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Fox has the option snap up 18.6% of Flutter’s FanDuel. (0:15) Wegovy once-daily pill now on sale. (1:32) Amazon launches Alexa.com. (2:34)
This is an abridged transcript of the podcast:
Our top story so far, is the Fox in the Flutter henhouse?
Flutter Entertainment’s (FLUT) FanDuel is a juggernaut in U.S. sports betting, with a market share north of 30%. And that success could be a big plus for Fox (FOX) (FOXA), which holds the right to acquire an 18.6% stake.
The right dates back to 2019, when Fox bought a 4.99% stake in The Stars Group and launched Fox Bet, gaining options over Stars’ U.S. betting business. When Flutter later bought Stars and folded it into FanDuel, Fox negotiated a 10-year call option on 18.6% of FanDuel, struck off a $20B valuation with a 5% annual escalator and an all-cash, all-or-nothing exercise requirement. In effect, Fox’s original Stars investment became a long-dated call option on FanDuel.
CEO Lachlan Murdoch has said Fox fully intends to use it. At a Goldman Sachs conference in 2024, he said Fox “plans to exercise” the option and had begun working with regulators on licensing, implying a FanDuel valuation around $35B. In 2025, he reiterated Fox is “very committed” to FanDuel and Flutter and is working to become a licensed operator before the option expires in 2030.
Analysts and investors generally see the FanDuel option as hidden asset value and a clear positive for Fox—though opinions differ on when Fox should pull the trigger.
Among active stocks, LifeMD (LFMD) and GoodRx (GDRX) are higher after both companies added Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) Wegovy weight-loss pill to their product offerings. The news follows Novo’s U.S. launch of the once-daily oral GLP-1—the first and only pill formulation—priced at $149 a month for cash-paying customers after FDA approval last month.
Samsung Electronics (SSNLF) and SK hynix are reportedly looking to raise server memory prices by up to 70% in Q1, as surging AI demand tightens global supply. Memory makers including Samsung, SK hynix and Micron (MU) were already facing shortages of older DRAM after cutting production to focus on high-bandwidth memory for AI accelerators.
And shares of Manchester United (MANU) are bouncing around like a loose ball in the box after the club sacked manager Ruben Amorim following his rant about the hierarchy after Friday’s draw with Leeds. Amorim had been criticized for his almost religious devotion to a 3-4-3 setup, and the move leaves United likely facing another big summer spend as the 11th manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired prepares to take the helm.
In other news of note, Amazon (AMZN) has rolled out Alexa.com, expanding its AI assistant Alexa+ across a wide range of devices.
Amazon says Alexa+ is “designed to take action,” helping with tasks like managing to-do lists and family calendars, controlling smart homes, making reservations, and more. It also offers persistent context, carrying chats, preferences, and personalization across devices so you can pick up where you left off.
The move positions Amazon to compete more directly with a growing field of AI assistants, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT (OPENAI), Anthropic’s Claude, xAI’s Grok (X.AI) and Google’s Gemini (GOOG) (GOOGL).
Personally, I’ll always be an Amazon Echo fan.
And in the Wall Street Research Corner, Oaktree’s Howard Marks is asking the big question echoing everywhere: Is AI in a bubble?
In a characteristically measured look at AI mania, his conclusion is blunt:
“AI is currently the subject of great enthusiasm. If that enthusiasm doesn’t produce a bubble conforming to the historical pattern, that will be a first.”
Marks distinguishes between “inflection bubbles”—built around truly transformational technologies—and “mean-reversion bubbles” like subprime. Inflection bubbles can speed up progress, but they still destroy wealth for many of the investors who fuel them.
He draws parallels between today’s AI wave and railroads in the 1860s, radio and aviation in the 1920s, and the internet in the late 1990s, noting that aviation and broadcast radio were wrapped in huge uncertainty and powerful narratives that helped inflate a bubble so big its bursting fed into the Great Depression.
The memo ends on the core dilemma, quoting OpenAI CEO Sam Altman:
“When bubbles happen, smart people get overexcited about a kernel of truth. Are we in a phase where investors as a whole are overexcited about AI? My opinion is yes. Is AI the most important thing to happen in a very long time? My opinion is also yes.”
As Marks puts it, “Bubbles are best identified in retrospect.”
And if you want to know what stocks Steve Cress, our head of quant, is hot on, time is running out to sign up. Steve will unveil his high-conviction picks, designed to focus on growth and long-term performance, on January 6 at noon ET.
Editor’s Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.
