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It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies

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Re: It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies

#121

Post by tikhonj »

tomc1985 wrote: post #113
guyzero wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Omnicom: $15B revenue annually, $17B market cap WPP: $18B revenue, $23B market cap Google: $110B revenue, $750B market cap Seems like a good argument that being tech-forward provides a multiplier on value versus doing the same old thing, if you believe that these are all just advertising companies.

Hardly a fair comparison, considering Google's extensive non-advertising product offerings

Extensive non-advertising product offerings that somehow don't translate into extensive non-advertising revenue...

Re: It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies

#122

Post by friday99 »

tomc1985 wrote: post #113
guyzero wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Omnicom: $15B revenue annually, $17B market cap WPP: $18B revenue, $23B market cap Google: $110B revenue, $750B market cap Seems like a good argument that being tech-forward provides a multiplier on value versus doing the same old thing, if you believe that these are all just advertising companies.

Hardly a fair comparison, considering Google's extensive non-advertising product offerings

Those "other revenues" only account for about 13% of Google's revenue. So its a fair comparison. Google is almost 90% an advertising company.

https://abc.xyz/investor/pdf/2017Q4_alphabet_earnings_releas...

Re: It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies

#123

Post by zjaffee »

123212321 wrote: post #19
ionforce wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a way to express/model technology so that it isn't considered this accessory but something that is core to their values/mission? Have we not done a good job of proving that investment in technology is a force/profit multiplier?

The truth is tech is not a force multiplier in finance, except for HFT. A few firms do pay a ton for engineers (higher than google level comp), but there are probably less than 5000 of those engineers in NYC.

This is absolutely false, tech is a force multiplier in nearly every business even if it doesn't require onsite software engineers to get that productivity bump. Look at the Bloomberg terminal in finance, Salesforce/CRM in sales, Epic in healthcare, Westlaw in legal work, the list goes on.

Now a lot of the time, firms can get a better product by purchasing one than trying to build something in house (where anyone producing HFT tech won't sell that product because it's an immensely valuable trade secret). This said, I'm sure there are forms of intelligence gathering that is also built in house by firms that allow them to implement market beating strategies.

Re: It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies

#124

Post by FireBeyond »

ohazi wrote: post #66
tvanantwerp wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agree. My wife works in private banking, and her descriptions to me of the IT/software environment they have to deal with are absurd. Recently, the integration of a new loan management system was badly botched and several clients have been hit by it. Bills not going out, therefore not being paid, therefore money being taken forcibly from their accounts without notice. And these are customers with millions each i…

Why is it always the "notifying" part that breaks with shitty software like this, and not the "money being taken forcefully" part, which always seems to work flawlessly? Doesn't that seem a little suspicious? If they were uniformly bad at writing software, the critical money handling part should fail at roughly the same rate. If they can get that part to work reliably, failure of other parts of the system seem partic…

Always my favorite. You can take money out of my account instantly. Refund? "You should see that in your account in 3-4 weeks". Just brazen, at times.

Re: It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies

#125

Post by vonmoltke »

guyzero wrote: post #79
vonmoltke wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Google: $110B revenue Where did you get 110 from? I'm seeing 90 for last year.

https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/GOOGL/financials?p=GOOGL $110B total revenue for 2017

Yeah, I screwed up and was looking at the wrong number.

Re: It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies

#126

Post by FireBeyond »

BigChiefSmokem wrote: post #109

Goodbye Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citi, and the rest of the credit cartel! You will never be missed. Hello Wealthfront, Robinhood, Simple, and the rest of the movers and shakers!

> Simple, and the rest of the movers and shakers

Yeah, a bank that announce that 1% of their customers had their account involuntarily closed with 30 days notice is sure to build trust in the new world order.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/14/simple-account-closures/

Re: It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies

#127

Post by thephyber »

sbov wrote: post #112
organsnyder wrote: post #9

I work for a large healthcare system, and the "we're not a tech company" line is often heard. At many levels, I agree—we're in the business of delivering healthy outcomes to our communities, so we need to make sure that efforts across the enterprise support that—but it is often applied in ways that stifle us from delivering what we feel would be the most impactful and cost-effective solutions. I like to respond that…

Can't you play this definition game with any company though? I kind of think that if an organization views tech as a competitive advantage and core competency, they are a tech company. E.g. Netflix may be in the business of entertainment, but they are also a tech company. Google may be in the business of selling ads, but they are also a tech company.

The way I read it, there is a management position of shunning new tech by saying "we are not a technology company". That statement can also be interpreted as "we are not an innovation company" which conveys an aversion to change.

I think the point of the GP is to say that Netflix "isn't a technology company", but they don't parade around saying that. Netflix uses technology and innovation to the fullest as the means to accomplish the ends of delivering great entertainment value at a low cost.

I don't think it's as much about the "definition game" as about the message that is conveyed.

Re: It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies

#128

Post by apaprocki »

jnordwick wrote: post #59

Tech and finance are two very broad brushes that both paint a large swath of the business landscape. When speaking of finance there is everything from regional banks or loan originators to investment banks and trading firms. They are often very far apart in terms of culture, abilities, and pay. On the higher end in tech you get front desk trading, and they are most definitely a tech subsidy inside a larger institutio…

> Even companies like Bloomberg that you wouldn't really think of beyond their news service is a massive tech company on the back end

The company's entire founding premise was to computerize tasks still accomplished by humans and paper in 1981. The News subsidiary was founded nearly a decade later in 1990. So it's more a case of the tech company considering News the "News-end" rather than tech being considered the "back end" :)

Re: It's Getting Harder to Tell Banks from Tech Companies

#129

Post by dopamean »

shreyanshd wrote: post #98
organsnyder wrote: post #9

I work for a large healthcare system, and the "we're not a tech company" line is often heard. At many levels, I agree—we're in the business of delivering healthy outcomes to our communities, so we need to make sure that efforts across the enterprise support that—but it is often applied in ways that stifle us from delivering what we feel would be the most impactful and cost-effective solutions. I like to respond that…

I work in technology for an investment bank and i hear “we are not a technology company” every quarter. Ironically, the tech we develop is a major factor, if not the only factor, for revenue. My motivation is instantly shattered when i hear that.

How could you say that the tech you develop might be the only factor in revenue calculations? That makes no sense to me in investment banking.
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