BlackBerry Ltd T.BB

RE:PM'd

[Yesch22]

You don't always pay in cash.

The pumpers should pay attention to the billionaires, belittling your peers it a losers game... they go first and if there is something left over maybe you get a crumb, soldiers know this more than anyone else, so STFU lil'linkbb person, your remote no longer scans. 



I remember the first time I flew on a private jet. On the return trip I was told not to sit in a certain seat. That's when I learned, he or she who pays, or owns the jet, determines the seating policy. And believe me, you're thrilled to be on board, so you just shut up.

I'm not going to tell you the circumstances of that trip, but I will tell you I'm not going to say anything negative about the people involved. Oh, I could, but then I would have broken the code, I'd never have access again, they might not even speak to me again.

You see I know these billionaires. To be in their orbit...let's just say there's a lot of largesse. But it's clear that they go first. And if you want to have access to all the perks, you've always got to be upbeat and nice, get on their wavelength, and I O.D.'ed on it.

I hate rich people, because they think they're entitled.

And by the way, those are two different sets of people in the above examples. You see it's about access. Something that the hoi polloi don't have. You can get it, but you've got to earn it, even though so many of these rich people have not.

Then again, there are those who have. And my belief is if you start the company, you're entitled to the riches. You must pay taxes, but if you make a lot, more power to you.

But if you just work for the corporation?

How is it when Michael Eisner retired he was the largest shareholder in Disney? You work for the company, and then you own the company?

And then there's Michael Rapino. Very talented and very skilled, a good guy, and I have a good relationship with him, he's always been open and honest. But I must say when I read yesterday that Live Nation shareholders disapproved of his $139 million 2022 compensation...

Yes, the shareholders can censure you, but they have no power. The board can do whatever it wants. And the board is made up of club members...talk about not going against the code. And they've all decided that they're He-Men of the Universe and entitled to these riches. And if one person is getting paid all this money, another person should. But it's an especially bad look at Live Nation. Bottom line...Michael Rapino makes more money than almost all of the acts Live Nation promotes. Think about that, think about how hard it is to make it as an act. And don't be confused by the grosses, the net is much smaller, after costs and commissions and the split if there's a group. Like I said, Rapino is very skilled, but he could be replaced. Can you replace Elton John or U2? We've been waiting for sixty years for a new Beatles and they've never arrived. Ditto on Dylan. But think of how many people have run entertainment companies.

There's Lucian Grainge, who made triple-digit millions. Believe me, Universal Music would not go out of business if he suddenly retired. Once again, Lucian is skilled, and affable to boot, and he brought the company to market, however... Universal is ultimately based on what the artists generate. And as one big exec legendarily said, the business model of the major label is theft. If you think you get honest, forthright accounting, you're delusional. And you have to sue for your money and you never get a hundred cents on the dollar, even if you deserve it.

But Rapino and Grainge can just point to their contemporaries, the CEOs of public companies. They too are handsomely paid. But traditionally, entertainment executives are disproportionately compensated.

And believe me, it's hard to make this money. Not only as an entertainer, but an executive. Rapino comes from Thunder Bay, a place most Americans can't pinpoint on a map. And he worked his way up from the bottom. And most people are not willing to work that hard, are not that driven, but should this huge income gap between not only the haves and the have-nots, but between the comfortable and the super-rich, exist?