One of history's greatest investors is Peter Lynch, who managed Fidelity's Magellan mutual fund from 1977 to 1990. For the most part, he focused on investments that he understood well, such as GE (NYSE: GE), Kemper, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and so on.
So, what is he doing now?
Interestingly enough, he's an investor in a dot-com startup, Jackpot Rewards, which has raised $16.7 million so far.
It's hard to pigeonhole the company. For example, it is a for-profit entity -- yet it plans to contribute 50% of its profits to charitable causes.
The site is a place for consumers to get discounts, such as from Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), Nike (NYSE: NKE) and so on. And yes, these seem like the kind of companies Lynch would invest in.
Oh, and Jackpot Rewards says it will give away $1 million per week to its members. There is even the possibility of a $100 million prize.
OK, so where does Jackpot Rewards gets its own revenues? There is a $3 weekly fee.
Sound kind of looney? Not really. Hey, Lynch is a math maestro. Essentially, the site needs about 150,000 paying users to get to critical mass.
So, yes, this could be one of those situations where there really is a "win-win."
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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