King’s Talks: How is Technology Changing Investment?
This week the King’s Talk welcomed Mr Peter Davies (OKS, MO 1985-1990), CEO of Lansdowne Partners, and gave a cerebral and challenging talk on ‘How is Technology Changing Investment?’ Mr Davies gave some thought-provoking insights into the world of share investment and the need to be both ‘original and right’ – a tricky combination! He has achieved this in the past (buying a 10% stake in Manchester United when it became a PLC) but has also got it wrong (mistakenly retaining his Nike shares when his 12 year-old son had clearly told him Addidas were the ‘in brand’). He reflected that often in life the ‘biggest insights are had by the least participants’ (i.e. his young son saw what extensive market research had failed to predict). He reflected on technology as a global game changer (e.g. Tesco in the UK has 8% market share of all UK retail spend but Amazon has 45% of Global online spend) and how customers now create the value in the product. The Economics students really engaged with the talk, especially as the fortunes of global players such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Deliveroo were touched on. Looking to the future, he warned, ‘beware the cynic in the room who always seems to bring the group down’. He believes the optimists are usually right over time – indeed, share prices have risen over the long run. The talk was followed by a lively Q&A session, which demonstrated the extent to which Mr Davies had really evinced interest and provoked deeper analysis.
According to the FT, Peter Davies is one of the 30 most influential people in the City. He Is CEO of Lansdowne, which is one of the best performing equity hedge funds in the world. He is also a governor of the Wellcome Trust (one of the UK’s largest charities, focused on medical research), as well as sitting on its Investment Committee, a role he also fulfils at Magdalen College, Oxford. He is a member of the advisory committee of Manocap, a venture capital fund investing in some of the most distressed areas of the world, initially focused on Sierra Leone.
