Investing -- August 22, 2023

Locator: 45447INV.

EFTs: I've never understood the fascination of EFTs. More on that later. 

Forbes, "display until October 15, 2023, special issue" is a special disappointment. Nothing worth posting except these two items:

Fortune: the stories follow.

New startup

• the founder of WeWork now has a new company: Flow.
• as a renter, his idea intrigues me
• a16z: Andreessen Horowitz; his noncompete, non-solicit exit agreement with WeWork expires Halloween, this year (October 30, 2023)
• I'm not sure I would want to invest in the company -- no moat for example; no dividend; but if forty years younger and knowing what I know now, I would love to be part of the company

Saudi Arabia: a tidal wave of money. Spend everywhere.

• will confound / disrupt legacy and startup businesses globally, but nowhere more than in the US
• think PGA-LIV: some of those golfers are going to earn more just by signing with the new golfing association than they will earn in tournament winnings over five years in the PGA -- maybe ten year -- and they will play fewer tournaments, fewer days per tournament
• power can be traced to one company: Saudi Aramco
• "the Saudis can turn oil production on and off by fiat" -- former US diplomat to Saudi Arabia
  

AI: "AI has become a proxy in the battle for primacy between China and the US" -- Kerry Brown, King's College, London

• US-based leaders in AI: Nvidia an Advanced Micro Devices
• Biden's restrictions on "US chips to China" could put China one to two generations behind the US -- China can live with that; China can't compete if they fall ten generations behind the US
• one may want to watch Apple's announcements in mid-September, 2023

See's Candies:

• full-page ad: "It's never too early to think about the holidays"
• corporate gifts and events

Apple: spatial computing -- a two-page article on Apple's VisionPro

• VisionPro could finally make augmented reality a hit (Tim Cook sees it as much more than "augmented reality")
• if VisionPro flops, could lead to a "decade-long AR winter"
• Apple and Steve Jobs have had flops before and did just fine
• I'm more interested in
• spatial computing,
• the chips,
• the vision,
• than VisionPro itself

USAF fighter: a several-page article on the F-35

• $1.7 trillion
• largest program inside the Pentagon, by far
• annual budget: $12 billion
  
• Lockheed Martin
• assembly plant: Ft Worth, TX
• ten years late; 80% over budget
• "every air force" wants it 
• anticipated life-span: 60 years
• B-52: maiden flight, in 1952; still operational
• Germany has bought 40 F-35 jets; $8 billion
• Canada is interested in buying 88 F-35s
• Lockheed has delivered 960 so far; 630 to the US military
• has performed "effectively" in combat multiple times

Ozempic, Novo Nordisk.

Fortune Global 500, by revenue:

• Walmart
• Saudi Aramco
• Stategrid (China)
• Amazon.com
• China National Petroleum
• Sinopec Group
• ExxonMobil
• Apple
• Shell
• UnitedHealthGroup
• CVS Health
• Trafigura Group (Singapore)
• China State Construction Engineering
• Berkshire Hathaway
• Volkswagen
• Uniper
• Alphabet (first real tech company on the list at #17)
  
• McKesson 
• YoyotaMotor
• Total Energies
• Glencore
• BP
• Chevron
• Amerisource Bergen
• Samsung Electronics
• Costco Wholesale
• Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn)
• Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
• China Construction Bank
• Microsoft (at #30)
• Stellantis (at #31)
• .....
• Marathon Petroleum (#36; up from #49 in 2021)
• Phillips 66 (#37, up from #74 in 2021)
• ...
• Ford Motor (#46, up from #53 in 2021)
• Mercedes Benz
• ....
• General Motors (#50, up from #64 in 2021)
  

First page of the list of 500:

The winners and losers (look at the top right):