The Bid Shading Threat to Amazon Advertising
Amazon’s $69 billion advertising business faces an FTC lawsuit over alleged bid shading, threatening a revenue stream that grew roughly sixfold since 2019.
Tuesday, September 1, 2026
From X
Laughing Water Capital on X
@JonoJohnson8 @cfrischer1 Interesting to note that Carr 1st comments on increasing accuracy, and then calls GPS a “related issue”. He clearly makes a distinction between the 2 ideas. Maybe splitting hairs, but there is only 1 company that addresses both points: $NN.
Laughing Water Capital on X
@UnHedgedChatter @InvestSpecial @Wexboy_Value $AS, owner of Arc'teryx & 9 other brands trades at more than 3x sales. $CLAR, which would fit perfectly into AS's portfolio trades at less than 0.5x sales and is exploring strategic alts. 🤷♂️
Laughing Water Capital on X
@mil01425146 @yummyCenturyEgg @JBonfato @23Titan31 Happy to talk about $NN, Part 15, antenna science, radar science, tolling, etc., but I prefer to not be tagged on anything having to do with baked goods and personal proclivities. TYIA.
Laughing Water Capital on X
Interesting framing for $NN. $95 is pretty far above my upside case, but agree the $T / FirstNet arrangement is interesting context, despite some obvious differences. https://t.co/b3FsHVkivk
Laughing Water Capital on X
@FishOnCapital IMHO best to view this in context of the pod w/ the banker from the 600 MHz. To paraphrase, all of the likely buyers wanted the 600, but AT&T won b/c they were able to move fastest. I suspect $VZ, $TMUS & others will be ready to move fast for $NN's 900. https://t.co/5gRpmej4Bk
catechwilliams on X
$PTRN Recent IPO. $AMZN Mktplace wholesaler. Buys products up front, capital intensive, bears price, inventory risk. Exposed to FBA cost & AMZN algo changes. Claims AI optimization which AMZN explicitly blocks. Razor thin margins, neg op leverage. All peers went BK in last 3yrs.
Laughing Water Capital on X
@yummyCenturyEgg 3/x) $NN argues for coexistence b/c it WORKS. They have also shown that much of part 15 is already in the 11 Mhz NN doesnt want. and most of part 15 will be end of life b4 radios get hung, so no need to pay to move them. it is possible the RFID makers get some $, but not much
Laughing Water Capital on X
@yummyCenturyEgg 1/x) 1st you AGAIN didnt respond to any of my points. nevertheless, i will respond to your points. 1) $NN has operating a M-LMS network in SF for 10+ yrs w/ 0 part 15 interference, & they want to LOWER emissions for 5G. It is factually incorrect to say MLMS is weaker than NN 5G
Investor Letters
All letters- Protean Funds July 2026 DVYSR $106MEVGGF $17B
- Royce Investment Partners year-to-date period ended 6/30/26 AAP $2.6BAGO $3.3B
- Protean Funds June 2026 CINT $224MIDDWF $9.5B
- Alluvial Capital Management Second Quarter 2026 ZEG $5BDGXX $372M
- Hayden Capital Q2 2026 AMZN $2.8TGOOGL $4.2T
- Intrepid Capital 2Q26 GOOGL $4.2T
- Polaris Capital Management Second Quarter 2026 ENI $81BHDIH
- First Eagle Investments second quarter 2026 032830 $44BBABA $268B
Microsoft ($MSFT) - Deep Dive
Microsoft’s AI data-center buildout lifted annual CapEx from $5.5 billion in FY2014 to $115.9 billion in FY2026, resetting free-cash-flow…
Meta Buys Away its Distraction at Minimal Cost
Meta’s $18 billion teen-addiction settlement makes $5.3 billion contingent on YouTube and TikTok adopting matching restrictions, while…
Making sense of Sandisk’s long-term financial model
Sandisk’s FY28-FY30 model relies on long-term NAND agreements holding near-80% gross-margin floors despite pricing 26-28% below current…
Late August 2026 Random Ramblings
Higher rates could compress equity multiples and raise AI data center lease costs, while UWMC and Cogent raise questions about CEO-driven…
BHVN 2026-08-27 Biohaven: Sale Of Opakalim Rights To SK Biopharmaceuticals Makes Sense On Many Levels
Biohaven’s $795 million global opakalim licensing deal with SK Biopharmaceuticals boosts cash, lowers R&D spending and extends its funding…
Edmund Ingham 5 clicks
Domo (Arigato), for this potential multi-bagger options trade
Domo’s $400 million sale to Progress would leave a cash-rich public shell with $900 million of NOLs; January 2028 $5 calls cost 22 cents.
MT 2026-08-27 ArcelorMittal: Regionalization Is Creating A Structurally Better Steel Company
ArcelorMittal’s regional steel franchises, integrated mining and India expansion are lifting EBITDA per ton and supporting per-share…
Capital Connoisseur 3 clicks
[scuttleslops] AI Data Center Economics, ADI, INTU, IDXX
AWS AI campuses cost $40–$45 billion per gigawatt, with Trainium 3 expected to lift compute per megawatt and improve infrastructure returns.
KMI 2026-08-26 Kinder Morgan: The Consolidation Is An Opportunity Before The Next Leg Higher
Kinder Morgan raised 2026 guidance after record Q2 results, supported by a $9.6 billion backlog and growing U.S.
Steven Fiorillo 3 clicks
$ELAL: El Al is a wartime monopoly at 2x EBITDA. Is that a trap? | ASB Partners
El Al trades near 2x EBITDA after wartime near-monopoly profits, with $1.3 billion of net cash and owned aircraft weighed against…
Nvidia Climbing the Wall of Worries
Nvidia guided FY2028 revenue toward $700 billion, roughly 70% growth, while supply constraints and neocloud demand face concerns over…
ACIW 2026-08-27 ACI Worldwide: An Undercovered Payments Compounder Getting Better
ACI Worldwide’s payment software segment grew 9% with a 48% adjusted EBITDA margin, while the company targets 50-60% of operating cash flow…
SiliconBytes Insights 5 clicks
Nvidia’s Long-Term Margin Question
Nvidia faces questions over the durability of its long-term profit margins ahead of earnings.
CBRS 2026-08-26 Sizing Up Cerebras Systems: Why Its Latency Moat Makes It A Buy For Aggressive Growth Investors
Cerebras’ CS-4 wafer-scale chips target latency-sensitive AI inference, but Nvidia’s ecosystem, manufacturing yields and KV-cache…
Star Investments 4 clicks
Big Tech Off-Balance Sheet Concerns
Big Tech’s $3 trillion AI commitments are disclosed and largely long-dated, with nearly 60% of Amazon’s $650 billion commitments falling…
STNE 2026-08-25 StoneCo: Deep Value Hiding Behind Brazil's Rate Fears - For Now
StoneCo's buybacks and special dividend produced roughly 39% H1 shareholder yield as Brazil's rate cuts slow and competition persists.
IWA Research 7 clicks
CCC Is in the Middle of the Wreckage
CCC, the dominant auto physical-damage claims estimator, connects 27 of the top 30 insurers with 31,000 repair shops as takeout rumors…
NCLH or her grandma Saga?
Norwegian Cruise Line’s $15 billion debt and 2026-27 capex delay deleveraging, despite fuel-efficient new ships and stronger projected 2028…
Shitcos, Griftcos, and alignment versus enrichment at $IREN
IREN awarded each co-CEO roughly 9 million RSUs, about 2.5% of shares and $400 million, in exchange for no further equity grants until…
$NU: is Nubank Capital One in 1994 or Capital One in 2006? | Vanshap Capital
Nubank's 140 million customers, 20% efficiency ratio and 30% ROE frame whether its high-teens P/E reflects a scalable fintech or a maturing…
Publications we follow
Every publication on this site, hand-picked.
Newsletters 53
- 310 Value’s Newsletter
- Altay Capital - Mostly Value Investing
- Aurelion Research
- Base Hit Investing
- Bearhold Research
- Bristlemoon Capital
- Byron Street Research
- Capital Employed
- Capitalist Letters
- Citrini Research
- Cluseau Research
- Deep Value Insights
- Exploring with Alluvial Capital
- First Strike Research
- Guardian Research
- Hated Moats
- Healthy Stock Picks
- Hidden Gems Investing
- Hidden Rock Capital's Newsletter
- Ian’s Insider Corner
- John Hempton's Newsletter
- Kairos Research
- Lewistown Capital
- Maius Partners
- MBI Deep Dives
- Modern Value Investing
- Multibagger Monitor
- Nat Stewart - Stock Picking Newsletter
- Net Interest
- Nugget Capital Partner's Substack
- Open Insights
- Raging Bull Investments
- Rebound Capital
- Rod’s Ruminations
- scuttleblurb
- SixSigmaCapital: Navigating the Financial Markets
- smallvalue.
- Speedwell Memos
- Stock Thoughts
- Substack von Philipp
- Sunday's Idea Brunch
- Sylence Capital
- The Curious Compounder
- The Mikro Kap
- The Oak Bloke
- The Value Road
- Treasure Hunting
- Triple S Special Situations Investing
- TSOH Investment Research
- Underlying Value
- Value Don't Lie
- XIX Value
- Yet Another Value Blog
Blogs 11
X accounts we follow
Every account on this site, hand-picked.
⚽️📡
A Capital
AltayCap
Bank Reg Blog
BDC
Bill Ackman
Broken Moats
BuccoCapital Bloke
catechwilliams
Charles Frischer
Chris Camillo
Clark Square Capital
Cluseau Investments
Connor Haley
David Orr
Deep Sail Capital
DOMO Capital Management, LLC
Evan Tindell
Farmer
Fierce_beast
Fred Liu
Gavin Baker
Ian Bezek
JabroniCoin.USD
John_Hempton
junkbondinvestor
kab60
KEDM.com
Laughing Water Capital
Lee Roach
Little Owl Research
Maj Soueidan
marginofdanger
mavix
Mike
Mikro Kap David
Multiples Capital
Myles
Nat Stewart
Negligible Capital
PAA Research
Pernas Research
Porter Collins
Prepared Remarks
Psyop Capital
Raging Capital Ventures
Rusholme Capital
Sahil Khetpal
SG
Tim Eriksen
Timyan Bank Alert
ToffCap
Trevor Scott
Voss Capital
Yaron Naymark
Sectors
Ordered by how often our editor reaches for them.
