What we’re reading (11/16)
“Why The Chip Shortage Drags On And On…And On” (Ars Technica). “[T]he semiconductor supply chain has become stretched in new ways that are deeply rooted and difficult to resolve. Demand is ballooning faster than chipmakers can respond, especially for basic-yet-widespread components that are subject to the kind of big variations in demand that make investments risky.”
“Credit Card Companies Acknowledge Their Biggest Fear - Competition” (Real Clear Markets). “In a recent article, the chairman of a credit card industry coalition expressed his members’ worst fear about bringing competition to who gets to process trillions of dollars in transactions each year. Doing so would result in a situation ‘in which credit card networks are forced to lower their prices to compete.’ Welcome to the real world!”
“Berkshire Cuts Visa, Mastercard Bets, Trims Some Drug Stakes” (Bloomberg). “Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. cut two of its payments bets -- holdings in Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. -- as it also pulled back on investments in pharmaceutical giants AbbVie Inc. and Bristol Myers-Squibb Co.”
“AQR Hedge Fund Parts With 5 Top Managers And Closes Struggling Division” (Financial Times). “Computer-powered hedge fund group AQR Capital Management is to remove five partners from its ranks and trim its bond arm, continuing to retrench operations after several lean years for many systematic trading strategies. The $137bn investment group led by Clifford Asness has been a pioneer of ‘quantitative’ investment strategies that attempt to profit from long-term market signals, rather than traditional human traders and fund managers.”
“The Good News About The Great Resignation” (Fortune). “[P]erhaps what’s really behind the Great Resignation is a collective shift in our mindset fueled by the pandemic—one in which many have reevaluated the very idea of what it means to work. Millions around the world have decided that life is simply too short to do work that risks their sanity, their safety, or their soul. For them, this moment has led to a desire for more meaningful, more impactful, purpose-driven work—work that might actually change the world.”
