With all the money pouring into sports these days, big-time investor Marc Lore says he has an additional metric for success: happiness. On the latest episode of The Deal with Alex Rodriguez and Jason Kelly, Lore lays out his thinking on some of his deals, including a few with Rodriguez.
Lore and Rodriguez initially tried to buy the New York Mets, a race they ultimately lost to billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen. Then came the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx, and the pair jumped.
The 52-year-old Lore made his fortune as an entrepreneur through a series of startups, including Diapers.com and Jet.com, which he and his partners sold to Amazon and Walmart, respectively. Those experiences pushed him toward a near-obsession with company culture and mission. He’s created a framework he dubs VCP—which stands for “vision, capital and people.”
The capital in Lore’s equation has come quickly and seemingly easily. Diapers was sold to Amazon for more than $500 million and Jet.com was acquired by Walmart for about $3.3 billion. Yet, Lore insists the drive was about more than the cash, a lesson he learned with the Diapers deal.
“After the money was wired to our bank account, we sort of said, ‘We should be celebrating right now,’” Lore says. “And we’re like, depressed. And it just goes to show you, it wasn’t about the money. Like the mission that we had set out was kind of crushed with the sale to Amazon.”
Listen to The Deal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart, Bloomberg Carplay, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also watch The Deal on Bloomberg Originals and Bloomberg TV.
00:00 – 02:18 Introduction
02:18 – 03:34 How Alex and Marc met
03:34 – 05:25 Investing in sports
05:25 – 10:02 Inside Alex & Marc’s business partnership
10:02 – 14:49 How Marc became an entrepreneur
14:49 – 17:55 Losing to a bully
17:55 – 19:30 Marc on finding resolutions
19:30 – 21:55 Diapers.com
21:55 – 23:56 Entrepreneurial mindset & VCP
23:56 – 29:48 Wonder
29:48 – 32:33 Putting the cart in front of the horse
32:33 – 37:24 Selling Diapers.com to Amazon & starting Jet.com
37:24 – 42:53 Company culture
42:53 – 45:42 Marc’s Advice
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