Number
$25K in Blockbuster's 1987 IPO became ~$1M at sale
Sam notes that a $25,000 investment in Blockbuster when it went public in 1987 would have been worth about $1 million by the time Huizenga sold it to Viacom in 1994 for $8.5 billion.
$1M
Value of $25K Blockbuster IPO investment at exit · USD
“And if you would've invested $25,000— and so he would let some friends invest— and if you would've invested $25,000 into Blockbuster when it went public in 1987, it would've been worth about $1 million when they sold.”
Billy
Billy of the Week: Wayne Huizenga, the three-empire roll-up king
Shaan crowns Wayne Huizenga the Billy of the Week for an extraordinary career building Waste Management, Blockbuster, and AutoNation plus owning the Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins.
“Yeah, this guy's definitely the Billy of the Week. Extremely impressive career. You know, shout out to this guy. He looks like he passed away a couple years ago at age 80.”
Fact
Recycling is mostly theater — most of it gets thrown away
Sam relays from researching the CEO of Waste Management that you can't just feed mixed, dirty plastics and metals into a machine and get clean recycling — most of it gets burned or landfilled. (Shaan later notes only ~9% of plastic is actually recycled.)
“The founder of Waste— or the CEO of Waste Management, the largest biggest waste management company in the world, because I was researching this, he was like, yeah, so look, here's the deal. Like, it's impossible. You can't just give us— he's like, everyone thinks this is the case, but you can't just give us like a container with plastic, all types of metals, all different types of plastics that are dirty and have paper on it. And we can't just like put that into a machine and voilà, it's like sifted out and we end up just burning or throwing away most of it.”
Billy
Wayne Huizenga: from one garbage truck to Blockbuster and the Dolphins
Sam celebrates Wayne Huizenga, who scaled Waste Management from a single garbage truck (started at 21) through roll-up acquisitions, then founded AutoNation and Blockbuster and owned NFL teams.
“This dude's name's Wayne Huizenga. He's dead now, but he originally started Waste Management as a young person, like 21. It was a truck, one truck that he like scaled to like many trucks. And then eventually Waste Management, the plot of that story is that it's the greatest acquisi— one of the greater acquisition companies of all time.”
Story
Turned down $75-100M from Waste Management: 'I wouldn't sell for a billion'
On a fishing trip, Waste Management executives offered Brian $75-100 million for 1-800-GOT-JUNK. He declined, saying he wouldn't sell for a billion, because building something special mattered more than the money.
“there I was out on a boat with two very senior garbage executives and they offered, you know, $75 to $100 million is what they were talking to buy my little business. And I said, you know, I wouldn't sell it for a billion. The money wasn't ever a motivator. It was building something special, accomplishing the impossible.”
Billy
Wayne Huizenga: Waste Management, Blockbuster, CarMax, the Dolphins
Sam spotlights serial operator Wayne Huizenga, who started Waste Management (worth $10-20B, publicly traded), then Blockbuster, then CarMax (largest US used-car seller), then bought the Miami Dolphins.
“There's this guy named Wayne Huizenga. Look him up. Super interesting person. He started Waste Management. That's a company. It's worth like $10 billion or $20 billion, like some crazy number.”
Story
Turned down $75-100M from Waste Management; 'wouldn't sell for a billion'
On a fishing trip, two senior Waste Management executives offered Scudamore $75-100 million for his business; he told them he wouldn't sell it for a billion because money was never the motivator - building something special was.
“and they offered, you know, $75 to $100 million is what they were talking to buy my little business. And I said, you know, I wouldn't sell it for a billion. The money wasn't ever a motivator.”