Long read: Math Is Still Catching Up to the Mysterious Genius of Srinivasa Ramanujan
It is said that mathematics is fundamental to understanding any other subject from physics to economics. Even otherwise, it remains a beautiful subject in itself and so are its practitioners – the mathematicians. As the quote from this article says “As a budding mathematician, “I had the impression that these are beautiful people,” he said. “They […]
Long read: The Rapid Descent of Southwest Airlines: How the Company Plunged from Customer Cult-Favorite to Activist Investor Target
This is a brilliant case study of how even the greatest of companies can be taken apart in the stock market in the space of a four years. Almost all of us have grown up being fed the Southwest Airlines case study as one of disruptive innovation. Lisa Maclellan’s reprises the familiar story succinctly in […]
Global Compounders Portfolio: N.I.M.B.Y. Investing! – Turning Waste into Wealth
Marcellus’ Global Compounders Portfolio (GCP) strategically invests in 25-30 deeply moated global companies aligned with megatrends, fostering a consistent mid to high teens compounding of free cash flow/earnings. Investing globally, particularly in the US, is often equated with technology companies. While the US is home to iconic tech giants, exceptional value creation has occurred across […]
Short read: The Laws of Financial Health
This month’s correction in the stockmarkets has prodded some of us to believe we need to make some judgement calls about our portfolio – some of us want to sell equities as the first bout of sustained correction is underway coupled with negative newsflow around earnings and economic growth whilst some of us who have […]
Short read: The Malcolm Gladwell rule: how to succeed while annoying critics
Malcolm Gladwell, the author of best sellers such as Tipping Point and Outliers, has come out with his new book – Revenge of the Tipping Point. His books typically have drawn upon research in social sciences and presented implications of the same in simple and intuitive terms with entertaining prose. The Economist reviews the new […]
Short read: Four AI bottlenecks could bolster old-economy companies
In the midst of both the hype and the alarmism regarding AI, the portfolio managers at Capital have produced a really interesting piece on how conventional companies are likely to benefit from the rush to implement AI. The first opportunity is in copper: “Generative AI tools like ChatGPT run on large language models hosted on […]
Long read: An Intuitive Guide to How LLMs Work
Whilst Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for a while, it has become ubiquitous over the past two years since the launch of ChatGPT. It is no longer just the realm of tech companies finding niche applications working in the background. With Meta’s AI embedded into Whatsapp chats, Google’s into Android phones and Microsoft’s into […]
Long read: Personal income tax now over 30% of govt’s tax revenue, significantly higher than corporate tax
India’s tax collections seem to be undergoing a range of structural changes, changes which could have a far-reaching impact on the Indian economy. TCA Sharad Raghavan’s piece highlights some of the more important changes. First, he highlights “Income tax from individuals now comprises more than 30 percent of the government’s total tax receipts, significantly exceeding […]
Long read: The ‘genius’ Indian who shattered caste barriers
On 21st October, Penguin published Marcellus’ latest book, ‘Behold the Leviathan: The Unusual Rise of Modern India’. One of the central pillars of the book is the rise of Indian women. More specifically, we highlight in the book that women from the most oppressed sections of Indian society are climbing the educational ladder faster than […]
Short read: An ode to ignorance
A key attribute of a successful investor often talked about is the commitment for continuous learning. Indeed, this could apply to any profession. And the commitment for learning arises from the acknowledgement that we will never know, let alone understand, all that is to be known or understood i.e, a recognition of our ignorance. Here’s […]
Short read: Google’s DeepMind researchers among recipients of Nobel prize for chemistry
Increasingly, computer science, and in particular, Artificial Intelligence are becoming incredibly ubiquitous. To the extent, Nobel prizes in basic sciences such as physics and chemistry are getting awarded to people who have used AI to further their craft. Such as this year’s Nobel prize for chemistry: “…some of the best brains in chemistry do not […]
Short read: Instead of Being Cynical, Try Becoming Skeptical
Business life in highly competitive free market democracies like India and the US can be a tough affair. Those who spend enough time in these sorts of economies working in senior management roles often become battle-hardened cynics. This book excerpt seems to have been written especially with such people in mind (which might be most […]
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