Retail CEO Replacement, Buffett Goes Big On Oil, Dollar Surpasses Euro

The Automotive Troublemaker w/ Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier

We’re moving through a great week as we talk about broader changes in retail leadership and why we should care. We also cover the reasoning behind Berkshire Hathaway’s push deeper into oil, the Dollar being worth more than the Euro for the first time in 20 years, and maybe a bonus story :)

• Top Retail CEOs are being replaced as the landscape is shifting
  • Gap, Bed Bath and Beyond, Dollar General, Under Armor, Home Depot (to name a few) are replacing their CEOs amidst a changing retail landscape
  • Some companies postponed succession plans during the pandemic however the changes are accelerating due to the necessity of specific skill sets
  • “The landscape of retailing changed during the Covid era,” said Craig Johnson, the president of consulting firm Customer Growth Partners. “The skills necessary for a CEO to succeed today are much broader.
  • Take away: Auto Dealers are retailers. There are peacetime generals and war time generals…strap up.
• Buffet’s Berkshire going in big on US Oil
  • They have been ramping their position in Occidental Petroleum Corp since February and bought 12 million more shares over two days this month bringing their total stake to 18.7%. The largest shareholder in the company
  • Once they own 20%, they can report earnings on their P&L, until now, they can just report dividends
  • This confidence indicates a high value being placed on energy independence as Occidental is an exploratory company
  • Take away: EV batteries might be sexy, but oil still does the work. Buffett’s got an ok track record of seeing through the hype.
• The Euro has fallen below the Dollar for the first time in 20 years
  • Growing concerns about energy independence amidst Russian aggression have led to devaluation of the Euro
  • Currencies tend to rise when the central bank raises interest rates
  • The dollar has also been strong in recent months, lifted as the US central bank raising interest rates, and investors seeking the safe haven of dollar assets in times of global turmoil
  • This makes imports based on the USD more expensive…like oil
  • Avg gas price from: 7.65 per gallon in Germany to 11.35 in Hong Kong
  • Take away: Yesterday’s average of 4.63 feels just slightly less stinging
• Follow up on our story about subscription based car features
  • “Cox Automotive conducted a survey of 217 people who intend to buy a new car over the next two years. Only 25 percent said they’d be willing to pay a monthly or annual fee to unlock a feature in their vehicle. The remaining 75 percent said piss off.”

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Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier
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