Published on 27 Sep, 2020
Childhood hero to colleague: Deano was the player yo...
Dean Jones, the Australian cricketer turned commentator died of cardiac arrest last week at the age of 59 in the middle...
Sep 2020
- Week 4
- Week 3
- Week 2
- Week 1
Short Read
Published on 27 Sep, 2020
Milton Friedman Was Right About Shareholder Capitalism
It is the 50th anniversary of what many regard as one of the most influential opinion pieces in media history –...
Published on 27 Sep, 2020
The Daughter of a Slave Who Did the Unthinkable
Jason Zweig is one of the finest writers in finance around today. This piece may not be about investing but an...
Long Read
Published on 27 Sep, 2020
Why America Is Afraid of TikTok
TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, was the most popular mobile app in India until it got banned by the...
Published on 27 Sep, 2020
To become Invincible at Life : Create your own T
One of the reasons we like to share what we have read with other people is that it allows us to live and learn within a...
Published on 27 Sep, 2020
Big Investors Are Dying to Know What Amateur Traders...
In America retail investors now account for 20% of cash equities trading volume and 12% of options trading volumes...
Short Read
Published on 20 Sep, 2020
Snowflake’s IPO is a bet on companies using AI for e...
The most critical trait of a successful investor they say, is humility – the open mindedness that you could be wrong...
Published on 20 Sep, 2020
The Billionaire Who Wanted To Die Broke . . . Is Now...
We are living in an age where the word ‘billionaire’ may have lost meaning given the number of unicorns...
Published on 20 Sep, 2020
The ‘serendipity mindset’: how to make y...
Like in life in general, in investing too, you need an element of luck to succeed. At Marcellus, we make it a point to...
Long Read
Published on 20 Sep, 2020
How China Controlled the Coronavirus
A few days ago, pictures of a massively crowded pool party at a water park in Wuhan went viral, leaving people across...
Published on 20 Sep, 2020
India and China might not want war, but will not be ...
Whilst Pratap Bhanu Mehta has made the occasional error of judgement in the past (who hasn’t?), in this piece he is...
Published on 20 Sep, 2020
Over and over and over again: Jimmy Anderson keeps o...
This long essay on the most successful fast bowler of all time, the one bowler that no Indian batsman (barring perhaps...
Short Read
Published on 13 Sep, 2020
Declining COVID-19 Case Fatality Rates across all ag...
Amidst the alarmist reports about continued rise in Covid cases in India, here’s a positive set of research findings....
Published on 13 Sep, 2020
5 Lessons on Coping and Thriving from Around the World
The philosopher, Eric Weiner, is the author of three bestselling books on philosophy – “The Socrates Express: In...
Published on 13 Sep, 2020
R.I.P David Graeber – Prophet of Wall Street
David Graeber, the scholar, anarchist and intellectual leader of Occupy Wall Street passed away on 2nd September. One...
Long Read
Published on 13 Sep, 2020
SoftBank, Robinhood and a Margins Singularity
Last week we featured two pieces on short term price movements – first, Aswath Damodaran on the meaningless rally...
Published on 13 Sep, 2020
Tech = unoriginal, lazy, consensus, etc
The next long read later in this edition discusses the Softbank effect on the tech stock rally this year and how it...
Published on 13 Sep, 2020
Why do you feel lonely? Neuroscience is starting to ...
With research over the years increasingly pointing to social relationships as a key source of happiness and well-being,...
Short Read
Published on 06 Sep, 2020
A Supercomputer Analyzed Covid-19 — and an Interesti...
Whilst advances in science and technology on the one hand showed how quickly the Coronovirus’ genetic code was...
Published on 06 Sep, 2020
SoftBank’s Bet on Tech Giants Fueled Powerful ...
History may not repeat itself but it rhymes, they say. The rally in tech stocks (Nasdaq up 25% this year) only partly...
Published on 06 Sep, 2020
Only a shift in labour’s bargaining power can light ...
Through the pandemic, we have been featuring commentaries on the unprecedented stimulus by central banks and its...
Long Read
Published on 06 Sep, 2020
Illusion, Perception and Reality: Stock Splits and I...
In his book ‘Conservative Investors Sleep Well’, Phillip Fisher said “The stock market is filled with...
Published on 06 Sep, 2020
Rajkumari Amrit Kaur: The princess who built AIIMS
Week after week, the Indian Express continues to be the one Indian newspaper which publishes perspectives, insights and...
Published on 06 Sep, 2020
You are the product
This three year old long essay on Facebook is interesting at three levels: a) it helps you understand how much thought...
Aug 2020
- Week 5
- Week 4
- Week 3
- Week 2
- Week 1
Short Read
Published on 30 Aug, 2020
The Case For a Post-Covid Spending Boom
Whilst we are still reeling from the havoc that the pandemic has wrecked on the global economy, Ben Carlson joins the...
Published on 30 Aug, 2020
Blank Check IPOs, the Status Symbol of 2020, Have Ra...
Trust investment bankers to come up with new fads to ride a boom. Whilst the concept of Special Purpose Acquisition...
Published on 30 Aug, 2020
Lindsell Train – fund manager interview with N...
At Marcellus, we have been inspired and influenced by several investors. One such firm which has had an outsized...
Long Read
Published on 30 Aug, 2020
Blockchain, the amazing solution for almost nothing
Last week, we featured a piece on how cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin seem to be increasing in popularity, especially...
Published on 30 Aug, 2020
Henry Blodget Was Banned From the Financial Industry...
Super story on how you can’t keep a talented individual down for long, a story on how creativity remains the most...
Published on 30 Aug, 2020
What We’ve Stolen From Our Kids
Plenty has been written on the long term impact that the Covid-19 induced lockdown is having on children’s education....
Short Read
Published on 23 Aug, 2020
The gloomy reality of Gulf returnees
There is a emerging school of thought that the pandemic has accelerated deglobalisation which was already underway...
Published on 23 Aug, 2020
Exponential growth bias: The numerical error behind ...
“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it; he who doesn’t, pays...
Published on 23 Aug, 2020
BTC 3.0
Last week, we featured a piece on why everyone is buying gold? One of the reasons was the natural hedge that gold...
Long Read
Published on 23 Aug, 2020
‘You always got the feeling MS Dhoni was one s...
In terms of impact on Indian cricket, MS Dhoni perhaps ranks right up there with Kapil Dev and Saurav Ganguly. So, we...
Published on 23 Aug, 2020
Confidence tricks: The ignorant pundit is absolutely...
The authors, academics at UC Berkeley and Columbia University, highlight that it has become increasingly hard to...
Published on 23 Aug, 2020
The Unravelling of America
In this piece, anthropologist Wade Davis discusses how COVID-19 signals the end of the American era: “In a dark...
Short Read
Published on 16 Aug, 2020
Why Is Everyone Buying Gold?
A couple of months ago, my colleagues published a blog that talked about gold as an asset class. Since then, gold has...
Published on 16 Aug, 2020
Do You Know the Difference Between Being Rich and Be...
Morgan Housel is the most featured writer in the 3L&3S for his clarity of thought and ability to articulate on...
Published on 16 Aug, 2020
Nicholas Christakis on fighting covid-19 by truly un...
As the world comes to grips with Covid, as countries begin to unlock and economies start to creep back to normalcy,...
Long Read
Published on 16 Aug, 2020
How Tim Cook Made Apple His Own
India’s largest bank by value, HDFC Bank will see its only CEO till date and an iconic one at that, Mr Aditya Puri,...
Published on 16 Aug, 2020
The Season of Cricket Returns to the U.K.
Test Cricket, arguably the greatest of all sports, has returned inspite of Covid-19 and for this we have to thank the...
Published on 16 Aug, 2020
Public to Private Equity in the United States: A Lon...
Michael Mauboussin has rendered yeoman service to thousands of investors with this note on the migration of American...
Short Read
Published on 09 Aug, 2020
Schools Beat Earlier Plagues With Outdoor Classes. W...
It is back to school season in many parts of the world and authorities are none the more wiser in terms of how to go...
Published on 09 Aug, 2020
The Cautionary Tale of Equity Research
Equity research is perhaps one of the most fulfilling professions. As an analyst, you get to study and value businesses...
Published on 09 Aug, 2020
Coronavirus Has Upended Everything Airlines Know Abo...
The airline industry has been notorious for being the most difficult ones to profit from or indeed survive in, given...
Long Read
Published on 09 Aug, 2020
Immunology Is Where Intuition Goes to Die
Ed Yong has been putting out some really well researched pieces through the pandemic on complex matters of science but...
Published on 09 Aug, 2020
A question of judgement
Judgement is the most prized quality that employers would like to see in their managers, that shareholders would like...
Published on 09 Aug, 2020
‘They’d Find Fraud, Fraud, Fraud.’
Geo-political aggression is not the only place in which China is making waves. In recent years, several global...
Short Read
Published on 02 Aug, 2020
You Can Stop Cleaning Your Mail Now
As our first long read this week says, our understanding of the Coronavirus has been only gradually improving through...
Published on 02 Aug, 2020
The Age of Mass Surveillance Will Not Last Forever
Last week, we featured a piece on the geo-political implications of the business of the internet and how data is at...
Published on 02 Aug, 2020
The Ugly Scramble
Last week, the Reserve Bank of India published its Financial Stability Report which said the NPAs in Indian banks are...
Long Read
Published on 02 Aug, 2020
Google’s Top Search Result? Surprise ! It̵...
Last week, we featured a piece on how Jio is likely to achieve what no other telecom operator in the world has managed...
Published on 02 Aug, 2020
Market twists and turns, unraveled
Peter Oppenheimer, Goldman Sachs’ chief global equity strategist, has published a new book. Titled “The Long Good...
Published on 02 Aug, 2020
The Long Game of Coronavirus Research
If you are one of those who believes that a Coronavirus vaccine is just around the corner, you need to read this...
Jul 2020
- Week 4
- Week 3
- Week 2
- Week 1
Short Read
Published on 26 Jul, 2020
A Masterclass In Leadership: The Last Dance
Our readers have been on a roll sending us super interesting stuff to read. Many thanks and please keep them coming....
Published on 26 Jul, 2020
The Role of Cognitive Dissonance in the Pandemic
In last week’s 3L&3S we featured a piece about “Why facts don’t change our minds?”. One of our readers...
Published on 26 Jul, 2020
India, Jio, and the Four Internets
Ben Thompson is one of the more insightful commentators on the strategy aspects of technology. In this piece, he...
Long Read
Published on 26 Jul, 2020
Why Remote Work Is So Hard – and How It Can Be...
We have been featuring quite a few pieces on Working From Home (WFH) for it affects most of us in a meaningful way and...
Published on 26 Jul, 2020
Racist issues continue in South Africa cricket 29 ye...
For those of us who came of age in the 1990s, the liberation of South Africa from apartheid was probably the most...
Published on 26 Jul, 2020
Five dangerous things you should let your kids do
In this TED talk the speaker says that we don’t help our kids by making the world around them as safe as possible....
Short Read
Published on 19 Jul, 2020
The USD 30 Billions Sales-&-Leaseback of India&...
Twin short reads on India’s internet economy – the first on how India is selling itself short and the second on how...
Published on 19 Jul, 2020
Has Warren Buffett Lost His Touch?
The preceding two short reads being both on technology is in-line with the rising frequency of technology related...
Published on 19 Jul, 2020
‘TikTok Changed My Life’: India’s ...
Vibhu Arya’s plan to localise India’s digital economy has already received a boost by the Indian government’s ban...
Long Read
Published on 19 Jul, 2020
Covid Vaccine Front-Runner is Months Ahead of Her Co...
The race to develop a coronavirus vaccine is unprecedented in more ways than one. First, the importance of it all –...
Published on 19 Jul, 2020
Who gets to be reckless on Wall Street?
In the wake of the day trading frenzy which has swept across America and India during the Covid lockdown, there has...
Published on 19 Jul, 2020
Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds
When we are young we used to participate in impassioned debates centred around causes we believed in. As we grow older,...
Short Read
Published on 12 Jul, 2020
How Hindi films edged closer to Hollywood over the p...
Bollywood, as the Hindi film industry is widely referred to, is most known for its colourful ‘song and dance’...
Published on 12 Jul, 2020
PlayStation’s secret weapon: a nearly all-auto...
In May this year, the Indian Prime Minister launched the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ or...
Published on 12 Jul, 2020
The Long Unhappy History of Working From Home
In the first few days of the lockdown, we featured a piece in 3L-3S, which waxed eloquent about the benefits of Working...
Long Read
Published on 12 Jul, 2020
The Attack of The Civilization State
Much has been written about the rise of hyper-nationalism with strong men at the helm across countries the world over....
Published on 12 Jul, 2020
How Berkshire Hathaway May Have Been Snookered in Ge...
We spend a significant amount of our time in Marcellus probing our investee companies’ accounts for fraud &...
Published on 12 Jul, 2020
The 5 Elements That Make For An Outstanding Business
Whilst this piece is written in the context of investing in the United States, it gels nicely with Marcellus’...
Short Read
Published on 05 Jul, 2020
More Younger People Are Testing Positive for the Cor...
Daily new cases in the US after having been on a decline for almost two months has surged again in the past two weeks...
Published on 05 Jul, 2020
Why is Gold Valuable?
Last week, we published a blog “The Most Damaging Myths of Indian Investing” in which the first myth we attempted...
Published on 05 Jul, 2020
Eyes in the sky
The Kumbh Mela is said to be one of the world’s largest human congregations attracting tens of millions of pilgrims...
Long Read
Published on 05 Jul, 2020
Did a Chinese Hack Kill Canada’s Greatest Tech...
For some of us who graduated at the turn of the millennium as electronics and communication engineers, Nortel Networks...
Published on 05 Jul, 2020
How Would Investors React If We Finally Get Some Inf...
In last week’s edition of ‘Three Longs & Three Shorts’ we highlighted the views of Russell Napier and Albert...
Published on 05 Jul, 2020
How to think under pressure
Maria Konnikova used to work for the New Yorker. In January 2017 she took a sabbatical from her job to pursue an...
Jun 2020
- Week 4
- Week 2
- Week 1
Short Read
Published on 28 Jun, 2020
Mounting clues suggest the coronavirus might trigger...
Despite the continued rise in new daily cases in Brazil, India and Russia and the southern parts of the US, rising...
Published on 28 Jun, 2020
Nestle Hired a Psychoanalyst to Convert a Nation to ...
Marketing professionals often look for a ‘hook’ to connect with the consumer, so as to build that trust about the...
Published on 28 Jun, 2020
If Inflation Is Coming, the Market Isn’t Ready
Modern Monetary Theory is referred to the approach used by governments and central banks globally since the Lehman...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
The pandemic has shown that amazon is essential R...
This week’s The Economist carries this piece in its Leaders section with a caricature of Jeff Bezos that has a...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
Robert Clive was a vicious asset-stripper. His statu...
As Indians attempt to build an “Atmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India), here’s a piece about a man who...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
Terry Smith’s Owners Manual – 14 Filters For Purchas...
Few people in fund management can claim to be as iconoclastic as Terry Smith. For many of us at Marcellus, Terry is an...
Long Read
Published on 28 Jun, 2020
How Elon Musk aims to revolutionise battery technology
The Paypal Mafia is used to refer to the founders of Paypal who after selling out to e-Bay have gone on to found...
Published on 28 Jun, 2020
Same As It Ever Was
Back in mid-March when we were asking investors to be rational in their response to Covid, we cited a Morgan Housel...
Published on 28 Jun, 2020
The Dharavi unlock: How daily new cases down to sing...
One of the many tragic aspects of the hysteria around Covid back in March 2020 was the enthusiasm with which...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
How Exactly Do You Catch Covid-19? There Is a Growin...
Two weeks ago, the World Health Organisation issued a statement saying asymptomatic carriers are rare transmitters of...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
Marc Andreessen on time management
Marc Andreessen has been an influential thinker and VC for twice as long as Peter Thiel. In this interview with Sriram...
Published on 22 Jun, 2020
The Gospel According to Peter Thiel
Love him or hate him, you cannot deny that Peter Thiel has been for some time now one of the most prescient thinkers in...
Short Read
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
Playing the Market Has a Whole New Meaning
Every now and then we run into a prospect who at the end of the meeting would ask for a stock tip as a parting gift of...
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
How to Feed Crowds in a Protest or Pandemic? The Sik...
Amidst the pandemic and riots of 2020 when nothing seems to be going particularly right, the Sikh community in the US...
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
The ‘Don’t Worry, Make Money’ Stra...
At Marcellus, we embrace the risk minimisation approach to investing which reflects our team’s highly sceptical view...
Long Read
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
The Looming Bank Collapse
One key difference between the current Covid crisis and the 2008 Lehman crisis, often cited by experts, is the fact...
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
On Days of Disorder [Or why do Riots Happen?]
Over the past decade a long held tragic Indian custom, the communal riot, has made a comeback. In parallel, we have now...
Published on 14 Jun, 2020
“The Decade of Design”: How the last 10 years ...
One of the most interesting aspects of professional life is that whatever skill is currently the rage – the skill...
Short Read
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
Zoom fatigue is real — here’s why video calls are so...
Despite the lockdown, most people we speak to claim to have busier than normal schedules, thanks to Zoom or the ease...
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
Remote Work Could Spark Housing Boom in Suburbs, Sma...
A much needed economic boost could come from the unlikeliest of sources – a housing boom. As both employees and...
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
People Who Have “Too Many Interests” Are More Likely...
This is the third consecutive week we have featured a piece form Michael Simmons, this time a slightly dated 2018 blog...
Long Read
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
Charley Ellis: Why Active Investing Is Still A Loser...
Few people can claim to understand the world of investment management as well as Charley Ellis does. Here’s why:...
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
Lavish Parties, Greedy Pols and Panic Rooms: How the...
If one thing scares us more than staring at the P/E multiples of low quality companies it is investing in companies...
Published on 07 Jun, 2020
‘It’s bullshit’: Inside the weird, get-rich-quick wo...
There is plenty of talk in India these days regarding how India can try to pull business away from China in the wake of...