#strategy

Seriously!?

OpenText reverting back to just Content Server, when will serif font logo come back?

Operations generally strive to perform well so the company will see the value they bring and not put them up for sale.
Kaparuk uses the strategy of performing poorly and constantly whining and complaining so no one will buy them and ConocoPhillips is stuck with this group of industry rejects

Will Ayman have a plan to switch the company from cost-cutting back to growing revenue? Are customers actually paying extra for the new AI features, or are they just free add-ons to keep people from leaving?

I don’t see a way to break out of our current low-growth holding pattern. Thus the only future is for all divisions to eventually be acquired. Does anyone else see it differently?

Think about it, how many times can you reduce headcount before the quality of work starts to really suffers? They're boosting profits by slashing people, instead of improving the product or service. It's a very short sighted approach to business that'll bite us in the a-s.

Verizion has a new CEO. His name is Dan Schulman. He used to run PayPal.

He is bringing in his old team. Alfonso Villanueva, also from PayPal, is now a top leader at Verizon. This is a big change.

What This Means for Telecom

Telecom companies usually focus on networks. They care about 5G and cell towers. PayPal is different. PayPal is a tech company. It focuses on apps and user experience.

The industry might shift. It may look more like Silicon Valley. We will see more focus on software. We will see less focus on hardware.

What This Means for Verizon

Verizon is changing its strategy.

Better User Experience: PayPal makes payments easy. Verizon wants to make phone plans easy. Expect simpler apps and better customer service.
More Digital Sales: PayPal is an online business. Verizon will sell more online. They might close some stores.
New Services: Verizon might offer more than just phone service. They could offer financial tools. They could offer new digital products.
This is a risk. Verizon knows networks well. It does not know software as well. But Schulman knows software. He wants to modernize Verizon. He wants to make it move fast.

The old Verizon is gone. A new, faster Verizon is here.

While the tech industry obsesses over expensive chips, massive datasets and multi-year payback periods, DXC has taken a fundamentally smarter approach to AI.

Here is why:

1. Zero capital investment. You are thinking AI requires billions in GPUs, memory and infrastructure, right? No, DXC’s Xponential AI requires none of that. It runs on a platform already deployed across all enterprises: MS PowerPoint.

2. Immediate time to value. You are told most AI programs take months to train and years to deliver results, right? No, again. DXC’s AI has been delivering outcomes since day one, often within the same fiscal quarter, as evidenced in their quarterly shareholder reports.

3. Superior efficiency. No scarce hardware. No energy costs. No model training. Just slides, bullet points and strategic fonts. From a compute-per-outcome perspective, it’s unmatched.

4. Built-in Explainability. Unlike black-box models, DXC’s AI is fully explainable. Every decision, assumption and conclusion is clearly documented - on slide 37 of the latest customer deck.

5. Proven ROI. Other AI investments promise future productivity gains. DXC’s AI delivers instant and measurable returns by fast-tracking executive bonuses within the same annual compensation cycle. The impact is immediate and repeatable.

6. Scalable by design. As demand grows, DXC Xponential AI capacity scales effortlessly. They simply add more slides. True exponential growth.

DXC didn’t chase the AI hype cycle. It leapfrogged it by realizing the fastest path to value isn’t Artificial Intelligence but Artificial Innovation.

firm need access to the capital markets. time to change corporate structure. can't keep cutting your way and back into profitability. have to raise revenue. Malarkey is ki.ling us. approves 50% automatic reductions on plan pricing w/his new found $500K a year job. he sends out an email not to travel during World Cup to save $5K, but he just got a huge bump in pay and in the same vain, cuts plan pricing & revenue by 50% and there are no real revenue enhancers to speak of. $1k ira rollovers into IAA ain't gonna cut it. Need in plan annuities, managed accounts, CITs, and plan pricing hikes. Time to raise fees man ! Cut C-Suite $$, cut reps who can't sell, pharm out IT, and cut the phu.cking bloat fats

Don't you love it when leadership is proven wrong? Su-k it leadership team, you failed. Your d-mb strategy for laying people off isn't working and now you're sc--wed! Stock will take a dive

https://youtu.be/WfjGZCuxl-U

Avoid middle-layer vendors, as they often lead to unnecessary hiring. Direct hiring from VZ to the employer is a better strategy and helps reduce the risk of layoffs.

What does it say that Blue Origin has announced plans for a satellite internet service (TeraWave) that will compete directly with Amazon Leo (f.k.a. Kuiper)? Jeff is the primary investor in Blue Origin, and according to estimates from Forbes has invested over $10B in Blue Origin since its founding in 2000. Blue Origin requires an additional $2B each year.

Jeff is entitled to manage and invest his money as he wishes. But it is noteworthy that he is selling Amazon stock to fund a competitor to Amazon. Does Jeff no longer find Amazon to have the "Day 1" mentality required to build new businesses?

It finally happened. Tons of solid, hard-working people gone.
Some cuts probably made sense. But let’s be honest — a lot of what’s left looks like the professional “yes” crowd whose core skill is ego management, not actual delivery. Feels like the unofficial qualification was: if you ever told the truth, challenged bad decisions, or answered HR questions honestly… congrats, you made the list.

Meanwhile some of the lowest-output, highest-time-su-kers, leadership-echo personalities are still here somehow.
Efficiency? right. Wild selection strategy.

Other product lines are rounding error

Many are wondering why the company layoffs are being done incrementally and not all at once or in large batch mode. The answer lies in the incentives the bank receives to operate this way. Let me explain.

What Is SUI?
State Unemployment Insurance (SUI) is a tax employers pay to fund unemployment benefits for workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own. Every employer pays it — but not at the same rate.

Why the Rate Changes
States use an experience rating system.
This means your employer’s tax rate goes up or down based on how many former employees file unemployment claims.

• More layoffs → more unemployment claims → higher SUI tax rate.
• Fewer layoffs → fewer claims → lower SUI tax rate.

The rate can vary dramatically. In some states, employers with few layoffs pay almost nothing, while employers with heavy layoffs pay 10x or more.

How Layoffs Trigger Higher Costs

When a company lays off employees:

• Those employees file for unemployment.
• The state attributes those claims to the employer.
• The employer’s SUI tax rate increases for the next year (or several years).
• The company pays more per employee going forward.

For large employers, this can mean millions of dollars in additional annual taxes.

Why Companies Try to Avoid “Layoffs”

Because layoffs increase their tax rate, companies have a financial incentive to avoid anything that triggers an unemployment claim. This is why employees often see:

• Sudden performance downgrades
• “Voluntary resignation” pressure
• PIPs used as exit ramps
• RTO mandates that force attrition
• Location changes employees can’t meet
• “Resign or be terminated” conversations
• Severance tied to waiving unemployment claims

These tactics shift the separation from employer‑initiated to employee‑initiated, which avoids unemployment claims and keeps the SUI tax rate low.

Why This Matters
Understanding this system helps employees recognize:

• Why companies push resignations over layoffs
• Why performance ratings suddenly change
• Why severance may be tied to waiving unemployment
• Why “restructuring” is framed as “performance management”
• Why attrition‑by‑policy is cheaper than layoffs

This isn’t about conspiracy — it’s about incentives.
And incentives shape behavior that drives our illustrious culture.

“Ford Motor Co. and China’s Geely Auto are in discussions about a potential partnership, eight people with knowledge of the ongoing talks said, as the world's carmakers look to share heavier technology and manufacturing costs.”

So, the Chinese can do better in Europe than Ford ever did. Not winning…

So we’ve got that going for us

https://stocks.apple.com/A39SkoP0uTO6zXH46WoaXVQ

Only outside buyers allowed? Are they trying to ki-l the book value even more?

Our stock price is falling relative to ExxonMobil. Whatever you are doing is not working, Wael.

Will the Club model rule the future?

Investors have already lost patience with HPE, the worst performing AI hardware play. Neri has zero vision for growth and McDonald keeps shrinking his own business unit. The two must go. Rami isn't all that good either, missed the cyber security bo-m to PANW and FTNT and failed in CSP to ANET, but he's still better then Neri and McDonald.

The reserves replacement discussion on the earnings investor presentation makes no sense at all. It shows 10 year increases but says RRR was 95%.

Anyhow, last year we really only added reserves from Hess. Otherwise, we are a shrinking business.

Does IBM's products and services strategies align where technology is predicted to go in 2026 and beyond? See https://ieeecs-media.computer.org/media/tech-news/tech-predictions-report-2026.pdf?source=2026lp

Happy former 30 year employee and current interest is only as an investor. Verizon needs to become a pure play Consumer focused company Wireless/Internet. Parts are worth more than the sum. Verizon Business would be one example. Sell it and other lower margin businesses to PE markets. Regulated side is more difficult to divest due to the obvious reasons.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4864690-verizon-needs-more-than-stock-buyback

Read some market analysis before getting to excited: For those that don't want to read it here is the article summary:

Takeaway
The key investor takeaway is that Verizon hasn't improved the business to warrant the excitement. The wireless giant is actually just going down the path of cutting costs and capex spending for apparent short-term benefits that didn't work at the CEO's prior job.

Investors should use this rally to unload the stock.

Oracle is making a mistake by choosing cheap labor over quality. By hiring fresh graduates to save money and moving work offshore, the company has stopped improving its products and is now just maintaining them.

The experienced people who actually know how things work are being ignored or are waiting to leave, while the bosses at the top keep doing the same old things just to keep their jobs. New hires are using AI to write code, but they don't truly understand the systems.

People are worried stock will drop more because Oracle doesn’t have a strong cloud or AI strategy. Even its financial strategy is poor. No mo--n will go for such a big debt immediately.

To fix this, Oracle needs to analyze stagnant projects. Rework on talents. Get rid of the stuck leadership at the top, and start rewarding the real experts who can actually innovate. Remember Oracle pays low. If it layoff and hires back its going to be another challenge.

It’s official! We are going public. Nice to see Michael’s strategy finally paying off. Excited to see what the future holds as an S&P 500 company.

It’s evident that Direct has no solid strategy to grow sales. It’s a surprise that the company has entrusted in a person with no business sense and market understanding to lead Direct Platform. Her only play is going to be to cut costs, rather than nurture. So many layoffs in 2025 and no continues in Jan 2026. The worst part is how it’s being quietly done.

AI??? More like incompetence. They couldn't get their AI platform off the ground as of the end of last year. They eliminated contractors who were working on datacenters related to automation and AI. All I saw was non-stop push back against progress while I was there from middle managers who do nothing but fudge reports. It's just more smoke and mirrors to hide the fact that the executives are out of touch. No one is driving the ship.

speaking only from my own expereince, i find myself conflicted about how easy it feels to change roles at amazon once you are inside the inner circle.
on one hand, that fluidity creates opprotunity and can feel empowering, but it also leaves me wondering whether rigor and claritiy are getting lost at senior levels...
i rarely see an l8 write a single one pager that clearly articulats direction or strategy, and instead watch strategy turn into a collage of documents owned by l6s and l7s defending their own space.

i may be missing context or blind to constraints, but it makes me question what strong leadreship really looks like here and whether i fully understand the system i am part of...

Mary is making things happen over at GM, actually announcing subscription REVENUE numbers. $2 BILLION current, $$5 BILLION future commitments.

From Business Insider:

Mary Barra, GM's CEO, boasted major gains in the company’s subscription base.

General Motors said its in-vehicle tech services generated nearly $2 billion last year.
GM sells three main subscription products: safety features, in-car internet access, and hands-free driver assistance.

GM told Business Insider it plans to add features through updates over time, reducing the need for new car parts.

General Motors has been pulling a Tim Cook and boosting its software and subscription business.

During the automaker's Tuesday earnings call, CEO Mary Barra highlighted the rapid growth of GM's in-vehicle software and subscription business.

In the past nine months, GM's software generated $2 billion, and customers have already signed up for about $5 billion in future subscriptions.

The company said it now has 11 million subscribers for its OnStar safety system, up 34% from a year earlier. Another half a million customers are also paying for Super Cruise, its hands-free driver-assistance system.

Now, that's still just a fraction of its total revenue, which was $45.29 billion in the last quarter alone. But the margins on those services are also higher than on cars sales.

GM says its software business keeps roughly 70 cents of every dollar it brings in. That's a rare level of profitability in the auto industry, as many car sales generate just four to 10 cents per sales dollar.

"We are also executing plans to grow software and services like OnStar and Super Cruise to generate even greater revenue during and after each vehicle sale," Barra said on the call. "We think there's a growth opportunity there with very attractive margins."

"Software and services are becoming increasingly important to how customers experience GM vehicles and how we deliver value beyond the initial purchase," a spokesperson told Business Insider.

The company also said it will keep adding features and services to vehicles over time, rather than relying on hardware upgrades.

"As vehicles become more software-defined, we can introduce new digital experiences through updates and optional services rather than hardware changes," the spokesperson added.

The subscriptions push comes as automakers look for new ways to make money after cars leave the dealership lot — especially as Detroit automakers roll out new electric vehicles.

... when it's talking about the 100th anniversary of its IPO. Is that even a thing? Has any other publicly traded century old company -- GE, GM, Coca-Cola, etc. -- ever "celebrated" its IPO? (What about the years when NCR was part of AT&T, shouldn't that be excluded? Current management probably doesn't even know about that.) How much did management spend on this NYC junket?! Did David and Eric come back?!

This company is in very bad shape. James Kelly's strategy is to load the company up with payments-related bells and whistles and sell it to Global Payments. But the payments industry -- any company that isn't Visa or Mastercard -- has also become a commodity.. Nobody's going to buy this dog, unless it's out of bankruptcy.

The way things are going, that just might happen.

The company announced a 20% dividend increase and a new $6 billion stock buyback program.

Someone ran a piece a few days ago about Chinese automaker BYD raising $5 billion to expand all over the place. New factories, new dealerships, very aggressive moves to increase global market share.

General Motors has even bigger plans - a giant new Stock Buyback and Shareholder Dividend Flimflam! Yay! USA! USA! USA!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/rj-young-announces-partnership-agreement-163900752.html

RJ Young company has partnered with Xerox for sales and service

Vicki made a huge bet on DAC. To me, the business case was always shaky even if it works PERFECTLY. I’m told it is over schedule and over budget, and we just got rid of OxyChem, which could have been a critical resource.
What if it doesn’t work? Do we have to pay back all of the companies that bought credits? Write off the purchase of Carbon Engineering? Write off the DAC complex?

Pipe in to share your opinions of current oil industry leadership both positive and negative attributes. It’s crystal clear that many companies are only after shiny and short term goals. Also crystal clear that drilling to prosperity is more challenging then ever.

Humana 2026 Outlook: Financials, Retention, and Compensation
Company Health & Financials

As of January 2026, Humana is in a "rehab" mode, focusing on a transition from aggressive expansion to profit-focused stability.

• Margins: Targeting a move from 1% to 2% pre-tax margins in Medicare Advantage.

• Market Adjustments: Exited 13 Medicare Advantage markets and 198 counties, impacting approximately 500,000 to 560,000 members.

• Star Ratings: A current headwind, with only 20% of members in 4-star plans or higher, though recovery is expected by 2027.

Employee Retention

• General Sentiment: Humana remains in the top 25% of large companies for retention, though RTO mandates are causing friction.

• Workforce Changes: Implementation of limited layoffs and voluntary early retirement packages to "right-size" the organization.

• CenterWell: Clinical staff show high mission-based satisfaction but report challenges with work-life balance.

RTO, Compensation, and Bonuses

• Return-to-Office (RTO): A 3-day in-office requirement for most corporate roles is leading to turnover in remote-heavy departments like Tech and Admin.

• Compensation: Annual merit increases are averaging 3.0% to 3.2%. "Skill-based pay" offers higher premiums (4-5%) for AI, Actuarial, and Clinical Management roles.

• Bonuses: Performance-Based Incentives (PBI) are now heavily tied to the company's 2% operating margin target and Star Rating recovery.

• Benefits: 2026 updates include eliminated copays for in-network mental health, modular benefit options (e.g., trading perks for HSA contributions), and an emergency savings match program.

watch it here: https://s.hbr.org/3STBqBM

Verizon CEO Dan Schulman with conversation on HBR Exec during WEF Davos 2026

AK spewing his typical stuff at the WEF in Davos. For the CEO of an American corporation, he seems real concerned about India's AI sovereignty.

"US AGI Is Overhyped": IBM CEO & India's IT Minister Talk India's AI Sovereignty At Davos 2026 --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqb29BAxTrs

Is India Behind US, China In AI? IT Minister, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Respond At Davos --
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4bARzQmqkU

What a joke, fido has ~91 different flavors of the same thing, what a clown camp! Is the marketing team wagging the investment management team or what holy shxt!

Hmmm, how many asset allocations can we make up....how about our next attempt to saturate the product market with the same thing is the stock allocations all have red prospectuses and the bond has white prospectuses and any cash has blue prospectuses, well will call it the Fidelity Red, White and Blue allocations.
"Bravo you are promoted"

Freedom Index
Freedom Blend
Freedom Fund
Freedom Retirement Index
Fidelity Sustainable Target Date

But Mr. Customer do you want us to do the same thing in a managed account and pay us a separate fee...

dahhhhhhhhh