Bloomberg (December 1)
“For all the bullish milestones notched by November’s big market surge, recent history offers Wall Street a lesson in caution. Time and time again, speculation breaks out that the Federal Reserve is poised to ease monetary policy soon enough — spurring even cautious investors to erupt in a spasm of cross-asset buying. Stocks jump, bond yields fall, and a dash ensues among equity speculators into shady corners encompassing everything from meme fliers to crypto and profitless tech.”
Tags: Bonds, Bullish, Caution, Cautious, Cross-asset buying, Crypto, Fed, Investors, Market surge, Monetary policy, November, Speculation, Stocks, Tech, Wall Street, Yields
Institutional Investor (April 6)
“Venture capital activity has all but dried up for the hedge funds (and/or their VC arms) that used to be among the most active in the private market for tech, internet, and new economy companies.”
Tags: Active, Dried up, Hedge funds, Internet, New economy, Private market, Tech, Venture-capital
Financial Times (February 28)
Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, “is voting against Apple’s pay policies, including $99mn in salary and bonuses for chief executive Tim Cook, part of a growing shareholder backlash against remuneration at the tech giant.” The funds rationale includes the belief that “a substantial part of annual pay should be provided in shares that are locked in for five to 10 years.”
Tags: Apple, Backlash, Bonuses, Cook, Fund, Norway, Pay policies, Remuneration, Salary, Shareholder, Sovereign wealth, Tech, Voting
CNN (February 3)
“Meta Platforms, the company formerly known as Facebook, just had its worst trading day in its history as a public company,” dropping $240 billion or 26% of its market cap. “The eye-popping drop in value is a reminder of just how massive the tech giant really is. Meta’s market cap has now declined by an amount that is greater than the total valuation of most public companies.”
Tags: $240 billion, Drop, Eye-popping, Facebook, Giant, Market-cap, Massive, Meta Platforms, Tech, Trading, Value, Worst
Financial Times (August 16)
“It is only five years since so-called unicorns—private tech companies valued at $1bn or more—sprang on to the public consciousness. They were succeeded by “decacorns”—$10bn and up. What comes next could put all this in the shade.”
The Economist (July 1)
The European Commission levied a record-setting fine on Google. “The size of the fine the tech giant will have to pay for abusing its monopoly in online search, €2.4bn ($2.7bn), sets a record for European antitrust penalties,” but it remains to be seen whether Google will have to cough it up. The tech firm has promised an appeal. By no means is this case clear-cut, but its resolution should further thought on the extent to which “network effects create high barriers to entry in online markets.”
Tags: Antitrust, Barriers to entry, European Commission, Fine, Google, Monopoly, Network effects, Search, Tech
1843 (March Issue)
“Even though the fashion business relies on passing fads to keep the consumer interested, many of the products sold under the flag of luxury are built to last. Personal tech, conversely, is built to be surpassed. A top-of-the-line iPhone 7 currently retails at just north of £900, but next year it will be last year’s phone – an anachronism. Tech is perishable. Luxury is forever.”
Chicago Tribune (January 9)
“A fast-evolving yet underappreciated phenomenon in American life and politics” is being brought about by millennials who “are so smitten with mobile technology and its social and economic applications that they see tech as the solution to just about everything.” Their digital mindset is driving their politics to become increasingly libertarian. They are “very liberal on social issues such as gay marriage and legalized pot, yet very skeptical of government efforts to regulate the economy or levy taxes.”
Tags: Applications, Economy, Liberal, Libertarian, Life, Millennials, Mobile technology, Politics, Taxes, Tech, U.S.
New York Times (October 19)
“The regulatory woes seem to be never ending for the newest wave of tech start-ups.” Start-ups like Uber and Airbnb are facing regulatory hurdles and legal battles in numerous jurisdictions. A naïve “belief that problems can be solved without involving people is probably why many of these companies did not meet with regulators and officials before starting services in new cities. And it has come back to haunt them.”
Tags: Airbnb, Officials, Problems, Regulators, Regulatory, Services, Start-ups, Tech, Uber
Institutional Investor (May Issue)
“New innovative business models by upstarts Tesla and Uber are poised to disrupt multiple industries at once.” Both companies have been driving around barriers thrown up by conventional businesses that feel threatened. “The real winners to watch — the companies that will shape the landscape of American business and tech — are those that seek to fill customers’ every need, that work themselves into new markets however possible.”
Tags: Barriers, Business, Business models, Customers, Disrupt, Innovative, Markets, Needs, Tech, Tesla, Threatened, U.S., Uber, Winners
