Acquired Episode 21: Inside the M&A Press with Bloomberg's Alex Sherman
01:24:57
Bloomberg's Core Business
- Bloomberg's core business is selling terminals, not media.
- This makes them less reliant on ads and financially stronger than competitors.
Eroding Advantage
- Bloomberg Terminal customers get news 15 minutes before everyone else.
- Social media and TV erode this advantage.
Red Headlines
- Bloomberg uses red headlines for market-moving stories on its terminals.
- They sometimes red-headline competitor stories (e.g., FT) if deemed important.
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Introduction
00:00 • 2min
Teagas - The Breaking Landscape
01:42 • 2min
Acquired Podcast Episode 21
03:55 • 2min
Bloomberg Media - What Is It?
05:30 • 3min
Bloomberg
08:20 • 2min
What I've Done at Bloomberg Is Provide Value to the Core Business
10:47 • 4min
Is Twitter a Good Place to Start?
14:38 • 3min
Red-Heading the News
17:46 • 2min
Is Your Incentives Aligned With the Truth?
20:04 • 2min
Bloomberg - Is That Standard?
21:59 • 6min
Why Did This Story Come Out When It Didn't?
27:47 • 4min
How Many Stories Do You Write a Week?
31:25 • 4min
Do You Want to Write a Podcast on Acquisitions?
34:57 • 2min
What Are You Expecting From Bloomberg?
37:26 • 4min
How Do I Grow an Audience for My Podcast?
41:10 • 3min
Snapchat
44:34 • 6min
Is There a Need for Paywalls for Social Media?
50:08 • 2min
Would You Like to See Twitter Influencers Get Paid Out?
52:14 • 4min
Is There a New Level of Authority in a Venture Capitalist?
56:24 • 3min
Is It Possible to Tweet Out a Stock Market Story?
59:13 • 6min
What's Up With the Deals?
01:04:57 • 3min
Investing in Seattle Real Estate
01:07:43 • 2min
Chariot
01:10:02 • 2min
Did the Yahoo Sale to Verizon Really Affect Apple Stock?
01:11:41 • 2min
Carvouts for New Listeners
01:13:58 • 3min
Algorithms to Live By, by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths
01:16:44 • 4min
The Deal of the Week Podcast
01:20:48 • 3min
Ben and David go inside the M&A press with Bloomberg’s technology M&A reporter and host of the Deal of the Week Podcast, Alex Sherman. If you’ve ever wondered how stories about big deals get broken or what “according to people familiar with the matter” really means, tune in for the behind-the-scenes scoop! Note: A technical glitch with our recording setup created occasional short silences between Alex’s comments and Ben & David’s. It shouldn’t impact listenability, but we apologize for the awkward pauses!
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Topics covered include:
- Bloomberg’s own fascinating “history & facts” and origins following the acquisition of storied Wall Street firm Salomon Brothers
- Bloomberg’s core as a highly profitable technology business (selling terminals to Wall Street firms), with a large media empire built on top of it
- The tradable value of breaking M&A news & information to Bloomberg’s terminal customers, and competing on speed
- How “sources" work — and industry standard that sources be directly within the companies involved in a deal
- The coded language of M&A reporting and gleaning where information is coming from based on a story’s structure and phrasing
- The lifecycle of a story—steps from sourcing to writing to release, and reasons (or lack thereof) for why stories run when they do
- Internal & external PR resources companies use for M&A
- How Alex prioritizes his time researching and creating stories, and who he’s meeting with to hear about what deals are in the works
- The difference between ‘news' and ‘analysis', and why news dominates the majority of stories versus deeper analysis
- Media and social media business models, their evolution in the messenger world, and speculation on Twitter’s future
- How entrepreneurs can think about interacting with the press and building relationships with the right reporters for their stage and space
- Apple’s ‘unique’ approach to press relations
Followups:
- Instagram announces 500k+ active advertisers, up from 200k in February 2016
- Amazon stock price surpasses $800/share
Hot Takes:
- Ford acquires Chariot
- The Yahoo! data breach and potential impact on their acquisition by Verizon
The Carve Out:
- Ben: Phil of Drones’ Burning Man 2016 recap video
- David: Algorithms to Live By by Brian Christian & Tom Griffiths
- Alex: Clinton’s Samantha Bee Problem, by Ross Douthat in the NYT Opinion Pages