“Designed to be addictive, Facebook feels like a giant blood-engorged tick hanging off your frontal lobe,” writes Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone. You may recall, Taibbi coined Goldman Sachs as a “[G]reat vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.” In his piece on Facebook, where the median salary is $240,430, Taibbi makes a case for breaking-up the band which is more like a cult. What is it like to be on the inside of Facebook’s corporate walls? Former senior Facebook worker Antonio Garcia Martinez wrote the book, Chaos Monkeys, in a way that Michael Lewis did about his time … [Read more...]
Business Boom Driving PC Sales
PC sales are the strongest in six years, as the booming economy pushes up demand for computers. Maria Armental reports for The Wall Street Journal: Personal-computer shipments in the second quarter had the strongest showing in six years, driven by stronger demand from business customers, according to preliminary data from two research firms. Based on Gartner Inc. IT 0.47% data, it was the first year-to-year increase since the first quarter of 2012. According to International Data Corp. data, it was the strongest rate of growth since that quarter. While both firms track sell-in … [Read more...]
Small Towns Welcome Big Tech
The people of Nampa, Idaho are hoping an Amazon distribution center rumored to be coming to town becomes a reality. The boost in jobs such a facility brings is very attractive to cities like Nampa, home to a little over 80,000 souls. The Idaho Press reports that distribution centers of size rumored to be coming to Nampa normally create 700 to 900 jobs, a nice boost. While the city is welcoming of new business it also has concerns. The editors of the Press write: The benefits are many. The developer last week said the center could employ as many as 2,000 people. We’re a little skeptical of … [Read more...]
Are Apple Bulls Paying Attention?
Apple shares are up more than 4% this morning in early trading as the firm beat revenue and earnings estimates last night. Apple also raised projections for their fourth quarter. Apple’s better than expected results came on the back of higher average selling prices for the iPhone. Is that good news? It could be if you believe the higher price for the 10-year anniversary model is sustainable. We aren’t so sure. Pricing power tends to be illusive in the consumer electronics space. The chart below is perhaps the single most important chart for Apple investors. What you are looking at is … [Read more...]
Has Social Media Already Peaked?
Is it over? Has social media already peaked? After revolutionizing the way people share information with each other, is the era of growth for social media companies over? Last week was a disastrous one for Facebook and Twitter, the two best known social media platforms. Yoree Koh and Michael Wursthorn report for The Wall Street Journal: Twitter said Friday that its number of monthly users dropped in the second quarter and could continue to fall as it purges fake accounts, results that echoed Facebook’s bombshell guidance Wednesday that its growth is expected to slow through the end of … [Read more...]
The Biggest Stock Market Wipe-out in History
Facebook's shares cratered yesterday, racking up the biggest single-day wipe-out in stock market history. The company lost $119 billion dollars of market capitalization in a single day. There are fewer than fifty stocks in the U.S. that have a total market value of $119 billion. Zuckerberg's fortune fell by almost $16 billion yesterday. Sophie Caronello reports at Bloomberg: It’s official. Facebook Inc. just had the biggest stock-market wipeout in American history. Shares tumbled 19 percent on Thursday to close at $176.26 after sales and user growth disappointed investors. The drop … [Read more...]
There’s a Better Way than Facebook
Yesterday, investors in Facebook stock had the entirety of this year's gains wiped out in a flash. The quarterly earnings crowd on Wall Street pulled the chair out from under Facebook after receiving bad news on the company's growth. It's that sort of volatility that conservative, retired or soon to be retired investors should attempt to avoid. Getting hit with a 19% loss in one day is hard to stomach when you have no new income coming in, and don't have time to recoup those losses. There's a Better Way to Invest than in Volatile Tech Stocks A better way to build a portfolio you can … [Read more...]
How Facebook’s Disaster Quarter Can Make You A Better Investor
Facebook reported second quarter earnings last night that beat analyst estimates, but the shares tumbled as much as 24% on the news in after-hours trading. Why the sell-off? Doesn’t the quarterly earnings crowd reward companies that beat expectations? Not always. Investing is a counterintuitive art. So what went wrong for Facebook? The CNBC video below offers a clue. This was taped before the company reported. Anything stand out? Note the almost universal agreement from the panel that Facebook is an outstanding stock. The confidence is off the charts. Lopsided bullish … [Read more...]
Cryptocosm and Life After Google
My appreciation for Andy Kessler’s way of thinking began with Wall Street Meat and Running Money. A few years ago I had the opportunity to hear him speak at a Cato 200 gathering in Laguna Beach, CA. I continue to keep up with him through his commentary at the WSJ where, in this piece, he shares some thoughts from another great mind, futurist George Gilder: My friend the futurist George Gilder outlines a theory in “Life After Google,” his forthcoming book. He suggests that while advertising prices might be correct, the free-service model cannot deliver sustainable growth. Mr. Gilder explains … [Read more...]
Netflix “Biggest Disappointment in Two Years”
Shares of Netflix are down today because reported subscriber numbers didn't increase fast enough for the Wall Street analysts covering the streaming video company. It's hard to imagine how Wall Street could have been so surprised at a slowdown in Netflix growth, given the number of competitors coming into the market. Tim Bradshaw reports: Until the abrupt reversal in fortunes, Netflix stock had more than doubled in value so far this year including having added more than $40bn in market capitalisation since April’s forecast-busting results. The latest miss on subscribers is its biggest … [Read more...]
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