empire

Amancio Ortega has built a second brick -based empire. The funniest thing is that Pontegadea hates to do works

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Amancio Ortega founded one of the world’s largest textile multinationals: Inditex. The Dividends of this empireits founder has created Pontegadea: a International Real Empire with assets valued at more than 20,000 million dollars. However, according to The published by Digital economyin recent months the real estate arm of the Spanish millionaire has carried out two very unusual operations: sell two buildings. A rental -based strategy. Pontegadea has become the Major Inmobiliaria de España for the value of its assets. Its portfolio has been built by investing the annual dividends that Amancio Ortega receives for his inditex actions, which gives him a strategic advantage with respect to his competence because every year he receives a millmillionaire injection of capital to invest without issuing debt. The buildings that has been buying Amancio Ortega’s investment arm have a very diverse use: high -end apartments, strategic commercial premises, office buildings, hotels, Logistic centersetc. However, they all have something in common: solvent tenants who already pay their income even before Amancio is interested in it. That is, unlike other real estate companies, the Pontegadea business is not the sale of real estate, but the Purchase and long -term rental of its properties. It is not usual to sell. The Amancio Ortega real estate business has surprised in recent months with an unusual decision. However, Pontegadea has chosen to get rid of two outstanding buildings in just under six months. The objective of these divestments has been to avoid expensive Reform works that the properties required. One of the properties was actually divided into two buildings, and was used, for more than 20 years and until the end of 2024, as one of the headquarters of the Bank of France in Paris. The offices occupied an area of ​​6,724 square meters, but after the exit of the banking entity it needed a deep reform. That has made the investment group choose it for an amount of 80 million and recover the surplus value. The key: ensure profitability, minimize expenses. More paradoxical is the Sale of the second asset. It is an office building of 15 plants in Manhattan that has recently been put up for sale for the same reason as Paris: I needed A deep rehabilitation Before rented again. However, in this case the sale has been announced for a price of 50 million dollars, which represents 57% less of the 115.5 million dollars that the investment fund paid in 2006 for the property. The sale of these two buildings responds to a strategy mainly oriented to maximize profitability by obtaining an immediate investment return through rentals, avoiding large update expenses in old real estate. Pontegadea usually operates under the principle of maintaining almost the entire portfolio occupied with Tenants of maximum solvency. Assets sales, especially those that imply a devaluation of their purchase price, are very anecdotal. The expansion does not stop. Despite these sales, Pontegadea investments have not stopped in recent months. Among the latest acquisitions, the purchase of an offices building in Paris, which will go to house the group’s offices in the neighboring country, and reinforces its presence in Europe. In addition, Pontegadea He bought recently A 163 -room hotel in Amsterdam for 85 million euros, and a logistics distribution center in the nearby city of Hofddorp for about 145 million euros. In Xataka | Amancio Ortega: the billionaire who lives as one more neighbor. Except for private jets and superyates Image | Gtres, Flickr (Daquella way)

According to NASA, there has only been one person injured by a meteorite. The Ottoman Empire has another opinion

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It could be a trivial question: how many people have been injured by the impact of a meteorite? The official answer, the only documented by NASA, is one. Only one. His name was Ann Hodges. He was taking a nap on the couch of his house, and survived to tell it. However, the dusty files of the Ottoman Empire tell a different story. One that does not end with a great Moraton, but with a death. The interrupted nap of Ann Hodges. The probability that a rock rock falls is very small, but it is never zero. On November 30, 1954, Ann Hodges was sleeping on the sofa of his house in Alabama when an object of the size of a softball ball crossed the roof, bounced on a radio and hit it on the hip. The result: a considerable bruise and a legal dispute between Hodges and her homemade. Tired of media care and curious tourists, the woman ended up donating the meteorite to Alabama Natural History Museum In 1956, where it can still be visited. Two subsequent cases. From the interrupted nap of Ann Hodges there have been two doubtful cases. In 1992, a Uganda child said he was reached in the head by a small rock fragment. The Meteoritus rain existedbut the child suffered any damage. In 2016, a man died in India for the alleged impact of a meteorite. NASA It ended up determining that had not been a meteorite, but an explosion on land. A death in Ottoman archives. In 2020, a team of researchers diving in the state archives of Türkiye found something unexpected. Three manuscripts written in Turkish Ottoman described with chilling details An event occurred on August 22, 1888. The documents, which were official reports aimed at Sultan Abdul Hamid II, report that a “bright light accompanied by smoke” was followed, for about ten minutes, of meteorites that fell “like the rain” on a village of Sulaymaniyah, a region that today is part of Iraq. The consequences were tragic: “A man died and another was seriously injured and was paralyzed.” The texts also mention extensive damage to crops. No one knows where those rocks are. The documents mention that samples of the rocks were sent to the capital, but the researchers have not found them. Even so, it is the first report in the story, backed by three manuscripts, which states that the impact of a meteorite killed a man. The incident has gone unnoticed by more than a century by the idiomatic barrier and the little interest in reviewing historical archives of this type, but seems authentic. “Because these documents come from official government sources, we have no suspicion about their truthfulness,” the study concludes. Unlikely, but not impossible. Every day, about 44 tons of meteoritic material bombard the earthbut the vast majority disintegrates in the atmosphere. That a large enough fragment survives and, in addition, impacts a populated area and, to top it off, hit a person, it is statistically unlikely, but not impossible. Even so, it is not the meteorites that should worry, but our own garbage. Every day three large pieces of space garbage, such as dead satellites or rocket stages re -entering in the atmosphere. The majority burns or falls into the ocean, but luck is not eternal. With the new megaconstellations, the resentments will multiply. “Sooner or later we will have bad luck and someone will be injured by the fall of space garbage,” warns the astrophysic Jonathan McDowell. Images | Public domain In Xataka | A huge meteorite boiled the oceans 3,000 million years ago. It was a “fertilizer bomb” for the earth

Its empire covers 17,000 properties, 38 private jets and a collection of 300 luxury cars

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While in Europe The monarchies They still remain They have made it delegating a good part of their power to parliaments, while maintaining a close and austere profilein Asia its evolution has been Just the opposite: greater concentration of power in the figure of the king and an opulence and excess that exceeds the imaginable. Maha Vajiralongkorn, also known as Rama X, is the monarch of Thailand and is considered as The richest king in the world. Its heritage is valued at 43,000 million dollars, including tens of thousands of properties, a huge collection of luxury cars and even several private planes. A unique heritage in the world The figures surrounding King Rama X not only attract attention for its size, but for the ostentation of it that the monarch does without complexes. It is estimated that King Rama X of Thailand has some 17,000 real estate properties Only in Bangkok, which cover from mansions on the banks of a lake in Bavaria where It passes long seasonspalaces and private residences, even urban developments and shopping centers. All his fortune is managed by the Crown Property Bureauan organism equivalent to what would be national heritage in Spain, which manages the assets of the Monarchy of Thailand. In addition to being able to sleep in a different house every day for the rest of his life, the Thai monarch has 38 private jets that he could pilot the military training he received as part of his preparation as a monarch. He put himself at the controls From Boeing 737-800 in which the Thai delegation was traveling and landed without major problems at the unemployment International Airport, considered one of the most dangerous airports in the world for its orography. His collection of cars is not far behind. According to published Autobildyour collection exceeds 300 luxury carsamong which are a Rolls-Royce Phantom from 1960, a Maybach 62, a Mercedes class S AMG, a Mercedes Class V, a Cadillac DTS or a Rolls-Royce Silver Limousine. This opulence is added 52 real barges, decorated with gold bread, which participate in traditional ceremonies in Thai rivers. A rich heir As usual in the monarchy, in addition to the throne, the Thai King inherited a substantial fortune of his father, King Bhumibol Adjusadej, who ruled for more than 70 years and established the basis of the real heritage that his only son enjoyed now. Forbes already included To the late king as The richest monarch in the world In 2008, with a fortune valued at about 35,000 million dollars. After his rise to the throne in 2016, Rama X did not limit himself to living in income, but has invested in numerous real estate projects that have generated new income. These investments include urban developments and shopping centers that have significantly increased their fortune. In addition, the monarch has invested in actions Of the main Thai companies and financial entities, so it has linked part of its fortune to the success of local companies, while increasing their economic and political influence on their commercial strategies. Rama X leads the ranking as the richest monarch in the worldwith a fortune valued at 43,000 million dollars. The Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunéi, with a fortune 28,000 million. With something more distance, the Fortunas de los Reyes and Emires of the Middle East headed by the Saudi Arabia Monarchyand the ABU DABI EMIRES and Dubai, with fortunes estimated at 18,000 and 14,000 million respectively. In Xataka | A single millionaire spent on his luxury vacation in Mallorca the equivalent of 10,000 tourists: the Emir de Catar Image | Wikimedia Commons (Tris_T7)

YouTube has built its empire as an individual use platform. Now hugging group consumption

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Since its inception, YouTube was synonymous with personal entertainment: short videos we saw alone on the computer or on the mobile. However, the video platform has adapted to the times, investing great efforts to become the main streaming platform also on smart TV. And it is a long time since YouTube also won our rooms. More Smart TV, more YouTube. The platform has gone from being a simple alternative to traditional television, its main competitor. According to the last Nielsen datathe platform already represents 12.5% of the total television viewing time in the United States, surpassing Netflix and other streaming services. In fact, according to study figures, US users now pass an average of More than one billion hours a day watching YouTube on its televisions. In Spain, the platform is also sweeping at Smart TV. We have the example in The Barlovento Study in which they explain that, only in June 2025, 10.1 million unique users agreed to YouTube from their television connected in Spain. The sofa phenomenon. This migration to large screens has completely changed consumption behavior. It is not for less, because the smart TV now provide greater facilities When reproducing content from YouTube or any streaming service. Sending content from the mobile is easier than ever, and also many content creators have also adapted their videos to television consumption, with much more elaborate and more ‘suitable’ productions to enjoy them on the big screen (more resolution, production levels, rhythm, etc.). In WSJ They highlight the statements of American YouTube stars such as Rhett & Link with their “Good Mythical Morning” program, who confirm that 53% of their visualizations come from televisions. Group consumption is increasingly widespread, and it is no longer so strange to wear a background background video on TV with family and friends around. Longer, more professional content. Producers and content creators have quickly captured this trend and are adapting their content. Long -lasting proposals (more than 15 minutes) have experienced an exponential growthespecially on televisions. We see this trend reflected from star canals such as Mrbeast and Yes Theory to national referents such as Ibai Llanos, Jordi Wild or Clavero, among many others, where productions of more than half an hour, with professional equipment and with a content adapted to play it on a television with family and friends. In addition to because many times the content asks for it, there are also other reasons: to maintain the viewer’s attention for a longer time and maximize advertising income through intermediate ads. Between the lines. YouTube has not forgotten the consumption of individual content. In fact, their shorts They are paving their transformation towards a multiformat and multidispositive content platform. A strategy that combines the best of both worlds without giving up the original YouTube DNA. In the United States and other regions, the platform has greater similarities to the rest of streaming platforms, since it has functions such as “shows” (which allows you to see complete seasons such as in Netflix and many others), traditional television channels and personalized recommendations adapted to large screens. The conquest of the TV by YouTube is a battle that has been fighting for many yearsonly that they have taken more than what they expected, partly for the arrival of new technologies to televisions to further facilitate their use. The price of success. This transition to group consumption is also accompanied by an increasing advertising saturation. Ads can occupy between 15% and 20% of the total visualization time, especially on televisions, where YouTube has implemented specific interactive formats such as QR codes for direct purchases. The platform has also hardened Measures against advertising blockersconverting Premium YouTube into the only official escape route for an interruption experience. And now what. YouTube is in a unique position: it has made streaming overcome for the first time in history to combined traditional television and cable consumption in its predominant region, according to Nielsen. His next challenge will be to maintain the balance between aggressive monetization and the user experience, especially when more and more content creators who seek user attention arise. Analysts like Wells Fargo They suggest that Netflix should invest 500 million dollars to attract 20-30 from the main creators of YouTube, although several assured WSJ that there is no check large enough to abandon the audiences they have built for years. Exclusive productions as long as streaming platforms is common in large content creators such as the case of The Beast Games Mrbeast in Prime Video. Leaving a channel after so many years to create exclusive content on a platform such as Netflix, Prime or HBO, is something else. Cover image | Xataka Smart Home In Xataka | Tiktok has been contaminating the rest of the social networks for years. Thanks to that, YouTube is going very well

Pontegadea turns Luxembourg into the new homeland for the Empire of the brick of Amancio Ortega in Europe

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Pontegadea, the Real Estate Holding of Amancio Ortega, It has grown so much In recent years that he has had to review his management strategy for the company’s European assets. Given this change of structure, the company has taken advantage of centralize management Of all the real estate holding company, making the one that until now was the subsidiary of Luxembourg in its new international headquarters. Luxembourg, the new Pontegadea headquarters. Amancio Ortega has completely reorganized the operational structure of its real estate holding company in Europe to convert its subsidiary Pontegadea Luxembourg into a giant that will manage real estate assets worth 7,033 million euros. However, although restructuring has been completed in 2025, it has been forging since 2024, as confirmed From Pontegadea EuropePress. The decision that has encouraged this change is that the great duchy is in a geographical position closer to the assets that it manages, in addition to having a much more friendly taxation for the taxation of the large real estate operations. Expansion under the structure of Luxembourg. In January 2023, Pontegadea registered the Luxembourg subsidiary to, throughout 2024, make several purchases of strategic real estate such as the offices of the Clifford Chance firm or the purchase of two more office buildings more worth 321 million euros. The luxembourgish subsidiary has absorbed the French, and takes control of all the residential buildingshotels, logistics centers and shopping centers that the company has in Germany, France, Ireland, Italy or Netherlands. In addition, it will also take control of the management of some assets in Canada and the United States. Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom stay out. Despite its proximity, the assets that Amancio Ortega bought in Spain and Portugal, as well as The properties of the subsidiary Pontegadea in the United Kingdom remain outside this luxembourg dependent reorganization, and remain under the umbrella of Pontegadea investments. Under Pontegadea investments, 50.01% of the participation of Amancio Ortega en Inditex, Telxius, the telecommunications company that shares with Telefonica, and the entire investment arm in investment in Renewable energy and natural gas that the company has in Spain and Portugal. Why Luxembourg? The short response is for taxation. The long answer is that, the Pontegadea model does not consist of obtaining surplus value of real estate, but of become the landlord of important companies such as Amazon, Apple, Meta or Spotify, as well as renting their buildings To large hotel chains so that they exploit it commercially. All those rental income They are taxed in the countries where the properties are located, but Luxembourg’s fiscal advantage lies in a low tax burden when buying those properties. Amancio Ortega goes shopping in Europe. With this movement, Pontegadea has laid the foundations to begin its expansion throughout Europe, as demonstrated by the latest movements with the Purchase of an office building in the port area of Dublin for 70 million dollars; with the acquisition of the headquarters of the Editorial Planeta in Barcelona for 250 million euros; wave recent acquisition of the Luxury Banke hotel in Paris, for 97 million euros. Both the Dublin building and that of Paris, have directly passed to the Pontegadea Luxembourg asset portfolio. With assets valued at more than 110,000 million euros, Pontegadea has become the largest real estate in Spain, surpassing giants in the sector as colonial or Merlin. With this strategic movement towards Luxembourg, the investment arm of Amancio Ortega prepares to advise a blow to the European real estate market and position itself among the largest in the old continent. In Xataka | Amancio Ortega knows that millionaires are moving to Florida: a skyscraper has been bought for 165 million dollars Image | Gtres, Pexels (ABODI VESAKARAN)

The world’s largest cars laundry empire

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80 years ago, German businessman Joseph Enning set up a business he discovered after spending a year studying in the United States. A car laundry. That tunnel-car-wash that saw in New York had only a conveyor belt, a couple of groups of brushes and a blower to dry the cars. In 1964, he decided to inaugurate the first car wash under the name of MRW-Uuto-Service GmbH. And from there, the rest is history. At that time, Europe had nothing similar. The laundries were completely manual, scarce and expensive. It imported a concept that the United States had been using since the 1950s and, for practically 20 years operating in practically alone, it had hardly any competition. Since then, MR.Wash has opened more than 30 locations in Germany, and Clean more than 8 million cars a year. They are numbers that compete with the laundries installed in the gas stations of the main fuel distributors. The German group is currently considered as the largest automatic laundry operator by center volume (How many cars washed a single center per day), attending up to 5,000 cars per day, 300 every hour with about 100 workers per center. For more context it is convenient to know that in Spain, One of Norauto’s longest tunnels (50 meters)accompanied by a total of 24 boxes, manages to make about 30,000 washes per year. To achieve this volume of daily washes, the company needs unusual laundry. Some of them, Like the open in Bonn in 2021They have a total of three floors and carry a cost of 20 million euros at their opening. An area of ​​5,800 square meters in which plants construction is key to taking advantage of spaces. In Spain, one of Norauto’s longest tunnels (50 meters), accompanied by a total of 24 boxes, achieves about 30,000 washes per year. A volume of washing remarkably lower than that of a single MR.Wash center. There is also nothing similar in Europe or outside it: the maximum capacity usually is around 1,000 daily washes. This ends up translating into an annual turnover, with 2023 figures, 140 million euros only in washes. To which we must add the adjacent service stations of the group itself (110 million) and another 40 for its oil change services. The business and customer service model goes far beyond car washing. In the facilities there is cafeteria to wait while they wash in the car There is library service (in this case, free) In addition to automated washing services, facilities include manual washing boxes Basic maintenance services are offered, such as oil changes If you wonder how much it costs to wash the car in such a place, the answer is … it depends. The basic programs start from 12 euros, which include interior washing up to 40 euros, and the most premium washing rises to 75 euros including tires, shine and waxed. As a curiosity, in some of the MR.Wash centers, the manager himself manually ends the service if the client is not satisfied. Image | MR.Carwash

Sam Altman is building an empire with Openai. One with some lights and with many shadows

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Sam Altman is a master of empathy. He listens to you as if you were the most interesting person in the world, learn what he needs about you and his speech fits what you want. And so convince you. It is one of the first conclusions that Karen Hao arrives in her new book ‘Empire of ai’. In it we are narrated OpenAI origins and its evolution Thanks to hundreds of interviews with employees and former employees of the company, in addition to those made to professionals from other companies in the artificial intelligence industry. Altman is loved or hated, there is no middle ground We actually know the story – in Xataka We have been Speaking of Openai – but what Hao proposes to us is a visit to what happens behind the scenes, contributing many details that help us understand the past, present and perhaps the future of the company. Many of those details focus on the figure of Sam Altman, which does not go especially well stopped. Brilliant as a seller of apparently impossible projects, Altman is sparse in words in his communications with other colleagues. Write emails with a single word, “Meet”to arrange appointments, and sometimes use a simple “?” Because who writes less seems to win the game. Of that Jeff Bezos knows a lot. That, of course, when I wrote something, because according to Hao Altman leaves almost nothing written. Everything is verbal, something that allowed him to argue after people did not remember well what he had talked to him. The opinions of those who talk about him in the book are significant. One of them commented that “it is so attentive. But partly uses it to find out how to influence you in different ways.” Others commented how Altman avoids expressing negative emotions and also confrontation. He dodged the word “no” in conversations with other people. “Others began to see him as someone diabolically capable of beating situations in his favor.” Ilya Sutskever, one of the co -founders who came after her differences with him, left A disturbing statement: “I don’t think Sam is the right person to be the one who has your finger on the AGI button.” OpenAi lives his own ‘Game of Thrones’ Paul Graham, his mentor in Yc Combinator, left two citations that leave a clear idea of ​​what Sam Altman is like. In the first commented that “you could throw in parachute to an island full of cannibals, return in five years and he would be the king.” In the second reinforced That vision of his protégé: “Sam is extremely good when it comes to becoming someone with power.” It is something that Hao often mentions in the book and that makes it clear that Altman does very well one thing: win the battles for power. There are two clear examples, also known. The first, when managed to snatch Musk The direction of Openai at the beginning of that unique adventure. The second, when After his scandalous dismissal He returned more force than ever as the almighty CEO of OpenAi. Those two moments in the history of this company are actually reflecting what happens in any empire: the view seen is usually impeccable, great, powerful. The hidden face is full of internal conflicts and wars, battles for power, and rivalries and differences of criteria that end badly. In all these battles an Altman was imposed again and again that according to Hao used a singular tactic: he changed his speech according to the interlocutor. What he had told A was often what he had told B. The problem arose when A and B were talking about what Altman had told both of them. That also happened with Openai’s original vision. Created as a laboratory for the development of a beneficial for the world, The approach would change soon. To share knowledge and details about its models, the company became a secretism bunker. Seeking to be the AI ​​monopoly Like Oppenheimer, Altman Believe That “technology occurs because it is possible”, and like others before him – including one of his mentors and friends, Peter Thiel – his goal (such as his competitors, of course) is clear according to Hao: What he wants is to create an AI monopoly. We have seen that with the evolution of their models, increasingly powerful, and that They were there to earn money. That was the vision that has ended up winning. The other, to try to develop a safe and “aligned with the objectives of the human race” has been in the background. In fact Hao reflects it well in the book. If Openai is leading the AI ​​career today it is not only for having been the first to launch a chatbot like Chatgpt, but for its apparently disproportionate climbing. He has invested more than anyone from the beginning. To start, to capture talent. When the project began to create OpenAi Ilya Sutskever, I worked in Google Brain and was already considered a superlla of this segment. The rest of the founding members were offered a salary of $ 175,000 and shares of YC Combinator or Spacex. But Sutskever was offered almost two million dollars annuallybut Google counteroffierted on a bid whose final figure is not known. What is known is that Sutskever ended up abandoning Google to sign for Openai –And then leave it-. In 2016 of the 11 million that Openai spent, seven were for salaries. Initially the company “did not really know what I was doing,” explains Hao: few of the things they worked worked, and those who did it “seemed little original or something someone had already done.” There were more ambitious bets. It is demonstrated by the famous demo of that kind of “GPT 2.5” that made Bill Gates in April 2019. Until then those who investigated the development of foundational models of AI did so training those models with a few dozen gpus. Darío Amodei – who ended up leaving Openai to co -confound … Read more

Ozores was a day the most important person in Spain. To the point of delaying the premiere of ‘The Empire Contraataca’

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He has died Mariano Ozoresone of the best known and box office directors in the history of Spanish cinema. Although his cinema has always been despised by critics, his films were infallible blockbusters that put on his competitors on his competitors. Including ‘Star Wars’, whose first sequel had to give in to the overwhelming power of Pajares and Esteso. Long live ozores. Mariano Ozores was one of the main exponents of the Spanish popular comedy since the sixties. His ability to connect with the public was notable thanks to a style that balanced the accessible and the irreverent: as Bruguera of flesh and blood bruguerahis films were simple in the form, but corrosive in what was navigating below. The costumbrista typology, the Spanish scenarios, the explosive humor: key was its style, for example, to strengthen what was known as’Landism‘, pure Hispanic anthropology with the best comedy deals of the time. Great successes. In addition to the films with Alfredo Landa, without a doubt his greatest successes were the ones he signed at the service of Andrés Pajares and Fernando Esteso. With them he signed the legendary ‘Los Bingueros’, sociological phenomenon and more grossing film of that year in Spain, but also ‘The Energy’, ‘Los Liantes’ or ‘Father there are nothing more than two’, up to a total of nine. The 96 films of his vast filmography They were seen for about 90 million viewers. He was the authentic author of the Spanish commercial cinema, when those things made no sense in our industry. Fast, quickly. In 1980, Pajares, Esteso and Ozores had collaborated three times: ‘Los Bingueros’ took the cinema to million and a half spectators and their immediate continuation, ‘The Energy’, of that same year, also went from one million audiences. In both cases they were very short -term films, as usual in the cinema invoiced at infernal speed at the time: ‘Los Bingueros’ was shot taking advantage of the legalization of bingos in Spain; ‘The energy’ was inspired by A nuclear accident in Pennsylvania that horrified the world. The following, take advantage of the international success of ‘Rocky’ in 1976 and ‘Rocky II’ in 1979. Roque III, our Rocky. In just twenty days, Esteso, Pajares and Ozores have their parody, ‘I did Roque III’, where Pajares gives life to Roque Third, a sparrow who lives at a friend’s house, a former Jockey come less. To remove it from Enmedio, the friend decides to take advantage of Roque’s past as an amateur boxer and convinces him to face the national welter champion, Kid Botija. By the way, this boxer named Mortadeliano gives life nothing less than Dum Dum Pacheco, champion of the time whose life, between excesses, fame and prisons, gives for several chronicles and It is currently claiming. Darth Vader reculates. The journalist Juan Sanguino tells it in the documentary ‘Pajares & Cía‘: The power of Pajares and Esteso at a box office to Fox, who decide to delay the premiere of’ The Empire counterattack ‘on the planned date, so as not to coincide with’ I made Roque III ‘. This premieres on September 19, 1980 and the ‘Star Wars’ movie, October 3. “They were the real phenomenon, the real Blockbuster“Sanguino says. Ozores can boast of being the only Spanish filmmaker who has bent to the almighty franchise. In Xataka | The Spanish box office cling this year to a phenomenon: the safe and ‘father there is only one 4

A Norwegian company is building an empire buying Spanish software startups for SMEs. With patience and without mergers

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Norway houses one of the biggest Spanish software startup buyers, although not well known beyond the niche niche. With five acquisitions since 2021 and more than 250 million euros invested in Spain, Visma has become a fundamental actor in the national technology and entrepreneuraccording to a long analysis of EcoTechers. Operational independence as a management model The Nordic giant broke into the Spanish market in 2021 with The acquisition of HoldedBarcelona business management software, which disbursed more than 190 million euros. Since then, has incorporated to declaring, woffu, quaderno and, The most recent, Tugesto, A Valencian startup that was participated by Angels, Juan Roig’s investment society, president of Mercadona. “I would expect something more this year for own ambition and project ambition. 2025 and 2026 are going to be years of many outings of Private Equity who entered the year 2021 and 2022. We are already beginning to see movements, “says Miguel García-Paredes, responsible for mergers and acquisitions for Spain and Portugal of Visma, according to EcoTechers. The most striking of its strategy is that, unlike other corporate buyers, Visma maintains companies acquired as independent entities, retaining their brands and management teams. “The idea of ​​visma is to set up an ecosystem rather than also from entrepreneurs and conserve the entrepreneur,” said García-Paredes. This philosophy was evident after the recent purchase of Tugesto. As reports The economist“It will continue to operate as an independent company under the same name and address.” Manuel Fandos, CEO of Tugesto, said That this union represents “a unique opportunity to revolutionize business management together, especially in a market such as payroll software, where much remains to be achieved and innovate in Spain.” Who is visma: the discreet multinational Founded in 1996 by merger It was privatized by the HG capital fund. Currently, its shareholding is distributed mainly between HG Capital (70%) and the Sustain Fund of Singapore GIC (14%). The company has closed the year 2024 with 2.8 billion euros of income, a growth of 17%, and 893 million EBITDA (+26.6%)according to data provided to EcoTechers. In Spain, where it has more than 400 employees, it hopes to reach 60 million billing this year. “Spain is one of the highest growth for visma,” said Merete Hverven, CEO of the group, to The economist In 2023. “From our landing in 2021, we grow at a rate of 70%.” Visma has perfected its acquisition strategy after More than 373 completed operations worldwide. Only between 2023 and 2024 closed more than 70 purchases. In Spain, its focus is on SME -centered software startupsan easy pattern to detect seeing your history. According to García-Paredes, they look for companies that meet or approach the “40 rule” for software, that is, the sum of the percentage of income in income and the Ebitda margin is equal to or greater than 40. The company, which has a presence in 27 countries in Europe and Latin America, sees in Spain a strategic market for its size – almost 50 million inhabitants – and for the “growing advance of digitalization”, factors that predict that there will be more acquisitions in the future. Outstanding image | VISMA In Xataka | The technological basis of quantum computers developed in Europe: what happened so that in the long term we lost the race

There he learned everything he needed to build Microsoft’s empire

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Microsoft is, without a doubt, the greater professional success of Bill Gates. However, not many people know that the secret of their success was based on some failures that the millionaire committed Before founding the technological. In his autobiographical book, ‘Code Source: My beginnings’Gates reveals how this first business experience, when he was barely a teenager, was decisive to mold his vision about What Microsoft should be. This episode of Gates’s life shows that even the brightest and most successful businessmen have had to stumble learn from your mistakes. Traf-o-Data: Gates and Allen’s first attempt In the summer of 1972, Bill Gates was attended by his last year of high school, while Paul Allen was already in college. Both had met at the school computing club. They were inexperienced and have barely done a few programming projects for the school or to collaborate in projects with their teachers. However, they were presented with the opportunity to code and process telemetry data of the Alburquerque traffic using perforated paper ribbons, so both friends joined for efforts and founded Traf-O-Data. Gates himself is described in the book as a “spoiled know -allotodo” that often responded with sarcasm and disdain with a: “That is the most stupid thing I have heard.” A phrase that, who have worked with the tycoon At some point in his career at the head of Microsoft, he has surely heard on more than one occasion. Having that in mind, the experience provided by Traf-O-Data, although failed, served as learning For someone who has defined himself as self -taught. Both schoolmates created a machine equipped with a Intel 8008 microprocessor of 360 dollars that allowed to automate the reading of the paper tapes that contained the traffic data to digitize that information. Although the idea seemed promising, the company failed to be profitable. As Paul Allen remembered In an article De Newsweek, “Traf-O-Data was a good idea with a poor business model. We had not occurred to market studies and we did not know how difficult it would be to get financing from the municipalities.” In 1975, they managed to bill almost $ 17,000. Which was not bad in the case of an inexperienced young people. According to Paul Allen, he remained operational until 1980, when he already registered annual losses of $ 3,494. This first business failure, far from discouraging them, served as a test laboratory where They learned important lessons on the marketproject management and the importance of constant innovation. “Traf-o-Data is still my favorite mistake because it confirmed that each failure contains the seed of the next success,” Allen recalled. Gates assured in his book that he learned that it is not enough to have a good idea, but it is crucial to have a solid business model and a well -defined business objective. The experience with Traf-O-Data taught them to identify the real market needs (the digitalization of the data of the paper tapes) and to develop solutions that really made the difference (the machine that processed the information), skills that would forge the foundations on which Microsoft would be built. Learning to be the boss The adventure of Traf-O-Data, was also a personal level learning for Gates, somewhat awkward in terms of social skills. Before developing the machine with the processor, Gates and Allen They hired a group of students of lakeside younger than them to transcribe by hand the data of the tapes. They paid fifty cents for each tape. Then, Gates and Allen went to the Library of the University of Washington and used The university computer to process this data and generate the traffic patterns graphics that the tapes had been recorded. That He taught them to work as a teamto make quick decisions and adapt to the changes in the environment to stay in your target. Later, they created their own processing system, which allowed them to collect two dollars daily for the digitalization of the data, as well as expand their business area to other government agencies of the neighboring states to Seattle. Gates himself explained to young peoplethat they were going to graduate at the University of Arizona del Norte that errors are a fundamental part of the learning process and that you should not be afraid to commit them. Traf-o-data was the seed of What is Microsoft today. In Xataka | Bill Gates is clear about the habit of his childhood that has helped him succeed in his career: get bored In Xataka | Steve Ballmer has become a Milmillonario without founding a single company: some of his advice to achieve it Image | Flickr (World Economic Forum)

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