Every now and then, just when you think you've seen it all, the stockmarket demonstrates its endless capacity to surprise. Witness the recent move in Voltari Corp (Nasdaq: VLTC), which has rocketed from under $1 to $16.2 in 3 weeks: Normally I wouldn't focus too much on the gyrations of penny stocks but in this … Continue reading Voltari Corp and the madness of crowds

For me the most memorable scene in the classic action movie The Matrix is where Neo (Keanu Reeves) enter the Matrix (computer-generated reality) for the first time and fights his mentor, Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne), in a kung fu battle. Morpheus uses the experience to explain how the Matrix works to the rookie: "[The Matrix] has … Continue reading “Even when you win, you can’t win” – Netflix edition

Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that digital music sales revenue overtook physical CD sales for the first time in 2014 (CD sales -8% YoY to ~$6.82bn, digital music including subscriptions +7% to $6.85bn). I found this statistic of interest for a number of reasons, namely: 1) Almost $7bn is still generated by selling CDs … Continue reading Smoking cigar butts, or how betting on obsolescing technologies can make you money

The mispricing of securities in the IPO process never ceases to amaze me. Despite reams of historical evidence that most IPOs are overpriced and represent poor medium-term investments, there is an almost-unending stream of retail punters who jump into the next 'hot' IPO at almost any price, often on the basis of name recognition alone, … Continue reading GoDaddy and the eternal optimism of retail IPO punters