Dividing Digital Assets – In Business, and In Life
By: Bryan Hughes, Solutions Director
My wife and I are movie buffs. We love to sit on the couch together and watch a film we haven’t seen before, usually while sharing a bottle of wine (or two…sometimes three). And because our TV is linked up to smart technology, we don’t have to limit ourselves just to what’s on cable or in our DVR. We can also search through platforms like Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.
We often end up using Amazon since it has virtually any movie you could want. Usually, we choose to rent the movie for 24 hours, but sometimes we’ll buy it outright. When this happens, Amazon loads the movie to our account—our JOINT account. This led me to wonder: What happens when the two people on a joint digital account…are no longer “joint”?
Now, don’t get me wrong, my wife and I are very happily married. But not every couple can say the same thing. And, it’s not just couples that use shared accounts: roommates, relatives, and friends can be tied to the same collection of digital assets. Separating out those assets can be messy, but it’s often inevitable.
I decided to check with Amazon to see how they handle these types of situations; their answer, essentially, was that dividing digital assets isn’t possible. You have to start a new account, which means starting over. (Read your Terms of Service for these platforms…they’re very interesting)
Now imagine you’re a business going through a divestiture or acquisition, and your digital properties are up for grabs. It’s a similar situation to a joint Amazon account, but you do have options. Still, the stakes are much higher, and the consequences far greater if something goes wrong. With stock prices now tied as much to digital assets as physical inventory, it’s critical that the process for dividing digital assets in these situations is handled discretely, professionally, and impartially.
Resolvit has experience working with leading companies to implement programs, and processes, for dividing digital assets. We can work with you to assess your current state status, create an asset management program, carry it out in the time allotted, and provide ongoing troubleshooting and support.
Interested in implementing a digital asset management program? Contact us to begin the conversation.