X, the moonshot factory: Captain of Moonshots, Astro Teller, looks back at Loon and Wing's journeys while at X.
Video above published Jul 11, 2018.
Google parent company Alphabet has spun its drone delivery project (Wing) and internet-bearing balloon efforts (Loon) into independent businesses. These are the fourth and fifth companies to "graduate" from its X research division.
Projects Loon, Wing Now Companies Under Alphabet
Fortune Magazine video above published Jul 11, 2018: Alphabet’s ($GOOGL $GOOG) Project Loon and Project Wing “graduated” to become fully-fledged companies under the Alphabet umbrella.
"Today, unlike when they started as X projects, Loon and Wing seem a long way from crazy — and thanks to their years of hard work and relentless testing in the real world, they’re now graduating from X to become two new independent businesses within Alphabet: Loon and Wing."--blog.x.company
“The introduction of new TLDs is likely to increase the value of the gold-standard ‘dot com.’ Adding more side streets only increases the value of a main-street address.” –Karl Ulrich (2014), Vice Dean of Innovation and Professor of Operations and Information Management, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania - Knowledge@Wharton
"... Most of these new gTLDs are irrelevant and will never be sold in material volumes. NAME is holding back the growth potential of your registrar by pushing garbage extensions to a user base that quietly knows better ..." --Rightside investor letter(2016) (emphasis added)
ICANN could have saved itself (and others) a lot of time and money had it listened to people like Karl Ulrich of Wharton (see above) and others, before dumping 1000+ new gTLDs into the global DNS. On the other hand, ICANN can always find people willing to tell ICANN whatever it wants to hear, for a price. ICANN has a lot of money, and spends a lot of money. Sometimes it pays off, and some times it doesn't.
"Acknowledgments My postdoctoral research project receivedsubstantialfinancial contributions by the Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). I would like to explicitly thank Cyrus Namazi and Mike Zupke for supporting this research project and for giving me the opportunity to discuss preliminary results with ICANN ..." Article, embedded below, p. 14 (emphasis and links added).
ICANN's new gTLDs were launched two years ago, beginning in 2014, and everyone credible now acknowledges sales have been "disappointing" as compared to original projections. Real data is now available for research and study, but some still base their research on "models" built in an Ivory Tower, which leads to more questions, more research needed.
"More research is also needed to understand the determinants of domain registrations in time. The current study draws its conclusion from one cross-section only. Technological change could reduce the effort required to navigate to a website and might channel more demand to peripheral locations. Examples of relevant technological change include the auto-complete function in the browser’s address bar which automatically fills in any long domain names, in case they have been visited in the past. Additionally, it would be interesting to investigate where unsuccessful registrants turn after not having found a suitable name. The substitution between "owner-occupied" domain space and "rented" locations on e.g. social media platforms is not understood." (source, infra) Domain Mondooffers for your reading enjoyment, Thies Lindenthal, Monocentric Cyberspace: The Primary Market for Internet Domain Names, The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics (2016). DOI: 10.1007/s11146-016-9547-2:
Note: The above article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). No changes were made.
Now that the FED has raised interest rates for the first time since 2006, what's next? Milton Berg and Sam Zell (see further below) have their own opinions--
Milton Berg: Commodities May Sink 20% or More - MB Advisors CEO Milton Berg discusses commodities, equities, and his investment strategy. He speaks on "Bloomberg ‹GO›" (published Nov 30, 2015). Among the many opinions voiced by Berg in the video above: the bear market in commodities began in 2011 and has more to run according to Milton Berg--another 1/3 to go? And equities (US and globally) entered a bear market in 2015 according to Berg. He recommends (at present) holding cash (US Dollar). Milton Berg is Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer at MB Advisors, a boutique consulting and research firm offering investment advisory services exclusively to institutional investors. The core focus of MB's work is historical market analysis, with a strong technical perspective. Domain name: miltonberg.com
Meanwhile, Sam Zell has "recession expectations"--within the next 12 months-- Sam Zell: Fed Rate Hike is Six-Eight Months Too Late - Sam Zell, chairman at Equity Group Investments, discusses a delayed rate hike from the Federal Reserve and his expectations for a U.S. recession in the next 12 months. He speaks on "Bloomberg ‹GO›." - Bloomberg, December 16, 2015
Above: stock chart of NYSE: BABA (Alibaba Group shares) (source: google.com, Sept 18, 2015)
On 18 September 2014, Alibaba's IPO priced at US$68;
On 19 September 2014, Alibaba's shares (BABA) began trading on the NYSE at an opening price of $92.70 at 11:55am EST;
On 22 September 2014, Alibaba's underwriters announced their confirmation that they had exercised a greenshoe option to sell 15% more shares than originally planned, boosting the total amount of the IPO to $25 billion.
"... at closing time, on the date of its initial public offering (IPO), 19 September 2014, Alibaba's market value was measured as US$231 billion... the pricing of the IPO ... later increased to US$25 billion, making it the largest IPO in history. However, buyers weren't purchasing actual shares in the group, since China forbids foreign ownership, but rather just shares in a Cayman Islands shell corporation..." (source: Wikipedia, emphasis added)
“... people expected healthier growth in China’s macro economy and had higher hopes for it given a lot of people considered Alibaba as a barometer as the health of the economy ... they are just worried things are slowing faster than anticipated.” - RJ Hottovy, analyst, Morningstar Inc., Chicago;
Alibaba is facing competition from smaller online retailers in its home market;
While the company’s $1.3 trillion yuan ($204 billion) in total transaction value in its online marketplaces was more than six times that of JD.com Inc., China’s second-biggest e-commerce company, in the first half of this year, its 37 percent growth rate was less than half of JD.com’s;
Slowing growth stems from e-commerce market saturation in China’s larger, wealthier cities and the company’s strategy of shifting to services over smartphones and tablets, which generate less revenue from ads compared with desktop computers. Analysts estimated in September that Alibaba’s revenue would increase 33 percent for its fiscal 2016 ending in March, the projection is now cut to 29 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Hedge funds have been part of the investor exodus from Alibaba as they cut their stock holdings in the company to about 3.1 percent as of the end of June from 5.2 percent in the third quarter of last year, according to data in public filings compiled by Bloomberg. They boosted their ownership in JD.com to 18 percent from 1.2 percent during the period.
Lock-up expiration: As reported by Bloomberg on Sept. 3, 2015, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Chairman Jack Ma and Vice Chairman Joseph C.Tsai plan borrow more than $2 billion through a margin loan pledged against their Alibaba stock--the lockup period on Alibaba stock owned by Ma (7.6%) and Tsai (3.1%) expires on Sept. 21. 2015--Tsai said publicly on the last earnings call that he and Ma will not be selling shares at the lockup expiration. Reportedly the money raised may be used to fund Blue Pool Capital Ltd., the family office of Alibaba founders set up by Tsai and Alexander West in 2004. Former Citadel Managing Director Oliver Weisberg was hired this year to co-run the firm, which has also brought in Sydney Zhang, a former allocator from the Chinese foreign exchange regulator, to lead hedge-fund investments. Credit Suisse Group AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley are among banks reportedly working on the transaction. Bank fees on these kinds of deals are reportedly "lucrative." Ma is China’s second-richest person with a net worth of $29.5 billion, while Tsai has a $4.4 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
A look back to September, 2014:
Allow video above to load after clicking play - if video does not play on your device go to link below
Sept 17, 2014: NSBO Head of China ResearchMiranda Carr discusses the coming Alibaba IPO and what to keep in mind when using their ecommerce business. She speaks with Ryan Chilcote on Bloomberg Television's “The Pulse.” (Source: Buyer Beware When Using Alibaba: Carr: Video - Bloomberg)
"NSBO is a specialist FCA-regulated investment bank with a strong focus on China, event-driven strategies and ETF execution. We have offices in London and Beijing. The Beijing office produces in-depth policy-driven macro research on China and its growing influence on the global economy. Our Corporate Finance team advises on M&A and fund raising transactions, utilising NSBO's networks in the UK, China, North America and the rest of the world. Our execution desk covers all major markets around the clock. We are dedicated to helping our clients attain the best possible results, whatever their needs. For an overview of our China Research product and capabilities click here [China’s Effect on the World - How Government Policy Impacts Investors (pdf)]." (source: nsbo.com)
