Thought Starters Archives - Page 3 of 17

General

Rupert Murdoch steps down from Fox and News Corp. with a screed against “elites”

The biggest news of last week was Rupert Murdoch stepping down from his media and entertainment empire and handing over the reigns to his oldest son Lachlan (so I guess in our real life version of Succession, Kendall won).

25th Sep, 2023

General

Nearly half of Americans aged 18-to-29 are living with their parents

It seems wherever you look around the world, the economic picture is looking bleak for young people entering the work force and the housing market today.

21st Sep, 2023

General

Howard Marks: Fewer Losers, or More Winners?

In this memo, he writes about the concept of risk in investing and how he has trained his team at Oaktree to think about risk when building portfolios.

20th Sep, 2023

General

The people paid to train AI are outsourcing their work… to AI

Using AI-generated data to train AI could introduce further errors into already error-prone models

19th Sep, 2023

General

Disney’s wildest ride: Iger, Chapek and the making of an epic succession mess

This article from CNBC tells the inside story of the absolute mess that was CEO succession at Disney. Bob Iger was CEO of Disney for 15 years, from 2005 to 2020.

18th Sep, 2023

General

Toys for Billionaires: Sports Franchises as Trophy Assets

This article from Aswath Damodaran, Professor of Finance at NYU, unpacks the business behind professional sports teams.

15th Sep, 2023

General

The state of competition in Australia

This report from the e61 Institute takes a look at the state of competition in Australia and considers the effects of this lack of competition.

14th Sep, 2023

General

The rise and fall of ESPN’s leverage

This article from Ben Thompson of Stratechery takes a look at the broader dispute between cable providers and network operators and where it could go next.

12th Sep, 2023

General

How Ozempic and weight loss drugs are reshaping this country’s economy

Novo Nordisk is having a moment. Last week it became the most valuable listed company in Europe, overtaking luxury goods giant LVMH.

11th Sep, 2023

General

The mystery of Long COVID is just beginning

This article takes a look at the Long COVID clinic that has been set up at Yale Medical School and shares what doctors there are starting to find.

7th Sep, 2023

General

Nvidia on the Mountaintop

Thompson’s article takes a look at the Nvidia & Cisco comparison and asks: is this comparison fair? And what next for the hottest company of 2023?

6th Sep, 2023

General

The end of the Googleverse

Many people will look at AI chatbots like ChatGPT and suggest that they will just continually chip away at Google’s search dominance and ad-driven business model.

5th Sep, 2023

General

17 Fascinating Stock Pitches

This was an interesting collection of articles we came across. It features 17 written stock pitches from active fund managers, and we didn’t recognise any one of the 17 companies discussed.

4th Sep, 2023

General

The staggering economic impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour

Typically, every $100 spent on live performances generates an estimated $300 in ancillary local spending on things like hotels, food and transportation. But for the Eras Tour, Swifties are taking this to the next level, dropping an estimated $1,300-$1,500.

31st Aug, 2023

General

Making sense of the China meltdown story

This article from financial research house Gavekal has taken a look at the recent reporting to try and understand if something is different this time in China.

30th Aug, 2023

General

Uber, transforming into a cash-flow machine

This article is a deep dive on how Uber has turned itself around and what is coming next for the world’s dominant ride share and food delivery player.

29th Aug, 2023

General

Did plastic straw bans work? Yes, but not in the way you’d think

National Geographic calculated that of the 8 million tons of plastic deposited into the world’s oceans each year, only 0.025 percent is comprised of plastic straws.

25th Aug, 2023

General

The land beyond the drug war

This article looks at the American state of Oregon as one possible solution. It has followed Portugal’s lead in treating drug abuse as a behavioral-health disorder, not a crime.

24th Aug, 2023

General

Are carbon offsets all they’re cracked up to be? We tracked one from Kenya to England to find out.

This article from Vox has tracked a carbon credit as it moves around the world as a way to explain many of the pitfalls in today’s carbon market.

23rd Aug, 2023

General

Investing’s big blindspot

This article from Sapient Capital makes the case that the best investors throw out any rules or universal principles when it comes to investing.

22nd Aug, 2023

General

Can AI replace actors? Here’s how digital double tech works

This article explains the leap forward in this technology and what it will mean for the future of Hollywood films and the background actors that appear in them.

18th Aug, 2023

General

What Happens When Private Equity Buys Your Doctor's Office?

Private equity firms are investing heavily in healthcare, but a new study finds that this could lead to higher costs and worse care.

16th Aug, 2023

General

Why does big tech seem to get cheap so often?

Here’s something that would surprise a lot of people: every few years we have the chance to buy one of the Big Tech companies on the cheap

14th Aug, 2023

General

How Will Artificial Intelligence Change the News Business? Here are three theories of the case.

In plenty of industries, ChatGPT threatens workers, promising a future where employers are offered an alternative to human labour (if they’re willing to deal with the annoyingly-frequent AI hallucination).

9th Aug, 2023

General

Boyar Research: TopGolf Callaway Brands (NYSE: MODG)

This analyst report takes a look at the newly combined company - renamed from Callaway to TopGolf Callaway Brands - and considers it as a potential investment.

8th Aug, 2023