1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:03,520 Speaker 1: Zone Media. 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:08,760 Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to Better Offline. I'm your host ed 3 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:24,480 Speaker 2: zechron That's right, folks, I am back. It's well. We've 4 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:27,200 Speaker 2: gone past the Yes, you've had your Steve Burke episodes, 5 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 2: as ever by the merchandise, subscribe to the newsletter. It's 6 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 2: all in the notes, and you are here for the 7 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:35,879 Speaker 2: first of a multi part series about the final and 8 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 2: terminal stage of in shitification, when the companies that turned 9 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 2: on their individual users, then turned on their business customers 10 00:00:43,159 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 2: finally turned on the markets and investors themselves. Now, it's 11 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 2: important to start this with a point, and that's a 12 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:51,919 Speaker 2: good friend of mine once told me that the more 13 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 2: I learned about finance, the more pissed off I'd get. 14 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,160 Speaker 2: And I cannot think of anyone who has made a 15 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 2: more egregious understatement in my life. I've spent the last 16 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 2: two years basically teaching myself economics and all of this 17 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,040 Speaker 2: good stuff that I find genuinely really interesting. It's enriched 18 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 2: my life, and it's also driven me a little insane. 19 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 2: As I'm sure any of you are well aware, the 20 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 2: more I learn, the more frustrated I get. Because I'm 21 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 2: not a genius by any extension. I don't even know 22 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:24,959 Speaker 2: if I think I'm that smart, but like this stuff 23 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 2: is just sitting there, you can see it. There are 24 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:28,960 Speaker 2: many other people writing, like Edward grayso Junior Molly what 25 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 2: of course, I'm Brian Merchant as well. Like these people 26 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 2: have dug into these types of things, but nevertheless the 27 00:01:34,560 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 2: mainstream they're kind of missing something. And this four part 28 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,759 Speaker 2: is about that. And it has of course a companion 29 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:44,920 Speaker 2: newsletter where I will have most of the links that 30 00:01:44,920 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 2: you'd usually see in the link document. I feel like 31 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 2: nobody likes that document anyway, so I'm going to find 32 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 2: a better way of doing things. But let's get to it, 33 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 2: because there's this echoing melancholy to this entire era. And 34 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,920 Speaker 2: we're watching the end of Silicon Valley's hypergrowth epoch, and 35 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 2: I'd say it's a horrifying result of fifteen plus years 36 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 2: of steering the tech industry away from solving actual problems 37 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 2: and only really looking for eternal growth. Everything's more expensive 38 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:14,920 Speaker 2: and every tech product has gotten worse. Also that every 39 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:19,239 Speaker 2: company can I quote do AI whatever the fuck that means. 40 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:22,720 Speaker 2: We're watching one of the greatest wastes of money in history. 41 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 2: All this people are told that there just isn't the 42 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,080 Speaker 2: money to build things like housing, or provide Americans with 43 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,000 Speaker 2: universal health care or better schools, or create the means 44 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 2: for the average person to accumulate wealth in any way, 45 00:02:33,480 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 2: shape or form. The money does exist. It just exists 46 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:39,320 Speaker 2: for those that want to gamble. Private equity firms, business 47 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 2: development companies that exist to give money to other companies 48 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:47,239 Speaker 2: that are risky. Yet regular people are too risky. Venture 49 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 2: capitalists and banks that are getting desperate and need an 50 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:52,840 Speaker 2: overnight shot of capital from the federal reserves, overnight repurchase 51 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 2: facility or discount window do worrying indicators a bank stress 52 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:00,040 Speaker 2: I need to get into in the future. No, no, no, 53 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:02,919 Speaker 2: The money does not exist for you, or me or 54 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 2: a person. Even money is for entities that could potentially 55 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 2: funnel more money into the economy, even if the ways 56 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:10,919 Speaker 2: that these entities use the money are reckless and foolhardy, 57 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,840 Speaker 2: because the system's intent on keeping entities alive incentivizes it. 58 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 2: We are in an era where the average person is 59 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 2: told to pull up their bootstraps, to work harder, to 60 00:03:19,840 --> 00:03:22,800 Speaker 2: struggle more, because, as Martin Luther King Junior once said, 61 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:25,640 Speaker 2: it's socialism for the rich and rugged free market capitalism 62 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:28,519 Speaker 2: for the poor. The free market is a fucking con 63 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 2: When you or I run out of money, our things 64 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 2: are taken from us. We receive increasingly panicked letters with 65 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:36,440 Speaker 2: bigger fonts. We get phone calls and texts and emails 66 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 2: and demands. We are told that all will be lost 67 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 2: if we don't work it out somehow, because the financial 68 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 2: system is not about an exchange of value, but whether 69 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:46,119 Speaker 2: or not you can enter into the currently agreed upon 70 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:49,720 Speaker 2: con By letting neoliberalism and the scourge of the free 71 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 2: market's rule, modern society has created the conditions what I 72 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 2: call the Hitter financial crisis, the place at which my 73 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 2: friend Cory doctor owned Star of CS twenty twenty six 74 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 2: and history and shittavation meets my own rot economy thesis 75 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 2: in a fourth stage of in shitification. Now, I'm going 76 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:08,280 Speaker 2: to quote an explanation of what in shittification is from 77 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:12,640 Speaker 2: The New Yorker and Shertification unfoults in three phases. First, 78 00:04:12,640 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 2: the company is and I quote good to users, drawing 79 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 2: people in droves as funnel traps through Japanese beetles with 80 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:22,240 Speaker 2: the promise of connection or convenience. Second, with that mass 81 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:25,480 Speaker 2: audience consolidated, the company is and I quote good to 82 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 2: business customers, compromising some of its features so that the 83 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 2: most lucrative clients, usually advertisers, can thrive on the platform. 84 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 2: This second phase is the point at which say, our 85 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 2: Facebook feeds filled with ads and posts from brands. Third, 86 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 2: the company turns the experience into and I quote again 87 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 2: a giant pile of shit, making the platform worse for 88 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 2: users and businesses alike, in order to further enrich the 89 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,359 Speaker 2: company's owners and executives. Now, I'm going to give you 90 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:52,599 Speaker 2: a more direct example and kind of bridge on some 91 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:55,880 Speaker 2: of the things said there. Facebook was at one point 92 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:58,920 Speaker 2: a huge, free platform much like Instagram, that offered fast 93 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 2: and easy access to basically everybody you knew. It acquired Instagram, 94 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 2: of course, in twenty twelve to kill off a likely competitor, 95 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 2: and overtime would start making both products worse. Clickbait notifications 96 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,919 Speaker 2: a mandatory algorithmic feed that deliberately emotionally manipulated hundreds of 97 00:05:12,920 --> 00:05:17,159 Speaker 2: thousands of people and stoked massive political division, eventually becoming 98 00:05:17,160 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 2: full of aislop and videos. Also that Meta could continued 99 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,040 Speaker 2: to sell billions of dollars of ads a quarter Burkyle 100 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 2: Chaker of The New Yorker. The Facebook's feed, now choked 101 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,719 Speaker 2: with AI generated garbage and short form videos, is well 102 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:32,240 Speaker 2: into the third act of in shitification. The third stage 103 00:05:32,279 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 2: is critical in it's when the company also turns on 104 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,159 Speaker 2: its business customers. A Marketing Brews story from September of 105 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,000 Speaker 2: twenty twenty four told the tale of multiple advertisers who 106 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 2: found their campaign switching to different audiences, wasting their money 107 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,800 Speaker 2: and getting questionable results. A New York Times story from 108 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 2: twenty twenty one described companies losing up with some seventy 109 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 2: percent of their revenue during a Facebook ants outage. Another 110 00:05:53,560 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 2: from twenty eighteen described her meta then Facebook deliberately hit 111 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,720 Speaker 2: issues with its measurement of engagement on videos from advertisers 112 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 2: for over a year. That's their pivot video, and more recently, 113 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:05,919 Speaker 2: metas ads tools started switching out top performing ads with 114 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,920 Speaker 2: AI generated ones. In one case, Targeting managed thirty to 115 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 2: forty five with an AI generated Grandma, all without warning. 116 00:06:12,000 --> 00:06:15,200 Speaker 2: The advertiser Meta doesn't give a shit because investors and 117 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 2: analysts don't give a shit either. I could say cell 118 00:06:17,720 --> 00:06:19,760 Speaker 2: side analysts here too, and those are the ones that 119 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:20,920 Speaker 2: they are trying to get eat to buy a stock. 120 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:23,040 Speaker 2: By the way, but based on every analyst report I've 121 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 2: read from a major bank or hedge round about a 122 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 2: tech company, I truly think everybody is complicent. In November 123 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:31,720 Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, Reuters revealed that Meta projected in late 124 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 2: twenty twenty four the ten percent of its annual revenue, 125 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 2: which was sixteen billion dollars at the time, would come 126 00:06:37,160 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 2: from advertisements for scams or band goods. Mere weeks after, 127 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:44,359 Speaker 2: Meta announced the ridiculous twenty seven billion dollar datacent A 128 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:47,720 Speaker 2: debt package, one that used deep accountancy magic to keep 129 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 2: it off of its balance sheet despite Meta guaranteeing the 130 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 2: entirety of the loans. It's completely insane and what would 131 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 2: think this would horrify investors For two reasons. One, metas 132 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 2: business is both supporting and profiting from organized crime, and 133 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:03,719 Speaker 2: at ten percent of its revenue, it's also kind of 134 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 2: dependent on it. And also number two, Meta is using 135 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 2: deliberate and in citious accounting tricks to act like a 136 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 2: dead decenter that is paying to build and will be 137 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,760 Speaker 2: the sole tenant of is somehow an off balance sheet operation. 138 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 2: One will be wrong. Morgan Stanley said in mid December 139 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 2: that is one of the handful of companies that can 140 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:25,560 Speaker 2: leverage its leading data distribution and investments in AI and 141 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,560 Speaker 2: raised Morgan Stanley's target seven hundred and fifty dollars with 142 00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 2: a one thousand dollars a share bull case, meaning like 143 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 2: they think, if things go well, it will be a 144 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 2: one thousand dollars a share. Web Bush raised Metas priced 145 00:07:36,680 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 2: nine hundred and twenty dollars in Bank of America staunchly 146 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 2: held firm at eight hundred and ten dollars, which is 147 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:44,480 Speaker 2: one hundred dollars more than where we are today. I 148 00:07:44,520 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 2: can find no analyst commentary on Meta making sixteen billion 149 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:50,720 Speaker 2: dollars on fucking fraud because it doesn't matter to them, 150 00:07:50,760 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 2: because this is the rot economy and all that matters 151 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,840 Speaker 2: is number go up. This is this is going to 152 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 2: be It's going to be a tough four part of folks. 153 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 2: I'm on my blood pressure is going to go through 154 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:06,040 Speaker 2: the fucking reality such as whether there's any revenue in 155 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 2: AI or whether it's a good idea that Metas spending 156 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 2: seventy billion dollars this year on capex even though the 157 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 2: product generates no revenue. And by the way, if you 158 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:17,440 Speaker 2: say to me metas ai ads play that whole story 159 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 2: is nonsense, and I love for it for but they 160 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 2: got it wrong to They are using bullshit metrics. They're 161 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:25,880 Speaker 2: not proving anything anyway. None of this matters to analysts 162 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 2: because stocks are thoroughly inextricably inshitified, and analysts don't even 163 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:32,440 Speaker 2: realize that it's happening, or if they do, they're just 164 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:36,560 Speaker 2: really craven and horrible fucking people that deserve to not 165 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:39,760 Speaker 2: have a job, let alone the job they currently have. Now, 166 00:08:40,160 --> 00:08:43,200 Speaker 2: let's go back to the whole in shitivigation thing. The 167 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,720 Speaker 2: stages of inshitification usually involve some kind of Devil's deal, 168 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 2: which I actually think handalysts are in them. But let's 169 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 2: get going. In stage one, things are good for the users. 170 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:53,360 Speaker 2: The platform is three. Things are easy to use, and 171 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:55,160 Speaker 2: thus it's really simple for you and your friends to 172 00:08:55,679 --> 00:08:58,920 Speaker 2: have become dependent on it. You don't really trade anything 173 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 2: quite yeah, than the fact that you're going to use 174 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,280 Speaker 2: this easy, good platform that people like and all your 175 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:07,520 Speaker 2: friends are on. In stage two, things become bad for 176 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 2: customers but good for business customers. The platform begins forcing 177 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 2: users to do profitable things like show them advertisements by 178 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:17,600 Speaker 2: making search results worse, such as with Google, or while 179 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 2: making it difficult to migrate to another one, either through 180 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 2: locking in your data or the tacit knowledge that moving 181 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 2: platforms is hard and your friends are usually in one place. 182 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 2: Take Instagram, for example. No one's leaving Instagram right now 183 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:32,040 Speaker 2: because there is no other competitor. Kind of by design, 184 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:35,760 Speaker 2: Businesses sink tons of money into the platform, knowing that 185 00:09:35,840 --> 00:09:38,240 Speaker 2: users are unlikely to leave and make good money buying 186 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 2: ads against the populace that increasingly stays because it has 187 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:44,680 Speaker 2: to as there are no other options. In stage three, 188 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:48,239 Speaker 2: things become bad for consumers and businesses, but good for shareholders. 189 00:09:48,360 --> 00:09:50,920 Speaker 2: The platforms begin to deteriorate to the point that usability 190 00:09:50,960 --> 00:09:53,319 Speaker 2: is pushed to the brink, and businesses who are now 191 00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 2: dependent on the platform because monopolies have pushed out every 192 00:09:55,920 --> 00:09:59,280 Speaker 2: alternative platform to advertise or reach customers on, begin to 193 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 2: see their product crumble, all in favor of shareholder capital, 194 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:05,199 Speaker 2: which only cares about stock value of net income and diebacks. 195 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 2: You've probably seen where we go in, folks. We're now 196 00:10:19,360 --> 00:10:23,560 Speaker 2: entering in certifications stage four, where businesses turn on shareholders 197 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:26,600 Speaker 2: and listen. Investors have become trapped in the same kind 198 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 2: of loathsome platform players, consumers and businesses and face exactly 199 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:33,440 Speaker 2: the same kind of punishments through the devaluation of the 200 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 2: stock itself. Where platforms have prioritize profits over the health 201 00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:40,719 Speaker 2: and happiness of users or business customers, they're now prioritizing 202 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:44,840 Speaker 2: stock value over literally anything, and have, through the remarkable 203 00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:48,680 Speaker 2: growth of techtogs in particular, created applicated and thoroughly whipped 204 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:51,839 Speaker 2: investor and analyzed sect that never ask questions and always 205 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 2: celebrates whatever the next big thing is meant to be. 206 00:10:54,160 --> 00:10:55,760 Speaker 2: And I hate to dunk on one guy, but go 207 00:10:55,840 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 2: look up Daniel Newman on Twitter if you want to 208 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:01,120 Speaker 2: see what I mean. Someone just winky and every fucking 209 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 2: thing that a company says like what in videos going up? 210 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 2: These people are very popular and people make stock decisions 211 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:12,199 Speaker 2: based on what they say. They're a problem and the 212 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 2: value of a stock is not based on whether the 213 00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:17,320 Speaker 2: business is healthy or its future even certain, but on 214 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:20,240 Speaker 2: its potential price to grow, and analysts have, thanks to 215 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,079 Speaker 2: an incredible run of tech stocks going on over a decade, 216 00:11:23,240 --> 00:11:25,440 Speaker 2: being able to say I bet software will be big 217 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:28,319 Speaker 2: for most of the time going on CNBC or Bloomberg 218 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:30,840 Speaker 2: and gladly repeating whatever it is that a tech CEO 219 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:35,400 Speaker 2: just said, all without any worries about responsibility or the truth. 220 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:37,880 Speaker 2: And I just want to say, any analyst who might 221 00:11:37,920 --> 00:11:41,120 Speaker 2: hear this, I'm taking a lot of screenshots. I've been 222 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 2: taking screenshots for several years. And this is because big 223 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:47,439 Speaker 2: tech stocks and many other big stocks, if I'm honest, 224 00:11:47,600 --> 00:11:49,560 Speaker 2: have made their lives easy as long as they don't 225 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:52,280 Speaker 2: ask questions. Number always seems to be going up for 226 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:54,680 Speaker 2: software companies, and all you need to do is provide 227 00:11:54,679 --> 00:11:57,040 Speaker 2: a vociferous defense of the next big thing and come 228 00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:59,840 Speaker 2: up with a smart sounding model that justifies eternal growth. 229 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 2: This is entirely disconnected from the products themselves, which don't 230 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:07,719 Speaker 2: matter as long as, like I've said, number go up. 231 00:12:08,040 --> 00:12:10,480 Speaker 2: If net income is high, meaning profit, and the company 232 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:12,959 Speaker 2: estimates it will continue to grow, then the company could 233 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 2: do whatever the fuck it wants with the product it 234 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:17,839 Speaker 2: sells or the things that it buys. Software has eaten 235 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:20,559 Speaker 2: the world in the sense that Andresen Mark Andresen who 236 00:12:20,559 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 2: wrote it. Of course, God is wish with investors now 237 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 2: caring more about the intrinsic value of software companies rather 238 00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 2: than the businesses or the products themselves, and because that's happening, 239 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 2: investors aren't bothering to think too hard about the tech 240 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 2: itself or the deteriorating products underlying these tech companies. Because 241 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:40,040 Speaker 2: these guys have always worked it out, and these companies 242 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:43,360 Speaker 2: have always managed to keep growing. As a result, nobody 243 00:12:43,400 --> 00:12:47,440 Speaker 2: really looks too deep. Minute changes to accounting in earnings 244 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:50,480 Speaker 2: filings are ignored, Egregious amounts of debt are waved off, 245 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,320 Speaker 2: and hundreds of billions of dollars of capital expenditures are 246 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:56,199 Speaker 2: seen as the new AI revolution versus a big, huge 247 00:12:56,200 --> 00:13:00,480 Speaker 2: waste of money. By incentivizing the rot economy, may stocks 248 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:02,840 Speaker 2: disconnected from the value of the company beyond net income 249 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 2: and future earnings guidance. Companies have found ways to enshitviy 250 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:09,560 Speaker 2: their own stocks, and shareholders will be the ones to suffer, 251 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,080 Speaker 2: all thanks to the very downstream pressure that they've chosen 252 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 2: to ignore for decades. You see, while one might correctly 253 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 2: say that the deterioration of products like Facebook and Google 254 00:13:19,679 --> 00:13:22,559 Speaker 2: Search was a sign of desperation, it's important to also 255 00:13:22,600 --> 00:13:25,400 Speaker 2: see it as the companies themselves orienting around what they 256 00:13:25,440 --> 00:13:28,560 Speaker 2: believe analyst and investors want to see you can also 257 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,320 Speaker 2: interpret this is a weakness, but I see it another way. 258 00:13:31,720 --> 00:13:35,440 Speaker 2: Stock manipulation and a deliberate attempt to reshape what value 259 00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 2: means in the eyes of customers and investors. If the 260 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:40,320 Speaker 2: true value of a stock is meant to be based 261 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 2: on the value of its business cash flow and earnings 262 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:45,640 Speaker 2: and of course future growth, a company deliberately changing its 263 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,120 Speaker 2: products is an intentional interference with value itself, as are 264 00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:52,559 Speaker 2: any and all deceptive accounting practices used to boost valuations. 265 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:56,960 Speaker 2: But the real problem, well one of them, is that 266 00:13:57,040 --> 00:14:01,600 Speaker 2: analysts don't well, they don't seem to analyze, not at 267 00:14:01,679 --> 00:14:04,959 Speaker 2: least if it goes against market consensus. That's why Goldman 268 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 2: Sachs and JP Morgan and Futureroom Group and Gartner and 269 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:10,080 Speaker 2: Forester and McKinsey and Morgan Stanley all said that the 270 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 2: metaverse was inevitable because they do not actually care about 271 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:18,080 Speaker 2: the underlying businesses themselves, just their ability to grow. On paper. Now, 272 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:20,520 Speaker 2: I'm just going to click through to the FUTUREO Groups thing. 273 00:14:20,600 --> 00:14:24,480 Speaker 2: Let's see contemplating market criticism of Zuckerberg's metaphors focus. Now, 274 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 2: this is a really funny piece because you read it, 275 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:30,680 Speaker 2: analysts take in some parallel universe, Zuckerberg will be credited 276 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 2: as an entrepreneurial hero and an executive willing to invest 277 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 2: in something big in order to create something bigger. Unfortunately 278 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:38,920 Speaker 2: for Zuckerberg, he lives here with us, in this universe, 279 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 2: where fifteen billion dollars in investment so far has created 280 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:44,800 Speaker 2: a nerdy, cyber wasteland that few people seem interested in visiting. 281 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:48,480 Speaker 2: The numbers are undeniably ugly blah blah blah blah blah, 282 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:50,320 Speaker 2: and of course we would have hoped for more progress 283 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:53,040 Speaker 2: blah blah blah. Meta's most deadly sin in managing the 284 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 2: Metaverse initiative is nothing to do with adoption metrics of 285 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 2: the money that has been allocated to these efforts, Rather 286 00:14:57,880 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 2: metas failure stems from its inability to commutne his vision properly. 287 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 2: It's an ironic twist, giving the company's heritage and creating 288 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:08,360 Speaker 2: social media platforms designed to help billions of people communicate. Well, 289 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,320 Speaker 2: why this was written to defend the Meta Us, and 290 00:15:11,360 --> 00:15:13,560 Speaker 2: I just want to be clear. The defense appears to 291 00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,400 Speaker 2: be give zuck a chance. Now. The met of us 292 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 2: is quite fucking dead, I should be clear. And many 293 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:21,920 Speaker 2: of you have emailed me about this, and I'm kind 294 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:24,680 Speaker 2: of calling one person out because I see these cell 295 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:28,560 Speaker 2: side analysts as genuinely harmful to society. I think people 296 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 2: going out there and misleading well in articles. Actually, let 297 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 2: me take in a side here. You're going to love this. 298 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:36,880 Speaker 2: This is not in the script, Matt, I apologize. But 299 00:15:38,240 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 2: analysts have two customers. They have investors, and then they 300 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,480 Speaker 2: have you cell side analysts. They've burpen fart on CNBC 301 00:15:45,600 --> 00:15:47,480 Speaker 2: or Bloomberg and they say, hey, I will be big. 302 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 2: Then behind the scenes they have a completely set different 303 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:52,800 Speaker 2: set of institutional investors they give the real info to. 304 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:55,680 Speaker 2: That should bother you. You ever read an analyst and an 305 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,760 Speaker 2: article and be a little bit suspicious. I like Guiluria 306 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:02,120 Speaker 2: of D A. Davidson, except even gil just raised the 307 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:05,160 Speaker 2: target for core Weave. Nothing has changed. Things have actually 308 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:07,680 Speaker 2: got worse with the economics. But because the bullshit of 309 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:11,600 Speaker 2: the markets exist, analysts are tweaking things in public in private. 310 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 2: I don't know what they're saying because you need to 311 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 2: pay well, I think tens of thousands, if not more, 312 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:20,600 Speaker 2: to get those reports. Anyway, that all aside, regular retail 313 00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:24,120 Speaker 2: investors are the first to get in shitifed in stage four. 314 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:27,640 Speaker 2: And by the way, if you ever need proof that 315 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:30,000 Speaker 2: none of these people actually give a fuck about value, 316 00:16:30,080 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 2: it really was the metaverse and the seventy seven billion 317 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 2: dollars that Mark Zuckerberg burned on it, and they create 318 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 2: little revenue or shareholder value and burned all that money 319 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 2: without any real explanation as to where it went. No, really, 320 00:16:40,840 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 2: does anyone know where the money went. Seventy seven billion 321 00:16:44,280 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 2: dollars went Nowhere? You think it went into fucking glasses? 322 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:51,400 Speaker 2: Are you crazy? Even if they made hundreds of thousands 323 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 2: of those glasses and they took ohn't no five billion 324 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 2: dollars for Oryan and the meta rabads that I'm still 325 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 2: having trouble working out where this cat. When I think 326 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,000 Speaker 2: one day we're going to find out, I think we're 327 00:17:04,040 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 2: going to find out something dodgy happened there. But nevertheless, 328 00:17:07,000 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 2: the street didn't give a shit about the metal us 329 00:17:08,880 --> 00:17:12,719 Speaker 2: because metas existent ads business continued to grow, same as 330 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:14,840 Speaker 2: it didn't give a shit that Mark Zuckerberg burn those 331 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:17,760 Speaker 2: seventy billion dollars on Capex, even though we also don't 332 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 2: really know where that's going either. In fact, that really 333 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 2: is the story of the GPU era. We don't know 334 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 2: where the money is going. These companies don't tell us anything. 335 00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 2: They don't tell us how many GPUs they have, or 336 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:32,920 Speaker 2: where those GPUs are, or how many of them were installed, 337 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:35,720 Speaker 2: or what their IT load capacity is, or how much 338 00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:38,040 Speaker 2: money they cost to run, or how much money they 339 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:40,719 Speaker 2: even make. Why would we Why would we know that? 340 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 2: Analysts don't even look at earnings beyond making sure they 341 00:17:43,119 --> 00:17:46,160 Speaker 2: beat on estimates. They've been whipped trained for twenty years 342 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 2: to take a puddle deep look at the numbers, to 343 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 2: make sure things vaguely look okay, look around at their 344 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:52,960 Speaker 2: peers and make sure nobody else is saying something bad, 345 00:17:53,200 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 2: and go on and collect fees, and go on fucking CNBC. 346 00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:58,760 Speaker 2: And the same goes for hedge funds and banks propping 347 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:01,680 Speaker 2: up these stocks rather than ask meaningful questions and demanding 348 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:05,560 Speaker 2: even more meaningful answers. In the last two years, every 349 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:08,920 Speaker 2: major hyperscaler has extended the useful life of its servers 350 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:11,080 Speaker 2: from three years to either five and a half or 351 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:13,560 Speaker 2: six years, and in simple terms, this allowed them to 352 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:17,240 Speaker 2: incur a smaller depreciation expense each quarter as a result, 353 00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 2: boosting their income. To explain, really simply, when you'd depreciate something, 354 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:24,120 Speaker 2: you say, Okay, the useful life for this is six years, 355 00:18:24,160 --> 00:18:26,240 Speaker 2: and I'll spread the cost of that across six years. 356 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:29,280 Speaker 2: Or in this case, you'd probably say three years for 357 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:31,760 Speaker 2: a GPU, but no, they've just said, due to the 358 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 2: magic of math, it's six So they get to spread 359 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 2: it out for longer and claim it's more useful for longest. 360 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:38,480 Speaker 2: They don't have to do an impairment, which is when 361 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:42,760 Speaker 2: you admit the real cost of something anytime soon, it's wank. 362 00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:46,280 Speaker 2: Nobody seems to cares. Nobody seems to cares. I'm keeping 363 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 2: that anyway, Those who were meant to be critical and 364 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,200 Speaker 2: listen and investors sinking money into these stocks had effectively 365 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 2: no reaction, despite the fact that meta used by the 366 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:57,359 Speaker 2: Wall Street Journal this adjustment to reduce this expense is 367 00:18:57,400 --> 00:18:59,480 Speaker 2: by two point three billion dollars in the first three 368 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:04,160 Speaker 2: quarters of five. This is quite literally disconnected from reality 369 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:06,600 Speaker 2: and done based on internal accounting that we are not 370 00:19:06,800 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 2: party two. Every single tech firm buying GPUs did this 371 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:14,080 Speaker 2: and benefited to the tune of billions of dollars in 372 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 2: decreased expenses, which bump their revenues, and analysts thought it 373 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:19,480 Speaker 2: was fine and dandy because number went up and they 374 00:19:19,560 --> 00:19:24,439 Speaker 2: don't fucking care. Shareholders are now subordinate to the shares themselves, 375 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:26,560 Speaker 2: reacting in the way that the shares demand they do, 376 00:19:26,840 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 2: being happy for what the companies behind the shares give them, 377 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 2: and analysts, investors, and even the media spend far more 378 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 2: energy fighting the doubts than they do showing these companies screwtiny. 379 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 2: Much like the user of vineshitivied platform, investors and analysts 380 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 2: are frogs in a pot, the experience of owning a 381 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 2: stock deteriorating. Since Jack Welch and General Electric talk corporations 382 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 2: that the markets are run with the kind of simplistic 383 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:53,920 Speaker 2: mindset built for grifter exploitation, and much like those platforms, 384 00:19:54,040 --> 00:19:57,440 Speaker 2: corporations have found as many ways as possible to abuse shareholders, 385 00:19:57,640 --> 00:19:59,520 Speaker 2: seeing what they can get away with, seeing how far 386 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:01,760 Speaker 2: they can put things as long as the numbers look right. 387 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 2: Because analysts are no longer working in any sort of 388 00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:10,280 Speaker 2: rational headspace, nor are they looking for sensible ideas. Let 389 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,040 Speaker 2: me give you an example I've used before. Back in 390 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:16,920 Speaker 2: November nineteen ninety eight, Windstar Communication signed and I quote, 391 00:20:17,040 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 2: a two billion dollar equipment and finance agreement with Lucent 392 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,680 Speaker 2: technologies where Windstar would borrow money from Lucent to buy 393 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:26,399 Speaker 2: stuff from Lucent or to create and I shit you 394 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:30,600 Speaker 2: not one hundred million dollars in revenue over five years. Now, 395 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:32,560 Speaker 2: We're going to go even further back in time now 396 00:20:32,960 --> 00:20:36,600 Speaker 2: to December nineteen ninety nine, to a piece in Barns 397 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:39,960 Speaker 2: called in nineteen ninety nine tech ruled. Allow me to 398 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:45,359 Speaker 2: quote a few paragraphs from itm ha, Okay, here we go. 399 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:49,200 Speaker 2: George Gilbert, who manages the Northern Technology Fund, predicts the 400 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 2: web centric worlds of consumer services and software will fare 401 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 2: well next year two. A lot of people are increasing 402 00:20:55,600 --> 00:20:58,480 Speaker 2: their access to the Internet, says Gilbert, and e commerce 403 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 2: and business networking are very hi high priorities for the 404 00:21:01,040 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 2: Fortune one hundred. Lawrence Yorke, leading portfolio manager of the 405 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 2: Www Internet Fund, is bullish on semiconductors, telecommunications, and business 406 00:21:10,800 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 2: to business or B two B e commerce software, but 407 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,600 Speaker 2: he's wary of online retailers that model won't work long term. 408 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:21,119 Speaker 2: He asserts his top B to B picks AREBA and 409 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:25,680 Speaker 2: official payments in wireless. He likes Windstar, CNA and Anet Communications, 410 00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:30,080 Speaker 2: which went public earlier this month. So what do you 411 00:21:30,119 --> 00:21:32,680 Speaker 2: think Larry's scoreboard is do you think Larry did well? 412 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 2: Did he do badly? Let's find out anet bankrupt. Windstar 413 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:40,520 Speaker 2: horribly bankrupt, had to sue loosened while Sienna survived. It 414 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,400 Speaker 2: had spent over a billion dollars to acquire other companies, 415 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:45,639 Speaker 2: all in stock, of course, only to see its revenue 416 00:21:45,680 --> 00:21:48,440 Speaker 2: dwindle basically overnight from one point six billion dollars to 417 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,760 Speaker 2: three hundred million dollars as the optical cable industry collapsed. 418 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 2: Now one would have been able to work out that 419 00:21:54,880 --> 00:21:56,800 Speaker 2: Windstar was a dog, or that all of these companies 420 00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:58,359 Speaker 2: were dogs, if you were to look at the numbers, 421 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:00,520 Speaker 2: such as how much they made versus how much they 422 00:22:00,520 --> 00:22:03,520 Speaker 2: are spending and the demand for their services. I mean, 423 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:06,560 Speaker 2: I just put out a premium piece about the dot 424 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 2: com bubble that I'll inevitably turn into a long one 425 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:14,040 Speaker 2: like this. But basically the signs were all blatant and obvious. 426 00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:18,160 Speaker 2: But instead analysts, the media and banks chose to pump 427 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,840 Speaker 2: up these stocks because the numbers kept getting bigger, and 428 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:24,439 Speaker 2: when the collapse happened, rationalizations were immediately created. There were 429 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,520 Speaker 2: a few bad apples Enron, windsty WelCom. The fiber was 430 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:30,320 Speaker 2: useful and thus laying it was worthwhile and otherwise everything 431 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:33,080 Speaker 2: was fine. And just to be clear, some of those 432 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:35,920 Speaker 2: statements were true. It doesn't mean that any of these 433 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,320 Speaker 2: companies should have existed or that this growth should have 434 00:22:38,320 --> 00:22:41,920 Speaker 2: happened at that speed. The problem in everybody else's mind 435 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:43,920 Speaker 2: at the time was that everybody had got a bit 436 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:47,360 Speaker 2: distracted and some companies that weren't good would die. All 437 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:49,280 Speaker 2: of that loss money was only a problem because it 438 00:22:49,280 --> 00:22:51,840 Speaker 2: didn't pay off. This was a misplaced gambler. It taught 439 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:56,840 Speaker 2: tech executives one powerful lesson earnings must be good without 440 00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 2: fail by any means necessary. Otherwise nothing else matters to 441 00:23:01,280 --> 00:23:04,679 Speaker 2: war Stream. I mean companies, look, Lucent did this, WinStar 442 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,680 Speaker 2: did this, Global Crossing did this. Outright frauds like Enron 443 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 2: did this. They proved it again and again and again. 444 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:27,920 Speaker 2: It's all about incentives. A sel side analyst that tells 445 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,200 Speaker 2: you not to buy something is a problem. A journalist 446 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,280 Speaker 2: that is skeptical or critical of an industry in the 447 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:34,880 Speaker 2: midst of a growth or hype cycle is considered a hater. 448 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:38,359 Speaker 2: And god don't I fucking know that analysts that do 449 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,679 Speaker 2: not sing the same tune as everybody else are marginalized, mocked, 450 00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 2: and aggressively policed, and I don't fucking care. Stop being 451 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 2: fucking cowards. If you're an analyst listening to this, stop 452 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:51,600 Speaker 2: being a fucking coward. Go read the fucking numbers, man, 453 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:54,120 Speaker 2: I've been doing it. I'm reading the numbers. I'm reading 454 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:56,200 Speaker 2: them to you on this episode. Go read the numbers 455 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 2: as a reason that people want to fucking talk to me, 456 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:01,119 Speaker 2: as a reason that only the same fucking people want 457 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:03,959 Speaker 2: to talk to you. You're useless. You're fucking useless. If 458 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 2: you're still saying this is a big My frustration I'm 459 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,560 Speaker 2: going off topic again, is that people are going to 460 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 2: get hurt here. Retail investors who believe what they read 461 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 2: in CNBC and Bloomberg about the AI bubble are going 462 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,199 Speaker 2: to get hurt. And the cowardice is what's going to 463 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:23,159 Speaker 2: hurt them. Now, the dot com bubble was actually a 464 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:25,960 Speaker 2: great time to start reevaluating how and why we value 465 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,120 Speaker 2: stocks the way that we do. To say, hey, wait, 466 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:30,679 Speaker 2: that two billion dollar deal will only make one hundred 467 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:33,560 Speaker 2: million dollars in revenue. That's a pretty big minus frieto 468 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 2: or this company spends five dollars for every dollar it 469 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,920 Speaker 2: makes that's not good. But nobody, it appears, remained particularly 470 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 2: suspicious of the tech industry or a stock market that 471 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:47,480 Speaker 2: was increasingly orienting itself around conning shareholders. And because shareholders, analysts, 472 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,520 Speaker 2: and the media are refused to retain a single shred 473 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 2: of suspicion. Leaving the dot com era, the media never 474 00:24:54,080 --> 00:24:58,840 Speaker 2: actually subsided. Financial publications still found themselves dedicated to explaining 475 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:03,120 Speaker 2: why the latest type cycle. Journalists still found themselves told 476 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:05,479 Speaker 2: by editors that they had to cover the latest fad, 477 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:09,200 Speaker 2: even if it was nonsensical or clearly rotten. Analysts still 478 00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 2: grabbed their swords and rush to protect the very companies 479 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:15,199 Speaker 2: that had spent decades misleading them and would continue to 480 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,640 Speaker 2: do so for decades more. Much like we spent years 481 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:21,479 Speaker 2: saying that Facebook was a good deal because it was free, 482 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,440 Speaker 2: analysts and investors say tech stocks are great to hold 483 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:27,080 Speaker 2: because they keep growing, even if the reason they keep 484 00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:30,320 Speaker 2: growing was a series of interlocking monopolies, difficult to leave, 485 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:34,040 Speaker 2: platforms and impossible to fight traction and pricing, all of 486 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:40,160 Speaker 2: which have an eventual cell by date. Now get emails 487 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,840 Speaker 2: over this, I realize and pearl clutching over the amoral 488 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,359 Speaker 2: status of capitalism the stock market. But hear me out, 489 00:25:46,760 --> 00:25:49,240 Speaker 2: what if we're actually in a fifteen to twenty year 490 00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:53,800 Speaker 2: long knife catching competition. What if all anybody has done 491 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,040 Speaker 2: is look at cash flow, net income, future growth guidance 492 00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:59,760 Speaker 2: and called it a day. A lack of scrutiny is 493 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:02,640 Speaker 2: these companies to do effectively anything they want, but ref 494 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 2: to warrisome questions like will this ever make it profit? 495 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:09,560 Speaker 2: Or where's that money going? What if we basically don't 496 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:11,920 Speaker 2: know what the fuck is going on? What if all 497 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:15,440 Speaker 2: of this is utterly senseless? And then we get to AI, 498 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 2: which has accelerated the incentification of the stock market. Now, 499 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 2: as I wrote back in twenty twenty four, the tech 500 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:24,639 Speaker 2: industry is run out of hypergrowth ideas, facing something I 501 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,720 Speaker 2: called the rock coom bubble. In simple terms, they're only 502 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:30,200 Speaker 2: doing AI because they do not appear to have any 503 00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,280 Speaker 2: other viable ideas to continue the rock economy's eternal growth 504 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 2: at all costs. Fandango, I think I'm just going to 505 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:40,640 Speaker 2: go with fan Dango there yet, because growth hasn't slowed yet. Analysts, 506 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 2: the media, and other investors are quick to claim that 507 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 2: AI is paying off, even if nobody has ever said 508 00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,760 Speaker 2: how much AI revenue is being generated, or in some cases, 509 00:26:48,800 --> 00:26:51,600 Speaker 2: such as Salesforce, they can say nearly one point four 510 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 2: billion dollars of annualized recurring revenue, which sounds really big 511 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,200 Speaker 2: until you realize a company with ten point nine billion 512 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:00,320 Speaker 2: dollars in revenue or quarter is boasting about making less 513 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:02,760 Speaker 2: than one hundred and sixty million dollars in revenue in 514 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:05,680 Speaker 2: a month on something that has likely cost them billions 515 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:09,800 Speaker 2: to spin up. Nevertheless, because Salesforce set a new revenue 516 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 2: target of sixty billion dollars by twenty thirty, which may 517 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,160 Speaker 2: as well be in one thousand years at this point, 518 00:27:16,359 --> 00:27:20,199 Speaker 2: that stopped. It jumped four percent. It doesn't matter that 519 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:22,720 Speaker 2: most agent forced customers don't pay for the service, or 520 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:26,080 Speaker 2: that AI isn't really making them any money, let alone profit, 521 00:27:26,160 --> 00:27:29,200 Speaker 2: or really anything but number go up. Look ed, Number 522 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:35,040 Speaker 2: go up. I'm an ape, I'm a buffoon. Number higher, yay. 523 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,159 Speaker 2: The era we live in is one of abject desperation, 524 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:42,320 Speaker 2: to the point that analysts and investors and shareholders by extension, 525 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,920 Speaker 2: will take any abuse from management. They will allow companies 526 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:47,800 Speaker 2: to spend as much money as they want in whatever 527 00:27:47,840 --> 00:27:50,439 Speaker 2: ways they want, as long as it continues The charade 528 00:27:50,480 --> 00:27:53,040 Speaker 2: of number go up, or charade for my British users. 529 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:56,960 Speaker 2: Let me spell it out a little more though, using 530 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:00,919 Speaker 2: the earnings of various hyperscalers as an example. According to 531 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:03,960 Speaker 2: its latest quarterly filings, Microsoft spent thirty four point nine 532 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:06,679 Speaker 2: billion dollars on capital expenditures, the most of any of 533 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:09,440 Speaker 2: the big four hyperscalers, followed by Amazon with thirty four 534 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:12,280 Speaker 2: point two billion, Googled with twenty four billion, and Met 535 00:28:12,320 --> 00:28:15,879 Speaker 2: with nineteen point three seven billion dollars. The common mantra 536 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,440 Speaker 2: is that these companies are spending all this money on GPUs, 537 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:21,560 Speaker 2: but that doesn't really match up with invidious revenues. In 538 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:24,359 Speaker 2: Video's last quarterly earning, said that four direct customers made 539 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:26,960 Speaker 2: up more than ten percent of revenue, twenty two percent, 540 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,479 Speaker 2: fifteen percent, thirteen percent, and eleven percent, representing no more 541 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 2: than twelve point five four billion dollars out of fifty 542 00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:35,360 Speaker 2: seven billion dollars of revenue. And as you look back 543 00:28:35,359 --> 00:28:39,120 Speaker 2: through earlier quarters, you see the discrepancies grow. Where exactly 544 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:42,440 Speaker 2: is this money going? In Microsoft's latest earnings first quarter 545 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 2: fiscal year twenty twenty six, it said that nineteen point 546 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:48,120 Speaker 2: three nine billion dollars went to additions to property and equipment, 547 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 2: with roughly half of its total kapek spent on short 548 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:55,120 Speaker 2: lived assets, primarily GPUs and CPUs. A quarterback additions to 549 00:28:55,160 --> 00:28:57,680 Speaker 2: property and equipment were sixteen point seven four billion dollars, 550 00:28:57,680 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 2: with roughly half of that spent on long lived assets 551 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,640 Speaker 2: that will sport monetization over the next fifteen years or beyond. 552 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:07,280 Speaker 2: What does that mean? Who fucking knows? I looked, I 553 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:09,720 Speaker 2: went and I looked. I read every fucking analyst report 554 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 2: I could about that sorry souder bitch company, Microsoft, and 555 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,720 Speaker 2: I could not find one person who went in what 556 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 2: Q three was? H Q four f y twenty twenty five? 557 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:21,040 Speaker 2: Can find a single one of them that even found 558 00:29:21,080 --> 00:29:25,640 Speaker 2: that weird? Like, I don't know those of you got kids. 559 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:29,600 Speaker 2: If they're like I did my homework, you probably want 560 00:29:29,600 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 2: to check, right, Yeah, But if they're a company with 561 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,400 Speaker 2: like a four trillion dollar market cap, no problem, mate, 562 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 2: were all good? Oh you're public. I know I could 563 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:40,760 Speaker 2: probably ask more, but I'm not gonna. But let's assume 564 00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:43,560 Speaker 2: that Microsoft is in Vidia's biggest customer every quarter. Those 565 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:46,960 Speaker 2: pseudonymous customer a from Nvidia's earnings that it mentions in 566 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:50,160 Speaker 2: its mandatory sec filings spent twelve point five billion dollars 567 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 2: within video at thirty four point nine billion dollars in 568 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,280 Speaker 2: total cap ex spending from Microsoft, and before that ten 569 00:29:55,320 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 2: point seven billion dollars out of twenty one point four 570 00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:59,960 Speaker 2: billion dollars and in the court before that seven billion 571 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:02,840 Speaker 2: out of twenty two point six billion. If we guessed 572 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 2: them up based on a split of various models of 573 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:08,920 Speaker 2: nvidious Blackwell GPU systems and in earlier quarters older models, 574 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 2: that works to like four hundred and fifty seven megawats 575 00:30:11,640 --> 00:30:13,680 Speaker 2: of by t load for the first quarter, three hundred 576 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:15,920 Speaker 2: and ninety one mega what's for the fourth quarter of 577 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:18,800 Speaker 2: twenty twenty five, and two hundred and sixty three megawats 578 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:22,280 Speaker 2: for the third quarter of twenty twenty five. So has 579 00:30:22,360 --> 00:30:26,640 Speaker 2: Microsoft built that many data centers one point one one 580 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:30,320 Speaker 2: gigawats of data centers? Apparently? It claims it added two 581 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:32,480 Speaker 2: gigawads of data centers in the last year, but such 582 00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:34,760 Speaker 2: an Adella claimed in November that Microsoft had chips an 583 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:36,920 Speaker 2: inventory it couldn't installed, you to a lack of power. 584 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,280 Speaker 2: In any case, where did those tens of billions of 585 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:44,840 Speaker 2: dollars of where they go? We know there are finance leases, 586 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 2: which are basically just loans. What are they form more GPUs? 587 00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:53,280 Speaker 2: What's the actual output of the expenditures? Now, I previously 588 00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:54,840 Speaker 2: wrote in this script that we have no idea, but 589 00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:57,120 Speaker 2: I actually found out to an extent. So this will 590 00:30:57,160 --> 00:30:59,560 Speaker 2: be a future episode because it's a whole separate thing. 591 00:30:59,640 --> 00:31:03,400 Speaker 2: But the way that these these big companies, the hyperscalers 592 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:07,520 Speaker 2: are doing it is they're actually threading their GPUs through Taiwan. 593 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:11,400 Speaker 2: There are companies like on High Precision Corporation Limited, which 594 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:15,720 Speaker 2: is better known as fox Conn, Quanta Computing, Wistron, we 595 00:31:15,840 --> 00:31:20,520 Speaker 2: wi In. There are others too. Nevertheless, these are big 596 00:31:20,600 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 2: Taiwanese server companies that buy the GPUs from Nvidia and 597 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,920 Speaker 2: then then they ship them to Microsoft or Meta or 598 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:33,600 Speaker 2: Google or Oracle. Nevertheless, why am I the person who 599 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:36,360 Speaker 2: went and find that out? Why am I the guy? 600 00:31:36,440 --> 00:31:39,840 Speaker 2: I'm a I'm just a fella, I'm just one dip 601 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:43,320 Speaker 2: shit with Google. What the fuck am I the guy? Well? 602 00:31:43,880 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 2: The answer might be because well, I have a theory, 603 00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:48,920 Speaker 2: and it's the analysts and investors are in an abusive 604 00:31:48,960 --> 00:31:53,480 Speaker 2: relationship with tech stocs. It is fundamentally insane that Microsoft meta, 605 00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:56,040 Speaker 2: Amazon and Google have spent seven hundred and seventy six 606 00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:59,000 Speaker 2: billion dollars in capital expenditures in the space of three 607 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,440 Speaker 2: years and more so that analysts and investors, when faced 608 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:06,000 Speaker 2: with such egregious numbers, sit back and say, ooh yeah, baby, 609 00:32:07,200 --> 00:32:09,640 Speaker 2: ooh yeah, they're building the infrastructure of the future. Baby, 610 00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:13,240 Speaker 2: we love this. Analysts and traders and investors and reporters 611 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:16,120 Speaker 2: do not think hard about the underlying numbers, because doing 612 00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,080 Speaker 2: so immediately makes you run headfirst into a number of 613 00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:21,320 Speaker 2: worrying questions such as where did all the money go, 614 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:24,200 Speaker 2: will this payoff? And how many fucking dupus do they 615 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:28,040 Speaker 2: actually own. Analysts have, on some level become the fractional 616 00:32:28,080 --> 00:32:30,920 Speaker 2: marketing team for the stocks they're investing in. When Oracle 617 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:33,680 Speaker 2: announced this three hundred billion dollar deal with open Ai 618 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:36,720 Speaker 2: in September, when that open Ai does not have the 619 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:39,480 Speaker 2: money to pay and Oracle doesn't have the capacity to fill, 620 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,520 Speaker 2: analysts heaved and stammered like horny teenagers seeing their first boob. 621 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:48,560 Speaker 2: Now I'm gonna quote see MBC here and do some artistic, 622 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:53,200 Speaker 2: some editorializing. John Defuki, Sorry, John Defucci, I guess I'm 623 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:56,520 Speaker 2: not fixing that From Googenhem Security said he was blown away. 624 00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,800 Speaker 2: T d Cohen's Derek would called it a momentous quarter, 625 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:04,120 Speaker 2: and Brad Zelnig of Deutsche Bank said, who kind of, Oh, 626 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 2: we're in shock in a very good way. There's no 627 00:33:06,680 --> 00:33:10,000 Speaker 2: better evidence of a seismic shift happening and computing than 628 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:13,280 Speaker 2: these results that you just put up. Selnic said on 629 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,360 Speaker 2: the earnings call, adjusting his trousers, that trouser thing was 630 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:20,680 Speaker 2: an addition. That's a parody anyway. These are the same 631 00:33:20,800 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 2: people that retail and institutional investors rely upon for advice 632 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:26,720 Speaker 2: on what stocks to buy, all acting with the disregard 633 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:28,600 Speaker 2: for the truth that comes from years of never facing 634 00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 2: a single fucking consequence. Three months later, an oracle has 635 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:34,880 Speaker 2: lost basically all of the stock bumpets sought from the 636 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:38,960 Speaker 2: open aideal, meaning that any regular person, any retail investor 637 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,760 Speaker 2: that yoloed into that trade because say, I don't know, 638 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:44,520 Speaker 2: Analysts from major institutions in the media said it was 639 00:33:44,560 --> 00:33:47,520 Speaker 2: a good idea, and news outlets didn't ask questions. Well, 640 00:33:47,520 --> 00:33:50,600 Speaker 2: they got their asses kicked. They lost everything, and please 641 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 2: spare me, Oh they shouldn't trade off of analysts. Bullshit. 642 00:33:53,960 --> 00:33:56,120 Speaker 2: That's the kind of victim blaming that allows these revered 643 00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:58,760 Speaker 2: fuck wits to continue fighting out these meaningless calls and 644 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:02,680 Speaker 2: making money doing so. In reality, we're in an era 645 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:06,960 Speaker 2: of naked, blatant, shameless stock manipulation, both privately and publicly, 646 00:34:07,120 --> 00:34:09,239 Speaker 2: because a stock no longer refers to a unit of 647 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 2: ownership in a company so much as it is a 648 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,520 Speaker 2: chip at a casino where a house constantly changes the rules. 649 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:17,880 Speaker 2: Perhaps you're able to occasionally catch the house showing its hand, 650 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:19,839 Speaker 2: and perhaps the house meant for you to see it. 651 00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:23,960 Speaker 2: Either way, you are always behind because the people responsible 652 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:26,759 Speaker 2: for buying and selling stocks at scale, under the auspices 653 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:29,120 Speaker 2: of knowing what's going on, don't seem to know what 654 00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:33,080 Speaker 2: they're talking about, or don't care to find out. You 655 00:34:33,120 --> 00:34:36,560 Speaker 2: want examples, I'll give you some fucking examples. June in tomorrow. 656 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,920 Speaker 2: I love doing this show. I love doing these episodes. 657 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:51,360 Speaker 2: Catch you then, thank you for listening to Better Offline. 658 00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:53,920 Speaker 1: The editor and composer of the Better Offline theme song 659 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,640 Speaker 1: is Matosowski. You can check out more of his music 660 00:34:56,640 --> 00:35:01,239 Speaker 1: and audio projects at Mattasowski dot com t O s 661 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:05,360 Speaker 1: O W s Ki dot com. You can email me 662 00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,000 Speaker 1: at easy at Better Offline dot com or visit Better 663 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:10,479 Speaker 1: Offline dot com to find more podcast links and of course, 664 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,640 Speaker 1: my newsletter. I also really recommend you go to chat 665 00:35:13,680 --> 00:35:16,319 Speaker 1: dot where's youreaed dot at to visit the discord, and 666 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:17,480 Speaker 1: go to our slash. 667 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,319 Speaker 2: Better Offline to check out I'll Reddit. Thank you so 668 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,879 Speaker 2: much for listening. Better Offline is a production of cool 669 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:26,719 Speaker 2: Zone Media. For more from cool Zone Media, visit our 670 00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:29,759 Speaker 2: website cool Zonemedia dot com, or check us out on 671 00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,680 Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.