If you have watched markets long enough, you have seen cycles of vertical integration and decomposition occurring in companies competing in changing markets. Today this is happening once again. As AT&T and Verizon are snapping up content creation companies, Google and Facebook are busy developing their own information networks. Wired explains to readers how the media landscape is changing fast. TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES ARE becoming media companies. That explains AT&T’s agreement to buy Time Warner for $85.4 billion. But something else explains it, too. Media companies are … [Read more...]
Is the Era of Local Cable Broadband Monopoly Ending?
For years cable companies have been bundling in phone and internet service with their traditional TV offerings. If AT&T's proposed purchase of Time Warner goes through, it will be the first telecom to to begin nationwide competition in the opposite direction. The Wall Street Journal explains what the proposed AT&T/Time Warner merger would mean. The Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 power grab over the internet is premised on the need for government to allocate broadband scarcity. So much for that. AT&T ’s $85.4 billion weekend bid to buy Time Warner is the latest bet, and a … [Read more...]
PepsiCo Now All About Positive Nutrition
The Wall Street Journal lays out PepsiCo’s strategy to change the company’s mix of food offerings to emphasize positive nutrition. PepsiCo is one of several large food and beverage companies, including Nestlé SA and Coca-Cola Co., that have been moving to overhaul their portfolio and offer healthier products amid shifting consumer tastes even as many shoppers continue stocking up on longtime staples like candy, salty snacks and sugary sodas. PepsiCo said Monday it aims for at least two-thirds of its global beverage volume to have no more than 100 calories per 12 ounces from added sugars by … [Read more...]
World’s Largest Fund now Reaching for Return. Should You?
Norway's $880 billion sovereign wealth fund is being urged to invest more of its portfolio in stocks. Who might be urging the world's largest fund to boost its stock allocation more than seven years into a bull market? The Norwegian government. According to a government-commissioned report, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund should invest 70% of its assets in stocks, up from 60% today, which itself is up from 40% in 2007. Why has the Norwegian government gone googly-eyed for stocks? The Financial Times offers some insight. “With a higher share of equities the expected return will … [Read more...]
Can Cheap Money Continue to Fuel the Stock Market?
Low and negative interest rates have been a big factor in the magnitude and duration of the current bull market. As central banks yanked risk-free interest income from the world’s responsible savers and retired investors, many have been pushed (kicking and screaming if they are smart) into riskier assets. After years of getting bludgeoned by zero percent interest rates, the accepted wisdom on Wall Street now seems to be that as long as interest rates are held in the tank, the stock market will continue to float higher and higher. Stocks may be at one of their most expensive levels on … [Read more...]
Amazon to Build Small Bricks-and-Mortar Stores
The Wall Street Journal lays out Amazon's big plans to become a central hub for shoppers. Amazon.com Inc. is pushing deeper into the grocery business with plans to introduce convenience stores as well as curbside pickup locations, say people familiar with the matter. The Seattle company aims to build small brick-and-mortar stores that would sell produce, milk, meats and other perishable items that customers can take home, these people say. Primarily using their mobile phones or, possibly, touch screens around the store, customers could also order peanut butter, cereal and other goods with … [Read more...]
Liberty Media Outflanks Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway
Barron’s informs readers: Few people have made more money for investors over the past three decades than John Malone. The billionaire cable-TV investor and operator parlayed a small group of cable systems, originally assembled in the 1970s, into Tele-Communications Inc., before selling it to AT&T in 1999 for $48 billion. Starting over with a handful of former TCI assets, Malone has, through an often mind-bending series of financial maneuvers, built another cable and media empire, Liberty Media. And together with Greg Maffei, Liberty’s CEO since 2005, he’s still building. Investors … [Read more...]
International Corporations Remain Committed to the U.K.
The Wall Street Journal breaks the news on a big Apple move in London. Silicon Valley giant Apple Inc. said Wednesday that it planned to relocate 1,400 employees to a new London campus in 2021, in a sign that international corporations remain committed to the U.K. after June’s Brexit vote. Its new offices will be in Battersea Power Station, an iconic former coal-fired plant featured on the cover of Pink Floyd’s 1977 album “Animals” and in the 2008 Batman film “The Dark Knight.” U.K. Treasury chief Philip Hammond said Apple’s new campus reaffirmed both Britain’s business environment and … [Read more...]
Big Data Creates Big Opportunities for Investors
HP Matter lays out the exciting story of how Dig Bata is opening up a whole new world for sports investors. Making big plays as a sports investor used to mean buying and selling teams, locking in top talent and securing a killer sponsorship. Today, Big Data is getting into the mix and making technology the star. Sure, an analytics platform might not sound that sexy or make for high drama on social media, but savvy investors don’t mind—especially when they’re spinning data into gold. Whether the technology is in the boardroom, on the field or in the home, Big Data is rewriting the … [Read more...]
The Longest S&P Earnings Decline since 2008
The Wall Street Journal correctly reports that investors continue to reach for yield despite crumbling earnings. The third quarter was supposed to be when earnings growth returned to U.S. companies. Not anymore. Companies in the S&P 500 are now expected to report an earnings decline for the sixth consecutive quarter in the coming weeks, according to analysts polled by FactSet. That slump would be the longest since FactSet began tracking the data in 2008. For the third quarter, the energy sector is projected to yet again report the largest year-over-year earnings decline of all sectors … [Read more...]
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