Closing Bell Closing Bell: Live From the Sohn Conference 5/12/26
May 12, 2026
Orlando Bravo, founder of Thoma Bravo and software buyout specialist; David Einhorn, Greenlight Capital value investor; Jim Chanos, famed short-seller and corporate critic. They discuss AI’s real winners and labeling risks. They debate software buyouts, capital-intensity in data centers, shifting enterprise CapEx, market valuations, and when to defend capital versus hunt discounts.
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Legacy Data Centers Are Not AI Winners
- Jim Chanos warns many data center landlords are low-return, capital-intensive businesses growing mid-single digits rather than true AI plays.
- He distinguishes legacy data center landlords like Digital Realty and Equinix from purpose-built AI data centers and calls out equipment-leasing models dressed up as AI stories.
Verify If An AI Story Is Really A Real Estate Business
- Chanos advises investors to check whether a company is essentially a real estate or equipment-leasing business rather than a genuine AI operator before paying AI multiples.
- He highlights accounting mismatches: vendors book revenue now while buyers capitalize hardware and amortize costs, inflating near-term profits.
Modern Companies Repeat Dot-Com Name Pivots
- Chanos recalls late-90s dot-coms appending tech buzzwords to names and now sees companies similarly invoking AI to burnish multiples.
- He cites Warby Parker and Allbirds as recent examples of consumer brands pivoting to an AI narrative.