#strategy

https://www.crn.com/news/ai/2025/ibm-9-5-billion-ai-book-of-business-drives-q3-growth-across-company-s-software-hardware-and-consulting-segments

Even with stock buy backs!

I am seeing all sort of initiatives along this line, I am not sure if it is just managers trying to show how much they align with the latest buzzwords or it is a genuine and desperate search for ideas to make us competitive in this field.

It does sound and look like "when you only have a hammer everything looks like a nail"

Under what conditions will the Model E recover its development costs and investments, CE1 is do or die.

Exit North Sea ASAP…who in the he-l will buy 3 Billion dollars worth of liability that is now producing less than 12,000 bopd…

Return the assets to BP for abandonment. Bankrupt the company in 2026 and keep the good pieces…. Just like Fieldwood did to Apache…

I was laid off years ago from a different company and felt like I did something wrong,
but it wasn't me it was a company much more dysfunctional than CMCSA.
This was not your fault.

However...
Some observations from a former national engineer who lead a team that built a system intended for divisional and DCF usage;

1. Other national and 2 of 3 divisional teams HAD to build their own instead of collaborating with national and all divisions.. e.g. Power hungry.
2. Upper management permitted this to happen. Heck, the west pretty much encouraged it.
3. DCF rolled out new systems with poor naming strategies and a ~70% ability to match names in existing systems.
4. Cable is dying !! And Brian Roberts has realized that the monopoly is over and hired a co-CEO since the next 10 years will determine if CMCSA survives.

Point is, we had too many people building the same system(s) and management let it happen. Upper management was all about power and not about cooperating.

Why does he hate the upstream so much when they make the money. Many of the underhanded tactics are focused on making the profitable upstream like the low cost / low margin downstream. Did he hate Liam so much that he is f us now Liam retired. He has handcuffed any upstreamer that can challenge him. Can upstream ever come back or we on the downward spiral now forever

Constant reduction in talent, structural cost reductions, feedback like we are going to squeeze until something breaks. How can we maximize shareholder value for the long term when we are just focused on the drive to the bottom.

With the purchase from Cenovus' 50% share of WRB and now the pipeline deal to Arizona and California P66 has now made 2 good deals in a row. These deals place substantial focus on refining.
The Elliott directors must be making their presence known. Go Go would just buy more broken-down gas plants.

JPMorgan analyst Sebastiano Petti:

"We anticipate that Schulman will pursue an assertive strategy to accelerate Verizon's fiber footprint growth, with a heightened focus on convergence to lower churn and enhance consumer segment volumes and share. However, increased capital expenditures to support footprint expansion are likely to pressure free cash flow and impede the company's de-leveraging trajectory. As a result, we would not be surprised if Verizon suspends dividend growth to prioritize investment in growth initiatives and/or discretionary share buybacks."

https://www.investors.com/news/technology/att-stock-verizon-stock-dividend-tmobile-stock-new-ceo/?src=A00220

Now we all know our executives are extremely incompetent, everyone knows that.
An underrated part of how incompetent they are, is the “modernization” effort to transition from on prem to being Microsoft’s bi--h on Azure’s pricing leash.
Now you see, Jensen Huang, Meta, innovative companies, buying and building these data centers,
We sold our house in 2009 after the crash, people won’t think about it now, but data centers are only increasing in value, and we sold at rock bottom as always.

Is this good or just smoke and mirrors?

FLD - You Have A Decision To Make By The End Of October 2025

Do you continue the financial charades to keep the stock price up for maybe another 6 to 8 months, or do you do what is necessary to make F5 a world class Security Firm.

There are many of us that were RIFd over the last many years that would like to come back and make F5 a world class Security Firm.

Wait longer than 10 days and it will be beyond the timeline to make F5 a world class Security Firm.

Instead of wasting M's on Total Wireless and other cr-p brands, why are we not focusing on Verizon and that brand's problems! We have no prioirtiy in this company.

What will Exxon do now that Guyana wants LNG and gas to shore. 2026 will be the year that the Guyana miracles turns sour….

They just buy competitors and destroy the brand.

https://www.mysanantonio.com/business/article/siete-foods-pepsico-21105726.php

That’s interesting is that Oracle now brands itself as “OCI AI Infrastructure” and calls itself a “real AI company.”
But Oracle has no proprietary AI models (unlike Meta, Google, or Microsoft) and no in-house chips (Meta has, Microsoft soon will, Google and AWS already do).
So Oracle is effectively a reseller of other companies’ hardware and models, with much thinner margins.
How can a firm like that credibly call itself an AI company? Pure marketing.

But only if you are in AI. Dell’s basically shifting from PCs to an AI server growth story... Aiming for $20B++++ in AI server sales this year... plus services and financing in the mix so it looks good as a plan... I'd buy the stock but I am unsure if I want to continue working here since what I do does not benefit from most of this. We'll see how things play out but I think that stock $$$ will keep going up. Not a financial advisor and I typically fu-k up my predictions tho.

Did Nvidia sell 10% stake at 0.01 per share ? No it's products are solid. This is betting the entire farm. Short term excellent but long term foolishness. Tell me I am wrong.

Did we hear Stephen correctly say HS brand wins, no more Blue Medicare?

What's next?

Does anyone have any idea what they will be doing with owned brands?

Just kidding…

https://english.aawsat.com/business/5195303-sas-opens-riyadh-hub-pledges-1bn-boost-ai-growth

Confucius say: software revenue from oil $$ counts the same as from domestic $$.

Confucius also say: no Saudi visits to HQ in June

What say you?

What’s the real strategy here?

Some of these apps just seem so advanced compared to what we have.

I think the timing of the October announcement is telling. I think they are trying to insulate the stock price ahead of the Q3 earnings release.

What steps can the new CEO take to stop losing subscribers? What can be done to reverse something that's been going on for a while?

And that’s not going to happen with this leadership. It really feels like they’ve completely lost touch with reality. The world is changing fast, but Chevron is moving forward on pure inertia, as if nothing around us is shifting. They’re doing this reorg like it’s business as usual, but it’s not. These decisions can have serious long-term consequences, not just for the company but for the many people who’ll be left without jobs. It’s frustrating watching leadership pretend everything is going according to plan, while there’s no real plan grounded in reality.

There’s a clear distinction between being fluent in English and demonstrating wisdom and sound decision-making. The leader being promoted in this company is knows how to say the right corporate things at the right time, but often lacks depth in judgment. When you look at the initiatives they champion and where they focus their efforts, it becomes apparent that many are driven more by smooth talk than by substance.

I have been telling that he is not a great CEO, we need someone with a backbone to make big changes.

"IBM’s CEO is all about cutting out the things IBM used to be good at in favor pumping up the stock price. It’s a matter of time until he does the same to Red Hat"

https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1o40uvk/red_hat_will_begin_to_integrate_even_further_into/

To effectively control and reduce operational expenses (OPEX), companies can implement the following strategies:

Conduct Comprehensive Spend Assessments: Analyze spending patterns and cost centers to identify areas for cost reduction.

Utilize Data-Driven Insights: Implement advanced analytics tools to gain actionable insights and benchmarks for cost-saving strategies.

Negotiate Better Terms: Regularly evaluate vendor contracts and negotiate better terms with suppliers to secure volume discounts.

Strengthen Supplier Relationships: Build and maintain strong relationships with key suppliers to enhance collaboration and mutual cost-saving goals.

Develop Category-Specific Strategies: Create tailored strategies for high-impact categories, focusing on cost drivers and market conditions.

Optimize Across Categories: Identify synergies across different categories to leverage buying power and reduce costs on a holistic level.

Implement Procurement Technology: Adopt e-procurement platforms and spend analysis tools to streamline processes and enhance cost control.

By applying these strategies, companies can not only control their OPEX but also drive value and ensure long-term sustainability.

https://www.golimelight.com/blog/opex-planning

When NS shutdown the Roanoke, VA shops back in mid 2020 and the classification hump, I knew it wasn't going to be good...and honestly it was a mistake for them to leave!

All that's been happening are random cost-cutting and chaos. I honestly don't see much of a future here anymore.

In yesterday's global town hall, Ramon did not give a categorical yes or no when asked about the question of selling Quaker. His answer went around in circles. I hope we keep Quaker, it is a good brand with the right marketing support.

Barron's:

• Genius or Cliff Dive (Larry Ellison’s $300 billion dollar AI Power Play)

Oracle is riding the AI wave like a rocket, with the stock up 373% in 3 years, a reported $300 billion dollar OpenAI contract, and a backlog exploding to $455 billion dollars.

Larry Ellison, 81 and still in attack mode, is turning Oracle into the supplier of choice for AI builders, not a rival. The playbook is simple: data plus compute equals destiny. The company is loading up on capacity and customers, while Ellison pursues strategic side quests that protect the core, from the TikTok USA bid to deep ties with Skydance and Paramount.

The bill is massive. Oracle is taking on more than 90B dollars in long-term debt, sold 18B dollars in bonds in September, and could see gross margins fall from about 72 percent to about 52 percent by 2029 even as revenue soars.

If OpenAI and a few whales deliver, Ellison’s biggest bet becomes his legacy, with scale lifting profits over time. If contracts wobble or capex drags, customer concentration plus leverage becomes the plot twist. Translation: Oracle is trading margin now for AI dominance later, and Wall Street is watching.

Source:

https://www.barrons.com/articles/larry-ellison-oracle-56e03912

Barron's:
Genius or Cliff Dive (Larry Ellison’s $300 billion dollar AI Power Play)

Oracle is riding the AI wave like a rocket, with the stock up 373% in 3 years, a reported $300B dollar OpenAI contract, and a backlog exploding to 455B dollars.

Larry Ellison, 81 and still in attack mode, is turning Oracle into the supplier of choice for AI builders, not a rival. The playbook is simple: data plus compute equals destiny. The company is loading up on capacity and customers, while Ellison pursues strategic side quests that protect the core, from the TikTok USA bid to deep ties with Skydance and Paramount.

The bill is massive. Oracle is taking on more than 90B dollars in long-term debt, sold 18B dollars in bonds in September, and could see gross margins fall from about 72 percent to about 52 percent by 2029 even as revenue soars.

If OpenAI and a few whales deliver, Ellison’s biggest bet becomes his legacy, with scale lifting profits over time. If contracts wobble or capex drags, customer concentration plus leverage becomes the plot twist. Translation: Oracle is trading margin now for AI dominance later, and Wall Street is watching.

Source:

https://www.barrons.com/articles/larry-ellison-oracle-56e03912