🔻 Google Search is losing its lead

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TOP STORY
🔻 Google Search is losing its lead

For the past couple of decades, Google has been to the internet what peanut butter is to jelly, genius, and inseparable.  

But now, Google's moat is shrinking, with search engines popping up faster than the weeds in my grandpa’s garden.

First, there are the social media platforms. 

• The oldies, as I like to call them, Instagram and Facebook, have billions of users who use the platforms as search engines to discover trending topics that Google doesn’t know about yet.

• Then we have the new kid on the block, TikTok.

• TikTok, like its older counterparts, is a major search engine for users looking for recipes, movie recommendations, and, of course, the occasional moronic food challenge.  

But in a bold move, they decided to hit Google where it hurts. 

Not long ago, TikTok launched a feature that allows brands to target ads based on users' search queries, directly competing with Google’s core search business.

Ouch. 

Meanwhile, AI-powered search startups like Perplexity and ChatGPT have exploded with incredible computing power and hundreds of millions combined users.

Even Amazon is challenging Google. 

Amazon is expected to capture 22.3% of the search advertising market this year, up from 17.6% in 2022.  

Seems like there’s nowhere to hide for poor old GOOG.

TECHNOLOGY
🤯 Apple moves away from annual product releases

The world is about to witness one of the most significant shifts in modern history.

In a shocking turn of events, Apple is reportedly abandoning its traditional annual product upgrade cycle, a cornerstone of its business model.

Damn it, gotta get a new non-Apple calendar now.

Instead, Apple wants to focus on making better, more creative products without rushing to meet a strict yearly deadline.

Yes, we know how ironic that is, considering it was Apple—specifically Steve Jobs—who implemented the deadline in the first place.

While it feels like there’s always a new, arguably unnecessary iPhone on the market, this speaks to Apple's incredible innovation machine.

Releasing new products, even if just a few features yearly, is extremely impressive, and we’ve come to view it as perfectly normal.

So why stop? 

Recent software issues (like iPadOS 18) and the now infamous Apple Intelligence, among others, have made Apple realize that some extra testing couldn’t hurt.

With a more flexible schedule, maybe Apple could work on bigger projects and even create that iPad robot we’ve heard about.

WORD OF THE DAY

LAWSUIT
📉 Carpenter loses $400M in Tesla stock, sues bank

Investing is definitely not an activity for the faint of heart. 

Last week, a Canadian carpenter sued a major bank and investment firm because he made and subsequently lost hundreds of millions of dollars in just a couple of years. 

Christopher DeVocht, also (now) known as the woodworking Warren Buffet, turned $88,000 into $415 million by investing in Tesla stock.

And then lost all of it. 

Here’s the rollercoaster of a timeline: 

• By the end of 2019, Christopher DeVocht's Tesla stock portfolio was worth a respectable $88,000. 

• As Tesla's value snowballed, DeVocht continued reinvesting all his money and gains in put-and-call options for Tesla stock. 

Smart man.

The not-so-smart moves happened in the middle of this tumultuous 3-and-a-half-year journey. 

• In 2020 and 2021, he donated $25.5 million to the RBC Charitable Gift Fund "to obtain charitable tax credits.”

• By October 2022, Tesla shares declined, forcing him to sell shares to repay loans from his RBC margin account, which allowed him to borrow money to make additional trades. 

Not smart.

Tesla's stock fell by about 65% in 2022 due to a mix of overall market volatility and concerns that Elon Musk was way too focused on buying Twitter—which turned out to be a pretty valid concern.

I mean, the guy's obsessed.

By 2023, DeVocht had lost his entire portfolio as the value of his investments dropped faster than he could sell them to pay off his debts.

Why sue RBC and Grant Thornton LLP, though?  He says they were the ones who advised him to invest in margins and spend over $25 million on gifts. 

Look, I'm all for hearing the “experts” out, but maybe we should do what the rest of us do and watch old videos of the actual Warren Buffett telling us how to invest.