What we learnt from investing in Brad Jacobs’ latest venture, QXO?
I hadn’t heard of Brad Jacobs until Marcellus’ Global Compounders team invested in his latest NYSE-listed venture, QXO. I then learnt that Mr Jacobs has created EIGHT multi-billion dollar businesses in run-of-the-mill industries i.e. he’s not your typical tech mogul doing disruptive things. Six of the eight companies Mr Jacobs has created are publicly traded: […]
Short read: China has brought millions out of poverty. The US has not – by choice
Whilst US remains the poster boy of capitalism, its failings have also been evident, where its benefits have accrued to a handful of its populace leaving plenty behind resulting in the push towards socialism in some quarters, most notably in the recent mayoral elections in New York City. In contrast, China with its own brand […]
Short read: The Untold Story of Charlie Munger’s Final Years
This is of interest to those of us who are at that stage of life looking after our ageing retired parents. Retirement is meant to be a happy phase of life where one hangs up their boots having fulfilled life’s responsibilities. Whilst it is absolutely well-deserved but research has shown that it is also important […]
Short read: Bollywood bawarchi no 1. The rise of Dilip, Farah Khan’s cook
Just in case you have been hiding under a rock over the course of 2025 and are unaware of the meteoric rise to stardom of Dilip, Farah Khan’s cook, here is a short primer from Jyoti Yadav of The Print: “Dilip Mukhiya, a 42-year-old migrant from a small Bihar village, became an internet sensation as […]
Long read: When Will We Make God?
Every week, we try and feature diverse perspectives on the AI boom (or bubble). The division is increasingly clear – those calling it a bubble are old school value investors who have seen many a hyped-up mania in history go bust whilst the tech bros driving the boom believe that the tangible prospects of AI […]
Long read: How a Khoja Family Helped Wire the Empire: The Chinoys and the Making of Cosmopolitan Capitalism
Did you know that a century ago India’s first tech unicorn was led by a Khoja Ismaili Muslim family from Mumbai and funded by a multi-religious coalition? Danish Khan, a historian and journalist based in London, tells us in this article the history of the Chinoys, a Khoja Ismaili Muslim business family from Bombay. It […]
Long read: Review of Carl Benedikt Frey’s blockbuster book “How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation, and the Fate of Nations”
Carl Frey is a superstar professor at Oxford University partly due to his previous book, “The Technology Trap” (2019), which was the ‘FT Book of the Year’. His latest big book, ‘How Progress Ends’, is arguably the most important book published in 2025. The book focuses on the comparative history of economic policy & performance […]
Short read: Four labour codes, one big leap
With the Bihar election behind us, we have two big policy announcements since. One is still just a recommendation by Niti Ayog to end the inspector raj, a general push towards deregulation. But the other is something where deregulation is most required and will likely have the biggest impact – simplifying India’s archaic and complex […]
Short read: How to Use ChatGPT Without Brain-Rot
Brain-rot was chosen as Oxford word of the year for 2024, referring to the mindless scrolling on social media. With rapid increase in usage of AI assistants like ChatGPT to boost our productivity, it is not apparent that usage of AI could result in Brain-rot as well. Unfortunately, new research confirms that apprehension. “A few […]
Short read: Hidden in plain sight – Mumbai’s glorious Art Deco legacy at 100
A few of us in Marcellus enjoy hanging around south Mumbai and Bandra over the weekends to take in the beautiful Art Deco buildings in these locations (whilst lazily wondering why nobody else seems to care about these buildings). The good news is that Nikhil Inamdar from the BBC cares. Whilst celebrating the centenary of […]
Long read: Why Gen Z Hates Work
This is for those of us who tend to recruit and work with the Gen Z. Also, for parents of Gen Z trying to motivate them or as a brand trying to sell to them, this could be of interest. For the uninitiated, Gen Z, short for Generation Z is defined as “the generation born […]
Long read: A tribute to Tejas. India’s delay culture is the real enemy in the skies
For several years now we have been writing on 3 Longs & Shorts about HAL’s inability to produce a usable fighter jet for the Indian Air Force. Amongst the many adverse consequences of this is the fact that the Indian Air Force today has fewer squadrons than it has had in the past three decades. […]
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