Briefings Magazine: The Hidden Benefits of Mass Disruptions

Tech hasn’t had a big wave of extinction since 2001.

By SIMON CONSTABLE

There’s no doubt about it. Consumer-tech companies such as Meta, Apple, Google, Netflix, and Amazon came of age over the last decade or so. Some grew from dorm rooms or garages into corporate behemoths at warp speed and hired experts by the boatload. Collectively they gained colossal publicity and political influence. Then came 2022, with plummeting stock prices. So began the hiring freezes and eye-popping layoffs.

Should we be concerned? Perhaps not. Tech’s always been a rough-and-tumble place, embracing an ongoing cycle of innovation, disruption, and destruction. Each cycle is similar, but each has its unique quirks. Read more here.

WABC: Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failures.

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

#MrMarket: Affordable College in sophisticated Europe. @JohnBatchelor WSJ

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Hamburg State and University Library Carl von Ossietzky , 

Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Citywire: Things are changing fast for exchange-traded fund investors

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Since the launch of the first US ETF three decades ago, index-tracking funds have been the mainstay of the ETF world. And while active funds have been ‘stuck in neutral’ the past while, they are now on course to make a booming comeback, experts say.

‘For a long time, active funds were stuck in neutral,’ says Aniket Ullal, head of ETF data and analytics at New York-based research company CFRA. ‘[But] there is now a focus on active – and yes, it’s a long-term thing.’ Read more here.

bfishadow on Flickr, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

WSJ: One Way U.S. Students Can Save Money on College Tuition -- Head to Europe

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A college degree and drowning in debt don’t have to be synonymous. 

College tuition in the European Union tends to be far less than in the U.S., not only for locals but for students who come from outside the EU as well. Indeed, both undergrad and graduate-school degrees in Europe often can be earned at a fraction of what it costs in the U.S. Read more here.

Colin Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0 

<https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>,

 via Wikimedia Commons

WSJ Financial Flashback -- VISA's 2008 IPO Broke Records

By SIMON CONSTABLE 

Exclusively in the print edition of The Wall Street Journal

#France: Cassis on the Mediterranean not yet returned from the lockdown damage. Simon Constable, Forbes, Barron's.

 By SIMON CONSTABLE

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Cassis

Jean-Christophe BENOIST, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons