By Barry Ritholtz
Publication Date: 2025-12-01 17:00:00
I’ve never shared this story before, but since we are at a milestone, I might as well…
February 2000: I was working as a strategist for a brokerage firm. My buddy Anthony had an international clientele, all deeply invested in US tech companies. His biggest client was flying in from the Middle East for a combination New York City shopping trip/portfolio review.
His biggest position? Cisco (CSCO). Millions of shares worth 10s of millions of dollars…
I did not cover the company (I was not an analyst). But I had views on the networking and telecom sector; I believed everything in the “George Gilder Telecosm” was a disaster waiting to happen. Gilder’s (expensive) newsletter correctly identified budding technology trends, but also possessed awful timing. When his telecoms portfolio plummeted by about 90%, he had the nerve to actually say, “I don’t do price.” 1
But I digress.
Prepping for the meeting, I reached out to Paul Sagawa of Alliance Bernstein. In the…
