Lens family
24 analyses · Business ModelThe Cross-Subsidy
Sears Put a Stockbroker Inside the Store in 1981 — and Sold It Back Out by 1993
Sears
Philip Morris paid $13.1 billion for Kraft in 1988 — and gave 88.9% of it back to shareholders in 2007
Philip Morris
Delta cut Diamond status to 28,000 MQDs after the backlash — but kept card spend as the only path in
Delta Air Lines
Disney launched Disney+ at $6.99 — and the cable channels, not the parks, ate the losses
Disney
Optum bills UnitedHealthcare $150B a year — and calls it revenue
UnitedHealth Group
Ryanair's €2.50 bag fee launched as a wash — then grew to €5 billion a year
Ryanair
Kaplan test-prep grew to half the Washington Post Company's revenue — then collapsed and took the paper with it
The Washington Post Company
Microsoft's own filings called the Xbox a 'negative margin console' — Windows and Office covered the gap
Microsoft
What AWS's 37% Margins Buy Amazon: The Freedom to Run Retail Thin on Purpose
Amazon
Sony Spent ¥1.5 Trillion on Sensors to Buy a Seat Inside Every Smartphone Camera
Sony
When Samsung's Chips Lost KRW 14.87 Trillion, the Rest of the Company Barely Stayed Above Zero
Samsung
Samsung's Chip Division Drove 93.8% of Profit — by Raising DRAM Prices on Its Own Phone Arm
Samsung
Waymo Just Raised $16 Billion. The Real Story Is Who Keeps Writing the Check.
Alphabet (Google)
Google Services Earned $121.3B in 2024; Other Bets Lost About $4.4B — a 17:1 Cross-Subsidy
Alphabet (Google)
Live Nation's 150 Venues Earn 2.5x the Per-Fan Profit — and Prop Up Every Other Leg
Live Nation
In December 2008, GE Borrowed on America's Full Faith and Credit to Save Its Invisible Bank
GE
PepsiCo Is a Snack Company That Happens to Sell Soda. That's Now Its Problem.
PepsiCo
Berkshire's Best Investor Is a Pile of Other People's Money It Will One Day Have to Repay
Berkshire Hathaway
CVS Calls Itself a Health Company. It's a PBM Carrying Two Expensive Passengers.
CVS Health
Comcast's $45.1 Billion Broadband Engine Funds the Rest, and Now It's Losing Customers
Comcast
PepsiCo's Snack Empire Began as a 1965 Takeover Defense and Took 32 Years to Come True
PepsiCo
In 2024, NextEra's Boring Utility Out-Earned the Renewables Arm It Supposedly Subsidizes
NextEra Energy
United Borrowed $6.8 Billion Against MileagePlus and Showed Where the Profit Really Lives
United Airlines
Vertical Integration Concentrated Samsung's Memory Crash Into an 85% Profit Collapse
Samsung
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