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<ul><li>The Indian wearable market has declined for the second consecutive quarter.</li><li>The smartwatch segment has recorded a huge decline in shipments in Q3 2024.</li><li>The earwear segment has also declined, while the smart ring segment remains strong.</li></ul>The <keyword id="22725790" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-wearables-market" source="keywords">Indian wearables market</keyword> has declined for the second consecutive quarter, recording a 20.7% year-on-year decline in shipments in Q3 2024. There was a 10% decline in shipments in Q2 2024. According to a report by the International Data Corporation, 38 million devices were shipped in the country’s wearables market in Q3 2024. The decline is being attributed to a reduction in new product launches and a cautious inventory strategy. <h2>Smartwatch shipments decline</h2>The smartwatch category recorded a decline of 44.8% as shipments declined from 16.92 million devices in Q3 2023 to 9.34 million in Q3 2024. Not just the basic smartwatches, the shipments of premium smartwatches also declined by 39.9% year-on-year. The Smartwatch average selling price (ASP) however increased by 1.4% from $25.8 to $26.2. The wristband category, which remained strong in Q2 has also declined in Q3, recording a 48.4% year-on-year decline in shipments. The earwear category also struggled, with a 7.5% decline in shipments from 30.29 million in Q3 2023 to 28.52 in Q3 2024. <h2>The smart ring category continues to shine</h2>The smart ring market has remained strong, with 92 thousand smart rings shipped in Q3 2024. The quarter also recorded a decline in the average selling price of 16.2% to $162.1. Ultrahuman continues to lead the smart ring category in India with a 36.8% market share, boAt comes in second with a 20.5% share and Pi Ring is third with a 16.3% market share. <h2>Smartwatch market share in India</h2><table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#000000;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Company </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#000000;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Q3 2024 </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#000000;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Q3 2023 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Noise </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">27.40% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">20.70% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">boAt </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">16.80% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">14.20% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Titan </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">12.60% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">5.10% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Fire-Boltt </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">6.80% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">23.60% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Boult </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">6.30% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">3.10% </td></tr></tbody></table> Source: IDC Noise continues to dominate the Indian smartwatch market with a 27.4% market share in Q3 2024, up from a 20.7% market share in Q3 2023. boAt comes in second with a 16.7% market share, up from a 14.2% market share in Q3 2023. “Amid market trends like consolidation, premiumization, and evolving consumer expectations, we have not only weathered these changes but thrived, with a 10-15% year-on-year increase in average selling prices across marketplaces,” said Amit Khatri, Co-Founder, Noise in a statement to Business Insider India. “The smartwatch category remains stressed as we head into 2025 due to undifferentiated products and a limited number of brands in play. Its market is expected to remain flat or decline marginally in 2025,” said Vikas Sharma, senior market analyst, Smart Wearable Devices, IDC India. “However, we are seeing early signs of a gradual consumer shift from basic to advanced smartwatches, as the need for better health tracking with efficient sensors and advanced functionality is gradually coming to the fore,” Sharma added. <h2>TWS market share in India</h2><table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#000000;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Company </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#000000;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Q3 2024 </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#000000;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Q3 2023 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">boAt </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">36.80% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">38.10% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Boult </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">13.50% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">8.70% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Noise </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">7.10% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">7.70% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Realme </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">6.90% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">3.50% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Oppo + OnePlus </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">5.00% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">8.10% </td></tr></tbody></table> Source: IDC boAt continues to be the market leader in the TWS segment in Q3 2024 despite a decline in its market share. The company leads the market with a 36.8% market share, with Boult a distant second with a 13.5% market share. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/tata-to-buy-a-majority-stake-in-pegatrons-iphone-plant-in-india/articleshow/115414852.cms">Tata to buy a majority stake in Pegatron's iPhone plant in India</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/webstories/ntpc-green-energy-ipo-gmp-risk-factors-and-all-you-need-to-know/slidelist/115403791.cms">NTPC Green Energy IPO – GMP, risk factors and all you need to know</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/news/indian-smartphone-shipments-grow-5-6-in-q3-2024-vivo-leads-the-market/articleshow/115329847.cms">Indian smartphone shipments grow 5.6% in Q3 2024, Vivo leads the market</a>

Indian wearables market declines 20.7% in Q3 2024, smartwatch and earwear categories struggle

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Wall Street analysts have high hopes for Meta's third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday. </li><li>Investors are keeping an eye on growth opportunities from AI. </li></ul>Wall Street analysts are upbeat ahead of Meta's third-quarter earnings report on Wednesday after the closing bell. Analysts generally expect positive revenue and earnings figures, thanks to the Facebook parent's AI ad optimization and the firm's <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-reorganized-major-businesses-eliminated-roles-whatsapp-instagram-reality-labs-2024-10#:~:text=Meta%20has%20gone%20through%20several,%22efficiency%22%20would%20be%20permanent.&amp;text=As%20of%20March%2C%20Meta%20had,of%202022%2C%20BI%20previously%20reported.">sweeping cost cuts</a>, which included several rounds of layoffs in recent years and saw the firm backing away from some of its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-cuts-spending-reality-labs-meta-report-2024-7">virtual reality projects</a>. Investors will be keeping a close eye on signs Meta can continue that growth, with the company <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=4d0247c89eeec6faa3e72d5dee88e7c60fa1cc284a9699c5902f9e7a696dc773&amp;postID=6720fbaf3a35c2732d44c2bb&amp;postSlug=meta-q3-earnings-preview-meta-stock-price-ai-growth-guidance-2024-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theinformation.com%2Farticles%2Fmeta-develops-ai-search-engine-to-lessen-reliance-on-google-microsoft">reportedly</a> working on a new search tool that will surf the web for its AI chatbot. Wall Street is also looking for strong guidance for the current quarter, though analysts see potential for costs to come in higher than expected.Here's what analysts are saying ahead of the tech giant's earnings report. <h2 id="a8b0515c-9d85-4b4d-b1cf-6fce44552568">"Long-term story is as strong as ever": Bernstein</h2>Meta's long-run growth trajectory looks solid, according to Bernstein senior analyst Mark Shmulik. The stock is up 70% this year and is up 550% since bottoming in 2022."Near term risk and reward feels balanced," Shmulik wrote in a note, adding that the firm had a "perma-bull position on all things Meta.""But the long-term story is as strong as ever. As we look ahead we're constructive on the core business with an expected launch of ads on Threads, continued Reels ramp, more AI/Advantage+ ad tools offer investors top-line upside with a potential TikTok ban not currently priced in," he later added.The firm issued an "Outperform" rating on the stock and a $675 price target, implying 15% upside from current levels.<h2 id="dc7c6a08-8f5f-4c79-812c-4fa35a463037">"Uniquely well positioned to monetize search": JMP</h2>Meta's reported search engine could be a huge positive for the company, JMP analysts said in a note."Meta is uniquely well positioned to monetize search given its 200M+ active SMBs and 12M+ active advertisers," the firm wrote. "To that end, we believe Meta could offer a compelling commercial experience for search given its existing advertiser and SMB relationships while also using search intent signal to power its core advertising product on Facebook and Instagram."The search tool, though, could raise capital expenditures and costs, analysts said, possibly by more than investors are expecting. The firm issued an "Outperform" rating on the stock and a $635 price target, implying an 8% increase from current levels.<h2 id="3ae15c9a-d200-4592-ae15-3f19e716186b">"Top AI pick": Bank of America</h2>BofA analysts expect a "modest" earnings beat from the tech giant on Wednesday. They forecast the firm to report as much as $47.5 billion in revenue, which would represent an 18% year-over-year increase.Meta is a "top AI pick," the analysts added, pointing to a handful of tailwinds, like strong growth in Meta's AI-powered ads business, continued growth among younger users, and more AI growth opportunities in general."Our checks suggest Meta could see strength from: 1) new AI tools and new CRM integration driving higher ROI and incremental ad spend, 2) ramping messaging and Reels monetization, and 3) modest (100-200bps) political ad spend benefit," analysts wrote.The bank reiterated its "Buy" rating and $630 price target on the stock, implying 7% upside from current levels.<h2 id="2fdf202a-5a5b-4d15-a99d-48ed4f86b7d1">"Clear leader in social media": Morningstar</h2>Meta is a "<a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=8e3a91b023e95d600e3f54d96021a46339a33c3d1cf4d2a1d57384a4edc6bc4a&amp;postID=6720fbaf3a35c2732d44c2bb&amp;postSlug=meta-q3-earnings-preview-meta-stock-price-ai-growth-guidance-2024-10&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.morningstar.com%2Fstocks%2Fraising-fair-value-meta-stock-ai-ad-leadership">clear leader</a>" on an "unmatched scale" in the social meaning space, Morningstar said in a recent note, pointing to the firm's 4 billion monthly active users across its applications.Investors though, are keeping hawkish eye over signs Meta can sustain its growth, according to Dave Sekera, Morningstar's chief US market strategist."The market is going to be listening for any update on capex spending, specifically on generative AI. I'd really like to hear from them more specifically about how and when they will be able to monetize that spending. That's the big question for Meta," Sekara said. "Other than that, I'll be listening for an update on growth and digital ads; they had a big benefit from ad spending in Temu and Shein over the past couple quarters, so the question is whether that growth will continue or will it start to slow."The firm previously issued a 3-star rating for the stock and a fair value of $560, implying 5% downside from current levels.<h2 id="b7a7a27b-67d4-4195-b1a2-3e4d05b93099">"A tough bar to surpass": CFRA Research</h2>Meta could face challenges ahead due to the risk that growth decelerated in the last quarter, CFRA Research said."META has a tough bar to surpass in upcoming Q4 2024 and Q1 2025. We estimate Q3 growth decelerated to 18% from 22% in Q2 and see further deceleration to 15% in Q4 2024 and 13% in Q1 2025," CFRA senior equity analyst Angelo Zino wrote. He added that the challenge in the coming quarters will be to keep up with strong growth compared to the year-ago quarters. "We think year-over-year deceleration is due to lapping strong growth from China-based advertisers as well as strong Reels impression growth from a year ago. Still, we think digital ad trends remain healthy, with broad-based health across most regions and verticals," Angelo Zino, a senior equity analyst at CFRA, wrote.CFRA raised its price target on the stock to $650 a share, implying 11% upside.

Wall Street is bullish on Meta earnings as analysts eye an AI boost for the tech titan

I can tell you how hedge-fund land used to operate because I was there.A few times a year in locations around the world — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-hedge-fund-managers-do-in-vegas-2014-5">Las Vegas</a>, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/anthony-scaramucci-skybridge-capital-salt-conference-hedge-funds-2021-9">New York City,</a> Singapore — thousands of money managers and their juniors would gather in an over-air-conditioned ballroom, make polite conversation over stale coffee, and sit through boring lectures about portfolio construction or talent acquisition or some no-name undervalued asset. Then a superstar hedge-fund manager would take the stage, and the vibe would shift. It was time to pay close attention, to take in what the congregation believed to be the insights of a superior mind observing the market.At some conferences, these supposed masters of the universe would <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sohn-coffey-elliott-einhorn-return-to-fundamentals-2024-4">give detailed presentations</a> about a woefully mispriced security. At others, they would wax philosophical about their investment style, dropping breadcrumbs about where their money was flowing. No matter the topic, the room would be rapt. When company or asset names were dropped, the market would follow, moving up or down to whatever tune the superstar played. This was the ultimate power of a hedge-fund king. They played music, and the market danced.Then all that stopped. It's hard to pinpoint when this changed or why the hedge-fund megastar is in decline. Maybe <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-fund-launches-ground-to-a-halt-by-coronavirus-pandemic-2020-3">it was the pandemic,</a> when meeting in over-air-conditioned ballrooms became an absolute no-no. Perhaps it was the rise of other glamourous investment vehicles — <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-institutional-investors-view-hedge-funds-private-markets-push-2022-2">private equity</a>, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/private-credit-lenders-middle-market-deals-2023-11">private credit</a>, and venture capital slowly eating up the institutional money that used to be handed to hedge funds helmed by a single all-powerful trader. Maybe there was a psychological shift in the managers themselves — like when David Tepper, the founder of Appaloosa Management and a regular on the list of best-paid hedge-fund managers in the world, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/david-tepper-carolina-panthers-owner-hedge-fund-billionaire-2024-1">bought the Carolina Panthers</a> and left Wall Street to go play with his new toy. It's all hard to say.What is clear is that hedge funds run by an individual star, by one prodigious mind, are not raising the massive money they used to. Clients who once were proud to hand their money to a specific person are pushing back; they want to pay lower fees and see less-volatile returns. The funds that have survived rely on a stable of faceless traders testing out different ideas, brokering transactions, and harvesting the returns for the collective. Quant strategies — which are built on algorithmic trading — have also become more popular with the ultrawealthy. More robots, fewer people, lower overhead.A decade ago, this kind of open rebellion from those blessed enough to invest with the best would've been unthinkable. Back then, Anthony Scaramucci could hire Lenny Kravitz to play for a ballroom full of guys with lanyards at the Bellagio because people were willing to shell out thousands just to get a peek into what big-name managers were doing. That party is over. Hedge-fund land, which was once a collective of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/waiters-at-marea-know-never-to-seat-bill-ackman-near-carl-icahn-2012-9">boisterous shit-talkers</a> from around the world flinging ideas at one another, has gone strangely quiet. What you hear now is the click-clack of quant nerds building a new algo, a few blasé words from a legendary manager who has closed up shop in frustration, and rumors of one nondescript portfolio manager being poached from one huge, flavorless fund to another. I would never say Wall Street was a fun place exactly, but this state of affairs is — frankly — boring.<h2>Catch a falling star</h2>The signs of our new, staid norm are everywhere. The most glaring is the inability of hedge-fund land to mint new stars. A new generation of superstars shows there's still demand for their minds as a financial product. Even more-seasoned names who are raising their shingles can't launch with the same panache as before. Bobby Jain, the former co-chief investment officer of Millennium Management, announced in 2023 that he planned to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jain-global-trading-strategies-hiring-pm-investment-talent-2023-12">raise $8 billion to $10 billion</a> to set up his own shop. It would have been a historic sum for a hedge fund, but he has what was once considered the perfect pedigree: 20 years at Credit Suisse in various executive investment positions, then a stint as co-chief investment officer at Millennium Management. When he <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bobby-jain-global-hedge-fund-launch-2024-6">finally opened his firm, Jain Global, in late June</a>, he did so with about half of what he expected. And Jain may be the high-water mark in a bleak time; Goldman Sachs released a report in February based on 358 interviews with hedge-fund clients that found that investments in hedge-fund launches fell to new lows in 2023. Denise Shull, a performance coach with a Rolodex full of hedge-fund clients, told me that in the first half of the year, money managers told her they could "not buy an investor meeting this year." Even the old lions are struggling to roar in the same way. Take activist hedge funds, which buy up a percentage of a company's stock (or an asset) and then use their weight to push for operational changes. It used to be that when an activist investor with chops demanded those changes, the company's CEO would sit up and listen. Or there would be a fun, splashy war between the hedge fund and the C-suite. Nowadays, that kind of activity is met with a shrug. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saba-capital-performance-november-boaz-weinstein-2023-11">Saba Capital's Boaz Weinstein</a> could not budge BlackRock in his quest to change the way it managed closed-end funds. Disney basically rolled its eyes when Nelson Peltz launched a monthslong campaign to get the company to shake up its board and ditch CEO Bob Iger. Even Paul Singer's Elliott Management — a hedge fund that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hedge-fund-elliott-capital-management-seizes-ara-libertad-ship-owned-by-argentina-2012-10">impounded an Argentine naval vessel in 2012</a> because the country's government owed it money — has failed in its efforts to reshape Salesforce. The board does not seem concerned about Elliott, and other shareholders are not jumping on Elliott's bandwagon. Or, as one surviving fund manager, ValueWorks founder Charles Lemonides, put it to me simply: "There's no posse behind them." The vultures can circle all they want, but no one fears them anymore.It's gotten so bad that even the people who have entrusted their money to hedge-fund land are pushing back. In May, a group of clients including sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and endowments representing about $200 billion in invested capital published an open letter to the hedge-fund industry. They said that in recent years a misalignment between the hedge-fund world's fee structure and its returns (some of them gasp "skill-less") had become evident — and so, in an effort to realign managers with their clients, cash hurdles in incentive fees must be implemented. "The long-term health of the industry," they wrote, depends on it.<h2>So last season</h2>The waning power of the hedge-fund personality comes down to two big factors. The first is performance. One would think that a stock market that has charged up relentlessly would be good news for the hedge-fund community. Instead, it has had the opposite effect. Hedge funds rely on outperforming the market when times are hard and it's easier to find pockets of outperformance and exploit them. When the market is rewarding people just for parking their money in it, it's harder to beat — <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alpha-generating-returns-2010-9">to generate alpha</a>, returns in excess of what the market provides. If the waters are not choppy, anyone can sail.The performance issues also reinforce a vicious cycle. There's fashion in finance. Investing in hedge funds used to be the mark of a sophisticated investor. Meir Statman, a behavioral economist at Santa Clara University who wrote the book "A Wealth of Well-Being: A Holistic Approach to Behavioral Finance," told me that he was at a conference years ago discussing mutual funds with an attendee when the man interrupted: "I'm into hedge funds." It was a status symbol, Statman said, a way for him to "tell you that I'm a wealthy man without saying I'm a wealthy man, which sounds crass."That's shifted. Hedge funds, Statman said, "have been losing power for a while," while other kinds of investing, like private equity and private credit, have taken on the air of sophistication. This has had a psychological effect on clients, not unlike the chill Paris Hilton must feel when she looks at <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-brands-trends-they-brought-back-made-2023-4">the Marc Jacobs bags</a> she wore back in the early 2000s."When you think about buying a car, you care about utilitarian features, but you also care about expression and emotional benefits, the style: 'What does it say about me?'" Statman told me. It's the same with being a big-money client, and what you want your investment to say is that you know how to get the best. Of course, hedge funds are having a hard time coming up with a crew because the clients have changed too. In decades past, clients were mostly <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-ultra-high-net-worth-investors-are-buying-family-office-2024-6">HNWIs: high-net-worth individuals.</a> Nowadays the biggest money runners are institutions, and institutions are more exacting. One legendary but shy fund manager told me that these institutions are more interested in steady returns, and the wild swings in performance that hedge funds offer simply give them heartburn. "They can sleep better at night," the person said. "The economy can turn bad, the stock market can crash, and they're not going to share losses."Sebastian Mallaby, the author of "More Money Than God: Hedge Funds and the Making of the New Elite," told me that institutions are also less willing to be enchanted by the personal magnetism of a founder like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/julian-robertson-dead-tiger-cubs-hedge-fund-spinoffs-2022-8">Julian Robertson</a>, the founder of the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/julian-robertson-memorial-service-tiger-cubs-2022-9">legendary fund Tiger Management</a>."In the old days, Julian Robertson would hold a party for HNWIs and have some kind of wacky show for them at the Met, and they'd say 'Julian, what a guy' and leave him alone for a year," Mallaby said. "That's gone away because individual investors aren't as important as institutional investors, who have to show they've been careful where they put the money."And it's not just about where hedge funds put money anymore — it's about how. To prove that they're cautious with cash and avoid the wrath of regulators, hedge funds must stay on top of disclosure requirements, employ the appropriate compliance officers, and pay the right lawyers. This has gotten more complex, tedious, and expensive over the years. It is the kind of drudgery that is the parlance not of rockstar traders but of CEOs. So it is unsurprising that the most successful funds these days are multi-strategy firms helmed by a business operator. Firms like that are structured to handle eye-watering overhead costs, staff dozens of anonymous portfolio managers, and are managed by staid executives whose idea of a joy ride in their Ferrari is taking it through the McDonald's drive-thru.<h2>A beautiful washout</h2>Now, with all this said, I am by no means asking you to feel sorry for these (maybe) former so-called masters of the universe. They will be fine even if they have to sell their yachts. What we are observing here is simply that the market can be unforgiving. This is a bull market whose length and breadth have made a fool of professionals and made professional fools. "In bull markets, people get run over," Lemonides said.Of course, no one knows how long the market will keep going up or how long swashbuckling hedge funders will be out of favor. We know only that nothing lasts forever — not bull markets, not bear markets, not investment strategies."At the end of the 1960s, the bubble burst, and everyone thought, 'That's the end of hedge funds,'" Mallaby said. "Certain styles have come to an end because they have become saturated. The great traders are the ones who morph what they do every five years." If you do not adjust to the market, the market adjusts you. All of a sudden, everything that worked doesn't work anymore. Then Wall Street demands new names and new faces. For now, we live in a world dominated by bizarro retail traders and wonky quants. Keith Gill, aka "Roaring Kitty," became a folk hero to social-media-pilled day traders and an obsession of the financial media by looking buffoonish and talking up GameStop's withering stock on the internet in 2021. It crashed, just like the hedge-fund guys said it would. But the episode — and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roaring-kitty-tweets-gamestop-amc-meme-stocks-crypto-sad-2024-5">Gill's return this May</a> — seemed to show that the ability to move a stock had transformed from a magic power into a magic trick."I'm not inclined to take a side between traders," Mallaby said, "but when David Einhorn" — the founder of Greenlight Capital — "was banking on the classic fights that he fought, I remember watching some of his arguments as to why such and such was overpriced. And they were arguments; they were based on forensic accounting." He added, "I do have more respect for that than someone who puts on wacky sunglasses, but it is fair game, and I'm not inclined to get moralistic about it."For now, as the old methods of making money in the market seem to be floundering, everyone is looking for the new, the different, the smarter. Even the old pipelines of talent seem passé."Don't give me another Harvard or Princeton grad saying, 'Look at my analysis,'" Andrew Left, the founder of the activist short-selling fund Citron Research, told me. "It's like, 'Fuck off, bro.'"No one knows where the market is going, but we know that it will change. Maybe dramatically, maybe less so. Perhaps what we are witnessing right now in hedge-fund land is less an extinction and more a pause as the industry waits for the market to reveal a more familiar new normal. That has happened before, but heads tend to roll rather violently along the way.Months ago, I asked that shy legendary hedge-fund manager to name one — just one — rising star in their industry. They could not. But they were sure that person was out there. Somewhere. Right?<a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/linette-lopez">Linette Lopez</a> is a senior correspondent at Business Insider.

The last gasp of the swashbuckling Wall Street titans

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Five French luxury icons grew $50 billion richer last week on the back of China's stimulus plans.</li><li>LVMH's Arnault, the L'Oréal heiress, the brothers behind Chanel, and Kering's founder all made bank.</li></ul>Five titans of French fashion and beauty added a full $50 billion to their fortunes last week, boosting their combined wealth to more than $420 billion. The trigger was China unveiling its <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/china-economy-stimulus-bernard-arnault-6-billion-richer-lvmh-stock-2024-9">stimulus plans</a>, which stoked hopes of a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bernard-arnault-wealth-slumps-lvmh-retail-luxury-boom-falters-rich-2024-7">consumer-spending rebound</a> and sparked a stock-market rally.LVMH CEO <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-bernard-arnault-owner-louis-vuitton-lvmh-net-worth">Bernard Arnault</a> grew $30 billion richer in just five trading days thanks to a 19% surge in shares of the luxury behemoth behind Louis Vuitton, Sephora, and Tiffany &amp; Co. His net worth soared to $207 billion, propelling him past Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg into <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lvmh-bernard-arnault-wealth-mark-zuckerberg-meta-stock-china-stimulus-2024-9">third place</a> on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-richest-woman-world-francoise-bettencourt-meyers-loreal-2023-9">Françoise Bettencourt Meyers</a>, the granddaughter of L'Oréal's founder, notched an $8 billion gain between Monday and Friday as shares of her family's cosmetics company jumped. She now ranks 19th on the rich list with a $93.5 billion fortune, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alice-walton-wealth-walmart-family-richest-woman-bettencourt-meyers-billionaires-2024-8">just behind Alice Walton</a>, the Walmart heiress and world's wealthiest woman with a $99.5 billion net worth.<div type="image" title="Francoise Bettencourt-Meyers" height="3264" width="4896" msid="113820031" hostid="261" sizebytes="467570"></div><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wertheimer-family-chanel-fortune-gerard-alain-vineyards-thoroughbred-net-worth-2019-2">Alain and Gerard Wertheimer</a>, whose grandfather cofounded Chanel with Coco Chanel, gained nearly $5 billion apiece last week. The brothers' estimated fortunes of $48.1 billion each put them 29th and 30th in the wealth rankings.<div type="image" title="Alain and Gerard Wertheimer" height="1334" width="2000" msid="113820028" hostid="261" sizebytes="346518"></div>Kering founder <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/francois-pinault-kering-art-collection-gucci-house-christies-net-worth-2019-3">François Pinault</a>'s net worth rose by $2.3 billion to $25.6 billion last week, placing him 78th on the list. His <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/francois-henri-pinault-bio-salma-hayek-kering-gucci-balenciaga-2023-3">son</a> now runs the luxury powerhouse behind Gucci, Balenciaga, and Yves Saint Laurent.<div type="image" title="Francois-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek stand in front of background that reads Gucci" height="1623" width="2500" msid="113820033" hostid="261" sizebytes="206342"></div>These five individuals all rank among France's six wealthiest people, along with Rodolphe Saadé, the chairman of logistics giant CMA CGM Group and the world's 44th richest person after a $15 billion wealth jump this year.<h2 id="80450b19-11ca-4332-8359-198b0872a9c0">Wear and tear</h2>Prior to last week, Arnault was the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lvmh-bernard-arnault-wealth-rich-list-billionaires-luxury-musk-bezos-2024-9">world's biggest wealth loser</a> this year with a $30 billion drop. But that decline was virtually erased by the LVMH stock surge, leaving him only $300 million in the red at Friday's close.His luxury peers haven't been so lucky, however. Pinault has shed the third-most wealth with a near-$10 billion decline, while Bettencourt Meyers places fifth on that unflattering list with a $6.2 billion drop. As for the Wertheimers, they're up about $1 billion going into the fourth quarter.Despite their significant gains, the French quintet is still far less rich than at its peak. Arnault was worth $24 billion more at $231 billion in March, which made him the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bernard-arnault-lvmh-worlds-richest-person-overtakes-jeff-bezos-2024-3">world's wealthiest person</a> at the time.Bettencourt Meyers was $7.5 billion richer at <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/loreal-heir-richest-woman-billionaire-francoise-bettencourt-meyers-fortune-2023-12">$101 billion</a> in June, while the Chanel siblings were each worth about $6.4 billion more at roughly $55 billion around the same time. Pinault was worth over $11 billion more at $36.7 billion in February.Of course, their $422 billion of joint wealth is still staggering. It makes the five more valuable together than Procter &amp; Gamble, Home Depot, or Costco, which are each valued at between $390 billion and $410 billion.

5 titans of French luxury grew $50 billion richer in a week — and are now worth more than Costco

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Warren Buffett's riches will go to a charitable trust controlled by his three children when he dies.</li><li>He's avoiding taxes and making his kids into philanthropic titans, a wealth inequality guru says.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-warren-buffett-spends-money-net-worth">Warren Buffett</a> lives a simple life, steers clear of politics, and has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-philanthropy-wealth-gates-foundation-children-billionaires-charity-berkshire-2024-9">gifted</a> more than half of his vast fortune to good causes, promising that virtually all the rest will follow.Yet even the 94-year-old investor who runs Berkshire Hathaway is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-defends-propublica-tax-rate-berkshire-hathaway-stock-dvidends-2021-6">cutting out the taxman</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-children-how-to-manage-fortune-foundation-philanthropy-succession-2024-7">setting his children up</a> to wield massive influence once he's gone, an expert on wealth inequality tells Business Insider.Chuck Collins is the director of the inequality program at the Institute for Policy Studies, and the author of "The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Spend Millions to Hide Trillions."He told Business Insider why <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wealth-billionaires-musk-bezos-zuckerberg-net-worth-jensen-huang-waltoans-2024-8">$100 billion fortunes</a> are dangerous, how they could be cut down to size, and why even Buffett <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-criticized-avoiding-taxes-deserves-break-philanthropy-lifestyle-loopholes-2021-6-1030517316">shouldn't be let off the hook</a>.Collins' responses have been edited for length and clarity.There are more than a dozen people each worth more than $100 billion. What do you think about that?These concentrations of wealth are a reflection of a system failure. A healthy capitalist and democratic society must put some brake on the concentration of wealth and power to prevent it from distorting democracy.Forty years of tax, wage, and other policies have funneled wealth to the top — rather than see it broadly distributed through higher wages for workers or paying a fair share of taxes.<div type="image" title="A headshot of Chuck Collins, an author and expert on wealth inequality." height="485" width="647" msid="113487205" hostid="261" sizebytes="23346"></div>What do you think about someone like Warren Buffett, who lives a relatively simple life and has pledged to give virtually all of his vast fortune away?Buffett is not a conspicuous consumer. Even his private jet was <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-private-jet-plane-purchase-indefensible-indispensable-2021-10">initially named</a> the "Indefensible." And Buffett does less to aggressively wield his power and influence in the public sphere. You <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-annual-shareholder-meeting-charlie-munger-stocks-2022-4">don't see his name</a> on the list of big political donors. And he and Bill Gates started <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-pledging-to-donate-wealth-at-all-time-low-2022-10">The Giving Pledge</a> to encourage other billionaires to give to philanthropy.But most of Buffett's wealth will flow in the form of donations to the tax-exempt family foundations run by his three kids, rather than paying estate taxes or taxes on appreciated gains. On the positive side, he's not creating private wealth dynasties. But his children will become philanthropic titans by wielding taxpayer-subsidized private power through <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-charity-donation-gates-foundation-brk-billionaire-2024-6">enormous charitable foundations</a> upon his death.Buffett has gifted Berkshire stock worth billions to his children's charities since 2006. He plans to give almost all his remaining $140 billion fortune to a charitable trust when he dies. His three kids will be the named trustees and will have to agree unanimously on how the money is used.How would you tackle the problem of wealth inequality at a scale where individuals can amass net worth of $100 billion-plus?As a society, we should adapt several public policies to discourage such democracy-distorting levels of private wealth:1. A progressive annual <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-global-minimum-tax-wealth-eu-tax-observatory-money-inequality-2023-10">wealth tax</a>, with rates becoming steeper as wealth goes above $1 billion.2. A meaningful <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/warren-buffett-barack-obama-wealth-taxes-billionaires-luck-inequality-inheritance-2024-7">inheritance tax</a>, taxing wealth transfers at death. For this to be effective, we have to crack down on the massive wealth-hiding industry.3. A cap on the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-charitable-remainder-trusts-work-wealth-management-estate-tax-2023-2">charitable deduction</a> so that wealthy people, like Buffett, don't get to opt out entirely of paying taxes.

Warren Buffett's death plan dodges taxes and will make his kids 'philanthropic titans,' says wealth inequality guru

<ul class="summary-list"><li>SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has spent his life putting bold bets on the future of technology.</li><li>A new book charts the journey of the Japanese businessman from social outcast to the pinnacle of the tech sector.</li></ul>On an evening at the turn of the millennium, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/masayoshi-son-softbank-net-worth-lifestyle-silicon-valley-estate-photos-2019-6">Masayoshi Son</a> had a rousing message for the entrepreneurs who flocked to Tokyo's Roppongi district."Japan is going through its biggest social upheaval since the Meiji Restoration," he said with characteristic grandiosity. "Let's make it so that a millennium from now, people will look back on our time and remember that the kind of society they're living in was created by us today."<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-plans-openai-investment-boss-says-uses-chatgpt-every-day-2023-9">SoftBank</a>, the media-technology conglomerate Son founded two decades prior, was riding high on the glory it attained in the dot-com boom. Son himself had briefly seen his wealth surpass that of Bill Gates in the era's frenzy; he was the world's richest person for three days. Now, he was ready to see a new generation emulate his success.It's a story that Lionel Barber, the former editor of The Financial Times, recounts in his new book "Gambling Man: The Wild Ride of Japan's Masayoshi Son." Over 335 pages, he charts the journey of the 67-year-old — known to many as Masa — from a life in poverty to a dizzying career betting it all on technology.From his early years distributing software, he would go on to build a telecoms empire and mint a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-softbank-vision-funds-awful-year-former-employees-rival-vcs-2022-12">near-$100 billion investment fund</a> that would splash money on everything from Uber to WeWork.For Barber, who has stood face-to-face with leaders like Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin and Barack Obama in Washington, the allure of Son was simple. "This is a story of our times," he told Business Insider. "The cheap money, leverage, technology — he's ridden this wave right from when he started with software distribution, which has penetrated every aspect of society."As history shows, the hopes and dreams the SoftBank founder shared for the future that evening 24 years ago would crash back to reality days later. Having made a killing from <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-masayoshi-son-jack-ma-bet-ai-2024-2">an early $20 million bet on Jack Ma's Alibaba</a> and taking a share in Yahoo, Son was about to see an abrupt change in fortune as SoftBank's stock crashed.By March 2000, the dot-com bubble would burst altogether.<div type="image" title="Jack Ma, cofounder of tech giant Alibaba." height="2000" width="3000" msid="113763139" hostid="261" sizebytes="171736"></div>That said, Son's humiliation at that moment would not stop him from chasing visions of extraordinary scope again and again, even if it meant hard falls were to come once more. This is the career of a man whose ambition has taken him to the brink and back.And signs suggest he's not done just yet.<h2 id="acfaa085-1888-44a6-a2fd-d42c5ad1dbf6">Social pariah to technology visionary</h2><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-ceo-masayoshi-son-rewarded-ai-bet-arm-2024-5">Son's rise</a> to what Barber describes as a "place at the very pinnacle of the global plutocracy" was hardly guaranteed.Though he's now worth almost $17 billion, owns a mansion likened to Batman's Wayne Manor, and places himself among a peer group of Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, and Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, Son was born in August 1957 to Koreans "on a dirt track with no name" on the Japanese island of Kyushu, according to the book. It recounts that "Masa's earliest memories were the smell of pigs and the sound of steam trains belching soot and smoke which filled his makeshift home."Discrimination was a part of his childhood, too, with postwar Koreans living in Japan labeled "Zainichi" — a term used as a pejorative to categorize the ethnic minority as second-class citizens. For Son, being born in poverty meant his early years involved a pariah-like experience.However, as Barber notes, the younger Son would go on to enjoy a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-trump-50-billion-investment-not-what-it-seems-2016-12">future audience with the 45th President of the United States</a> and court royals in Riyadh. He would, more importantly, play a pivotal role in transforming the technology sector from a niche interest of computer obsessives into a global force that turns the world economy.In Barber's telling, a few key factors drove Son down this path. His inaugural visit to the US, where he attended Berkeley, coincided with the microprocessor revolution. Like Microsoft's Gates, he claims to have had an epiphany after seeing the Intel 8080 microprocessor for the first time in a copy of the Popular Electronics magazine; he foresaw a future in which the world could one day be powered by silicon.<div type="image" title="Bill Gates arrives at the 10th Breakthrough Prize Ceremony." height="1432" width="2050" msid="113763131" hostid="261" sizebytes="91348"></div>However, self-conviction in his own "genius" appears to be first and foremost. Combined with his outsider status, Son was a young man with a chip on his shoulder. Visiting Son's father, Mitsunori Son — creator of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-pachinko-gambling-japan-2018-7">a gambling business built on arcade pachinko machines</a> — at their family home, Barber recalled how it felt like a shrine devoted to their son. "He was treated like a princeling from day one and behaved like a princeling. He was told he was special," Barber told BI.The early years are key to understanding how Son became preoccupied with unwieldy ambition that would take him too close to the sun time and again. He made his first major bet on his own genius when he founded SoftBank in 1981. It was the start of a two-decade chapter defined by high-profile encounters with the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Larry Ellison, and Jack Welch, acquisitions totaling billions of dollars, and an all-or-nothing attitude toward innovation.At that time, Son was akin to an "arm-waving internet prophet," Barber said, who devised the idea of distributing software. Years later, when Japan's economy began to collapse, he quickly maneuvered a return to the US, where he bought big assets such as the then-popular tech trade show Comdex, gaining access to the deep Silicon Valley networks that came with it.Though it ended with a spectacular crash, Son offset the damage that left SoftBank "virtually broke" by working 18-hour days, seven days a week, to bring the high-speed broadband revolution to Japan in the 2000s.A helping hand from <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs">Steve Jobs</a>, who he first met at the Comdex trade fair in Las Vegas in the 1980s, also came as SoftBank struck an exclusive carrier deal in Japan for the iPhone from 2008 to 2011. It gave him a front seat to the smartphone boom.<div type="image" title="Steve Jobs" height="2113" width="3000" msid="113763146" hostid="261" sizebytes="445370"></div>This cycle of rise and fall has made a curious reappearance throughout Son's career. As Barber puts it, Son is a gambler, which means his life has followed a familiar pattern that goes something like this: "A blizzard of ideas followed by intense enthusiasm and focus, leading to overreach, failure, and repentance — until the whole process started over again."He is also someone Barber deems ruthless, a fighter with a penchant for the "crazy" that sits at odds with the portrait of a more shy and self-conscious leader that the billionaire has often presented to the public.Nowhere have these elements shown themselves more than they have done in Son's leadership over SoftBank 2.0.<h2 id="451d95fb-964b-46cd-8cd5-8f606eec277c">A gambling man with $100 billion to play with</h2>In 2010, as the world was picking itself up from the financial crash, Son spent a lot of time thinking about 2040. He wanted to know how technology would shape society in 30 years' time.He concluded that the tech-enabled information revolution should mean "happiness for everyone." At that time, though, Son was getting bored of being an operator — it was time to be a "grand investor." In Barber's assessment, this is a period in Son's life that shows how he's "quite capable of serious hardball" to get what he wants while leaving himself entirely vulnerable to those who might dare to dream as big as he does.Enter the Vision Fund. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-vision-fund-ceo-rajeev-misra-steps-back-2022-4">Rajeev Misra, a former trader at Deutsche Bank</a> who profited from a huge short bet against the subprime mortgages at the center of 2008's financial meltdown, was brought in to help lead Son's investment charge. So, too, was Nikesh Arora, a "fast-talking" former Google executive pulled away from a $50 million-a-year package.<div type="image" title="Rajeev Misra SoftBank" height="882" width="1354" msid="113763142" hostid="261" sizebytes="40208"></div>In the context of traditional Japanese corporate life, these hires were total anomalies. But Son's decision to bring them on board signaled the bold push he was ready to make. Buoyed by the credibility attained from the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-one-year-since-ipo-2015-9">2014 IPO of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba</a>, Son tapped Misra's ties to wealth funds in the Middle East to raise a combined $60 billion from Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and Abu Dhabi's Mubadala.In particular, for Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's ruler-in-waiting who led talks with SoftBank, Son's proposition gave him the opportunity he sought to present himself at home as a prince with a bold plan for the future. "He wants to be seen as the great modernizer transforming this petrostate into a truly modern economy where technology is at the forefront," Barber told BI.Eventually, almost $100 billion was raised for a startup investing vehicle known as the Vision Fund, which brought untold chaos to the technology sector. Silicon Valley's biggest funds before then were no bigger than a few billion dollars, and SoftBank was ready to outbid them all to lead blockbuster investment rounds. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/michael-moritz-sequoia-partner-is-moving-to-vc-firms-wealth-division-2023-7">Michael Moritz</a>, lead partner at Sequoia Capital at the time, likened Son's arsenal of capital to Kim Jong Un's intercontinental ballistic missiles. Did Son care? Barber thinks not.But as previous cycles in Son's life dictate, the flurry of enthusiasm is typically followed by failure. Though he proved himself to be ruthless in the $32 billion acquisition of chip designer Arm in 2016 — its shares are up almost 200% since being re-listed last year — he would fall prey to the charms of WeWork cofounder Adam Neumann.The Israeli entrepreneur, who Son invited into the back of a taxi while en route to see Donald Trump, would eventually cause him trouble. Billions of dollars of investment were burned as the office space company masquerading as a tech one fell apart. A SoftBank <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-softbank-didnt-let-wework-go-bankrupt-2019-10">bailout of WeWork cost $9.5 billion</a> in 2019.It wasn't the only blunder. SoftBank-backed Wirecard imploded after the Financial Times exposed large-scale fraud at the German payments provider. Greensill Capital, a supply chain finance firm that fell apart, forced the Vision Fund to write down a $1.5 billion investment.Defending his track record in 2020, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/softbank-ceo-masayoshi-son-compares-himself-to-misunderstood-jesus-report-2020-5">Son said Jesus was misunderstood.</a><div type="image" title="SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son." height="3333" width="5000" msid="113763135" hostid="261" sizebytes="793234"></div>As the misfires have mounted, critics have put Son's successful bets over the years down to luck. In Barber's view, the picture is more complicated. He told BI that he sees an "intelligent brain thinking ahead, anticipating," but also a reckless impulse to "put a chip on every board." There is a visionary that co-exists with a "gambling addict."Barber's book comes at a critical juncture. Since <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-chat-gpt-2023-1">the launch of ChatGPT</a>, the technology industry has made artificial intelligence its central focus, with an arms race underway among global companies wanting to make smarter versions of the technology. For Son, an AI obsessive long before the current era of generative AI chatbots, it's a moment that seems tailor-made to his desires. But he has been slow to match that with the bold bets he has become known for.While SoftBank oversaw Arm's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/arm-ipo-stock-market-should-i-buy-invest-ai-semiconductors-2023-9">IPO</a><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/arm-ipo-stock-market-should-i-buy-invest-ai-semiconductors-2023-9"> in September 2023</a> and acquired chip firm Graphcore in July, it has not yet invested in companies developing the large language models powering the current boom, such as OpenAI or Anthropic. In 2019, it dumped its nearly 5% stake in Nvidia, the chip giant now worth over $3 trillion.Still, it's hard not to see a splurge coming soon. In June, the SoftBank boss told shareholders past investments were "just a warm-up" for the AI era. It's no surprise to Barber, who sees Son as never satisfied."He's definitely got another act," Barber said. "There's no question."'Gambling Man: The Wild Ride of Masayoshi Son' by Lionel Barber is published by Allen Lane on October 3 in the UK, and Atria/One Signal Publishers in January 2025 in the US.

Masayoshi Son is the $100 billion gambler who went from dirt track to tech titan — and he isn't done betting yet     

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/satya-nadella-microsoft-management-leadership-advice-how-to-run-business-2024-6">Satya Nadella</a> became the third CEO of Microsoft almost a decade ago.</li><li>The former engineer reformed its corporate culture and has driven growth with innovation and partnerships.</li></ul>When Satya Nadella took over as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/leaked-microsoft-employees-engineers-salary-ai-pay-gap-2024-8">Microsoft</a> CEO on February 4, 2014, the company was struggling.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsofts-got-a-big-problem-with-windows-8-its-not-easy-for-windows-users-to-figure-out-2012-5">Windows 8 had been a disaster</a>. Microsoft employees were constantly battling behind the scenes for supremacy. And all the while, consumers and developers alike were losing faith in the company cofounded by Bill Gates.How times have changed.In January, as Nadella neared a decade in charge, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-becomes-world-most-valuable-company-market-cap-apple-ai-2024-1">Microsoft overtook Apple to become the world's most valuable public company</a> worth more than $3 trillion, although Apple later regained its crown.The resurgence has been credited to Nadella's savvy embrace of partnerships, dedication to innovation, and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/satya-nadella-microsoft-powerhouse-ai-investment-openai-2024-7">shakeup of the company culture</a>.Here's how Nadella, 57, worked his way up the ranks of Microsoft and executed this startling turnaround.This article has been updated since its original publication in 2016.<div type="image" title="Satya Nadella Microsoft Build" height="1534" width="2738" msid="112873303" hostid="261" sizebytes="33824"></div><h2 id="397627e9-2f10-4655-8513-fc8083a9bd27">Upbringing and education</h2>Satya Narayana Nadella was born in Hyderabad, India in 1967.His father was a civil servant and his mother was a professor of the ancient language Sanskrit.From a young age, Nadella wanted to be a professional cricket player, and played in school. However, he realized that his athletic talent was outmatched by his passion for science and technology.Nadella received his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology in 1988. "I always knew I wanted to build things," he once said.The institution didn't have a comprehensive computer science program, so he traveled to the US to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and graduated in 1990.He later received an MBA from the University of Chicago.<div type="image" title="Microsoft store sign" height="2121" width="3182" msid="112873306" hostid="261" sizebytes="109380"></div><h2 id="07ae4982-da47-42cf-a398-d2075fca3555">Joining Microsoft</h2>Nadella stayed in the US and got a job on the technology team at Sun Microsystems, then one of the most innovative tech companies.But in 1992 he joined Microsoft, where cofounder Bill Gates was still CEO and Windows had just begun its march to world domination."I remember distinctly walking into building 22 at Microsoft in 1992 thinking that's the greatest job on earth I have and I don't need anything more," he said in <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dont-wait-your-next-job-do-best-work-microsoft-ceo-satya-roslansky/?trackingId=JKPtxUqmQPCHI0iSk3v0zA%3D%3D">an interview</a> with LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky.Nadella's first projects included Microsoft's ill-fated interactive TV product and the Windows NT operating system.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-young-windows-nt-in-devcast-telethon-video-2017-9">A baby-faced Nadella also helped pitch Microsoft's Visual Basic in a telethon-style broadcast</a> designed for developers, circa 1993.<h2 id="a1e05fb0-fccc-4d0e-93b4-9c7e7f375618">Early career</h2>In his early years at Microsoft, Nadella impressed his coworkers and managers alike by commuting every weekend from Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, campus to Chicago to finish his MBA.By 1999, Nadella landed his first executive role as vice president of the newly created Microsoft Central, a set of web services for small businesses that included website hosting and email.In 2000, Microsoft got its second CEO: <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-former-microsoft-ceo-steve-ballmer-spends-fortune-2024-7">Steve Ballmer</a>.A year later, Nadella was promoted to corporate VP of Microsoft Business Solutions.By 2007, Nadella had taken another step up the ladder. He was made senior VP of Microsoft Online Services, putting him in command of the Bing search engine, as well as early online versions of Microsoft Office and the Xbox Live gaming service.In February 2011, Nadella was promoted to president of the Server and Tools division. It encompassed cash-cow products for data centers such as Windows Server and the SQL Server databases.But it was also home to one of CEO Steve Ballmer's boldest gambles, the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.<div type="image" title="Steve Ballmer Microsoft" height="1000" width="1315" msid="112873310" hostid="261" sizebytes="34472"></div><h2 id="5dd84cbd-aad5-4c2d-be3c-d983120d0ca7">Trouble at Microsoft</h2>In the early 2010s, Microsoft was running into trouble.On the PC side, Windows 8 was a disaster, the iPhone and Android were outrunning Windows phones by leaps and bounds, and Bing just couldn't make a dent in Google's search dominance.The company was facing an antitrust suit from the European Union and its stock price kept dropping.In August 2013, an embattled Ballmer announced his departure, sparking a search for a new CEO. The search committee included Ballmer and Gates.<div type="image" title="nadella gates ballmer" height="714" width="1000" msid="112873312" hostid="261" sizebytes="81518"></div><h2 id="8f12e3e2-d7b2-4666-a412-bca2d001b945">Nadella takes over</h2>In February 2014, after much rumor and speculation, Nadella was announced as CEO, with the support of Ballmer and Gates.He was awarded an $84 million first-year compensation package.Nadella quickly won over employees by making big changes, quickly, in an effort to right the ship and win back customers.He <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.thestreet.com/technology/satya-nadella-is-quoting-oscar-wilde-in-his-first-email-as-microsoft-ceo-12305159">sent a company-wide email</a> when he took over, calling for Microsoft to "prioritize innovation that is centered on our core value of empowering users and organizations."<h2 id="16ae683c-879a-4a80-aab0-0fdc3eb1415f">Partnerships with rivals</h2>Nadella proved he wasn't afraid to shake things up and invigorate the company by embracing partnerships with rivals including Apple, Google, and Amazon.He started by adopting the rival Linux operating system for the Azure cloud — a once-unthinkable move.But soon, Nadella had overseen the release of Microsoft Office for the Apple iPad; spent $2.5 billion buying Mojang, the studio behind the hit game Minecraft; and released first-class iPhone and Android apps, including Outlook.Innovation also led to the development of HoloLens, Microsoft's super-futuristic holographic goggles, and its first laptop, the Surface Book.When something didn't work he was unafraid to ditch projects, such as skipping Windows 9 to go straight to the superior Windows 10.Nadella's philosophy is about partnering and ensuring Microsoft software and services are available wherever customers are — even if that's not Windows.In fact, in 2015, Nadella used an iPhone on stage at an event to show off his favorite Microsoft apps. His predecessor Steve Ballmer, famously <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ballmer-snatches-microsoft-employees-iphone-at-company-meeting-pretends-to-stomp-on-it-2009-9">pretended to stomp on one</a> at a company meeting.<div type="image" title="Satya Nadella" height="1667" width="2500" msid="112873304" hostid="261" sizebytes="99996"></div><h2 id="3e881d2a-050d-4f99-8562-6c6b42694d52">Leadership style</h2>Nadella's approach to leadership was credited with reforming the company's culture.Many workers are fond of his leadership style, which emphasizes learning and making mistakes as a hedge against overconfidence and arrogance."It doesn't matter if you're a top executive or a first-line seller — he has exactly the same quality of listening," Microsoft executive vice president Jean-Philippe Courtois <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://hbr.org/2019/11/the-leader-as-coach">has said</a>.<h2 id="7e87fbb0-79da-4d05-9363-861e2796c15a">Personal life</h2>Nadella, 57, and his wife, Anu, have had three children and live in Bellevue, Lake Washington.Their oldest son, Zain, was born with severe cerebral palsy and required specialized care. He died in 2022, aged 26."Becoming a father of a son with special needs was the turning point in my life that has shaped who I am today," Nadella wrote in<a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://blogs.microsoft.com/accessibility/satya-nadella-the-moment-that-forever-changed-our-lives/"> a 2017 essay</a> on LinkedIn.He called Zain "the joy of our family, whose strength and warmth both inspire and motivate me to keep pushing the boundaries of what technology can do."Nadella has said the experience has encouraged him to lead with empathy, telling <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/inspirational-stories/a46221/satya-anu-nadella-microsoft/">Good Housekeeping</a> "it has had a profound impact on how I think, lead and relate to people."<h2 id="18b1412a-52c4-4c02-9c90-bbfc66c963c4">Nadella's acquisitions spree</h2>Under Nadella, Microsoft has made some of its biggest acquisitions, including the $26 billion purchase of LinkedIn in 2016, the $7.5 billion acquisition of code-sharing site GitHub in 2018, and the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-set-to-buy-activision-blizzard-billion-2023-10">$69 billion deal</a> with video games publisher Activision Blizzard in 2023.Nadella has said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-satya-nadella-shares-what-makes-good-acquisition-2023-10">he has two main criteria</a> when eyeing acquisitions: what value Microsoft can add and how much financial sense it makes.<div type="image" title="Satya Nadella standing between the OpenAI and Microsoft logos." height="1304" width="2000" msid="112873309" hostid="261" sizebytes="38986"></div><h2 id="ce34d74d-b43a-4173-ba30-0561e95e2080">What's next</h2>Nadella's been busy. And investors love it: From 2014 to 2015, his first year, Microsoft stock jumped 14%.But over the past decade, it's soared to new heights, and Microsoft started this year by knocking Apple off the top spot to become the<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-becomes-world-most-valuable-company-market-cap-apple-ai-2024-1"> world's most valuable public company</a> and becoming only the second to exceed a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-stock-price-market-cap-trillion-apple-ai-magnificent-seven-2024-1">$3 trillion valuation</a>. Apple has since regained the number one spot, but both milestones were highly notable.Nadella's biggest move in recent years has been <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-microsoft-openai-agreements-differences-iphone-chatgpt-sam-altman-2024-7">investing billions in OpenAI</a>.During the week of leadership chaos at OpenAI, Nadella stuck firm to ousted CEO Sam Altman, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-has-hired-former-openai-ceo-sam-altman-2023-11">offering him a job</a> at Microsoft. This provided crucial leverage for Altman to reclaim his CEO position while cementing Microsoft as an essential partner for the pioneering AI company.Microsoft is also making its own mark with a generative "AI companion" called <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-copilot-everyday-ai-companion-paid-subscription-2024-1">Copilot</a> to be integrated into its suite of apps. It's a bet on a future in which every person and organization has their own <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-personal-virtual-assistant-work-home-chatgpt-deepmind-2023-9">personal AI assistant to handle mundane tasks</a>.Vodafone and Microsoft also have a partnership to bring generative AI, digital and cloud services to European and African markets.January 31, 2024: This story was updated to clarify that the specific figures associated with Microsoft's investment in OpenAI haven't been officially confirmed.

Satya Nadella's career rise, from computer science student to turning Microsoft into a $3 trillion titan as CEO

<ul class="summary-list"><li>ETF inflows have taken off in the last week or so, as have stocks.</li><li>Strategists, including BlackRock's Gargi Chaudhuri, are optimistic about the economy.</li></ul>Investors have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-invest-trump-win-election-stock-market-outlook-strategy-2024-11">poured money into the market</a> at an unprecedented pace since <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-wins-presidential-election-race-2024-11">Donald Trump's victory</a>, though a veteran investment chief believes there's much more than politics at play.Inflows into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have shattered the record set in 2021 with more than a month and a half to spare, according to asset management titan BlackRock. The world's largest ETF issuer recently noted that $77 billion went into ETFs in the week after the election, which had never happened before. That surge coincided with the S&amp;P 500's best week of 2024.Markets were especially euphoric <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-outlook-trump-president-economy-tariffs-trade-war-kelly-2024-11">immediately after election day</a>. An astounding $22.3 billion went into US ETFs last Wednesday, and BlackRock's uber-popular iShares Russell 2000 ETF (<a target="_blank" href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/etfs/ishares-russell-2000-etf-us4642876555">IWM</a>) had its most active day of trading and inflows since 2007 as small caps soared by 5.8%.However, BlackRock's Gargi Chaudhuri doesn't think President-elect Trump deserves all the credit for this astounding market rally. The chief investment and portfolio strategist, Americas noted in a recent interview that US stocks <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-rally-outlook-trump-win-investing-strategy-2025-page-2024-11">had several strong catalysts</a> before Trump's win."Obviously, there have been some pretty sharp movements over the course of the last week," Chaudhuri told Business Insider. "But even as we look back to the quarter before that or since the beginning of this year, I think there have been some very solid fundamentals that have underpinned this movement."Robust growth for the economy and corporate earnings are some of the most salient market drivers, as are lower interest rates and receding inflation, Chaudhuri said. End-of-year rallies are also very common, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-outlook-history-yearend-rally-election-trump-harris-truist-2024-11">especially in strong years for the market</a>, as Truist recently remarked.Another convincing explanation for this recent market momentum is that investors had reduced risk as uncertainty mounted ahead of the election before quickly changing course when they got clarity on the path forward sooner and more decisively than anticipated."Investors bringing down their portfolio risk going into elections was perhaps one of the reasons that we have seen this pretty strong re-risking in markets, especially after we got the election results," Chaudhuri said.<h2 id="e1cf1135-8543-44c9-9cf9-a679564fb91f">Why softer economic readings are a red herring</h2>As the new year approaches, Chaudhuri is rather confident about the US economy, even though a few recent developments seem to have given the glass-half-empty camp some ammunition.GDP growth and job additions have slipped lately, though neither is a major cause for concern for Chaudhuri. The economy <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gdp-gross-domestic-product-third-quarter-economy-2024-10">didn't expand as much as expected in the third quarter</a>, but GDP still rose <a target="_blank" href="https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-growth">at a healthy clip of 2.8%</a>. And a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/october-jobs-report-unemployment-rate-nonfarm-payroll-growth-federal-reserve-2024-11">weak October jobs figure</a> appears to be largely due to the severe weather events that disrupted thousands of workers.Besides, more modest growth is a sign that the economy isn't overheating, which is welcome news to the Federal Reserve in its quest to ease financial conditions without reviving inflation. Such moderations aren't giving Chaudhuri pause about the trajectory of the US economy."It would be very normal for us to continue to see a further normalization in the labor market, given how strong the economy has already been, how high rates are," Chaudhuri said.The investment chief added: "We haven't really seen that job destruction taking place quite yet. You're still seeing wages rising; you're not seeing layoffs pick up in a meaningful manner."Corporate earnings growth is arguably the most compelling reason to stick with US stocks following what's been another outstanding performance this year. Profits <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/stock-market-rally-outlook-trump-win-investing-strategy-2025-page-2024-11">jumped about 7% in the third quarter</a>, which is well above the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-invest-q3-earnings-season-recession-risk-investing-strategy-2024-10">mid-single-digit figure that analysts were banking on</a>."One of the things that the equity market has done over and over again is continue to surprise us in terms of earnings growth," Chaudhuri said. "I think companies have continued to find very innovative ways to manage their expenses. They've found a way, especially given the spend on AI, the type of CapEx that's going into finding ways to make companies have more productivity."<h2 id="1bb5d4ad-c973-49dc-9ddc-4fb0e9f732a3">Where to invest in a rosy 2025</h2>Two sectors with abnormally strong earnings prospects are financials and industrials, Chaudhuri said. These economically sensitive groups enjoyed some of the larger post-election pops as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-invest-trump-win-election-stock-market-outlook-strategy-2024-11">Wall Street puts its chips on sectors that should benefit from a hot economy</a>.And although <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cheap-stocks-to-buy-strong-growth-market-outlook-garp-bmo-2024-10">smaller stocks have been on a heater</a>, Chaudhuri believes that large, undervalued companies are the better place to be, given their superior earnings setup."For a longer period of time, large cap is where we think the earnings growth is going to continue to be higher and better," Chaudhuri said.While earnings may not be under the microscope like they were when interest rates were at their peak, they're still top of mind for Chaudhuri. Larger stocks often have better earnings than their smaller peers, and the investment chief thinks that the cream will eventually rise to the top."This catch-up trade that's happening in small caps right now has a little bit of legs," Chaudhuri said. "I think that can continue, maybe 'til the end of this month or even the end of next month."Chaudhuri continued: "But for us to believe in sustained rallies in small caps, we would need to see earnings growth, and over 50% of the small-cap index still is not very profitable."

BlackRock's Gargi Chaudhuri shares how to invest as ETF inflows soar to records ahead of a promising 2025

<ul><li>The Indian smartwatch market remained flat in <keyword id="21174432" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Q1-2024" source="keywords">Q1 2024</keyword>, recording a 0.3% increase.</li><li>This is the first quarter in which the Indian smartwatch market has stagnated.</li><li>The Indian smartwatch market is expected to decline double in 2024.</li></ul> The <keyword id="21971215" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Indian-smartwatch-shipments" source="keywords">Indian smartwatch shipments</keyword> remained flat in Q1 2024, recording a 0.3% year-on-year increase, recording the market’s first-ever stagnation. The Indian smartwatch market has reported good growth over the past few years. According to a report by Counterpoint Research, the high growth over the past few years has been driven by high demand from the youth. The muted growth in Q1 2024 indicates a decline in replacement rates among early adopters of smartwatches. “The overall market, which has been registering double- and triple-digit growth over the last couple of years, remained flat in Q1 2024 as some top brands faced difficulties in clearing their existing stocks. Consumers are not warming up to buy a new smartwatch or replace an existing one due to low differentiation in terms of features and limited innovation in the market,” said Anshika Jain, Senior Research Analyst, Counterpoint Research. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Fire Boltt continues to lead the Indian market" comment="subhead" text="Fire Boltt continues to lead the Indian market"><keyword id="20503201" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Fire-Boltt" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Fire Boltt" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Fire Boltt">Fire Boltt</keyword> continues to lead the Indian market</cmsannotation> Fire Boltt has emerged as the market leader despite a decline in shipments. The company recorded a 28% market share in Q1 2024, down from a 33% market share in Q1 2024. The company’s shipments have reported a 15% year-on-year decline in Q1 2024. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none;" class="redcator-table-advance"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#000000;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Company </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#000000;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Q1 2024 </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#000000;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Q1 2023 </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Fire Boltt </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">28% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">33% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Noise </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">24% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">24% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">boAt </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">15% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">19% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Titan </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">8% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">4% </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">beatXP </td><td style="border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">4% </td><td style="border-right:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;border-top:solid #000000 0.5008695000000001pt;vertical-align:bottom;background-color:#d9d9d9;padding:0pt 5pt 0pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">2% </td></tr></tbody><tbody></tbody></table> Source: Counterpoint Research <keyword id="20109094" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Noise" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Noise" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Noise">Noise</keyword> is in the second position with a 24% market share in Q1 2024, the same as last year, with a nominal 2% decline in shipments. <keyword id="20021343" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="boAt" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="boAt" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="boAt">boAt</keyword> reported a decline in its market share from 19% in Q1 2023 to 15% in Q1 2024. The company recorded the highest decline in shipments at 24% year-on-year. <keyword id="20007884" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Titan" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Titan" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Titan">Titan</keyword>’s market share increased from 4% in Q1 2023 to 8% in Q1 2024, driven by a 113% increase in shipments. <keyword id="21185215" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="beatXP" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="beatXP" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="beatXP">beatXP</keyword>’s market share doubled from 2% in Q1 2023 to 4$ in Q1 2024, driven by a 123% year-on-year increase in shipments. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Analysts predict a double-digit decline in 2024" comment="subhead" text="Analysts predict a double-digit decline in 2024">Analysts predict a double-digit decline in 2024</cmsannotation> According to analysts, the year 2024 will record a double-digit decline in shipments in 2024. “The hyper-growth of smartwatches in the Indian market over the past few years has been primarily driven by its appeal as a low-cost fashion accessory. However, this initial growth phase is now cooling down as the initial excitement of the segment is tapering off. This is also reflected in the dwindling growth rates and a bleak outlook. The market is forecast to witness a double-digit percentage decline in 2024,” said Harshit Rastogi, Research Analyst, Counterpoint Research. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/may-auto-sales-tata-motors-and-hyundai-continue-to-fight-for-the-second-spot-as-car-sales-grow-by-4/articleshow/110649713.cms">May Auto Sales – Tata Motors and Hyundai continue to fight for the second spot as car sales grow by 4%</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/truecaller-can-now-detect-if-the-caller-is-using-ai-how-to-use-it-to-prevent-ai-call-scams/articleshow/110556100.cms">Truecaller can now detect if the caller is using AI – How to use it to prevent AI call scams</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/apple-wwdc-2024-to-begin-with-keynote-on-june-10-event-schedule-what-to-expect-and-more/articleshow/110537952.cms">Apple WWDC 2024 to begin with keynote on June 10 – event schedule, what to expect and more</a>

Indian smartwatch shipments remain flat in Q1 2024, annual shipments expected to end in a decline

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="15219879" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="JPMorgan-CEO" source="Orion">JPMorgan CEO</keyword> <keyword id="20214240" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jamie-Dimon" source="keywords">Jamie Dimon</keyword> in April said Narendra <keyword id="19899684" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Modi" source="keywords">Modi</keyword> had done "an unbelievable job" leading India.</li><li>But effusive praise from <keyword id="22000749" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="business-titans" source="keywords">business titans</keyword> didn't persuade voters to give Modi the victory he wanted.</li><li>Modi will now have to govern with allies, and the surprise result hit the Indian stock market.</li></ul>In a major upset, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/indian-election-results-shocking-blow-narendra-modi-2024-6" target="_blank">lost his absolute majority in parliament</a> on Tuesday. But, back when most expected Modi to cruise to a third big election victory, Western business titans lined up to praise him for transforming what is set to become the world's third-largest economy by 2027. His pro-growth, pro-business policies have been a huge draw for tech giants like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-tim-cook-obsessed-india-consumers-iphone-2023-7" target="_blank">Apple</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-would-spur-growth-in-india-ev-market-rival-says-2024-4" target="_blank">Tesla</a>, both of which have signaled intentions to expand operations there. In April, <keyword id="19967624" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="JPMorgan" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="JPMorgan" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="JPMorgan">JPMorgan</keyword> CEO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jamie-dimon-career" target="_blank">Jamie Dimon</a> effusively praised the Indian leader during an event at The Economic Club of New York. "Modi has done an unbelievable job in India. I know the liberal press here, they beat the hell out of him," Dimon said. "He's taken 400 million people out of poverty." Dimon also said he thought US officials needed to stop "lecturing" Modi on how to run India and instead start taking lessons from the world's most populous democracy. "They've got an unbelievable education system. Unbelievable infrastructure. They're lifting up that whole country because this one man is tough," Dimon said. "He's breaking down some of the bureaucracy," he added. "And we need a little bit more of that here." Representatives for Dimon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the election result sent outside regular business hours. Dimon isn't alone. <a href="https://x.com/tim_cook/status/1648684750029340673" target="_blank">Apple CEO Tim Cook met Modi in April of last year</a>, saying the company shared his "vision of the positive impact technology can make on India's future." "India is an incredibly exciting market. It's a major focus for us," Cook said in a November <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2023-05-05/tim-cook-india-is-an-incredibly-exciting-market-video" target="_blank">earnings call</a>. "I was just there and the dynamism in the market, the vibrancy is unbelievable." Without an absolute majority, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/narendra-modi-win-bjp-india-election-explained-2024-6" target="_blank">Modi will rely on the support of smaller parties, who could oust him if they switch allegiance</a>. News of the shrinking majority hit the Indian stock market on Tuesday — it <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/etf/indian-stocks-tumble-the-most-since-march-2020-with-modi-s-party-set-to-lose-majority-1033450216" target="_blank">registered its most significant daily drop</a> since March 2020. However, experts say the electoral surprise is unlikely to unravel his past reforms. "This surprise creates political and policy uncertainties that will have at least short-term consequences," said <a href="https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/new-atlanticist/experts-react-modi-loses-ground-electoral-surprise/" target="_blank">Jeff Lande</a>, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center. "A reversal of the sort of investments and capital expenditure that the government has advanced in recent years, in favor of a return to subsidies, protectionism, and welfare programs, is unlikely," he continued. It is true that his decadelong reign as India's prime minister has coincided with a decline in the country's poverty levels: Figures from the <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-of-population-in-extreme-poverty?tab=chart&amp;country=~IND" target="_blank">World Bank</a> indicate the share of its population living in extreme poverty dropped to 12.9% in 2021 from 18.8% in 2014. Some of Modi's critics, however, may argue that his track record in economic policymaking has been uneven. In October, India's unemployment rate hit 10.1%, per the <a href="https://www.cmie.com/kommon/bin/sr.php?kall=warticle&amp;dt=20231103192154&amp;msec=053" target="_blank">Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy</a>. That is the first time the country's jobless rate has exceeded 10% since the COVID-19 pandemic. "Growth has been good, but it has to be set in perspective," Raghuram Rajan, a former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, told the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8299d318-7c35-49a0-9a9a-b8e5abeba7be" target="_blank">Financial Times</a> in January.

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