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MQA Update

Steve H

Steve H

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Time for an update. Lenbrook bought the MQA IP for $75k, The SCL6 IP for $25k and equipment for $25k. From the Administrator’s Progress Report with Pounds converted to dollars.

Block Inc has put a hard cap on employees at 12,000 in their latest earnings letter. They currently have about 13,000. An easy way to cut employees would be to shut down Tidal Music.

I’ve said since 2016 that MQA has no value on September 13th I was proven right.
 
Doesn't look like Block needs to cut anything. Here is their latest quarterly statement relating to Tidal:

"corporate and other revenue and gross profit Corporate and Other generated $50 million in revenue and $16 million in gross profit in the third quarter of 2023. Corporate and Other comprised areas outside Square and Cash App, which were primarily TIDAL and intersegment eliminations between Cash App and Square in the third quarter of 2023."

"Other sales and marketing expenses were down 1% year over year, as growth in Square spend was offset by lower spend for our BNPL platform and TIDAL. Other sales and marketing expenses primarily include expenses related to Square, our BNPL platform, and TIDAL."

Good on Lenbrook picking up MQA for a song. Was worried that they had lost their mind and spent a ton of money on it! :)
 
Wow. I believe MQA Ltd originally bought the IP from Meridian for over £400k
 
amirm said:
Doesn't look like Block needs to cut anything. Here is their latest quarterly statement relating to Tidal:

"corporate and other revenue and gross profit Corporate and Other generated $50 million in revenue and $16 million in gross profit in the third quarter of 2023. Corporate and Other comprised areas outside Square and Cash App, which were primarily TIDAL and intersegment eliminations between Cash App and Square in the third quarter of 2023."

"Other sales and marketing expenses were down 1% year over year, as growth in Square spend was offset by lower spend for our BNPL platform and TIDAL. Other sales and marketing expenses primarily include expenses related to Square, our BNPL platform, and TIDAL."

Good on Lenbrook picking up MQA for a song. Was worried that they had lost their mind and spent a ton of money on it! :)
Click to expand...
Dang, we could have used "Go Fund Me" and OWNED MQA! (Not meant as an endorsement, just having fun with the price.) Cheaper than a nice Beemer!

That seems like it was essentially free.
 
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Lenbrook also took on
Anton D said:
Dang, we could have used "Go Fund Me" and OWNED MQA! (Not meant as an endorsement, just having fun with the price.) Cheaper than a nice Beemer!

That seems like it was essentially free.
Click to expand...
Deal looks like it included employing a handful of MQA employees. Probably around £250k annual salary cost.

Nice idea though!
 
amirm said:
"Other sales and marketing expenses were down 1% year over year, as growth in Square spend was offset by lower spend for our BNPL platform and TIDAL. Other sales and marketing expenses primarily include expenses related to Square, our BNPL platform, and TIDAL."
Click to expand...

Earlier in 2023, Tidal Music discontinued an offer for Best Buy Rewards customers. Tidal Music had offered their 16-bit/44.1 tier at $79.99 a year and their other tier at $119.99 a year. As I understand it, the cost of this type of an offer is typically considered a 'marketing expense'.
 
amirm said:
Doesn't look like Block needs to cut anything. Here is their latest quarterly statement relating to Tidal:

"corporate and other revenue and gross profit Corporate and Other generated $50 million in revenue and $16 million in gross profit in the third quarter of 2023. Corporate and Other comprised areas outside Square and Cash App, which were primarily TIDAL and intersegment eliminations between Cash App and Square in the third quarter of 2023."

"Other sales and marketing expenses were down 1% year over year, as growth in Square spend was offset by lower spend for our BNPL platform and TIDAL. Other sales and marketing expenses primarily include expenses related to Square, our BNPL platform, and TIDAL."

Good on Lenbrook picking up MQA for a song. Was worried that they had lost their mind and spent a ton of money on it! :)
Click to expand...

From Jack Dorsey’s Shareholder Letter November 2, 2023, page 2.

“We are going to do that again now, by creating an absolute cap on the number of people we have at the company, held firm at 12,000 people until we feel the growth of the business has meaningfully outpaced the growth of the company. We know the inverse is true today.”

Amir, I’m dancing here posting things I can document. I don’t want to antagonize you, but if want to know my true feelings go to Critic’s Corner Audio Asylum.
 
Steve H said:
You need to go back and look at Meridian’s 2015 financial statements.
Click to expand...
£13.5M?

Sorry I’m not very good at deciphering financial statements.

I actually worked for Meridian 2015-2020. Good times but turbulent behind the scenes.
 
Anton D said:
Dang, we could have used "Go Fund Me" and OWNED MQA! (Not meant as an endorsement, just having fun with the price.) Cheaper than a nice Beemer!

That seems like it was essentially free.
Click to expand...
... or 'we' could've bought something with some tangible value, e.g., Ohm Acoustics. :(
 
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Matt_Holland said:
£13.5M?

Sorry I’m not very good at deciphering financial statements.

I actually worked for Meridian 2015-2020. Good times but turbulent behind the scenes.
Click to expand...
That’s the one. See MQA Ltd.’s financials for more detail.

How could working for MQA Ltd be good times? They had no revenue and no market share.

MQA started dying the moment I posted MQA is Vaporware on Audiophile Style January 2, 2017.
 
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There is this new gadget called the "Humane" with their introductory model "AI Pin" that is about to be available (for order on 2023/11/16) starting @~$700.
This start-up is by x-Apple employees, with billionaire investors.
The unit's monthly fee comes to ~$24, and includes Tidal.

See? It is not OT....;)
 
I would call that "little" revenue, not no revenue. Regardless, it is common in format making to give away the technology initially until it gets adopted. It solves the chicken and egg problem. Companies don't want to pay to create a market for someone else. But if it is free, some will deploy it.
 
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