GeekMBA360

My travel from Oakland, CA to Seattle, WA on Monday January 6th was a nightmare. My flight, Southwest flight 231, was scheduled to depart around 4PM and arrive in Seattle at 6PM. Around noon on Monday, I checked the flight status on southwest.com. It showed that the flight was delayed by 4+ hours. It wouldn’t […]

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I was chatting with someone who was a mid-level manager at Microsoft. He has been with Microsoft for several years. Since he worked in finance, I started the conversation by asking him: “You guys just wrote off the Aquantive acquisition. That’s $6+ billion dollars. You work in finance. What’s your take?” His response: “you know, […]

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It was widely reported that Groupon blows it again, restates earnings as customers demand refunds. This didn’t surprise me at all. I have nothing against Groupon. In fact I’m a happy customer who had bought a few Groupon deals in the past. However, I also had the unfortunate experience of negotiating with a Groupon salesperson. […]

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Last Thursday John Chambers of Cisco sent a remarkably candid memo to Cisco employees. My folks live not too far from Cisco’s headquarter in the Silicon Valley. When I visited my family this past Christmas, I had the opportunity to talk to a friend who has been working for Cisco for over a decade. To […]

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I heard today that Microsoft had another round of layoff. I’m not surprised. I live in Seattle and I’m surrounded by people who work in Microsoft. In the past 6 years, I knew only two people who told me they love working for Microsoft. I thought they’re either stupid or crazy. I do have some […]

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In the past few weeks, I learned directly and indirectly that several highly successful ad sales guys quitted their display ad sales jobs and switched to different niches of online advertising. These are sales guys who accounted for 20-40% of their employers’ annual revenue. They were not laid off. In fact, most of them just […]

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I’ve been a loyal customer and a fan of Toyota for a long time. I’m not a car enthusiast. When I buy a car, all I need is a safe and reliable vehicle that can move me from point A to point B. I’m not the most mechanical inclined person. I don’t like to do […]

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I guess I’m in the mood to stir some controversies. 🙂 This morning, I read What Google is up against in its China showdown on Seattle’s TechFlash blog, written by a Chinese American and so-called long-time China watcher. I disagreed with many of the points on the article. So, I left a long comment on […]

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Mochi Media is an advertising network and payment platform for Flash Games. It has been acquired by Shanghai-based Shanda Games for $80 million ($60 million in cash and $20 million in equity). This news caught my attention because I have been thinking lately that more US based technology companies will be acquired by Chinese companies. […]

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It’s interesting to watch how large corporate advertisers react to the Tiger Wood saga. Nike chairman Phil Knight stands by Tiger Wood: "When his career is over, you’ll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip, but the media is making a big deal out of it right now." On the other hand, consulting […]

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