Mary Meeker is not a princess, model, singer or actress. But given her following as an internet investment guru, she might as well be. Such is her influence that she has monikers like the ‘queen of the internet’ and the ‘Nostradamus of technology.’
The entire digital and telecom community eagerly awaits her landmark annual internet report, which is known to identify trends first and make accurate predictions.
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It all started in 1995 when Meeker—then an analyst at Morgan Stanley—foresaw how unprecedented innovation would change the lives of people and create enormous wealth. She summarized her views in a landmark report that instantly secured her reputation as the Nostradamus of technology.
As a financial analyst, Meeker helped Morgan Stanley snare major IPOs—Netscape, Priceline, and Google—and recommended bonanzas like Amazon, AOL, Intuit, and Dell. After the first Internet boom went bust she remained unscathed, in part because she always believed in what she was selling. In fact she invested in Apple after she bought her fifth iPod, while the fourth was still in a plastic case.
In short, she is an American venture capitalist and former Wall Street securities analyst. Currently she is a partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
This year, Meeker, 58, in her exhaustive, bellweather report said subscription services are adding revenues rapidly, people are buying fewer cars and sharing rides more, and the Chinese are willing to trade personal data for product benefits.
She is widely followed because:
- Predicted in 1995 that email will be net’s “killer application” and that “browsing through information services” will be the next breakthrough.
- Has the pulse of the market.
- Identifies trends and how the web will develop
- Report is exhaustive. Manages to describe the entire global technology landscape in about 200 – 300 slides.
- Identifies numerous pivotal areas where online user behavior is changing, and where investors, marketers, and others should take note.
- Cites key data points — growth in certain areas of internet use, online shopping trends, and indicators of the future of the workplace.
Highlights Of Meeker’s 2018 Report
- Forecasts that Internet companies will continue to make low-priced services better, in part, from user data;
- Regulators want to ensure user data is not used ‘improperly’;
- Technology-driven trends are changing rapidly.
- At 3.6 billion, the number of Internet users has surpassed half the world’s population
- Adults spent 5.9 hours per day on digital media in 2017, up from 5.6 hours in 2016
- There are around 450 Mn WiFi networks in the world
- WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat have over 1 Bn monthly active users.
- Around 60% of all payment transactions are now done digitally
- Roughly 13% of all retail sales come from ecommerce
- Global average selling price of smartphones is continuing to decline
- Tech companies accounted for 25% of US market capitalisation
- China is the hub to the world’s biggest internet companies, with home to nine of the world’s 20 biggest internet companies while the US has 11