How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 7)

SM: Let’s talk more about your financials. Overstock.com started slowing down in 2005. In 2008 you went back up to $800 million-plus in revenue but are not very profitable and the market cap is pretty low. What is your take? PB: We reached $800 million in 2005 and stayed there through 2008. We are starting

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How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 6)

SM: There is another nuance which is very relevant in your business, which is organic search. Organic search remains relatively unleveraged. What has been your experience with that? PB: It is a great area if you can get it right. The first people who seemed to get it right were fringe buyers such as porn

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How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 5)

SM: When did you first see significant decline in your growth? PB: Our growth slowed dramatically in 2006 and remained that way in 2007. We lost a lot of money those years. It took us a little while to figure out that it was not just computer malfunctions.

How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 4)

SM: Did you go public on the strength of the bankruptcy inventory? PB: No, that inventory was in 2000 and 2001. By the time we went public, bankruptcy inventories were not carrying us. We had the Safeway deal, and we had stable lines of supply.

How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 3)

SM: What was the source of your own financing? PB: We were turned down by 55 venture capitalists. I do not intend for that to be a dig at them. In retrospect, I have a much more positive view of the venture capital industry than I did back then. That just tells you how bad

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How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 2)

SM: What was the genesis of Overstock.com? PB: I came up with the idea just after I retired and went to Dartmouth. When I was over in China with the American college students, we brainstormed different names for the company. The name Overstock.com from a brainstorming and voting session. There were 20 students in that

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How A Warren Buffett Protégé Built Overstock.com: CEO Patrick Byrne (Part 1)

Dr. Patrick M. Byrne is chairman and CEO of Overstock.com, Inc., a Utah-based Internet retailer that has been publicly traded since 2002. Under Byrne’s leadership, the company’s revenue soared from $1.8 million in 1999 to $760.2 million in 2007. Before founding Overstock.com, Byrne served as chairman, president, and CEO of Centricut, LLC, and held the

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