Including: the hipster flaws of Moleskine, and what Paul Krugman has to say about currency wars.
Good morning
The headlines:
- Moleskine.
Link: not serious.
Every time I see the name “Moleskine”, it’s accompanied by the phrase “as favored by Ernest Hemingway!”. Which isn’t exactly the most validating of validations. I mean – I’m sure Mr Hemingway also used Pepsodent to brush his teeth – and it’s not like Unilever are throwing the slogan around. Also, is the implication that all users of Moleskine should marry four times and then off themselves – but not to worry, you’ll earn a Nobel prize in the meantime?
There’s an entry missing on the above – it’s the one for “the normal people that use a computer/tablet like normal people”.
The ranting has been sparked by the fact that Moleskine are looking to have their own IPO, and the theoretical company value being floated around is €700 million. I searched for some more financial information, and came up with one obscure blogger’s assertion that “last year’s profit” was €28.5 million. I’d normally ignore that – but they are a blogger for the Guardian. And if we assume that the figure is vaguely accurate, the suggested price-earnings multiple is, like, 25.
Naturally, this makes me think that the valuation was done by a hipster using his moleskine as a calculator.
But maybe I’m wrong – and there’s a growth angle that I’ve missed? And for those who think that a “growth angle” could be the moleskine app on Android – I’m just not sure that said hipster users are going to keep buying the app once they’ve filled the notebook with all their musings.
Much as I can believe that hipsters will meet the challenge of filling any device with musings. However large the storage capacity.
- Currency wars.
Link: still not serious.
I don’t like to quote Paul Krugman out of context, but I’d like to quote Paul Krugman:
“It’s not a currency war. This is monetary policy.”
Which is the economic equivalent of saying:
“It’s not an affair. This is a physical thing.”
Because where do you draw the line? And actually: this is all semantic. Because the outcome is the same.
Someone loses.
That’s all for now.
Have a good day.
