Liberty

Interesting piece about the V-PYPL deal: http://www.pymnts.com/news/payments-innovation/2016/how-will-visa-paypal-shape-the-future-of-payments/

Good write-up for those with VIC access: https://www.valueinvestorsclub.com/idea/LIBERTY_GLOBAL_PLC_GLOBAL_GP/138589

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-21/bezos-topples-buffett-as-world-s-third-richest-on-amazon-rise

http://www.wsj.com/articles/liberty-media-ceo-greg-maffei-floated-roughly-15-a-share-offer-for-pandora-media-1469117183

Bought some LBTYA recently.

Amazon getting into student loans with Wells Fargo: http://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-tip-toes-into-banking-business-1469093403 If you're a student, looks like that half a percent discount should more than pay for a Prime membership...

They're buying VocaLink for about a billion: http://investor.mastercard.com/investor-relations/investor-news/press-release-details/2016/MasterCard-Announces-Acquisition-of-VocaLink/default.aspx They had a call about it. Slide said EBITDA margins are 43%, but they said they expect to bring them north of 50%. Goal is international expansion, said think could get revenue growth close to MA levels. If that's the case, seems like the ±9x EBITDA multiple paid is pretty low.

https://www.tesla.com/en_CA/blog/master-plan-part-deux

Hitting new all-time highs lately. Return since the failed GS going private deal in 2013 has been something like 475%. Congrats to those who bought then, looks like that was the moment of maximum pessimism.

If she is hot, tell her to invest in new boobs. The ROI is much better than stocks. BeerBaron And people wonder why there is a lack of women on this forum. I don't think they wonder anymore.

I think the last time I heard it mentioned, they were tracking 30k VMS businesses now. The acquisition of TSS has opened new possibilities in Europe where they were less active before, and they've been trying to teach capital allocation/M&A to more of their operating units so that more smaller acquisitions can happen while management keeps looking for bigger one (said they'd like something of the size of TSS every year or two). Now that they've raised more long-term capital with the debentures and upsized the revolver, they certainly have more dry powder. They've also restarted their public securities investment program, which I think did pretty well in the past. Of course, it always depends on what opportunities are available... It varies by unit, but they certainly have high incremental margins, and they are highest on maintenance revenue, which grows organically faster than the overall (they mentioned that they tend to drop professional service revenues after an acquisition if those aren't profitable, while other companies tend to use them as a marketing tool -- so this can depress overall reported organic numbers after acquisitions even if they're actually cutting unprofitable stuff, increasing overall margins). a year or two ago in the president's letter, the CEO mentioned that if he assumed organic growth 2.5% higher than consensus of analyst models, the estimate of IV doubled.

CWC results: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=191835&p=irol-SECText&TEXT=aHR0cDovL2FwaS50ZW5rd2l6YXJkLmNvbS9maWxpbmcueG1sP2lwYWdlPTExMDM3ODI2JkRTRVE9MCZTRVE9MCZTUURFU0M9U0VDVElPTl9FTlRJUkUmc3Vic2lkPTU3

Pearson dumping shares (without publicly filing so far, apparently): http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/13/former-valeant-ceo-unloaded-more-of-shares-than-previously-thought.html

Fun ancedote: Less fun one: http://county10.com/201021174044426240/teen-playing-new-pokemon-game-on-phone-discovers-body-in-wind-river

Schwab and others, any thoughts on MCO vs SPGI?

You just know that Elon Musk wrote this one himself: https://www.teslamotors.com/en_CA/blog/misfortune

Morningstar concludes: http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=758906&SR=Yahoo

The webcast is now on the site. https://content.jwplatform.com/previews/TFDXva1u-mxrau2jZ

More legal troubles for V and MA... http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/visa-mastercard-antitrust-settlement-with-merchants-is-voided/article30700276/ Here's the decision: http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/3b121c10-fbe8-4ced-8292-dc898f0f48a9/1/doc/12-4671_complete_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/3b121c10-fbe8-4ced-8292-dc898f0f48a9/1/hilite/

http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/constellation-software-inc-cash-offer-for-bond-international-software-plc-bond-tsx-csu-2138921.htm A bit less expensive than when the intention to bid was first announced a month ago thanks to Brexit...

http://www.multichannel.com/news/cable-operators/fries-brexit-won-t-impact-liberty-global-vodafone-jv/405992

John Oliver follow up on Brexit (sorry if it's a repost):

It's down a lot more if you look at it in USD.

Today is also their analyst day in NYC. They usually stream the audio, but I haven't seen a way to listen-in this time. If anyone is going and has notes to share, or if anyone finds a stream or recording, I'd appreciate it if you shared. Thanks.