Tech Review: 1) What Will Replace Facebook? 2) Jeff Bezos in 1999 (video)

Tech Review (TR 2019-02-16)--Domain Mondo's weekly review of tech investing news: Features • 1) What Will Replace Facebook? 2) Jeff Bezos In 1999 On Amazon's Plans Before The Dotcom Crash, 3) Investing: The Week & Investor Notes: Globalization in Transition, Germany Vulnerable, Bill Gross, John Paulson, Byron Wien, 4) ICYMI Tech News: Big Tech and more, 5) End Note: Velocity.

1) What will replace Facebook? 

Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) has dominated the social-media landscape for the past 15 years. "But breaches of its users' privacy mean it is now slipping out of favour. Could an emerging technological movement take its place?"--The Economist.com video above published Feb 4, 2019. See also There Are Storm Clouds On Facebook's Horizon--seekingalpha.com.

Also note: Headlines Aren't Reality--seekingalpha.com: "At 22 times earnings, FB is my highest conviction buy of 2019."

2) Jeff Bezos In 1999 On Amazon's Plans Before The Dotcom Crash

Jeff Bezos explained his ambitious vision for Amazon $AMZN in a 1999 interview. He made clear the company’s focus was on “great customer service” and discussed his real estate strategy. Bezos said, “There’s no guarantee that Amazon.com can be a successful company. What we’re trying to do is very complicated.” He added, “Scale is important to us and we’re going to go after that kind of scale.” CNBC.com video published Feb 8, 2019.

See also:

• Bezos Complexifiers from Ms. Sanchez to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez: "we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens"--aboutamazon.com.
• Amazon Isn’t Interested in Making the World a Better Place by Kara Swisher--"New Yorkers who expected better bought into the myth that tech companies are more than just self-interested businesses."--NYTimes.com Op-ed.
• 'New York’s Ejection of Amazon Is the Start of a Movement'--citylab.com. New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Cheers Amazon’s Withdrawal as a Victory Over ‘Greed’--bloomberg.com.
• Bezos's Wild Days: 'Dick Pics,' Lurid Selfies, Blackmail, Drama--bloomberg.com.
• Bezos Selfie Controversy Triggers Alarm For Billionaires Worldwide.
• Why Amazon $AMZN Is Undervalued--seekingalpha.com.
• Size Matters: When Amazon Went From Big to Unbelievably Big--Amazon now has 288M sq. ft. of warehouses, offices, retail stores, and data centers; all retail adds up to less than 20M sq. ft. and all of AWS uses 10M sq. ft.--the data on the company’s real-estate holdings reveal a remarkable inflection point--theatlantic.com.

3) Investing

The Week: NASDAQ Composite +2.4% | S&P 500 Index +2.5% | DJIA +3.1%

The Long View:

Investor Notes: with the world awash in $8.6 trillion of negative-yielding debt, money managers are wading again into fringe fixed-income markets across the globe--“We’ve seen a huge psychological swing toward greed from fear in the space of a few weeks,” said Jamie Stuttard, co-head of global macro fixed-income at Robeco Group in London (robeco.com).

Americans' Confidence in Their Finances Keeps Growing--gallup.com; Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon says US economy 'chugging along,' chance of recession quite small--cnbc.com.

U.S. Oil & Brexit: the United States is now the largest global crude oil producer (production to grow to 14 mbpd by 2030 according to EIA.gov), and the U.S. has already become the United Kingdom's largest supplier of oil for the first time since the Suez crisis of 1956, reports the Financial Times.

Trump Effect or Not, Globalization is in Transition: future of trade and value chains--China exported 17% of what it produced in 2007, but only 9% of what it produced in 2017, about the same percentage as the U.S., but much lower than Germany's 34%, South Korea's 28%, and Japan's 14%--mckinsey.com.

• Editor's note: export-heavy countries may be at risk, particularly Germany. The EU has badly miscalculated the economic risks of Brexit for the EU, particularly Germany (the UK imports more from the EU than it exports, and Germany is most vulnerable). A 'hard Brexit,'  in conjunction with Trump's trade policies, could deliver a double whammy to Germany's already slowing economy in 2019.
• "Germany’s long expansion comes under threat, the slowing is a consequence of its export-oriented model"--economist.com.
• German Industrial Production Falls the Most Since 2009. New Orders Plummet ... a “technical recession” beckons--WolfStreet.com.

Majority Of U.S. CEOs See Trump's Tariffs Helping--"More than double the number who saw a negative impact"--zerohedge.com.and bloomberg.com.

The Bond King Retires: Bill Gross’s retirement from Janus and his  recent struggles show how hard it’s become for individual managers to beat the indexes, algorithms and sprawling trading teams that oversee today’s portfolios--bloomberg.com.

John Paulson, 63, may also be getting ready to call it a day. He said last month that he is considering booting out investors and managing only his own money within a couple of years--largely unknown until the financial crisis, when he shorted housing before everyone else recognized the bubble, his firm made $15 billion in 2007, and his personal cut was $4 billion. Read The Greatest Trade Ever.

Blackstone's Byron Wien Discusses Lessons Learned in His First 80 Years: #20 Never retire.  "If you work forever, you can live forever.  I know there is an abundance of biological evidence against this theory, but I’m going with it anyway."--blackstone.com.

4) ICYMI Tech News:

Google announces "over $13 billion in investments throughout 2019 in data centers and offices across the U.S., with major expansions in 14 states. These new investments will give us the capacity to hire tens of thousands of employees, and enable the creation of more than 10,000 new construction jobs in Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia. With this new investment, Google will now have a home in 24 total states, including data centers in 13 communities. 2019 marks the second year in a row we’ll be growing faster outside of the Bay Area than in it." Google also plans to release a lower-priced smartphone this year--nikkei.com; and  Google extends chip-making efforts to a design hub in Bengaluru, India--reuters.com.

Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOGL) aggressively ramped up capital spending in 2018, spending far more than the large telecoms AT&T (T) and Verizon Communications (VZ), and other tech giants Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN).--seekingalpha.com. See also 'Why Alphabet is a better investment than Apple'.--seekingalpha.com, and Apple Faces New Challenges In App Store--seekingalpha.com.

Big Tech: Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon, have become so large that even relatively modest percentage growth in any of their businesses would translate into enormous absolute change in the world--theatlantic.com.

Going short Tesla $TSLA: Druckenmiller bought Tesla Puts in Q4 2018.

Venture Capital: VCs raised $55B in 2018, but most of the increased funding went into growth rounds, which are effectively private IPOs--bothsidesofthetable.com.

Speed robotics development with the cloud--therobotreport.com.

Cut the Cord: MGM’s Epix Joins Streaming Market With Epix Now app--Variety.com.

Boeing's iconic 747:

NASA's Boeing 747 transporting the Space Shuttle

UPS ordered 14 more 747-8 freighters in 2018, and Boeing's iconic jumbo jet, now flying in the skies for more than 50 years, looks set to outlive its younger European competitor, Airbus SE’s A380, thanks to a cargo market boom fueled by online shopping.

Sprint sues AT&T over its “5G Evolution” branding, claims it is false and deceptive advertising that is damaging the reputation of actual 5G --engadget.com.

Germany, France face hurdles in push to rewrite EU antitrust rules--Vestager says global rules on subsidies and trade defense instruments, controlling foreign investments, mutual access to markets and reinforcing data protection and privacy rules should be included.

Blockchain’s Occam problem--mckinsey.com: "given the amount of money and time spent ... little of substance has been achieved." [ Editor's note: Occam’s razor is a problem-solving principle, the simplest solution tends to be the best.]

5) End Note

How to Increase Velocity: Say "No" to the Non-Essential, ruthlessly eliminate unnecessary tasks, priorities, meetings, BS; create systems and habits that help you fend off distractions; and put all your effort into the projects that really matter.

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I'm actually as proud of the things we haven't done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.”--Steve Jobs

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo  

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
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DISCLAIMER

MacroView: World's Central Bankers Doubling Down, Going For Broke?

Domain Mondo's new weekly review of  macro economic and investing news:

MacroView Feature • Doubling Down:"... it is capitalism itself that is threatened by the ongoing Martingale strategies of central banks. As central bank purchases grow, and negative/zero interest rate policies persist, they will increasingly inhibit capitalism from carrying out its primary function — the effective allocation of resources based upon return relative to risk ... This cannot end well."--Bill Gross. See also Bill Gross says global markets are one big casino created by central banks--MarketWatch.com.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst

Are full of passionate intensity.--William Butler Yeats

•  The 3 Things That Spook People about the Stock Market:

SkyBridge Capital [skybridgecapital.com] founder Anthony Scaramucci explains in the above video published Oct 3, 2016, by Fortune.com.

•  The TRUST Index: Trust is eroding away in markets | BusinessInsider.com. See also Backlash to World Economic Order Clouds Outlook at IMF Talks | Bloomberg.com and Perry Capital Closing Flagship Fund After Almost Three Decades | Bloomberg.com.

•  Bridgewater Ray Dalio's Long-Term Debt Cycle Charts--Ritholtz.com: "It is no longer controversial to say that: … this isn’t a normal business cycle and we are likely in an environment of abnormally slow growth … the current tools of monetary policy will be a lot less effective going forward … the risks are asymmetric to the downside … investment returns will be very low going forward, and … the impatience with economic stagnation, especially among middle and lower income earners, is leading to dangerous populism and nationalism."

•  Deutsche Bank (db.com | $DB $DBK): German minister accuses Deutsche Bank of making speculation its business--"I did not know if I should laugh or cry ... [Deutsche Bank] made speculation a business model [and] is now saying it is a victim of speculators."--German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel--Reuters.com  See also Crisis of Globalization Lies Behind Deutsche Bank’s Troubles | WSJ.com: "Deutsche has also paid a high price for its global ambitions ... it tried to buy market share through aggressive pricing, acquiring a reputation among its rivals as the “dumb money” in the market."

•  A weak British Pound means UK-based assets are attracting more and more attention from foreign investors, particularly investors with US$. As a result, the London Stock Exchange benchmark index FTSE100 is up, up, up:

•  Venture Capital: It is a pricing, not a value, game! "At the time of a VC investment, the VC wants to push today’s pricing for the company lower, so that he or she can get a greater share of the equity for a given investment in the company. Subsequent to the investment, the VC will want the pricing to go higher for two reasons. First, it makes the unrealized returns on the VC portfolio a much more attractive number. Second, it also means that any subsequent equity capital raised will dilute the VC’s ownership stake less ... This is a business where success is measured less on the quality of the companies that you build (in terms of the cash flows and profits they generate) and more on the price you paid to get into the business and the price at which you exit this business, with that exit coming from either an IPO or a sale. Consequently, how much you are willing to pay for something becomes a process of judging what you will get when you exit and working backwards."--aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com.

•  Venture Capital hits a wall in Q3 as investments tumble 28% YOY: "According to a new report from the National Venture Capital Association, startups in the U.S. raised $15 billion in venture capital during the third quarter ending September, down 28.6 percent from $21 billion for the same period one year ago."--VentureBeat.com

•  Election 2016: One mashup of recent polls has Hillary Clinton ahead of Donald Trump but remember that the Financial Times poll tracker ahead of the Brexit vote had “Remain” up by 2 points the day of the referendum. Betting odds have recently had Clinton at a 75% chance of winning; they had “Remain” at 85% the day before that vote. The USC Dornsife / LATimes.com daily tracking poll, on the other hand, for weeks has shown Donald Trump leading Hillary Clinton. Consensus is that Trump's running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, won the VP Debate. Remaining Presidential debates: October 9th and October 19th (both are 9:00-10:30 pm EDT). Watch online here.

Q3 2016 Earnings Season--companies on Domain Mondo's coverage list:

1. Alibaba BABA
2. Alphabet GOOG
3. Amazon AMZN
4. Apple AAPL
5. Facebook FB
6. GoDaddy GDDY
7. Neustar NSR
8. Rightside NAME
9. Twitter TWTR
10. Verisign VRSN

Q3 2016 preview:  For Q3 2016, the estimated earnings decline for the S&P 500 is -2.1%. If the index reports a decline in earnings for Q3, it will mark the first time the index has recorded six consecutive quarters of year-over-year declines in earnings since FactSet.com began tracking the data in Q3 2008--read more here (pdf).

Two More Reading Recommendations: 

1. It's Time We Crush the Putrid Roach Motels of Philanthro-Crony-Capitalism, Starting with the Clinton Foundation--CharlesHughSmith.blogspot.com
2. Why thousands of millionaires don’t pay federal income taxes--WashingtonPost.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
Follow @DomainMondo

DISCLAIMER

News Review: ICANN Says It Is Ready for the IANA Transition, Is It Really?

"ICANN reiterates that it, as an organization, and with the support of the global multistakeholder community, is ready for the IANA stewardship transition to occur."--see  FEATURE further below.

Domain Mondo's review and look ahead [pdf], starting first with the macro view, the big picture, after cutting through all the noise:

• .The U.S. economy, absent consumer spending, is basically in a recession, said billionaire bond-fund manager Bill Gross, in an interview with Bloomberg Television. While employers are hiring, he said “there’s a dearth of investment spending.” See also The Great Productivity Puzzle | NewYorker.com: "Whatever is driving the slowdown in productivity growth in the U.S. appears to be affecting many other advanced countries, like Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. What is it?" and The big puzzle in economics today: why is the economy growing so slowly? | Vox.com.

•  The Big Disconnect: Triple record for U.S. stock indexes | SeekingAlpha.com: "All three major U.S. equity indexes rose to new highs on Thursday, in an alignment that hasn't occurred since December 31, 1999."--A bullish indicator or bearish? 

•  Macro update from Q2 2016 earnings season--after reports from 86% of S&P 500 companies--via FactSet.com (pdf):

• Blended earnings decline is 3.5% year over year. If the S&P 500 index reports a decline for Q2 once all results are in, it will be the first time the companies in the index will have reported 5 straight quarters of earnings declines since the financial crisis (Q3 2008 - Q3 2009).
• The number of companies issuing negative guidance for Q3 is double those guiding higher (53 vs. 26).
• Wall Street analysts now expect Q3 2016 earnings to decline 1.7% versus the 0.4% growth factored into their models on June 30th. Earnings expectations are now reduced for every sector (not just energy) since the end of the Q2. 

• FEATURE: ICANN Says It Is Ready for the IANA Transition, Is It Really?

ICANN Submits Implementation Planning Status Report to NTIA | ICANN.org 12 Aug 2016: "... ICANN is confident that all implementation tasks and mechanisms will be implemented in advance of September 30, 2016 to allow the IANA functions contract to expire. With this report (pdf), ICANN reiterates that it, as an organization, and with the support of the global multistakeholder community, is ready for the IANA stewardship transition to occur."  But, is it really? Three negative indicators:

1. Conversation on the CCWG-Accountability mail list:

ICANN stakeholder #1: "What is ICANN: public governance body or private coordination body? ICANN by its function is a public governance body, if it is a private body by its form and incorporation that is just an anomaly. All the discussions/ activities regarding the transition process etc are basically aimed at addressing this anomaly, in the practical ways possible. ICANN should therefore be subject to same level of transparency requirements as say the government of the US or of India is subject. Quoting 'standard commercial practices' cuts no ice. Government of India will not be able to give this response to a right to information query."

ICANN stakeholder #2: "ICANN by its function is not a 'public governance body' - it is actually a coordination body that supports the stable and secure operation of the Internet’s various identifier systems ..."

2. "The multistakeholder model may also be undermined from within. ICANN's new governance structure may prove inadequate, or the community too disunited, to hold the ICANN staff or Board accountable. ICANN has already morphed from the technical coordinating body set up in 1998 into something much more like a government: It has the de facto power to tax domain names. It is flush with cash from a flurry of top level domain name applications (e.g., .APP, .SHOP). It is increasingly exercising essentially regulatory powers (e.g., who may use .WINE or .AMAZON). There are good reasons to worry about what it may do with this power absent the incentive for self-restraint created by its contract with the U.S. Indeed, even with the transition at stake, ICANN has demonstrated a troubling willingness to ignore its bylaws and procedures, as demonstrated in the recent ruling in favor of Dot Registry."--Coalition Letter Urging Congress To Sue NTIA and Delay IANA Transition (emphasis added)

3. The vast majority of comments submitted to the Proposed Amendment to .COM Registry Agreement (comments closed August 12), indicate the global multistakeholder community wants a "public governance body"--a domain name price regulator, an intellectual property rights regulator, etc. --not a "private coordination body." 

• How much longer will ICANN remain in denial? 
• How long will the global multistakeholder community tolerate ICANN before looking elsewhere for a public governance body that better meets its needs?

•  The 'Good Old Days' ain't never coming back:

Above: ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade's Last Letter to Dilma Rousseff (excerpt)

Brazil Senate Indicts Dilma Rousseff, Opens Impeachment Trial | NBCnews.com: Brazil's Senate voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday [Aug 10] to indict President Dilma Rousseff on charges of breaking budget laws and to begin an impeachment trial that is expected to oust her from office and end 13 years of rule by the Workers Party. See also Brazil Insulted by ICANN President & CEO Fadi Chehade Farewell Letter.

•  Cruz, Lee, and Duffy Increase Scrutiny on Obama Administration's Planned Internet Giveaway | Ted Cruz | U.S. Senator for Texas August 12, 2016: "... We therefore respectfully request that you respond to the following questions no later than 5:00 pm on August 15, 2016:  (1)  Has the DOJ conducted a competition review of Verisign’s .com Registry Agreement with ICANN to assist the NTIA in determining whether the agreement should be extended to 2024?  If so, please provide a complete copy and summary of the review. (2)  If not, will the DOJ conduct a competition review of the .com Registry Agreement before the agreement is extended and the NTIA transfers its oversight authority to ICANN?  Please explain."

•  New gTLD Registry Operator StartingDot "throws in the towel"--Afilias Acquires StartingDot | BusinessWire.com August 08, 2016: "... acquisition of StartingDot, the Registry Operator for 3 new TLDs: .ARCHI, .BIO and .SKI. The acquisition agreement is part of Afilias’ ongoing program of acquiring new TLDs to add to its portfolio ... Other Registry Operators interesting in talking with Afilias should contact us at WeBuyTLDs@Afilias.INFO." StartingDot Executive V.P., Stéphane Van Gelder, currently chairs ICANN’s Nominating Committee, and recently wrote a critique of ICANN in CircleID.

•  Approved Board Resolutions - Verisign as Root Zone Maintainer | Special Meeting of the ICANN Board - ICANN: "Whereas, ICANN and Verisign finalized negotiations on the terms of the proposed RZMA for Verisign to perform the root zone maintainer function, and published the proposed RZMA for a 30-day notice period as required by the IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group (ICG) proposal ... Resolved (2016.08.09.05), the proposed RZMA is approved, and the President and CEO, or his designee(s), is authorized to take such actions as appropriate to finalize and execute the Agreement."

•  ICANN Announces Incorporation of Public Technical Identifiers (PTI) | ICANN.org August 11, 2016: "ICANN today announced that the incorporation documents for the "Post-Transition IANA" organization have been filed and received by the California Secretary of State under the name Public Technical Identifiers (which will now be referred to as PTI). With this filing and receipt, PTI is now formed as a nonprofit public benefit corporation and controlled affiliate of ICANN.

•  Comments close this coming week at ICANN on:

• Modifications to GNSO Operating Procedures Relating to Motions and to the Chair and Vice-Chair Elections: Close Date 14 Aug 2016 23:59 UTC
• Proposed Measures for Letter/Letter Two-Character ASCII Labels to Avoid Confusion with Corresponding Country Codes: Close Date 17 Aug 2016 23:59 UTC

•  Other News:

• Walmart Agrees to Acquire Jet.com, One of the Fastest Growing e-Commerce Companies in the U.S. | walmart.com: "... Walmart to acquire Jet for approximately $3 billion in cash, a portion of which will be paid over time. Additionally, $300 million of Walmart shares will be paid over time as part of the transaction ... Walmart and Jet will maintain distinct brands, with Walmart.com focusing on delivering the company’s Everyday Low Price strategy, while Jet will continue to provide a unique and differentiated customer experience with curated assortment."
• Baidu Is Bringing Intelligent AR to the Masses | technologyreview.com: "... Chinese Internet giant Baidu [baidu.com] has announced a new AR platform that will allow people to make use of the technology from within many of the company’s own apps. The system, called DuSee, is claimed to make use of "sophisticated computer vision and deep learning" to “understand the 3-D environment, and create virtual objects that have rich interactions with the user and the real world.” The platform seems to sit somewhere between basic AR systems, like those used in Pokémon Go, and more advanced technologies, such as Google’s Tango."
• Google Under Antitrust Scrutiny in South Korea | WSJ.com: "Issue appears to revolve around the pre-loading of Google apps on Android smartphones"
• High-Frequency Trading Is Nearing the Ultimate Speed Limit: "A network switch made by the firm Metamako allows a trade order to be placed in the time it takes a photon to travel about 90 feet."
• The bandwidth bottleneck that is throttling the Internet | Nature.com: "... with global Internet traffic growing by an estimated 22% per year, the demand for bandwidth is fast outstripping providers' best efforts to supply it ..."
• Google isn’t safe from Yahoo’s fate | TechCrunch.com: "Google in 2016 = Yahoo in 2000? It’s possible ... Beneath the clean upward trajectory of Google’s success, the digital advertising industry that it has long ruled over has fallen into turmoil and rapid change. It’s not clear if Google’s advertising business will sustain its dominance." See also: Bill Maris, the CEO and founder of Google Ventures, is leaving | Recode.net: "Maris would be the third high-ranking executive to depart from the Alphabet units outside of the main Google search business in recent months, as the tech giant continues to stumble through the transition into its new corporate structure." And this: Google Alphabet report card | BusinessInsider.com: "Alphabet lost $859 million on these 'Other Bets' companies in Q2, versus losses of $660 million at the same time last year."

• Q2 2016 Earnings Releases / Webcasts wrap-up:

• Yahoo YHOO July 18 (note: $YHOO not on Q3 2016 coverage list due to sale of assets)
• Apple AAPL July 26
• Twitter TWTR July 26
• Facebook FB July 27
• Alphabet GOOG July 28
• Amazon AMZN July 28
• Neustar NSR July 28
• Verisign VRSN July 28
• GoDaddy GDDY Aug 3
• Web.com WEB Aug 4  (note: $WEB not on Q3 2016 coverage list due change in focus)
• Rightside NAME Aug 9
• Alibaba BABA Aug 11 (note: $BABA will remain on the Q3 2016 coverage list)

• Five most popular posts (# of pageviews Sun-Sat) this week on DomainMondo.com:

1. News Review 07Aug: ICANN Wins Appeal on ccTLDs But Castigated in IRP Loss
2. Alibaba Group $BABA Q2 2016 Earnings Results, LIVE Webcast Replay
3. Benefits of Brexit, How UK's Brexit Ministers Plan To Leave The EU (video)
4. New gTLD WEB Loser, Ruby Glen, Files Amended Complaint vs ICANN
5. Rightside $NAME Q2 2016 Financial Results, LIVE Webcast Replay

Readers - top 3 countries: 1. U.S.; 2. Germany; 3. France.

•  10 Other Reading Recommendations:

1. Oil traders bid farewell to Yahoo Messenger | SeekingAlpha.com: "Yahoo is shutting down its "legacy" Messenger platform, the main tool used by oil traders to communicate since the late 1990s. The follow-up version of the messaging service cannot be used by the industry as it doesn't meet compliance standards like saving conversations."
2. There's More Than One Way to Publish. I Know. I Tried Many of Them | publishersweekly.com: "An author discusses the publishing options she’s tried: traditional, self-, and, for her sixth book, Amazon ... in its first month, despite its limited bookstore availability, I have sold more copies of In Twenty Years than I did of my third and fourth novels combined. In Twenty Years has been well reviewed, but I have not madly tap-danced on social media, and I have not slowly spiraled into crazy worrying about promotion ..."
3. China is flooding Silicon Valley with cash. Here’s what can go wrong. | WashingtonPost.com: In China, where there’s less rule of law, a powerful government relentlessly pushing for growth, and enormous competition among companies, brass-knuckled business tactics are more common, said Thilo Hanemann, an economist at the Rhodium Group. “... reflections of cultural norms of how business is conducted in China. The Chinese investor may ask for terms that would be considered overly aggressive in Silicon Valley, but these terms would be considered fair in China,” said Connie Chan, a partner with the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
4. The Dirty Little Secret of Finance: Asymmetric Information | Bloomberg.com: "... financial markets ... [are] driven by differences in how much people know. ... asymmetric information ... It’s key to the way traders, including high-frequency traders, make their profits. And it’s probably at the root of why markets break down and crash."
5. Interview With A High-Frequency Trader | ZeroHedge.com: High-frequency trading (HFT)–thousands of algorithmic-driven market transactions per second–now accounts for over 60% of all trades on American exchanges". How does HFT affect retail investors? "... Supporters claim that high-frequency traders (HFTs) are a net-positive market force because they provide liquidity and tighten bid-ask spreads. They say that high-frequency trading is rarely if ever used for nefarious purposes, and regulators make sure of it. On the other side, detractors claim that HFTs regularly manipulate unaware investors and otherwise destabilize markets. They say that HFTs are a net-negative force on the market and should be reined in ..."
6. Why even the best investing advice may be wrong | MarketWatch.com: "Just think back to the Brexit vote, when a bunch of economists and market observers said things would get ugly fast in Europe. Instead, the market took a knee-jerk quick slide down — just enough for some of those pundits to claim they were right — before jumping off to new highs."
7. Why China is Supercharging Dissident Trials | WSJ.com: "... In recent years, the government left maneuvering space for activists to pursue causes that do not have direct political implications. They did this, in part, to provide a safety valve for the letting off of social pressure. The trials last week and the accompanying propaganda offensive signal that the government has changed its mind ..."
8. Clinton & Establishment Media Anti-Trump Narratives: Are all those 'Trump controversies' raising doubts in Trump Nation? Not really | LATimes.com: "... Cervantes doesn’t think Trump will start deporting or monitoring law-abiding Muslims. He’s close friends with a Syrian American family and would never want to see them harmed. “I just think the ones coming in should be screened extremely well,” he said ... the thought of a Clinton presidency overshadows any of Trump’s flaws in his mind ..."
9. Every Number Tells a Story | FarnamStreetBlog.com: “Yet numbers also revealed abstract patterns,” writes Alex Bellos in his fascinating book The Grapes of Math: How Life Reflects Numbers and Numbers Reflect Life, which, he continues, “made them objects of deep contemplation."
10. Advice for Startups: "Multi-tasking isn't a thing, switching costs are huge, do one thing at a time and do it really well. Find a way to block out interruptions ... Read every essay Paul Graham has written ... Everyone has a hidden stash of domains they've never used ..."--Ben Dixon in What I'd tell myself about startups if I could go back 5 years. See also: Read This Before Naming Your Startup | thenextweb.com.

-- John Poole, Editor, Domain Mondo 

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
Follow @DomainMondo

DISCLAIMER

What Will China's Markets Do On Friday? Markets NOW Open (video)

Above video: Shanghai surprise | John Authers' Note (FT.com) 7 Jan 2016

UPDATE--China's Friday Markets Now Open--LIVE Links:

• Bloomberg TV Asia LIVE
• SHANGHAI Composite (Google)
• SZSE Component Index (Google)

Major Markets in China Open 01:30 UTC / 8:30 PM EST (US):

Exchange

Symbol

Country

City

Hong Kong Stock Exchange

HKEX

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Shanghai Stock Exchange

SSE

China

Shanghai

Shenzhen Stock Exchange

SZSE

China

Shenzhen

Gross: China Stocks Will Probably Drop 5%-6% Friday - Janus Capital's Bill Gross comments on the outlook for Chinese equities during an interview with Bloomberg's Tom Keene on "Bloomberg Markets" Jan 7, 2016. [re: stocks, global economy]

Tweets about China Markets


See also on Domain Mondo: Global Pulse: China Markets Hit Circuit Breaker Again (videos)

Follow @DomainMondo

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A Lust for Power: Is PIMCO Like Some CCWG-Accountability Members?

Video above: Bill Gross Sues PIMCO Over Forced Exit - Bill Gross has sued PIMCO (pimco.com) and its parent Allianz SE (allianz.com - ETR: ALV) for “hundreds of millions of dollars,” claiming he was wrongfully pushed out as the bond giant’s chief investment officer by a “cabal” of executives seeking a bigger slice of the bonus pool, in other words "greed." Bloomberg's Mary Childs reports on "Bloomberg Markets." Published on Oct 8, 2015

“Driven by a lust for power, greed, and a desire to improve their own financial position and reputation at the expense of investors ..." --Bill Gross Lawsuit Claims

Greed? In the financial industry? "I'm shocked."

Of course, the financial industry is not unique in this regard--it is now clearly evident, that there are a few members of the CCWG-Accountability (Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability) who have been, from the beginning, working on their own lustful power grab, or "greed," for control over ICANN, and apparently intend to impair or destroy ICANN's (and its Board of Directors') fiduciary duties to the global multistakeholder community and the global public interest. See: Domain Mondo: China (CAICT) Objects to ICANN CCWG Accountability 2nd Draft Proposal. For them, "Accountability" is a mere euphemism for "Power"--NOT enhancing ICANN accountability BUT enhancing their own Power--they intend to be "in control" of their proposed Single Member which would rule over the post-IANA transition ICANN and its Board of Directors. Remember, it is the "ICANN stakeholders" who currently select, directly or indirectly, 15 of the 16 voting members of the ICANN Board of Directors! But even that's not enough power (Carl Icahn would be flabbergasted by their chutzpah!)--they want to be able to overrule the ICANN Board even when to do so violates ICANN's (and the Board's) fiduciary duties to the global multistakeholder community and the global public interest:

"Sole Member given reserved power under Bylaws to override Board decision directly, regardless of Board fiduciary duties." - Legal counsel for CCWG-Accountability (pdf) opinion on CCWG 2nd draft Report (emphasis added)

But not all CCWG members are in agreement--and certainly ICANN community members do not all agree with the "power grab"--

"... Let¹s not suggest that the community is in full agreement on the 2nd draft CCWG proposal, it is not. Let¹s not suggest that the board is (nothing but) working against us, it is not. We have agreement on the most important ingredients of the proposal: specific powers for the community that can be enforced. We do not have agreement on the mechanism to implement these..."-- Roelof Meijer (CCWG mail list, October 8, 2015)(emphasis added)

Even one of the original supporters of the CCWG's 2nd Draft Report's Single Member Model now concedes:

"None of us know what will or won’t be approved by the [ICANN] stakeholder groups because at the moment there’s nothing for them to approve. At the moment no one in their right mind would approve our second draft proposal because of the feedback that it has."-- Jordan Carter, ICANN CCWG member, Oct 6, 2015 meeting transcript, emphasis added)

Apparently, from reading the CCWG mail list, we have some members of the CCWG who are not "in their right mind" since they have taken the hardline position to proceed with the Single Member Model (SMM or CMSM) in defiance of the feedback from the Public Comments, including that from the ICANN Board of Directors.  We may find out in Dublin, at the ICANN 54 meeting, if those who 'lust for power' will be successful in impairing or destroying ICANN's fiduciary duties to the global multistakeholder community and the global public interest. Some of these hardliners appear willing to destroy ICANN and the IANA transition in the process. Let's be clear what these CCWG-Accountability hardliners really want:

Complete power over ICANN to be in the hands of a few powerful ICANN "stakeholders," to the complete exclusion of the global internet community--

“... Having been a member or observer of many of these entities [ICANN stakeholder groups] I have found that they are often disorganized, ruled by a few strong personalities in a sea of apathy, and given to making up rules on the fly when needed. They do not even necessarily follow the rules they have agreed to in the charters, though some do, not all of them.  And for the most part, though they are supposed to [be] transparent, most aren't. So what I fear is that they are accountable to none except the few strong personalities..." -- Avri Doria, CCWG mail list, (emphasis added)

"... I agree that we have not (in this [CCWG] group) explored the accountability of stakeholder entities to their members, or the accountability of stakeholder entities (singly and collectively) to the larger community, or for that matter, the accountability of stakeholder entities to their non-member (and non-participating) stakeholders. If this is truly a deep concern, then it could be seen as a fundamental flaw in our entire plan, which is based on the existing stakeholder entities -- no matter how you design it (members, designators, delegates, etc.)…”-- Greg Shatan, CCWG mail list (emphasis added)

This "power grab" has nothing to do with ICANN Board accountability nor "enforceability"--that is a straw man argument completely refuted in a memo (pdf) from the Jones Day law firm distributed on the CCWG mail list October 8, 2015.

Caveat Emptor!

See also on Domain Mondo:

• IANA Transition: ICANN Board Also Rules Out CCWG Designator Model Oct 6, 2015
• Why the ICANN Board Does NOT Support the Single Member Model Oct 2, 2015
• IANA Transition, ICANN Accountability, "Has Always Been About POWER" Oct 1, 2015
• ICANN Board Does NOT Support CCWG Proposed Membership Model Sep 27, 2015
• China (CAICT) Objects to ICANN CCWG Accountability 2nd Draft Proposal Sep 24, 2015
• Only 19 of 90 Comments Support ICANN Accountability [CCWG 2nd draft] Proposal Overall Sep 22, 2015
• ICANN CCWG-Accountability Co-Chair Comments on the Public Comments Sep 15, 2015

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