Some of the best analysis on Google, their ad business and anti-trust that we have read.
“There is a strong argument to be made that Google is an unstoppable juggernaut. That said, the regulatory risks to the business are real, and there are several scenarios that investors must game out to illuminate the risks and opportunities the company has in front of it.”
A few weeks ago the UK published a report on online gambling.
The recommendation from the all-party parliamentary group was to reduce the stake in online casinos to £2 maximum (in line with land based regulation).
Worth a quick flick for those invested in the sector.
This was fascinating from Samsonite (h/t The Transcript).
Shows the plasticity of global supply chains.
In a year they have taken sourcing for their US business from 90% China to 67% by Q3 and aiming for 50% next year.
“…we’re very rapidly accelerating the shifting of sourcing from China for our U.S. business … I’m happy to say that for Q3, we’re already at 67%. And as we look to next year, we start to feel like we can get very close to 50% source from China, which for just the core U.S. business was close to 90% just at the start of this year. So, it’s a pretty dramatic shift” – Samsonite CEO
Understanding geopolitical trends is vital to forecast shifting investment landscapes.
This is the latest trove of leaked Iranian reports showing their level of influence in Iraq.
Has ramifications around the world.
“The reports reveal far more than was previously understood about the extent to which Iran and the United States have used Iraq as a staging area for their spy games.“
“The documents show how Iran, at nearly every turn, has outmanoeuvred the United States in the contest for influence.“
Cisco, the networking equipment maker, is a good economic bell-weather. Some telling comments from the Q3 call (h/t The Transcript).
“So, you heard Chairman Powell yesterday talking about his concern over business investment. And I think that’s the issue that we’re facing. The consumer in the U.S., as you see from Walmart and from others, has remained very strong.“
“What we see, when we see our customers pause, there are a few things that are just – that are usually signatures of that. First of all, our close rate on our funnel or our pipeline goes down, which we saw. We see deals getting pushed down, and we see some deals that start out bigger and then get smaller. And we saw all of those things occur. And it’s just a classic signal that we’ve seen historically. I have been doing this a long time. And I mean, it looks exactly like what we’ve seen in the past. Now the thing that I would point out is, some of these large customers that, you know, when they start saying, ‘I need one more signature. Let’s add another step into the procurement process,’ they’re just expressing caution that they’re concerned about what’s going on in the macroenvironment.“ CEO Cisco
Real asset (defined as commodities, real estate, collectibles) prices are at an all time low vs. financial assets (defined as large cap stocks and long-term government bonds).
Trends in the US are suggesting heavy cosmetics are going out of fashion while skin care is accelerating.
“All the successful products now enhance and don’t cover.”
The article puts this down to the #nomakeup trend.
“We believe recent declines in color cosmetics in the US are due to several factors. Trends change and a more natural appearance is now involved, which requires fewer products that went contouring and other looks were popular … In addition, Gen Z consumers are discovering the benefits of skin care, spurred by more social media activity in that category.” Estee Lauder Conference call.
Or L’Oreal in the latest sales release on North America “In a difficult market context, the Consumer Products Division is still very much impacted by its wide exposure to the makeup market currently flat, but is posting good growth in skincare“
“This column uses data on thousands of buyouts in the US to examine the effects on employment, job reallocation, productivity, and worker compensation.”
They find some interesting results. As usual it all depends on the cycle.
“… an overarching result: Buyout effects differ greatly by type of buyout, with credit conditions at the time of buyout, and with the post-buyout evolution of credit conditions and the macroeconomy.“
They find for example that net employment fell 4.4% after buyouts, yet for private-to-private buyouts it actually rose 13% and for large public buyouts it fell 16%.
This is a gem of a piece on how important timing is for innovation and start-ups.
“I basically think all the ideas of the ’90s that everybody had about how this stuff was going to work, I think they were all right, they were all correct. I think they were just early.” Marc Andressen, 2014.
