My morning train WFH reads:
• Inside Trump’s Ailing Business Empire Donald Trump upended the American presidency after stepping away from the company that made him rich and famous. Four years later, returning to his empire after losing the White House, what he finds may upend him. (Bloomberg)
• 14 Lessons for the Next Pandemic One year. More than 500,000 dead. What did the United States do wrong in handling Covid-19? What needs to be rethought? We asked scientists, public health experts and health advocates to tell us about mistakes, missed chances and oversights — and how to prepare for the next pandemic. Responses are edited for length and clarity. (New York Times)
• In defense of the misunderstood short seller Their business model is constantly under attack by regulators, CEOs and by the new online generation of retail investors.Short sellers, though frequently despised, are often misunderstood. They play an important role in stabilizing and policing financial markets, keeping prices honest and reducing volatility and transaction costs for all. Instead of hating them, we should be thanking them for their service. (The Hill)
• Tidal Wave of ESG Funds Brings Profit to Wall Street Socially focused exchange-traded funds give asset managers higher fees in a low-fee industry (Wall Street Journal)
• Inflation Is Just a Monster Under the Bed for Investors Despite all the fuss about expectations for higher prices, there’s little indication that a worrisome jump is coming.(Bloomberg) see also Why Housing is a Good Hedge Against Inflation Earning even a small return above the rate of inflation over the long-term on a place you would like to live in anyways is a pretty sweet deal. (A Wealth of Common Sense)
• Intel Goes Long I’m sure some will claim to find this ad campaign to be a sick burn, but I find it cringey, kind of hard to watch. It’s neither parody nor sequel. It’s an attempt at comedy from writers who have no sense of humor. The concept isn’t actually anything beyond “Let’s hire Justin Long as our new pitchman, that’ll show them.” (Daring Fireball)
• The Secret Auction That Set Off the Race for AI Supremacy How the shape of deep learning—and the fate of the tech industry—went up for sale in Harrah’s Room 731, on the shores of Lake Tahoe. (Wired)
• Clubhouse’s Founder Is in a State of Perpetual Motion “He’s got more momentum than force,” says a former colleague. “Paul is just always moving forward.” (Bloomberg)
• The Imperious Rise and Accelerating Fall of Andrew Cuomo Even as he tries to plot a political survival strategy in the face of sexual misconduct allegations, Mr. Cuomo is an object lesson on the dangers of kicking people on the way up. (New York Times)
• The pandemic won’t be the end of movie theaters, but it will forever change them Is the abandonment of the movie-house a temporary aberration forced by social distancing, or a sweeping lifestyle change? That conclusion may not be entirely clear until several of the big movie franchise films (the studios call them “tentpoles”) give it a go in the theaters this summer. (CNN)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Bill Gurley, the legendary venture capital investor at Benchmark. His investments include GrubHub, Nextdoor, OpenTable, Zillow and of course, Uber. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Santa Fe Institute, and is widely considered one of most influential dealmakers in technology. He was named TechCrunch’s VC of the Year in 2016.
Rich Millennials Are Splashing Millions on Crypto Art
Source: Bloomberg
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