The Acquirers Podcast
Jonathan Tepper on The Myth of Capitalism, His "Shooting Up" Memoir and $BKMG | S08 E07
The Acquirers Podcast
•February 26, 2026•59 min
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The Acquirers Podcast•Feb 26, 2026
Why It Matters
Understanding the forces behind market concentration and antitrust policy helps investors assess long‑term profitability and risk. Tepper’s insights bridge macro‑economic trends with practical stock‑picking, offering listeners a framework to navigate a rapidly evolving, technology‑driven economy.
Key Takeaways
- •Previt seeks dominant firms with high free cash flow.
- •Booking.com bought cheap during COVID, betting on travel rebound.
- •Industry concentration lifts profit margins; antitrust enforcement fluctuates.
- •AI commoditizes software, threatening platform pricing power.
- •Investors should hunt undervalued losers amid AI disruption.
Pulse Analysis
In this episode, Tobias Carlisle and Jake Taylor sit down with Jonathan Tepper, founder of Previt Capital, to unpack the firm’s disciplined, long‑only, absolute‑return approach. Previt focuses on dominant companies that generate strong free cash‑flow yields, buying them at a discount to intrinsic value. The conversation highlights the fund’s flagship COVID‑era purchase of Booking.com, a travel platform that was undervalued amid pandemic fears but retained a durable market‑share advantage and a capable CEO. Tepper explains how the firm’s deep industry analysis and emphasis on high returns on capital guide its stock selections, even when macro conditions appear volatile.
The dialogue then shifts to Tepper’s book, *The Myth of Capitalism*, which examines how rising industrial concentration has inflated corporate profit margins. He traces the historical swing of antitrust enforcement—from aggressive 1950s‑60s actions to the deregulatory wave of the 1980s—and notes the recent bipartisan push for stricter oversight, now appearing to wane again. This policy pendulum matters to investors because concentrated markets grant pricing power, often at the expense of consumers and workers, while regulatory barriers can both protect and stifle competition. Understanding these dynamics helps fund managers anticipate where sustainable margins may persist.
Finally, Tepper tackles AI’s disruptive potential. He argues that generative models are becoming commoditized, eroding pricing power for software SaaS firms, data‑analytics providers, online platforms, and payroll processors. Rather than chasing hype, he seeks out undervalued “loser” stocks that the market has prematurely punished, believing that the consumer will ultimately benefit from cheaper services while shareholders may face tighter margins. By studying past technology waves, Tepper stresses a cautious, fundamentals‑driven strategy that prioritizes cash‑return potential over speculative AI bets. This perspective offers a pragmatic roadmap for investors navigating the evolving landscape of concentration, regulation, and technological change.
Episode Description
Value: After Hours is a podcast about value investing, Fintwit, and all things finance and investment by investors Tobias Carlisle, and Jake Taylor.
Soldier of Fortune: Warren Buffett, Sun Tzu and the Ancient Art of Risk-Taking (Kindle)
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Hi, I'm Tobias Carlisle. I launched The Acquirers Podcast to discuss the process of finding undervalued stocks, deep value investing, hedge funds, activism, buyouts, and special situations.We uncover the tactics and strategies for finding good investments, managing risk, dealing with bad luck, and maximizing success.
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Tobias Carlisle is the founder of The Acquirer’s Multiple®, and Acquirers Funds®. He is best known as the author of the #1 new release in Amazon’s Business and Finance The Acquirer’s Multiple: How the Billionaire Contrarians of Deep Value Beat the Market, the Amazon best-sellers Deep Value: Why Activists Investors and Other Contrarians Battle for Control of Losing Corporations (2014) (https://amzn.to/2VwvAGF), Quantitative Value: A Practitioner’s Guide to Automating Intelligent Investment and Eliminating Behavioral Errors (2012) (https://amzn.to/2SDDxrN), and Concentrated Investing: Strategies of the World’s Greatest Concentrated Value Investors (2016) (https://amzn.to/2SEEjVn). He has extensive experience in investment management, business valuation, public company corporate governance, and corporate law.Prior to founding the forerunner to Acquirers Funds in 2010, Tobias was an analyst at an activist hedge fund, general counsel of a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, and a corporate advisory lawyer. As a lawyer specializing in mergers and acquisitions he has advised on transactions across a variety of industries in the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Australia, Singapore, Bermuda, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, and Guam. He is a graduate of the University of Queensland in Australia with degrees in Law (2001) and Business (Management) (1999).
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