How a Maneuver in Puerto Rico Led to a $29 Billion Tax Bill for Microsoft
Microsoft, a stock which we own in our Global Compounders Portfolio, is the subject of this succinct piece on the investigative website PropPublica. The author, Paul Kiel, says “In the largest audit in U.S. history, the IRS rejected Microsoft’s attempts to channel profits to a small factory in Puerto Rico that burned Windows software onto CDs….On […]
Seconds
Scott Galloway is a professor of marketing at NYU Stern School of Business. He is also known for founding multiple businesses, an active investor, author and most importantly for speaking his mind. In this blog, he highlights the second round effects of the growing use of weight loss drugs. A drug initially developed as a […]
Superlinear returns
Whilst Marc Andreessen’s essay talks about the benefits of technology at the macro level (economy and society), here’s another thought leader from Silicon valley, Paul Graham talking about superlinear returns at the individual level. He begins by saying inequality is inevitable as it is naturally embedded in the way the world functions. “It’s obviously true […]
The Techno-Optimist Manifesto
Marc Andreessen, the renowned VC, begins this long article by claiming that we are being lied to about the pernicious effects of technology on our lives. He exhorts us to take a different point of view: “We believe growth is progress – leading to vitality, expansion of life, increasing knowledge, higher well being…There are only three […]
Outsourcing 2.0: The Global Capability Centre Boom in India
In the early years of the 21st century, India became the IT outsourcing hub for the Western economies. However, over the past decade, as India’s talent pool has widened to sustain multiple functionalities beyond IT services, the West is also outsourcing audit, finance, HR, marketing, analytics, and other functions to India. As the West’s labour shortage […]
Unleashing the Power of ‘Owner Operators’ to create Wealth for our Clients
Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) strategically invests in 25-30 deeply moated global companies listed in developed countries, leveraging their products and services aligned with global economic megatrends, fortified by exceptionally solid moats. These elements contribute to the consistent compounding of free cash flow/earnings in the mid-to-high teens. Here, we spotlight the investment philosophy known as […]
Midnight Approaches for India’s Retail Lending Boom
India’s savings rate, on a net basis (i.e., savings less borrowings), has touched a 40-year low, as for the first time ever, Indian households are borrowing more than they are saving through bank deposits. This fall in the net savings rate is a by-product of three structural trends: (a) the youthful demography of the nation; (b) the […]
Gamification of Indian Equities
Indian savers’ parcipatition in equity markets has grown manifold over the past few years as indicated by the rise in demat accounts, now well above 100m. Part of the reason is the structural trend of financialisation of savings in the country away from the historical affinity with real estate and gold as default asset classes. […]
The mysterious monoliths of Meghalaya
The North-East of India is full of hidden treasures. Ms Paul’s article in the BBC is about one such hidden gem: “Hundreds of standing stones, some 8m tall, stand sentinel in Nartiang, Meghalaya, with their origin shrouded in fantastical folklore.” Nartiang is two hours south of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya. Ms Paul says, “I found myself […]
Depaul’s cold coffee has been Delhi’s favourite since 1952. SRK used to hang out here
Those of us who grew up in Delhi can affirm that the world’s best cold coffee is served by Depaul’s in Delhi. As Ms Manmohan explains, “Packed in tiny, customised bottles of 200 ml, Depaul’s beverage lasts just about 4 happy gulps.” Every work trip to Delhi should therefore involve visiting one of the many Depaul’s outlets […]
How China’s EV Boom Caught Western Car Companies Asleep at the Wheel
Earlier this month, we featured a piece on how China is flooding the world with its cars. To construe this as yet another case of China dumping low quality products sold cheap thanks to the Chinese state’s subsidies would not be out of the ordinary. However, this follow up to that story suggests something different. […]
You’re not going to like what comes after Pax Americana
For those of us uninitiated, Pax Americana is a term used to refer to the period post World War 2, when the US became the dominant economic and military power which supposedly contributed to relative peace in the western hemisphere. Especially the period post the collapse of the Soviet Union has been termed Long Peace, […]
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