Deepak Mathivanan

Deepak Mathivanan from Cantor Fitzgerald asked two big-picture questions: first, how the emergence of AI agents might affect marketplaces like Instacart, and second, if there is a common theme driving the recent accelerated growth across the entire US delivery sector.

Answer

CEO & Chair Fidji Simo stated that in an AI-agent world, Instacart is well-positioned due to its vast selection and rich data, with the key being to integrate where users are. Regarding industry growth, she attributed it to the fact that online grocery remains significantly underpenetrated. Simo believes the acceleration is driven by improving services across the board (selection, affordability, speed) and retailers leaning in more aggressively to capture the online shift, often using Instacart's enterprise technology to do so.

Deepak Mathivanan inquired about which types of retailers are benefiting most from small basket orders and requested an update on the Uber Eats partnership's impact on the core grocery business.

Answer

CEO Fidji Simo stated that the benefits from small basket orders are widespread across all retailer types, with items typically including snacks, beverages, and fresh produce. Regarding the Uber Eats partnership, she noted that restaurant adoption continues to deepen and has a positive, reinforcing effect on the core business, as customers who order from restaurants also tend to order groceries more frequently and spend more.

Deepak Mathivanan of Cantor Fitzgerald asked CEO Ariane Gorin about Expedia Group's strategic approach to AI partnerships, such as with OpenAI, to balance branding and repeat traffic with a seamless booking experience. He also asked CFO Scott Schenkel for preliminary insights into the primary investment areas for 2026.

Answer

CEO Ariane Gorin explained that AI partnerships are viewed as opportunities to attract users, focusing on answer engine optimization to ensure brand visibility and accurate content, alongside direct integrations for seamless traveler handoffs. She highlighted Expedia's role as a ChatGPT launch partner and the importance of continuous learning in this fast-moving space. CFO Scott Schenkel indicated that 2026 investments would align with the three core strategic priorities, focusing on growth opportunities and operational efficiencies, including marketing leverage, cost of sales, and overheads, with more details to follow in Q1.

Deepak Mathivanan asked about Expedia Group's strategic approach to partnerships with AI assistants like OpenAI, focusing on branding, repeat traffic, and seamless booking experiences, and the primary investment areas for 2026.

Answer

CEO Ariane Gorin explained that partnerships with AI assistants are viewed as opportunities to attract users to Expedia's brands, emphasizing answer engine optimization and direct integrations for seamless traveler handoffs. She highlighted the importance of being agile and experimental in this fast-moving space. CFO Scott Schenkel stated that 2026 investments will continue to focus on the three core strategic priorities: growth opportunities across businesses and operational efficiencies, including marketing leverage, cost of sales, and overheads, with more detailed guidance in February.

Deepak Mathivanan of Cantor Fitzgerald inquired about the drivers of higher conversion from AI assistant traffic and the growth opportunity for the B2B Rapid API product in Asia.

Answer

CEO Ariane Gorin hypothesized that traffic from GenAI search is converting better because it is more qualified and further down the discovery funnel. She stressed the importance of integrations with AI partners and strong fundamentals like supply and loyalty. CFO Scott Schenkel added that the B2B business in Asia is strong and the API is a key enabler for bringing Expedia's supply and tech to partners, with continued double-digit growth expected.

Deepak Mathivanan from Cantor Fitzgerald asked about Expedia's ability to manage potential macroeconomic deterioration, questioning the relative sensitivity of the B2B and B2C businesses. He also inquired about the drivers behind the upwardly revised full-year margin guidance.

Answer

CEO Ariane Gorin highlighted that the B2B business's geographic and segment diversity provides a hedge against macro headwinds and noted that packaging and targeted rates help hotel partners manage demand. CFO Scott Schenkel explained that the improved margin outlook is supported by recent employment actions and ongoing work on discretionary costs, giving management confidence in achieving the 75 to 100 basis points of expansion.

Deepak Mathivanan asked for details on the drivers of B2B strength in the APAC region and the growth roadmap for 2025. He also requested more color on the margin expansion strategy beyond fixed cost leverage, particularly regarding marketing investments.

Answer

CEO Ariane Gorin attributed B2B strength in APAC to strong new and existing partnerships in high-growth markets, emphasizing the critical role of high-quality, relevant supply. For 2025, she outlined a strategy of deepening existing partnerships, signing new ones, and testing new products. On margins, she declined to break out specific line-item contributions but affirmed the strategy is to find efficiencies while maintaining the flexibility to invest in long-term growth areas like international markets and Vrbo.

Deepak Mathivanan asked what is required for Vrbo to accelerate its growth to match peers now that it has returned to modest growth. He also sought qualitative commentary on the cost structure and margin implications for 2025.

Answer

CEO Ariane Gorin stated that Vrbo's growth acceleration depends on continuing to improve the product, expand supply into areas like urban destinations, and execute effective marketing. She added that improvements to Vrbo also benefit the vacation rental business on Brand Expedia. CFO Julie Whalen deferred 2025 guidance to the next call but emphasized a continued focus on cost discipline in overhead and cost of sales, noting that marketing efficiency is the largest lever for future margin improvement as recovering brands drive more direct traffic.

Deepak Mathivanan asked about eBay's strategic approach to partnerships with AI assistants and agents, potential technical constraints, and how advancements in LLMs and AI tools will be deployed to enhance the buyer experience in 2026.

Answer

CEO Jamie Iannone discussed testing agentic experiences and building a unified agentic commerce platform leveraging eBay's hybrid cloud, LLM ecosystem, and 30 years of proprietary data. He emphasized using AI to improve inventory discovery, seller surfacing, and recommendations, and enabling collaboration between third-party and first-party agents.

Deepak Mathivanan inquired about eBay's strategic approach to partnerships with AI assistants and agents, potential technical constraints, and how LLMs and AI tools will enhance the buyer experience in 2026.

Answer

CEO Jamie Iannone expressed excitement about agentic shopping and discovery, detailing eBay's unified agentic commerce platform, which integrates hybrid cloud infrastructure, a fine-tuned LLM ecosystem, and 30 years of proprietary data. He emphasized eBay's unique inventory (non-new, used, refurbished) and value-added services in focus categories, positioning the company to leverage AI for inventory discovery, improved seller surfacing, enhanced recommendations, and collaboration between third-party and first-party agents.

Deepak Mathivanan of Cantor Fitzgerald questioned if eBay should leverage its pre-owned advantage with more aggressive marketing and if it's seeing changes in the competitive landscape.

Answer

CEO Jamie Iannone confirmed they are leaning into marketing the pre-loved value proposition, especially for C2C selling, to unlock a significant TAM. He highlighted innovations like 'Magical Listing' and new fashion discovery tools. Regarding competition, Iannone stated that eBay's global scale and strong financial model are key advantages, allowing them to invest and acquire customers who then shop across multiple categories.

Deepak Mathivanan (via Jack) asked for early engagement metrics on the new credit card launch in Argentina, how its adoption curve compares to Brazil, whether the two-year break-even period would differ, and penetration rate targets for the next 12-18 months.

Answer

President of FinTech Osvaldo Gimenez stated it's too early to comment on Argentina credit card performance as it launched late in the quarter. He expressed confidence due to a large, engaged user base, Mercado Pago's ecosystem strength, and the competitive advantage of not charging monthly fees. He declined to give guidance on penetration rates but is bullish on the product's opportunity.

Deepak Mathivanan inquired about early engagement metrics for the newly launched credit card in Argentina, how its adoption curve compares to Brazil, if the two-year break-even period would differ, and the penetration rates targeted over the next 12-18 months.

Answer

MercadoLibre President of FinTech Osvaldo Gimenez stated it's too early to comment on performance as the credit card launched late in the quarter. He expressed confidence in its success due to Mercado Pago's large, engaged user base in Argentina, the absence of monthly fees (unlike most local cards), and strong ecosystem offers. While bullish, he could not provide guidance on 12-18 month penetration rates.

Deepak Mathivanan asked for an updated view on full-year EBIT margin trends, given favorable comps, and sought details on the drivers behind the recent acceleration in advertising penetration as a percentage of GMV.

Answer

Martin de Los Santos, CFO, explained that Q1 EBIT margin expansion was largely due to country mix, as the higher-margin Argentina business grew its revenue share. He reiterated that the company does not manage for short-term margins and will continue to invest for long-term growth. Ariel Szarfsztejn, EVP of Commerce, attributed the strong advertising growth to product improvements, particularly making 'Brands' and 'Display' ad formats more widely available to sellers.

Deepak Mathivanan asked for color on the drivers behind the acceleration in e-commerce buyers and frequency, and also inquired about the factors driving the sequential improvement in NIMAL.

Answer

Ariel Szarfsztejn (Executive) attributed the strong buyer metrics to the compounding effect of long-term investments in the value proposition, including vertical-specific features, new categories like groceries, and the crucial role of free shipping. Osvaldo Giménez (Executive) explained that the sequential NIMAL improvement was driven by higher product spreads resulting from lower bad debt, which was aided by better collections and positive seasonality in December.

Deepak Mathivanan asked how the ramp-up in credit cards is expected to drive volume growth in e-commerce and fintech, based on historical cohort behavior. He also requested more specific details on how NIMAL differs between credit cards and consumer credit to aid in modeling.

Answer

Executive Osvaldo Giménez explained that users with a credit card show higher engagement, buy more on the marketplace, and increase their overall use of Mercado Pago products. Executive Martin de Los Santos added that while specific NIMAL figures are not disclosed, consumer and merchant loans have the highest margins. In contrast, the credit card NIMAL is currently neutral to marginally negative as it scales, though older cohorts are already becoming profitable.

Represented by Jack, Deepak Mathivanan's question focused on the lack of growth in live NDC connections since last quarter. He also requested more detail on the specific drivers behind the six-month delay of the multi-source LCC solution.

Answer

President & CEO Kurt Ekert defended Sabre's NDC position, stating its 38 live connections represent a fulsome portfolio and that its competitive advantage lies in its buyer-facing workflow integration. He attributed the six-month delay in the LCC solution launch to an internal 'execution delay on our side from a tech standpoint,' acknowledging a setback in their product roadmap.

Representing Deepak Mathivanan of Cantor Fitzgerald, an analyst asked where the remaining $135 million in proceeds from the Hospitality sale would be invested and requested an update on the air bookings industry share trend for Q1.

Answer

CEO Kurt Ekert explained that Sabre is no longer reporting the GDS EDIFACT market share metric as it doesn't represent the full addressable market, but inferred that growing double-digits while the market is down implies 'very considerably' growing share. He and CFO Michael Randolfi noted the remaining proceeds will fund strategic initiatives and technology modernization, with full-year CapEx expected to be around $80 million.

On behalf of Deepak Mathivanan, an analyst asked about the most significant opportunities for Sabre from implementing artificial intelligence in 2025 and beyond.

Answer

CEO Kurt Ekert identified near-term opportunities in improving the productivity of customer service and developer teams. For the longer term, he highlighted the transformative potential of AI in consumer travel shopping, noting Sabre is embedding Google's Gemini AI into its revenue optimization products and the SabreMosaic platform to enhance customer competitiveness and drive future revenue.

Deepak Mathivanan inquired about DoorDash's plans to use large AI models for user experience and operational efficiency, and asked about the contribution of new verticals to new customer growth.

Answer

CEO & Chair Tony Xu stated that AI is causing a fundamental rethinking of the business, impacting consumer product design (search, personalization), physical world operations (inventory creation, merchant onboarding), and internal productivity, particularly in coding. CFO Ravi Inukonda noted that new verticals are growing faster than the core restaurant business, with strength from both new and existing customer cohorts. He highlighted that order frequency and user numbers in new verticals are at all-time highs, driven by improved selection, quality, and affordability.

Deepak Mathivanan asked if DoorDash's M&A philosophy has changed following its recent large acquisitions and questioned which other areas could benefit from M&A. He also inquired about the specific factors accelerating spend per customer in the grocery vertical.

Answer

CEO Tony Xu asserted that the M&A bar remains high, viewing the Deliveroo and 7 Rooms deals as business as usual, aimed at expanding market reach and adding to the platform business. CFO Ravi Inukonda added that strong growth in new verticals is driven by increased selection, better product quality, and cohort habituation, leading to higher order frequency and share gains.

Deepak Mathivanan asked about the long-term opportunities and risks for DoorDash in a world with autonomous vehicles (AVs) and requested an update on the performance of Wolt, including its progress in new verticals.

Answer

CEO Tony Xu discussed AVs, highlighting that autonomous delivery presents different challenges than robotaxis, and confirmed it's an area of exploration. CFO Ravi Inukonda reported that the Wolt and the broader international business had a strong year, growing substantially faster than peers, with Wolt+ scaling more quickly than DashPass did in its early days.

On behalf of Deepak Mathivanan, a representative from Goldman Sachs asked for a breakdown of the 19% GOV growth between the core restaurant business and other categories, and also inquired about the drivers of the slight AOV increase.

Answer

CEO Tony Xu (per transcript) explained that growth was driven by strong underlying cohort performance, with user numbers and order frequency at all-time highs. He specified that while the restaurant business growth has been stable, new verticals like grocery and international segments are growing much faster and gaining share. He attributed the AOV increase partly to the grocery business but advised not to view it as a major shift.

Deepak Mathivanan of Cantor Fitzgerald asked for color on traffic patterns shifting towards AI assistants and the current gating factors for their growth as a major commercial channel.

Answer

President Harley Finkelstein responded that while it's too early to quantify a market share shift, Shopify is actively preparing for this trend. He explained that new products like Catalog and Universal Cart are designed to make Shopify the essential partner for AI platforms. The strategy is to ensure Shopify merchants are at the center of this new frontier if and when it becomes a dominant channel, similar to how Shopify approached social commerce.

Deepak Mathivanan of Cantor Fitzgerald inquired about recent trends in consumer behavior on the Shop App following product enhancements and how this informs future strategy.

Answer

President Harley Finkelstein stated the strategy is to create an owned channel for merchants to drive traffic and sales. He noted that enhancements like the new AI-powered home feed led to an 18% increase in sessions with recommendation engagement. The ultimate goal is to increase customer LTV for merchants and help consumers discover new brands, an ecosystem exclusive to Shopify merchants.

Deepak Mathivanan inquired about the outlook for operating expense growth, areas of incremental investment for 2026, and how Spotify is leveraging advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs) within its product.

Answer

CEO Daniel Ek explained that OpEx is managed to drive long-term lifetime value (LTV), not arbitrary quarterly targets, meaning they will invest heavily when the SAC-to-LTV ratio is favorable. Co-President Gustav Söderström added that Spotify is retooling its entire tech stack for the 'generative age,' which creates a strategic advantage as LLMs improve with more usage, capitalizing on Spotify's high engagement.

An analyst on behalf of Deepak Mathivanan asked if hosts are adjusting prices in response to early demand softness in the U.S. and whether the marketplace is expected to be price sticky or more dynamic if the macro environment worsens.

Answer

CFO Ellie Mertz stated that Airbnb has not yet seen a meaningful downward shift in host pricing. However, she framed it as a 'considerable opportunity' for the company to encourage hosts to lower prices to capture more demand, especially in the current macroeconomic climate, rather than a trend that is actively occurring.

Deepak Mathivanan asked if Etsy sees an opportunity to market its 'Made in U.S.A.' items amid tariff changes and requested an update on the company's category mix and exposure to discretionary spending.

Answer

CEO Josh Silverman confirmed Etsy is already promoting domestic sellers and is prepared to increase marketing if tariffs create a significant price advantage. CFO Lanny Baker stated the category mix is stable, with the top six categories unchanged. He added that based on third-party data, Etsy outperformed peers in four of those six categories, including Home & Living and Jewelry, due to its gifting and personalization efforts.

Deepak Mathivanan requested color on the early usage of new AI agent products, like the assistant and marketing tools, and the broader 2025 roadmap for AI agents. He also asked about the sustained efficiency gains observed for professionals who have been using Wix Studio for 6-12 months.

Answer

CEO Avishai Abrahami detailed two monetized AI agents: an AI-powered chat for customer websites and an AI marketing agent, framing them as hiring 'experts' for a user's business. Regarding Wix Studio, he explained that agencies are reporting significant efficiency gains and the ability to produce higher-quality websites, as the platform streamlines the entire design-to-code workflow into a single, powerful design environment.

Deepak Mathivanan asked about macro trends related to new business formation in early 2025 and whether GoDaddy is seeing any tailwinds from recent news surrounding WordPress.

Answer

CEO Aman Bhutani reiterated that their customer base remains resilient and that business formation data does not directly correlate with their performance. Regarding WordPress, he expressed excitement for their newly launched, faster version of Managed WordPress but did not comment on specific migration trends.

Deepak Mathivanan of Cantor Fitzgerald asked two ad product questions: first, about the go-to-market strategy and potential ramp speed for the new 'Sponsored Snaps' format in 2025; and second, how Snap views the opportunity to deploy additional compute, such as GPUs, to improve direct-response ad relevance.

Answer

CEO Evan Spiegel responded that the rollout of Sponsored Snaps will be thoughtful and deliberate to maintain a high bar for creative relevance, starting with the Pixel Purchase goal-based bidding objective before expanding. On compute, he confirmed that machine learning for advertising is a major focus area, benefiting from broader platform investments. The company is actively experimenting with advanced techniques like sequence models and leveraging larger, fresher models to improve ad performance.