Comments on: Efficiency in Wasting Money

By: Mr Disco

Mr Disco — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 05:25:40 +0000

It’s all about scale:

Mary Boies ordered a six-litre bottle of Bordeaux, and when it was empty she had everyone sign the label, to commemorate the calamitous afternoon. Wynn signed it “Mary, it’s all about scale — Steve.”

– http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/articles/061023ta_talk_paumgarten

By: Linkage at Epiphatic Exhaustion

Linkage at Epiphatic Exhaustion — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 18:35:14 +0000

[...] Long or Short Capital is a great blog and this is a funny post. [...]

By: jc

jc — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 17:09:48 +0000

That’s probably accurate, except that Cohen had his SAC traders spread an inefficiency model before arriving at that price.

By: Mr Juggles

Mr Juggles — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 17:00:34 +0000

Wynn acquired that picture for $40mm in 2001, yet in 2006 Cohen was willing to pay $140mm. The negotiations probably went something like this.

Wynn: “So I’m looking to sell it for about $73mm…”
Cohen interjecting: “What if I offer you $140mm, would that be something you’d be interested in?”
Wynn: “Sold. You are a gentlemen and the best there is at what you do.

By: John Haskell

John Haskell — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 13:30:30 +0000

Unfortunately Mr Cohen’s mind boggling efficiency in wasting money has now been completely overshadowed by Mr Steve Wynn (Las Vegas NV, $5 bln). Mr Wynn recently stuck his elbow through his Picasso painting, which he had recently agreed to sell to (natch) Steve Cohen for $140 million.

By: Coop

Coop — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 02:15:46 +0000

Sorry Mr. Juggles, you are going to have to turn down Cohen’s offer- I hold the intelectual property rights to all invisible predatory ghost animal displays. I recieved upwards of $200mm for the invisible teradactylasourous that currently gaurds Warren Buffett’s hilltop mansion.

By: James D

James D — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 01:54:13 +0000

This is fukin’ A+ hillarious! Spending money efficiently is easy. We call it POVERTY…. To blow 8m on a rotting shark? I can’t even come up with shit like that. Hail to the King!!!

By: Mr Juggles

Mr Juggles — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 21:26:37 +0000

I’m not sure, it’s unclear, but I’m sure it will be revisionistically interpreted to cast Hirst in the best possible light.

Cohen just emailed us a bid of $50mm for the invisible shark eating ghost shark. “I gotta collect them all.”

By: Coop

Coop — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 21:07:14 +0000

I am genuinely curious: Was the shark art supposed to last for a long time, or was it supposed to rot, as if it were a slow motion imitation of a live shark being eaten whole and digested by a larger, invisible shark? If the later were true, I would really consider that great art…

By: Mr Juggles

Mr Juggles — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 20:23:14 +0000

“You get my point Juggles, Cohen’s oppulence is disturbing as there are more important things that one should endow than one’s art collection, which in this case has the potential to be really really bad. Seriously, Picasso? ”

Assume that wasting money efficiently is the most important thing. By that measure, Steve Cohen is clearly a cut above his competitors.

(Note he does buy Picasso art inefficiently too, more on that another time)

By: The Corner

The Corner — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:51:37 +0000

By the way, mad props on “cryongenically frozen elphants” Great niche sector there and congrats on spotting it out.

By: The Corner

The Corner — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:50:01 +0000

You get my point Juggles, Cohen’s oppulence is disturbing as there are more important things that one should endow than one’s art collection, which in this case has the potential to be really really bad. Seriously, Picasso?

By: jc

jc — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:37:46 +0000

Mr. Juggs–why not donate to the “Save these Hot Boobs from Cancer campaign”?

By: Mr Juggles

Mr Juggles — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:26:38 +0000

I think he is being altruitic by avoiding spending his $8mm on precisely that. If he were to give away scholarships to “those who can’t afford it”, it would dillute the value of college educations to everyone else. This would disadvantage me, because I happen to be a holder of a complete college education.

Also consider that with the proliferation of scholarships and what have you, people who can qualify for college can always go to college one way or another (student loans are an incredible deal so people who besmirch them are mindboggling spoiled).

The money would be much better spent funding the replication of empirically proven successful innercity education programs. Or giving it to Grameen. But that would really hurt his efficieny of waste, so we cannot support it.

By: The Corner

The Corner — Thu, 19 Oct 2006 18:57:25 +0000

This is upsetting. I’m just glad Cohen’s such a pr1ck that he’d rather spend $8 million on a dead shark suspended in formaldehyde than fund what could potentially be hundreds of college educations for those who can’t afford it