You may have heard about how Flyertalk member Jan Koum just sold his startup to Facebook for $19 billion. After the sale, Koum made an appearance on Flyertalk to relate the following tale:
i’ll tell you all a funny story which has to do with flyertalk: i am actually flying to Barcelona for MWC right now using the M&M miles award ticket (i am posting this from LH455 flight)… i obviously got these tickets many months ago – i prefer to fly using miles when i can to save company money. as you know, award ticket inventory is limited and last minute changes are nearly impossible… and this is where it gets cute:
we announced the deal with Facebook on wednesday after the market closed. during the process, we realized there was a chance we might not be able to get the deal wrapped up and signed on wednesday and it could delay.
when the risk of the delay became real, i said: “if we don’t get it done on wednesday, it probably wont get done. i have tickets on thursday to fly out to Barcelona which i bought with miles and they are not easily refundable or even possible to change. this has to be done by wednesday or else!!!”
…and so one of the biggest deals in tech history had to be scheduled around my M&M award ticket.
It’s only February, but I doubt that one will be topped anytime soon.
Recent Comments