Bluegreen Vacations CEO on IPO Day: Why Timeshare is Winning
Bluegreen Vacations, a timeshare company that sells vacation ownership interests and manages resorts, opened for trading Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.
After pricing at $14 a share, shares got off to a rough start and opened lower at $12.55. Shawn Pearson, CEO of Bluegreen Vacations, joined us on set to explain why now was the right time for the company to go public.
With the rise of Airbnb, some question the impact the unicorn is having on the hospitality market. While it may be an issue for traditional hotel companies, Pearson says he actually sees Airbnb as an opportunity because they are drawing people away from traditional hotels.
The CEO believes the company's best growth opportunity is in the west and northeast regions of the U.S. While he thinks overseas markets could eventually pay off, Pearson says the focus for now is domestic.
Bluegreen is capitalizing on consumers' shifting demand toward experiences. He thinks the best destinations for those seeking a good time are those such as Charleston, not necessarily LA or NY. Pearson emphasized the company's focus is on Middle America.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
