Football – the global unregulated market * Bidenopoulos or Bidenakis? * The 17 Beaches of Kea * How Pension Funds Make Money * Football Colonialism
| Stephanie Kaplan : Give a man a hundred million dollars and you make a frustrated billionaire. Tom Sanders : Hi, Stephanie. Stephanie Kaplan : Must be difficult. So much going on, and nobody giving you information. Tom Sanders : It’s been a crazy week. Stephanie Kaplan : I remember I had a friend. She was one of the first women who moved really high up. You know what it’s like in the high rooms – every day putting out fires, but it turns out, the job wasn’t anything she thought it was, and she was looking the wrong way when they fired her. Tom Sanders : Interesting. Stephanie Kaplan : The truth usually is, once you get to it. Disclosure (1994) – Rosemary Forsyth as Stephanie Kaplan – IMDb |
You’ve been following the Ouzo while you’ve been following the Blonde, and you’re following the story of Kea, and decided to find all 17 beaches on Kea: Best 17 Beaches in Kea, Greece | Greeka … This is a crazy beautiful island … and you start checking out the prices of property as this is *just a great buy, Kea* …. Let your inner Blonde Out, Joe, let it out… You start thinking about how much of your $1 bn AUM you could allocate to buying up those 17 private beaches of Kea, and think that this is all in the Real Assets bucket as well as maybe a bit of Developing Country allocation thrown in while people still wake up to the hyper growth of Greece. You chuckle. You think you are SDC … just SDC…
You read about Kea – History of Kea island | Greeka and learn that it was inhabited by Nymphs a long time ago, and you think, this is ok. I’m going to stay. You wonder if the Blonde knows this. Not that you are going to stay but about the nymphs. Your mind starts to link nymphs and … you pull yourself back from the visual, and stay focused on the investment opportunities at https://keanaissance.com/speakers/
- www.ododrive.com
- Technology and Innovations – Blackstone
- Update on b.grn – Company Announcement – FT.com
- www.hectocorn.com
- www.sweatvacay.com
- ESG is our strategy (dcx.group)
You do wonder how she knows all of these people and what she has done to get these people to come to Kea. Then you realise that she got you to come to Kea, and you are a British Fund Manager with $1 bn AUM, so whatever she does, it’s working. You think it’s the Blonde hair. The doctorate was honorary. The INSEAD MBA and Top 40 INSEAD Alumni of all time, they probably needed a quoto of American women or something. MBE? Not sure, but not possible that she was given an MBE when you weren’t. You are a BFM with $1 bn AUM. She’s a Blonde.
You note that Kea and Athens have been in sync for a long time: History of Kea island | Greeka and think about the fact that the Greek Prime Minister met President Biden this week in the White House Greece – USA Ties “Stronger than Ever,” Biden and Mitsotakis Affirm (greekreporter.com) ya da ya da ya da
You think Mitsotakis is probably the most pro-capitalist, pro-business, pro-entrepreneur leader of a Western European nation. You note that a Katerina Mitsotakis, sister, wife, daughter, ok here it is, she’s his sister, runs Barnes Greece, and seems to have strong ties to Kea. Crazy … all of these incredibly important people have ties to Kea…. (6) Katerina Mitsotaki | LinkedIn I’m feeling at home now; you’re feeling like an insider now…
You recollect on all of the prominent Greeks you know… Tom Hanks… Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson become Greek citizens, prime minister says – Independent.ie … You read about this AntiParos island where they live, and you make a note to compare it to Kea for property values.
What’s this? The Greek Economy is going digital with the Digital Property ID Greece Property ID Deadline To Be Extended Till Year-end (greekcitytimes.com) – very smart. So the chaos that you assumed was the case in terms of buying property in Greece is not the case. Hmmm you think this is probably good as you were wondering how much under the table money you would need … You think that maybe there is a whole new thing going on in Greece which is digital, transparent, explicitly entrepreneurial yet hearkening back to antiquity which celebrates the value of democracy, and women… Holy Cow, Plato gave Women their rights in Greece: Prime Minister Mitsotakis: It Was A Greek, Plato, Who First Proposed Equal Rights For Women (greekcitytimes.com) Ha! This explains it… The Blonde is one of those over the top feminist types, Alpha Female off the Ying Yang…. Probably lesbian… anti-man for sure… And this is WHY she is so cool in Greece…. PLATO! You should have known… it’s freaking Plato. You think Plato was probably drinking too much Ouzo, and it has to have been – you know – like a thing he said… Just a thing he said.. Not sure he – like – meant it. You tell women stuff all the time that you just like you know .. say.. but like you don’t – mean what you saw. You are Joe, BFM.
Wait, what’s this… the University that gave The Blonde her Honorary Doctorate has some wealth Greeks who are setting up a Warwick University West … Holy Tomatoe… wonder if The Blonde had something to do with this… a couple of years after she got her Honorary Doctorate….
Warwick takes forward partnership with goal of Californian campusAngelo Tsakopoulos – Wikipedia
Crazy this interest in academia when you could be cashing in. Crazy these Greek last names..
You keep seeing this guy (6) CHRISTOS DOULKERIDIS | LinkedIn – who the Blonde seems quite fond of … Wonder what the story is … First he was in Mykonos, now Kea… you make a note, there’s a story in this….Operations Director … wonder he does for the Blonde.
(6) KEA, GREECE – The Next Smart Island | LinkedIn … You keep reading this, and think that you want to help build this damn island… you kind of get what The Blonde is doing … Build a freaking smart island … of course… test bed for innovation .. scale the solutions across the Cyclades … network effect … solve the infrastructure challenges.. ok right … robots picking up trash, why not? You decide to send the Smart Island Challenge to your friend Rick who is managing $1 bn in venture money for the State of California, to see whether he wants to pop over to Kea for https://keanaissance.com … why not help the Blonde? She’s real economy. You are the money making money out of the money. Not sure whether the money and the real economy can get on.
You find this rather charming wine shop on Kea, and you make a note to ask them about their Ouzo supply, and whether they deliver to Melisaki or The One & Only … www.abeli.gr You think you might call up Katerina Mitsotakis and just buy one of those little gems at The One & Only as your Southern Mediteranean office for the firm. Expense it as a ‘living allowance’… You chuckle. This is ok. I’m going to stay.
ΕΝΝΕΑ Κόρες, Κέα-Τζια | Facebook – Now this is a restaurant that the Blonde favours… she goes there a lot, and she seems to like the wild ducks … not to eat, but you know to look at and throw bread to… you make a note to just like.. stop by for dinner, and look for the Blonde… just like you know … run into her at the 9 Daughters restaurant in Kea, Voulkari harbour, population 2500, and you think you’ll say something like, ‘hey don’t we know each other from Holmes Place Gym on Fulham Road or was it Hereford Number 5? You are ‘*sure* she’ll go for it.’ Maybe you get a rebate on the €1500 you had to pay to attend KEANAISSANCE. She should be paying you to meet you. But you think, I’ll help her out. She’s like a girl. She’s a Blonde. You are helping out the Blonde. You are helping her out. You chuckle.
You wonder whether Greece has a good football club. You do a little online research and see that the big deal on football clubs is Olympiakos. The owner is Vaggelis Marinakis who has a large stake and a huge fleet of ships. There is AEK also owned by a big Greek name Melisanidis Dimitris; he also owns fuel companies as well as AEGEAN Air and many more businesses. PAOK is owned by a Russian with great relations with Putin called Ivan Savvidis. You see that he’s half Greek. PAO is yet another one more of the big clubs owned by Giannis Alafouzos.
As Greek’s fortunes rise, you make a note to watch this space.
You are getting sick of these Saudis and Americans buying up Newcastle (dude running Saudi) and Crystal Palace (John Textor)… You search online for global football clubs, and holy cow, this Textor guy is buying Botafogo too in Brazil: John Textor: who is the billionaire who is buying Botafogo (uol.com.br) . You read this article, and laugh outloud. Did he really say he was going to import talent to Brazil in football? Hmmm. Maybe he was being ironic. No, Americans don’t get irony. You read this article, and stop on the following sentence:
But whose money is it and where did Textor’s money come from?
.. well that’s actually a good question, you think … like these damn 4th estate people or is it 3rd estate .. never can remember they hang at these clubs and do jack shit. Jack Shit… leave it to the Brazilians to ask like the *important questions*
Graduated in economics, he made his fortune working in the field of technology and film. In 2006, he bought the company responsible for the special effects of films such as “Titanic”, “Fight Club”, “Deadpool” and “Avengers”. Currently, it directs its capital to the development of companies that work with artificial intelligence and holographic images.
Textor is passionate about football, a sport not popular in his country, but that has been expanding the interest of the local and world population every year. He created and is a majority partner of FuboTV, a television streaming service that serves customers in the United States, Canada and Spain, focusing mainly on channels that distribute live sports.
Recently, he started to invest directly in the sport. The 56-year-old is one of the owners of England’s Crystal Palace and has been having talks since October with Benfica managers to become co-owner of the Portuguese. In addition, he also prepares to buy molenbeek, from the second division of Belgium.
You reread, ‘He created and is a majority partner of FuboTV, a television streaming service that serves customers in the United States, Canada and Spain, focusing mainly on channels that distribute live sports.’
You think that this might be a surprise to FUBO.TV
You look at the share price of FUBO.tv, and it’s selling at $3/share down from $60/share in December 2020. This looks like a classic short selling frenzy by the hedgies.
‘He created and is a majority partner of FuboTV, a television streaming service that serves customers in the United States, Canada and Spain, focusing mainly on channels that distribute live sports.’You looked at this FUBO.tv deal. One of the hedge funds you work with in Wyoming mentioned it as a great short sell. They got the stock from a Pension Fund that lent them the stock. You make a note to ask North Angelesy whether they have or lent any of the FUBO.tv stock. The average Joe public (not me Joe British Fund Manager) but Joe Public doesn’t know that the Pensions Fund industry makes 33% of their profits by lending their stock to the hedge funds. They of course then sell this in the market and do all sorts of crazy shit… tanking the economy and carrying off incredible sums of money personally .. you think if there were a journalist with a brain, they would figure this out, but of course you are NOT SURE there is a journalist with a brain… All Oxbridge graduates who are jealous of the hedgies but don’t do their job… You now remember you looked at this FUBO.tv deal, and you read all the SEC documents .. after all you have a like fiduciary duty to manage the $1bn AUM properly for the North Angelesy Pension Fund, and you are a bit confused now as the 10Q of FUBO.tv in October 2020 said that Facebank was written off days before the FUBO.tv and Textor left the Board. You are pretty sure of that. The Promissory Note that Facebank gave FUBO.tv was repaid without interest. You thought that was strange. You wondered at the time what the default provisions and remedies were of that Promissory Note. And why would Textor either say or allow a journalist to write that he is a ‘majority partner of Fubo.tv’. It seems unlikely to be the case. You make a note to ask Alison the IR woman at FUBO.tv or Par Jorgen who is on the Board. You make a note to investigate whether FUBO still has a relationship with Textor. Or whether this is a statement in the Brazilian media which is assuming that no one in the freaking Anglo Saxon world is going to pick up on it.
You make a note to look at those 10Q SEC statements again from the FUBO Papers… You down your 8th Ouzo, and get to page 20 Note 9 of the 10Q for Fubo.tv in October 2020:
You despair for the poor quality of journalists, and think that there ought to be like a Football Panama Papers… you make a note to get the guys behind LADbible – Redefining Entertainment & News For a Social Generation on it… this was one of the best investments you’ve ever made, and you think they could do a little investigative journalism here and get to the heart of the article on the Textor acquisition of Botafogo and the question the Brazilian journalist raised:
But whose money is it and where did Textor’s money come from?
You read more about Brazilian FootbalL You see that Botafogo has already updated its Wikipedia page to show John Textor as a 90% owner: Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas – Wikipedia This looks a little premature you think. Textor is committing $60 million of spending to the Club in the next three years, $50 million down with the rest spread over the period ($100, $100, and $50 millions).
The current Brazilian international team comprises 24 players. The current total market value for these players is close to Euro 900 million or over $1 billion. Nine of them play in the Premier League (England), ten play in the Spanish League (Barcelona and Real Madrid) with the remainder are scattered between Ajax (Netherlands), Juventus (Italy), and PSG (France). Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas – Club profile | Transfermarkt
According to Transfermarkt (good football website), the total market value of Botafogo is just over $60m (Euro 56.82m) so the initial Textor stake makes sense. Its most expensive player is Patrick de Paula (Brazilian) who is rated at $16m in transfer value. This value is twice the value of the next rated player, Matheus Nascimento (also Brazilian). Both players are young, respectively 22 and 18. The remainder of the squad is less expensive (none above $5m) and older (average 28).
Finally, while it’s difficult to find financial data on the Club, but in 2007 it reported debts of over $100m and was reported to be in financial difficulty ever since: Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas – Wikipedia
You put this in context, Neymar (Brazilian left winger playing for PSG) is valued at over $100m in transfer value. Vinicius, his competition for the position, plays for Real Madrid and is valued at almost $110m.
You down your 9th Ouzo, and think that Textor has bought a stake in a Brazilian football club which is heavily in debt and its squad of players is older than average. Its two best players are likely to be bid for as European clubs size up the deal. Indeed, there would be scope for Crystal Palace to make bids for these two young players, at below market rate, given the relationship with Textor.
You ask yourself whether Textor knows what he is doing or is he simply well … Will he return to FUBO.tv? Will he start to renegotiate TV rights for these clubs?
Or will Europe in a return to colonialsm, this time Football Colonalism, trade their players to pay off their debts?
Why would someone spend money so quickly?
You think of your friend Andreas Campomar’s book, Golazo, and you think it’s time for an update: By Andreas Campomar ¶Golazo!: A History of Latin American Football: Amazon.co.uk: Andreas Campomar: 8601405247094: Books and (10) Andreas Campomar | LinkedIn
But whose money is it and where did Textor’s money come from?
You reflect on the global unregulated football market, and wonder whether a global superclub of football would cause regulation or be the perfect place for … and then you think back to the fact that Textor left the Board of FUBO days before the IPO and Facebank was written down 97% right before the IPO, and the Promissory Note was returned without interest… and you down another Ouzo for the count. You make a note to watch this Textor guy, and to watch the FUBO.tv share price which is well … a bit more than the cash they have, but not much.
You think the Ouzo is getting to you and you decide to go for a swim on Kea Tzia | Spathi Beach Bar Restaurant & Suites | Σπαθί, and you turn on Netflix and decide to watch Disclosure – Disclosure (1994 film) – Wikipedia
Stephanie Kaplan : Give a man a hundred million dollars and you make a frustrated billionaire.
Tom Sanders : Hi, Stephanie.
Stephanie Kaplan : Must be difficult. So much going on, and nobody giving you information.
Tom Sanders : It’s been a crazy week.
Stephanie Kaplan : I remember I had a friend. She was one of the first women who moved really high up. You know what it’s like in the high rooms – every day putting out fires, but it turns out, the job wasn’t anything she thought it was, and she was looking the wrong way when they fired her.
Tom Sanders : Interesting.
Stephanie Kaplan : The truth usually is, once you get to it.
The truth usually is, once you get to it.
