Disruption doesn’t stop because markets fall…

It’s only a year ago that we highlighted the incredible progress made by US robotics pioneer Boston Dynamics its four legged ‘robot cheetah’, and now we see the two legged version – looking more humanoid, with better balance, better recovery, more power-to-weight. They won’t stop, obviously. Meanwhile, as the markets have been hypnotised by the falling oil price and China, quarterly earnings continue to be released. Google, in particular, was frankly startling. Consolidated revenue in q4 grew 18% (24% in constant currency) to US$21b. Operating profit (including moonshot losses) was up 25% to US$5.7b, so $6.7b (up 55% from US$4.36b) excluding the moonshots. This is huge growth, in an already huge company. It also suggests a profit margin on the incremental revenue of over 50%. The stock has bounced, predictably. Baidu (which is the Chinese equivalent of Google) released on Friday and guided to around 30% revenue growth in 2016. It is about one eighth the size of Google Read more here (VIEW LINK)