a Warning: Potential Security Risk Ahead

If there’s one thing…

I’ve learned over a lifetime of investing that there is a crucial lesson. When an industry forgets how it makes money, it is bound to lose it. And that’s precisely what’s happening right now in web publishing.

Web-based media companies forgot one simple truth. They are much like newspapers of the 20th century.

Value must be captured, not just created. Today, AI transforms the way information is consumed. The traditional web business model, built on ads and eyeballs, is starting to implode.

In investing, we talk about “economic moats.” The stronger the moat, the harder it is for competitors to erode your profits.

Web media’s moat? It was always paper-thin. Search engine improvement (SEO), page views, and ad impressions were a leaky dam holding back a tidal wave of change.

Today, that dam is bursting. Generative AI doesn’t just help users find answers 👉🏻 it is the answer. The clicks that once landed on your website now stay on the search page — or never leave ChatGPT.

Think of it this way: publishing companies built restaurants by the highway. But now the highway has a new drive-through — and nobody’s stopping anymore.

Business Insider, a digital media giant, just slashed 21% of its workforce. Why? Because 70% of its revenue is still traffic-sensitive — it depends on the same outdated currency: visits and views.