Ben Thompson
Tech strategy & analysis
Founder of Stratechery. Writes on technology strategy, business models, and industry analysis.
Recent activity
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Netflix Earnings, Is Netflix Washed?, Additional Notes
Netflix's Q2 earnings were in line with expectations, with revenue growth slowing down to 7.5% year-over-year, indicating the company's most exciting days may be behind it, and it's likely in a mature phase. The company's subscriber growth has also slowed down, with 6.5 million new subscribers added in the quarter, down from 7.5 million in the same period last year. AI summary
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Who’s Afraid of Chinese Models?
Everyone is worried about Chinese models, but the frontier labs will be fine; we need to enable open U.S. alternatives.
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2026.29: Mainframes and Main Characters
The best Stratechery content from the week of July 13, 2026, including the end of the mainframe, the continuing adventures of OpenAI, and answering the question, "Is Netflix Washed?".
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IBM Misses, IBM’s Mainframe Moat, IBM’s Many AI Problems
IBM announced preliminary results that spooked the software market generally; this is a story, however, specifically about IBM and its mainframe franchise.
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The OpenAI Super App, ChatGPT = Codex, Whither Chat
OpenAI has refashioned Codex as the new ChatGPT; is the company abandoning the chat category they pioneered?
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Apple Sues OpenAI, Apple’s Real Problem
Apple is suing AI for stealing trade secrets; there is one guilty employee, but this mostly feels like lashing out.
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2026.28: XBOX On the Rocks
The best Stratechery content from the week of July 6, 2026, including a word from Mark Zuckerberg*, pulling the plug on XBOX, and toilet talk.
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Muse Image, Grok 4.5, Alex Karp on CNBC
The battle for verifiable data is increasingly defining the AI race, from Meta to Grok to the frontier labs.
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XBOX Cuts; Bundling and the Internet Solvent; Transaction, Coordination, and Sunk Costs
Microsoft's Xbox division is conducting big layoffs, as the company deals with abject failure of its Game Pass strategy.
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A Script for Mark Zuckerberg
A script for what Mark Zuckerberg should say on Meta's next earnings call.
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