In December I published an article concluding that Google’s Waymo autonomous car division was well ahead of the competition. I stand by that assessment, and its hardly controversial. But I underestimated how much Tesla’s promotion of its own efforts were confusing customers and potentially investors about their place in the... Show More
Shareholders and bondholders have bought the Tesla growth story. However, my column in The Australian notes that Tesla's significant debt, negative free cashflow and losses loom large. Flagged higher production of the Model 3 hasn't materialised. Where to now for investors? Show More
Catch up on this week’s top stories around bouncy global markets, Elon Musk’s space race, and Amazon’s next venture. Plus, what it all means for you and your investments. Show More
Disruption is everywhere these days. Whether it’s Amazon and Kogan disrupting traditional retail, Facebook and Google disrupting print and television advertising, or Netflix disrupting pay TV, it’s impossible to avoid. Incumbents face the dilemma of disruption: adapt to new ways and risk hurting their existing business, or stick to their... Show More
We have had a long-term position in lithium miners Orocobre (ORE) and Pilbara (PLS). We have varied our investment in these companies over the last few years, as their rate of development and journey toward profitability has followed a wave-like pattern. However, we have always had one eye on the... Show More
PayPal settles transactions in three ways: 1. Internal settlements (existing PayPal balance) – free, fast and with low fraud; 2. ACH (bank transfer) – cheap but slow; 3. Credit Cards – Very expensive and higher fraud. In contrast to Wall Street, which tends to focus on transaction and customer growth,... Show More
The potential for machines to rise up against humans was popularized by the 1984 film “the Terminator” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fast forward 3 decades and there is now a real fear that the advancement of technology is accelerating so rapidly that machines endowed with artificial intelligence (AI), will threaten our... Show More
Platinum's Alexi Barbi writes on the incoming EV/Hybrid vehicle revolution. In an article on the Platinum website he shares his thoughts on 1) the evolution of the technology 2) short and medium term influences on the economics of these vehicles 3) regulation in the US, Europe and China that could... Show More