Thunes to acquire payments platform Tilia LLC

[Zalificent Corvinus]

1 hour ago, sirhc DeSantis said:

Yes. Posting is free if you are logged inworld.

When I'm logged in-wold, I have better things to do that put other people's burning-dumpster ideas where they belong, in the burning dumpster.

 

2 hours ago, Cinnamon Mistwood said:

Let me just save this post to quote out of context as often as possible for the next several years:

If you're going to do that, at least get the quote right, it's not "up to 5k", 5 k would be for 2006 rez date, 6k for 2005, 7k for 2004, 8k for 2003.

 

21 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

meh no but I'd suggest payment for anything above 5 posts per day as more then that it becomes increasingly gibberish. It also prevents one poster from controlling the forum.

But how would Love tell all his one line dad jokes?

 

[Love Zhaoying]

22 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

The whole paying to post is insane IMHO.
If anything, the Lab should pay us for posting. We give away great ideas and advise for free. 

 

 

Wait, they don't pay YOU?!

[Istelathis]

1 hour ago, sirhc DeSantis said:

Yes. My UUID monitor has yet to to show online any one but me. Fascinating

I was in, but decided to play some games 🎮🕹️  I'm currently trudging through the wastelands, looking for a cat that someone in an underground bunker lost.  Occasionally, I'll drop by the forums because I think all of you are pretty cool and I like what you all post.  I'll be back to spinning the slot machines in SL in a few hours though.  I look forward to getting some driving in as well 🥰  

[Love Zhaoying]

13 minutes ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

35 minutes ago, Arielle Popstar said:

meh no but I'd suggest payment for anything above 5 posts per day as more then that it becomes increasingly gibberish. It also prevents one poster from controlling the forum.

But how would Love tell all his one line dad jokes?

There will be a loophole, if you get enough "likes", you can have unlimited posts!

Getting "real" for a moment, I believe some of the oldbies ("advisors") don't have a 1-minute wait between posts (I do).

 

[Coffee Pancake]

15 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Getting "real" for a moment, I believe some of the oldbies ("advisors") don't have a 1-minute wait between posts (I do).

At 35.4K posts, it doesn't seem to be slowing you down.

[Katherine Heartsong]

8 minutes ago, Coffee Pancake said:

At 35.4K posts, it doesn't seem to be slowing you down.

Right? I keep trying to pedal faster and catch the darn cute lion, but for every post I make, he makes six or something. IT's so annoying (but sooo cute!!).

[Love Zhaoying]

20 minutes ago, Coffee Pancake said:

At 35.4K posts, it doesn't seem to be slowing you down.

Yet I'll never catch up to Rowan's "Days Won"!

[Love Zhaoying]

12 minutes ago, Katherine Heartsong said:

Right? I keep trying to pedal faster and catch the darn cute lion, but for every post I make, he makes six or something. IT's so annoying (but sooo cute!!).

[Qie Niangao]

1 hour ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Getting "real" for a moment, I believe some of the oldbies ("advisors") don't have a 1-minute wait between posts (I do).

Can't speak for all "advisors" but I do have a wait between posts, and thank god, because sometimes it ignores my "submit" and I impatiently press it again but it catches the double post. (Usually, though, I check to see if it took the post without updating the display, and usually it did.)

Incidentally, I have no idea how my paltry post count qualifies as "advisor". I doubt it's all because I still donate tier to The Forums Cartel Hangout… but it couldn't hurt to try, hint, hint.

[Love Zhaoying]

11 minutes ago, Qie Niangao said:

Can't speak for all "advisors" but I do have a wait between posts, and thank god, because sometimes it ignores my "submit" and I impatiently press it again but it catches the double post. (Usually, though, I check to see if it took the post without updating the display, and usually it did.)

Incidentally, I have no idea how my paltry post count qualifies as "advisor". I doubt it's all because I still donate tier to The Forums Cartel Hangout… but it couldn't hurt to try, hint, hint.

I assume "advisor" was an awarded title under an older Forum version, which carried over to the current Forum.

[Quartz Mole]

Fascinating though this thread's various meandering byways certainly are, I fear that faked wildlife documentaries are a bit too far off topic.

[Love Zhaoying]

Let's see, where were we? Thunes, sky is falling, maybe not, who knows, p.28.

[Zalificent Corvinus]

5 hours ago, sirhc DeSantis said:

Yes. My UUID monitor has yet to to show online any one but me. Fascinating

So, you're pleading guilty to using a scripted device, in world, to STAL:K forum posters who disagree with your nonsense?

Interesting.

Maybe we should all AR you for stalking us.

[Zalificent Corvinus]

11 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Let's see, where were we? Thunes, sky is falling, maybe not, who knows, p.28.

Well, you could try googling for info on Thunes.

It's quite interesting.

a couple of web articles, by people who appear to have been a bit too lazy to actually write the things themselves and just quoted Thunes PR.

A single consumer review site, and basically every other search hit is one of dozens of pages on Thunes own website telling us how wonderful Thunes is. The sheer lack of independent info about them is a bit of a red flag frankly.

 

As for the claimss earlier that Thunes taking over Tilla will enable pooor kids in the 3rd world to finally buy premium subscriptions, and learn to read by using a whyPhone to browse Thick-apedia, because that's a valid alternative to going to school, or that Thunes will enable all those expert Blender users in the amzon rain forest enter the SL fitted mesh clothing market, etc., well, it appears Thunes are not the World saving major player we were told.

 

As of June last year, they had done about 90 billion USD in international transfers. Sounds like a lot until you see the number in context.

 

Amount of international money transfers, globally, in excess of:

150,000,000,000,000 USD a year.

Amount of SMALL transactions Thunes is targeting:

15,000,000,000,000 USD a year.

Amount they are actually doing.

About 15,000,000,000 USD a year.

So, about:

0.001 %

What's REALLY interesting is that their fees on that guestimated $15 billion a year are apparently SO LOW, that they have to rely in $60 million handouts from hedge fund investors who've believed Thunes website spin, in order to fund their expansion. That doesn't sound like a "successful business" to me. Why are they not making enough money to pay their own way?

 

Somebody remind me how Thunes taking over Tilla is going to change the world, and help "poor people in 3rd World countries connect to the global economy".

 

They appear to have NO interest in SL other than it pays them money to process it's payments. Their main goal in buying Tilla appears to be a quicker, easier, and cheaper way of getting 48 Money Transfer Licences in the USA, than doing it them selves from scratch.

And their main interest in getting into the USA market would appear to be all the Americans who hate their own government, and want to move all their easy to find and tax money in American bank accounts to hard to find and tax Fake Money Crypto accounts in dodgy not-banks in far eastern tax evasion havens, but who still want to use their hidden untaxable money to order stuff off Amazon.

 

This deal sounds less and less kosher the more one finds out about the buyers.

 

Edited April 30 by Zalificent Corvinus

[elleevelyn]

11 hours ago, Sammy Huntsman said:

SL has always been their baby and their cash cow. But they have a really hard time letting go of other projects they have done. Both Sansar and Tillia have run LL dry and they are selling it.I think that with this new capital, they need to invest in rebuilding SL from the ground up. 

And this is not a partnership, it's an acquisition. So once all the bureaucratic BS is done, Thunes will be the new and sole owner of TIllia. 

I think when we consider what it means to be a cash cow company from the traditional investment pov then divesting Tilia makes sense. The divestment  re-focuses Linden Lab on its core mission - to build and maintain the Second Life virtual world - Linden Lab serving no purpose other than its core mission - selling a mature virtual world premium product for a premium price to a mature customer base, willing and able to pay premium prices for what they want

the danger for single product cash cow companies is when their customer base ages out - the rate of customers aging out exceeds the new customer accumulation rate. The biggest danger to this balancing act is when the company over-innovates the product. Over-innovation can lead to the product losing its traditional appeal/lustre borne of history to its longtime customer base. Retaining an existing customer base is the major consideration driver for cash cow companies selling a mature premium product

this is not to say that all innovation is ruled out. Is just that what innovation is introduced is done carefully to not break lustre. And to be fair to Linden they have always understood this. So the incremental approach to SL innovation. I can't see this changing. If anything the divestment of Tilia reinforces the incremental approach

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

Well, you could try googling for info on Thunes.

It's quite interesting.

a couple of web articles, by people who appear to have been a bit too lazy to actually write the things themselves and just quoted Thunes PR.

A single consumer review site, and basically every other search hit is one of dozens of pages on Thunes own website telling us how wonderful Thunes is. The sheer lack of independent info about them is a bit of a red flag frankly.

 

As for the claimss earlier that Thunes taking over Tilla will enable pooor kids in the 3rd world to finally buy premium subscriptions, and learn to read by using a whyPhone to browse Thick-apedia, because that's a valid alternative to going to school, or that Thunes will enable all those expert Blender users in the amzon rain forest enter the SL fitted mesh clothing market, etc., well, it appears Thunes are not the World saving major player we were told.

 

As of June last year, they had done about 90 billion USD in international transfers. Sounds like a lot until you see the number in context.

 

Amount of international money transfers, globally, in excess of:

150,000,000,000,000 USD a year.

Amount of SMALL transactions Thunes is targeting:

15,000,000,000,000 USD a year.

Amount they are actually doing.

About 15,000,000.000 USD a year.

So, about:

0.001 %

What's REALLY interesting is that their fees on that guestimated $15 billion a year are apparently SO LOW, that they have to rely in $60 million handouts from hedge fund investors who've believed Thunes website spin, in order to fund their expansion. That doesn't sound like a "successful business" to me. Why are they not making enough money to pay their own way?

 

Somebody remind me how Thunes taking over Tilla is going to change the world, and help "poor people in 3rd World countries connect to the global economy".

 

They appear to have NO interest in SL other than it pays them money to process it's payments. Their main goal in buying Tilla appears to be a quicker, easier, and cheaper way of getting 48 Money Transfer Licences in the USA, than doing it them selves from scratch.

And their main interest in getting into the USA market would appear to be all the Americans who hate their own government, and want to move all their easy to find and tax money in American bank accounts to hard to find and tax Fake Money Crypto accounts in dodgy not-banks in far eastern tax evasion havens, but who still want to use their hidden untaxable money to order stuff off Amazon.

 

This deal sounds less and less kosher the more one finds out about the buyers.

 

Conspiracy Theories "for the win"!

[Alwin Alcott]

7 hours ago, sirhc DeSantis said:

Yes. My UUID monitor has yet to to show online any one but me. Fascinating

your interest in other forum users is a bit worrysome, perhaps call Luna for a talk?

[elleevelyn]

1 hour ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

Their [Thune] main goal in buying Tilla appears to be a quicker, easier, and cheaper way of getting 48 Money Transfer Licences in the USA, than doing it them selves from scratch.

yes

1 hour ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

What's REALLY interesting is that their fees on that guestimated $15 billion a year are apparently SO LOW, that they have to rely in $60 million handouts from hedge fund investors who've believed Thunes website spin, in order to fund their expansion. That doesn't sound like a "successful business" to me. Why are they not making enough money to pay their own way?

 

$60 million is not enough investment to become the Bank of the Metaverse. Can add another zero to that amount to have any shot at this.  By acquiring the US licenses it makes $600 million in capital raisings a lot more achievable. And I would be surprised if the Linden shareholders haven't acquired a stake in  Thune as part of this deal

 

[Zalificent Corvinus]

24 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Conspiracy Theories "for the win"!

Bearing in mind the most common cpmplaint type on the customer review site, about Thunes was:

 

"I tried sending money from my bank/crypto wallet to [where ever] via Thunes, they took my money but it never arrived at the destination, and when I called Support, they said 'what money, we don't have it, send it again can i close your support ticket now,? LOLZ'"

 

I'd say it's more of a "valid concern" than a "conspiracy theory".

If you get 250 Greenborks taken out of your bank for your Plooooose renewal, and LL don't get that 250 greenborks, then 1) You are out of pocket, 2) Your SL account gets suspended, 3) all your rezzed stuff gets sent back, and 4) you lose your parcel in Zindra. And then the Thunes Un-Help line operator basically tells you they don't have your 250 greenborks, and you should give them AANOTHER 250 greenborks, and then laughs at you.

 

Does that sound like a valid concern to you?

[Anna Nova]

I think the Moles are getting a cut.  And that's why.....   aaaaaaagh

[Nika Talaj]

3 hours ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

They appear to have NO interest in SL other than it pays them money to process it's payments. Their main goal in buying Tilla appears to be a quicker, easier, and cheaper way of getting 48 Money Transfer Licences in the USA, than doing it them selves from scratch.

Right.  I think all concerned have been up front about that.  Why do you think that Thunes should care about SL?

3 hours ago, Zalificent Corvinus said:

And their main interest in getting into the USA market would appear to be all the Americans who hate their own government, and want to move all their easy to find and tax money in American bank accounts to hard to find and tax Fake Money Crypto accounts in dodgy not-banks in far eastern tax evasion havens, but who still want to use their hidden untaxable money to order stuff off Amazon.

Yah, y'know, whenever you begin to rant about Americans and let your crypto paranoia leak all over this deal, personally I stop reading.  I don't think I'm alone.  Just thought you should know.

2 hours ago, elleevelyn said:

the danger for single product cash cow companies is when their customer base ages out - the rate of customers aging out exceeds the new customer accumulation rate. The biggest danger to this balancing act is when the company over-innovates the product. Over-innovation can lead to the product losing its traditional appeal/lustre borne of history to its longtime customer base. Retaining an existing customer base is the major consideration driver for cash cow companies selling a mature premium product

this is not to say that all innovation is ruled out. Is just that what innovation is introduced is done carefully to not break lustre. And to be fair to Linden they have always understood this. So the incremental approach to SL innovation. I can't see this changing. If anything the divestment of Tilia reinforces the incremental approach

Very perceptive.  At this point, it would be a huge mistake to make SL incapable of running on aging equipment, or unrecognizably shiny.  Is that why the VP engineering is no longer at LL?  Perhaps, quite simply, his services as a dynamic leader driving new developments ... will no longer be required.

[Sid Nagy]

30 minutes ago, Nika Talaj said:

Perhaps, quite simply, his services as a dynamic leader driving new developments ... will no longer be required.

Perhaps it is even simpler: People come, people go.
The grass always seems greener at the neighbors lawn and the next step in a career and that kind of stuff.

[Pixels Sideways]

Let's hopeThunes drives SL financial transactions better than Toonces drive a car.

 

 

[Jaylinbridges]

58 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

The grass always seems greener at the neighbors lawn and the next step in a career and that kind of stuff.

Instead of spouting generalities, you could also find out what that next career step actually is.  The business networks on the internet are revealing.  Details always trump generalities.

Edited April 30 by Jaylinbridges

[Qie Niangao]

1 hour ago, Nika Talaj said:

Why do you think that Thunes should care about SL?

Maybe we should consider that as a serious question: why might Thunes care about SL? This "partnership", besides guarding both parties from downside risks, just might also be about shared up-side potential. What if, for once, the Lab sticks to its knitting and actually invests in the platform's future, complete with real development and advertising budget? Could the market for a new mobile client (for starters) breathe market relevance into the place? Might there even be a market that moves enough transactions that Thunes values its piece of the action?*

Every so often somebody "discovers" Second Life as a quaint little program with an assortment of obsolete geegaws and missing their favorite whizbangs and tells us how the olde curiosity shop is past its use-by date. But currently there are multiple ambitious development efforts underway in Lab engineering, progressing faster than I'd have expected. Combined… I'm really not sure what's ahead, but I wouldn't dismiss it all as developers flailing to scratch their own itches.

1 hour ago, Nika Talaj said:

Is that why the VP engineering is no longer at LL?  Perhaps, quite simply, his services as a dynamic leader driving new developments ... will no longer be required.

It's not that the previous VP engineering wasn't effective, but I'm way less convinced than you that he left a big gap that can only be filled by a replacement hire. But if / when they hire that replacement, I'll be very interested from what industry she came.

_______________
*A tangent: I don't think we know how much equity the Lab might still hold in Thunes' ex-Tilia business unit (nor who else might still have a share). Do we? Thunes clearly bought the controlling stake, but I somehow don't think the asset is simply blended into their operational accounting.

Edited April 30 by Qie Niangao