Baratta Center Hosts Inaugural CEO Signature Series on Cross-Border Investing and Technology
The Baratta Center for Global Business hosted the inaugural CEO Signature Series event to address ”Cross Border Investing: A Focus on Technology” during a keynote conversation between Philippe Laffont, founder and chief investment officer of Coatue Management, and Joseph Baratta (B’93), global head of private equity at Blackstone. The conversation was followed by a panel discussion between Paul Rosen, assistant secretary of the Treasury for Investment Security, and Ashley Lenihan, professor of the practice of international affairs and deputy director of the Master of Science in Foreign Service program at Georgetown’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.
Laffont and Baratta focused on the role of technology investing in Laffont’s career, which began at MIT where he studied computer science and subsequently worked for no pay to get his foot in the door in the investing industry. Laffont shared an early piece of advice he received from one of Coatue’s earliest investors: “Rule number one: don’t lose the money.” He offered insights on how he navigated the investing world, highlighting the importance of being willing to change one’s mind and appreciating the wisdom of people who have more experience in the industry.
On the topic of tech investing, Laffont outlined ways in which the landscape has evolved, from the introduction of personal computers to the dawn of artificial intelligence (AI). He noted that we are in the early innings of a transformative AI double wave – both on the infrastructure and software fronts – which may last for the next 20 years.
The conversation then shifted towards the global perspective, as Baratta and Laffont discussed the differences in investing across countries such as China, India, Japan, and the United States, in which Laffont labeled the United States as the best market to invest in given the business environment and management of U.S. companies.
Following this conversation, Rosen and Lenihan discussed U.S. inbound and outbound investments in the context of national security considerations. Rosen, who oversees the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), described the importance of protecting national security at the intersection of international finance. Rosen outlined CFIUS’ policy of “small yard, high fence,” describing the committee’s ability to target outgoing U.S. investments in certain industries such as superconductors, quantum computing, and AI in order to avoid funding or advancing the interests of foreign adversaries.
In regards to foreign investment in the United States, Rosen discussed the increasing prevalence of malign investments. He emphasized that CFIUS was “not in the business of killing business,” but that the committee, which is made up of nine collaborative member agencies, is working to establish a robust, statutory process for assessing the risk level of investments that may target American assets such as technology, infrastructure, and agriculture.