SK Telecom: The $30 5G-AI Player

SK Telecom is the company Dr. Mark Skousen and Matt McCall name for free in their “XAI Boom” presentation, and the pitch’s framing of it captures the whole “second IPO” thesis in one company: a $30 NYSE-listed 5G operator whose boring surface conceals a venture position in Anthropic, the private AI lab expected to attempt the largest listing in history. If you searched the company, here is what it is, what the pitch claims, and our honest read. The complete treatment is our XAI Boom review.

The Company, In Plain Terms

SK Telecom is South Korea’s largest wireless operator, the ADR trades on the NYSE under ticker SKM at around $30, and the business is exactly what it looks like: a mature 5G carrier with a real dividend. What the pitch adds is the layer underneath: “now you know what’s hiding inside of it. A direct stake in the hottest company in the market bought years before [the] IPO.”

That stake is documented: SKT invested $100 million in Anthropic in August 2023, announced in the company’s own press release and covered by Reuters, alongside a strategic partnership that included SKT joining the group of telecom operators backing Anthropic’s technology and building Korean-language AI services with it. The pitch’s valuation framing: the stake “has grown to be worth close to $6,000,000,000 And that’s before Anthropic goes public,” against an expected $1.8 to $2 trillion listing.

The Pitch’s Scenario Math, and Its Frame

The ladder runs from “a company that I believe could rise three to five times higher in a year or so ahead” to “At 30%, potentially nine times your money over the long haul.” Our review’s precision on that arithmetic: the stake’s current value estimates vary widely among third parties, the $6 billion figure assumes the full $2 trillion listing, and the scenario outcomes extrapolate the stake’s paper value into the share price of a company whose market cap is dominated by its telecom operations. The mechanism is real, the precedents (Ford-Rivian, Yahoo-Alibaba) are real, and the magnitude is the presenter’s scenario.

The Honest Read

What we credit: the pick is the campaign’s most verifiable element, a real, liquid, researchable company whose hidden asset is a matter of public record rather than pitch-conjecture. A reader can own the telecom, collect the dividend (Morningstar lists the yield around 2.09% against the pitch’s 2.4%), and hold a documented claim on the Anthropic event, which is a sane structure for an event bet. The “second IPO” framing is also honest about what it is: a way to “position yourself before an IPO hits, even if you’ve never allocated a single share.”

The caveats. The telecom business is the ballast and the ceiling: SKM’s price will be dominated by its wireless economics for the foreseeable future, and the stake re-rating is a tailwind on the margin, so the nine-times scenario requires the market to re-price the whole name around a single asset. The listing timeline and valuation are estimates. And McCall’s own disclaimer is the right cap: “I can’t promise you any specific outcome.”

For the companion pieces: the SK Telecom stock profile covers the ticker mechanics, the SKM piece the free-pick framing, and the Anthropic access routes from the sibling campaign cover the same stake from its funnel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is SK Telecom a buy just for the Anthropic stake? That is the pitch’s scenario, not a market fact. SKM’s market cap is dominated by its Korean wireless business, so even a multi-billion-dollar stake re-rating moves the price on the margin. The dividend (Morningstar pegs the yield around 2.09% against the pitch’s 2.4%) and the telecom cash flows are the floor; the stake is the option on top.

When does Anthropic go public? No date exists in the presentation. The pitch expects “a $1.8 to $2 trillion valuation, which would make it the largest listing in history,” and its stake math (“close to $6,000,000,000”) assumes that full number. Treat the calendar as unknown and the valuation as an estimate; the pitch itself concedes the shape of the uncertainty with McCall’s “I can’t promise you any specific outcome.”

Does the “second IPO” mechanism have precedents? Yes, and the pitch cites the real ones: Ford “quietly snapped up 12% of Rivian… and when the electric truck company went public, Ford stocks popped higher,” and Yahoo “quietly bought a huge 40% stake in Alibaba… in two years surrounding its IPO, Yahoo stock tripled.” The honest caveat from those same precedents: the owner was always much more than its stake, and the flow-through was partial.

What does this mean? The pick is the campaign’s most verifiable element: a real, liquid, researchable company whose hidden asset is public record, not pitch-conjecture. Own it for the telecom or pass on it, but either way the mechanism it demonstrates is the transferable idea.

The Offer

The XAI Boom bundle: a year each of The Skousen Report and McCall’s Innovation Report, “The Second IPO Blueprint,” “Machine Medicine,” the Private Power Boom report, the final exit plan, and The Maxims of Wall Street, at “$795… for just $129” with a 90-day full-refund window and every report kept. The full presentation is here.

NewsletterVetter is an independent publication. We receive compensation from some of the services we review through affiliate links. Nothing on this site is investment advice. Always do your own research.