PETITION SURVEY FEEDBACK

We appreciate those of you who took the time to share feedback with us. We love having you all as part of our community and so we're happy to share some highlights with you: 

  • 73% of you said that we should "keep the level of snarky commentary as is." Next? 15% of you said we should "add more snark."
  • 67% of you said PETITION should "remain just the way it is" length-wise and, to our surprise, 14% of you asked that we make it longer (because you're CLEARLY "not billing enough"!). 
  • 27% of you said our screenshot of a Tweet is your least favorite aspect of PETITION. Good, we were getting ready to scrap that anyway! 
  • A supermajority of you gave us "five stars." Which makes sense. If you hated us you probably wouldn't fill out a survey that helps us. Thanks though. 

This is a representative sampling of some other feedback we received (edited in certain instances for clarity):

1. "What is the thing you like MOST about PETITION?"

  • "I love that Petition comes on the weekend. I look forward to it and if I’m swamped read it first thing Monday morning. Great way to end or start the week for someone who is keen to keep up with the industry."
  • "The laser focus on distress and disruption."
  • "That your mailing address is a payday lender shop in the middle of Wyoming.  Also, love the breadth."
    • PETITION Note: Haha, funny guy. 
  • "Trends - giving the big picture meaning of the deals I'm working on or hearing about. Also more focused. Cuts out the fluff from other similar publications I (sometimes) read. And love the snark."
  • "I really appreciate the insights and the snarky tone. Petition stands out from all of [the] other alerts, newsfeeds, etc., I get everyday."
  • "I love the snarky tone. Also, the focus on disruption puts things in context from a big picture perspective. And there are great links."
  • "Easy and quick to read. Highlights key news and provides links for further reading. Feels like you’re getting the highlights from a buddy."
  • "Smart and smarta$$."
    • PETITION Note: We see what you did there. 
  • "Very well sourced and covering a range of topics at an angle that I can't get from standard sources like NYT/WSJ."

2. "What is it that you like LEAST about PETITION?"

  • "Broken links" & "A link to a provider I don't subscribe to or a link without enough information to make it clear what the article I'm going to (or cannot) access is actually about."
    • PETITION Note: We hear you on the links and we're working on making this better. And with increased resources, we'll be even stronger here. Thanks for your patience.  
  • "We get it - Amazon is disruptive and retail sucks. How about a little variety?"
    • PETITION Note: Show us variety of filings and we'll show you variety of content! Kidding. We'll endeavor to be more diverse. 
  • "Only once a week." 
    • PETITION Note: Awwww. Would love to do more. Too lean at the moment!
  • "Delay between filings and Sunday." 
    • PETITION Note: Fyi, our case summaries are usually - not always, but usually, posted on our website petition11.com on the date of filing.
  • "Subject Line - emojis are terrible and look like spam."
    • PETITION Note: Most studies show that emojis increase open rates. Believe it or not. So, that's that. 
  • "The eventual commercialization"
    • PETITION Note: Sorry, broheim, as Mother told us, "Nothing in life is free."  
  • "Haphazard format sometimes. Maybe there is an easier way to title topics and sort the reads rather than blanket paragraphs. Maybe some bullets or numbered sections"
    • PETITION Note: We agree. We made some formatting changes and have applied them to the last two newsletters. Still a problem? We'll revisit. Please email us to let us know: petition@petition11.com. And thanks for the feedback. 

3. "What else would you like to see PETITION do?"

  • "Move to a platform that beautifies the product."
    • PETITION Note: This is coming. We think. 
  • "Inside views of particular markets/firms i.e. a "college" guide to various firm reputations.  One week you could do law firms, the next week FA firms, the following week, SF-focus, the week after Chicago focus, etc."
    • PETITION Note: Oh man. This could be quite a slippery slope. 
  • "More call-outs of bad actors/lights shone on shady parties or plays.  Like you've done with the PE playbook. Most who know what's going on in this world are too busy treading water to question the larger impact of what's going on or who is (repeatedly) benefiting."
    • PETITION Note: OH MAN. THIS COULD BE QUITE A SLIPPERY SLOPE. 
  • "As an undergraduate student interested in the field of restructuring, I personally would genuinely appreciate a more thorough job-listing section. This newsletter has helped me tremendously in terms of staying abreast of the news and networking."
    • PETITION Note: You're right. Working towards this. 
  • "More frequency"
    • PETITION Note: Awwww, quality over quantity, friend, quality over quantity. 
  • "Accept bitcoin. F*ck start your own crypto. Perhaps call it 363bitcoin. Used to pay unsecured claims and first year associates"
    • PETITION Note: PETcoin is coming...(no its not). 
  • "Magazine. Podcast. World disruption." 
    • PETITION Note: MAGAZINE? Hahaha, someone needs to read more of our "disruption" commentary! Podcast is a possibility. 
  • "Spell y'all correctly. Only a non-Southerner would spell it ya'll."
    • PETITION Note: Busted. 
  • "Host a conference in New York or Boston"
    • PETITION Note: Good idea. But who would host it?  

Thanks everyone. If you have additional feedback, please email us at petition@petition11.com. 

Uber's Carnage: the Rise of Distressed Taxis

in ,

New York City Taxi Medallions Selling at Significant Discounts

Uber's Carnage (Distressed Taxis). As taxi medallion owners continue to struggle, Evgeny Friedman's bankrupt taxi companies are establishing "market value" for the New York City taxi medallion - and it's at the low end of a recently established spectrum. The New York Times writes, "In August alone, 12 of the 21 medallion sales were part of foreclosures; the prices of all the sales ranged from $150,000 to $450,000 per medallion." Friedman's medallions sold last week to a hedge fund for $186k/each for a block of 46. As context, medallions were once worth as much as $1.3mm. Considering that there are approximately 13.8k taxis in New York City today, one observer noted that it would take Uber (or Lyft), approximately $2.6b to simply buy out the entirety of the City's fleet at that valuation - a cost of a small percentage of Uber's supposedly sizable market cap. So there you have it: "disruption," quantified.

Morrison & Foerster 1. Debtors -$2000.

in

So this is kind of absurd. In the Sungevity Inc. case, the debtors sold two Toyota Priuses and a Ford Ranger truck for the sum total of $10,500. We bet that after attorney drafting hours and partner review, this led to a sum total of ($2000) to the bankrupt estate. Who wants the other side of it? 

Taken from public filing.

Taken from public filing.

Spotify ♥️ New York

in

New York Governor Cuomo announced that Spotify would be relocating from its midtown location to the World Trade Center, adding 1000 "new" jobs to New York and retaining the 830 jobs that might have otherwise moved to New Jersey (or somewhere). He celebrated this as a win for New York, a win for the burgeoning NY tech scene, a win for job growth, and a win for Spotify, who gets to keep its Americas HQ in NYC.  

But this begs the question: what the eff?! Just this past week rumors were swirling about Spotify's cash bleed, it's delayed IPO and its more-expensive-by-the-quarter $1b of debt. How can it afford an expensive lease and a headcount increase of 1k? 

It probably can't. We don't know how many of those 1000 added jobs will actually come to fruition. Is there a penalty if it doesn't? We don't know how many of that number will be transplants from Stockholm (meaning no payroll increase). 

Are we being defensive because just last week we highlighted reports of potential bankruptcy? Maybe. But this is a free option for Spotify. They get $11mm in tax incentives (basically free rent) to move to the World Trade Center. This allows them to say "look, we're healthy" as they head towards an IPO while allowing Larry Silverstein to say, "look, the WTC is full!" 

Apple Music claims millions of subscribers as part of its fast-growing services business. Amazon Prime claims 65mm members who get access to music. Google Play has music. Both Google and Amazon have voice-operated hardware - the hottest hardware on the market - the best use case for which is voice-operated music. Pandora recently reported terrible numbers and Tidal effectively just sold for parts. The music space - except maybe vinyl, believe it or not - is extremely difficult.  

We've seen lately how politicians spin deals on the basis of jobs. We are skeptical.  

This looks like lipstick on a pig.