Liberty

haha....don't know why this guy is shirtless. :o anyone actually try this? The comments look positive. He's shirtless (maybe naked!) because he's badass enough to totally not GAF ;) I've heard from many people who say it works. I'm going to try it the next time my blades start to feel dull...

Here's an even better way to save money on shaving (and it's not about growing a beard):

Apple confirms it uses Google's cloud for iCloud https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/26/apple-confirms-it-uses-google-cloud-for-icloud.html

I don't know if it's a short, because someday they could actually do a big merger or M&A thing that the market happens to like and it could jump on the news, but in general I've become disillusioned with it and sold my shares last fall. I felt like there were better places to put the capital. This capitulation probably means we're at the bottom, though, so it might actually be a good time to buy...

They stopped the calls, but at least they created an interesting alternative... https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/02/23/1386886/0/en/Constellation-Software-Inc-Announces-Cessation-of-Quarterly-Results-Conference-Calls.html

Volaris co launches new unit for the cruise industry (organic growth initiative) http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/spectec-launches-cruise-unit.html

If you have access, there's a good writeup with a fairly in-depth historical and strategic overview of Heico on the VIC that was published recently. I learned a few things about the company's early days...

You don't *have* to read anything. But if you want more detail on what he said on podcasts, it's here.

I think his point is similar to the wave of hedge funds that came out after hedge funds had great success, and then after that wave, on average they didn't have much success. In the case of PE, it was less competition leading to lower prices paid. In the case of hedge funds, it was... less competition leading to lower prices paid (or more esoteric inefficiencies left to discover and exploit, whatever they do). One good insight is enough, because it's too easy to extrapolate past results in the future. Most market participants do it. If you're not a PE expert - like I'm not - it's easy to look at historical data and think that the performance is inherent to the model rather than based on a context that has been changing.

Not good: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-intel/intel-did-not-tell-u-s-cyber-officials-about-chip-flaws-until-made-public-idUSKCN1G62PS

Did you read the article?

One problem with Einhorn seems to be (based on my skimming of his recent letters, I haven't followed him closely in many years) that he blames external factors for his problems (oh, value has underperformed for such a long time) rather than mistakes in his analysis (maybe I shouldn't have shorted Tesla and Amazon and gone long some of the stuff I've been long). I bet that if he turns around, he won't say he's up just because of external factors rather than because of his analysis...

Indeed. The article says that's one of their goals, but we'll have to see how effective they are at it, and whether they target specific sole-source parts that TDG has.

Clever: https://adsense.googleblog.com/2018/02/introducing-adsense-auto-ads.html

Which, at least in the US, means you don't quite fit anywhere.

https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2018/02/19/liberty-global-considers-acquisitions-for-upc-switzerland/

About both GOOG and FB: https://stratechery.com/2018/the-aggregator-paradox/

Not sure Pinker would call himself a lefty. He gets attacked by both sides. I think the left dislikes a lot of his evolutionary psychology stuff... That's when you know you're an independent thinker: Once one side accuses you of being on the other side and vice versa, and all you're trying to do is figure out what's what on a case by case basis, so you don't fit into the nice arbitrary binary tribal divide that most people slot themselves into.

Booking.com is by far their biggest site and is dominant in the very fragmented Europe market (“The Group’s 27 million bookable rooms are spread across 1.5 million properties, putting the average property size at under 20 rooms. These are not large branded hotels. These are small independents with greater need of assistance than branded hotel” https://weitzinvestments.com/resources/documents/Literature_and_Publications/Commentary/2018/AnalystCorner_PricelineGroup.pdf ). Booking is actually an acquisition. They bought it for $133m in 2005: https://www.eyefortravel.com/archive/pricelinecom-acquires-bookings-bv And now it's probably worth most of the company's $92bn market cap. One of the all-time greatest deals. Priceline.com was founded in 1997 and had a different model initially: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priceline.com

Care to elaborate on why you think that's the case?

https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2018/02/private-equity-overvalued-overrated/ Interesting piece on PE.

Probably because it's not just booking.com but a collection of holdings? I don't think it'll matter, we'll get used to it. I remember when the Firebird browser changed its name to Firefox, I thought it was weird as hell and much worse. Now I have to make an effort to remember. Same when Apple changed from iBook and Powerbooks to Macbooks and Macbook Pros... Sounded really bad at first, but now it's totally normal and fine. Maybe it's just me, but I try not to judge these things until I've had time to get used to them. Tronc, on the other hand, will never be a good corporate name ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The vast majority of the business is Booking.com so it makes sense. I suspect we'll get used to calling them just Booking... It's not a bad branding opportunity. They've been investing a lot in that, and the more people go to them direct (via app or search, or recognize the ads and are more likely to click on them because they like the brand, which reduces prices at auction) the better for them.

Priceline is changing its name to Booking Holdings: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-priceline-group-inc-nasdaq-pcln-announces-name-change-to-booking-holdings-inc-300601628.html

"Constellation Software Announces Appointment of Robin van Poelje to its Board of Directors" (TSS founder) https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/02/19/1361477/0/en/Constellation-Software-Announces-Appointment-of-Robin-van-Poelje-to-its-Board-of-Directors.html