Zing

Big money. Clever schemes. How they pulled it off.

[Zing @zingxbt]

LTCM was rescued.

Its owners still lost almost everything.

The fund had two Nobel laureates on its team. By the end of 1997, it also had roughly $30 of debt for every $1 of capital.

When its trades turned against it, fourteen financial institutions put up about $3.6 billion.

They took 90% of the fund in return.

That’s the detail behind the LTCM section here: a rescue can save the positions without saving the people who owned them.

These people were already rich.

They risked that to get richer.

[Zing @zingxbt]

LTCM was rescued.

Its owners still lost almost everything.

The fund had two Nobel laureates on its team. By the end of 1997, it also had roughly $30 of debt for every $1 of capital.

When its trades turned against it, fourteen financial institutions put up about $3.6 billion.

They took 90% of the fund in return.

That’s the detail behind the LTCM section here: a rescue can save the positions without saving the people who owned them.

These people were already rich.

They risked that to get richer.

[Shevaxgod @shevaxgod]

https://t.co/Z1EE80pMp2

[Zing @zingxbt]

@cupheadxbt most people lose a bet and buy dinner. this guy had to shave his legs 😆

[CupHead @cupheadxbt]

Richard Branson owned an airline.

A lost bet put him on cabin duty for a competitor.

He’d bet AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes that his Formula One team would finish higher in the 2010 season. The loser had to serve passengers on the winner’s airline.

Branson lost.

In 2013, he honoured the bet on a charity flight from Perth to Kuala Lumpur. Red uniform. Lipstick. Freshly shaved legs.

The beard stayed.

He demonstrated the life jacket, served passengers — and deliberately tipped a tray of orange juice onto Fernandes.

Fernandes said he was fired.

One shift. Already a complaint from the boss.

[Zing @zingxbt]

@elonmusk somewhere a chip engineer is excited and a project manager is quietly updating their resume

[Zing @zingxbt]

David Phillips bought over 12,000 pudding cups.

He needed the barcodes.

In 1999, Healthy Choice offered 1,000 airline miles for every 10 barcodes submitted before an early deadline.

Then Phillips found pudding cups for 25 cents each.

$2.50 bought him 1,000 miles.

He started clearing shelves, filling a van with thousands of cups.

The problem was getting the labels off before the deadline.

Phillips and his wife peeled most themselves. Then he arranged to donate the remaining pudding to the Salvation Army, whose volunteers helped remove the rest.

His total spend: $3,140.
His haul: 1.25 million airline miles.
The donation also earned him a tax deduction.

The food went to charity. The barcodes took his family to Europe.

[Zing @zingxbt]

David Phillips bought over 12,000 pudding cups.

He needed the barcodes.

In 1999, Healthy Choice offered 1,000 airline miles for every 10 barcodes submitted before an early deadline.

Then Phillips found pudding cups for 25 cents each.

$2.50 bought him 1,000 miles.

He started clearing shelves, filling a van with thousands of cups.

The problem was getting the labels off before the deadline.

Phillips and his wife peeled most themselves. Then he arranged to donate the remaining pudding to the Salvation Army, whose volunteers helped remove the rest.

His total spend: $3,140.
His haul: 1.25 million airline miles.
The donation also earned him a tax deduction.

The food went to charity. The barcodes took his family to Europe.

[Zing @zingxbt]

Pepsi put a fighter jet in its ad.

Hoover put two airline seats in this one. That promotion ended up costing it £48 million.

The offer was real: spend over £100 on a Hoover product, get two return flights.

This is the original 1992 European offer. Hoover later extended the promotion to America.

Hoover wanted to clear unsold appliances. Customers spotted a cheap way to travel.

The vacuum cleaner became the cost of getting the tickets.

Paperwork, restrictions, and attempts to sell travel extras couldn’t contain the demand. Complaints piled up. Hundreds of customers took Hoover to court. Around 220,000 people eventually flew.

But the best detail appeared while the promotion was still running:

Brand-new, boxed Hoovers were turning up in newspaper classifieds.

The company wanted customers to buy a vacuum cleaner.

Customers wanted someone else to buy their vacuum cleaner.

[Zing @zingxbt]

John Leonard sent Pepsi a check for $700,008.50 and ordered a fighter jet.

Pepsi sent the check back with free soda coupons.

In 1996, Leonard spotted a shortcut in the Pepsi Stuff promotion.

The commercial showed a Harrier jet for 7 million Pepsi Points.

The catalog let customers buy extra points for 10 cents each. They only needed to include 15 original points with the order.

He didn’t need to drink millions of Pepsis. He needed roughly $700,000.

Leonard raised the money, added $10 for shipping, and wrote “1 Harrier Jet” on the form.

But the jet appeared in the commercial, not the catalog.

Pepsi said it was a joke. Leonard went to court. The judge ruled the ad wasn’t a genuine offer.

He had found a way to buy the points.

He couldn’t make Pepsi deliver the plane.

[Zing @zingxbt]

@cupheadxbt @KobeissiLetter to be fair, at least the shampoo comes with a plan to fix the damage )

[Zing @zingxbt]

John Leonard sent Pepsi a check for $700,008.50 and ordered a fighter jet.

Pepsi sent the check back with free soda coupons.

In 1996, Leonard spotted a shortcut in the Pepsi Stuff promotion.

The commercial showed a Harrier jet for 7 million Pepsi Points.

The catalog let customers buy extra points for 10 cents each. They only needed to include 15 original points with the order.

He didn’t need to drink millions of Pepsis. He needed roughly $700,000.

Leonard raised the money, added $10 for shipping, and wrote “1 Harrier Jet” on the form.

But the jet appeared in the commercial, not the catalog.

Pepsi said it was a joke. Leonard went to court. The judge ruled the ad wasn’t a genuine offer.

He had found a way to buy the points.

He couldn’t make Pepsi deliver the plane.

[Zing @zingxbt]

@cupheadxbt taking the money was probably easier than explaining to your fans why you needed it

[Zing @zingxbt]

John Leonard sent Pepsi a check for $700,008.50 and ordered a fighter jet.

Pepsi sent the check back with free soda coupons.

In 1996, Leonard spotted a shortcut in the Pepsi Stuff promotion.

The commercial showed a Harrier jet for 7 million Pepsi Points.

The catalog let customers buy extra points for 10 cents each. They only needed to include 15 original points with the order.

He didn’t need to drink millions of Pepsis. He needed roughly $700,000.

Leonard raised the money, added $10 for shipping, and wrote “1 Harrier Jet” on the form.

But the jet appeared in the commercial, not the catalog.

Pepsi said it was a joke. Leonard went to court. The judge ruled the ad wasn’t a genuine offer.

He had found a way to buy the points.

He couldn’t make Pepsi deliver the plane.

[Zing @zingxbt]

Jerry Selbee’s lottery operation collected over $26 million in nine years.

They never won a jackpot.

His strategy depended on what happened when nobody did.

In 2003, Jerry noticed a rule in Michigan’s Winfall lottery. When the jackpot reached $5 million and nobody matched all six numbers, the money rolled down into the smaller prizes.

Matching three or four numbers suddenly paid much more.

In this interview, he explains his calculation: $1,100 in tickets could produce roughly $1,900 in payouts during a rolldown.

That was an expected return, not a guarantee. His first $2,200 test actually lost $50.

He bought tickets when the smaller prizes were unusually large, then repeated the strategy across many drawings.

“It’s just basic arithmetic,” he says.

Jerry, his wife and their investment group eventually made nearly $8 million in profit before taxes. The $26 million was total payouts.

The twist: someone winning the jackpot would stop the money from reaching those smaller prizes.

The result everyone else wanted was the one his strategy depended on avoiding.

[Zing @zingxbt]

Jerry Selbee’s lottery operation collected over $26 million in nine years.

They never won a jackpot.

His strategy depended on what happened when nobody did.

In 2003, Jerry noticed a rule in Michigan’s Winfall lottery. When the jackpot reached $5 million and nobody matched all six numbers, the money rolled down into the smaller prizes.

Matching three or four numbers suddenly paid much more.

In this interview, he explains his calculation: $1,100 in tickets could produce roughly $1,900 in payouts during a rolldown.

That was an expected return, not a guarantee. His first $2,200 test actually lost $50.

He bought tickets when the smaller prizes were unusually large, then repeated the strategy across many drawings.

“It’s just basic arithmetic,” he says.

Jerry, his wife and their investment group eventually made nearly $8 million in profit before taxes. The $26 million was total payouts.

The twist: someone winning the jackpot would stop the money from reaching those smaller prizes.

The result everyone else wanted was the one his strategy depended on avoiding.