A Word from Florence Tsai,
our Founder and Managing Director
Dear Friends:
I hope you and your family are well as the world enters a new phase of co-existing with the Coronavirus. I am pleased to present you with a new edition of our Biweekly Brief.
Our goal is to curate stories to inspire wealth creation and stimulate curiosity of both the Senior and Rising Generations in your business family. With social distance and stay-at-home practices continuing, this is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to deepen relationships and build family unity. We hope these stories spark fun explorations and passionate dialogues within the family.
We are also thrilled to share with you information about our journey titled, “Fast Tracking Wealth Creation Success: Power & Influence Within the Family Enterprise.” This six-week tech-enabled journey is part of a portfolio of journeys created to guide your family in your quest for multi-generational wealth creation success.
This journey will be of particularly high impact for rising leaders in the family trying to convince seniors of your visions of the New Normal. Through this six-week course, our experts will guide you to articulate your goals, dialogue via video sessions, and develop an action plan. You will find more information regarding this journey below.
As always, please feel free to ask us questions or share your thoughts. You can send us an email by clicking on this link.
With warm regards,
Florence
Special Feature
Business Titans Cope with the Pandemic
Bloomberg explores how four billionaires are adapting to new paradigms created by the pandemic.
The article explores real estate titan Rick Caruso whose upscale sprawling retail properties have been deserted for weeks due to Covid-19. According to the article, Caruso has quickly adjusted his business from expansion to sheer survival. He spoke of what he believes will be a continued trend for retail, the outdoor shopping experience where consumers enjoy sunlight and fresh air.
Oil magnate Russell Gordy who owns 239,000 acres in the Western U.S. is also featured. Gordy is not optimistic about the outlook for oil demand, believing that demand for fossil fuels will continue to diminish. He is confident, however, that American ingenuity will find a way to contend with the pandemic.
Rocco Commisso’s preparedness is also described. Commisso is the billionaire owner of Mediacom Communications Corp, the fifth largest U.S. cable company with operations in the Midwest and Southeast. He had a chance to prepare early. The ACF Fiorentina, the soccer team he owns based in Italy, had to go into lockdown ealier in 2020. When the pandemic hit the U.S., Commisso had already acquired protective equipment for his workers and 1,700 laptops, so his staff could shift easily to working from home.
Finally, the article discusses Jim Goodnight, billionaire tech titan owner of SAS Institute, the world’s largest privately owned software firm. Goodnight discusses that continuing demand for SAS analytics tools has prevented the need for furloughs or lay offs of its 13,000 workforce. Unlike most tech companies, SAS offices are not configured in open spaces making the transition to the design standards of social distance easier. To read the story, please visit this article link.
Special Centerprising Programs
The Centerprising team has designed a portfolio of journeys to guide your family in your quest for multi-generational wealth creation success.
Given the many challenges the pandemic is causing business families, we suggest “Fast Tracking Wealth Creation Success: Power & Influence Within the Family Enterprise” for Rising Generation family members who want to become more effective at creating momentum within the family enterprise for the wealth creation projects by understanding the dynamics of power and influence within the family enterprise system.
These sources of power include cultural norms, formal roles and authority, informal influence, and much more. Participants will learn to recognize, manage, and structure their strategy around the power and influence they and other stakeholders possess.
This six-week journey includes weekly study materials, video dialogues with Centerprising experts, and culminates with a personal action plan as the final output. If you have any questions, please contact us by clicking on this inquiry form. To download the brochure with more details on this journey, please visit this brochure link.
To register, please click on the button below:
Generations Working Together
Philanthropists Seek Congressional Action to Increase Charitable Giving Requirements
Bloomberg reports that a group of philanthropists want Congress to require foundations and charitable groups to give more to non-profits. They propose to double the mandatory amount that private foundations must donate to charities each year from the current 5% to a new 10% of their total assets. This group includes Susan and Regan Pritzker and early Google software developer Ning Mosberger-Tang as well as over 260 other philanthropists.
This group anticipates that policy-makers may be reluctant to pass additional stimulus packages. They believe this would be a relatively easy alternative to bring more capital into the economy. It could have significant impact on alleviating the continued economic impact of the pandemic. To read this article, please visit this article link.
Technology Trends
Robot Analysts Outperform Research Analysts’
Investment Recommendations
Business Insider reports on a study conducted by the University of Indiana on profitable stock recommendations by human and robot analysts. The study found that buy recommendations from robot analysts outperformed those of human stock analysts. In addition, the study concluded that robot analysts selected a more balanced distribution of buy, sell, and hold assets. According to researchers who conducted the simulation, this confirms the presence of human behavioral biases in human constructed portfolios, as those were not as balanced.
Robot analysis are also capable of higher research activity thus making robots’ portfolios more dynamic than those of their human counterparts. Robot analysts’ recommendations relied on in-depth analysis of financial statements as opposed to earnings reports, which human analysts use as primary source for their investment strategies.
The study reviewed 76,568 reports conducted by seven robot analyst companies between 2013 and 2018. To read the article, please visit this link. To view the University of Indiana study, please visit this link.
Health and Wellness
Nasal Breathing and Covid-19
Our editors have selected a number of articles related to health and wellness on re-thinking breathing during this global pandemic that attacks our respiratory system.
The Wall Street Journal published an article about the healing power of breathing. The article cites that many Americans do not practice proper breathing. In fact, as the body ages, people lose lung capacity. With breathing techniques, the article suggests, one can reverse loss of lung capacity. Proper breathing can also improve mental health the author argues. One recommended technique includes breathing through the nose and avoid breathing through the mouth, which can result in absorbing 18% more oxygen than oral breathing. The author suggests that proper breathing could also be part of the arsenal of tools to fight the global pandemic. To read this piece, please visit this link.
On Variety, J.K. Rowling credits her relatively speedy recovery from Covid-19 to deep breathing techniques specifically designed for Covid patients. She posted on her Twitter account a video of a doctor in Queens Hospital in the U.K. whose technique of consecutive deep breathing opens us the throat and lungs. Rowling believes this technique was helpful in her recovery. To read the story, please visit this article link. To see the video with the breathing demonstration, please visit this link.
Innovator Spotlight
Mukesh Ambani Continues to Raise Capital for
Jio Platforms, the World’s Third Largest Mobile Network
The Financial Times reports that private equity firm KKR will invest $1.5 Billion in Reliance’s Jio Platforms bringing its valuation to $65 Billion.
Jio Platforms is the telecom arm of Mukesh Ambani’s vast empire, Reliance, which includes energy, textiles, and petrochemicals businesses. This investment represents over $9 Billion raised from private equity in the U.S. in the last month. Jio boasts of 388 Million subscribers, and it is the third largest mobile network globally.
The Financial Times reports that Mubadala, the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi, is expected to invest $1.5 Billion. The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund is reported to be in conversations for a $1.5 Billion investment in Jio. To read the full story, please visit this link.