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>While not exactly Meta-like twists and turns, Spotify’s rise from the ashes of late 2022 perhaps slipped through many investors’ mind.</li><li>The stock was at ~$70 in December, 2022. Today, it closed at $232.</li><li>Before I get to my highlights from today’s call, let me first mention that I am no longer a shareholder of Spotify as I sold my shares today at $243</li></ul>

While not exactly Meta-like twists and turns, Spotify’s rise from the ashes of late 2022 perhaps slipped through many investors’ mind.The stock was at ~$70 in December, 2022. Today, it closed at $232.Before I get to my highlights from today’s call, let me first mention that I am no longer a shareholder of Spotify as I sold my shares today at $243

Independent research on the U.S. markets, Baptista Research

Baptista Research

Independent research on the U.S. markets

Baptista Research is an independent financial research house focused on the U.S. markets. We provide equity research as well as credit research reports on the top-listed U.S. companies with most of our focus on technology, consumer goods and services, automobiles, industrials, oil and gas, pharma, and healthcare. Our research has served more than 3000 institutional investors including mutual funds, hedge funds, banks, family offices, and various buy-side firms. We operate a research subscription service where institutions, as well as retail investors, can have priority access to all our research. We also have a wide distribution of our research reports across some of the top global financial platforms. Apart from equity research and credit research, we also provide advisory services with respect to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity/ venture capital fundraising, valuation reports, and investment management services for corporates.
Baptista Research is owned and managed by Ishan Majumdar, an ex-Venture Capitalist/ Investment Banker, a Chartered Accountant, and a Masters’ degree holder in Management from HEC Paris. Ishan has nearly a decade of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), Venture Capital Investing, Corporate Strategy, and Valuation in front-office roles at the likes of BNP Paribas CIB, Credit Agricole CIB, Groupe Danone, and TIW Private Equity. He has worked on and closed multiple acquisition deals, leveraged buyouts, and start-up investment transactions.

<ul><li>Netflix, in their recent Q4 2023 earnings call, highlighted key developments that signal both progress and future challenges for the company.</li><li>The firm elaborated on its partnership with WWE, where Netflix airs live WWE events.</li><li>As per co-CEO Theodore Sarandos, fans of WWE have lauded this move, many of whom Netflix assumes were underserved previously.</li></ul>

Netflix, in their recent Q4 2023 earnings call, highlighted key developments that signal both progress and future challenges for the company.The firm elaborated on its partnership with WWE, where Netflix airs live WWE events.As per co-CEO Theodore Sarandos, fans of WWE have lauded this move, many of whom Netflix assumes were underserved previously.

Netflix Inc: Will Its Foray Into Live Entertainment Result In Phenomenal Subscriber Growth? - Major Drivers

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs, Douglas Research Advisory

Douglas Kim

Korea/Asia, Events, IPOs

Event-Driven

<ul>
<li>SK Square announced it will not exercise the call option to repurchase minority stake in 11 Street. This is likely to have a positive impact on the company. </li>
<li>SK Square does not need to pay 500 billion won plus 3.5% annualized interest to the financial investors of 11 Street. This will also accelerate sale of 11 Street.</li>
<li>In addition, SK Square announced the merger of TVing and Wavve OTT services. </li>
</ul>


SK Square announced it will not exercise the call option to repurchase minority stake in 11 Street. This is likely to have a positive impact on the company. 
SK Square does not need to pay 500 billion won plus 3.5% annualized interest to the financial investors of 11 Street. This will also accelerate sale of 11 Street.
In addition, SK Square announced the merger of TVing and Wavve OTT services. 


SK Square: Drag Along Rights To Be Exercised to Sell 11 Street + Merger of TVing and Wavve

Independent Research, US Dominant Players, Investment Talk

Investment Talk

Independent Research, US Dominant Players

Investment Talk is for readers who wish to learn about companies that are potentially outside of their own circle of research, as well as those who are longing to become part of a community of like-minded investors and learn more about investment research. I would describe myself as a long-term investor who typically takes a 3Y to 5Y outlook, before reassessing once that period matures. I follow the adage that one should research, reach a conclusion, and then verify and continue to hold so long as the thesis remains intact. My own investing style is one that seeks to find dominant players within their respective market who have shown signs of monopoly or oligopolistic behaviour, unlikely to be disrupted, in tandem with discovering market disruptors who have a high likelihood of disrupting their respective market. Equally (and weighted accordingly) I seek to discover more nuanced, misunderstood, situations with a shorter time frame.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>Beanie Babies, Tamagotchis, fidget spinners, heelys, silly bandz, pogs, pet rocks, mood rings, cabbage patch kids…</li><li>Every generation has its share of fad products, fashion statements, and hairstyles.</li><li>But what separates a fad from a sustainable trend? Understanding the difference between the two can be challenging.</li></ul>

Beanie Babies, Tamagotchis, fidget spinners, heelys, silly bandz, pogs, pet rocks, mood rings, cabbage patch kids…Every generation has its share of fad products, fashion statements, and hairstyles.But what separates a fad from a sustainable trend? Understanding the difference between the two can be challenging.

<ul><li>Netflix continues to demonstrate robust subscriber growth, solidifying its position as a leader in the streaming industry.</li><li>In the third quarter of 2023, the company added a staggering 8.76 million subscribers, bringing the total to 247.15 million subscribers worldwide.</li><li>The adoption of Netflix's ads plan has seen significant growth, with ads plan membership increasing by almost 70% quarter-over-quarter.</li></ul>

Netflix continues to demonstrate robust subscriber growth, solidifying its position as a leader in the streaming industry.In the third quarter of 2023, the company added a staggering 8.76 million subscribers, bringing the total to 247.15 million subscribers worldwide.The adoption of Netflix's ads plan has seen significant growth, with ads plan membership increasing by almost 70% quarter-over-quarter.

Netflix Inc: The Unstoppable Powerhouse In Streaming Continues Its Positive Trajectory! – Key Drivers

United States

Netflix Inc. is an Internet subscription service for watching tv shows and movies. Subscribers can instantly watch unlimited TV shows and movies streamed over the Internet to their TVs, computers and mobile devices and in the United States, subscribers can receive standard definition DVDs and Blu-ray Discs delivered to their homes.

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Netflix Inc (NFLX US)

Spotify 4Q'23 Update

While not exactly Meta-like twists and turns, Spotify’s rise from the ashes of late 2022 perhaps slipped through many investors’ mind.

MBI Deep Dives

Netflix Inc: Will Its Foray Into Live Entertainment Result In Phenomenal Subscriber Growth? - Major Drivers

Netflix, in their recent Q4 2023 earnings call, highlighted key developments that signal both progress and future challenges for the company. The...

Baptista Research

SK Square: Drag Along Rights To Be Exercised to Sell 11 Street + Merger of TVing and Wavve

According to Chosun Business Daily, the financial investors (Nile Holdings Consortium) want to sell 11st at about 600 billion won (100% stake),...

Douglas Kim

Fads and Second Acts

Beanie Babies, Tamagotchis, fidget spinners, heelys, silly bandz, pogs, pet rocks, mood rings, cabbage patch kids… Every generation has its share...

Investment Talk

Netflix Inc: The Unstoppable Powerhouse In Streaming Continues Its Positive Trajectory! – Key Drivers

Netflix continues to demonstrate robust subscriber growth, solidifying its position as a leader in the streaming industry. In the third quarter of...

Baptista Research

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