A Software Insider's Point of ViewDigital Giants

Sam Altman just faced his Steve Jobs moment when the OpenAI board fired him on Friday. The balance between too much governance and not enough innovation was the challenge OpenAI faced. This was a very immature board with members who had never built companies, never moved from ideology to commercialization, nor had any pragmatic board experience.

With artificial intelligence (AI) projects all the rage, organizations must make a strategic determination to create a new CxO role at least at a functional level if not at a title level.. This decision should not be made lightly, however. Although the chief AI officer (CAIO) role is critical to an organization’s success, the level of collaboration across business, IT, finance and operations, HR, and legal risk and compliance requires an unprecedented level of cooperation and orchestration. Boards will also want to consider AI at the same level as CyberSecurity.

Big Brains In AI Discuss The Risks of Generative AI At Reinvent Futures Event On July 27th, 2023, almost 300 people gathered at Shack15 in the Ferry building in San Francisco to discuss the actual risks of Generative AI. The event hosted by Reinvent Futures with Peter Leyden and Joe Boggio brought together the biggest minds on AI for an evening of deep discussion.

On June 12th to 15th, Hexagon, AB held their user conference at the Caesar's Forum in Las Vegas Nevada. The event showcased how Hexagon has built a foundation for bringing the real world to the digital world using reality capture, positioning, autonomous technologies,design and simulation, and location intelligence.

The Q1 Tech Earnings Breathe Life Among The Digital Giants. With just Apple left to report in the tech earnings season, three major trends have emerged

Big Tech and Market Reset Bring Optimism To Markets While many in the market are still psyching others into a recession, the fears are subsiding and the NASDAQ appears to be where the optimists are. Five factors have led to the mini rebound in this market of lowered expectations as watchers await the fed rate decision.:

Microsoft Faces Its Biggest Challenge Despite Its "Social" Standing Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella’s and Vice Chair and President Brad Smith face their toughest challenge. There was always that belief that so long Microsoft acted like a“good citizen” on social issues they would be immune to anti-trust. That myth has been burst. The FTC has filed a lawsuit and a judge must decide if the case is strong enough to block the $69B deal. The FTC fears Microsoft will not provide titles for other platforms. Other headwinds include 16 countries that will have to approve the mega deal. China will probably block the deal to protect TenCent's position. Tencent also owns 5% of Activision.

All Eyes On Digital Giant Earnings With recession headwinds driving lower valuations and earnings uncertainty in high gear, the level of fear remains high. However, in the past week, NASDAQ was up 5.2%. So the big question,will these digital giants hold their gains ahead of earnings season?

Disintermediate or Be Disintermediated On September 15, 2022, Adobe announced the largest acquisition of a private software company and the largest acquisition in Adobe’s history. In a half cash, half stock deal for approximately $20 billion, San Francisco-based Figma would be acquired by San Jose-headquartered Adobe. Adobe is paying a 50 times annualized recurring revenue (“ARR”) multiple for Figma which is expected to surpass $400 million in ARR exiting 2022.

Not All Big Tech Companies Are Equally Created The MATANA stocks continue to do well despite a confluence of crises. MIcrosoft, Apple, Tesla, Alphabet, Nvidia, and Amazon, collectively showed that big tech, digital giants who:

WWDC Announcements Do Not Disappoint On June 6th, 2022, Apple made some of its most significant announcements in a decade at the World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC). The live, in-person, Apple Park event, showcased the power of having a vertically integrated silicon to software approach and the benefits that over 30 million registered developers across its entire portfolio will enjoy in creating new experiences and outcomes for Apple customers.

Disney's Performance Shows Strength and Depth Of Portfolio Quality balance sheets, predictable revenues are key to sustaining stock prices during this current market rout. Investors only care about future forecast guidance despite current quarterly performance. While Disney's Q1 2022 showed 23% YoY gains with $1.4 billion in operating profit, guidance has been muted in spite of the near pandemic comparables.