News:
Buffett Breaks Silence: Complete with customary glass of Coca-Cola, Warren Buffett this week spoke at the annual Berkshire Hathaway AGM. Convinced America will overcome the crisis with ease, he was keen to reiterate that we should never bet against America, despite having spent the last few weeks dumping stock. BH sold $6.5bn of stock in April alone, the majority of it in America’s top 4 airlines. He did though, predictably, highlight the importance of holding cash for uncertain times (after the sell-off, their cash holding is estimated at $136bn). He also hinted at the possibility of a $30-40bn action in one company when the right opportunity presents itself. And, figures aside, being decisively all in or all out seems to be the overriding lesson us mere mortals can extract. That, and less time spent jazzing up our decks (see below - somehow even more sparse than their Craigslist style website).
Play leveraged games, win leveraged prizes: As even the bluest of the blue chip global conglomerates faltered this week in their prolonged recovery (see Amazon, Apple), all but their most financially stable users began to face liquidity crises. Airbnb hosts in particular, whose Faustian bargains saw them over-leverage during stable markets in the name of passive income. Now unable to keep up mortgage payments on their listings, they are putting them into the rental market at half the price. Should we even care? They deserve it! Well, with new rental inventory up and housing costs down, the pernicious after-effects will certainly affect more than just the empty-handed hosts. Link
A16z crypto fund: As Silicon Valley Giant Andreessen Horowitz launch a $500m cryptocurrency fund, two partners write a blog post explaining why it’s an investment in the long term development of the internet. Given that co-founder Marc Andreessen is the creator of the web browser, it’s worth taking note. Still, the amount of con-artists, fraudsters and pseudo-intellectuals they are going to have to meet to deploy $500m is pretty terrifying. Link
Short Read:
What is Impact? Vit Patkunan of London incubator Entrepreneur First looks into what business impact really means, and how to think about each part of his impact trifecta: impact on you, on society, and on humanity. And why? His time spent at CERN writing about the Large Hadron Collider (an environment where innovation is incubated and encouraged) was notable for its absence in impact ambition from any individuals involved. Link
Long Read:
We Should be Building Cities for People, Not Cars: as they suddenly become temporarily obsolete, people are starting to finally notice how much city space is taken up by car parks. In fact, Sim City was forced to pretend that all car parks were underground because the game would be “really boring if it was proportional in terms of parking lots.” The drive for more walking and cycling in the city is nothing new, especially in mainland Europe, but this essay by Devon Zuegel discusses the tactical concentrated planning improvements that could have an outsized impact on city use.
Interesting Things:
No More Armchair Experts Please: Now more than ever, it’s impossible to open your laptop or pick up your phone without reading someone’s (probably misinformed) opinion on what’s going on. Or, the Dunning-Kruger effect: high in confidence, low in competence. So what can we do about us all becoming experts in everything? Link
Would-be Autocrats are using Covid-19 as an excuse to grab more power: It isn’t just Trump using the crisis as cover to pull a political fast one. Link
Elon Musk is Creating His Own Reality: Surprisingly insightful for Vice, and worth reading for the cartoon accompaniments alone. Elon has this week tweeted that the Tesla share price is too high, he’s selling all his belongings, and that the global lockdown is a massive mistake and we should all be let out. Hmmm. Link
Don’t F**k it Up: Enjoyed this Twitter thread over the weekend - contributions from software developers regaling stories of their biggest mistakes as a way to help newbies combat imposter syndrome. My personal favourite? One guy who, for 47 harrowing minutes in the year 2000, somehow gave every account holder at a major US bank the same account number.