TEK2day Podcast

The timing of Disney's announcement that Bob Iger was stepping down from the CEO role flies in the face of everything we know about Bob Iger. Iger is meticulous in planning and process-oriented. To announce a CEO change intra-quarter does not make sense from a timing standpoint. It suggests an outside catalyst in our view. Our best guess would be that Apple reached out to negotiate an acquisition of the Walt Disney Corporation, specifically the direct-to-consumer and content-related assets.

See our related TEK2day article entitled "Disney’s Sudden CEO Change – What Does It Foreshadow?" here: https://tek2day.com/2020/02/25/disneys-sudden-ceo-change-what-does-it-foreshadow/

Related TEK2day article: "Go Vertical or Go Home" (premium):

https://tek2day.com/2020/02/17/go-vertical-or-go-home/

Unless your name is Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google or Microsoft, it is best to pursue vertical go-to-market and product strategies. Only the previously mentioned Technology giants have the requisite scale to take a horizontal approach. We provide examples of “Vertical Leaders” and “At-Risk Horizontal Players”.

Tickers mentioned: ACN, AMZN, AAPL, AVGO, BOX, CCC, CRM, CSCO, CSGP, DBX, DDOG, FB, FDS, GOOG, IBM, INFO, INFY, MFGP, MSFT, NEWR, NOW, ORCL, OTEX, SAP, SPLK, SSNC, TEAM, TWLO, VRSK, WDAY, WORK

It is increasingly risky to pursue a horizontal strategy when the platforms giants – Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft – are doing the same. For example, Apple invested $4.5 billion in R&D during the most recent quarter, Microsoft $4.6 billion and Google/Alphabet $7.2 billion. Quarterly R&D spend for these giants is larger than annual revenue for most technology companies.

Therefore, we believe the best growth strategy for young technology companies is to build industry vertical expertise into products, services, user experiences and everywhere that domain expertise may provide your company with a sustainable competitive advantage.

The SEC’s proposal to improve stock-price data available to the public is a step to further democratize financial market data. This weakens the position held by incumbent market data providers such as Bloomberg, FactSet (FDS), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), S&P Global (SPGI), The London Stock Exchange/Refinitiv (LSE) and others.

Related TEK2day article: https://tek2day.com/2020/02/15/financial-market-data-ripe-for-disruption/

We cover a variety of items:

1.) CVS Health's integration with Aetna and the Pharmacy Benefit Management landscape: https://tek2day.com/2020/02/08/cvs-health-aetna-post-deal-integration-hiccups/

2.) Crypto currency: https://tek2day.com/2020/02/11/will-cryptocurrencies-turbocharge-online-marketplaces/

3.) Share repurchases are a corporate governance risk: https://tek2day.com/2020/02/10/insider-selling-and-share-repurchases/

4.) Jes Staley and Barclays: https://tek2day.com/2020/02/13/why-does-jes-staley-remain-barclays-ceo/

5.) Our upcoming article: "Go Vertical Or Go Home".

We cover The ICE's proposed acquisition of EBAY as reported by the WSJ. The deal is in-line with ICE founder Jeffrey Sprecher's affinity for exchange/marketplace type businesses. The deal becomes especially interesting when you factor in the potential for incorporating crypto currencies to EBAY's marketplace platform.

Related articles:

1.) eBay for The ICE? https://tek2day.com/2020/02/04/ebay-for-the-ice/

2.)Operating Cash Flow & Executive Compensation: https://tek2day.com/2020/02/04/operating-cash-flow-executive-compensation/

3.)Not All Clouds Are Created Equal: https://tek2day.com/2020/02/04/not-all-clouds-are-created-equal/

4.)CEORater CEO Churn Report: https://tek2day.com/2020/02/03/ceorater-ceo-churn-report/

- We cover ServiceNow's "verticalization" strategy.

- We cover IBM's CEO change and its place in cloud and cognitive computing.

- We cover why we believe AT&T will sell WarnerMedia.

- We cover our new CEORater CEO Churn report.

Related articles:

1.) CEORater CEO Churn Report: https://tek2day.com/2020/02/03/ceorater-ceo-churn-report/

2.) AT&T Should Sell WarnerMedia: https://tek2day.com/2020/01/31/att-should-sell-warnermedia/

3.) IBM Names A New CEO: https://tek2day.com/2020/01/31/ibm-names-a-new-ceo/

4.) ServiceNow to Go Vertical: https://tek2day.com/2020/01/28/servicenow-to-go-vertical/

Follow-up to our TEK2day article: "Here’s How Roper Technologies (tkr: ROP) Can Raise Its Game": https://tek2day.com/2020/01/16/heres-how-roper-technologies-tkr-rop-can-raise-its-game/

1:51: Examples of companies that have effectively used M&A: ANSS, SSNC.

2:08: Roper historical Software M&A examples.

Additional referenced TEK2day article: "3 Stages of Market Awareness": https://tek2day.com/2019/12/27/3-stages-of-market-awareness/

CEORater CEO Profile: https://www.ceorater.com/ceo/1610/1323/Neil-Hunn

Listening to the sportscaster talking heads discuss "culture" within the context of NFL coaching searches makes it painfully clear that few if any understand the substance of the word.

34 second mark: PropTech

related article: "TEK2day PropTech Outlook & Landscape"

article link: https://tek2day.com/2020/01/02/tek2day-proptech-outlook-landscape/

50 second mark: 3 Stages of Market Awareness

related article: "3 Stages of Market Awareness"

article link: https://tek2day.com/2019/12/27/3-stages-of-market-awareness/

1 minute 41 second mark: "2019 Technology CEO's of the Year"

related article: CEORater 2019 Technology CEOs of the Year

article link: https://tek2day.com/2020/01/04/ceorater-2019-technology-ceos-of-the-year/

4 minute 10 second mark: M&A at Accenture and General M&A Outlook

related article: "One M&A Prophecy Fulfilled. More to Come."

article link: https://tek2day.com/2020/01/07/one-ma-prophecy-fulfilled-more-to-come/

It is not accurate to suggest that Tesla's Autopilot and fully autonomous capability are equivalent to Waymo's autonomous platform. Tesla's autonomous vehicle miles traveled are highway miles whereas Waymo's LiDAR training largely occurred on city streets. Mr. Jeff Brown recently gave an interview and stated that Tesla is the autonomous vehicle leader and has established a significant competitive moat because it has approximately 2 Billion autonomous vehicle miles traveled. We have a different opinion. Waymo (the company we view as the autonomous vehicle leader) has trained its LiDAR platform largely on city streets (approximately 16 Million vehicle miles traveled) which are far more nuanced and complex than highway travel.