What's Interesting In Business News: LSE, Refinitiv, ML, sell-side, guidance, alternative data, SVOD, mifid2, Amazon, home devices, influencers, cities, cable video
July 29, 2019 #18
LSE believes there is £350 ($427) million in run-rate “synergies” with the Refinitiv acquisition. Really?
The sell side continues to reduce headcount for research sales and sales-traders. Interesting new career path as data entry specialists training ML algorithms for quant funds.
Good use of ML and good use of sell side expertise.
Quants seek human touch in reboot of investing strategy
Companies tend to issue optimistic guidance when current Q earnings are disappointing.
They tend to issue conservative guidance when current Q earnings are strong.
Interesting analysis.
Do Managers Bias Earnings Forecasts in Response to Current Earnings Surprises?
Institutions use alternative data to track:
- Roku devices
- Fitbit devices
- Teslas sold
- Retailer and restaurant foot traffic
- App downloads
- Airline and hotel pricing
- Groupon sales
- Amazon sales
- Credit card data
- Hiring spikes for companies
From Fitbits to Rokus, Hedge Funds Mine Data for Consumer Habits
How are Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max and all the other online video services different?
A definitive primer on the state of the streaming video industry and all the business models involved by @ballmatthew.
Worth the long read.
REDEF ORIGINAL: The Streaming Wars: Its Models, Surprises, and Remaining Opportunities
Mifi2 has caused sell-side stock coverage to shrink — and in-house research departments to increase.
What Amazon has been executing on for their physical retail strategy.
"Early on, the Go team envisioned thousands of stores, in every major urban area. “We always wanted to be on every corner,” a former executive says. “We wanted to be as common as Starbucks.” But now, seven years into the project, Amazon is just getting to its 14th store"
Amazon’s Most Ambitious Research Project Is a Convenience Store
Good writeup on why folks need to consider what kind of speakers and IoT home devices they buy.
Hello HomePod. So Long Sonos & Bose
Youth and influencers in social media are now relying on apps to modify their face and body before posting photos online.
In parallel, AI now lets you create fake people, fake voices, and fake videos.
It will not be long before the "fake" people may start to look more real than the "real "people.
Facetune and the internet’s endless pursuit of physical perfection
Do you also hate the shopping experience on Amazon?
@benedictevans explains why.
Amazon's Revolutionary Retail Strategy? Recycling Old Ideas
People are moving back to cities. The land they leave behind are going back to being wild forests. Big trend in Europe.
The rewilding: why wolves and bears are returning to Europe
Losing cable video subscribers is now part of the bull case for cable companies.
Replacing video subs with internet-only subs is a higher margin and lower cost business.
The Cable TV Bundle Is Falling Apart. Why Cable Stocks Might Actually Benefit.