What I saw in today’s headlines – March 29, 2023

March 29, 2023 Leave a comment

Here are 5 headlines I saw today and my interpretation or comments about them below each one.

Note: There is an anti-trust tone in today’s news.

Headline 1: Apple (AAPL) introduces Apple Pay Later to allow consumers to pay for purchases over time

RZ: this extends my thinking that Apple (and a few others) can choose to do (or try) most anything and we collectively think that it’s a natural business line for them. i.e. Pfizer could never announce that they are building a car.

Headline 2: Disney (DIS) eliminated its Metaverse division

RZ: an incumbent content giant such as Disney can’t see how the Metaverse develops into anything commercial or serious.

Headline 3: Alibaba (BABA) aiming to split into six additional units

RZ: perhaps better to announce a break-up of your business divisions before the government makes you do it. It looks better that you are seen doing it on your terms. Whether the sum of pats is greater than the whole is a seperate topic.

Headline 4: Microsoft (MSFT) and others preparing to settle EU complaints, according to Bloomberg

RZ: Maybe heed the above commentary?

Headline 5: Google (GOOG) asks judge to dismiss antitrust suit, according to Bloomberg, a quote from article includes, “In an earlier statement, Google vowed to fight the DOJ attempts to break up its ad business.”

RZ: Google is going to fight this case hard….perhaps Alphabet should break up the business before “trust busters” do it for them?

March 29, 2023

by Rob Zdravevski

rob@karriasset.com.au

Filed under Finance & Investment Tagged with

Perspective and Hypocrisy

July 30, 2021 1 Comment

What is the big deal with the Chinese government’s recent directives stymying technology or education firms?

During the 2010’s, the U.S. Department of Education either forced the closure or change of ownership, sued or ended accreditation or recognition of ‘education providers’ such as DeVry Education Group (now Adtalem Global Education), ITT Educational Services, Corinthian Colleges and Apollo Education (which was taken private at $10 per share, compared to its high of $89/share in 2009).

For example, then Californian attorney-general, Kamala Harris led the charge in suing Corinthian (leading to their demise in 2016 when she won her judgement) for predatory practices of mounting and leaving students in crippling debt……much like China’s concerns today.

In addition, didn’t the U.S. government force the break-up of AT&T and Microsoft?

And I wonder……aren’t Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple etc, some type of pseudo-government agencies ?

or at least, at their behest or influence?

Between all the congressional hearings and testimonies and the ‘cloud’ of anti-trust undertakings, a little perspective is required to the current Chinese news.

After all, it is not a far-fetched idea that Amazon is forced to ‘spin-off’ its AWS division.

The hypocrisy of western governments doesn’t seemed to be recognised by their own selves. They apply a host of restrictions, rules and bans too.

Perhaps China is entering its own Progressive Era and the U.S. may have its own 2.0 version?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-27/china-tech-crackdown-xi-charts-new-model-after-emulating-silicon-valley?sref=qLOW1ygh

July 30, 2021

by Rob Zdravevski

rob@karriasset.com.au

Filed under Finance & Investment Tagged with , , , ,