CIO

tek-know

On the third day into the copilot billing change I received an email from my CIO that I am using to many AI credits… Im literally working on a project to determine best practices for integrating AI into our internal tooling. Feels like im wasting my time.

Purple_Bearkat

No CIO who just spend a bajillion dollars on an upgrade recently is going to allow some hipster to vibe code the company’s major system of record.

WildHogHunta

Hell yes! I was a VP and CXO with limited visibility to financial details. There were days the CEO told us to avoid making large trades - between end of quarter and earnings release (about 45 days). Other than that, I’ve dumped $200k at a time. Typically, I didn’t sell off more than $100k at a time though. The place is a joke and full of VPs and Sr Directors that just promote their friends. The CEO is the typical scumbag that does the opposite of what he says in town halls. The CIO, CHRO, and Chief Counsel just got pushed out because they’re 100 years old and smell like death. They were all diversity hires (including CEO). I left in Oct and have exercised all of my options and sold off about half of my shares. In July I will likely sell off the remainder after the company splits.

WildHogHunta

The managers are actually working: assigning work, development plans, leading training sessions. This directive came from our fucking CEO and CIO. Apparently, in the last board meeting, they asked the CEO why he’s unable to reduce HC like META and Oracle. At least the CIO just stepped down. She’s a hundred fucking years old and keeps saying “ChatGTP.”

ConfusedandD4zed

1) Not that I expect to know any better but that’s not how this works. Even if it did you’re still looking at a PS over 75 for a company with this level of depreciation you usually see between 0.25 and 0.75. 2) That’s great, that has nothing to do with life expectancy. You keep showing you don’t know how depreciation works. Also the hyper scalers have been called out numerous times because no one in the industry actually believes that they are accurately representing depreciation.  3) Gavin Barker is a CIO trying to make something he is invested in look viable. He has a massive stake in Nvidia and it’s in his interest to make them look better. You’ve proven you don’t really know how to spot bullshit so it’s not surprising that you uncritically listen to someone who has been called out numerous times in the past for being hyperbolic. No one else is arguing a 10-15 life expectancy because no one believes it.  If you have ever worked with any of this equipment or had any experience whatsoever in this you would know that it’s a fucking stupid comment.  4) Your posts don’t have any real world numbers because you have zero actual understanding of how to even approach this conversation. You clearly don’t know how to calculate literally anything and you don’t know how to actually look up any of this in a competent way. You fucked up literally everything with Nebius you ignored Coreweave, your starlink bit is about what should be expected of a tenth grader, it’s clear you know somewhere in and around zero about operational costs, depreciation, maintenance, OEE, debt payback, interest, net expected value, and more, so your numbers are completely bonkers. The problem is your calculations are so bad and you clearly understand so little that I would have to spend a fuck ton of time writing out a massive diatribe to actually put it all together. 5) I’d never let someone being confidently incorrect over and over again about all of this bug me. I write how I write.

Purple_Bearkat

Sorry but the CIO who sponsored a financial system upgrade that cost a bajillion dollars and is key to enterprise operations isn’t letting some hipster vibe code a replacement with Claude. Calls on SAP

ryana8

Let me say. I started a “vibe coding” product. Or as we call it - AI app builder for internal tooling. We raised around $100m. We’ve talked to thousands. THOUSANDS of CIOs, CTOs, CSIOs etc. The reality is - not a soul is going to be ripping out 3rd party SaaS if it’s core to their business. Where ai fits in is light internal tooling for automating workflows. If a business is looking to replace Okta or salesforce or datadog, etc - we’ll gladly take their money but it’s a sign their business isn’t going to go anywhere. The smart companies know the ROI on vibe coding a product with Claude and paying some agency to do it, or ripping your engineers off of building your revenue generating products is simply not there. As Jeff Lawson says - build or die. You ever talk to someone on Wall Street? Ask them to describe what the cloud is. Ask them what containers are for. They have no idea how software works, why it works, and the role AI will play. If you’re in software, the writing is on the wall. Agents will be deployed with enterprise guardrails. Meaning safely in a VPC with strict permissions and access inside of snowflake or databricks or whatever else is in a stack. Mary from HR will not be building some random payroll solution that exposes what they’re paying all of their employees. The CIO will just continue to pay workday or justworks or SAP. And those companies will offer agentic workflows. SaaS is becoming more and more of a fire sale.

WobbleBilly

An old colleague of mine is a CIO of a multibillion dollar fund. He posted something very positive about GME soon after this all started on L8nkedIn. I, a nobody in the investment world, rrplied to his post that it was a pump and dump. He called me unprofessional and unfriended me. Ha ha. I hope he got fired. Dumbass.

ensui67

The CIO will notice when costs are ballooning out of control. In the interview on Odd Lots with the Goldman Sachs CIO, it sounds like it can get very expensive and they have to manage the cost of tokens. Not that they're limiting it because it sounds like their team are creating incredible things with it but that they may want to strategically use it and their job is now to manage token usage. It's all still a new thing and everyone is adapting. From the growth of Anthropic revenues it's clear this is just the beginning. It's crazy and the companies who can adapt will win.

ActuatorHot8514

i know someone who is CIO at a hedge fund, he knows the ways

extrabigbrain

just realized I can use any word or acronym in front of Capital and call myself CIO.

stickman07738

so true 15 years ago I was part of a 10-memebr team for a Fortune 500 company evaluating upgrading our CRM / ERP systems. Our system was developed in-house by a very eccentric guy - it worked great and everyone love it. We got a new SVP/CIO and he wanted us to evaluate Salesforce (CRM). The product actually sucked at the time - it could not do everything we did with our in-house system. I was one of 3 who voted against Salesforce as the other did not want to upset the new SVP.  Significant cost overruns and operational issues, SVP got fired 18 months later

tdd163

I also think it’s getting unfairly crushed by AI. I think it’s a no brainer win b/c: 1. Anthropic can’t eat the world & have the most advanced models, and not control their own future (committed purchased compute vs. what they have /need). A bottleneck is ahead in the form that their capcity needed will lag behind or tokens will just continue to cost more as they are path the will of Amazon and Google. I think Figma is low priority on the list of things to prioritize when push comes to shove. 2. IMO as a CIO, CEO, etc when it comes to budgeting tokens are dang expensive. When people actually start to audit these spends the bulk will fall to engineering and the rest spread around the org. But as I look at these balance sheets, I am scratching my head on some of these spends. Like why the hell are you spending $5k a month on tokens for Claude design when it literally costs a fraction on that with Figma, and Figma is a damn good product. IDK but Figma seems wronged IMO.

Commercial_Ideal_183

I did some review on FLWS today (still a newbie at this, just getting into stocks a bit more). It has some strong fundamentals. I’d like to see it clear some resistance and stay above $4.90-$5 but it seems like a really good value for the amount of cash they have on hand compared to the valuation of the stock. They just hired a strong CIO so I’m hoping for some positive direction during the upcoming earnings call. All that aside, there’s also a large amount of short interest out there so I could see this taking off in the very near future given its current trajectory.

YouDoNotKnowMeSir

Mine too, we use cutting edge AI (Actually Indians) to develop business solutions. If you’d like to set up a meeting with our CIO (Chief Indian Officer) to discuss investment, let me know.

vbp32

Just saw a snippet of Blackrock's Fixed income CIO wanting rate cuts... Haha.. sure he does.

PM__ME__BITCOINS

Treasury CIO: >Corcos, 36, founded Levels in 2019 with a former SpaceX lead engineer and Dr. Casey Means. Means is a holistic doctor with ties to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Corcos’ brother interned at SpaceX, according to his social media accounts. >Corcos’ wife, Varvara Russkova Corcos, spent three years at the VC firm GVA Capital, which was previously exposed as a vehicle for one of the richest oligarchs in Russia, Suleyman Kerimov, to funnel his money into various American companies. >An investigation by the San Francisco Standard detailed the elaborate web of shell companies used by GVA to distribute $28 million of Kerimov’s money into Bay Area investments in 2015 and 2016, revealed in court filings and offshore company databases. >Kerimov’s money flowed into various companies via GVA Capital from a Delaware trust called Heritage Trust. The U.S. Treasury Department blocked the trust and made its funds inaccessible in 2022, saying it was created to obscure Kerimov’s interests in U.S.-based assets. >Heritage Trust was also how Kerimov invested in SpaceX in 2017, holding what was then 1 percent of the company, and he continued to hold the stake even after he was first sanctioned by the U.S. government in 2018, according to a recent report by Bloomberg News. So the Treasury CIO is now married to a ruzzian that worked at a money laundering firm(funding Elmo’s SpaceX) that was Treasury sanctioned? [https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/doge-staffer-corcos-wife-ties-russian-oligarch-1235291673/](https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/doge-staffer-corcos-wife-ties-russian-oligarch-1235291673/) [https://fedscoop.com/doge-sam-corcos-treasury-chief-information-officer/](https://fedscoop.com/doge-sam-corcos-treasury-chief-information-officer/)

Dizzy_Maybe8225

Yes, this company is hiding stuff from shareholders, and they are trying to show it on every quarterly report. The newly hired CIO/VP is a shame to the company. He is going to take it to close to BK.

jeffbaehr

Markets are absolutely underestimating this, and the asymmetry of the risk is what concerns me most. I've spent years watching how energy supply shocks move through capital markets, and the pattern here is textbook but at a scale we haven't seen since the 1970s. Goldman's data showing flows through Hormuz collapsing from 19.5 million barrels per day down to 0.5 million isn't a marginal disruption. That's roughly 17.2 million barrels per day offline after pipeline rerouting. To put that in context, the entire SPR release during 2022 was about 1 million barrels per day, and that was considered historic. The math doesn't work. The stagflation setup Mattie describes is the right framework, and I'd argue the transmission channels are faster than most models assume. A 10% increase in oil prices tends to push CPI up by 0.2-0.3%, and we're already looking at Brent up 12% since late February with WTI and EU gas prices moving even harder. If crude sustains above $125, as Mill Creek Capital's CIO flagged, energy spending hits 2% of global GDP, which is historically where you start seeing demand destruction layered on top of inflation. Central banks genuinely have no good options at that point. Cut rates to support growth and you pour fuel on inflation. Hold rates or hike and you accelerate the slowdown. What I've seen in prior supply shocks, including the disruptions around the Gulf War and the 2019 Saudi Aramco attacks, is that markets tend to price the initial move quickly but consistently underestimate duration risk. The 2019 Abqaiq attack knocked out 5.7 million barrels per day and prices snapped back in weeks because production was restored. The critical difference now is that Iran's cost to keep the strait closed is a fraction of the cost to keep it open. That's a structural asymmetry that favors prolonged disruption. The food import angle is underappreciated too. Roughly 70% of Gulf food imports pass through Hormuz. That creates a humanitarian pressure that could force regional actors into unpredictable decisions, adding another layer of risk that's hard to model and almost certainly not priced in. One thing I'd watch closely: insurance and freight rates on tanker traffic. Those repriced almost overnight during the Houthi Red Sea disruptions, and they're a leading indicator of how the physical market views duration risk versus what futures curves are showing. Right now there's a gap between the two, and in my experience the physical market is usually right.

Aggressive_Bill7309

I think the US is in dire need of energy. Before I even considered buying RNWF I wanted to focus my efforts this year on investing in energy, fusion, and other alternative forms of energy. When I first heard of RNWF and heard about the technology they want to produce a few months back, I knew if it was true what they said they had, they would be the first company to produce a commercially viable fusion product. After seeing them taking steps to file paperwork, doing audits, merging with Kepler, cancelling shares, filing all their patents, hiring WELL qualified CFO, CIO, etc… this showed me they were trying to legitimize themselves as a company which means they do believe they have something valuable. Whether this can be a commercially viable fusion product by the end of 2026 is what the gamble is but they’re taking all the right steps to legitimize this new merged company which is a great sign. The gamble that’s worth it for me is if they actually have what they say they have, then they will be the first fusion product on the market that can be directly installed into the grid. This would make the company a big competitor in the energy market where other energy competitor’s stock prices are 10s/100s of dollars per share. That’s just my 2 cents.

viciousnemesis

My CIO, a peer and myself (senior software engineers) were layed off today. Engineering firm of 500 people, 5 people on my software engineering team. They want more AI, oblivious that it would be is implementing their solutions. I thought I was very unlikely to be affected but here I am.

botella36

I worked for a major utility and the CIO requested all departments to abandon Oracle because of some new licensing based on CPU cores. Unfortunately for some departments it was very difficult to transition.

No_Cry_6912

In most enterprises, cutting security budget is one of the last things a CIO will do, especially with the attack surface expanding from cloud, AI workloads, and remote access. That's why companies like CrowdStrike, Zscaler, Cloudflare, and Rubrik tend to keep strong net retention even when IT spending slows. So I guess the story isntt just momentum, it's that once these platforms are embedded, switching becomes painful, which quietly makes the revenue base a lot stickier than people assume.

NorthCoast30

From some regurgitated content mill that cites CIO every third sentence.

WildHogHunta

I work at a Fortune 100 industrial company. The CEO and CIO talks about AI on social media all day. We use NO AI at all besides Microsoft Copilot, which is a big turd. Then we lay off a ton of people and say it’s because we have increased productivity with AI. Everyone here knows it’s complete bullshit. Bonuses pay out in March and there will be a mass exodus. CEOs are trying to get short term financial gain and sacrifice long term growth. I’ve already sold half of my RSUs and I’m going to exercise my options before June. This AI excuse for layoffs is gonna burn us.

breadbedman

Lots of reasons. But primarily when you’re a large company and you’re the CIO or CTO you want to buy a proven, stable, and secure platform to cover your ass. There are more reasons to buy the “safe choice” than to save a few bucks and go with a smaller competitor or open source or roll-your-own-with-AI alternative. Nobody ever got fired for buying Salesforce or Atlassian or Microsoft. Because it was the default play.

Massive-Lie-8185

I thought this too but at my company our freaking CIO decided he’s going to bring in big 4 build out some tool to replace a whole department that was supporting our homegrown tool and club 2 diff depts together once this thing is rolled out… I am genuinely freaked out leadership at that level making these calls and cutting jobs

Healthy_Loan_991

Anything can happen But my main point was that a CIO is never going to risk the security of his company or his job on something that does not have an A rating and reputation. An upstart could try to sell a complete clone of CrowdStrike and have limited to no success. This isn’t like switching out your front desk receptionist.

Healthy_Loan_991

I have a large, long position in CRWD. This recent drop annoyed me, but has not changed my sentiment at all - due primarily to my direct experience with CrowdStrike The company I work for does about $10 billion/year in revenue and has thousands of users on its network all over the US and outside the US. A couple of years ago we switched our security to CrowdStrike. It was more expensive than what we used before, but was under $1 million per year, so relative cost was not insane. About 6 months after we switched to CrowdStrike, we were hacked by a very well known and successful Russian ransom hacker group. But they literally got nothing. Our company had about 12 rogue laptops with limited network access for which CrowdStrike had not been added. The hackers got “in” through all 12, but couldn’t get any info other than what was on the hard drives of the laptops - which was worthless. Anything protected by CrowdStrike was 100% safe and untouched. If we did not have CrowdStrike, I dont want to think about how royally F’d we would have been. Based on this experience, the chances of our CIO ever switching away from CrowdStrike is 0.00%. All CIOs worry more about breaches than anything else. They are not going to compromise safety for a hope that something new is more effective than the product they have and fully trust. This sell off of CRWD and others is a non sensical reaction that just needs time for supply and demand info to enter back into the analysis. Supply and demand will demonstrate that critical need for cybersecurity and why the large players will continue to grow revenues, earnings and cash flow. Patience.

Interesting_Spring67

You have no clue. Moving away from your Core is a CIO's worst nightmare. There has to be compelling reasons to do so (merger, complete breakdown in support, inability to wrap, etc.). Fiserv's cores aren't perfect, but have you seen the alternative? No, it's not easy. Most core contracts are 5,7, or 10 years.

ComingInSideways

Yeah, you worked as a CIO. I am arguing with a brick wall... you. I'm out.

TheHarb81

It is unless you have extremely stable unchanging workloads. I was a CIO at a 125 year old healthcare finance company and on prem made sense, I could plan our hardware needs easily 3 years into the future. Then I went to a startup where that was impossible and cloud was the only viable option when I needed to be ready to scale 10,000% overnight.

Revan44723

I know that’s a popular saying but I’ve always hated it. I feel like it obscures reality. It’s just capitalism. Capitalism has always crushed the vast majority of people and made the owning class fabulously wealthy at the expense of extreme poverty for workers. The period between 1945-1980 was a brief blip, a divergence from the normal trend thanks to WW2 destroying all of the other advanced economies and unions/direct action movements like the CIO and Civil Rights movement among others building up a social welfare net that literally didn’t exist for the first 160 years of US history. Socialism has never really existed by contrast, it was crushed by both the US and USSR. There were brief outbreaks of it during the Spanish Civil War, German Revolution of 1919, Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the Free Territories of Ukraine, and others but it always gets snuffed out by the capitalists quick.

Magikarp_to_Gyarados

Again, check out Panasonic's 2023 presentation on You Tube: "The Future of Connected Manufacturing PENA at Palantir AIPCon" Panasonic Energy North America (PENA)'s VP and CIO explains the functionality and benefits of their Foundry integration. There are many other commercial customers doing similar things with Foundry/AIP. If the software didn't work, Palantir would not be gaining commercial contracts as quickly as they are, across many industries.

Magikarp_to_Gyarados

Pansonic North America's VP and CIO gave a presentation on how Panasonic uses Palantir Foundry to manage production processes. You can find the video on You Tube (Reddit deleted my comment because this sub disallows links) The software integrates control and monitoring systems in the manufacturing equipment to give employees a full picture of the overall production process. This allows them to spot problems and potential bottlenecks.

lemondhead

I'm nine years into my career, four into actual practice in-house at a hospital. I can't tell how concerned I should be. We're a small team of three, with two retiring this year, and I have great client relationships. We will replace the GC, which should put me next up for that role. The thing that saves me might be that I'm a generalist who has a high pay ceiling but currently makes less than a biglaw associate. If my work was just contracts, I'd probably be a bit concerned. Thankfully, it's contracts, risk, operations, and serving as the first point of contact for client crises. My clients seem to value having someone to talk with. Idk. I don't know enough about AI to know whether I should be worried. I think a non-lawyer claiming that 80% of us will be gone seems a little extreme. Like you said, though, there seem to be things that AI can do well. Our CIO and GC have indicated that there's no plan to adopt AI (besides Copilot) any time soon, and they want me to review its output on contracts. Maybe it'll take drafting from me and free me up for other things. I hope so, anyway. I have no other discernible skills besides lawyering.

Vimes-NW

Long time ago, working in IT, we dealt with IBM global services - bodyshop of incompetent and useless offshore resources. They fucked up the project so bad, we had to redo most of their work, while paying them. So, for the next big project (millions of dollars) when our CIO said he wants to use them again, everyone in the room turned to him and gave him the "Are you a fucking regard?!" stare. Like that reporter did. And he said "what? They wouldn't fuck us twice." This just overshadowed it. (excluding politics)

LEAP-er

Windows is less than 12% of MSFT’s revenue now. Linux now generates approximately 45B (est based on Azure’s workload) vs $25b or so for windows. I’m pretty sure Microsoft has forgotten about Linux as a threat a long time ago. 100% of their azure capacity is sold out (same story for all the hypers) which is why they keep ramping up their capex. There is zero factual evidence that MSFT losing any customers that truly matter, in fact CIO surveys by piper Sandler and Morgan indicate 80% expect to ramp up copilot in 2026, and overall 7% increase in spent within MSFT platforms.

No_Yogurtcloset7776

You could know they got a new CMO, who came from home depot, New CIO who came from tech, etc., and that they'd be making changes.

JackORoses

MBOT pumping in premarket. They presented at the CIO recently.

Due-Glove-2165

Here are my 2 cents, these types of companies are almost NEVER going to speculate FX. At least those with a sane CIO. FX is the most hedged risk there is, nobody has a tolerance on speculating it, nor should they be focusing on it either. These companies are not hedge funds. Most likely they have a big complex project coming up that will require financing in GBP. And they don’t want to bother with hedging FX the correct way.

ThatsAllFolksAgain

I used to be a data architect. One of the companies where I worked moved from on premises to cloud. The costs jumped from $2 million to $6 million annually and the transition failed because of many non cloud related issues so they had to keep the on premises infrastructure and the cloud infrastructure because the CIO didn’t want to admit to failure. Total cost $8 million and growing.

somerhaus

Also: This doesn’t even have to be about writing accurate code. No one wants to maintain the system for reliability, compliance, security, and to meet regulatory rules. At any time a company could move off the cloud and back to on premise and it would save them money. But no one does it!!! Because they can’t maintain the same reliability and scalability as AWS, azure, etc. the same is true for SaaS… yes you could save money with build but can guarantee you no CIO wants to be responsible for managing the reliability, compliance, security, and updates of a CRM when Salesforce does it better than they could.

somerhaus

This doesn’t even have to be about writing accurate code. No one wants to maintain the system for reliability, compliance, security, and to meet regulatory rules. At any time a company could move off the cloud and back to on premise and it would save them money. But no one does it!!! Because they can’t maintain the same reliability and scalability as AWS, azure, etc. the same is true for SaaS… yes you could save money with build but can guarantee you no CIO wants to be responsible for managing the reliability, compliance, security, and updates of a CRM when Salesforce does it better than they could.

cbusoh66

We're barely scratching the surface with what Claude or other systems can do, they will be writing their own code and improving things on their own. So all you have to do as a company CTO or CIO is grab a couple of your smart guys, give them access to highest Claude tier and tell it to either copy what that other SaaS is doing or even better, tell it to make things much more efficient, much more easier to use, whatever, and let it do the work. It's really that simple, you just saved your company $10 million in annual licensing fees. There will be a whole new industry that spawns from one smart guy who will build whatever you want on a weekend. Let it run a week on your company's system and improve itself. Right now, it's not clear which companies are most vulnerable so the entire sector is being punished. I think few companies will survive, 90% will not.

Bigus-Dogus

I recently talked to a CIO of a mid size biz. He states that a on-premise trend is coming. SaaS is getting too expensive for budgets. It is cheaper to build out a data center than continue with all the subscription expenses.

WordsHappenedHere

The cost of switching is enormous for enterprises. I’m in a Fortune 500 and it’s deeply embedded. No CIO is going to just switch out to Retard.ai and risk the corporation. Additionally NOW is actually showing ROI on their AI offerings. I’d rather buy it than chase MU up 400%.

Potential-Win-582

BlackRock CIO will be announced as the new fed chair soon. God help us all..

Difficult-Level7038

Government headed for another shutdown, trump putting 100% tariffs on Canada, hopefully y'all got some cash to buy the dip tomorrow. Obviously don't want to sell crypto right now so.. also, next Fed chair is gonna be the CIO from Blackrock? This year is going to be bananas

iratezero

It will at some point, here’s why it might not drop quite yet: 1. Another government shutdown on the way 2. Potential new 100% tariffs on Canada 3. President Trump actively looking to acquire Greenland 4. US “armada” heading toward Iran 5. DOJ investigation into Fed Chair Powell 6. BlackRock’s CIO as the likely next Fed Chair 7. 🥭 calling for $2,000 stimulus checks and 1% interest rates

jnas_19

BlackRock's CIO is now the favorite to be the next Fed Chair. I LOVE BLACKROCK!

Bluefin_in_Dresden

This was done over the last year, didn’t start recently. Searched 5 sitesYes. Swedish pension fund Alecta has sold most of its U.S. government bonds (U.S. Treasuries) Based on recent reporting: Since early 2025, Alecta has gradually reduced its holdings of U.S. Treasuries in several rounds. By early 2026, those reductions amounted to the majority of its previous holdings . The total divestment is reported to be around 70–80 billion SEK , roughly $7.7–$8.8 billion . Alecta’s CIO has linked the decision to: Increased political and policy risk in the U.S. Reduced predictability of U.S. economic policy Concerns over large budget deficits and rising government debt . So yes: Alecta hasn’t just trimmed; it has sold off most of its U.S. Treasury bond position, and explicitly cited U.S. political and fiscal risk as the reason.

stickman07738

When I see CRM, it always puts a smile on my face as a missed opportunity but now glad I did not invest. 15 years ago I was part of a 10-memebr team for a Fortune 500 company evaluating upgrading our CRM / ERP systems. Our system was developed in-house by a very eccentric guy - it worked great and everyone love it. We got a new SVP /CIO and he wanted us to evaluate Salesforce (CRM). The product actually sucked at the time - it could not do everything we did with our in-house system. I was one of 3 who voted against Salesforce as the other did not want to upset the new SVP. The software sucked but their sellers (sales and support team) were very good - after the decision, I wanted to invest because of who good their sales team was. I did not. Our company signed a multi-year agreement and it was a total bomb causing us 3-4X the original investment to get it to work. The SVP got fired. Salesforce actually hired our guy because of all his "good ideas" and simple solutions (like linking email correspondence - he wrote of couple lines of codes and we could migrate everything in our in-house system). He lasted one year, got his sign on bonus and left Salesforece. The company still pays millions for an inferior product. I am glad I retired.

TWSTrader

**Institutional background here (14 years).** You are spot on with the thesis, though for accuracy, it was **Dan Ivascyn (Group CIO)**, not the CFO, who gave that interview to the FT yesterday. When a $2 Trillion shop like PIMCO publicly announces a "multi-year diversification away from US assets", they are signaling a repricing of **"Term Premium."** * **The Logic:** Bonds hate uncertainty. If the administration is attacking the Fed's independence (the DOJ probe into Powell) or threatening rapid tariff reversals, the "Risk Free Rate" isn't so risk-free anymore. * **The Move:** They aren't necessarily dumping *all* US exposure, but they are rotating into **Emerging Market Local Debt** and global bonds where the real yields are higher and the political risk is actually *priced in*. Basically, Ivascyn is saying the US Dollar and Treasuries are currently priced for "Perfection," and the political environment is anything but. It’s a classic **Capital Preservation** pivot.

Former_Island_4730

Zero users like their products. They all get pushed down peoples throats after being sold as a big package to CIOs looking for a quick flashy transition that saves money in the short term. Helps the CIO keep their job for 5 years and then dash when things suck again.

Metal_LinksV2

CIO of Global Fixed Income at Blackrock, also used to work at Lehman Brothers 

SpicyElixer

100% Mandatory full watch: https://youtu.be/RxCqxhRsHiY?si=ahH2vN1cPkGfinGA This guy is a CFP, CIO, CFP btw.

sailortyx56

They are interviewing BlackRock CIO Rick Rieder for Federal Reserve Chair. Larry Fink openly controlling the Fed instead from the shadows. lol.

iMakeGOODinvestmemts

$META $RDDT Top Picks for 2026 - Piper $META Checks remain strong. We're most focused on 1Q rev guide & see bogey at ~$53BN on the high-end, or +25% y/y growth $RDDT Users Steady (+): Buyers into 4Q25 following solid PSC user data and expect US users to improve q/q. Ad checks remain +ve and point to ad pricing at ~1/2 of SMID peers. Admittedly, expectations are high given a large 3Q25 rev beat. We see a 4Q revenue bogey of ~$695MM relative to $655-$665MM guide and global DAUs of ~120MM. We expect 1Q guidance of $590-$600MM Positive on $AMZN - Recent CIO Survey data was positive and we see potential for AI to drive AWS revenue to +25% y/y growth. Anthropic should be ramping. The ads business should be margin accretive and CTV checks are strong. We see the 4Q AWS bogey at ~22% y/y, op income at ~$24BN

bask_oner

I truly despise their software, having been forced to use it at a Big 4 due to obvious quid pro quo involving Consulting. Ironically the Big 4 CIO was given a seat on their board. Seriously, every time you open it, an entire app is downloaded to your browser. And it takes a crew of developers to change a simple workflow. Argh!

hjablowme919

Currently a CIO with a degree in computer science and an MBA. I’ve been to several technology leadership conferences. You’d be surprised how many people in the role of CIO, CTO, CISO, CPO (chief privacy Officer), CDAIO (chief data and AI officer) have little to no background in technology.

StochasticCalc

You'd make a decent CIO for a trust

Noseknowledge

*Gemini overview* ---Elon Musk's involvement in the 2024–2025 U.S. political landscape, particularly his role in the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has led to numerous allegations of corruption, conflicts of interest, and ethical breaches. Reports and investigations highlight a significant intersection between his business interests (Tesla, SpaceX, X, Neuralink) and his influence over federal policy, regulation, and personnel. Key allegations regarding potential corruption include: Massive Conflicts of Interest: Musk’s companies, which rely on billions in government contracts, saw pending enforcement actions stalled or dismissed after he became a top donor and advisor to the Trump administration. Regulatory Capture: Musk allegedly used his influence to select personnel for agencies that regulate his companies, such as the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Leveraging Federal Power for Personal Gain: Reports indicate Musk used his position to secure foreign deals and influence immigration and foreign aid policies to benefit his parochial interests. "DOGE" Impact: As head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Musk was accused of dismantling federal agencies, conducting mass layoffs of federal workers, and accessing sensitive, non-public data, including information on competitors. Illegal Activity and Misinformation: Worker Safety: AFL-CIO records indicate Musk’s companies have faced numerous safety violations and deaths, with allegations of ignoring OSHA regulations. Data Vulnerabilities: Concerns were raised about DOGE’s technological incompetence creating cybersecurity risks at agencies like the Treasury and Department of Energy. Misleading Claims: Reports suggest Musk misrepresented cost-saving figures, such as claiming $8 billion in savings on a contract that was actually valued at $8 million. Foreign Bribery Rule Suspension: The Trump administration paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law previously used to fine suppliers for Tesla. A report by Senator Elizabeth Warren documented 130 potential acts of corruption or ethical breaches during Musk's first 130 days in the administration.--- (Start looking into these claims and you will find much much more to follow)

retromullet

Commenting on How to Profit from the Great RAM Drought For real. My CIO told me about this a month ago and I was basically like, welllll I guess we’re paying 30% more. Nothing to be done. We need them, cost of doing business.

Curious-Knee4759

Been building a LLM model to ingest and reference key fundamentals for shorts and squeezes. Here is what it explained: Key things holding it down: * **Business is still weak.** Revenue is shrinking (FY 2025 sales down about 8% to $1.69B) and the company posted a big net loss (\~$200M), including a $143.8M impairment hit. Earnings calls keep talking about softer demand, operational issues, and lower guidance.​ * **Recent news has been “interesting,” not transformational.** The stock popped 15–20% on the new CIO hire and some contrarian write‑ups, but those are *story* changes, not proof that profits are actually turning around, so moves have been faded and followed by profit‑taking drops (like the -8% day after the rally).​ * **Shorts still feel the thesis is on their side.** Articles highlight that losses have worsened \~77% annually over five years, and that FLWS trades cheap mainly because earnings show no clear improvement yet. From a short’s view: “yeah, it’s crowded, but the company is still losing money and guiding to revenue declines,” so they’re not forced out.​ * **No big upside surprise yet.** Recent quarters: revenue sometimes beats slightly, but profit metrics disappoint and guidance gets cut; that’s not the kind of “shock” that triggers a short squeeze in a big, liquid name.​ So even with very high short interest and \~5+ days to cover, FLWS hasn’t launched because the **catalyst has been missing**: there hasn’t been a strong enough, credible “business is turning” moment with huge volume to flip the narrative and force shorts to rush for the exits. NFA, may be wrong as well. Still working on adding more material to reference to and how it uses the information.

OutlandishnessUsed24

One more thing on "hardly GME working a turnaround": **You're right - this ISN'T a meme with no fundamentals. That's the point.** FLWS has 30+ years of customer purchase data going back to the 1-800 phone order days. Birthdays, anniversaries, Mother's Days, sympathy occasions - decades of purchase patterns tied to life events. **That data alone is arguably worth the current market cap (\~$275M).** They're not a dying retailer hoping to pivot. They're a $1.9B revenue company with: * Exposed first-party customer data from before the internet existed * Recent AI transformation (new CIO Alex Zelikovsky announced) * Predictable recurring revenue tied to calendar events * Multi-brand portfolio (Harry & David, Cheryl's Cookies, Shari's Berries) **The squeeze is the asymmetric upside. The floor is fundamental value.** If the squeeze thesis is wrong? I own a profitable company trading at a discount to its data asset value during an AI boom where first-party data is gold. GME's turnaround is speculative. FLWS already HAS the revenue, the data, and the recurring customer base. Worst case: I own a cheap stock. Best case: Squeeze + AI catalyst repricing. That's not "relying purely on squeeze." That's asymmetric risk/reward.

ryzetard

i doubled down but a bit too late ffs. its still a company that is not getting delisted or bust anytime soon and has \~1.6 billion USD revenue past 12 months - just need the new CEO and CIO to fix their strategies and tech integration and the squeeze potential is also high

OutlandishnessUsed24

Preciscely my dear watson! But here's what makes FLWS structurally different from almost every other squeeze setup—the dilution risk that kills most of these plays is essentially zero here: **1. Dual-class share structure locks control:** * Class B shares (27M): 10 votes each, held exclusively by McCann family = 88% voting control * Class A shares (36.6M): 1 vote each, publicly traded * If Class B shares are transferred to non-family → they automatically convert to Class A and lose super-voting power The family literally cannot sell, lend, or dilute without surrendering control of their own company. **2. 49 years of behavior:** McCann family has held since 1976. They've never diluted. Never sold. They've weathered every cycle for half a century without issuing shares. **3. Recent actions confirm it:** * Just voluntarily prepaid $25M on their term loan * Amended credit facility in May 2025 for covenant relief through Dec 2026—no forced recapitalization risk * Hired transformation leadership (new CEO, CMO, CIO)—not liquidation advisors **4. No shelf registration:** We searched SEC filings—no S-3 shelf registration for an ATM offering. They haven't even set up the mechanism to dilute if they wanted to. **Why this matters:** Most squeeze plays die when the company issues shares into the rally. Here, the family's control structure makes that a self-destruct button they've never pressed in 49 years. Shorts are betting on behavior that has never happened from people who have every incentive not to do it.

OutlandishnessUsed24

**$FLWS - 1-800-FLOWERS** — This is a rare setup where squeeze mechanics are forced, not hoped for. **WHY THIS IS NEARLY UNSTOPPABLE:** *The Math Problem Shorts Can't Solve:* * 527K FTDs hit T+35 forced settlement Dec 16-18 * 600K shares available to borrow (down 81% from 3.1M last week) * **Short Interest: 106% of float** (Fintel/Capital IQ) * They literally don't have enough shares to cover obligations In October they rolled 3.68M FTDs using 8,240 options contracts + 3M borrow inventory. That trick depleted their resources—they can't run it again with 80% less ammo. *The Trap They Built:* * Borrowed 2.5M shares to suppress the post-CIO spike * Pushed it down 21% but couldn't break $3.80 * Used 81% of inventory for a temporary suppress * Now facing settlement week with nothing left *The Family Problem:* * McCann family owns 51%—they don't lend, won't dilute, won't sell * Shorts bet on bankruptcy behavior from a family that's held since 1976 **THE CATALYST:** New CIO hired Dec 8 for AI transformation. $1.4B revenue trading at 0.17x sales. FTD settlement is mechanical—Dec 17 alone has 306K shares due. **POSITION:** 155x $5c 12/19 + 400 shares. This isn't about hoping retail piles in. The buying happens whether Reddit shows up or not.

OutlandishnessUsed24

BYND left a lot of people burned. But the setups are structurally different: Dilution risk: BYND had active debt-to-equity conversions adding shares during the squeeze window. FLWS has a dual-class structure where the McCann family controls 51% via Class B shares. They've never diluted in 49 years of ownership—and can't lend those shares without losing super-voting control. The squeeze catalyst: BYND's window existed only because of a temporary debt restructuring situation. Once that closed, the thesis died. FLWS is built on T+35 FTD settlement—a regulatory calendar with specific dates (Dec 16-18) and specific share quantities (527K) that must be bought or located. That's not a "window"—it's a deadline. Bankruptcy risk: BYND has material weakness disclosures, SEC investigations, and ongoing cash burn. Real bankruptcy candidate. FLWS has $1.4B revenue, is guiding $65-75M EBITDA, just voluntarily prepaid $25M on their term loan, and hired transformation leadership (new CEO, CMO, CIO). They're priced for bankruptcy at 0.17x sales—but they're not actually going bankrupt. Both got compared because "meme stock with high SI." But the mechanics underneath are different animals. Appreciate the engagement though—healthy skepticism keeps DD honest.

OutlandishnessUsed24

**Good questions—let me hit each one:** **"Volume all over the place"** That IS the setup. Dec 9-10: 7M volume (CIO spike). Dec 12: shorts borrowed 2.5M shares at 7:15 AM to suppress. Post-suppression volume is low because they used 81% of available inventory. Days to cover at current SI = 16+ days. That's the trap. **"CTB at 3%"** FLWS baseline CTB is always 2.5-3.5%. It's a LAGGING indicator here—historically availability drops first, price moves, THEN CTB spikes after. The 2.5M borrowed Dec 12 dropped inventory from 3.1M to 500K in 16 minutes. CTB didn't move because prime brokers reprice slowly. When 306K shares are due Dec 17 with only 500K available, CTB will spike—but the move will already be happening. **"Shorts not pressured without catalyst"** T+35 FTD settlement IS the catalyst—and it's not optional: * Dec 16: 27K due * Dec 17: 306K due (largest day) * Dec 18: 193K due * Total: 527K forced settlement vs 500K available In October they rolled 3.68M FTDs using 8,240 options + 3M borrow inventory. Current inventory: 500K. They can't run that play with 83% less ammo. This isn't "pressure to cover"—it's regulatory forced buying with a calendar date.

OutlandishnessUsed24

**$FLWS - 1-800-FLOWERS** — This is a rare setup where squeeze mechanics are forced, not hoped for. **WHY THIS IS NEARLY UNSTOPPABLE:** *The Math Problem Shorts Can't Solve:* * 527K FTDs hit T+35 forced settlement Dec 16-18 * 600K shares available to borrow (down 81% from 3.1M last week) * **Short Interest: 106% of float** (Fintel/Capital IQ) * They literally don't have enough shares to cover obligations In October they rolled 3.68M FTDs using 8,240 options contracts + 3M borrow inventory. That trick depleted their resources—they can't run it again with 80% less ammo. *The Trap They Built:* * Borrowed 2.5M shares to suppress the post-CIO spike * Pushed it down 21% but couldn't break $3.80 * Used 81% of inventory for a temporary suppress * Now facing settlement week with nothing left *The Family Problem:* * McCann family owns 51%—they don't lend, won't dilute, won't sell * Shorts bet on bankruptcy behavior from a family that's held since 1976 **THE CATALYST:** New CIO hired Dec 8 for AI transformation. $1.4B revenue trading at 0.17x sales. FTD settlement is mechanical—Dec 17 alone has 306K shares due. **POSITION:** 155x $5c 12/19 + 400 shares. This isn't about hoping retail piles in. The buying happens whether Reddit shows up or not.

cakestapler

There’s no premise to refute. You think, excuse me, Anthropic thinks a CIO focused on the biggest buzzword of the last 5+ years in tech and purchasing data from the 1980s is more important than the fact that this company is losing more than 20% of their already flagging stock price every quarter. It’s a 40 year old business that can’t turn a profit with $1.7b in revenue. Something is deeply wrong there as this isn’t a startup building a business and working towards an economy of scale and profitability. And I mean, come on dude, you posted about this more than 20x in the past day. Acting like you don’t care whether or not people buy into it is disingenuous at best lol

OutlandishnessUsed24

1. "Embarrassing ticker" That "embarrassing" 1-800-FLOWERS name is a brand asset worth tens of millions on its own - instant consumer recognition built over 40 years. But here's what you're missing: the real value isn't the phone number, it's the data that phone number generated since 1990. Three decades of consumer gifting behavior, seasonal patterns, and logistics optimization - collected before anyone knew what "big data" meant. That dataset plugged into today's AI infrastructure is wildly undervalued. You know who would pay real money for "when does zip code 75024 spike flower orders for Mother's Day" predictive data? Amazon. Walmart. Any retailer trying to optimize perishable logistics. That's not a joke ticker - that's a proprietary dataset nobody else has. 2. "Not profitable" Fair - they're not profitable right now. Q1 showed a $53M loss. But context: Q1 is seasonally their worst quarter (gifts = holiday business), they're mid-turnaround after a botched order management system the CEO literally called a "colossal screw-up," and they've got $67M in cost cuts planned ($17M already done). Gross margins are still 35.7% - the business model works, execution didn't. That's exactly why new leadership was brought in. The bet isn't "they're printing money today" - it's "a $1.4B revenue company with 35%+ gross margins trading at $250M market cap is mispriced if new management stabilizes." Big difference. 3. "Amazon/Walmart/CVS competition" You're thinking about this backwards. FLWS isn't competing on selling gifts off a shelf - they're a logistics company that's been delivering perishables to every zip code in America for 40 years. Amazon doesn't have that data. Walmart isn't running same-day perishable delivery through Uber Direct. The Uber partnership isn't something a "mom & pop" gets - that's enterprise-level logistics integration that validates their data and infrastructure are worth something. 4. "Boomer management" This is how I know you haven't actually looked. New CEO (first non-family ever), new CMO (ex-Home Depot), new CIO hired Dec 8 specifically for AI and digital transformation. And it's not just C-suite - go check LinkedIn. They're actively hiring middle managers under these execs to build out the new org structure. I know because I applied to one. 5. "This doesn't happen" It literally does. Netflix collected DVD rental preference data for years before anyone cared - then used it to build the recommendation engine that powers their $250B market cap streaming business. Domino's was a "dying pizza company" that pivoted to a tech-first model using delivery and ordering data - now 70%+ of sales are digital and they trade at a premium. John Deere went from "tractor company" to precision agriculture data platform by monetizing sensor data from equipment. Legacy data + new AI infrastructure = transformation. FLWS has a nearly identical setup: decades of proprietary consumer data, new AI-focused leadership, and a market treating them like they're already dead. You see the ticker. I see the balance sheet, the float, the data moat, and the transformation.

OutlandishnessUsed24

(This Week) 526K FTDs hit T+35 forced settlement Dec 16-19 Dec 19 OPEX stacks gamma on a ~5M share float 9.4M shares short vs 600K available to borrow (15.7x imbalance) Shorts dumped 2.5M borrowed shares Dec 12 to push it from 4.40→3.90 - couldn't break support, running out of ammo AI TRANSFORMATION (2025) New CIO (Zelikovsky) hired Dec 8 for "AI and digital commerce" - stock ripped 30% New CEO (Villagomez) - first non-family CEO ever New CMO (Babcock) - ex-Home Depot Entire C-suite rebuilt this year. AI chatbots already driving 70% increase in customer interactions. DATA Moat (2026) 30+ years of consumer gifting and logistics data Uber Direct + Uber Eats partnerships launched 2025 This data could be worth hundreds of millions if monetized through AI VALUATION (2026+) $1.4B revenue at ~$250M market cap Actually profitable Conservative target: $10-15 | AI execution target: $20-30+ (detailed modeling in follow-up DD) Valentine's Day + Mother's Day catalysts ahead Bears see "dying flower company." I see a logistics data company mid-transformation.

OutlandishnessUsed24

(This Week) 526K FTDs hit T+35 forced settlement Dec 16-19 Dec 19 OPEX stacks gamma on a ~5M share float 9.4M shares short vs 600K available to borrow (15.7x imbalance) Shorts dumped 2.5M borrowed shares Dec 12 to push it from 4.40→3.90 - couldn't break support, running out of ammo AI TRANSFORMATION (2025) New CIO (Zelikovsky) hired Dec 8 for "AI and digital commerce" - stock ripped 30% New CEO (Villagomez) - first non-family CEO ever New CMO (Babcock) - ex-Home Depot Entire C-suite rebuilt this year. AI chatbots already driving 70% increase in customer interactions. DATA Moat (2026) 30+ years of consumer gifting and logistics data Uber Direct + Uber Eats partnerships launched 2025 This data could be worth hundreds of millions if monetized through AI VALUATION (2026+) $1.4B revenue at ~$250M market cap Actually profitable Conservative target: $10-15 | AI execution target: $20-30+ (detailed modeling in follow-up DD) Valentine's Day + Mother's Day catalysts ahead Bears see "dying flower company." I see a logistics data company mid-transformation.

OutlandishnessUsed24

$FLWS - 1-800-FLOWERS: The Setup Nobody's Talking About SQUEEZE MECHANICS (This Week) 526K FTDs hit T+35 forced settlement Dec 16-19 Dec 19 OPEX stacks gamma on a ~5M share float 9.4M shares short vs 600K available to borrow (15.7x imbalance) Shorts dumped 2.5M borrowed shares Dec 12 to push it from 4.40→3.90 - couldn't break support, running out of ammo AI TRANSFORMATION (2025) New CIO (Zelikovsky) hired Dec 8 for "AI and digital commerce" - stock ripped 30% New CEO (Villagomez) - first non-family CEO ever New CMO (Babcock) - ex-Home Depot Entire C-suite rebuilt this year. AI chatbots already driving 70% increase in customer interactions. DATA MOAT 30+ years of consumer gifting and logistics data Uber Direct + Uber Eats partnerships launched 2025 This data could be worth hundreds of millions if monetized through AI VALUATION $1.4B revenue at ~$250M market cap Actually profitable Conservative target: $10-15 | AI execution target: $20-30+ (detailed modeling in follow-up DD) Valentine's Day + Mother's Day catalysts ahead Bears see "dying flower company." I see a logistics data company mid-transformation. POSITION: 155x $5 calls 12/19, plus shares. If squeeze doesn't hit, I'm exercising and holding for the turnaround. Not financial advice - do your own DD. I could be wrong on timing, and you can lose 100% on options.

OutlandishnessUsed24

Fair read - I get the skepticism. October wasn't the squeeze though, it was the setup. Stock got crushed to $3.13 on earnings, shorts piled in, SI actually increased into the December move. What's different now: 526K FTDs hit T+35 settlement this week, Dec 19 OPEX stacks gamma exposure on a 5M share float. That's a specific mechanical window, not recycled hopium. Could I be wrong on timing? Absolutely. But I also think the stock is undervalued independent of the squeeze. This isn't just a flower company - they're sitting on 30+ years of consumer gifting and logistics data, they just launched Uber Direct/Uber Eats partnerships for same-day delivery, and they hired an AI-focused CIO (Zelikovsky) last week specifically to monetize these assets. New CEO (first non-family ever), new CMO, new CIO - entire C-suite rebuilt around digital transformation. The bear case is 'dying boomer flower company.' The bull case is 'logistics data company with AI monetization potential trading at a ~$250M market cap on $1.4B revenue.' Conservative turnaround target is $10-15. If they actually execute on AI-driven supply chain optimization and data licensing - and the Uber partnership suggests they're serious - loose modeling puts long-term value in the $20-30+ range. I'll break down that valuation math properly in a follow-up DD this weekend. If the squeeze doesn't hit and I have to exercise my calls, I'm fine holding shares. This isn't an all-or-nothing lotto ticket for me.

OutlandishnessUsed24

Nice spread. I still think FLWS is the best here. **Quick comparison:** |Ticker|The Problem| |:-|:-| |BYND|Already ran multiple times, fundamentally broken (revenue declining, no path to profit, has diluted shareholders repeatedly)| |UAVS|Low float plays are fun but no fundamental floor - if squeeze fails you're holding a shell| |MIST|Biotech = binary event risk, one bad trial and it's -50% overnight| |NFE|Decent company but debt-heavy and not a squeeze setup| |**FLWS**|Squeeze setup + fundamental floor| **Why FLWS stands out:** The squeeze mechanics: * 9.4M shares short vs 500K available = **18.8x imbalance** * Shorts used 84% of their ammo Thursday pushing it down 9% * Someone borrowed another 100K shares overnight Saturday (loading up for Monday) * Dec 16-18 is T+35 settlement window * Dec 19 options expiration with max gamma at $5 The fundamental floor (this is what the others don't have): * $1.7B revenue at $285M market cap = **0.17x sales** * $93M EBITDA last year * New AI-focused CIO hired Dec 8 (stock popped 30%) * Insiders just got granted 133K shares (accumulating, not dumping) * McCann family owns 42% - they're not diluting their own stake **The difference:** BYND squeeze fails → you're holding a company burning cash with no turnaround plan FLWS squeeze fails → you're holding a $2B revenue company at all-time lows with new leadership executing a turnaround Two out of three outcomes favor longs. That's why I'm heaviest in FLWS. Not financial advice, just my reasoning for the allocation.

OutlandishnessUsed24

This is the right call. FLWS has a much cleaner setup than SGBX. Here's the data as of this weekend: **Borrow availability:** * Started last week at 3.2M * Thursday morning: dropped to 600K after shorts borrowed 2.6M to attack * Saturday overnight: dropped again to **500K** * Someone borrowed 100K shares on a weekend ahead of Monday **The imbalance:** * 9.4M shares short (FINRA) * 500K available to borrow * That's **18.8x imbalance** **What happened Thursday:** Shorts threw 2.5M shares at it in a concentrated attack and only got a 9% drop. Price held $3.90 support. They used 84% of their ammo and barely moved it. **What's different from SGBX:** * SGBX float expanded (dilution), FLWS hasn't diluted * SGBX insiders selling, FLWS insiders just got granted 133K shares (accumulating) * SGBX DTC < 1 day, FLWS has almost no shares available to cover with * SGBX no catalyst, FLWS just hired AI-focused CIO Dec 8 (stock popped 30%) **The part people are missing:** Even without the squeeze, FLWS is a $1.7B revenue company trading at $285M market cap (0.17x sales). That's priced for bankruptcy - but they're not going bankrupt. $93M EBITDA last year, new leadership team (first non-family CEO ever), and the McCann family owns \~42% and isn't selling. So the way I see it: * Squeeze works → big win * Squeeze doesn't work → I own a $2B revenue company at all-time lows SGBX doesn't have that floor. Sources: [Fintel](https://fintel.io/ss/us/flws) | [iBorrowDesk](https://iborrowdesk.com/report/FLWS)

OutlandishnessUsed24

I'm deep in FLWS (1-800-Flowers) next week. Been building a position and just posted DD on it if you want the full breakdown. Quick version: **The mechanical setup:** * 9.4M shares short, only 600K available to borrow (15.7x imbalance) * Shorts used 81% of borrow inventory Friday to push it down 9% - and it held $3.90 support * Dec 19 options expiration with max gamma at $5 strike **Why I'm not worried about downside:** * $1.7B revenue company trading at $285M market cap (0.17x sales) * That's priced for bankruptcy, but they're not going bankrupt - $93M EBITDA last year * New CIO just hired (AI/digital transformation focus), stock popped 30% on the news * Insider just got awarded 133K shares - they're accumulating, not dumping **The way I see it:** * Squeeze works → big win * Squeeze doesn't work → I still own a $2B revenue company at all-time lows with new leadership Two out of three outcomes are in my favor. Asymmetric risk/reward. Check my post history for the full DD with sources. Not financial advice, just sharing what I'm watching.

OutlandishnessUsed24

[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1084869/000143774925037662/0001437749-25-037662-index.htm](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1084869/000143774925037662/0001437749-25-037662-index.htm) This insider grant is a bigger deal than people realize. Let me explain. **The alignment piece:** SVP and General Counsel just took 133K shares as compensation. This is the guy who handles all legal/compliance - he sees everything. If he thought this ship was sinking, he'd negotiate for cash. Instead he's going long with us. That tells you something about where insiders think this is headed. **Now here's the real thesis people are missing:** FLWS does nearly **$2 billion in annual revenue**. Let that sink in. Two billion. They're not some speculative startup - they're a logistics machine that's been delivering flowers and gifts across America for decades. The problem? Their cost structure is a mess. They're barely breaking even (or losing money) on massive sales volume. The margin compression is killing them. **But that's actually the opportunity.** They don't need to figure out how to get customers. They have customers. They don't need to build logistics infrastructure. They have it. They don't need demand. They have demand. All they need to do is **fix costs**. That's it. That's the whole turnaround. **Enter Zelikovsky and the AI transformation:** New CIO just hired, AI and digital focus. New CEO earlier this year (first non-family CEO ever). New CMO. They're rebuilding the entire leadership team around operational efficiency. AI-driven supply chain optimization is literally the lowest hanging fruit here. Demand forecasting, route optimization, inventory management, vendor negotiations - this is exactly what modern AI tools crush. **But here's what nobody's talking about:** FLWS has been delivering gifts to basically every address in America for 40+ years. They're sitting on one of the most valuable consumer logistics datasets in existence. * Seasonal demand patterns by zip code * Delivery success rates by carrier/route * Customer purchasing behavior across demographics * Peak demand forecasting data * Last-mile delivery optimization data You know who would pay a fortune for this data? Every AI company trying to train logistics models. Every retailer trying to optimize delivery. Every supply chain startup. They could literally monetize this data as a separate revenue stream if they wanted to. Or use it to build proprietary AI tools that give them a competitive moat. **The math:** $2B revenue with garbage margins = struggling company $2B revenue with fixed costs + AI efficiency = printing money They don't need a miracle. They just need competent execution on cost optimization. The new leadership team is aligned (taking equity), the playbook exists (AI supply chain), and the data asset is already built. The short thesis was "dying boomer flower company." The long thesis is "logistics data company going through AI transformation with aligned leadership." Shorts are about to learn the difference.

OutlandishnessUsed24

This insider grant is a bigger deal than people realize. Let me explain. **The alignment piece:** SVP and General Counsel just took 133K shares as compensation. This is the guy who handles all legal/compliance - he sees everything. If he thought this ship was sinking, he'd negotiate for cash. Instead he's going long with us. That tells you something about where insiders think this is headed. **Now here's the real thesis people are missing:** FLWS does nearly **$2 billion in annual revenue**. Let that sink in. Two billion. They're not some speculative startup - they're a logistics machine that's been delivering flowers and gifts across America for decades. The problem? Their cost structure is a mess. They're barely breaking even (or losing money) on massive sales volume. The margin compression is killing them. **But that's actually the opportunity.** They don't need to figure out how to get customers. They have customers. They don't need to build logistics infrastructure. They have it. They don't need demand. They have demand. All they need to do is **fix costs**. That's it. That's the whole turnaround. **Enter Zelikovsky and the AI transformation:** New CIO just hired, AI and digital focus. New CEO earlier this year (first non-family CEO ever). New CMO. They're rebuilding the entire leadership team around operational efficiency. AI-driven supply chain optimization is literally the lowest hanging fruit here. Demand forecasting, route optimization, inventory management, vendor negotiations - this is exactly what modern AI tools crush. **But here's what nobody's talking about:** FLWS has been delivering gifts to basically every address in America for 40+ years. They're sitting on one of the most valuable consumer logistics datasets in existence. * Seasonal demand patterns by zip code * Delivery success rates by carrier/route * Customer purchasing behavior across demographics * Peak demand forecasting data * Last-mile delivery optimization data You know who would pay a fortune for this data? Every AI company trying to train logistics models. Every retailer trying to optimize delivery. Every supply chain startup. They could literally monetize this data as a separate revenue stream if they wanted to. Or use it to build proprietary AI tools that give them a competitive moat. **The math:** $2B revenue with garbage margins = struggling company $2B revenue with fixed costs + AI efficiency = printing money They don't need a miracle. They just need competent execution on cost optimization. The new leadership team is aligned (taking equity), the playbook exists (AI supply chain), and the data asset is already built. The short thesis was "dying boomer flower company." The long thesis is "logistics data company going through AI transformation with aligned leadership." Shorts are about to learn the difference.

jarstiffler

There really isn't even volume to die down. For example, today's volume was 1.16m so far. The 3 month average is 1.53m. So today was already a below average volume day. It really just needs retail to believe in it. But the retail that is on reddit is distracted by other opportunities currently. IF **another** (we had one with the new CIO) catalyst comes, that would be an easy way for it to squeeze right now. But it really just needs retail to latch on to it and it will bring the rest of the market with it if it has enough retail volume. The set up is there.

Pale_Energy2177

Well new CIO and shareholder meeting was a non event, so I'm just very uncertain here

ryzetard

FLWS has just appointed a new veteran CIO, new CEO this year and hopefully there are some good news coming from the shareholder meeting regarding their new strategies and tech integration. Aside from that it has one of the stronger short squeeze setups due to both high SI (at least 30% or even up to 80% depending on the sources) and very high DTC (at least a week) values which are the most important factors , uavs has nothing going for it just like CVU - i dont understand these two tickers getting hyped

szmeagol

Yep, give it a little push and it might explode. Could also be a good long term investment since it’s a profitable business with a new expert CIO.

Cap-Puckhaber-2

FLWS announced a new CIO and surged +32% today. Pump and dump or legit interest?

Late-Tadpole-2318

“Neuberger CIO Shannon Saccocia says expected Fed rate cuts, along with AI-driven productivity gains, could lift equities and other risk assets. Stocks typically perform well when the economy isn’t in recession and the Fed is easing.” Lotta verbal hedging here I don’t like it

jarstiffler

I did a DD on FLWS yesterday. New CIO announced yesterday; has experience with Amazon, Bed Bath Beyond, etc.. 95% short float. 35 DTC. Not super expensive to borrow yet, but with volume/pressure from retail, that will change. I like the set up.

DangKilla

You can see I'm still a mod on r/Filmstruck (a product for Criterion to live stream). Management is inept, WB internally was corrupted by ladder climbers. The ATT CIO wanted to deliver a hardware box during the age of rising Smart TV's with them built-in. The company was being stripped down to fumes after I left. A lot of things were outsourced. This is all my opinion. They were positioning to fail after Project 2020 where they started getting rid of retirement pensions.

PurpleReign123

*Is there an A.I. bubble out there?* Morgan Stanley’s CIO (Mike Wilson), Equity Analysts, Equity Sales, Asset Mgmt: **No bubble! S&P500 to hit 7,800 by end-2026** Morgan Stanley’s Credit Risk Managers: **Get this shite off the loan books before they explode!**

Kcecelia

Found this post when asking what is going on with Scott Bessent. He is Yale educated, came from a liberal background working for George Soros including being Soros's CIO until 2015 when he started his own fund with Soros funds, is gay, married with two kinds, sold a pink mansion in Charleston to buy a $12.5M DC mansion, and yet yesterday in the Trump cabinet meeting in which Trump fell asleep after a night of bizarre social media posting, Bessent dutifully complimented Trump as he was required to do. I don't understand how someone like Bessent can accept the ignorant, hate-filled stupidity of Trump and his minions. He is not who I thought he was given his background. He doesn't need to be in this role. Why is he choosing what must be nonsensical and unpleasant.

Je5terSAP_

Every CIO. Every senior Manager.

AmbitiousString

Expect nothing less from the me too CIO. Watch how many bad directions Brett takes the company from a technology pov. He has zero innovation abilities.

Galaxy_AI

**JPMorgan's CIO Bob Michele ($800B AUM) claims US economy strong, tariffs well-absorbed. Expects Dec Fed rate cut boosting 2026. ** Can we pump it now then?

Bravadette

Why are analysis on NBC and the CIO of robinhood saying something good is about to happen just SPIT IT OUT

hsfinance

Microsoft wasn't a cloud company either. What they have is the lock in and the privilege to walk into many CFO/CIO offices. Apple is consumer, I am sure there are companies that are all Macs but lot more companies that are dominant or all Windows/Office. AWS had no other reach into CIO offices outside AWS. Oracle has that reach because of their enterprise software but that's if they execute. And google probably has it by being such a dominant cloud platform. So if Microsoft hook on to a good AI engine and bundle that into "azure premium" offering, maybe even a privacy centered (where what is asked to AI does not go out of company's firewall); azure hosted one, they could be a lead player in AI too. And with their investment in open AI, they are already laying the groundwork for that.

One-Yard9754

Dang that’s a good group. I would attend just to hit on Ms Barnes, lol. Some of these profile pictures are questionable, and the CIO of Verano looks like he could be a real life Dexter.

Efficient_Design379

Yes it is nothing burger and bofa CIO said that rate cut isn’t needed in market rally