The Bear Cave #349
Welcome to The Bear Cave by Hunterbrook Media! The last premium articles for paid readers were “ More Problems at Ethos (LIFE) ” and “ Problems at Dream Finders Homes (DFH) .” Our next special investigation is scheduled for Thursday, November 5. Subscribe now New Activist Reports Snowcap Research published on Arlo Technologies (NYSE: ARLO — $1.40 billion), questioning the quality of the security-camera company’s subscription growth. Arlo reported 19% growth in subscriptions and services revenue in the second quarter, but Snowcap estimates underlying growth of just 1–3% after adjusting for acquisitions and other factors. DF Research published on Csquare (NYSE: CSQR — $2.49 billion), a Brookfield-backed data-center operator that went public in July. The report argues that costly upgrades to former Evoque and Cyxtera facilities undermine management’s expansion plans. DF estimates a 5.3% after-tax return on new invested capital, including remediation and real-estate costs, below its estimated 8–9% cost of capital, while creditors hold priority claims over much of Csquare’s most attractive capacity. DF Research’s full report forecasts between $296 million and $332 million in negative free cash flow in the second half of 2026 and warns of further equity financing. Notable Departures Senior Vice President of Global Enterprise and Field Marketing at ServiceNow (NYSE: NOW — $164 billion) apparently left for Anthropic based on their LinkedIn profile after more than 36 months in the role. ServiceNow did not announce the move. Based on LinkedIn profiles, several executives at vice-president level or above have moved from ServiceNow to OpenAI or Anthropic over the past year, including its chief marketing officer, the executive responsible for product pricing and monetization, and its regional CRM leader for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Vice President of Enterprise Service Cloud at Salesforce (NYSE: CRM — $205 billion) apparently left based on their LinkedIn profile after approximately eight months to oversee customer success as a senior vice president at a private AI competitor. In August, the president overseeing engineering and customer success departed, while Salesforce also removed its strategy president and chief impact officer from its website, suggesting further departures. Another five senior leaders across marketing, communications, and revenue growth left in June. President and Chief Executive Officer of LKQ (NASDAQ: LKQ — $4.41 billion) was terminated on October 23 after approximately 28 months in the position. The company also terminated its Europe president that day. LKQ separately hired Alvarez & Marsal to help address problems in its European operations following disruptions from a new enterprise software system in Germany. Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Legal Officer of Silvia (NASDAQ: SVIA — $320 million) agreed to leave by October 21 after approximately 11, 13, and 14 months in their respective positions. Chief Financial Officer of Mattel (NASDAQ: MAT — $4.69 billion) stepped down on October 19 after 17 months in the position. His exit follows CEO Ynon Kreiz’s departure earlier this month, while director Adriana Cisneros also resigned on October 18. President of Opendoor Technologies (NASDAQ: OPEN — $1.92 billion) stepped down immediately on October 21, approximately ten months after joining. The company had recruited the former Coinbase Canada CEO to oversee corporate development and explore applications of blockchain technology in homeownership. Departure research provided in part by Canary Data . News of the Week “The era of speedball capitalism has dawned” ( The Economist ) “In the past year American markets have digested the largest-ever initial public offering (SpaceX), equity raise by a public company (Google) or a foreign firm (SK Hynix), private-funding round (OpenAI) and private-debt deal (Broadcom), as well as most of the biggest bond issue in history (Amazon). There was the first $1trn exchange-traded fund, or ETF (Vanguard), a record-breaking cash pile (Berkshire Hathaway) and stock-buyback programme (Nvidia), and the consummation of the largest-ever leveraged buyout (Electronic Arts). Then there are the enormous mergers in railways (Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern), utilities (NextEra and Dominion Energy) and media (Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery)—the last of which led, this week, to the largest ever junk-bond offering, beating a record set only last week (SoftBank). New markets have been created out of thin air (for compute) or become much bigger (for predictions). Worries about massive corporate scandals (First Brands) and hedge-fund blow-ups (Situational Awareness), which would have once occupied investors’ attention for months, are steamrollered by the relentless, totalising and extraordinarily flexible machine that is American finance.” Tweets of the Week Until next week, The Bear Cave New? Sign Up Here Got Feedback? Just Hit Reply. Got tips? Share with us at ideas@hntrbrk.com. The Bear Cave is Not Investment Advice. See Full Disclosures Here . Twitter: @BearCaveEmail . Email: ideas@hntrbrk.com.