Operating at the Intersection of Technology and the Capital Markets
Tag: Instagram
It feels like META gave these poor performance reviews in order to not get crosswise with California employment law ahead of more planned employee terminations. My view is that META will never find its way back in terms of making Facebook and Instagram the "destination" platforms they once were. Facebook lacks a product identity. Instagram … Continue reading META Is Lost
Neal Mohan is YouTube's Chief Product Officer and will replace Susan Wojcicki who is stepping down. I like that a Product person will lead YouTube. It is mission critical to have "product" at the center of these massive content platforms to ensure optimal user experiences (Look to Meta Platforms for examples of how to ruin … Continue reading New YouTube Chief: Neal Mohan
Here's Kevin Systrom's new company - Artifact - an AI-powered news feed (HERE). Recall that Systrom was one of Instagram's co-founders. It will be interesting to see how well Artifact executes versus Google News and Apple News. I signed up for Artifact and will test over the next few weeks. Artifact is available on Google … Continue reading From Instagram To Artifact
At some point the market has got to reconcile with economic reality. META is a case in point. META's core business is selling Ads. META's price per Ad declined 16% year-over-year for calendar 2022 and declined 22% year-over-year in Q4'22 (unit pricing is likely to get worse in my view in 2023). META's Q4'22 Revenue … Continue reading META and The Market
Analysts estimate that META will grow revenues in 2023 over 2022. However, the estimates I see imply that revenue growth will be back-end loaded. We know how that usually ends. I see META struggling to generate year-over-year Revenue growth and expect for 2023 to be a down Revenue year. Zuckerberg is not an Operator. META's … Continue reading META: Where Will Growth Come From?
The WSJ reports that YouTube is negotiating with the NFL for exclusive rights to broadcast NFL Sunday Ticket. YouTube/Google and Amazon Prime (Thursday night NFL games), are essentially pursuing a U.S. audience with their respective NFL strategies. The NFL ought to court YouTube in particular given that YouTube - not TikTok, not Instagram nor Snap … Continue reading YouTube & The NFL
Lina Khan's FTC is bad news. It reminds me of the FTC during the Obama Administration - quick to pick a fight with companies (I know from first-hand experience), without understanding the competitive landscape or how markets work. In this case, Microsoft's Xbox unit is the platform and Activision is the content publisher that will … Continue reading FTC Sues To Block Microsoft’s Activision Acquisition
The WSJ reports that headcount cuts are coming to META, perhaps on Wednesday of this week. META's R&D expense grew by 45% y-o-y in the September quarter even as Revenue declined by almost 5%. G&A grew by 15% and Sales & Marketing grew by 6%. Given that R&D now represents 33% of Revenue (as compared … Continue reading Where META May Reduce Headcount
META will remain a broken company until Zuckerberg allocates the same passion toward repairing the core business as he has allocated toward building the metaverse. However, I have never met an entrepreneur that felt equally passionate about a shiny new object AND a repair job. Therein lies the rub. Zuckerberg's interests have clearly evolved. META's … Continue reading META Ought To Split In Two
Zuckerberg is an entrepreneur at heart, not an operator. Therein lies the problem. Our view is that as the macro environment continues to slow and as the original Facebook and Instagram platforms underperform, Zuckerberg will pull investment forward on his metaverse initiative. The metaverse is what interests Zuckerberg and that's where he will spend his … Continue reading META’s Downside Risk
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