wait! @darrenrovell @NFL @Patriots @Place2BeNation pic.twitter.com/YeOiCwkQ3l

— Dan McGinn (@DMacPATS) January 13, 2016

Just one problem: Foxboro Stadium owner Robert Kraft.

Kraft, a longtime Patriots season ticket holder, scooped up ownership of the stadium at a bankruptcy sale in 1988. The Patriots had a lease with the stadium through the 2001 season and Kraft refused to let Orthwein break the deal.

“People have offered me all sorts of money for the lease,” Kraft said in 1994, via the New York Times. “But I let it be known that I wouldn’t sell at any price.”

Orthwein was stuck. When Kraft offered $175 million for the team — a then-record amount not just for the NFL, but all sports franchises — Orthwein reluctantly gave up his Stallions pursuit.

“I’m not going to be the most popular man [in St. Louis],” Orthwein said, via the Times. “I’m going to still do the best I can for my hometown to help them get a team. As far as owning a team, I’m done with that.”

He didn’t have to wait long for St. Louis to get a team. A year after his attempt to send the Patriots to the Midwest, the Rams announced a relocation from Los Angeles to St. Louis.

But let’s imagine for a second that Orthwein pulled it off. What if Kraft’s ironclad lease wasn’t quite so impossible to get out of?

What if the Patriots actually became the Stallions?

Orthwein’s unsuccessful relocation bid left Boston with a football team and St. Louis still without one. If it were the opposite, it’s hard to imagine Boston — a city with historic, cornerstone teams in every major American sport — being without an NFL team for very long.

That leaves two more relocations that likely would’ve happened as a consequence of the St. Louis Stallions coming into existence:

The Baltimore Rams

The simplest conclusion is that the Rams would’ve moved to New England to fill the void left by the Patriots’ departure. But it wouldn’t have been that easy.

The Rams’ move to St. Louis was helped by the fact that a new stadium plan was already in place in Missouri, and that Stan Kroenke was ready to purchase 40 percent of the team. It still wasn’t a popular decision and was rejected in a vote by other NFL owners. After the Rams paid $30 million to the league and the city of St. Louis threatened a lawsuit, the NFL finally gave in and allowed the Rams to move.

Boston would’ve been a relocation candidate, no doubt. It would’ve had competition, though. St. Louis, Baltimore, and even Hartford, Conn. were all battling for the Rams when their owner, Georgia Frontiere, announced they’d leave LA.

The city in best immediate shape to land the Rams with St. Louis out of the mix probably would’ve been Baltimore. Maryland approved plans for a new stadium ahead of time (ultimately, resulting in Baltimore getting the Browns, who became the Ravens). So in this alternate timeline, they would get the Rams one year earlier than they got the Ravens.

The Boston Browns New England Patriots

Browns owner Art Modell was also the owner of Cleveland Stadium, which was shared with the Cleveland Indians. But when the baseball team began playing at Jacobs Field in 1994, Modell had one less tenant, and much less revenue.

The losses became too much and in November 1995, he announced the Browns would leave Cleveland for Baltimore.

Cleveland was pissed and sued the Browns for breaching their lease. The NFL, the Browns, the city of Cleveland, and the city of Baltimore all negotiated a settlement that said the Browns would be “deactivated” for three years and re-established as an expansion team in a new stadium.

Let’s assume in this case that it’s Boston that does dealings with Modell in the mid-90s and claims the Browns. And just like real life, the team is forced to change its name and colors to make way for the Browns to have a rebirth in 1999.

Well, why not just become the Patriots again? That’s clean and tidy.

In this scenario, we now have the:

New England Patriots (owned by Art Modell)

St. Louis Stallions

Baltimore Rams

And a bunch of history remains the same. The Browns still re-emerge in Cleveland, Houston still gets the Texans, Nashville still gets the Oilers Titans, and LA still has to wait two decades for anyone to venture west again.

The Broncos probably need to come up with a different logo when they go through their rebrand in 1997, though. The NFL can’t really have two horse head logos now that the Stallions exist.

As for that Belichick-Brady dynasty that’s been kicking everyone’s ass in the 21st century? It’s still possible that it all happens in New England — especially considering Belichick was the Browns’ coach during all the relocation drama and could’ve led the team through the move.

Recreating the success he’s had in the last two decades also assumes Modell could make the same good decisions that Kraft has made at the helm. Ehh ... don’t count on it.

More than 25 years after the St. Louis Stallions’ proposal, the Rams have returned to LA and St. Louis is once again without a team. Plenty else has changed in the last quarter century, but the end result is an NFL that doesn’t look that much different.

Except for the Patriots. They went from a terrible team on the verge of leaving New England to an unstoppable dynasty.

[endenogatai]

UK’s Farewill raises $25M for its new approach online will writing, funerals and other death services

The daily updates on COVID-19 outbreaks, tragic stories of related fatalities, and our narrowed scope of life due to lockdown have all put the concept of mortality — and for some the sad business of actually dealing with a death — squarely into focus for many people. Today, a startup that’s building out a suite of services related to that is announcing a round of funding on the back of a boost of growth in business.

Farewill, a UK startup that provides a platform for people write online wills, organise probate services (such as sorting out death duties and taxes on a person’s property) and order cremations, has raised £20 million ($25 million) in funding — money that it hopes will not only help the company grow its business but also to help in the process of coping with our own deaths and those of our loved ones.

“We want to help by destigmatising death,” said Farewill CEO Dan Garrett in an interview about the complexity of the proposition. “We all have to face death. It lives inside everyone. But for most of us, we are psychologically hardwired not to think about it, and as a process people have been largely at the behest of an industry that doesn’t think about its customers.”

The name is, as you may have guessed, a play on farewell. “Think of the pun, and you can start the company,” Garrett said with the hint of wryness in his voice that I’m not sure you can avoid at the moment, especially given the subject.

The round is being led by Highland Europe, with Keen Ventures, Rich Pierson of Headspace, Broadhaven Ventures, Venture Founders and previous investors Augmentum Fintech, Taavet Hinrikus of TransferWise and Kindred Capital also participating. It’s being described as a venture round — a Series A of just under $10 million was closed in January 2019 — and brings the total raised by Farewill to £30 million.

Farewill is currently only live in the UK but longer term has plans to expand to more. In its home market, Garrett (who co-founded the company with university friend Dan Rogers, who is the CTO and CPO) says that in the five years that Farewill has been operational, it’s become the biggest will writer in the country in what is a quite fragmented market: the startup accounts for one out of every 10 wills written, or a 10% market share.

The cremation funeral and probate services are more recent launches from December 2019. But even so, given the current state of play with lockdown, social distancing and sadly the rise in actual deaths, they too have seen a lot of activity. Garrett said that Farewill’s cremation service, where the order for cremation and other details are all carried out online and costs on average one-fifth of the typical funeral — the idea being that families can then choose how to memorialise after that process, bypassing that more traditional funeral option — is now the third/fourth-biggest cremation provider in the country. It’s not all about the last few months, however: overall growth for the startup, he added, was 800% last year (before COVID-19) on a revenue basis.

Death by design

Just as death is not an easy topic for most people, it’s a complicated one to pinpoint as a target industry for a startup to “disrupt.” Farewill’s origin story, in that context, is an interesting one.

Garrett — who studied engineering at Oxford as an undergraduate — said the the idea came to him while doing postgraduate work on a joint degree between Imperial College and the Royal College of Art on design and innovation.

He came into the degree with a lot of big ideas, inspired by companies like Airbnb. “There is just so much potential for design-led companies,” he said of his thinking at the time.

One of the remits that the course cohort was given, he said, was to think about the broader concept of aging and services to address that. As part of the course, he travelled to Japan — which has its own specific reverence for ageing and the death process — and based himself at an old people’s home in Tokyo for six months along with “a team of enthnographers and anthropologists.”

He came out of that with an insight he didn’t expect, he recalled. “I felt that at the end of my six months there, I’d failed in my role as a designer,” he said. “All we focused was on the superficiality of ageing: how can we make better cutlery, or beds or seating that helped them move around? It was all about mobility and the physical aspects. But why we didn’t get close to talking about was that most of these people were facing their mortality. And in care homes, you don’t have friends or family around.” In other words, physical details and making life more manageable or enjoyable are fine, but Garrett didn’t feel that they got to the heart of the matter.

“To my mind, if you’re a designer, your responsibility is to get to the bottom of whatever the issue is,” he said. His dissertation, about dementia care, raised questions not about cutlery per se but person-centered approaches. “So much of it is about physical amelioration, not psychological aspects.”

So when he returned to the UK, he set to work trying to understand “the death industry.” He spent two months doing what he described as “mystery shopping”, regularly visiting funeral directors, and saying he was coming to discuss a death (a hypothetical one, not a real one) to understand what process people went through when they walked through the door for a real funeral. “I made sure I didn’t waste too much of their time,” he said.

He then also got a qualification in will writing and started offering services to his friends (free) who needed help to go through the probate process — which involves sorting out death duties, organising personal effects and the estate and so on. He — and Farewill — have also tried to embody a transparent and ethical approach in the work throughout, which has also included making it easier to designate pledged legacy income in wills (that is donations to causes). The aim is to reach £1 billion in pledged legacy income by 2023, with over £200 million raised so far and the numbers accelerating.

All that hands-on experience was important, he said, to get to grips with what he wanted to build. “I may have three masters degrees, but I am terrible at learning without actually doing something,” he said.

One big conclusion Garrett found was that not only was the death industry large and complicated, not least because of the subject matter, but because it had no technical innovation at all around it.

“There is this profound human aversion to dealing with death, and that is a brilliant design challenge,” he said.

Indeed, like it or not, death is always around us, and perhaps particularly right now. In the US — itself home to a number of startups focusing on death-related services — will writing companies have seen huge spikes in their business in the last several months. And even with the economic slowdown much of the globe is now seeing as a result of COVID-19, death care services (which don’t include will writing but everything after death), is projected to be a $102 billion industry this year.

It’s numbers like that, and Farewill’s execution in what it is doing, that has attracted investors.

“How about entirely removing the administrative pain for those grieving for their loved ones? How about providing an affordable, effortless and considerate service? That’s what the Farewill team is doing – with an extraordinary blend of compassion and tech-fueled efficiency,” said Stan Laurent, Partner at Highland Europe in a statement. “For too long, the wills and funeral industry has been largely geared towards profit over purpose. Since our first meeting with Dan, we knew that Farewill had the ingredients to radically disrupt the industry. We’re excited to back them as they broaden their ambition.”

“Farewill has made phenomenal progress since our initial investment 18 months ago,” added Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech, in a statement. “They have grown by 10x and launched a suite of successful new products. This additional capital will provide further opportunity for the company to innovate an archaic industry, and become the leading digital platform in death services.”

(Farewill also recently won a Europa award for its contribution to social innovation.)

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Nem Kurutma | Nem Alma | Rutubet Kurutma | DYD 444 0 719

BetBull Minimal cooperation for Wynn Hotels Restricted. Gambling Advancement Organization Involved delicate product launches reels that are wild. Sin city Sands Corporation‘s The Japanese Islands gaming website estimate questions that are facing

BetBull Minimal cooperation for Wynn Hotels Restricted. Gambling Advancement Organization Involved delicate product launches reels that are wild. Sin city Sands Corporation‘s The Japanese Islands gaming website estimate questions that are facing

British local casino agent Wynn areas restricted would have publicized that this photograph has got entered into a partnership that is‘strategic with European Council electric betting user BetBull poor so to take advantage of the aspiring athletics gaming market in the country.

Acquiring a fraction interest:

The Las Vegas-headquartered strong implemented A thursday that is official press to factor make fish an problem will often view it use an undisclosed money so that you can acquire a fully-diluted 22.5p.c. spot into the United Kingdom-licensed betting with bookmakers owner.

Peruse a record from Wynn Resorts Limited…

‘ side by side with the partnership that is strategic Wynn Resorts Limited are likely to make a fraction collateral funding in BetBull brief. Wynn hotels short will purchase 22.5% of BetBull short using a fully-diluted justification upon shutting on the capital, that will happen in relevant training reliant on customary securing circumstances.‘

Set to focus on ‘developing United States opportunity‘:

Nasdaq-listed Wynn hotels special is responsible for the WynnLas Las vegas casino that is integrated in Nevada and in addition Macau‘s Wynn House Cotai and Wynn Macau growths and is hoping to expose really it’s $2.5 billion Encore Boston hold place right before the finish line of august.kitty glitter free slots Things declared the order with BetBull small lets it to amalgamate their ‘nationally-recognized complete‘ with its fresh new partner‘s ‘digital sportsbetting functions abilities and method‘ with the intention to ‘to capitalize on the growing United States opportunity‘.

Online book offers ‘a unequivocally special experience‘:

Wynn areas Limited mentioned BetBull set on th ‘next-generation sportsbetting business‘ that includes free-play gaming aspects with ‘a mobile-first and actually social conception‘ to offer up addicts ‘a genuinely unique experience‘. It also claimed that your fast was ever proven by ‘serial marketer‘ Sadok Kohen in 2015 and also since experienced reinforcement from your former employers of Stan James and 888 Holdings and even ‘several most other investors‘ that is prominent.

Seven days after being given a business-to-business sportsbetting photo license by the agreed Kingdom‘s poker percentage regulator and iGaming programs organization Gaming creation family (event) integrated has said the squishy smooth of its the first self-developed game, crazy Reels.

Put together by other GiG applications matter:

The Maltese pioneer put a endorsed friday website to disclose that this book is most likely the invention from the completely new GiG sports blog posts facility and it formerly currently being delivered via a determine point through its certainly Casino solutions aggregator console.

Awaiting launch‘ that is‘full

Position Incorporated printed it was needed to have a online casino games certify of this Malta gambling influence well before premiering crazy Reels by the article title ensemble to undergo a ‘full plunge‘ only after it is actually found to be playing within the developer‘s ‘high standards‘.

Longer online game to be entered:

The E Julian‘s-headquartered tone simplified that it is concert Games pickup has been in acceleration in a and has plans to launch a further five to seven games between now and the end of June year. This declared the venture more over presents thoughts of premiering ‘a selection of further matches‘ via partnerships with 3rd party iGaming studios.

Understand a record from GiG Incorporated…

‘Besides formulating its very own own video game titles, show game are also authorizing more game titles galleries to enhance personal betting games onto her program. This combination makes it feasible a rise in productivity and output designed to enable position adventure to consistently open multiple events.‘

Developer‘s enduring development:

Job corporate professed that this corporation of its Event Games subordinate is due to increase his ���ecosystem of goods and services‘ as well as it also to go on his advancements into ‘a full-service therapies provider about the video gaming marketplace‘ that will help contain the‘value that is entire within iGaming‘.

Last night reportedly witness a leading official in the Japanese governance traverse a complaint that U . S . chairman, Donald Trump, got answered the Asian nation‘s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, to ‘strongly check out‘ a casino bid being made by Las vegas, nevada Sands business.

ProPublica created main record:

Much like an investigation, the accusation was initially syndicated by way of ProPublica not-for-profit media arrangement on Wednesday as an element of a study into links between Trump and also the president and ceo for city Sands corp, Sheldon Adelson (depicted).

Email were ‘out all around the blue‘:

ProPublica reportedly detailed that 72-year-old Trump acquired found his demand with respect to the Las Vegas-based brick & mortar casino agent throughout a gathering thought at the Mar-a-Lago mansion in california in January of 2017. The newly-elected Head of state presumably surprised students by rearing the gaming website trouble with one North american employee expressing that your particular niche had been ‘totally reared from the blue.‘

The staffer that is unnamed ProPublica which your Japanese delegation was then ‘a minor incredulous that Trump may be really brazen‘ before stating that Abe ‘didn‘t rather respond and said thanks for the information.‘

Executive denies any impropriety:

Take note, Casino thing frequently said aforementioned today that Yoshihide Suga, prime console Secretary in your Japanese governing, answered the allegation by proclaiming that Abe owned typically cleared this statement and are going to be designing no later comment. The over the internet intelligence site declared the official‘s attestation referred to the official september argument by the chancellor the places where he’d waived any such sound lobbying suffered from manifested.

Act just for a Japanese liberty:

Las vegas, nv Sands business is among a couple of unusual traditional casino businesses considered competing for anyone of three functioning certificates that are classed as stemming from grow to be gave out by using July‘s passage through of the incorporated location inclusion list. The owner happens to be seeking to be provided approval to shell out upwards of ten bucks billion so to draw an integral grand casino helsinki turn to a 173-acre piece of Yumeshima Island near Osaka by 2025 while ProPublica reported that Adelson lately declared to brokers to expect news that is good.

Adelson supposedly informed investors…

‘The quotes by those who get to know, assume they do know, who we presume they do know, point out that we‘re in your number-one rod position.‘

Great Republican giver:

ProPublica defined that 85-year-old Adelson may perhaps be the planet‘s 21st wealthiest man or women with a thought close fortune close to $35 billion and it has been recently an international giver to advocate individuals and causes for quite a few years. It also revealed which he led nearly twenty dollars million towards aiding to sound to discover chosen just like the President that is 45th of state before stumping upward a more five dollars million for inauguration fun.

Manager refutes accusation:

Although the pure apartment therefore the embassy that is japanese Oregon, DC, feature supposedly also to discuss the ProPublica accusation, city Sands Corporation spokesperson Ron Reese normally did matter a record denying any impropriety.

Reese‘s statement apparently read…

‘The pc gaming industry has long sought the opportunity to get into the The Japanese Islands arena. Video gaming organisations had had resources that are significant on that hassle and Las Vegas Sands Corporation isn’t any omission. If this firm has any positive aspect very easily as being a this significant Chinese running undergo and cattleboyz distinct convention-based structure. Any suggestion people are desired for some a few other cause is certainly not in line with the certainty belonging to the routine in The Japanese Islands or even the principels of a authorities part of is actually.‘

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[ubereyezconfessions-blog]

2/6/19-2/7/19 Riders

Potentially a eye opener for a ride. With age and experience I’m becoming more aware of what sides of the city offer. From lifestyles, people, and outlooks. As some call this city a stirring pot, our lives are mixing at a scary rate. Or at least mine is.

My outlook with the work this week is to reach a certain amount of rides to hit some bonuses from the company. Nothing major to me, but this comes with having 30 rides for the first tier bonus, and 60 for the second. This night I covered about 17-18 trips. So i was thoroughly throughout the city.

Revenge Of The Nerds

My first ride that sticks out in mind is in Venice Beach. Judging the event and the occupants, this was a tech meeting or a start up of some sorts. Approaching the car upon arrival are 4 guys. I’ll call this the “Revenge of the Nerds”. One Russian, one Asian, one Middle Eastern, or perhaps two of them were. But mentally this was a very weird trip. A vast majority of the trip felt like a lot of coded conversations that I was picking up without much trying. And I can explain how this was confirmed. So heading toward the freeway, these guys were discussing being at a meeting with Google. They really felt the need to stress this or with stating this it would make me want to join in and ask about what they all were doing. But as usual I stick to my driving and focusing on the road. So there getting into some conversation where they keep talking about Speech 0″. Mental image keeps thinking of a reddit meme where it takes some Fallout scene shot. But I couldnt help but think they were speaking in the idea that I was talking. Along the ride, a song was on. And for this night I decided to hide the display of what song was playing and who was the artisit. More so, so peopl would catch the song and not all that extra info. The car becomes quiet at a certain point and these lyrics go off.

“I was trained to be a soldier for God But as soon as I used my own thoughts I kinda got lost in this smog called reality Where hell is a fallacy And Heaven is a fantasy created by man, so don't believe in it You came in here with nothing then your leaving with Nothing so retreat from this world of deceitfulness But my people it's time to rise Realize there's a heaven whether you think it's inside or in the sky Reach for it before it's gone eternally And you stuck here below the heavens for eternity“

And it breaks into a hook and the Russian in the passenger seat says “Encrypted data. Private companies use encrypted data to protect themselves but let people have it”, something along those lines. “Basically youll get the message but wont know who gave it”. Mentally that was kinda spot on.

Then off the freeway we were cruising down Venice blvd. and Im assuming with the streetlights shining in the vehicle. This allowed a view of my Black Panther keychain. Cause a conversation about Marvel ensued. The spoke upon Stan Lee creating Spiderman or being the main thing he created, amongst The Incredible Hulk. Then they brought up Into The Spiderverse, the recent film and mentally I was hit with the line “Wow, Youre like me”. If youve seen the movie, you’d understand. But with all that, just funny timing because we reach La Cienaga were there is a Captain America mural. Or maybe a coincidence from the universe. But this is were the ride finishes up and not much else is exchanged and the ride ends.

Deceptive Intentions

Now in Hollywood I pick up a rider. Originally this was just supposed to be him although he was standing with a woman. Which when they got in they explained that they both ordered separate rides but since I arrived first, they both got in and the male basically let it be known that he didnt mind paying for the ride. Once again, Im assuming its a couple already so Im completely tuning out the conversation and that when I learn the chick is a mind reader. Along the way Im just in my own world and I come across this thought that I might just be kinda set up to be a music artist and immediately at that thought the woman says “I love musicians, I just cant help it. Even if they are emotionally unstable”. And the male replies, “Probably because you are too”. She laughs and i suppose signalling she agrees. We reach her drop off and she gets out with a hug to him and a “goodnight” to me. At this point the Guy jumps back in after letting her out and this is where he changes to a new person. “SHE NEEDS TO BREAK UP WITH HER BOYFRIEND” “DID YOU SEE HOW HOT SHE WAS?”, He stated pretty hyped up. Which as I tell you, I try to distance myself from the riders. I didnt even see the woman to have a frame of reference. But kinda revealed what his intentions were with the lady. Were headed over to Santa Monica so after a forced conversation that didnt go anywhere the music just played. At a point it reached a song by a artist out of the city and he was speaking on a woman that had died but he was deeply in love with. And it was a powerful record, I cant even deny. But I heard a sniffle in the back seat. I had a notion that it may have even made the rider shed a tear. Kinda made me think Im rather desensitized to emotion growing up the way I have. But another ride done and on to the next.

Eye Opener

Now this is the trip I speak of that felt like an eye opener on revisiting the trip mentally. This was a trip immediately after the previous story. From the Westwood area heading to Venice. Prior to pulling up I noticed 3 suits walking down the road and one just broke away from 2 others. Not much of a goodbye just approached the road and that was my rider. He gets in a bit jive. Almost trying to show he’s hip to urban culture. Which is explained shortly. He’s a talkative type and starts with the usual small talk. “How long you been driving?” and blah blah blah. I explain my 3 years and the usual responses but he reaches a question of “Where in the city do you like to drive”. Which I explain that I just drive. You cant really plan out were youre driving when any given trip you can be sent 10-1000 miies all pending the request. Not remember how it came up but we got into a dialogue of where we were from. Which i explained South Central and he asked if im still there. And upon saying yes, he said “its what you know”. Then he explained he was from Ventura county about a hour away and his family is from the Northeast and the South, after I told him my family was from Virginia. Explained that that side of the family had some different views and brought many conversations that made him look at that side different. So this is where he explains to me that he doesnt like hanging out on the Santa Monica/Venice side of the city. Amongst the techie side of it all, its what he grew up with out in Ventura. Which something told me he meant those with conservative beliefs. And that he preferred Downtown and Echo Park area due to the mix of culture and artsy ways. Felt like a nod to tell me that this side isnt as for change as I’d may think. Or over that way, I can relax.

Alpha/Beta

In this night was a trip with 2 dudes. Asian I assume, but no heavy looks at them besides pick up. But I did notice they guy had a Rams hat on. On my driver profile it states “The New Orleans Saints were robbed #NeverForget”. (NFL 18-19 NFC Championship). Something triggered that he wanted me to bring that up in conversation, but me being me, that aint happen. So in this drive, its a obvious Alpha/Beta partnership between the riders. Which the Beta pretty much is subject to having all his power at a zero and listening to whatever the other says to do with their business venture. In this conversation they do a lot of name dropping and trying to sell something or a idea. Perhaps to get me to listen. But im a “tune out” type as I explain. As im ever brought back into their conversation by how loud they become. Im considered how does someone live like that. The Beta is pretty much powerless and has to listen to every idea the Alpha had. Whenever he suggested something, it was slashed and replaced with a idea from the Alpha and it seemed like a odd partnership. But to each his own. Just along with my non-talk, came towards the end of the ride when I had this feeling that they were going to get negative in their conversation being I didnt bite on whatever they were pitching. A comment of “Its nice to have a quiet ride and catch up on business”. Just felt weird but was said along with somethings that didnt feel right in spirit.

Janky Producers

Last but not least. I had a ride in mid-city. Picked up a White guy, dressed with the look of a producer. I know this simply because being a music artist, you can spot the look a million miles away. So he jumped in with headphones on, but greeted so I assumed he was gonna be in his world, as I was in mine. Totally fine. Now im playing true hip hop. Lyricist infused stuff. Something about it, I just had a feeling he was listening because of that. Anyways, he was headed to a recording studio in Hollywood, but went from a drop off to a pick up of 2 others. So amongst this short extended trip. They were speaking about what was happening at the studio. He kept talking bout working with Tory. Im assuming Tory Lanez or just name dropping to catch my attention. But they came talks of his manager that was at the studio and this is when they starting talking about that guys music skills. Mainly he was off key and that led to a lot of laughter. They ended up getting dropped off at some food spot which seemed to be a flock of musician industry folk getting grub. As a artist, id probably fit in, but my out look on life probably keeps me away. But found it rather bizarre that people can talk and gossip about people they were around through out a night. I know money is the reason. But why be around people you just look forward to laughing at after?

[vanessawestwcrtr5]

Basis, backed with $133 million from top VCs to build a price-stable cryptocurrency, says it’s shutting down and returning the money – TechCrunch

Basis, backed with $133 million from top VCs to build a price-stable cryptocurrency, says it’s shutting down and returning the money – TechCrunch

Earlier this year, we told you about a now 18-month-old, Hoboken, N.J.-based cryptocurrency startup working on a “stable coin” whose elastic supply would ostensibly expand and contract to keep its value at about a dollar instead of all over the map. The company’s big idea: to develop a new token that people would actually use, instead of use to speculate.

Investors — a lot of them — fell in love with the concept. In fact, eight months ago, Basis landed $133 million in funding from Bain Capital Ventures, GV, longtime hedge fund manager Stan Druckenmiller, one-time Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Foundation Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, WingVC, NFX Ventures, Valor Capital, Zhenfund, Ceyuan, Sky9 Capital, Digital Currency Group and others.

Today, that same team, led by CEO Nader Al-Naji — who co-founded the company with former Princeton classmates Lawrence Diao and Josh Chen — says it is shutting down the project. Basis is also returning to investors the capital it didn’t use in trying to make a go of things.

As Al-Naji explained it in a post at Basis’s site a bit ago, its technology road map and U.S. securities regulations didn’t quite mix. More specifically, writes Al-Naji, the founders didn’t foresee some of the ripple effects of the regulatory guidance it began receiving.

For one thing, he writes, Basis soon realized that there would be “no way to avoid securities status for bond and share tokens” and that “due to their status as unregistered securities, bond and share tokens would be subject to transfer restrictions, with [Basis] responsible for limiting token ownership to accredited investors in the U.S. for the first year after issuance, and for performing eligibility checks on international users.”

Part of the problem with this scenario, continues Al Naji, is that “enforcing transfer restrictions would require a centralized whitelist, meaning our system would not only lose its censorship resistance, but also that on-chain auctions would have significantly less liquidity.”

Ultimately, having fewer participants in those on-chain auctions would adversely affect the stability of Basis, he adds, which was sort of the whole point.

It isn’t clear from what’s happened to Basis whether so-called stablecoins are simply not viable, or whether its particular approach to an asset with price stability characteristics was ill-planned. Though it’s easy to grasp how they could spur the adoption of crypto payment applications, the technology remains unproven, even as a stablecoin rush got underway this past summer. As Garrick Hileman, head of research at the cryptocurrency services firm Blockchain, told Technology Review back in September, there were a handful of stablecoins in the works in early 2017. As of this fall, that number was closer to 60.

We’ve reached out to some of Basis’s investors to learn more. In the meantime, it’s worth noting that even when Basis raised that giant round of funding, Al-Naji was candid about not knowing when Basis’s token would be used in circulation. In short, he never made aggressive promises that Basis was unable to keep — at least, not to us directly.

You can read the full text of his letter to investors and supporters below.

Eighteen months ago, we set out with the ambitious goal of creating a better monetary system: one that would be resistant to hyperinflation, free from centralized control, and more stable and robust than the monetary systems that came before it. This was a goal we felt could create tremendous value for society if achieved, and one we also felt well-positioned to take on.

We started with a white paper that proposed a stable, decentralized cryptocurrency called Basis that had the potential to fulfill this vision.

Basis remains stable by incentivizing traders to buy and sell Basis in response to changes in demand. These incentives are set up through regular, on-chain auctions of “bond” and “share” tokens, which serve to adjust Basis supply. Because the Basis ecosystem would take some time to develop, we knew we’d need to initially play the role of trader ourselves, which would be capital-intensive. As such, after publishing our white paper, we raised a $133M round of financing. This allowed us to involve a diverse set of investors who we felt could add a lot of value to the project and enabled us to build a large stabilization fund to bootstrap the system. We then assembled an outstanding team and set our sights on launching the system.

Unfortunately, having to apply US securities regulation to the system had a serious negative impact on our ability to launch Basis.

As regulatory guidance started to trickle out over time, our lawyers came to a consensus that there would be no way to avoid securities status for bond and share tokens (though Basis would likely be free of this characterization).

Due to their status as unregistered securities, bond and share tokens would be subject to transfer restrictions, with Intangible Labs responsible for limiting token ownership to accredited investors in the US for the first year after issuance and for performing eligibility checks on international users.

Enforcing transfer restrictions would require a centralized whitelist, meaning our system would not only lose its censorship resistance, but also that on-chain auctions would have significantly less liquidity.

Having fewer participants in the on-chain auctions adversely affects the stability of Basis, making Basis intrinsically less attractive to users. Additionally, imposing transfer restrictions on bond and share token auctions materially hurts our ability to build the Basis ecosystem.

While transfer restrictions can generally lapse 12 months after a security is issued, because the auctions of bond and share tokens governed by our monetary policy would be continuously issued, transfer restrictions and a centralized whitelist would be required indefinitely.

We considered many alternative paths to launch to try and comply with the regulatory constraints while keeping our product compelling and competitive. These paths included launching offshore with added utility to make bond and share tokens less financial in nature, and starting off with a centralized stability mechanism. Ultimately, however, we don’t think any of the paths we considered are compelling enough for our users or our investors, or consistent enough with our vision to justify moving forward.

As such, I am sad to share the news that we have decided to return capital to our investors. This also means, unfortunately, that the Basis project will be shutting down.

Although this isn’t the outcome any of us wanted, we knew going into this that we were fundamentally making a binary bet on a favorable regulatory landscape. The binary nature of our bet is precisely why we included a return of capital clause in our token sale to begin with, even though it was something we hoped we’d never have to rely on. So, while we’re disappointed we couldn’t launch the system we were all hoping to build, we’re thankful that we can at least do right by our investors given these circumstances.

Finally, we owe our sincere thanks to everyone who supported us and our project—from the extraordinary backers and partners who believed in us, to the outstanding team that joined us in our mission. You gave us the opportunity to change the world, and we’re looking forward to trying again.

Until next time,

Nader Al-Naji, CEO

Source link https://ift.tt/2CbQd4k

[bobbynolanios88]

Basis, backed with $133 million from top VCs to build a price-stable cryptocurrency, says it’s shutting down and returning the money – TechCrunch

Basis, backed with $133 million from top VCs to build a price-stable cryptocurrency, says it’s shutting down and returning the money – TechCrunch

Earlier this year, we told you about a now 18-month-old, Hoboken, N.J.-based cryptocurrency startup working on a “stable coin” whose elastic supply would ostensibly expand and contract to keep its value at about a dollar instead of all over the map. The company’s big idea: to develop a new token that people would actually use, instead of use to speculate.

Investors — a lot of them — fell in love with the concept. In fact, eight months ago, Basis landed $133 million in funding from Bain Capital Ventures, GV, longtime hedge fund manager Stan Druckenmiller, one-time Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Foundation Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, WingVC, NFX Ventures, Valor Capital, Zhenfund, Ceyuan, Sky9 Capital, Digital Currency Group and others.

Today, that same team, led by CEO Nader Al-Naji — who co-founded the company with former Princeton classmates Lawrence Diao and Josh Chen — says it is shutting down the project. Basis is also returning to investors the capital it didn’t use in trying to make a go of things.

As Al-Naji explained it in a post at Basis’s site a bit ago, its technology road map and U.S. securities regulations didn’t quite mix. More specifically, writes Al-Naji, the founders didn’t foresee some of the ripple effects of the regulatory guidance it began receiving.

For one thing, he writes, Basis soon realized that there would be “no way to avoid securities status for bond and share tokens” and that “due to their status as unregistered securities, bond and share tokens would be subject to transfer restrictions, with [Basis] responsible for limiting token ownership to accredited investors in the U.S. for the first year after issuance, and for performing eligibility checks on international users.”

Part of the problem with this scenario, continues Al Naji, is that “enforcing transfer restrictions would require a centralized whitelist, meaning our system would not only lose its censorship resistance, but also that on-chain auctions would have significantly less liquidity.”

Ultimately, having fewer participants in those on-chain auctions would adversely affect the stability of Basis, he adds, which was sort of the whole point.

It isn’t clear from what’s happened to Basis whether so-called stablecoins are simply not viable, or whether its particular approach to an asset with price stability characteristics was ill-planned. Though it’s easy to grasp how they could spur the adoption of crypto payment applications, the technology remains unproven, even as a stablecoin rush got underway this past summer. As Garrick Hileman, head of research at the cryptocurrency services firm Blockchain, told Technology Review back in September, there were a handful of stablecoins in the works in early 2017. As of this fall, that number was closer to 60.

We’ve reached out to some of Basis’s investors to learn more. In the meantime, it’s worth noting that even when Basis raised that giant round of funding, Al-Naji was candid about not knowing when Basis’s token would be used in circulation. In short, he never made aggressive promises that Basis was unable to keep — at least, not to us directly.

You can read the full text of his letter to investors and supporters below.

Eighteen months ago, we set out with the ambitious goal of creating a better monetary system: one that would be resistant to hyperinflation, free from centralized control, and more stable and robust than the monetary systems that came before it. This was a goal we felt could create tremendous value for society if achieved, and one we also felt well-positioned to take on.

We started with a white paper that proposed a stable, decentralized cryptocurrency called Basis that had the potential to fulfill this vision.

Basis remains stable by incentivizing traders to buy and sell Basis in response to changes in demand. These incentives are set up through regular, on-chain auctions of “bond” and “share” tokens, which serve to adjust Basis supply. Because the Basis ecosystem would take some time to develop, we knew we’d need to initially play the role of trader ourselves, which would be capital-intensive. As such, after publishing our white paper, we raised a $133M round of financing. This allowed us to involve a diverse set of investors who we felt could add a lot of value to the project and enabled us to build a large stabilization fund to bootstrap the system. We then assembled an outstanding team and set our sights on launching the system.

Unfortunately, having to apply US securities regulation to the system had a serious negative impact on our ability to launch Basis.

As regulatory guidance started to trickle out over time, our lawyers came to a consensus that there would be no way to avoid securities status for bond and share tokens (though Basis would likely be free of this characterization).

Due to their status as unregistered securities, bond and share tokens would be subject to transfer restrictions, with Intangible Labs responsible for limiting token ownership to accredited investors in the US for the first year after issuance and for performing eligibility checks on international users.

Enforcing transfer restrictions would require a centralized whitelist, meaning our system would not only lose its censorship resistance, but also that on-chain auctions would have significantly less liquidity.

Having fewer participants in the on-chain auctions adversely affects the stability of Basis, making Basis intrinsically less attractive to users. Additionally, imposing transfer restrictions on bond and share token auctions materially hurts our ability to build the Basis ecosystem.

While transfer restrictions can generally lapse 12 months after a security is issued, because the auctions of bond and share tokens governed by our monetary policy would be continuously issued, transfer restrictions and a centralized whitelist would be required indefinitely.

We considered many alternative paths to launch to try and comply with the regulatory constraints while keeping our product compelling and competitive. These paths included launching offshore with added utility to make bond and share tokens less financial in nature, and starting off with a centralized stability mechanism. Ultimately, however, we don’t think any of the paths we considered are compelling enough for our users or our investors, or consistent enough with our vision to justify moving forward.

As such, I am sad to share the news that we have decided to return capital to our investors. This also means, unfortunately, that the Basis project will be shutting down.

Although this isn’t the outcome any of us wanted, we knew going into this that we were fundamentally making a binary bet on a favorable regulatory landscape. The binary nature of our bet is precisely why we included a return of capital clause in our token sale to begin with, even though it was something we hoped we’d never have to rely on. So, while we’re disappointed we couldn’t launch the system we were all hoping to build, we’re thankful that we can at least do right by our investors given these circumstances.

Finally, we owe our sincere thanks to everyone who supported us and our project—from the extraordinary backers and partners who believed in us, to the outstanding team that joined us in our mission. You gave us the opportunity to change the world, and we’re looking forward to trying again.

Until next time,

Nader Al-Naji, CEO

Source link https://ift.tt/2CbQd4k

[williamsjoan]

Basis, backed with $133 million from top VCs to build a price-stable cryptocurrency, says it’s shutting down and returning the money

Earlier this year, we told you about a now 18-month-old, Hoboken, N.J.-based cryptocurrency startup working on a “stable coin” whose elastic supply would ostensibly expand and contract to keep its value at about a dollar instead of all over the map. The company’s big idea: to develop a new token that people would actually use, instead of use to speculate.

Investors — a lot of them — fell in love with the concept. In fact, eight months ago, Basis landed $133 million in funding from Bain Capital Ventures, GV, longtime hedge fund manager Stan Druckenmiller, one-time Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Foundation Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, WingVC, NFX Ventures, Valor Capital, Zhenfund, Ceyuan, Sky9 Capital, Digital Currency Group and others.

Today, that same team, led by CEO Nader Al-Naji — who co-founded the company with former Princeton classmates Lawrence Diao and Josh Chen — says it is shutting down the project. Basis is also returning the capital to investors that it didn’t use in trying to make a go of things.

As Al-Naji explained it in a post at Basis’s site a bit ago, its technology road map and U.S. securities regulations didn’t quite mix. More specifically, writes Al-Naji, the founders didn’t foresee the some of the ripple effects of the regulatory guidance it began receiving.

For one thing, he writes, Basis soon realized that there would be “no way to avoid securities status for bond and share tokens” and that “due to their status as unregistered securities, bond and share tokens would be subject to transfer restrictions, with [Basis] responsible for limiting token ownership to accredited investors in the U.S. for the first year after issuance, and for performing eligibility checks on international users.”

Part of the problem with this scenario, continues Al Naji, is that “enforcing transfer restrictions would require a centralized whitelist, meaning our system would not only lose its censorship resistance, but also that on-chain auctions would have significantly less liquidity.”

Ultimately, having fewer participants in those on-chain auctions would adversely affect the stability of Basis, he adds, which was sort of the whole point.

It isn’t clear from what’s happened to Basis whether so-called stablecoins are simply not viable, or whether its particular approach to an asset with price stability characteristics was ill-planned. Though it’s easy to grasp how they could spur the adoption of crypto payment applications, the technology remains unproven, even as a stablecoin rush got underway this past summer. As Garrick Hileman, head of research at the cryptocurrency services firm Blockchain, told Technology Review back in September, there were a handful of stablecoins in the works in early 2017. As of this fall, that number was closer to 60.

We’ve reached out to some of Basis’s investors to learn more. In the meantime, it’s worth noting that even when Basis raised that giant round of funding, Al-Naji was candid about not knowing when Basis’s token would be used in circulation. In short, he never made aggressive promises that Basis was unable to keep — at least, not to us directly.

You can read the full text of his letter to investors and supporters below.

Eighteen months ago, we set out with the ambitious goal of creating a better monetary system: one that would be resistant to hyperinflation, free from centralized control, and more stable and robust than the monetary systems that came before it. This was a goal we felt could create tremendous value for society if achieved, and one we also felt well-positioned to take on.

We started with a white paper that proposed a stable, decentralized cryptocurrency called Basis that had the potential to fulfill this vision.

Basis remains stable by incentivizing traders to buy and sell Basis in response to changes in demand. These incentives are set up through regular, on-chain auctions of “bond” and “share” tokens, which serve to adjust Basis supply. Because the Basis ecosystem would take some time to develop, we knew we’d need to initially play the role of trader ourselves, which would be capital-intensive. As such, after publishing our white paper, we raised a $133M round of financing. This allowed us to involve a diverse set of investors who we felt could add a lot of value to the project and enabled us to build a large stabilization fund to bootstrap the system. We then assembled an outstanding team and set our sights on launching the system.

Unfortunately, having to apply US securities regulation to the system had a serious negative impact on our ability to launch Basis.

As regulatory guidance started to trickle out over time, our lawyers came to a consensus that there would be no way to avoid securities status for bond and share tokens (though Basis would likely be free of this characterization).

Due to their status as unregistered securities, bond and share tokens would be subject to transfer restrictions, with Intangible Labs responsible for limiting token ownership to accredited investors in the US for the first year after issuance and for performing eligibility checks on international users.

Enforcing transfer restrictions would require a centralized whitelist, meaning our system would not only lose its censorship resistance, but also that on-chain auctions would have significantly less liquidity.

Having fewer participants in the on-chain auctions adversely affects the stability of Basis, making Basis intrinsically less attractive to users. Additionally, imposing transfer restrictions on bond and share token auctions materially hurts our ability to build the Basis ecosystem.

While transfer restrictions can generally lapse 12 months after a security is issued, because the auctions of bond and share tokens governed by our monetary policy would be continuously issued, transfer restrictions and a centralized whitelist would be required indefinitely.

We considered many alternative paths to launch to try and comply with the regulatory constraints while keeping our product compelling and competitive. These paths included launching offshore with added utility to make bond and share tokens less financial in nature, and starting off with a centralized stability mechanism. Ultimately, however, we don’t think any of the paths we considered are compelling enough for our users or our investors, or consistent enough with our vision to justify moving forward.

As such, I am sad to share the news that we have decided to return capital to our investors. This also means, unfortunately, that the Basis project will be shutting down.

Although this isn’t the outcome any of us wanted, we knew going into this that we were fundamentally making a binary bet on a favorable regulatory landscape. The binary nature of our bet is precisely why we included a return of capital clause in our token sale to begin with, even though it was something we hoped we’d never have to rely on. So, while we’re disappointed we couldn’t launch the system we were all hoping to build, we’re thankful that we can at least do right by our investors given these circumstances.

Finally, we owe our sincere thanks to everyone who supported us and our project—from the extraordinary backers and partners who believed in us, to the outstanding team that joined us in our mission. You gave us the opportunity to change the world, and we’re looking forward to trying again.

Until next time,

Nader Al-Naji, CEO

Basis, backed with $133 million from top VCs to build a price-stable cryptocurrency, says it’s shutting down and returning the money published first on https://timloewe.tumblr.com/

[theinvinciblenoob]

Earlier this year, we told you about a now 18-month-old, Hoboken, N.J.-based cryptocurrency startup working on a “stable coin” whose elastic supply would ostensibly expand and contract to keep its value at about a dollar instead of all over the map. The company’s big idea: to develop a new token that people would actually use, instead of use to speculate.

Investors — a lot of them — fell in love with the concept. In fact, eight months ago, Basis landed $133 million in funding from Bain Capital Ventures, GV, longtime hedge fund manager Stan Druckenmiller, one-time Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Foundation Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, WingVC, NFX Ventures, Valor Capital, Zhenfund, Ceyuan, Sky9 Capital, Digital Currency Group and others.

Today, that same team, led by CEO Nader Al-Naji — who co-founded the company with former Princeton classmates Lawrence Diao and Josh Chen — says it is shutting down the project. Basis is also returning the capital to investors that it didn’t use in trying to make a go of things.

As Al-Naji explained it in a post at Basis’s site a bit ago, its technology road map and U.S. securities regulations didn’t quite mix. More specifically, writes Al-Naji, the founders didn’t foresee the some of the ripple effects of the regulatory guidance it began receiving.

For one thing, he writes, Basis soon realized that there would be “no way to avoid securities status for bond and share tokens” and that “due to their status as unregistered securities, bond and share tokens would be subject to transfer restrictions, with [Basis] responsible for limiting token ownership to accredited investors in the U.S. for the first year after issuance, and for performing eligibility checks on international users.”

Part of the problem with this scenario, continues Al Naji, is that “enforcing transfer restrictions would require a centralized whitelist, meaning our system would not only lose its censorship resistance, but also that on-chain auctions would have significantly less liquidity.”

Ultimately, having fewer participants in those on-chain auctions would adversely affect the stability of Basis, he adds, which was sort of the whole point.

It isn’t clear from what’s happened to Basis whether so-called stablecoins are simply not viable, or whether its particular approach to an asset with price stability characteristics was ill-planned. Though it’s easy to grasp how they could spur the adoption of crypto payment applications, the technology remains unproven, even as a stablecoin rush got underway this past summer. As Garrick Hileman, head of research at the cryptocurrency services firm Blockchain, told Technology Review back in September, there were a handful of stablecoins in the works in early 2017. As of this fall, that number was closer to 60.

We’ve reached out to some of Basis’s investors to learn more. In the meantime, it’s worth noting that even when Basis raised that giant round of funding, Al-Naji was candid about not knowing when Basis’s token would be used in circulation. In short, he never made aggressive promises that Basis was unable to keep — at least, not to us directly.

You can read the full text of his letter to investors and supporters below.

Eighteen months ago, we set out with the ambitious goal of creating a better monetary system: one that would be resistant to hyperinflation, free from centralized control, and more stable and robust than the monetary systems that came before it. This was a goal we felt could create tremendous value for society if achieved, and one we also felt well-positioned to take on.

We started with a white paper that proposed a stable, decentralized cryptocurrency called Basis that had the potential to fulfill this vision.

Basis remains stable by incentivizing traders to buy and sell Basis in response to changes in demand. These incentives are set up through regular, on-chain auctions of “bond” and “share” tokens, which serve to adjust Basis supply. Because the Basis ecosystem would take some time to develop, we knew we’d need to initially play the role of trader ourselves, which would be capital-intensive. As such, after publishing our white paper, we raised a $133M round of financing. This allowed us to involve a diverse set of investors who we felt could add a lot of value to the project and enabled us to build a large stabilization fund to bootstrap the system. We then assembled an outstanding team and set our sights on launching the system.

Unfortunately, having to apply US securities regulation to the system had a serious negative impact on our ability to launch Basis.

As regulatory guidance started to trickle out over time, our lawyers came to a consensus that there would be no way to avoid securities status for bond and share tokens (though Basis would likely be free of this characterization).

Due to their status as unregistered securities, bond and share tokens would be subject to transfer restrictions, with Intangible Labs responsible for limiting token ownership to accredited investors in the US for the first year after issuance and for performing eligibility checks on international users.

Enforcing transfer restrictions would require a centralized whitelist, meaning our system would not only lose its censorship resistance, but also that on-chain auctions would have significantly less liquidity.

Having fewer participants in the on-chain auctions adversely affects the stability of Basis, making Basis intrinsically less attractive to users. Additionally, imposing transfer restrictions on bond and share token auctions materially hurts our ability to build the Basis ecosystem.

While transfer restrictions can generally lapse 12 months after a security is issued, because the auctions of bond and share tokens governed by our monetary policy would be continuously issued, transfer restrictions and a centralized whitelist would be required indefinitely.

We considered many alternative paths to launch to try and comply with the regulatory constraints while keeping our product compelling and competitive. These paths included launching offshore with added utility to make bond and share tokens less financial in nature, and starting off with a centralized stability mechanism. Ultimately, however, we don’t think any of the paths we considered are compelling enough for our users or our investors, or consistent enough with our vision to justify moving forward.

As such, I am sad to share the news that we have decided to return capital to our investors. This also means, unfortunately, that the Basis project will be shutting down.

Although this isn’t the outcome any of us wanted, we knew going into this that we were fundamentally making a binary bet on a favorable regulatory landscape. The binary nature of our bet is precisely why we included a return of capital clause in our token sale to begin with, even though it was something we hoped we’d never have to rely on. So, while we’re disappointed we couldn’t launch the system we were all hoping to build, we’re thankful that we can at least do right by our investors given these circumstances.

Finally, we owe our sincere thanks to everyone who supported us and our project—from the extraordinary backers and partners who believed in us, to the outstanding team that joined us in our mission. You gave us the opportunity to change the world, and we’re looking forward to trying again.

Until next time,

Nader Al-Naji, CEO

via TechCrunch