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TOGETHER WITH
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Good morning and welcome to September. It might be time to retire the pandemic-era phrase, "there's nothing going on."
- On tap this month: the Kentucky Derby, the U.S. Open, the start of football, the NHL/NBA/WNBA playoffs, Tenet and Mulan, the first presidential debate, the Emmys, and most importantly, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater remake.
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NASDAQ
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11,775.46
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+ 0.68%
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S&P
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3,499.96
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- 0.23%
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DJIA
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28,426.17
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- 0.79%
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GOLD
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1,975.60
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+ 0.04%
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10-YR
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0.706%
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- 1.40 bps
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OIL
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42.82
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- 0.35%
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*As of market close
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Markets: Stocks closed out their best month since April. The S&P finished up 7%, the Nasdaq up 9.6%, and the Dow up 7.6%.
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COVID-19 update: India has emerged as the epicenter of the pandemic. The nation of 1.3+ billion now has the third-largest death toll globally, surpassing Mexico, and its GDP just dropped 24% last quarter—the sharpest decline in decades.
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Francis Scialabba
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In May, Joe
Rogan shocked the podcasting world when he agreed to an exclusive $100
million licensing deal with Spotify. Today, his podcast The Joe Rogan Experience debuts on the platform.
There's a lot at stake
Just about two years ago, Spotify shifted its eye of Sauron toward the small but growing podcasting industry. In a blog post from early last year, CEO Daniel Ek said he realized that “audio—not just music—would be the future of Spotify.”
- Spotify had 185,000 podcasts on its platform in 2018; now it has over 1.5 million.
Last year, Spotify filled its shopping cart with podcast companies Gimlet Media and Anchor for $340 million before snapping up Bill Simmons’s sports and entertainment media-factory The Ringer for $200 million in February.
Thus began a podcast talent shopping spree
The company’s highest-profile get has undoubtedly been the hundred million dollar man Joe Rogan and his 190 million monthly downloads. But for listeners who aren't into hunting or three-hour episodes, Spotify also signed megatalent like Michelle Obama and Kim Kardashian West to podcasting deals.
- All told, Spotify’s known investments in podcasts come to $696 million.
But as it’s
focused on bringing in new talent, Spotify may have overlooked its
existing roster. One of the platform’s most popular exclusive
podcasters, Joe Budden, ripped Spotify
last week for “pillaging” his audience, accusing the company of
leveraging his popularity to gain subscribers without properly
compensating him.
Bottom line: Spotify’s
interest in podcasts can be boiled down to one inconvenient truth: the
music streaming business isn’t very profitable. Spotify loses nearly 75%
of its revenue to royalties paid to record labels, music publishers,
and other rights holders, writes the WSJ. As Rogan kicks off the new era
of exclusive content, Spotify thinks it's got the arsenal to upend
Apple's podcasting dominance.
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Giphy
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Zoom’s revenue grew 355% annually in Q2, because last year you hadn’t heard of the company and now you use it to watch your brother get married.
With its
earnings coming in well above analysts’ (already bullish) expectations,
Zoom’s stock gained roughly 23% after hours to hit a new record high.
Shares had already jumped 369% on the year.
We all know the story of Zoom: While the pandemic bulldozed some companies, it handed this upstart videoconferencing software company the gift of a lifetime.
- Zoom made as much money in the last quarter as it did during all of 2019.
- It raised its revenue guidance forecast for the year from around $1.8 billion to around $2.39 billion.
Now, Zoom is
trying to take that gift and turn it into something lasting. It’s spent
the last few months investing in R&D centers, hardware offerings,
and seasoned execs across its business.
Consider all that a massive moat-building project—it knows Big Tech is amassing the troops to storm the castle.
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Nestlé wants to help all those who just opt for Cracker Jacks at the ball game. Yesterday, the Swiss conglomerate agreed to buy biotech Aimmune Therapeutics for $2.6 billion, specifically to get its hands on Aimmune’s peanut allergy treatment.
- Nestlé made its first investment in Aimmune in 2016, and already owned more than 25% of the company.
Aimmune’s
treatment, called Palforzia, doesn’t rid the world of peanut allergies.
It does help reduce the frequency and intensity of allergic reactions by
exposing patients to small doses of peanut protein to build
resistance.
- Nestlé says that 240
million people globally have food allergies, and peanuts are one of the
most common. They affected almost 2.5% of American children, per a 2017 study cited by the WSJ.
- Palforzia is the first and only peanut allergy treatment approved by the FDA.
Zoom out: The
acquisition is part of a larger strategy by Nestlé to shift its focus
from grab bag consumer goods (like candy and bottled water) to the
higher-margin health and wellness biz.
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Amazon
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The traffic cops of the skies, the FAA, handed Amazon the all-important “air carrier” certificate it needs to operate a drone delivery network in the U.S.
- Yesterday's approval
allows Amazon’s drones to carry packages beyond the line of sight of the
operator. It’s a need-to-have badge in order to start commercial
service.
The backstory: The
race for drone delivery is about as sluggish as George R.R. Martin’s
writing process. Amazon first announced its drone plans in 2013, but
technical challenges and regulatory delays have pushed an actual launch
well into the 2020s.
The nowstory: Amazon is the third drone operator to secure FAA approval, joining UPS and Alphabet’s Wing unit. Regular commercial service isn’t expected for years, though.
And why does this matter? Amazon
believes the future of ecommerce belongs to the company that can
deliver packages before the confirmation email arrives in your inbox.
Amazon’s new class of electric drones, the MK27, can fly up to 15 miles and deliver a package weighing under 5 lbs. in less than 30 minutes.
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Giphy
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Yesterday, Elon Musk passed Mark Zuckerberg to become the third wealthiest person in the world.
Propelled by Tesla’s never-ending rally, Musk joined the rarified
centibillionare club populated only by Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jeff
Bezos, and Jeff Bezos.
About that never-ending rally
Anyone who opened their Robinhood account yesterday morning might have done a double-take after Tesla’s 5-1 stock split
took effect (cutting the company's stock price by 1/5). Despite a
chorus of reminders that “stock splits don’t make a company more
valuable,” Tesla's stock jumped another 12.5% yesterday, because when it
comes to Tesla, everything's made up and the points don't matter.
Zoom out: Tesla shares are up more than 70%
since announcing its stock split on August 11 and almost 500% on the
year. It’s now valued at $464 billion, which means Elon has added $87.8
billion to his net worth since the start of 2020.
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Delta and American are predictably dropping their change fees for most U.S. tickets. United started the domino effect over the weekend.
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Dell Loy Hansen,
the owner of the MLS and NWSL soccer teams in Utah, will sell the
teams. He recently criticized players for sitting out games to advance
racial justice issues.
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Joe Biden said he wouldn't ban fracking in a speech in western PA yesterday.
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JCPenney’s
talks with potential buyers hit a stalemate. Now, lenders are putting
together a plan to buy the bankrupt retailer before it collapses
altogether.
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Utz, the iconic snacks company, started trading publicly yesterday.
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Our closet is mostly CARIUMAs. By now, half of Morning Brew’s wardrobe is devoted to our striking stash of CARIUMA sneaks. And now we can complete our collection since their best-selling IBI is back in stock—in
great colors like White, Blue, and Sand. They’re super comfy, made with
perfect-fit bamboo knit, featherweight, and machine washable. 14k
people were waiting for these sensational eco-friendly sneaks, and now they’re back—but only if you snag them before the Brew does. Get 15% off right here.
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Starting a business during a recession: It may not be as bad an idea as it sounds. Business Casual host
Kinsey Grant argues in her debut column that companies founded during
an economic downturn are more resilient in the long-run. See if you agree.
Tech Tip Tuesday: 13 tips for using Google Docs like a pro and 10 tricks for mastering Google Trends.
Up: The Sequel: Magician David Blaine plans to distract us all from 2020 by tying 52 weather balloons to himself. The prestige? When he floats about 18,000 feet above the Arizona desert. The stunt is streaming live on Blaine’s YouTube channel tomorrow at 6am PT. Get psyched by listening to Joe Rogan’s recent interview of Blaine.
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This is September's birthstone. Do you know what it is?
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The beautiful sapphire
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| ADVERTISEMENT |
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Man allegedly stabs AutoZone employee: ‘felt the need to kill a white male’
Anti-Trump Vandal Sets Fire at Family’s Home
Watch Now: Biden loses track during message about coronavirus
“This Is Real… There’s Going To Be A F**king War In November”
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