Weekend readings - 31 Jul, 2021 : Edition 52

A compilation of few interesting, multi-disciplinary links from the internet

[I completed one year of writing this newsletter. Started with a motive of “notes to myself”, I have been lucky to find an audience across various social media platforms who have read it and importantly, encouraged to keep writing it. I have experimented with the format (mainly due to time paucity of writing on Fridays) but somehow stuck to the habit. If you have any suggestions to improve it or want to see anything new, feel free to write to me. Once again, many thanks for reading it!]

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“Considering the downside is the single most important thing an investor must do. This task must be dealt with before any consideration can be made for gains. The problem is that people nowadays think they’re pretty smart because they can do something quite rapidly. You can make the horse gallop. But are you on the right path? Can you see where you’re going?” —Irving Kahn (“The Great Minds of Investing”)

Section 1 - Investing & Personal Finance

Kunhardt Film foundation has released A number of the interviews from the documentary “Becoming Warren Buffett” which are worth watching, including ones from Charlie Munger and Sandy Gottesman, among others. You can watch the documentary on Disney Hotstar.

Section 2 - Economic Trends & Themes

ESG investing has been a hot topic in investing circles for the past many quarters and has seen sharp inflows across the globe. Stewert Investors write about the “G part” in this genre of investing with multiple examples. All these are useful lenses to evaluate companies while assessing risk and values to financial advisors.

Section 3 - Personality study & Development

Peter Kaufman’s presentation on Culture left a great impression on me recently as I discovered this article dated 2015. He passed away last year and his other work - An unsung hero was a widely circulated article in recent memory.

Section 4 - Business History & management

Robinhood debuted this week in the US and got a tepid response. Will this see some cool off in the hot IPO market of the US? Chris Bloomstran’s breakdown of Robinhood’s S-1 reveals some of the things companies are able to get away with in this market.

Section 5 - Entertainment

Earlier this month, Marvel finally released ‘The Black widow’ in theatres - after almost 15 months after it was initially scheduled to release. It set a pandemic-era box office record with its $80 million debut in North America and earned an additional $78 million overseas. It also pulled in $60 million on Disney Plus. But the lead actor - Scarlett Johansson has sued Disneyas she won’t be making any bonus off the revenue from streaming service rentals. The company has retaliated strongly but I see this as a legal conflict which will impact the rental/subscription revenue producers pay to these platforms in the future.

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Check out our Portfolios - Special Situations and India Opportunities Strategy on the Smallcase platform. We have completed 12 weeks in SS and delivered 28.43% absolute return since inception (last updated: 30 Jul, 2021).

Check out the presentation here done last week (Discount code details in the description, closing 1st Aug, 2021, midnight).

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Now Watching :  Naseer Hussain on the pros and cons of the Hundred, the new cricket format played in England for the first time.

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That's it for me. Have a great weekend ahead!

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The content of this newsletter is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security in any jurisdiction. The content is distributed for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice or a recommendation to sell or buy any security or other investment, or undertake any investment strategy. There are no warranties, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or results obtained from any information set forth on this newsletter unless mentioned explicitly. The writer may have positions in and may, from time to time, make purchases or sales of the securities or other investments discussed or evaluated on this newsletter