McDonald's is clearly one of the most innovative companies in the world.
I've been saying this for a while now. I even wrote an article on Seeking Alpha about it.
It may seem crazy on the surface, but when you think about it, it makes sense.
Franchising, the drive-thru, the long-term property plays enhanced by development with OPM (other people’s money)... All of these inventions came directly from the mind of McDonald's de facto founder, Ray Kroc. He was a genius. I've been a fan of Kroc since before Batman played him in The Founder, but if you haven't seen that movie yet, it's definitely worth a couple hours. If you're a business strategy head like me, you might even want to watch it twice.
Yeah sure, maybe he screwed over the ol' McDonald brothers. But c'mon guys! Get that shit in writing!
Moreover, he didn’t invent them but he created a corporate culture that led to the creation of more than a few products that enjoy a billion dollars in annual revenue: the Big Mac, Filet-o-Fish, and the Egg McMuffin to name just three.
Today, August 6th, is apparently the 50th birthday of the BigMac and, to celebrate, Mickey D’s is giving out MacCoin to everybody who stands in line today in China.
What is a MacCoin? Well, rumors were this promotion was actually going to involve cryptocurrency. It certainly would have been a much cheaper rollout if it had been, but it’s actually a hard coin. Here is a picture for the numismatists among you.
I don’t know how they’re gonna keep track of all these free burgers without a blockchain or how they’re going to record this massive accounting liability on their balance sheet, but hey “Not my problem!”
I’m just a fat and happy shareholder/customer who has seen his stock nearly double since purchasing a bunch of shares in my Roth IRA in 2015 around the time Steve Easterbrook took over as CEO.
Just look at these people standing in line! They love Big Macs!
From the front:
And from the back:
The Chinese clearly are crazy 'bout some free delicious Big Macs.
Keep working it, Ronald McDonald, you crazy clown you!