Alibaba Singles Day - Hustle All Day

I respect the hustle. I respect the work. I respect the speed and the scale. I now respect this mind blowing sales event, Alibaba Singles day. The collective hustle and sales process is very hard to wrap your head around. The enormous sales numbers are so unbelievable, that you can quickly lose focus and dismiss the idea as too hard to comprehend. One thing is for sure, the people of China seem to have the drive, passion and hustle to make these numbers a reality. Following the lead of founder Jack Ma should come with great pride and honor. In an earlier Alibaba blog, I included a video from CNBC called "The Brave Ones" about Jack Ma. In the video he talks about his childhood. There were 6 people in his family sharing $7 a month. He says we could eat 1 chicken per year. "It was terrible." Ma says.
I am beginning to understand where the drive and hustle comes from.
Okay lets get into the mind blowing Alibaba Singles Day numbers from the short videos below. Watch the videos (video/audio is my favorite way to gain more knowledge and information).

First Video - CNBC What is Singles Day?
Alibaba Singles Day is a 24 hr shopping event on 11/11 (November 11th)
All of this insane sales volume is happening on Alibaba's Taobao, Tmall and Alibaba sites (I think they are including Ali Express and Lazada this year too).
2017 Sales were $25 Billion
2018 Sales were $30 Billion
To put this scale into perspective, here are the comparable USA shopping numbers
2017 Cyber Monday $6.6 Billion
2017 Black Friday Online Sales $5 Billion
How is it possible to have such a huge sales holiday?
China population is 1.4 Billion
2017 Alipay had 1.48 Billion Payment Transactions. There were 256,000 transactions per second. Yeah, read up on Alipay and Ant Financial. Crazy.
775 million Parcels were shipped. That is double the number of people that live in the United States.

Second Video - Jack Ma Singles Day Challenge

This is a fun video! It has 4 rounds (battle challenges) of Jack Ma vs an Alibaba employee.

This fast moving Jack Ma challenge highlights just a small number of ways BABA is pushing $30 Billion in sales in 24 hours. There are some really cool hustles I noticed that seem very innovative, and US 

E-Commerce companies should take notice.

Round 1 - Jack Ma faces off with an Alibaba package handler. She crushes him. I imagine there are thousands of human package handlers at BABA and you know Alibaba has some of the most high tech automated package handling on the planet.

Round 2 - Jack Ma vs an Alibaba Model. This is interesting because they live stream fashion shows, models, live selling clothing and fashion. This is an innovative approach to increase sales. Live stream your employees to sell more. She wins 30 to 6. Cool video starting at 0:47 seconds in

Round 3 - Live stream small business selling. This is a eyeopening and innovating. Again, you have a small business owner live streaming, selling the hell out of lipstick. Employee beats Jack 1000 to 10. I think all of this streaming video highlights the huge growth potential and power of Alibaba Cloud Business.

Round 4 - Wrapping Live Crabs. This is fun too. It seems people love to buy fresh seafood during Alibaba Singles Day on the internet! She is good, beats Jack Ma 16 to 3.

Anyway. I hope you enjoy. Like I say, I am starting to understand the numbers on Singles Day, Hustle 24/7. Have a great day. 

Tencent - Remember The 2017 Titan

Last year 2017 was a fun year to own Tencent stock. I remember talking to friends about the business "I own some Tencent." "What's Tencent?"
 The stock that was ripping all last year (passed 500 Billion market cap briefly). I know it is a giant, but 9 out of 10 investors have never heard of the company, or its legendary founder Pony Ma. I like this company. Here are some good videos to catch you up to speed if you are unfamiliar with Tencent.
Make Tencent Great Again 2019.

Alibaba - The Future Is Worth Much More

"When I am rejected by people. I get used to it" Jack Ma. 

Rejected. Rejected. Rejected. Alibaba stock and stock price is constantly rejected. 

Alibaba is a big, relentless, rapidly growing business. Get used to it.

How much longer will investors reject the stock and company. This rejection cannot go on forever, can it? 

It is amazing BABA closed in the $93 dollar range the first day of United States trading 2014.

Yesterday the stock closed at $142.82...so the stock has only gained a bit over 50% since first day US trading 4 years ago. I started investing in BABA during the summer of 2017. The price was very near to where we are today.

I like Alibaba the company. I like Jack Ma, the man and personality (I realize he is retiring). Please watch the video above, if you have not already seen it. It is awesome.  

I do worry about the sentiment around the stock. I worry that the rejection and volatility have become part of the DNA of the stock. It seems sentiment can linger for years with a stock. Take Amazon and Netflix, investors have come to accept judging Amazon on revenue growth and Netflix on subscriber growth. Nothing else matters. 

As a long term investor, I really like Alibaba. For the following reasons. All these potential drivers tie together quite nicely.

1. Growth 

The BABA growth rate is very impressive for a enormous company. They are in all the right places. E Commerce. Alibaba Cloud. Payments. Mobile. Digital Consumer Media.

Last quarter total revenue growth was 54%. Cloud Revenue growth 90%. 

2. Innovation

Some of the coolest innovation is coming out of China. Payments. AI. Automated retail. Facial recognition. Check out their Hema Grocery Store. And short video from Ant Financial.

3. Emerging Economies

Alibaba is growing rapidly and buying or investing in many businesses in Asia, South America, Africa and Russia. There is a lot of news on this subject. Bottom line, an investment in Alibaba will potentially give you exposure to many different emerging markets and Economies.

4. Ant Financial, Lazada and other Business ownership.

It seems every week there are articles of new business purchases and investments that Alibaba has made. Let's just look at the 2 huge businesses that can move the needle.

Ant Financial/Alipay. The largest Fintech company and digital payment platform in the world. Alibaba owns a 33% equity stake in Ant Financial (its a long story).

Lazada. Lazada is a huge E-commerce business based in Singapore. Alibaba completed an acquisition of the giant in 2018. The have operations in southeast Asia : Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines. 

In summary, there is a lot to like. Thank you and have a great day.

Apple Co Founder Steve Wozniak Positive Words on Apple.

Watch this short video interview of Steve Wozniak, co founder of Apple. He has the right attitude. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes when asked about the declining Apple share price, and are the best days of the stock behind it.
"I've heard that forever and ever, what are you afraid of, like the company is going to die or something?"
"I don't want to live that life of worry or concern. I don't care."
"Steve Jobs always put people above technology. He thought you should not be a victim of your technology, you should live your human life."
There is 4 minutes of great concise information. It's better to here it straight from Steve. Enjoy. Have a great day.

Warren Buffett Loves Apple Now and Forever

Warren Buffett will likely be adding to his enormous Apple share stockpile over the next few days. Check out the price in the background of the video post, $185. This was months ago. Currently Apple is trading between $192-193 after hours tonight. He loved Apple then. He loves it now. Some love is timeless and forever.

Apple Stock Buybacks - Think about the Future Supply and Demand

Do you ever take time to think about the potential scarcity of stock shares in the Future?
What if shares of great businesses are in short supply in the near future.
Many people probably look back on potential purchases in their lifetime. Maybe it was that beach property you could have bought for tens of thousands of dollars decades ago. Maybe it was shares in that great business that were disappearing at a very rapid rate....
I know there are 2 enormous buyers of Apple shares that have very publicly announced their intentions.
1. Apple
2. Berkshire Hathaway - Warren Buffett
Plus countless other deep pocket buyers that will be happy to buy shares being sold on the market, with intentions of holding forever and never selling back to the public markets. I have added a couple short videos to watch while pondering this thought on business ownership. Thank you and have a great day.

Apple - 10 Future Growth Markets

Your time. Your Money. Your Attention. Your Trust. 

They got it. And they've earned it. 

Apple owns the most valuable real estate in the world, your pocket. Apple is the human companion, an extension of the modern man, woman and child. Always within reach.

The phone is not the end for Apple. It's the beginning. 

I love to ponder the future.  I spend hours of the day doing so. As an investor and writer my thoughts are optimistic on the future. So what will Apple do with all this money, power and respect. Below are my positive thoughts.

1. 

What replaces the phone? Whatever that may be, it will be a welcomed innovation. I imagine all big tech rapidly working on this. I would also assume Apple is leading in the development of this product. They have the quality, reputation and most desirable brand. They also have the most to lose if a competitor company beats them to this innovation. 

I imagine this device or connector/connection as a hands free personal network. Visually seen through multiple displays. I think Apple will use the Augmented Reality in development as a key feature benefit. Stylish glasses seeing AR and projected imaging from an enhanced Apple watch face seem likely. I'm hoping for a form of command and control through tiny wearable sensors (like small apple logo stickers) on your fingertips to scan, search, choose your information and applications. Your finger tips will control the large Augmented Realty screen in front of you rather than using your fingers to touch/scroll/scan/type on today's tiny phone screens. This will be a nice uptick in personal health and well being too. I find myself often with bad neck posture habits constantly looking down at the phone. Voice commands will certainly bring another control option to the user. It's also likely you will still have the Apple tiny computer "phone" in your pocket bringing this all together. Overall, freeing up your hands and eliminating a single fixed stationary display will be very welcomed benefits.  

2. 

Payments/Banking/Lending. 

Big Banks and the services they provide are ripe for disruption in a big way. 

Apple seems well positioned in this space. 

They have an existing payment platform. Apple Pay adoption, usage and volume will continue to grow. The adoption and enormous volumes seen in payments from China tech giants could be a sign of what's to come (Alibaba and Tencent). 

For potential banking services, Apple's strong security reputation and strong balance sheet should help. Here is a thought, Apple has more cash on hand than any company in the world, how's that for capital requirements. The physical bank branch is quickly becoming less important. The phone with it's camera deposit capabilities can handle most deposits. Having a connected Apple application to interact with ATM machines would eliminate the cash problem. So, almost today, the phone replaces the bank branch. Lastly, lending is the most painful and necessary part of a bank you probably deal with today. Again, the data, security and knowledge of the customer puts big tech in the lead to service your debt of the future. Apple has more capital on hand than any lender in the world. Amazon is already quickly growing in the lending space. I've read this is a less risky loan to the issuer (Amazon) because of the ability to issue loans with a more accurately calculated ability of repayment or default. Again, I feel the banking industry will lose big market share to technology companies we trust and view as secure.

3. Content

Everyone wants good content. I think companies that have future staying power will have one, two or all three of the following: a platform, a great brand and great content. I think Apple checks all the boxes. On the most recent quarterly conference call Apple noted increased spending on content. It seems the current leaders in this space are Netflix, Disney and Amazon. I am optimistic that Apple can make money in this space.  

4. Security

Apple has a great reputation with security. Security is going to continue to cement the strength of  the Apple brand. Tim Cook seems to enjoy making pointed comments aimed at Facebook quite often. I hope Apple focuses on the following key form of security. Protect the customer. Or in other words protect the "Product." We the people are the "product" being sold for the benefit of giant advertising companies like Facebook. I have long thought that a company will not only find a way to protect the human product, but allow the people to share in the money being made off of their data. If I am an affluent high income earning consumer, my data carries good value for targeted advertising. It's time to protect consumer information, and if  a "seller" wants it, it's time to give the "buyer" some financial incentive. 

5. Search

A broadly used secure search product sounds nice. I think Apple is the only company that could sell the idea and people actually believe it.

6. Cloud

Cloud. Cloud. Cloud. AI and Cloud are the two buzz words for growth. Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Alibaba the list goes on and on.  Apple iCloud is the only fee I pay for Cloud storage (not any of the companies above). It seems like a decent value too. I pay $0.99 a month. The business enterprise Cloud for Apple is where the big dollars will be earned.

7. Style and Fashion

The future of wearable tech is no doubt going to be cool. Apple, again, is a cemented luxury desirable brand. Is clothing ready for innovation. I say yes. Collaborations with fashionable design and apparel should only increase the desire and demand for the brand. I am eager to see how this space develops and grows.    

8. Gaming

Gaming is big and getting bigger. There is a long growth runway in this space. Apps, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, E-sports...there is a lot going on.

9. Living inside the computer

For now I am talking about ideas like autonomous cars. It seems Tesla has created an awesome looking super computer that has the physical functionality and qualities of a car. This is a futuristic concept that will change the world as we know it. In the future we will spend most of our time inside huge connected computers...cars, homes, stores, and office buildings.    

10. The computer inside you

The future of healthcare?  Apple seems to be innovating and spending on connected health monitoring. Will we have tiny technology floating around our body searching, scanning, diagnosing our health problems. What about enhanced camera capabilities to scan and monitor the outside of our body for signals of health or deterioration. Healthcare is an area of hardware and software. Apple does that, right?

I like to view the future as a positive place. I also enjoy viewing the future as a place where we continue to make money as investors. Share this blog if you and others you know enjoy being positive about the world of business.