WebProNews

Tag: LiveStrong

  • Lance Armstrong Invested Early in Uber and May Now be a Billionaire

    Lance Armstrong Invested Early in Uber and May Now be a Billionaire

    Lance Armstrong says that he was one of the original Uber investors staking them $100,000 at a valuation of just $3.7 million. There are reports that Uber’s projected IPO will value the company at $120 billion. Armstrong wouldn’t say what percent of Uber he still owns but it is conceivable that his stake could be worth $1 billion or more today. Armstrong has battled many lawsuits after his doping admission on Oprah and the Uber investment was key for his family. “It’s worth a lot. It’s saved our family,” he says.

    Lance Armstrong discussed his massive Uber success story in an interview on CNBC:

    Lance Armstrong an Uber Billionaire?

    When I met Chris Sacca he was at either Google or Twitter and Sacca’s personality is larger than life, we were having fun and we kept in touch and then some years later, probably around 2008 or 2009, he left to start his own venture capital fund called Lowercase Capital. He called me said looking for investors, would you invest. I’m thinking to myself this guy has a huge personality but he’s also very smart, very well-connected. Why not?

    Invested $100,000 in Uber at a Valuation of $3.7 Million

    So I invested in Chris Sacca. I didn’t even know that he did Uber. I thought he was buying up a bunch of Twitter shares from employees or former employees and the biggest investment in the Lowercase Fund One was Uber. It had a valuation of $3.7 million. I gave them a hundred thousand bucks. It’s worth a lot. It’s saved our family. I follow Uber very closely.

    I’m Actually Worried About Travis (Kalanick)

    I do know Travis Kalanick a little bit. Chris Sacca brought him to one of the tours. In hindsight, I think Dara has done a great job and with what they’re poised to do it is pretty impressive. I can’t like that (Kalanick’s firing) right, I mean I was that guy. Travis is Uber and Lance is LIVESTRONG. Is there not some hybrid solution here? You’re out of control, time-out? But again, in hindsight, they haven’t missed a beat.

    I’m actually worried about Travis. I’ll email him sometimes because he’ll say things and I’m like dude, I’ve seen this movie and it’s got a real shitty ending. Of course, his ending has a lot of zeros on it. But you can’t question their decision now. I get it man. I get that this is your baby and you want to fight for it and you want to protect it and you will do anything, say anything, do anything, go anywhere, confront anybody, but in this day and age, 2018, you can’t.

  • Lance Armstrong Still Champ, According to Armstrong

    Lance Armstrong made an ill-advised visit to the Tour de France on Friday.

    On the occasion of the 100th edition of the race, Armstrong gave an interview to Le Monde, France’s premier daily newspaper. In the interview, Armstrong claims that the doping scandal that led to his professional demise has ruined his life, and the disgraced rider went on to describe the rampant doping practices during the era of his prominence.

    Armstrong won seven consecutive Tours from 1999-2005, though his legacy was destroyed in the wake of a lengthy US Anti-Doping Agency investigation and Armstrong’s subsequent admission to Oprah Winfrey, in January 2013, that he had doped for most of his career.

    Armstrong insists that winning titles during that time period would not have been possible without the use of performance-enhancing supplements. He further maintains that he is still the record-holder for tour victories, despite having been stripped of his wins in the wake of the scandal.

    Le Monde’s interview broke little new ground, but Christian Prudhomme, the Tour’s director suggested that Armstrong is manipulating the race’s high profile to keep himself in the limelight: “This is a very big tournament,” said Prudhomme, “There are 2,300 accredited journalists here, there are cameras everywhere. So if someone wanted to transmit a message, this is the time obviously, especially since everyone likes this kind of controversial statements.”

    Even so, there’s little hope for Armstrong to fully rehabilitate his image. Sponsors were generally quick to disown him after his Oprah interview; he reportedly lost $75m in one day on abandoned sponsorships. He had to sell his Austin, Texas home this spring. Nike held on to Armstrong until May 2013, but even they severed their longstanding ties with the athlete and his Livestrong charity.

    Among the under-explored tragedies of the whole Lance mess is the fact that his fall makes key scenes in both “Dodgeball” and “You, Me, and Dupree” nigh unwatchable.

    Oh, yeah, the other gem from the Le Monde interview: Regarding former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Armstrong said, “Il a toujours été cool avec moi” (trans: “he’s always been cool with me”). I’m sure Sarko is relieved.

  • Armstrong Sells Estate in Austin, Texas

    Armstrong Sells Estate in Austin, Texas

    Lance Armstrong has had a rough couple of years. Once the most beloved athlete in the U.S. for his story of overcoming cancer to become a seven-time Tour de France winner, the cyclist has now fallen into disgrace. After years of litigation, the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency last year stripped Armstrong of his titles and banned him from the sport of cycling. Armstrong has lost the support of sponsors and is now facing several lawsuits related to the doping scandal. He recently gave an interview with Oprah Winfrey in which he issued an apology and admitted to doping.

    This week, the Austin American-Statesman is reporting that Armstrong has sold his 1.7-acre estate in Austin, Texas. The report stated that Al Koehler, the founder of Royalty Clearinghouse, has taken out a $3.1 million loan to purchase Armstrong’s estate, which includes a 7,850-square foot house.

    Armstrong bought the estate in 2004 and renovated it, hanging his seven yellow Tour de France victory jersey’s on the walls of the house. The athlete also owns a home on Hawaii’s Big Island.

    Armstrong was recently spotted in Los Angeles and is rumored to be in talks with movie studios over a biopic of his life. If the cyclist is planning a more permanent move to L.A., he could look into buying the infamous Playboy Bunny House, which just went up for sale and is located directly across the street from the Playboy Mansion.

  • Lance Armstrong Parts Ways With LIVESTRONG Job, Nike

    Lance Armstrong shocked millions when it was announced he was involved in a doping scandal earlier this year; after becoming a symbol of strength and hope for so many, the news that he may have acquired his seven Tour de France titles illegally came as a hard blow to those he inspired.

    Now, after having those titles invalidated and being banned from competitive cycling forever, Armstrong is officially stepping down as chairman of LIVESTRONG, the foundation he started as a means to raise funds for cancer research and to help cancer patients and survivors. He issued a statement this morning regarding his decision.

    “In 1996, as my cancer treatment was drawing to an end, I created a foundation to serve people affected by cancer. It has been a great privilege to help grow it from a dream into an organization that today has served 2.5 million people and helped spur a cultural shift in how the world views cancer survivors. This organization, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart.

    “I am deeply grateful to the people of the foundation who have done such hard and excellent work over the last 15 years, building tangible and effective ways to improve the lives of cancer survivors. And I am deeply humbled by the support our foundation has received from so many people throughout the world — survivors, world leaders, business leaders and of course, the cancer community itself. We turn to this community frequently for guidance and collaboration to achieve our shared goals. They are unfailingly generous with their wisdom and counsel and I can never thank them enough.

    “I have had the great honor of serving as this foundation’s chairman for the last five years and its mission and success are my top priorities. Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship.

    “My duties will transfer to Vice Chairman Jeff Garvey who will serve as chairman. Jeff’s guidance and wisdom have been critical to shaping the foundation’s work since its earliest days. Jeff was this organization’s founding chairman and I have full confidence that under his leadership, the foundation will continue expanding its ability to serve cancer survivors.

    “My family and I have devoted our lives to the work of the foundation and that will not change. We plan to continue our service to the foundation and the cancer community. We will remain active advocates for cancer survivors and engaged supporters of the fight against cancer. And we look forward to an exciting weekend of activities marking the 15th anniversary of the foundation’s creation.”

    The news comes at the same time fitness gear giant Nike has announced they are officially terminating their endorsement deal with Armstrong, and are even changing the name of the Lance Armstrong Fitness Center, located at Nike headquarters in Oregon. The company released their own statement about the decision:

    “Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him. Nike does not condone the use of illegal performance enhancing drugs in any manner. Nike plans to continue support of the Livestrong initiatives created to unite, inspire and empower people affected by cancer.”

    Although the news of Armstrong’s deeds came out between June and August, LIVESTRONG still reported a spike in donations during that time. Daniel Borochoff, founder of CharityWatch, says that the athlete’s followers didn’t want to believe the allegations against him and continued to support the foundation.

    “Individuals that admire and support an individual who is later found out to be severely tarnished, don’t want to admit it, don’t want to admit that they’ve been duped,” Borochoff said. “People, though, do need to trust a charity to be able to support it.”

  • LiveStrong CEO on Fighting Cancer with Social Media, Origin of the Wristband

    WebProNews recently spoke with Doug Ulman, President and CEO of Livestrong, the nonprofit behind the famous yellow wristband and a huge cancer-fighting movement. 

    You probably know that social media has been huge for nonprofits, but listening to Ulman’s story is truly inspiring, as it really shows just how powerful these new tools can be – not just for business and communication, but for making a real difference in the world.

    "Social media has been critical to allowing us, not only to engage with individuals who are part of the movement, but giving them a platform and a voice," Ulman tells WebProNews. "And again, for a nonprofit that’s always watching how we spend money, these tools are free. So, it’s a free way to over-communicate and be very transparent and authentic with millions of people who’ve been touched by cancer and who want to help in some way."

    "Cancer transcends all barriers," he says. "Cancer does not discriminate. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you live, what color your skin is, what religion you are…it is a deadly disease, which is now the number one cause of death around the world, and everybody’s been touched. So, if we can give people a platform, people who want to give back, people who are so resilient, people who want to make the world a better place, if LiveStrong can be that platform, then we’ve achieved our goals, and social media is the only way to do it in a scalable fashion that doesn’t cost way too much money."

    "We used to literally lick envelopes and stamp newsletters, staple them and mail them out," he continues. "Those days are long gone. I mean, now we can communicate in real time. You know, so if I’m here today, we’re telling people what we’re doing. If we have programmatic activities, if we have support programs for people with cancer, we can talk to people in real time every day, and get more people who can benefit from the services, so it’s transformed not only our work, but I think in general, it’s transformed all the nonprofit sector."

    The Origin of the Wristband

    Of course the yellow wristband, which has now even gone digital itself, has played a huge role in getting people excited about the cause. Ulman shared a little about how the Wristband took off and helped shape the movement. 

    "This yellow wristband, this iconic symbol of hope and inspiration and activism and empowerment, allowed people to be a part of this movement, and so it transformed us from a cancer nonprofit who’d been around for six or seven years to an organization who was touching many more lives, and giving people a voice in this process,’ Ulman says. "And so that’s how it sort of transformed from a cause to a movement."

    "We had a great partnership with Nike, and they came to us with this idea to make a yellow wristband, and to sell six million of them," he remembers. "We thought they were crazy. We didn’t think we could ever possibly do that, and it just took off. I mean, the LiveStrong mantra was put on the band. It was a program we had developed a year earlier. Nike started giving them away to some of their athletes. We started selling them, and one thing led to another: the Tour de France, the Olympics, the Presidential election, people wearing them in all walks of life, but the value of it was that no one ever told you to wear it. It just happened organically, and it happened because everybody’s been touched. So, it’s been phenomenal to watch, and even to this day, we’ve sold 72 million of them, and this year we’ll sell at least 5 million, so it continues to go really, really strong."

    The part of about everybody being touched by cancer was truly illustrated during Ulman’s keynote at Blogworld, in which he asked those in the audience to stand up if they had survived cancer, new somebody that had survived cancer or had lost somebody to cancer. Nearly everybody (if not everybody) in the large room stood up. 

    "We’re really focused on two areas," says Ulman. "One is providing direct service to individuals and families that are affected by cancer, and we do that through LiveStrong Survivor Care, an 800 number you can call and get support and help. Our website offers that support and help as well. We’ve got all kinds of other programmatic initiatives, which are aimed at improving the quality of life for people with cancer. And on the other hand, we are a platform for advocacy. How can we give people the opportunity to give back and to help? And helping has traditionally meant giving money, and we dont’ believe in that. If you want to give money, great. But we want your time. We want you expertise. We want your energy. We want to help you accomplish your goals, and get your support. And so, if we can provide great, direct service, and we can give people a platform, then we’re gonna make a huge dent in the cancer burden around the world."

  • Demand Media Adds Blog Syndication to its Content Arsenal

    Here at BlogWorld, Demand Media launched the Demand Media Blog Network, to syndicate bloggers’ content across Demand’s own properties like eHow and Livestrong.com, as well as the company’s Content Channels partner sites.

    “This new offering on our studios platform expands our mission of publishing high quality content at scale," says Stewart Marlborough, GM of Demand Media Studios. "We are already a leader in publishing original, actionable, evergreen content. With the addition of the Demand Media Blog Network, we broaden our content offerings to include timely, topical and opinion-based content from the best of the blogospshere. Now highly-qualified bloggers will have the opportunity to extend their individual brands to the millions of people that visit Demand Media’s websites and those of our partners.”

    Demand Media pitches the Blog Distribution Network as a way to help boggers be more successful by giving them the tools and distribution they need to effectively expand their audience and build their brands. The flyer the company is handing out at their exhibit promises:

    – Have your blog featured on highly trafficked, high PageRank sites
    – Drive traffic and additional engagement on your blog
    – Grow your fan base and interact with new audiences
    – Interact with fellow bloggers through forums, meet ups and more
    – Leverage our revenue share program to earn additional income
    – Gain valuable insights through our Blogger Workdesk
     
    I have to give Demand Media credit for picking a good time to launch this product. BlogWorld is full of bloggers looking for many of these elements. Considering the keynote discussion among ProBlogger’s Darren Rowse and CopyBlogger’s Brian Clark and Sonia Simone about all of the harsh realities of making money blogging, Demand’s offering is apt to gain a great deal of attention from much of the audience of this year’s event. It probably also helped that they hosted a party at the event.

    Demand Media - Experts Wanted (Exhibit at BlogWorld)

    Also at the event, we spoke with John Hewitt, who ran a session on how-to articles (the premise of Demand’s eHow.com), about how the average blogger can compete with companies like Demand Media and Yahoo’s Associated Content (which is also represented here at the show). He simply said to make your content better, because frankly, the stuff that you’ll find on Demand’s properties isn’t always of the highest quality (not that this is the case with all of the their content). Demand has discussed its plans to make this better numerous times throughout the year, and the company appears to be taking the subject very seriously. 

    It will be interesting to see the kind of content that gets picked up through the Blog Distribution Network. I spoke with a couple reps at Demand’s booth, who told me that they’ll have editors going through all the content submissions and overseeing the approval process. They will not accept any obscene content, as they’re looking to keep it family friendly. They also told me they’re only interested in blogs that are updated regularly. 

    Some of the folks trying to learn about writing good how-to articles may actually find applying for this program to be a better alternative to trying to compete with eHow. 

    Either way, its clear that Demand Media is building an army of content producers. If you thought they were already doing this, you can only imagine how much this blog syndication will take things up a notch.

  • Livestrong Aims to Beat #beatcancer Hashtag Record

    LiveStrong CEO Doug Ulman spoke at the BlogWorld & New Media Expo today, where he announced an initiative to beat a record set last year for tweets with the #beatcancer hashtag. Last year’s record was 209,000 and change. This time PayPal and SWAGG will donate 5 cents for every hashtag. It starts at 9:00 AM on 10/15. 

    You can also go to beatcancereverywhere.com and pledge to have more money donated, which will also benefit other nonprofits like Bright Pink and Stand Up to Cancer. Ulman says one of the things we don’t see enough of in the nonprofit world is collaboration. announced

    Ulman spent some time discussing how important social media has been to the LiveStrong cause. "What social media has done is it has democratized the movement," he said. 

    Ulman says he has not spent as much time blogging, as he maybe would like. He often gets halfway through a post and decides that people might not want to read it. He expressed a bit of guilt for not blogging more. 

    "Three years ago, I didn’t have a Facebook page and I didn’t know what Twitter was," he said, adding how humbled he felt being in the presence of so many social media enthusiasts at the event.  

    Doug Ulman Talks Social Media and the Cause

    He does say that Lance Armstrong does his own tweets, and that he’s never had anyont tweet for him. Some of his colleagues said he should start trying Twitter in December 2008, before Lance Armstrong, then he got Lance into it, and now he’s up to 2.6 million followers. "Lance Armstrong is the most authentic, transparent person I know using social media," said Ulman. Just in the last week, Livestrong passed a million Facebook fans. 

    It is openness and transparency that he deems critical for the cause.
     
    One other interesting tidbit – Ulman thought the yellow wristbands were a horrible idea at first. They were also originally going to say "Just do it." The first five thousand had a Nike Swoosh on it.
     
    15% of LiveStrong’s budget goes to cancer research, and the rest goes to helping families. 

    Watch live.dev.webpronews.com for our exclusive interview with Ulman.