Happy NewYear 2022!!
We present the following #RandomThoughts on the year that was as we look ahead and look forward to the privilege to serve in the new year.
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| | The Information’s 2022 Predictions | By The Information Staff | Many of this year’s biggest tech developments caught everyone by surprise. Who would have predicted Didi Global would go public and months later have to delist? Zillow abruptly abandoned its home-buying business. Instacart and DoorDash held merger talks. And Facebook changed its name. What will 2022 bring? Our reporters talked to their sources to deliver 20 predictions on the biggest companies and themes in tech. We forecast that YouTube will launch a non-fungible token marketplace. We also suggest the company Snowflake might buy and who might succeed Bobby Kotick as CEO of Activision Blizzard. See here for a recent story on how we did on our 2021 predictions. | |
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Our Top 21 Visualizations of 2021
In this eighth edition of our yearly round-up, we highlight visualizations that broke new ground in design and data-driven reporting.
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| Above (L to R): Kasper Lorenzen of PFA; Mark Carney, UN special envoy on climate action and finance; Evy Hambro of BlackRock; and Chris James of Engine No. 1 | Despite mixed progress on global climate action at COP26, a key takeaway emerged: The private sector is stepping up to tackle climate change. But how exactly? Allison Nathan, Goldman Sachs’ Senior Strategist in Research and editor of a recent Top of Mind report on climate change, gets various perspectives on climate investing in the latest episode of Exchanges at Goldman Sachs to try and answer this question. “There has been a quantum leap in terms of private sector engagement [on climate] since [the 2015] Paris [Agreement],” says Mark Carney, UN special envoy on climate action and finance and former governor of the Bank of England. “The private sector…is beginning to lead the public sector and put more pressure on the public sector to close the gap between the country objectives and the underlying policies that support them.” Both Chris James, founder and executive chairman of Engine No.1, and Evy Hambro, global head of thematic and sector investing at BlackRock, agree that market-based incentives will direct private sector capital to align with climate goals, and that engaging with companies on their green transition is the best way to achieve progress on these goals. But smaller investors can only have credible engagement with just a few companies at a time, says Kasper Lorenzen, group CIO at Danish pension fund PFA, which is divesting from the oil and gas sectors while also investing in green infrastructure and technology. Meanwhile, Carney believes governments need to create incentives for private companies to promote change, and Goldman Sachs’ Jeff Currie goes even further, arguing that global, coordinated policies are needed to avoid significant capital misallocation in the pursuit of climate goals. |
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Meta Platforms is diving even further into the blockchain matrix. It wants to create “deep compatibility” with blockchain technology, according to an internal post that The New York Times obtained. In his post on Tuesday, Andrew Bosworth, who leads Meta’s augmented reality and virtual reality efforts, said that the company is interested in working on projects involving non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and with entrepreneurs in Web3, which refers to a decentralized, blockchain-powered version of the internet.
Bosworth will become CTO of Meta next year and his post hints at significant changes ahead for the company as it tries to find its Web3 footing. It makes sense that Meta might feel unsure about where it fits into the next iteration of the internet. Web3’s goal is to wrest control of the internet away from tech giants and put it in the hands of users. And some Web3 founders, like The Sandbox’s Sebastien Borget, aren’t exactly welcoming toward Meta.
Meta has already explored the blockchain technology underpinning Web3 with its work on the libra (now diem) stablecoin and its Novi crypto wallet, although it has recently seen some high-profile exits from the financial products unit focused on these projects. The company previously said that it would be interested in integrating NFTs into its metaverse business, but Bosworth’s post suggests that the company is planning to incorporate these digital blockchain-based assets in other ways. Allowing Facebook users to display NFTs on their profiles could be an option. Twitter is already working on this capability, and top social media networks have talked with the developers of the Solana blockchain about introducing similar features.
Bosworth also said that the company may potentially invest in projects that include smart contracts, which use blockchain technology to automate transactions and serve as the foundation of decentralized finance. In addition, it may invest in decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs. These blockchain-based groups, which use smart contracts and tokens in their governance, have garnered substantial VC investment. Meta’s interest in these corners of the blockchain world show that the company isn’t afraid to get involved in more complex uses for the technology than NFTs.
Expanding into Web3 will likely set Meta apart from other tech companies like Google and Apple that have appeared more hesitant about the trend. It also may help the company keep up with Twitter, which is already working on a decentralized social media network.
But while Meta may be broadening its use of blockchain, it definitely isn’t putting all of its eggs in the Web3 basket. Bosworth said that he doesn’t see many areas where he expects Meta to depend exclusively on blockchain, and he argued that only a minority of internet users are dissatisfied with the status quo, writing that “most people are happy to use Facebook and Google.” However, a recent Evercore survey found that Facebook had the lowest satisfaction level of any social media platform.
Crypto regulation in the U.S. could get a facelift in 2022. Crypto advocate Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) is reportedly introducing a bill next year that proposes creating a new regulatory body to oversee the crypto industry, according to reports from Bloomberg and CoinDesk. Her vision seems to align better with that of Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the U.S. by trading volume. The company previously argued for a new federal crypto regulator, even putting together its own policy proposal.
As agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission vie for control over the crypto industry, Coinbase has argued in favor of creating a single regulator that would work with a self-regulatory industry body to form rules. Lummis’ bill proposes a new organization that would be under the jurisdiction of the SEC and CFTC, according to Bloomberg. The CoinDesk report said the commissions would administer the group, but the new organization would be self-regulatory in nature.
While crypto advocates have promoted self-regulation, the approach seems unlikely to fully succeed. SEC Chair Gary Gensler has repeatedly told Congress that most cryptocurrencies are securities that fall under his agency’s purview. Given crypto’s association with scams and other crimes, it seems unlikely Congress would let the industry govern itself.
Other parts of Lummis’ proposed legislation might be more realistic. The legislation, which she previously said would be introduced this year, also suggests unspecified new rules regarding stablecoin regulation and consumer protections.
| The Great Resignation can be a net positive as it moves people into jobs they want to perform, as long as companies offer the requisite training. |
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- Most Kudos-Worthy Tech Executive: Ruth Porat, whose smart oversight as chief financial officer of Alphabet has kept the tech giant humming and helped make it one of the best-performing tech stocks of 2021.
- Smartest Acquisition: Discovery’s purchase of WarnerMedia. The traditional TV companies need to consolidate if they’re to have any hope of surviving the Netflix onslaught. AT&T had no business owning WarnerMedia, but a combination with Discovery makes a lot of sense.
- Dumbest Acquisition: Square Buying Tidal. This was a relatively small deal, just $237 million, mostly in cash. But for a company in the payment and financial services business to buy a tiny music-streaming service makes absolutely no sense at all.
- Worst-Handled IPO: There’s a lot of competition in this category, but Didi Global has to get the trophy. By ignoring warnings from the Chinese government not to proceed with an IPO, Didi took an unnecessary risk that quickly backfired. Didi is now planning to delist from the U.S. Its shares were today trading 60% below the IPO price.
- Most Mishandled Acquisition: Zoom Video’s purchase of Five9. Zoom could have dipped into its plentiful supply of cash to make this acquisition happen. Instead, it relied on stock. Once Zoom’s stock dropped, Five9 shareholders got cold feet and the deal fell apart.
- Least Believable Corporate Executive: Apple’s Phil Schiller, testifying during the Epic trial that the App Store’s profits don’t get discussed internally at Apple. Yeah, right.
- Most Believable Corporate Executive: Zillow CEO Richard Barton, explaining why the online real estate firm was abandoning its costly move into buying and selling homes. Given the unexpected volatility in home prices, the venture had “a high likelihood at some point of putting the whole company at risk,” Barton told analysts. Sounds about right.
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