This week a group of retail traders took down a major hedge fund.

This story involves high stakes drama, billions of dollars and one man’s willingness to go to the moon.

The GameStop trade war will go down big in history, so grab a seat and some coffee. We have armed the rebels and the revolution has begun.

Read more at the techfinancier.com and follow me on Twitter @vijarkohli and LinkedIn. Sign up for the weekly Financier newsletter if you would like to read more.

Join me in welcoming President Biden to the Hot Seat.   America is at war and the Defense Production Act is back in play. This time we're increasing our vaccination supplies with an aggressive 100-day plan.  

With healthcare systems failing, we don't even have enough vaccines for our frontline workers. The disincentives in the system are slowing us down. NY has a $1m fine if you get vaccinated out of line.  

We need to speed up our plan with a better strategy. Learn why Israel is #1 with its vaccine rollout plan.  Pharmacies will be front and center during this rollout. We need all hands on deck for last-mile delivery so Amazon and Lyft will be pitching in too.

Read more at the techfinancier.com and follow me on Twitter @vijarkohli and LinkedIn. Sign up for the weekly Financier newsletter if you would like to read more.

This week on the Financier we discuss the changes in the technology landscape.  First, Visa will miss out its $5.3 billion acquisition of Plaid. The Dept of Justice blocked this deal so I think Plaid may IPO soon.

Next month Intel will see a change in leadership. The current CEO will step and Pat Gelsinger, CEO of VMware, will be taking his role. This comes as activist hedge fund, Third Point, published a letter recommending big changes at Intel. The company has been losing market share for years and now needs to rebuild itself. 

Also find out which major cloud providers acquired new deals in 2021.

Read more at the techfinancier.com and follow me on Twitter @vijarkohli and LinkedIn.

Sign up for the weekly Financier newsletter if you would like to read more.

The market started off red hot this year. Now let’s see what we can learn from 2020. 

First, tech M&A deals went from zero to more than doubling by year end. We saw $600 billion in tech deals. SPACs helped put us over the top. 

Read about the three largest deals.  IBM has a big decade ahead of it. With a new CEO, the company is spinning off a major asset and buying more cybersecurity deals. Learn why IBM is betting big on the cloud.  

And find out how Elon became the richest person in the world.

Read more at the techfinancier.com and follow me on Twitter @vijarkohli and LinkedIn.

Sign up for the weekly Financier newsletter if you would like to read more.

This week we discussed the lockdown, the new vaccine and an upcoming stimulus plan. I can't wait to see what 2021 has in store. Also Wish has IPO'd and out ranked Amazon as the most downloaded mobile app. We'll wrap up discussing zombie companies and the rise of defaults in 2021.

This week in the Financier, we discuss the outlook for 2021. Read how DoorDash and Airbnb more than doubled on opening day. Learn why Elon took my advice and sold $5 billion in stock, How massive layoffs will keep unemployment low next year and Hear what +300 people learned about new trends in ecommerce. Also, Find out what are my favorite two books to gift each year

This week in the Financier, we highlight the major market movers in technology. First, is the record earnings beat by CrowdStrike. Then learn about how Stripe launched banking as a service. also suspect Elon will make a big move with Tesla after this month. Near the end, I give tips on how-to validate a million dollar idea in one weekend. You can also receive more tips if you sign up for my ecommerce event happening next Wednesday.

The Berkshire Hathaway meeting was fully remote last week. The meeting usually has +30,000 attendees. Buffett set the tone for the year and provided sage advice for investors.

Google and Facebook are entering the Zoom chatroom. Personally I think Microsoft will end up being the winner in the long run. E-commerce has reached an inflection point.

On this episode, we discuss the oil death spiral, why e-commerce is rising, and new tools for the work from home environment.

The SBA loans have been dispersed but there's not enough to go around. Sales is down 100% for most businesses and will likely be down for the rest of the year. Capitalism is being challenged today but will prevail!

In this episode, we discuss why small businesses need more capital and why the previous programs won't be enough. Also, check out the latest streaming app to come to market.

Investors need to prepare for credit downgrades. On this episode, we discuss the macro environment, the $2 trillion stimulus plan, and how you can take advantage of social media today for business.

On this episode, we discuss the spike in jobless claims, trillions in corporate debt and the new coronavirus stimulus plan.

The market is on full tilt as the coronavirus continues to spread. The energy sector is toast. And why now is the best time to help your local small business.

On this episode, we discuss the impact of oil prices from the coronavirus, banned flights to Europe, failed technologies like Robinhood and the Social Capital shareholder letter.

Episode summary: On this episode we’ll discuss the continued impacts of the coronavirus, why the fed may have lowered rates, the legacy of jack welch the former CEO of GE and women’s history month. Women’s history month Today i would like to thank all of the strong women in my life, business and across the world. For years women have been fighting for equality and have been achieving it day by day. The smallest victories can result in the biggest wins. Keep on fighting ladies. Earlier this week, a close friend who was honored by her employer. Stefanie Tomlin is an inspiration to all of those around. Check out this linkedin post and visit the King’s Theatre in Brooklyn when get the chance. Insert stef’s picture Linkedin link: Stef tomlin women history month The legacy of jack welch On march 1st, an industry titan passed away. Jack Welch was the renowned CEO of General Electric and made conglomerates cool again.  Jack had a classic american story, going from a middle class family to becoming the CEO of a multi billion dollar corporation. As many long-term executives, he mentioned that he almost quit early in his career. It’s amazing that he spent his entire 40-year career at one firm. Jack is well-known for two things related to his management techniques: the six sigma and firing practices. Six sigma became an industry standard practice to reduce errors in manufacturing and supply chain. By minimizing risk in business, GE was able to focus intensely on building top line growth. Jack was ruthless when it came to hiring and firing employees. He strongly believed in being #1 or #2 in business. His technique required him to promote the top 20% and fire the bottom 10% of employees. The firing practice received strong criticism  Over the years i have learned quite a bit from Neutron Jack. Reading his 20 shareholder letters as CEO have had a positive impact on how i manage business processes. It is even more impressive to read how Jack evolved over 20 years and built GE into what it was in the early 2000s. In 1980, the year before Welch became CEO, GE recorded revenues of roughly $26.8 billion and in 2000, the year before he left, they were nearly $130 billion. Unfortunately the company had lost its mark over the years during the change of executive leadership. Succession planning is always a challenge especially with so many different lines of businesses. Recently GE brought over Larry Culp who was formerly the CEO of the Danaher Corporation. Trade Coronavirus  The financial markets have been extremely volatile from the rising fears of the coronavirus. The major concerns are we don’t have a cure and virus is spreading virally across the globe.  As an investor, i focused on the opportunities directly related to China which impacts a majority of the world when it comes to supply chain and manufacturing. Shipments are on hold, flights are cancelled and real time news is limited. Major conferences like F8 by Facebook and Google’s Developer’s conference are being canceled to reduce the contagion from the virus.  I have no insights on whether the virus is slowing or speeding up. I do know that in six months we will know the severity of this crisis. Fed lowering interest rates Lowering rates may come as a surprise to many. Mentally i was ready for another drop, just not so soon. We are in a currency war and the dollar is too strong. The U.S. is relatively the most powerful country in the world. Our economy is robust and we have little impact from the virus.  Unfortunately low rates make it difficult for fixed income savers but this is great for value investors. Equity prices go up every time interest rates go down. The fed may have been planning this for sometime and have been waiting for a catalyst such as the virus to further strengthen the U.S. position. A global economic slowdown is the biggest concerns for global leaders. And the U.S. has the best financial tools to navigate the global economy.

Episode summary Impacts of the Coronavirus on Global Supply Chain The Rise of Remote Work.  Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s annual letters Private equity trends from 2019 Coronavirus on Supply Chain.  Global supply chain is coming to a halt. The coronavirus has spread rapidly across Asia and Europe. U.S. market indices have dropped +10% and show no sign of stopping in the near term.  This week, Microsoft and Apple have announced they both expect not to meet quarterly guidance because of the disruptions. I haven't seen smaller companies provide the same warnings but you know a majority of global businesses will be impacted.  Major conferences like Mobile World Congress have been canceled to stop the spread of the disease. This a major business disruption.  I don’t think people are prepared if the virus spreads to the U.S. If it is a contagion, many households don’t have enough supply to stay indoors for 1-3 months until a vaccine is found.  The Rise of Remote Work.  On a brighter note, teleconferencing is picking up globally. Businesses won't close down simply because of fear. Companies are being forced to find alternate solutions to keep the lights on.  Zoom, a popular videoconferencing tool, has onboarded more users in Jan-Feb 2020 than all of 2019. Other remote tools are also seeing increased usage, which will mean higher profits in the short term. Annual letters Read Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s annual letters Buffett’s is a personal favorite of mine  He has decades worth of writing, documenting his investment process This year he focuses on succession planning and the broken incentives of for board of directors.  Bain private equity 2020 report The private equity market in 2019: Strong deal activity despite worsening macro conditions More private equity general partners are already preparing for a downturn Buyout deals posted another strong year, despite a worsening macroeconomic outlook A growing share of buyout deals have been highly leveraged with debt More than 55% of US buyout deals had a multiple above 11x The average time to use buyout dry powder has fallen to levels well below the stockpile just before the financial crisis In deal returns, individual lead managers—especially women—matter more than the PE firm Technology deals, especially software buyouts, have produced stronger returns than the private equity market overall

The rise of Indian CEOs 98% of companies will have multi-cloud systems using IBM Large enterprises are only 20% into cloud migration Management tools will accelerate the migration Pure players like Microsoft and Amazon don’t provide management solutions Building community platforms for cyber security applications  The cloud market will be a trillion dollar market with IBM as a player Data analytics is the single biggest driver of cloud computing today IBM/WeWork CEOs Peak tesla or not In seven months, tesla has become the most valuable auto company in the u.s. Production issues in 2018 and 2019 caused extreme pressure for Elon and the company. Ambitious goals for the Model 3 was the primary cause for production challenges. Major short sellers have lost billions of dollars in the last month. The stock has more than doubled in a short period of time After a surprise profit in mid-2019, the announcement of the cyber truck, and meeting production demands, resulted in the company to skyrocket Next up Tesla will enter the Chinese market and invest heavily in its battery technology.  Let’s see what the rest of 2020 has in store for Tesla and its stock!   Roaring bank stocks JPM is making all time highs after generating billions of dollars in fixed income profits The financial services industry is ready to enter the golden decade of finance and technology. Scaling technology will enable banks to deliver higher profits. Blockchain will certainly help clean up internal ledgers and create a better process for universal banks and international payments. 2019 was the recovery period since most bank stocks have underperformed for the past decade. Deregulation and lower taxes has definitely help them out.  I think interset rates will only rise from here and banks make most of their money from interest rate spreads.  Big and boring is beautiful for banks

Today we discuss the low interest rate environment, retail bankruptcies and global trade.