If National wins ...

[Baa_Baa]

Obviously Peter Thiel's goodwill towards the NZ taxpayer doesn't extend very far. Steven Joyce shows relative incompetence here.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/n...ectid=11794020

Goodness gracious, you say "Peter Thiel's goodwill towards the NZ taxpayer", have you lost the plot completely? Not only does Mr Thiel have no imperative or obligation to the NZ tax payer, as an astute investor his obligation is only to himself, perhaps as an investor yourself you would realise this, but Minister Joyce had nothing to do with it either, being a naive contract put in place by the Labour government (albeit that has only recently come back to light). In any event Mr Thiel, a NZ citizen, still owns a great deal of some of NZ's largest or most aspiring technology companies. Perhaps when he realises his investment, some will say he forsake "good will towards the NZ Taxpayer". Good grief, this line of reasoning is surely deeply flawed and there must be better angles to attack the National party, should one wish to, than via Mr Thiel?

[elZorro]

Goodness gracious, you say "Peter Thiel's goodwill towards the NZ taxpayer", have you lost the plot completely? Not only does Mr Thiel have no imperative or obligation to the NZ tax payer, as an astute investor his obligation is only to himself, perhaps as an investor yourself you would realise this, but Minister Joyce had nothing to do with it either, being a naive contract put in place by the Labour government (albeit that has only recently come back to light). In any event Mr Thiel, a NZ citizen, still owns a great deal of some of NZ's largest or most aspiring technology companies. Perhaps when he realises his investment, some will say he forsake "good will towards the NZ Taxpayer". Good grief, this line of reasoning is surely deeply flawed and there must be better angles to attack the National party, should one wish to, than via Mr Thiel?

National had plenty of time to change that agreement template before doing a deal with Mr Thiel, and they should have checked the deal carefully, if they were being fair to the NZ taxpayer.

It was also the first time the buyout clause had been invoked - Mr Thiel set a precedent.

The Herald pieced together the partnership's structure, and conservatively estimated its positions through disparate disclosures in public and corporate documents and interviews with those familiar with details of the funds operation.

Despite claims at the time of launch that Valar Ventures would invest $40m in local technology companies, it ended up committing only $18m -- the bulk of which went towards accumulating shares in the NZX-listed cloud accountancy software company Xero.

Thiel had, prior to the partnership, bought into the cloud accountancy software firm and he continues to hold a separate stake. According to the company's share register, various entities controlled by Thiel own a combined 5.64 per cent stake in Xero valued in excess of $150m.

Xero's founder and chief executive, Rod Drury, wrote a letter in 2011 supporting Thiel's citizenship. He said Thiel's investment in, and championing of, his firm had been instrumental in Xero's success.

During the period Valar Ventures was buying up the company's stock, its share price soared from $3 to as high as $45, making the Xero-dominated fund extremely valuable. By mid-2016 its stash of Xero shares was worth $43m, representing the vast bulk of the fund's value.

Looks like a clever bit of market-making to me, not hard to do with a few million of extra cash with no risk involved.

What surprises me about Xero, with all the money thrown in, the software being written by scores of programmers, the sales teams etc, Xero apparently still doesn't know if any of its customers are using the software on a monthly basis, and you cannot just pick up the phone and ring them either. You can email them, and they might deign to ring you back. Most unlike any Kiwi company I've ever dealt with.

[fungus pudding]

What surprises me about Xero, with all the money thrown in, the software being written by scores of programmers, the sales teams etc, Xero apparently still doesn't know if any of its customers are using the software on a monthly basis, and you cannot just pick up the phone and ring them either. You can email them, and they might deign to ring you back. Most unlike any Kiwi company I've ever dealt with.

Have you mentioned this to Little? Surely the govt. should come out with a policy to make them answer the phone!
Wouldn't have been like that under Labour.

[elZorro]

Have you mentioned this to Little? Surely the govt. should come out with a policy to make them answer the phone!
Wouldn't have been like that under Labour.

Don't be disingenuous, I made perfectly sensible comments on the culture of Xero. Management would like all customers to just keep paying their monthly fee and never get in contact directly, because their software is just so beautiful.

I wonder how many other tech startups could look fabulous, with that sort of government-sponsored market making?

[westerly]

Goodness gracious, you say "Peter Thiel's goodwill towards the NZ taxpayer", have you lost the plot completely? Not only does Mr Thiel have no imperative or obligation to the NZ tax payer, as an astute investor his obligation is only to himself, perhaps as an investor yourself you would realise this, but Minister Joyce had nothing to do with it either, being a naive contract put in place by the Labour government (albeit that has only recently come back to light). In any event Mr Thiel, a NZ citizen, still owns a great deal of some of NZ's largest or most aspiring technology companies. Perhaps when he realises his investment, some will say he forsake "good will towards the NZ Taxpayer". Good grief, this line of reasoning is surely deeply flawed and there must be better angles to attack the National party, should one wish to, than via Mr Thiel?

You are joking. He bought his way in being given citizenship without having lived here.
As a devout libertarian no doubt the Act party and National will welcome his donations with open arms. He is actively lobbing the F.D.A. to reduce the amount of testing required before new drugs are allowed to be marketed, believing in minimal regulation. ie. the free market.
He is a business man no doubt, but buying shares, property and a $1m donation to an earthquake relief fund hardly justifies his back door entry. Which has raised more than a few eyebrows around the world.

westerly

[elZorro]

You are joking. He bought his way in being given citizenship without having lived here.
As a devout libertarian no doubt the Act party and National will welcome his donations with open arms. He is actively lobbing the F.D.A. to reduce the amount of testing required before new drugs are allowed to be marketed, believing in minimal regulation. ie. the free market.
He is a business man no doubt, but buying shares, property and a $1m donation to an earthquake relief fund hardly justifies his back door entry. Which has raised more than a few eyebrows around the world.

westerly

Can't agree more, Westerly. He's off to a good start with his NZ investments. The book profits from his Xero exposure have surely paid for his Earthquake fund donation, his property on the shores of Lake Wanaka, and a lot more besides.

[fungus pudding]

Don't be disingenuous, I made perfectly sensible comments on the culture of Xero. Management would like all customers to just keep paying their monthly fee and never get in contact directly, because their software is just so beautiful.

I wonder how many other tech startups could look fabulous, with that sort of government-sponsored market making?

I didn't know of any govt. assistance.

[Baa_Baa]

You are joking. He bought his way in being given citizenship without having lived here.
As a devout libertarian no doubt the Act party and National will welcome his donations with open arms. He is actively lobbing the F.D.A. to reduce the amount of testing required before new drugs are allowed to be marketed, believing in minimal regulation. ie. the free market.
He is a business man no doubt, but buying shares, property and a $1m donation to an earthquake relief fund hardly justifies his back door entry. Which has raised more than a few eyebrows around the world.

westerly

No, I'm not joking, perhaps you missed my point which is to call out El Z's reference to some obligation for "goodwill towards the NZ taxpayer".

Despite all that is questionable about the process and clearly there are questions, perhaps you can enlighten us, because El Z has not, yet you support his notion apparently, on what obligation any immigrant investor with their millions has to "goodwill towards the NZ taxpayer".

[elZorro]

I didn't know of any govt. assistance.

Technically the govt provided additional seed funding at minimal cost for a wealthy overseas investor, this helped with market making for one listed NZ company in particular.

Anyway, Xero is also getting government grants for R&D.

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/...-boost-rd-nz-0

[westerly]

No, I'm not joking, perhaps you missed my point which is to call out El Z's reference to some obligation for "goodwill towards the NZ taxpayer".

Despite all that is questionable about the process and clearly there are questions, perhaps you can enlighten us, because El Z has not, yet you support his notion apparently, on what obligation any immigrant investor with their millions has to "goodwill towards the NZ taxpayer".

The main and perhaps only obligation is to pay their fair share of tax. As most overseas owned companies appear to be somewhat lax in their
tax payments, I would suggest this could also apply to individuals who supposedly have made some commitment to NZ. There appears to be little enforcement of conditions applied when granting permission to buy land or residence.

westerly