Fast News Moat
jakub rusiecki@jakub_rusiecki
+10.0%
since Oct 3
The idea
I believe that as AI takes over modelling and analysis, the real scarcity becomes fast, trusted, machine-readable news, and whoever originates it first and sells it in tradeable form keeps pricing power. So this holds the core newsrooms with genuine speed franchises alongside the firms that package news and data into machine-ready feeds, with steadier data-moat names for ballast and a small position in real-time crowd data as an asymmetric bet. No single name dominates, I keep some cash to add on weakness, and I am holding this for five years or more as a structural position, not a trade.
What it owns
- The packagers that turn news and data into structured feeds traders and AI systems pay to consume sit in the middle of the moat, growing revenue as long as customers prefer clean inputs over raw sources. · S&P GlobalPackages market-moving information into indices and feeds machines trade on, growing revenue as long as customers keep paying more each year for data and licensing., FactSet Research SystemsTurns news and fundamentals into structured feeds that trading machines consume, staying valuable as long as customers prefer organized packaged data over direct raw sources., Moody's CorporationA ratings change is itself market-moving news delivered in machine-readable form, staying central to trading as long as ratings remain the trusted trigger and pricing power holds., MorningstarSells research and fund data as feeds that machines and advisors consume, staying relevant as long as data licensing revenue keeps growing each year.37%
- The originators of market-moving financial news hold pricing power as long as speed and trust stay scarce and machines need to consume what humans break first. · Thomson ReutersReuters is one of the two speed franchises that originates market-moving financial news first and sells it as feeds traders and AI systems pay up for each year., News CorpDow Jones Newswires is the other speed franchise originating market-moving financial news, with growth tied to its professional feed business and ability to raise prices each year., The New York Times CompanyA trusted originator of original news that AI systems will need to license rather than replicate, with growth tied to the scarcity of trusted reporting and licensing conversion.30%
- Steady owners of proprietary information that AI tools license rather than recreate provide ballast for the idea that first-mover data franchises stay valuable over a five-plus year hold. · RELX PLCNexis and its legal and risk databases are trusted proprietary information that AI tools license rather than recreate, steadier revenue than newsrooms but dependent on AI licensing growth., CoStar GroupNear-monopoly ownership of commercial property information ensures it stays the sole source everyone, human or machine, has to buy as long as competitive threats stay small.17%
- A smaller asymmetric bet that raw real-time crowd information gets licensed to AI at rising prices, with bigger expected swings than the rest of the take. · RedditReal-time crowd information that AI companies already pay to license, growing in value if data licensing deals with AI firms keep renewing at higher prices.6%
- Cash10%