Incremental Insights #88
The best of what I read, listened to, and watched during the week
Booking Holdings: Why the AI Bear Case Has It Backwards
AI may reshape how travelers find hotels, but Booking’s moat is closing the booking: payments, trust, cancellations, and 24/7 multilingual support for millions of small properties.
Past “disintermediation” attempts (Google, TripAdvisor) failed; AI likely becomes another funnel.
The Wrap – A (Blue) Owl In the Credit Mine?
Blue Owl admits negative headlines drove higher redemptions in private-credit BDCs, showing “headline risk” can become liquidity risk fast.
Probably, why Blackrock also halted redemptions in its private credit funds.
Matthew Ball: State of Video Games
Gaming hit record revenue in 2025 (~$196B), yet private funding collapsed 55% and US player counts fell below pre-pandemic levels.
The paradox: growth is increasingly driven by Chinese publishers and price hikes, not more players.
Netflix Walks, Paramount Wins, and the Ellisons Take Hollywood
An emergency pod update on Paramount winning the bidding war for Warner Brothers and what it means for the future of Hollywood and crown jewel assets like HBO.
Bill Simmons and Matt Belloni also had a good episode on the winners and losers in this deal.