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While the level of technological disruption pre-virus was impressive, the acceleration of the digital transformation over the past few months from old world to new world has been astounding to watch.
The big questions everyone is asking are how sustainable is it and what will it look like going forward?
Investors are certainly betting big, sending price-to-sales multiples rocketing higher from 11 times for Facebook, 12 times for Microsoft to an astounding 17 times for Tesla. At the same time, there is much anxiety with Main Street trying to figure out the new normal and the social and economic implications that come with it.
In this regard, we think it’s worth keeping a close eye on three areas that are likely to have the greatest impact on our lives and potentially our portfolios: where we work and live, shopping and entertainment; and the next generation.
Work from home
We think work from home is a pandemic trend that is here to stay in some form or another. Just last week, Shopify, Canada’s largest company by market capitalization, made headlines when it announced it is vacating its Ottawa headquarters, accelerating its virtual office transition. This followed an earlier decision to allow the majority of its 5,000 employees to work remotely on a permanent basis.