HK Partnership

Strategic Concepts & Mechanics

Relationship LeveragePay Consultants to Open Doors

Signature MoveGood Cop While Gibbs Plays Bad Cop

Competitive AdvantageMonopoly Infrastructure as Chokepoint

Capital StrategyHidden Cost of Frivolous Spending

Cornerstone MoveSell Before the Floor, Buy the Next Thing

Signature MoveNever Consider Failure as a Possible Outcome

Risk DoctrineBrierley's Bluff-Bid Brinkmanship Lesson

Cornerstone MovePhone Call to the Top, Then Show Up Anyway

Signature MoveStagger Contracts to Break Supplier Cartels

Cornerstone MoveExclusive Rights as Subscriber Magnet

Signature MoveResign from Everything When Time Becomes the Priority

Signature MoveCut-Throat Competition Even at the Dinner Table

Decision FrameworkRide Winners, Cut Losers at Ten Percent

Identity & CulturePhone Stops Ringing Test of Friendship

Strategic PatternState Broadcaster Arrogance as Opening

Operating PrincipleLucky Timing as Honest Accounting

Capital StrategySubscriber Economics Over Advertising

Risk DoctrineAnimal Intuition to Exit

Primary Evidence

"‘I think Nate would rather have had Craig back out of the whole thing and let Nate and Time Warner, and to a lesser extent TCI, take over, really,’ Downey says. ‘Nate tended to keep Craig out of the loop and Nate saw his reporting line as back to Jeff Schwall in the US, who was the Time Warner director to whom Nate reported. That was okay to a point because Time Warner was a huge influence on the HK Partnership. But it did mean that Craig felt not consulted when he should have been and when he saw himself—because of him and Terry having founded the whole operation—as having special rights. That led to persistent misunderstandings and conflicts between Craig and Nate. Both sides were in the wrong. Craig did poke into matters that a chief executive should have handled without difficulty, and Nate did withhold information from directors, including Craig, where he should have consulted us instead of consulting Jeff Schwall.’"

Source:No Limits: How Craig Heatley Became a Top New Zealand Entrepreneur

"The negotiations ground on for weeks, partly because while in principle the HK Partnership was buying half of Sky, in reality it was four different companies buying 12.75 per cent each. Given the size of the respective four companies, it was a small investment for each of them, but in the unusual circumstances it was hard to get everyone in agreement."

Source:No Limits: How Craig Heatley Became a Top New Zealand Entrepreneur

Appears In Volumes

No Limits: How Craig Heatley Became a Top New Zealand Entrepreneur