Liberty

https://venturebeat.com/2019/07/23/linkedin-is-migrating-to-microsoft-azure/

The new DHR dental spin-off: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1757073/000175707319000010/envistas-1prospectus.htm#s7C2B0340317C5505B4711274C2AF30D8 A few thoughts/observations I had here:

I thought this was a good, wide-ranging dicsussion: https://www.jimruttshow.com/simon-dedeo/ Recommended by Michael Mauboussin on Twitter.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-openai/microsoft-to-invest-1-billion-in-openai-idUSKCN1UH1H9

http://transdigmgroupinc.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/transdigm-group-plans-divest-souriau-sunbank-connection

Interesting, thanks

Recently saw Wind River (2017) and thought it was quite good. Written and directed by the same writer as Sicario and Hell or High Water, if that gives you an idea. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5362988/

It's happening! :D

Another press release at the CSI level, which should denote $50m+: https://www.csisoftware.com/docs/default-source/press-releases/tss-signing---acquisition---july-2019.pdf H/t @pearnick

Cool, had no idea. I just saw it recommended by someone on Twitter a while ago and had noted the URL down to read later. Finally had a chance to do so today.

https://www.albertbridgecapital.com/drew-views/2019/6/17/stay-in-the-game That's some good writing.

Liberty Media complex did pretty well over the past 13-14 years: I'd say that's most of his fortune. Liberty Global underperformed, but Malone's cost basis is probably pretty low, pretty sure he beat the SP500 from that base, so it's not like a total disaster. Obviously things didn't turn out as expected, but that happens.

Any opinions on how this might play out vis-a-vis LILA? None. I haven't really followed this company for a few years.

Not sure I agree with that. You could argue it in Global (and possibly in LILAC) but if I look at Charter, Liberty Media, Sirius, Discovery, QVC, all their cash flow beasts, they are all best in class managements. Maybe you are right. Maybe the capital deployment (for which Malone was famous...) that went astray more than operations. I.e. perhaps it was a mistake to deploy capital into EU cable (LBTYA), LatAm cable/mobile (LILA), TV shopping (QRTEA), US content (LGFB) rather than these companies having subpar operators. This is ironic since capital deployment was supposed to be the strong suit of Malone and Liberties. I think the overall result is a mix of operations and capital deployment and it might not be simple to distinguish how much each contributed/detracted. Show me someone with a perfect batting average. I'm pretty sure Malone thinks of his companies as a basket, like a virtual conglomerate. Some are always doing better than others, but overall, I'd say he's been doing pretty well over time. Kind of like how some companies or investments inside BRK might be doing badly or be mistakes, but that doesn't mean the whole has "bad capital allocation".

Many parts of it are growing like a startup, but with mature company margins.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-at-t-divestiture-puertorico-idUSKCN1UD30O

MSFT Q2: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2019-Q4/press-release-webcast https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https://c.s-microsoft.com/en-us/CMSFiles/SlidesFY19Q4.pptx?version=57904466-7e87-bcd6-1a59-9e4c5e26a761

I was thinking entire company. Private buyer's value for the company as a heuristic.

If they can't earn decent returns on their assets, why would someone else pay a lot for these assets? What benefit would someone else have operating them that this company couldn't do (except get lucky with commodity price fluctuations that are outside of anyone's control)?

Yeah, it's not intended to be used rigidly, but only as a guide to understand the relationship between various variables.

A little more details: "MDS signed three new customers outside the UK in late 2018, including one £8M contract (there aren't a lot of telecos out there...). They also extended contracts with their biggest customers for the next 3-5 years, one of them = £8.8M" Looks to me like they're paying for some of that forward revenue. And if they expect that they can eventually bring margins to company average, the multiple is further reduced by a significant amount. Chances are that the effective multiple is within their traditional range.

As Matt Ball says: "Odds are if Stranger Things came out a week earlier, there'd be no loss, but a very different narrative. Not that anything would be different (in a good or bad way)" https://twitter.com/ballmatthew/status/1151595230820478977

Looks like more details on the larger one that was press-released at the CSI level not that long ago: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2019/07/17/1884292/0/en/Volaris-Group-a-Constellation-Software-Company-Completes-Acquisition-of-MDS-Global-Ltd.html

Here's the video of the Neuralink presentation (I haven't watched it yet): https://youtu.be/r-vbh3t7WVI?t=5562

Older Mauboussin paper on Competitive Advantage Period: http://people.stern.nyu.edu/adamodar/pdfiles/eqnotes/cap.pdf