The firm's private equity arm makes all-stage venture capital investments, primarily in the technology sector. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. 15 He said the money the company is currently spending to develop VR could add up for a decade before it comes to fruition. Do they want to stand with me and ride that out? Chase Coleman's: Tiger Global Management. And we've had government intervention of the magnitude. To accomplish this goal, we recommend a three step plan that will double FCF to $40 B per year and focus the companys teams and investments: Getting Fit Headcount Reduction / Expense Control. Like many other companies in a zero rate world Meta has drifted into the land of excess too many people, too many ideas, too little urgency. We had given most of that up by middle of December. We've never seen on the order of magnitude of the Marshall Plan at the beginning of COVID. They are people with families and kids to support. As a result, the team hastily pivoted the company toward the metaverse including a surprise re-naming of the company to Meta. Rodney O'Neal, former CEO of Delphi Automotive; former board member of Delphi Automotive, Sprint, and Goodyear; It is a poorly kept secret in Silicon Valley that companies ranging from Google to Meta to Twitter to Uber could achieve similar levels of revenue with far fewer people. This lack of focus and fitness is obscured when growth is easy but deadly when growth slows and technology changes. Instead, the company has announced investments of $1015B per year into a metaverse project that largely includes AR / VR / immersive 3D / Horizon World and that it may take 10 years to yield results. To put that in perspective, it merely takes the company back to mid-2021 levels of employee expense and I dont think anybody would argue that Meta wasnt sufficiently staffed in 2021 to tackle a business that looks similar to how it looks today. Altimeter Capital - Wikipedia The conventional wisdom press and investor is that the core business hit a wall last fall. Meta needs to re-build confidence with investors, employees and the tech community in order to attract, inspire, and retain the best people in the world. Look at another one that I know is in your book or at least it was Roblox is down 74% from its 52-week high. And as a result, you know, last year we held up better than most because we own high-quality stocks, and we were short lower quality stocks. 16,839 Followers. We have little doubt investors and others would happily support scaling up these investments as the ROI becomes more tangible even if still long-term. FalconX Raises $210M Following 30x YoY Revenue Growth; Now Valued at $3 Some companies require tremendous capex investment to maintain their existing business. Altimeter Capital's Brad Gerstner Issues Open Letter to Meta (META) and Right. Ro $500.0M. "New Prices for Meta Quest 2s 256GB SKU + Meta Quest Pro. PDF QUARTERLY LETTER - Hayden Capital It can do that by making. Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC exclusive interview with Altimeter Capital Founder & CEO Brad Gerstner on CNBC's "Closing Bell: Overtime" (M-F, 4PM-5PM ET) today, Monday, March 14th for the premiere. I have deep respect and admiration for founders that continue to grind, inspire, and invent long after the financial motivation is gone. Right if the Fed raises rates 10 or 12 times given the demand destruction and the slowdown already underway in this country, we will be in a big recession come fall. And notably, this decline in share price mirrors the lost confidence in the company, not just the bad mood of the market. The metaverse is a shared virtual environment with aspects of online gaming, augmented reality, and more that people can access via the Internet. We've destroyed over $15 trillion of stock market wealth. On top of that we had supply chain challenges. I hear you but look, there are, there are some people who think and it's not maybe it's not a Snowflake, but it's a you know, a basket of these kinds of names that may never get back. click here! If Meta was able to control those costs, he said, then it could double its free cash flow and improve its share price. In our view given United's valuable and industry-leading strategic asset base this long-term underperformance directly results from an underqualified, ineffective, complacent, and entrenched Board. "In short, Meta needs to get fit and focused.". He argued that this was "one of the big reasons behind these price cuts.". He joins me live. WAPNER: I know I know you're not happy about it. Altimeter Capital Management LP Info Size ($ in 1000's) At 12/31/2022: $3,652,571 At 09/30/2022: $4,676,285 Altimeter Capital Management LP holdings changes, total fund size, and other information presented on HoldingsChannel.com was derived from Altimeter Capital Management LP 13F filings. I mean, two years ago we were we were having this conversation. Meta and other large companies have made it very difficult for start-ups to hire. Our six nominees have the necessary skills, leadership abilities, and relevant experience to catalyze a United course change and to help the Company realize its immense potential. I don't think there's any chance that the Fed is going to raise rates 10 times this year. FTX's Bankman-Fried Quietly Invested More than $500 Million in Sequoia Perhaps it was the re-naming of the company to Meta that caused the world to conclude that you were spending 100% of your time on Reality Labs instead of AI or the core business. Moreover, Meta has industry leading capabilities in key future technologies like artificial intelligence and immersive 3d that will help drive new products and future growth. But Meta needs to get its mojo back. articles a month for anyone to read, even non-subscribers! FTX, once the third-largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange, is now in U.S. bankruptcy. So we're in the neighborhood of a tradable bottom. At least one big investor is calling for Mark Zuckerberg to throw in I think that this is a business that is investing in the right things. All Rights Reserved. TEORIA ECONOMICA Y SOCIOPOLITICA DESCRIPTORES MNIMOS.pdf WAPNER: Let me lastly ask you about Grab, the SPAC deal you did, biggest SPAC deal ever of $40 billion. Altimeter Capital's Brad Gerstner Issues Open Letter to Meta (META) and Mark Zuckerberg Article Related Articles ( 4) Stock Quotes (1) October 24, 2022 8:20 AM EDT Tweet Share E-mail Get. The reductions for the Quest Pro start March 5 in the U.S. and Canada, and on March 15 in other countries where it is supported. Altimeter SPACs surge on reported $40 billion deal for Singapore ride We have not made this difficult decision lightly, but after thorough, serious, and objective analysis, we feel compelled to act. b***@altimeter.com. 2,06,700 crore) a year and capped annual investment in the metaverse to $5 billion (roughly Rs . WAPNER: I want to take a look at the stock in "Overtime" here because I think you're moving in I'm looking at what looks to be a higher move as we're having this conversation and that brings me frankly, now to Facebook. Nov. 16, 2021 at 2:38 p.m. Unlock your 30 days free access to ETPrime now. Email. This is a region of 700 million plus people. Altimeter Capital Management partner Chris Conforti plans to leave the investment firm, according to people with knowledge of the matter. But the company's dreams have fallen short as the Reality Labs unit, which works on augmented and virtual reality, has continuously reported staggering losses. committed hundreds of millions of dollars to Sequoia Capital, Altimeter Capital Management and Multicoin . Why didn't you buy, you know, Uber at 28 bucks a share? And we are confident that your long-term investments in AI and the next generation of communications will continue to drive us all forward. Its founder faces criminal and civil charges and goes to trial in October. But far from being a bad decision, we think the recommendations outlined above will lead to a leaner, more productive, and more focused company a company that regains its confidence and momentum. It will get there three years from now because it's free cash flow margin will continue to expand and if you just get it, give it the multiples that are currently in the market, right, that have already drawn down on free cash flow, you get to that 3X that I quoted. H1 Raises $100M Series C to Expand Footprint, Make H1 the Tina Sharkey, CEO of SherpaFoundry; former board member of HomeAway; and ET on GuruFocus.com Builders Union LLP Buys AppLovin Corp, Match. I mean, we're talking about billions of dollars in revenue but you left that out. SPACs notched more than $70 billion so far in 2021, a new record. Top 10 Stocks Held By Altimeter Capital Management LP Days Trial However, there are few signs that VR or some of the company's metaverse apps, such as Horizon Worlds, are catching on with the public beyond early adopters. "Bloomberg Opinion" columnists offer their opinions on issues in the news. It massively distorted multiples on the way in and it's massively distorting multiples on the way out. And so, for our LPs, the bet is simple. Altimeter Growth Corp. 2 raised $400 million in a January IPO. Metas core business is one of the largest and most profitable in the world with over $45 B in operating profits last year alone. In preparation for its first-ever mass tournament, Chronos will feature a fantasy-theme RPG with the potential to earn prizes and a chance to win based on the classes of playable . Altimeter Capital Portfolio Investments, Altimeter Capital Funds It's our largest position we're not selling but we acknowledge that it's been rough for our investors, rough for us. "If the company were investing $1-2B per year into this project, then that confusion might not even be a problem.". We dont have any demands. FalconX Raises $210M Following 30x YoY Revenue Growth; Now Valued at $3.75 Billion Series C Led by Altimeter Capital, B Capital Group, Sapphire Ventures, and Tiger Global Management, with. I don't think stocks today reflect a great price discovery about where these stocks are going to be in six months, let alone two years, but I'm also eyes wide open to the fact that we could go lower before we go higher. Meta said the cost of the Quest 2 will drop $70 to $429.99, while the price of the higher-end Quest Pro will be slashed to $999.99 from $1,499.99. Altimeter Capital Company Profile | Management and Employees List It takes effect in 2023. Limit investment in metaverse / Reality Labs to no more than $5B per year. Southeast Asia's largest ride-hailing company, Grab Holdings, said Tuesday that it plans to merge with U.S.-based Altimeter Growth Capital in a deal that would value it at nearly $40 billion and . We certainly are neither short-term traders nor activists. A securities lawyer, Brad Gerstner graduated from HBS in 2000 and joined General Catalyst. You would simply do R&D quietly and investors would focus on the core business and the breakthroughs in AI. We understand that the Protocol is designed to amend only those Protocol Covered Agreements between two Adhering Parties that were previously amended pursuant to the terms of the August 2012 Protocol, the March 2013 Protocol or both. The full text of the stockholder letter to the United Board follows: March 8, 2016. We were wrong. PLAN, Yearly As such, we think Meta company should cap its metaverse investments to no more than $5B per year with more discrete targets and measures of success, as opposed to todays much more ambitious and open-ended strategy. 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As always, we welcome the opportunity to engage in further discussions focused on this shared objective. By Altimeter Capital $750M Venture Capital in Feb, 2021 VROOM E-Commerce +2 Total funding $1.2B in 10 rounds from 15 investors By Altimeter Capital $50M Series E in Sep, 2016 Wingz Networking +3 Total funding $13.7M in 4 rounds from 36 investors By Altimeter Capital $11M Series B in Jan, 2016 Despite public skepticism at times warranted we have been supporters It said Grab is expected to raise between. Today, the cost of capital has radically changed, and so has Metas growth rate. We believe in this team. About Kevin Wang. I think they have to take a look at their capital allocation plan. Altimeter Capital Management, LLC a Portfolio Activity as reported in the most recent 13F form published on Dec 31, 2022. The technology-focused hedge fund with a 0.1% ownership claimed that the company had lost investor confidence as it increased . Altimeter Capital owns a stake of about $320 million, according to the Wall Street Journal, but that only equates with a 0.1% share of the company, according to Meta's latest filings with the. A Division of NBCUniversal. Learn the pros and cons of crowdfunding. "Meta Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Results," Page 10. Activist investor Brad Gerstner, founder and CEO of tech-focused hedge fund Altimeter Capital, sent an open letter to CEO Mark Zuckerberg in October calling for a pullback in metaverse spending. Investopedia does not include all offers available in the marketplace. At Meta, the number of employees is up over 3x from 25k to 85k employees in just the last four years! Some companies require tremendous capex investment to maintain their existing business. Screen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. At the end of the second quarter this year, Altimeter Capital held more than 2 million shares of Meta. 2023 CNBC LLC. I think we spent about an hour together. +Includes DocuBay and TimesPrime Membership. As you know, we are long-term shareholders. FREE Breaking News Alerts from StreetInsider.com! GERSTNER: Right Scott so that you know I started off by saying you know we've been beaten up this year like everybody else because I was covering shorts as we approach the five-year average. This is a hard game. The company has lost investor confidence as it ramped up spending and pivoted to the metaverse, the technology-focused hedge fund with a 0.1% stake said, and suggested a three-step plan. Menlo Park, CA 94025 (650) 549-9145 (Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service) Copies: . About Altimeter Capital Altimeter is a global investment firm managing both public and private funds focused on the airline, travel, technology, internet, software, and consumer sectors. United Continental Holdings, Inc. Privacy Policy, ISDA uses cookies to enhance your experience on our website. In Q1 of 2021, everybody was sitting on their couch. There are a lot of companies with speculative business models, right, that are should have never been valued where they were valued and if you don't have absolute conviction, right, they can grow their product, grow their top line and grow their earnings to match where those earlier prices were, then you need to rotate those dollars out of those companies and into companies where you have that level of conviction. We'll see you soon. No matter how a company came public in 2021, let alone December of 2021, right, they've been obliterated. We know Meta has more reach, more relevance, and more incredible opportunities for growth than almost any platform on the planet. Meta has spent billions and hired thousands of employees around the world to build the metaverse, which refers to a shared digital environment that uses augmented or virtual reality technology to make it feel more realistic. Like many other companies in a zero rate world Meta has drifted into the land of excess too many people, too many ideas, too little urgency. GERSTNER: So let's talk for a second about what I called. . This is a business it's trading at 12 times free cash flow, X the meta investment and 18 times including. Capital October 20, 2022 Risk & Capital. Contact. Altimeter Capital Management, LP ("Altimeter") is an SEC-registered investment adviser. Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. Brad Gerstner founded the. And, while most companies will struggle to monetize AI, we believe Meta is incredibly well positioned to leverage AI to make all of its existing products better. The bottom line is where I wanted to start this whole interview with is you called it. Techmeme: Open letter: Altimeter Capital founder and CEO Brad Gerstner In the last 18 months, Meta stock is down 55% (compared to an average of 19% for its big-tech peers). This would double annual FCF and put FCF as a percentage of revenue more in line with Google, Microsoft, and Apple. Accept. See here for a complete list of exchanges and delays. As such, we think during this period of growth transition and economic uncertainty, the company should decrease capex by at least $5B and maintain this discipline until revenues re-accelerate bringing our capex as a percentage of revenue more in line with our large cap peers. That's what makes markets. With that said, we have a shortage of talent in Silicon Valley. But what is the right amount? So, its with some hesitation, but significant conviction, I am sharing an open letter strongly encouraging Meta to streamline and focus its path forward. Over the last three years, Meta has also dramatically increased its capital expenses. It's our largest position in the book. I don't think the Fed is going to throw away two years' worth of work to try to avoid a recession in a election year and run us straight into the teeth of a recession while we're trying to fight a war in Europe. A newly launched P2E adventure game, Chronos: Dawn of Tie, has introduced a series of brand-new PvP elimination tournaments.Last month, the whimsical battle game organized its beta stage featuring selected players. It lost $5.8 billion in the first six months of the year. Headquarters Location One International Place Suite 2400 Boston, Massachusetts, 02110, United States 617-310-6180 Suggest an edit NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- H1, which provides the largest global healthcare network that connects healthcare professionals, announced today that it has raised a $100M Series C. We simply wanted to further engage and continue sharing our thoughts as an interested shareholder. Instead, the company has announced investments of $1015B per year into a metaverse project that largely includes AR / VR / immersive 3D / Horizon World and that it may take 10 years to yield results. Get your daily dose of business updates on WhatsApp. And so we add on a fair amount of exposures we entered this year. Consumer confidence is plummeting. Choose your reason below and click on the Report button. The last 10 years have been a unique time in tech and for Meta. My bet is we're gonna have less this year. That's the asymmetry. If they do it, I think the stock can be up over 50% between now and the end of the year. GERSTNER: So, Scott that you know the top six names in our book are all companies that we believe are, you know, both accelerating, expanding margins, expanding free cash flow margins, right, and that are critically important and will be worth more in the future. Reels, which is a massive product is going to increase its monetization between now and the end of the year. GERSTNER: Well, first let's talk about what took Facebook down, right? As such, we would encourage the company to move aggressively and cut at least 20% of employee-related expenses by January 1, 2023. Even excluding its large metaverse investment, Meta has gone from $15B in annual capex in 2018, 2019, and 2020 to $30B in annual capex in 2022. "We think the recommendations outlined above will lead to a leaner, more productive, and more focused company a company that regains its confidence and momentum," Gerstner wrote. Can it possibly be worth a trillion? Will His AI Plans Be Any Different? It's a better version of Zoom. Grab Reportedly Set to List in US Via SPAC Merger at $35 Billion Valuation