Mostly Borrowed Ideas Deep Dives, MBI Deep Dives

MBI Deep Dives

Mostly Borrowed Ideas Deep Dives

MBI is the abbreviation for “Mostly Borrowed Ideas”. Why “Mostly Borrowed Ideas?” As a generalist, I do not have a background in any particular sector. I enjoy navigating across industries, businesses, and countries to learn, understand, and connect the dots. In any case, most ideas and innovations are incremental in nature. Very few of us are smart enough to come up with truly original or groundbreaking ideas. I am Abdullah Al-Rezwan. I was born and brought up in Bangladesh. I went to University of Dhaka for my undergrad and majored in Finance. After working three and half years in Equity Research (Sell-side) covering Financial Sector in Bangladesh, I left Bangladesh to pursue my MBA in the US. I graduated within top 10% of the class from Cornell University's two-year MBA program and worked on the buy-side following my graduation. During my time at Cornell, I won two stock pitch competitions and also became finalists in four other competitions. I thoroughly enjoyed my stint as a generalist in the US large cap team at Madison Investments and covered a wide range of companies from UnitedHealth to Amazon and Boeing before US immigration reality paused my career in investment management. As my work authorization expired, I moved to Canada in January, 2021. Then in early 2022, I was able to return to the US.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>On an FX adjusted basis, Alphabet increased its revenue by 14% in 1Q’25 (~200 bps headwind from FX).</li><li>For the 11th consecutive quarters, Google network’s revenue went down.</li><li>Just when regulators are lambasting Google for their network business in court, it keeps dwindling to oblivion. </li></ul>

On an FX adjusted basis, Alphabet increased its revenue by 14% in 1Q’25 (~200 bps headwind from FX).For the 11th consecutive quarters, Google network’s revenue went down.Just when regulators are lambasting Google for their network business in court, it keeps dwindling to oblivion. 

<ul><li>Alphabet maintained their low double digit revenue growth. For the 10th consecutive quarters, Google network’s revenue went down.</li><li>Cloud revenue growth decelerated from 35.0% YoY in 3Q’24 to 30.1% in 4Q’24.</li><li>I will note, however, that Google usually discloses every quarter that GCP grew at higher rate than overall Cloud, but in this call, they mentioned “GCP grew at a rate that was much higher than cloud overall”. </li></ul>

Alphabet maintained their low double digit revenue growth. For the 10th consecutive quarters, Google network’s revenue went down.Cloud revenue growth decelerated from 35.0% YoY in 3Q’24 to 30.1% in 4Q’24.I will note, however, that Google usually discloses every quarter that GCP grew at higher rate than overall Cloud, but in this call, they mentioned “GCP grew at a rate that was much higher than cloud overall”. 

<ul><li>During the weekend, I asked my twitter followers: What do you think Facebook's DAU to MAU ratio was in 2009?</li><li>The number that got the highest votes was ~80% even though I mentioned the most recent number was ~68%.</li><li>I asked this question a couple of friends in real life too and they too picked the ~80% number.</li></ul>

During the weekend, I asked my twitter followers: What do you think Facebook's DAU to MAU ratio was in 2009?The number that got the highest votes was ~80% even though I mentioned the most recent number was ~68%.I asked this question a couple of friends in real life too and they too picked the ~80% number.

Writing about Companies with an Unfair Advantage, Unfair Advantage

Unfair Advantage

Writing about Companies with an Unfair Advantage

I write about companies that have an unfair advantage. I might invest in them as well.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>Much has been written these days on the bloating AI capex spends across the tech majors.</li><li>A JP Morgan report said we need to create a stratospheric revenue number of $650B to justify a 10% IRR, given current AI capex levels.</li><li>Yet everyone agrees AI is a fundamental shift that is redefining business models across industries.</li></ul>

Much has been written these days on the bloating AI capex spends across the tech majors.A JP Morgan report said we need to create a stratospheric revenue number of $650B to justify a 10% IRR, given current AI capex levels.Yet everyone agrees AI is a fundamental shift that is redefining business models across industries.

Tracking developments across tech supply chains, Tech Supply Chain Tracker

Tech Supply Chain Tracker

Tracking developments across tech supply chains

<ul>
<li>Asia's e-book reader market is witnessing substantial growth, fueled by increasing sales figures.</li>
<li>Leading companies such as Google and Amazon are focusing on advanced AI technologies to enhance user experience.</li>
<li>DeepSeek AI is assessing risks linked to heightened regulatory scrutiny in China, indicating market complexities.</li>
</ul>


Asia's e-book reader market is witnessing substantial growth, fueled by increasing sales figures.
Leading companies such as Google and Amazon are focusing on advanced AI technologies to enhance user experience.
DeepSeek AI is assessing risks linked to heightened regulatory scrutiny in China, indicating market complexities.


Tech Supply Chain Tracker (19-Sep-2025): Asia's E-Book Reader Market Is Experiencing Rapid Growth

United States

Alphabet, Inc. operates as a holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, provides web-based search, advertisements, maps, software applications, mobile operating systems, consumer content, enterprise solutions, commerce, and hardware products.

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Alphabet (GOOG US)

Alphabet 1Q'25 Update

On an FX adjusted basis, Alphabet increased its revenue by 14% in 1Q’25 (~200 bps headwind from FX).For the 11th consecutive quarters, Google...

MBI Deep Dives

Alphabet 4Q'24 Update

Alphabet maintained their low double digit revenue growth. For the 10th consecutive quarters, Google network’s revenue went down.

MBI Deep Dives

Meta's Moat

During the weekend, I asked my twitter followers: What do you think Facebook's DAU to MAU ratio was in 2009? The number that got the highest votes...

MBI Deep Dives

Investor's guide to AI Capex

Much has been written these days on the bloating AI capex spends across the tech majors. A JP Morgan report said we need to create a stratospheric...

Unfair Advantage

Tech Supply Chain Tracker (19-Sep-2025): Asia's E-Book Reader Market Is Experiencing Rapid Growth

Asia's e-book reader market is booming, with Google and Amazon enhancing AI for user experience, while DeepSeek AI assesses regulatory risks in China.

Tech Supply Chain Tracker

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