Microsoft’s earnings were down: the news about PCs was encouraging, while Azure unsurprisingly felt the pain later than AWS. Anyone competing with Office 365, though, is in worse shape.
Daily Update
Archive of Daily Emails for Stratechery Members
Intel Earnings, Intel’s Plunging Margin, The Dividend Question
Intel’s earnings are brutal, but it is a brutal result years in the making. That mismatch between decisions and consequences probably explain why Intel continues to pay a dividend despite its need for cash.
An Interview with Michael Nathanson About Netflix and the Media Industry
An interview with MoffettNathanson’s Michael Nathanson about Netflix, the broader media industry, sports, and tech.
DOJ Sues Google, Google’s Advertising Aggregation, No Duty to Deal
The DOJ’s lawsuit against Google details a lot of anti-competitive behavior, but the underlying source of Google’s strength is Aggregation.
Tech Layoffs, Big Tech’s Hiring Rates, Microsoft’s VR Layoffs
Tech’s layoffs are popularly thought to be because of over-hiring during the pandemic, but in fact there isn’t much evidence that tech over-hired based on past rates. Then, Microsoft still has a metaverse strategy, it just doesn’t involve hardware.
An Interview with The Air Current’s Jon Ostrower about Southwest’s Meltdown and Independent Publishing
An interview with The Air Current’s Jon Ostrower about Southwest’s meltdown, being an independent publisher, why there isn’t supersonic passenger flights, and building a hardware product.
Twitter Timelines, Azure and OpenAI, Apple and China
Introducing the Greatest Of All Talk, a new addition to the Stratechery Plus bundle. Then, more on Twitter and Microsoft/OpenAI, plus the Financial Times covers Apple and China.
TSMC Earnings, Geographic Flexibility, The 7nm Question
TSMC’s earnings, even when disappointing, show how strong the company’s position is. Still, there are open questions about using leading edge capacity in the future.
Twitter Kills Third-Party Clients, Twitter’s Tortured History With 3rd-Party Apps, The Twitter Files Business Model
Twitter’s decision to kick-off third party clients is classic Musk; it also gives a signal as to Twitter’s business model focus going forward.
Meta’s EU Fine; First-Party versus Third-Party Data, Redux; The EU’s First Party Imposition
The EU’s latest ruling against Meta is different than ATT because it is an attack on first party data and a company’s ability to make money.