What I read today October 28, 2020
WIRT was a bit sparse this week apologies, took the family to the Kentish countryside where we were blessed with a sunny day for once!
Office space gluts. I’m still not sure what will happen with commercial property. Part of me buys the work from home argument, another part believes that all the small interactions that occur in an office are what create the culture, rather than the actual work and top-down messages from management.
For those that could COVID was a big boost to profitability as you could do the same with a fraction of the leased office space and your workers were just happy to have a job in a global pandemic.
Going forward will we be able to build businesses/ cultures completely remotely? It will probably be some blend, but in either case there’s still a ton of excess office space which needs to get dealt with somehow as well as the corresponding debts.
Commercial property performance as an asset class had been pretty strong coming into the pandemic so perhaps we’re just seeing a reversion to mean where one would expect a secured asset to trade below stocks and other risky endeavours.
A wide ranging interview with famous investor Ray Dalio.
A decade of easy borrowing led to a weakening of investor protections. Now recent recoveries for unsecured debt have fallen to just 3.5c on the dollar this year, far below the median of 23c between 2005 and 2019 ($).
Shortcomings of the Conservative’s approach to deficit spending.
Good time to be invested in outdoor heaters. Golf ranges are also having their time in the sun. Basically anywhere you can meet people that qualifies as “outside” and allows you to have a drink will do well. Probably time to invest in blankets, finger-less gloves and flasks.
Inside Andreesen Horowitz’s media operations and how it’s podcast has become so successful.
As we’ve touched on before, audio is all the rage. Here is another startup trying to do something new in the space, this time around sports.
Shopify is teaming up on ecommerce with TikTok. Video sales by influencers is HUGE in China, there’s no reason it can’t be in the West as well.
All these zoom calls make you look at your own reflection a lot more, so much so it’s driving a spike in Botox sales ($).
Another story in the low interest rates are causing alternative assets to spike.
Ex-bond king Bill Gross finds new pursuits, like bothering his neighbours.