Tremendous

An angel investor's take on life and business

  • AMC Fails to Deliver Pass 1.3 Million in Latest Report

    Fails to deliver in shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. passed 1.3 million in the latest SEC report. In nearly a year of reporting on this, this is one of the highest figures I’ve seen.

    Fails to deliver hit 1,327,129 on March 23. They settled at 103,223 at the end of March, the last date for which information is available.

    Even that is an exceptionally high level compared to other stocks.

    AMC sometimes does a lot of volume, so we should correct for that.

    Let’s compare the fails to deliver and number of shares traded for AMC and a few major stocks. Below, I use volume data from Yahoo! Finance.

    Here are the numbers for March 23:

    StockFails to DeliverVolume% Failed
    AMC1,327,129170,142,6000.780%
    AAPL1,15098,062,7000.001%
    AMZN812,790,6000.003%
    GOOG01,265,1000%
    MSFT260825,715,4000.010%

    If you look at another day, the numbers change a little, but the overall picture remains the same. AMC has far more trades failing to clear than other stocks, both in absolute number and as a percentage of shares traded.

    Why are so many AMC trades failing to clear? In stocks with a persistent pattern of fails to deliver, such as AMC, naked short selling is a common culprit.

    Naked short selling is the mostly illegal practice of selling short shares you did not borrow first. Later, the trade fails because the shares never existed in the first place!

    This is a powerful way to push down a stock’s price. If you need not find shares to borrow, you can sell short as many as you like, putting the stock under pressure.

    Moreover, the SEC fails to deliver numbers may be an undercount.

    Once a trade has been failed for an extended period, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) puts it an “obligation warehouse.” Once the trade is there, it effectively disappears.

    Poof.

    I suspect hedge funds are using naked short sales to manipulate the price of this popular stock. And the DTCC is making it easy for them by wiping their obligations.

    To me, the only real question is, how long will they be allowed to get away with it?

    Why do you think AMC fails to deliver are so high? Leave a comment at the bottom and let your voice be heard!

    More on markets:

    FBI Raids Short Sellers

    NYSE Investigating Shopify Stock Plunge; Citadel Involved

    Citadel Paying Over $1B a Year for Order Flow

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been great so far.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me.

    Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor.

    I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 

  • Coffeebots and the Search for the Perfect Cup

    A robotic arm carefully grips the cup as frothy milk cascades onto smooth espresso. It gently places the cup before you.

    Coffee is served.

    I’m a little obsessed with coffee. I have five coffee makers at home, each for a different style.

    But if the next generation of robotics companies has their way, they might all be replaced by a skillful droid.

    Founded in 2015, Cafe X makes full-service robocafes that can be found at San Francisco International Airport and elsewhere. Today, they are only sold to commercial customers, but can the home version be far away?

    Cafe X’s intelligent robots can make a drink in as little as 20 seconds. It can even make multiple drinks at once!

    Best of all, the price is less than half what Starbucks charges.

    CEO Henry Hu was inspired by the robotic arms that build automobiles.

    A simpler coffee machine could make drinks, but the robotic arm is much more versatile. It can also serve snacks or even be used in restaurants.

    The pandemic hit Cafe X hard, but it’s back in service in SFO, Dubai and elsewhere.

    The machines cost about $200,000. A quick Indeed search shows most barista positions in the NYC area paying between $13 and $30 per hour.

    If the average is even $20 per hour, and a human-staffed store is open perhaps 90 hours a week, it costs $93,600 to staff the store with even one barista for a year.

    In an ever tighter labor market, once employers go bot, they may never go back.

    Cafe X isn’t the only company bringing Star Wars to Starbucks. In Nashville, Panera Bread is rolling out coffee robots from Miso Robotics.

    Unlike Cafe X, Miso’s robot is barely noticeable. It discreetly monitors temperature and time to ensure a perfect brew, but there’s no robotic arm to whisk the drink to you.

    The system is designed to assist workers, not replace them.

    Miso Robotics also makes Chippy, which fries tortilla chips at Chipotle, and Flippy, which flips burgers for White Castle.

    In a white hot labor market, these robots may not cause unemployment. But my concerns about restaurant automation run deeper.

    When I go to a cafe, I sometimes chat with the barista and have a little laugh. In a world of sensors and robotic arms, I’ll have no one to talk to.

    Those little interactions aren’t the substance of our social life, but they can be enjoyable sprinkles on the top.

    Cafe X’s robot amazes me and manages to be cute to boot. But I find a world without anyone to share a brief chuckle with a melancholy one.

    Would you try a robocoffee? And what do you think about the future of restaurant automation?

    Leave a comment at the bottom and let me know!

    More on tech:

    Robot Pizzas and the Future of Fast Food

    What if Everyone on Earth Had Super Fast Internet for $1?

    Robot Hands, Vertical Farms, and the Future of Food

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been great so far.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me.

    Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor.

    I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 

  • How to Write a Deal Memo

    Everyone running a startup knows about the deck.

    There are countless tutorials about how to write this PowerPoint presentation that forms a key part of a startup’s pitch. Shoot, I’ve even written one.

    But what about the deck’s mysterious cousin: the deal memo?

    Founders generally send potential investors a deal memo along with the deck when they’re trying to raise money. You would generally send one once you’ve confirmed some interest from the investor. (For the first introduction, a short deck is good.)

    But when an investor is ready to take a serious dig into your business, it’s time for the deal memo. So what does a good deal memo look like?

    I see over 200 of them every month as an investor. Here are how some of the best look:

    Length

    Generally more than 2 but fewer than 10 pages. About 6-8 pages is good.

    More important than the exact length is that you cover important elements thoroughly but concisely.

    Which brings us to…

    Topics

    Here are the sections I like to see, ideally in this order.

    A paragraph or two for each section is good.

    • Deal Terms: How much are you raising at what valuation? And what type of security is it (SAFE, priced round, etc.)?
    • Prior Investors: Who has invested before and who is investing in this round?
    • Company Description: What do you do?
    • Traction: Show us your revenue growth in a monthly or quarterly chart. If you have no revenue, at least show us user growth. You should also compute the growth rate for the last 6-12 months using a tool like this.
    • Market Opportunity: How big is this market? Show VC’s that your market is big enough for you to become a billion dollar company, because that’s what they’re looking for.
    • Why Now?: Why is now the right time for this company to dominate? Why is the market ready? For example, imagine starting a videoconferencing company in 2019 versus 2020. The 2020 market would’ve been far more receptive.
    • Why Us?: Why are you and your team the right people to take on this problem? Tell us about your skills and also why the problem matters to you. If you’re solving a problem you’ve had yourself, you’ll probably be better at it and less likely to quit.
    • Competition & Defensibility: Who are your competitors, and why is your solution better? Many companies say “We don’t have any competitors. No one else does what we do.” That’s usually not a good answer. Maybe no other company does exactly what you do, but who is close? And why are you the better bet?
    • Use of Funds: What will you use the money you’re raising for? A simple breakdown like 60% engineering and 40% sales is fine.
    • Hiring: Who are you hiring now? Investors might be able to introduce you to a great candidate!
    • Key Risks: What are the top few reasons this business could fail? For example, you may struggle to hire talented engineers in this tight labor market.

    Wrap-Up

    Writing a good deal memo is a lot of work. But when investors are seriously considering your company, this document can seal the deal.

    Leave nothing to chance! Get the deal memo right and give yourself the best shot at a fat check.

    What questions do you have about deal memos? What did I miss?

    Leave a comment at the bottom and let me know!

    Glad to be back with you guys for another fun week! 👋

    More on tech:

    How to Ace a 3 Minute Pitch

    The Lean Startup

    Robot Pizzas and the Future of Fast Food

    Photo: “Asleep at the Wheel” by Aaron Jacobs is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0.

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been great so far.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me.

    Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor.

    I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. 

  • Citadel Paying Over $1B a Year for Order Flow

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    Citadel Securities LLC paid $2.6 billion in payments for order flow in 2020 and 2021, according to a new report from The Trade, an industry publication.

    This amounts to over $1 billion a year and dwarfs its nearest competitors:

    Citadel Securities takes the top spot when it comes to payment for order flow (PFOF), forking out $2.6 billion in 2020 and 2021 according to 606 reports gathered by the US’ Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC).

    The market maker due to its dominant market share accounted for around a third of the total market spend on PFOF in 2020 and 2021, followed by Susquehanna (G1X global execution brokers), which spent a $1.5 billion and Virtu which spent $654 million in the same period.

    Payment for order flow involves a market maker like Citadel paying brokers, such as Robinhood Markets Inc., for the right to process their trades. The market maker then earns a small spread on each trade they complete.

    The practice has proven controversial:


    It’s proved a contentious subject globally, with regulators in Europe and the US exploring the possibility of limiting the practice as some claim it does not channel flow – much of it coming from the mushrooming retail segment – based on best execution.


    Payments to brokers for order flow can allow brokers to offer free trades. And at least one study found payment for order flow saves customers money.

    But both Citadel and Robinhood have been fined for providing worse prices than public exchanges.

    With billions at stake and an opaque market, I find payment for order flow suspect. I’d like to see published data from Citadel, Robinhood and others proving their prices are better than the public markets.

    Until then, remember the words of Andrew Lewis:

    “If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.”

    Andrew Lewis

    This is the last post for this week. Tomorrow, Tremendous will be off for Good Friday.

    Have a great holiday everyone! 👋

    More on markets:

    AMC Now #4 Most Shorted Stock

    Melvin Capital Down 21% in Q1

    NYSE Investigating Shopify Stock Plunge; Citadel Involved

    Never miss a post…subscribe!

    Photo: Citadel LLC CEO Kenneth Griffin

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been great so far.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me.

    Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor.

    I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. 

  • AMC Now #4 Most Shorted Stock

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    AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. has become the 4th most heavily shorted stock in America, according to new data from UBS.

    Its short interest stands at 20%, per Ortex. Short interest is the percentage of outstanding shares that have been sold short.

    AMC’s position is particularly striking given that there are around 4,000 publicly traded companies in the US, according to a McKinsey study. This puts AMC in the top 0.1% for the number of bets against it.

    Many retail holders of AMC shares are betting on a short squeeze to cause a sudden spike in the share price.

    It’s happened before. Short sellers, mostly hedge funds, lost billions betting against AMC shares last year.

    Meme stocks are volatile and hard to predict. I find hedge funds betting the future of retirees and charities trading volatile stocks with the chance of unlimited losses incredibly irresponsible.

    For the retail holders, the future path of AMC shares is also hard to predict. But if one is betting on short squeezes, a company in the top 0.1% of crowded bets isn’t the worst candidate.

    More on markets:

    Melvin Capital Down 21% in Q1

    NYSE Investigating Shopify Stock Plunge; Citadel Involved

    Mass Firings at Citadel Right Before Federal Probe

    Never miss a post…subscribe!

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been great so far.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me.

    Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor.

    I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. 

  • Work For an Awesome SaaS Startup!

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    Hello everyone! 👋

    I just wanted to let you know that a really cool SaaS startup that I’m an investor in is hiring now.

    They’re looking for senior fullstack or backend developers.

    If that’s you, send me an e-mail right away!

    They just raised a big seed round and are ready to 🚀.

    I’ll see you later today for a full post! 🙂

    Photo: “STARTUP CTO” by ceonyc is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0.

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  • Robot Pizzas and the Future of Fast Food

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    Inside a gleaming metal structure the size of a shipping container, robotic arms pull out a disk of dough. They carefully apply tomato sauce, then the cheese.

    Pepperoni, anyone?

    This store was created by Hyper Robotics, an intriguing startup from Israel that makes automated pizzerias. Its technology is in use today at a Pizza Hut in Israel.

    The robot can even cook the pizza, cut it, and put it in a box! But for now, there’s still one employee there to hand the box to the customer.

    Hyper Robotics isn’t the first company to attempt robotic pizza. California-based Zume made pizzas autonomously and even baked the pizza en route to you.

    But Zume burned cash at a rate of over $10 million a day. Despite a $375 million investment from Softbank in 2018 the company exited the pizza business in early 2020.

    The most interesting implications of robotic restaurants may be for the labor force. Over 5 million people work in fast food restaurants in America today.

    In a weaker labor market, robotic restaurants could pose a real threat to the livings of working class people. But in today’s world of rock bottom unemployment, the robots may simply be taking a job no one wants.

    Many restaurants are cutting hours or reducing service due to a lack of employees. Perhaps if people want to eat pizza but no one wants to make it, robots can help.

    Since the pandemic, many former fast food workers have found higher paying jobs at e-commerce fulfillment centers, shipping companies, and the like. For a group of workers that so often struggled, I count this move up the value chain as something to celebrate.

    Would you try a robot pizza? And what impact do you think robotics will have on restaurants and the labor market?

    Leave a comment at the bottom and let me know!

    More on tech:

    Robot Hands, Vertical Farms, and the Future of Food

    Judging a Startup Pitch Competition

    Male Contraception With an Ultrasound Device?

    Never miss a post…subscribe!

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been great so far.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me.

    Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor.

    I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. 

  • Pine Barrens Glamping in Brendan Byrne State Forest

    We opened the door to the cabin and stood silently, our mouths agape. In years visiting the woods, we’d never seen anything like this.

    A beautiful brand new cabin!

    The bunks were feathery soft. The carpentry was stunning, each board fitting together perfectly.

    No sleeping on a bare floor tonight!

    This is Brendan Bryne State Forest in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. This unusual ecosystem of pine trees and sandy soil is home to many rare plant and animal species, including 274 kinds of moss!

    My friends and I unpacked our gear and started a fire, grilling up steaks and salmon burgers. Sitting around that fire, the concerns of daily life faded away like the smoke.

    After a fine night’s sleep in the cushy bunks, we wolfed down ham and eggs and set off for a hike. The hiking is easy in the Pine Barrens, with flat terrain and well groomed trails.

    We wondered at the beautiful conifers and placid ponds, often content with saying little.

    As we made it back to camp, our friend Victor* pulled up! He had been tied up Friday but didn’t want to miss this wonderful weekend entirely.

    Together, we cooked burgers, apple gouda sausages, and even a savory chili over the flames. We joked and laughed, untroubled by the need to get home at the end of the night.

    Come Sunday morning, we all sat around after breakfast, reluctant to begin packing. It would mean the trip was over.

    But pack we did, already planning our next visit.

    Brendan Byrne has both cabins (with plumbing and electricity) and “shelters,” which was the simpler cabin we stayed in. I found it more than adequate, and at about $50 a night for Jersey residents, it’s a steal!

    Now is the perfect time to visit the Pine Barrens!

    The weather’s getting warmer but the ticks have yet to emerge. Enjoy this unique world while you can!

    More on New Jersey:

    Is this NJ’s Most Beautiful Spot?

    The Mafia’s Hoboken Fortress

    New Jersey’s Jelly Donut Heaven

    *not his real name

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been great so far.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me.

    Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor.

    I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. 

  • Judging a Startup Pitch Competition

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    Last night, I had the honor of judging a startup pitch competition. Each founder in the Starta Accelerator in NYC had 3 minutes to pitch a panel of judges in front of a live audience.

    I was so impressed with the hard work these entrepreneurs are putting into building their companies and pitching investors!

    I also came away with some insights that might help other founders. Maybe you!

    1) Be sure I know what your company does within the first minute.

    Some founders do an amazing job of summarizing a problem, but aren’t as clear on how they’re solving it. The most important thing you can convey in your pitch is what your company does.

    Don’t bury the lead!

    2) Tell us exactly how you make money. Some founders do a great job of explaining what their product does, but don’t tell us how they actually get paid.

    One of the key things investors are trying to learn about your company is the revenue model. So make it a big part of your pitch.

    3) Clearly state the terms you’re raising at. After watching 6 companies present, I noticed they all had one thing in common: not one said what valuation they’re raising funds at!

    Tell us how much you’re seeking to raise and at what valuation. And be clear as to whether the valuation is pre-money or post-money.

    You also want to mention how much money is already committed to the round, if any.

    Here’s a good example sentence: “We are raising a $1 million seed round on a $7 million pre-money valuation with $500,000 committed.”

    Some founders are reluctant to ask for anything out of modesty. Others don’t want to be pinned down to a particular valuation because they want to negotiate it later.

    But you must ask investors for something specific. Otherwise, what’s the point of your presentation?

    You can always negotiate those terms later, but be sure to offer a starting point.

    4) Give us some key numbers.

    We investors love metrics. So show us your month-over-month revenue growth rate, gross margin, churn rate, net revenue retention, etc.

    A good story is essential, but good metrics close the deal.

    And finally, on a hopeful note…

    5) You can improve your pitch enormously in a short period of time, if you do the work.

    I saw one of the founders that pitched last night two weeks ago. In that early pitch, I honestly had no idea what the company did.

    When I saw him last night, he was polished and crisp. I knew exactly what his company did and why.

    And I almost found myself reaching for my wallet. 😄

    If you put the work in, you can improve. Repetition goes a long way!

    What do you think makes a great pitch? And what questions do you have for me about speaking to investors?

    Leave a comment at the bottom and let me know.

    Have a wonderful weekend everyone! 👋

    More on tech:

    How Startups Can Dominate the Elevator Pitch

    Why Your Startup Shouldn’t Be an LLC

    Find Code Faster Than Ever

    Never miss a post…subscribe!

    Photo: “JudgeThumbUp” by cali.org is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been great so far.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me.

    Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor.

    I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order. 

  • Citadel Loans Supported Chinese Surveillance

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    Citadel made a major loan to a Chinese surveillance company in 2006. This shadowy company, which doesn’t even appear to have a website, has sold surveillance equipment to China’s Communist government.

    From a new report from Crain’s Chicago Business:

    …in 2006, Citadel loaned $110 million to China Security & Surveillance Technology. The company used the funds to acquire “10 of the 50 biggest surveillance companies in China.” That has opened it to charges that it “provid(ed) much of the surveillance infrastructure for the ruling Chinese Communist Party, including technology used to alert police of possible unsanctioned protests and internet cafes to track down democracy advocates and dissidents.”

    Citadel CEO Ken Griffin doesn’t seem to find the loan problematic, according to a statement he released:

    “In 2006, China Security & Surveillance Technology—a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange—was raising further capital to pursue growth opportunities. CS&ST was hoping to be selected as a key partner in providing security capabilities for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World’s Fair to ensure those events would be safe for everyone.

    So what does this company do? It appears to have gone private since Citadel’s loan, but here’s how the company described itself in an SEC annual report it filed while a public company:

    We are primarily engaged, through our indirect Chinese subsidiaries, in the manufacturing, distributing, installing and servicing of surveillance and safety products, systems and services, and developing surveillance and safety related software primarily for governmental entities and their affiliates, non-profit organizations, and commercial entities in China.

    In other words, the company sells surveillance gear to the Chinese government, among others. Citadel’s involvement with this business is concerning, given China’s oppressive surveillance of its population.

    Ethnic and religious minorities such as Uyghur Muslims are particularly hard hit. From The Guardian:


    The US has accused China of committing genocide and crimes against humanity for running a mass detention, repression and sterilization campaign against Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities. Countless reports have detailed detainees enduring torture, coerced abortions as well as re-education in what former secretary of state Mike Pompeo described as the “forced assimilation and eventual erasure” of Uyghurs by the Chinese government.


    The surveillance system propped up by these often global companies serves to facilitate that genocide, argues Dolkun Isaa, president of the World Uyghur Congress advocacy group.


    “The goal of these surveillance tactics is not only to instill fear in Uyghurs’ minds that every aspect of their behavior is monitored, but most importantly to single out Uyghurs for detention in the internment camp system,” Isaa said.


    Griffin may be right that China Security & Surveillance Technology bid on an Olympic contract. But it appears that he and his company didn’t ask any questions about what else the company does.

    Citadel’s “make money now, ask questions later” attitude has also made it a target of a federal investigation here in the US.

    I only hope someone holds this company accountable.

    More on markets:

    Citadel Under Federal Investigation

    Mass Firings at Citadel Right Before Federal Probe

    NYSE Investigating Shopify Stock Plunge; Citadel Involved

    Never miss a post…subscribe!

    Photo: Citadel LLC CEO Kenneth Griffin

    If you found this post interesting, please share it on Twitter/Reddit/etc. This helps more people find the blog! 

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 and returns have been great so far.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get your management fees waived for 90 days. 

    Misfits Market

    My wife and I have gotten organic produce shipped to our house by Misfits for over a year. It’s never once disappointed me.

    Every fruit and vegetable is super fresh and packed with flavor.

    I thought radishes were cold, tasteless little lumps at salad bars until I tried theirs! They’re peppery, colorful and crunchy!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $10 on your first order.