Blackstone 44% owner of Leica

[Ranchu]

Well Leica and their POS gear can go to hell then. The Japanese have made better cameras for what, 40 years now? Eat it Peterson.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I am disillusioned: nobody said they were shattered for the death of Kim ...

Sorry, I seem to have missed this one. Kim who?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Roger Hicks]

OMG. This is so shocking. Someone is working to make money.

Are you not slightly missing the point? Is making money the ONLY reason for a decent human being to work? Don't decent people also work to make or do something useful, something they can take pride in, and to improve not just their own lives, but also the lives of their fellow human beings? Otherwise, what's wrong with sending children down mines, or making pies out of the children of the poor?

Re-read the post you so selectively quoted, especially "those who work in it do so for one reason, making money. They don't 'make' anything else, and are not interested in making anything else."

Cheers,

R.

 

[Chuck Albertson]

A rich guy with a conservative political agenda--didn't see that one coming. Unless Blackstone's 44% ownership gives them some sort of operational control, who cares? If Leica makes money for them, they'll stick around, otherwise, they'll split.

 

[sevo]

Personal opinions of the owner aside, Blackstone's investments aren't all pretty either. But face the facts, you won't own a single ethically flawless camera. The difference between the FSU and NATO countries merely is that we're still in business - there is no major optical company that isn't part of a conglomerate deeply rooted in the military-industrial complex...

 

[rbelyell]

roger: certain folks intentionally miss the point.

chuck: 44% ownership pretty much guaratee,s you have the biggest swinging you know what in the room.
tony

 

[filmtwit]

When did gambling become work?

OMG. This is so shocking. Someone is working to make money.

 

[DominikDUK]

Aside the fact that Blackwater is a bunch of a***les the important question hasn't been asked yet does the majority of Blackwater owners use Leica cameras or do they use something else 🙂

Dominik

 

[rbelyell]

you can bet they use leicas now dominick!
tony

 

[user237428934]

Are you not slightly missing the point? Is making money the ONLY reason for a decent human being to work? Don't decent people also work to make or do something useful, something they can take pride in, and to improve not just their own lives, but also the lives of their fellow human beings? Otherwise, what's wrong with sending children down mines, or making pies out of the children of the poor?

Re-read the post you so selectively quoted, especially "those who work in it do so for one reason, making money. They don't 'make' anything else, and are not interested in making anything else."

Cheers,

R.

Roger, when I read this post the first time, I stumbled over the strong emphasis of 'don't make anything else'. Me, my friends and the whole service industry we don't make anything. I work in the software industry. What I do is not tangible. The business that runs on our solutions is mostly virtual and not tangible. With that post I had the feeling that someone is pi**ing on my shoes and the shoes of millions of other people doing similar things.

 

[Jamie123]

Are you not slightly missing the point? Is making money the ONLY reason for a decent human being to work? Don't decent people also work to make or do something useful, something they can take pride in, and to improve not just their own lives, but also the lives of their fellow human beings?

Roger, keep your communist thoughts to yourself! 😉

 

[redisburning]

Aside the fact that Blackwater is a bunch of a***les the important question hasn't been asked yet does the majority of Blackwater owners use Leica cameras or do they use something else 🙂

Dominik

Blackwater doesn't exist anymore. And even if they did, they still wouldn't be the same as Blackstone.

Blackstone may have some dubious dealings but I doubt they've ever been caught on tape shooting at citizens for fun.

 

[valdas]

Roger, when I read this post the first time, I stumbled over the strong emphasis of 'don't make anything else'. Me, my friends and the whole service industry we don't make anything. I work in the software industry. What I do is not tangible. The business that runs on our solutions is mostly virtual and not tangible. With that post I had the feeling that someone is pi**ing on my shoes and the shoes of millions of other people doing similar things.

I read that post in a different way... It's about "Gordon Gekko" (making money is the only and ultimate goal) vs other business where the money is the result of creating product (or service or solution or whatever) that other people enjoy. Satisfaction comes from what we do for other people not only from money we earn by doing it.

 

[mfogiel]

Gambling is seldom work. Speculation, on the other hand, when done professionally, is simply a way to optimally allocate the resources, which means to make the economy roll. The problem, as with everything else, is that the masses confuse speculation with gambling, because the masses never speculate, they gamble.

 

[robbeiflex]

...44% ownership pretty much guaratee,s you have the biggest swinging you know what in the room.

No, only 50% plus one share does that. Blackstone may or may not be the largest shareholder by now, but when they bought in they were a minority.

Cheers,
Rob

 

[valdas]

No, only 50% plus one share does that. Blackstone may or may not be the largest shareholder by now, but when they bought in they were a minority.

Cheers,
Rob

i have to disagree - all depends on the shareholder structure. there are cases (and many of them) when even 20% is enough to have a real control over a company (big publicly traded companies).

 

[rbelyell]

robbe as you said, largest shareholder wins. no telling if theres a 51% single owner, so no telling whose right. however the reality is any shareholder with that much ownership interest has a tremendous amount of clout, and pure mathematics aside, will have a significant say in how the compay's run. it is purely naive to think someone takes a stake like this and doesnt expect to exert control. these are big boys here, theyre not screwing around on chat forums. theyre in business to exert control to insure they make money, and whether you believe it or not, they will do so in this case.

 

[skibeerr]

What about Dr Kaufmann, translate the name 😀, did he save Leica for humanitarian reasons?

Our UK friends say "carry on", here they say "get over it".

 

[DominikDUK]

Blackwater doesn't exist anymore. And even if they did, they still wouldn't be the same as Blackstone.

Blackstone may have some dubious dealings but I doubt they've ever been caught on tape shooting at citizens for fun.

Unfortunately they still do under another name but I meant Blackstone thank you for correcting me. Both do certain evil thing btw. Some Hedgefonds and "investors" have killed more people than some wars.

Dominik

 

[robbeiflex]

very far from the truth - all depends on the shareholder structure. there are cases (and many of them) when even 20% is enough to have a real control over a company (big publicly traded companies).

Point taken, and I do agree this can be the case often in highly dispersed ownership structures. In this case though, my understanding is that an owner with over 95% share sold less than half of that share to the private equity firm. Hence, I conclude there is possibly still one larger shareholder out there. Without reading the articles of the specific shareholder agreement though, I can say no more.

Cheers,
Rob