Shane Parrish with Anthony Scilipoti
Hidden in the footnotes of financial statements are circular funding loops where AI leaders invest in their own customers, masking weak cash flows and echoing earlier technology booms.
The AI boom includes circular capital loops where major players fund customers who then buy their products, echoing earlier technology booms.
To understand a business, read the footnotes first because they reveal the accounting choices behind the headline numbers.
Scilipoti argues that stock-option compensation is a real labor cost: ignoring it can make presented earnings misleading, while issuing shares can dilute existing shareholders.