Buy mature apps, let go of almost all staff, and run them on one central team

Jacob EitingIs that the same that's going inside Bending Spoons, for example? Like are they sharing... Why are they able to drive much more profitability than, say, each of these brands on their own?

Eric CrowleyYeah. I mean, I think they're just excellent operators. Their model has been initially to build apps, but it quickly pivoted and pivoted years, years ago to buy. And then they buy and optimize. The definition of optimize is probably change over time, but they're experts at pricing, they're experts at marketing. They definitely have some really good tech talent if you look at what some of the statements Luca has put out there. They're one of the most exclusive hirers of tech talent in Europe with the lowest acceptance rates from job applications. That means they're getting best of the best.

Eric CrowleyWhen you look at what they've done, they're well know for this and it's well talked about, but they will buy an app or a subscription business and they will fire 97% of those employees within the first month. And just think about that concept. They're not shutting down the business, they're not just taking it as cash flow. They are just lifting the business off whatever infrastructure and team was done and they're putting it on to their existing team. They're adding new people to do this. They're taking the same 600 people and just adding business on top of that and running it. That is operational efficiency that I don't think I've ever really seen in the tech world.

Eric CrowleyThere's no big US company that's bought a business and then shut down 97% of their... or fire 97% of the employees without that being some sort of a massive failure. I think they've got a secret sauce and a playbook that they're running in the operation side that most people have not been able to figure out.