What we’re reading (7/22)
“R.I.P. Cable TV: Why Hollywood Is Slowly Killing Its Biggest Moneymaker” (Variety). You know it. I know it. Cable is dying. This article is a thorough pre-mortem.
“Bill Ackman: ‘We Are Long-Term Bullish On America’ But Betting Against High-Yield Companies” (CNBC). On “Squawk Box,” Ackman said that his hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, is approximately “98% long.” Also said he’s wary of highly levered stocks right now.
“U.S. Existing-Home Sales Roses 20.7% In June” (Wall Street Journal). Low rates and peak homebuying season juiced the market in June: “Demand was strong from apartment renters seeking more space, young families moving to the suburbs and wealthy city dwellers looking for second homes, brokers and economists say. At the same time, the supply of houses for sale remained low, as the pandemic has made potential sellers cautious about letting people tour their homes.”
“Slack Accuses Microsoft of Illegally Crushing Competition” (New York Times). In a complaint reminiscent of the Internet Explorer-related anti-trust issues MSFT stared down back in the ‘90’s, Slack filed suit before the European Commission arguing that “Microsoft has illegally tied its collaboration software, Microsoft Teams, to its dominant suite of productivity programs, Microsoft Office, which includes Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.”
“Was Citadel Securities Not Supposed To Sit On Client Orders To Fill Its Own?” (Dealbreaker). According to FINRA, over a two-year period until Sept. 2014, Citadel removed hundreds of thousands of large securities orders from its automated platform so that the trades had to be manually reviewed by actual humans. In the meantime, Citadel made the same trades on its own account.
