Technology, Capital Markets, Corporate Governance, Leadership, Entrepreneurship
Amazon announced that it has opened its first full grocery store - "Amazon Go Grocery" - that utilizes its cashierless checkout technology. Most interesting to us is that Amazon plans to license its "Go" technology to other retailers - effectively creating an Operating System for physical retail. Amazon opened its first Go Grocery store location … Continue reading Amazon’s “Go” Technology – Retail’s New OS
Disney CEO Bob Iger stepped down from his CEO post effective immediately and will remain Executive Chairman through December 2021. Bob Chapek has been named Chief Executive Officer. Our expectation was that Kevin Mayer - Chairman Direct-to-Consumer & International - would be named Mr. Iger's successor. Does this abrupt CEO change foreshadow a larger transaction? … Continue reading Disney’s Sudden CEO Change – What Does It Foreshadow?
The Wall Street Journal reports that Intuit (ticker: INTU), plans to acquire Credit Karma for approximately $7 billion. A Credit Karma acquisition would compliment Intuit's 2009 $170 million acquisition of Personal Financial Management ("PFM") fintech company Mint.com. The Credit Karma deal would mark Intuit's first large acquisition under Sasan Goodarzi who became Intuit CEO in … Continue reading Intuit Reported to Acquire Credit Karma – Building A PFM Powerhouse
We attended a Robotics class at MIT on Friday. The visual drag and drop programming language was simple enough to where almost anyone would be capable of writing programming sequences. This got us thinking of Robotic Process Automation ("RPA") - the future of workflow. RPA tools are simple to use such that the average business … Continue reading Weekend Edition: RPA for Everyone
It is difficult for many executives to recognize when the time is right to try something new. Here are some classic signposts that may help you identify when it is time to try a new approach, to try something new. When revenue growth slows to a grinding halt it is time to try something new.When … Continue reading Recognize When It Is Time to Try Something New
It is difficult to get excited about Morgan Stanley's recently announced acquisition of ETrade. The latter is essentially a no growth business (P&L below), competing in a cut-throat market. On the other hand, Square - albeit a larger company that would command a larger price - is a FinTech leader in growing consumer markets. If … Continue reading Square Makes More Sense for Morgan Stanley
Unless your name is Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google or Microsoft, it is best to pursue vertical go-to-market and product strategies. Only the previously mentioned Technology giants have the requisite scale to take a horizontal approach. We provide examples of "Vertical Leaders" and "At-Risk Horizontal Players". Tickers mentioned: ACN, AMZN, AAPL, AVGO, BOX, CCC, CRM, CSCO, … Continue reading Go Vertical or Go HomePremium
We reviewed the most queried CEOs on CEORater.com over the past 12 months. The following is a list of the 20 Most Queried CEOs. Click HERE to access our interactive PowerPoint file.Click HERE to access the interactive PDF version. https://soundcloud.com/ceorater
The SEC's proposal to improve stock-price data available to the public is a step to further democratize financial market data. This weakens the position held by incumbent market data providers such as Bloomberg, FactSet (FDS), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), S&P Global (SPGI), The London Stock Exchange/Refinitiv (LSE) and others. The SEC's proposal could be a precursor … Continue reading Financial Market Data: Ripe For Disruption
Lost amidst the drama around Jes Staley's ties to convicted (deceased) sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is Staley's poor performance as Barclays CEO. This speaks to Barclays' weak Board of Directors and lack of corporate governance. One need look no further than the numbers. Barclays has under-performed during Staley's tenure. Staley was groomed by JP Morgan … Continue reading Why Does Jes Staley Remain Barclays CEO?
