Rich Energy

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Amazon will let you try a sample of the text to your kindle if you so wish..

I think the Amazon rainforest would be a better bet! Much better use of paper there

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by S griffin

I think the Amazon rainforest would be a better bet! Much better use of paper there

It’s electronic so….

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

It’s electronic so….

Those Amazon electron harvesting plantations are hard at it

[chillibowl]

guess ive followed this thread too much and now stupid rich energy crap populates my twitter feed...stupid electrons!

https://twitter.com/rich_energy/stat...47959225888769

apparently 2021 has a new title winner!

[Richard C]

I wanted to do a quick mini-review of the book "Racing with Rich Energy: How a Rogue Sponsor Took Formula One For a Ride" by Elizabeth Blackstock and Alanis King.

I think if you are interested in the topic and have not already done a super deep dive then you might find it worth reading. I feel I have somewhat dug into this topic myself and they have clearly gone deeper. Especially when it comes to social media posts by Storey and those related to him. This provides some extra background on what Storey has done and said in his lead up to him appearing on the F1 stage with the Haas sponsorship. It provides a good top to bottom history of Rich Energy and F1 (up through the breakup with Haas and a bit beyond)

There is some interesting insights into what was going on (experience of some of the employees) inside Haas in 2019, but generally from what I would say this is middle/lower level employee perspective (anonymous). And there is some interesting details from a few of Storey's business partners. Mostly in early days of Rich Energy. They also provide a good history of how the product came about.

The problems with the book is that sadly, while the authors did lots of work to find out who the players are and clearly reached out to them and many others, it sounds like few were willing to go on the record and provide details. This ranges from those who started the drink company before Storey showed up, more recent people who are identified in public documents and lastly Haas itself. It really is unfortunate that so few were willing to talk. Maybe it is still just too soon to get people to spill on the internal details. The book could have been so much better if more had just talked. So there remains a bunch of unanswered questions. And sadly no smoking gun. Just a ton of smoke. Enough to know there is a fire somewhere, but you still can't see it just yet. It do find it funny that they were not particularly kind to Peter Windsor and his "interviews" with Storey given the sponsorship Windsor had from Rich Energy and his lack of any serious or hard questions when talking to Storey!

In general, I think this reinforces the general view of Storey and Rich Energy. Storey seems to be one of those guys who is just always working on some hustle to make it big. And he just rotates from one failed attempt to the next until he makes something work. There is nothing wrong with that. He also seems to be decent enough of a self promotor and salesman that he is able to talk people into working with/funding him. I don't think the book really is able to expose exactly where the money comes from, but it sounds like Storey probably just was able to convince various people to fund him. I suspect one reason many will not talk is that they probably are embarrassed to admit being part of the entire circus and were part of funding it. It also sounds like he bought title sponsorship with Haas for not much money. And even then he didn't pay it all.

The concept of the energy drink is probably a sound one. And he has hit upon something that can work. But he is also his own worst enemy and probably at this point no longer particularly useful or helpful to move the company forward. He seems to just really have a general strategy of "fake it until you make it". But the problem seems to be that he just can't make the transition over from "100% bluster" to "actual businessman". He seems to have a massive history of just pulling content from elsewhere and claiming it as his (Whyte bike logo, images on social media). It sounds like most everything he posts is not real or is some massive stretching of the truth (is anyone shocked?) This also includes claims of market penetration, sales, etc. That in the end, you just get confirmation he is as he appears. And example of the "Peter Principle" in which someone has risen to a level in which his incompetency prevents him from moving further.

As to why he and the business continues to limp along? As I say it above, as a business, Rich Energy probably has legs. Whatever remains of his partners probably knows they can extract something out of it. I think that is why you have all of the recent drama around distribution rights and sponsorship of other racing efforts. But at it's core, it sounds like Storey has full control over some key parts (not clear what that is). Maybe it is the ownership of the IP or something like that. So any partner who might want to eject him can't. The last attempt didn't work. I suspect Storey also has no interest in cashing out and leaving as this remains his ticket to relevancy and staying in the public eye. His ego will not allow him to let the business be competently run by someone else. The negative drama he brings is probably just part of the cost of doing business for them.

Richard

[VIVA GT]

Thanks for taking the time to do that Richard, all very interesting. I'm still tempted to put an order in for the book so that I can read it myself, but maybe there are better books/subjects to spend my money on?

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by VIVA GT

Thanks for taking the time to do that Richard, all very interesting. I'm still tempted to put an order in for the book so that I can read it myself, but maybe there are better books/subjects to spend my money on?

I don't regret buying it. But I see where it could have been better.

Richard

[crmalcolm]

Two major announcements coming this week?

F1-related?

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

Two major announcements coming this week?

F1-related?

Related tweet from Rich Energy...

https://twitter.com/rich_energy/stat...20020411445251

Oh... I have already figured it out. It includes a hashtag for Imola. So that is a hint it is related to a specific Italian team (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) I think the two items are...

1. Rich Energy is buying Ferrari
2. William Storey will be both team principal and driver at Ferrari.

The only detail remaining to be worked out is which driver will pair up with Storey. My guess is Niki Mazepin or Jos Verstappen. Each brings something special. But I am leaning toward Jos as having a father son duo racing against each other and being sponsored by competing energy drink brands. It can only be fireworks!

Richard

[S griffin]

Oh dear, it seems yet more circumstances have prevented him, now Imola is cancelled

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by S griffin

Oh dear, it seems yet more circumstances have prevented him, now Imola is cancelled

I am hearing that the check to purchase Ferrari was washed away in the flood. It wasn't Storey's fault the Ferrari deal didn't work out (it never is!)

Seriously, I am curious as to what the news is. According to Twitter it will be revealed this Friday at 2PM (I assume UK time).

https://twitter.com/rich_energy/stat...12824508350465

Richard

[Richard C]

https://twitter.com/rich_energy/stat...85402657816578

Apparently it is buying into/sponsoring "Wilson Craig Racing" who is a Northern Ireland bike racing team (focused on just TT racing???). I know there was/is drama around who is in control of using the Rich Energy name and sponsorship. This was talked about last summer around Stephen Dudman and OMG Racing. You look at the OMG Racing site and they don't show Rich Energy sponsorship anymore. So maybe that has been cleared up?

I don't follow bike racing or the TT stuff at all so I don't know what all of this means. I tried to look into who that team is, but their website is broken at the moment. http://wilsoncraigracing.com. They do have an Instragram page. I have no clue who they are or how big they are.

RE also mentioned two announcements. So I don't know if this is one of two announcements or they are counting the "buying into" and "sponsoring" as two items.

Richard

[t4tinks]

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/bb...-fc-will-fail/

Looks like another of Storey's bids will end in failure...

[Richard C]

Originally Posted by t4tinks

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/bb...-fc-will-fail/

Looks like another of Storey's bids will end in failure...

I really don't know anything about UK football leagues, but it seems like he has a history of failed team purchase attempts and it seems that meeting either financial and/or image and integrity standards keep tripping him up. In short, he either doesn't have the money, or if he has the money, he is deemed to be a bit too "out there" (to put it kindly) to fit within the league as an owner. Neither issue surprises me.

Richard

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by Richard C

I really don't know anything about UK football leagues, but it seems like he has a history of failed team purchase attempts and it seems that meeting either financial and/or image and integrity standards keep tripping him up. In short, he either doesn't have the money, or if he has the money, he is deemed to be a bit too "out there" (to put it kindly) to fit within the league as an owner. Neither issue surprises me.

Richard

Well, nowadays all owners and potential owners have to pass a "Fit and Proper" test; considering some of his past history, he may well fall down at that point.

[Richard C]

Quick follow up to that new items about Storey looking to buy Reading FC.

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/103985...buy-reading-fc

Storey is saying...

After signing a contract and exclusivity in Oct[ober] we entered a period of due diligence, our accountants have reported. My investors and I have decided not to proceed.

The article goes on to say that other news organizations have said that Storey...

never signed anything, never had any exclusivity, never showed any proof of funds and never told the club who any of his investors would be

I appreciate the "fake it until you make it" strategy as it can very much work. But if you do it enough, sometimes you don't "make it" and it is just exposed as a bunch of hot air. Apparently this is the third club he has tried and failed to buy and if I remember correctly prior attempts were labeled as not particularly serious or even valid attempts.

Richard

[Last2LiftOff]

hot air noun [informal]

• empty talk that is intended to impress.

Nicely sums it up in a William Storey thread Richard.

[FIRE]

Almost 800 posts about this Rich Energy.
When will this storey end?

[Mike Harte]

Originally Posted by FIRE

When will this storey end?

Can see what you've done there.


More to the point, maybe, is where will this storey end?

[Richard C]

Sadly no end in sight. And I feel bad for Haas, because it seems nearly every story about... Storey... includes a quick blurb in the introduction about the Haas fiasco. It's like as if every time you see yourself in the news, they always mention that you used to be best of friends with the Joker (or some other villain) until he publicly screwed you over.

Richard