What I Wrote Last Week
Uber Delivered & Focused On Long-Term Outlook
Business
($) The True Cost Of Layoffs. In addition to severance, companies that commit layoffs should also think about voluntary departures, reduced productivity, unincreasing nemployment insurance tax and legal fees.
How Microsoft spread its bets beyond OpenAI. An interesting article on Microsoft’s AI investments.
Why Nvidia Is Still the Undisputed King of AI. “Every time a rival announces AI chips meant to compete with Nvidia’s, it is up against systems that Nvidia’s customers have been using for more than 15 years to write mountains of code. That software can be difficult to shift to a competitor’s system. NinjaTech AI’s experience illustrates one big reason startups like it are enduring the pain and additional development time required to build AI outside of Nvidia’s walled garden: cost. To serve more than a million users a month, NinjaTech’s cloud-services bill at Amazon is about $250,000 a month, says Pahlavan. If he were running the same AI on Nvidia chips, it would be between $750,000 and $1.2 million, he adds.“
Ted Weschler Case Study. Another reminder that an economic recession offers a wonderful opportunity to buy a piece of great businesses and build incredible wealth
What’s Wrong With Starbucks? What made Starbucks unique in the past is no longer there. There is an intense competition from thousands of coffee shops in town which are often cheaper. Many Starbucks stores no longer offer the “third place” feeling. The operations which are set up to accommodate even complex offers contribute to long waiting time. And it’s strange to me why they think China is the growth market and even if it were, they would still have those massive problems outside of China. It’ll be interesting to see how the new CEO turns around the iconic brand. Oh, especially when he works far away from the headquarters.
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
($) The Swing-State Economic Realities Shaping the US Election. As usual, the battleground states will play a pivotal role in this year’s election. The problem for the Biden – Harris administration is that these states are recovering more slowly from the pandemic than others across the country. Right or wrong, the blame is on those that run the White House. Hence, it’s unlikely for Harris to pry votes away from Trump.
US graduates face cut-throat job market as companies scrap internships. The job market is very interesting. A lot of office workers have been laid off since late 2022, after furious hiring post Covid. Now, interns find it difficult to even get their career started, let alone securing a permanent job. It remains to be seen where we are going from here. If people don’t have jobs or a steady income, what will that do to consumption and the economy? What about mortgage payments? There are plenty of downstream consequences for increasing unemployment. On the other hand, which company will go out of their way to recruit desperate talented employees now?
How Spotify started — and killed — Latin America’s podcast boom. Spotify is well within its rights to invest and stop investing its own money as it sees fit. Latin Americans benefited from that capital infusion because many shows were created and recognized. Industry knowledge was created and shared. I think we will hear from the podcast community of Latin America again in the near future.
Indonesian fishermen are using a government AI tool to find their daily catch. One of the coolest real-life use cases of AI/machine learning I have come across
War Tears Apart Sudan’s Capital City. What is happening in Sudan is an atrocity. I never understand why humans have to inflict pain and suffering on others. Look at the country now. Men die killing their fellow countrymen. Women and children die from hunger. Old people have to risk their lives to make ends meet. For absolutely nothing. On a side note, I admire the journalists who put themselves at risk to do such wonderful reporting for us.
Stats
Farmed salmon export brought $6.5 billion in revenue to Chile in 2023
Kraft Heinz produces 300 million ketchup bottles in the US every year
US July 2024 Retail sales increased by 1% YoY, showing that consumer spending was more resilient than expected
Minh Quang Duong 
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