The Capital Cycle Podcast Capital Account Book
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Feb 9, 2026 Charles Carter, a European portfolio manager at Marathon Asset Management who helped compile the book Capital Account, joins to recount firsthand investor perspectives. He explores origins of capital cycle thinking and the telecoms and TMT booms. Short‑termism, earnings manipulation and overinvestment stories come up. Parallels between past bubbles and today’s AI and market concentration are examined.
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False Demand Forecasts Fueled Build-Out
- Demand forecasts drove the build-out yet were often false; it's easier to spot rising supply than real demand.
- The oft-cited internet traffic doubling every three months was a misleading data point that fuelled excess investment.
WorldCom's Parabola Moment
- WorldCom's CEO publicly displayed a parabola of rising share price before collapse.
- Such theatrical confidence masked massive underlying problems and later bankruptcy.
Book Value Vaporized In Bankruptcies
- Overbuilt networks left huge unused capacity and destroyed equity value in bankruptcy sales.
- Global Crossing sold for about 2% of book value, illustrating how book value collapsed under distress.
