› added 11 years ago

111

TIL during the dot com bubble in 1999, Mark Cuban was prevented from selling his Yahoo stocks due to a lock-up clause. So, he sold insurance against the share price rising, and used the profits to buy insurance in case the share price fell. In total it cost him nothing, and made him a billionaire.

Read more cashflowmantra.com

via reddit.com

b9lwE TIL that IBM researchers made the first prototype of a credit card using magnetic tape and cardboard. That prototype sold at auction for over $20,000.
woN1J TIL that in 2023, scientists discovered a massive structure in space called the "Big Ring"—it’s so big that it shouldn’t even exist according to our current understanding of cosmology. The universe is supposed to be uniform on large scales, with no structures bigger than about 1 billion light-years.
N7lrE TIL of Nelson Sullivan, a pre-internet vlogger who shot over 1,900 hours of tape over 7 years, filming Manhattan's 1980s downtown life. He sought to tape all of NY's citizens, including its outcasts, parties, street festivals, conversations with taxi drivers, and a variety of behavior on the streets
oBokA TIL Chuck E. Cheese was originally a division of Atari. It was the pet project of Atari founder Nolan Bushnell, who wanted to expand video game arcades beyond more adult locations like pool halls to a child- and family-friendly venue.
wo7wE TIL that despite a long career in organized crime, mobster Meyer Lansky was never found guilty of anything other than illegal gambling