Technology, Capital Markets, Corporate Governance, Leadership, Entrepreneurship
Mass Mutual and Athene made a bid for American Equity Investment Life. Activist Trian took stakes in Invesco and Janus in an effort to build one of the largest Asset Managers. M&A is a quick way to scale AUM, but it does not change the paradigm for legacy Asset Managers. Legacy Asset Managers (and depository … Continue reading Consolidation Will Not Save Asset Managers
We recently called out several CEOs for putting forth less than optimal efforts. Conversely, here are several long-time, high quality CEOs - two of them founders - of market-leading companies. Tickers mentioned: Clarivate Analytics (tkr: CCC), CoStar Group (tkr: CSGP), SS&C Technologies (tkr: SSNC) Here are three quality CEOs where investors won't have to worry … Continue reading Three High Quality CEOs
Many CEOs with deep Enterprise Technology experience have struggled to adapt to the "consumerization" of Tech. We have seen this phenomenon a number of times within the Enterprise Software industry. A common scenario is as follows: A Board of Directors recruits a "battle-tested" Software CEO. A "Battle-tested CEO" often means that 70-80% of that CEO's … Continue reading Enterprise Technology CEOs Struggle to Adapt to The “Consumerization” of Tech
It is no great mystery as to how or why Google's Ad business is losing share to Amazon and Facebook. People are increasingly conducting product searches on Amazon and are entertaining themselves on Instagram. Thus, advertisers increasingly want to be on Amazon and Facebook. Video game platforms are another competitor Google should be concerned with … Continue reading Amazon and Facebook Are Killing Google’s Ad Biz One Bite at A Time
At CEORater we evaluate CEOs on 42 attributes across four quadrants (Operations-related, Strategy & Tactics, Investor-related and Personality-related attributes). Great CEOs are time-tested, have a well-rounded skill set, are high character, are intellectually curious, the list goes on. Several founders and CEOs recently reminded us of their blind spots. Tickers mentioned: GM, ORCL, TSLA Mary … Continue reading CEO Quality Is Critical
Millions of Americans will invite Amazon into their homes via Amazon's in-home drone video service ("Always Home Cam") powered by Amazon Ring. Ring's Always Home Cam will do more than provide customers with on-demand, in-home video surveillance. The Always Home Cam will provide Amazon with a visual map of customers' homes and insights into personal … Continue reading Amazon Wants To Watch You Inside Your Home
The risk of incidents where rogue employees steal customer data (see Shopify's incident here) will increase as more merchants move their operations online. It is important for organizations to not only protect against external cyberthreats, but to secure customer data and Enterprise data in general from rogue employees who may look to profit from it. … Continue reading Protecting Customer Data from Employees
Investment Bankers often forget that their "expertise" is not unique. First impressions are critical. Entrepreneurs have long memories. Service providers ought not take the attitude that they are being put out of their way, that they are doing the client a favor. Software platforms powered by AI, Machine Learning and workflow software are poised to … Continue reading AI and ML Are Poised to Remake I-Banking
Icarus flew too close to the sun and the United States' fascination with debt may prove to be equally destructive. Yesterday the CBO published its long-term Debt-to-GDP estimates. Those figures show U.S. debt steadily increasing as a percentage of GDP ramping-up to 195% of GDP by 2050. If debt-funded stimulus, zero interest rates and expansionary … Continue reading U.S. Debt to Reach 195% of GDP by 2050
Mainland China is not bullish on the U.S. Economy. China's U.S. Treasury holdings have generally declined since 2013 from a peak of approximately $1.32 Trillion (Nov-2013) to $1.07 Trillion as of Jul-2020. Charts and graphs are at the article's end Both the U.S. and China have interventionist fiscal and monetary policy. The difference is that … Continue reading China Is Not Bullish On The U.S. Economy
