[benj111]

This sounds slightly like a no true Scotsman arguement to me. I'm sure you could find some none pure tech plays that are successful.

Plus companies like Uber don't exactly own assets, its more tech company than not.

For all the promise of the Web, people live in the real world, that's where the money is to be made, mega tech companies are necessarily going to live at the interface.

[ethbro]

The irony is that essentially all of SoftBank's playbook is ripped from Buffett.

Except Buffett did it with non-tech, capital-heavy companies. Where it arguably works a lot more reliably.

[benj111]

"SoftBank's playbook is ripped from Buffett"

How so?

[ethbro]

Buffett's hypothesis (as I understand it) boiled down to (1) find successful businesses that are capital-starved, (2) pair them with businesses which naturally generate float (e.g. insurance), under a corporate umbrella, (3) invest the float in those businesses and thereby beat market returns (by only selecting quality businesses, and having the ability to provide mentorship / experienced leadership).

[benj111]

Ok fair enough, that's more late Buffett.

I don't think he invests so much in capital starved businesses, more he just uses the cash generated by eg insurance to invest in high quality businesses. I suppose the difference here is the high quality part. Wework doesn't seem to have much of a moat, have particularly good governance, or have much of a track record of anything.

[prolepunk]

What does 'generate float' mean as a financial term?

[sambroner]

It basically means "hold cash", so visa, stripe, insurance companies etc. all get cash from customers, hold it for a period of time, and distribute it to customers.

Holding it for a period of time is "generating float." For many of these companies the float is a large multiple of the profit.