I'm not sure why this isn't an obvious purchase for Amazon. Toys'R'Us are a lot better geographically distributed than Whole Foods. They're physically larger locations with more warehouse space. They have vastly simpler vendor relationships in place and zero (none, zilch, nada) local individualization. If I were Alibaba? I'd buy the shit out of Toys'R'Us.
Have you bought Chinese products off of eBay? The fact that you're looking at a month transit time is a major obstacle to sale, and the fact that returns are nearly impossible is worse. Give 'em a preferred place they can warehouse and logistics out of the US and all of a sudden the equation changes.
Instant built distribution network to most of not all US population centers, warehousing spaces, tons of real estate that can be held or sold to kill debt or build "modern" stores. The more I think of this the more it makes sense. Amazon won't buy them cause Trump hates Bezos and the deal will not pass anti-trust muster.If I were Alibaba? I'd buy the shit out of Toys'R'Us.
Weird how we old fucks are now reminiscing on a functional government Oracle and Sun That was only 11 years ago.
Antitrust is due for an overhaul. Traditionally, they theory has been that if it's good for the consumer, then it's not a violation, where "good for the consumer" means that end user prices are lower. This is the theory under which big box stores have thrived. There's some merit in it, but clearly we've gone too far. We have a situation where companies are so large (Amazon, e.g.) that they can move markets merely musing about entering. Companies are colluding to keep wages depressed, and this is impossible without broad, unchecked market power. I've been coming across the word "monopsony" a lot recently (single buyer situation, as opposed to single seller). Our labor and antitrust laws aren't designed to handle monopsonies, and they must be updated to correct that. M&A's are a big part of the problem, but that's unlikely to change unless or until Wall st. loses a significant amount of power in DC. I It's difficult to see that on the short term horizon, but I also think that people appear to be waking up to the fact that the financial sector is hypertrophied.
“Profits are the most mean reverting series in finance. If margins don’t revert something has gone wrong with capitalism.”
Dude I'm embracing the new gilded age with both arms. I'm putting on bread'n'circuses for the proles out of one hand and angling on crafting shiny baubles for the pats out of the other. A pleb in the victorian era can do worse than goldsmith and ringmaster. Neither side wants your head when they storm the Bastille.