A few people pointed out that Guy Spier is closing Aquamarine Fund because he's battling brain cancer.

I want to be clear - my earlier post was never about Guy Spier personally. He's had an extraordinary career. I wish him nothing but strength and healing.

My post was about something much bigger.

The narrative around his fund closure was that active management is finished. That stock picking no longer works. That AI has made research obsolete.

THAT is what I was responding to. And THAT is what I fundamentally disagree with.

Because the underlying problem goes beyond an individual.

Investors pulled $640 billion from active mutual funds in 2025. Passive funds now control 55% of total US fund assets. 357 mutual funds and 146 active ETFs were closed or liquidated last year - both records.

The full year SPIVA scorecard showed 79% of large-cap managers underperformed the S&P 500.

So yes, most active managers ARE failing. The lazy, closet-indexing, fee-collecting version of active management deserves to die.

But that's not even the WHOLE picture:

Small-cap stock pickers posted their best SPIVA results in over two decades. Active emerging market managers outperformed at a 64% rate. Active bond ETFs captured 38% of all fixed income flows.

The opportunities are MASSIVE for managers willing to go where passive money won't.

Small-cap energy at 5x earnings. Commodity producers with fortress balance sheets. Emerging markets at historic discounts to US equities.

As Mag 7 valuations continue to compress, passive investors own every one of those overpriced names by default.

Active managers can CHOOSE not to.

The herd declared stock picking dead.

But I don't believe this is the case at all, and that's the point I wanted to convey.

I apologize for any misunderstandings.