Amazon, Google, Meta, and the AI long game, with Baird's Colin Sebastian
GeekWire
GeekWire
4.4 • 116 Ratings
🗓️ 12 July 2025
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of the GeekWire Podcast, we’re joined by Colin Sebastian, senior research analyst at Baird and one of the most respected voices in tech and internet investing. We dive into how Amazon, Google, and Meta are positioning themselves in the AI era — from Amazon’s Alexa+ and infrastructure strategy, to Google’s balancing act between search and generative chatbots, to Meta’s AI talent push.
Colin also shares his take on the broader investment climate, how he separates hype from lasting value, and how AI is reshaping his own research process. Plus, we get his outlook on the next wave in gaming, the signals he’s watching in the data, and how today’s AI boom compares to the dot-com era that marked the start of his career.
See these research disclosures for Colin Sebastian and Baird.
With GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. Edited by Curt Milton.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This Geekwire podcast is brought to you by BECU. Stay tuned to the break as Brian Westbrook |
| 0:06.0 | interviews BECU's Stacey Black for today's money hack, answering your most pressing financial questions, |
| 0:12.9 | including how to track recurring subscriptions. For more money hacks, check out geekwire.com |
| 0:18.6 | slash BECU. |
| 0:27.6 | What we can see is that companies are spending and they plan to spend even more. |
| 0:33.9 | We did a survey last month of 100 corporations and 87% of them said they will increase spending on Gen AI over the next year and a grand total of zero out of the |
| 0:40.5 | hundred said they would spend less. |
| 0:49.6 | Welcome to Geekwire. I'm Geekwire co-founder Todd Bishop. This week, our guest is Colin Sebastian, |
| 0:55.4 | a longtime technology analyst who covers some of the most influential companies shaping the digital |
| 1:00.1 | economy. As a managing director and senior research analyst at Baird, Colin focuses on internet platforms, |
| 1:06.7 | digital media, e-commerce, and interactive entertainment, and covers companies including Amazon, |
| 1:11.9 | Google Parent, Alphabet, Facebook Parent, Meta, Gaming Giant, Electronic Arts, and others. |
| 1:17.5 | He brings more than three decades of experience across investment banking, software development, |
| 1:23.0 | and equity research, and he's widely recognized and award-winning for his thoughtful, |
| 1:27.9 | accurate, |
| 1:29.5 | and forward-looking analysis. |
| 1:31.6 | Colin, it's great to have you on. |
| 1:32.6 | Thanks, Todd. |
| 1:33.8 | Really a pleasure to be here. |
| 1:34.6 | Thanks for having me. |
| 1:36.4 | We've got a lot to talk about. |
| 1:39.5 | Perhaps not surprisingly, a lot of it includes AI. |
... |
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