The market capitalization Square has exceed $100B, which makes it about 1/3 of what Ant Financial / Group was expected to list at (prior to delay). Both companies are using platform business models to invade and expand the payment and financial services space. Fortunately, Ant is further along this trajectory and offers some interesting insights […]
Taiwan-based HTC is fighting for its survival. Since 2015, the company has experienced a massive drop in its revenues. Falling from $4.3B (2015) to $355M (2015). With gross profits in the range of 3.5%. And it looks like revenue for 2020 will fall to around $200M. Market share for its core smartphone business is under […]
Luxury marketplace platform Farfetch has had a long courtship with JD, Alibaba and Chinese consumers. In the next update, I’ll go into my thoughts on Farfetch as a stand-alone company (basically, not good). But the more interesting questions for investors are: Is Farfetch going to get bought? What is the private market value to Chinese […]
Hi everyone, After months of discussion with subscribers, I’m splitting the course into two more focused services. One service for tech investors. One service for those more interested in executive education in digital strategy. It turns out the audience for this course really is somewhat split between two sets of interests. By creating more focused […]
Long-term investors search for high quality companies they can buy and hold. They ignore the near-term swings in stock prices and, instead, try to capture the larger creation of value in the enterprise over time. It’s a long-term wealth creation strategy. And it really works… …for a small number of companies. Yes, the results of […]
So Ant Group is getting ready to IPO and their filing has lots of interesting details about ownership and control. And the take-away is: Jack Ma is getting a big payday and is in control. The history of how Alipay (which became Ant) separated from Alibaba in 2011 is a big controversy. Alibaba sold Alipay […]
There is an interesting company in China called MyTherapist. It is a digital marketplace platform for services. But instead of connecting consumers with drivers and restaurants, it connects them with therapists and life coaches. That is a really interesting idea and highlights how marketplace platforms are really still in their infancy. Marketplace platforms began with […]
I like Bytedance. I think they make great apps. Super engaging. With fantastic user interfaces. They are one of the most innovative mobile app companies on the planet. But they suck at internationalization. Their attempt to become China’s first international digital company has been a slow moving train wreck. Lots of us have been predicting […]
Ant Financial (now Ant Group) filed for IPO and there are tons of cool insights in their filing document. I’ve already written about the overall strategy, which is basically 3 platform business models combined. Ant Financial Is 3 Platform Business Models Combined. (Jeff’s Asia Tech Class – Daily Lesson / Update) In that article, I […]
The IPO filing I have been waiting two years for finally arrived. Alipay / Ant Financial (now called Ant Group) has filed. And their +600 page prospectus is just a fantastic read. But it’s a lot. I have 40 pages of notes. So I thought I would begin with some of the key points. This […]