October 13, 2020
what we are watching...
empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines
Business
SPAC-a-palooza: You may have heard of SoftBank, the Japanese technology company that has also created the $100BN Vision Funds. While SoftBank’s funds have invested in many successful technology companies (including Boston Dynamics, Alibaba, Slack and Uber), its most famous is WeWork, resulting in a $6.5BN loss last year. Yesterday SoftBank announced it will be creating its own blank check company (or SPAC) through its Vision Fund 2. Following last year’s losses, the fund has had difficulty raising capital, so they are turning to the IPO market instead. No word yet on what type of companies the SPAC will invest in.
Sports are also getting into SPACs. Fenway Sports Group, whose assets include the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool F.C., is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake to Redball Acquisition, a blank check company formed earlier this year. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the deal, pegs the FSG valuation at around $8 billion. Maybe we’ll see more sports-related SPACs providing further transparency into the leagues.
Reorganizing the Mouse: Disney announced yesterday that it will reorganize its media and entertainment business with a focus on its streaming strategy, putting Disney+ front and center. Disney will be focused on delivering direct to consumer content. "Managing content creation distinct from distribution will allow us to be more effective and nimble in making the content consumers want most, delivered in the way they prefer to consume it," said Bob Chapek, Disney’s CEO. This comes following the announcement of 28,000 layoffs at Disney mostly due to shutdowns at its theme parks. Disney is also engaging Governor Newsom of California in an effort to get the state to reopen its parks.
Crypto: Square, the payments company run by Jack Dorsey, announced that it has purchased $50M of bitcoin (or roughly 1% of Square’s total assets). Square is positioning bitcoin an a means to “participate in a global monetary system.” Square has been active in bitcoin since 2018 when its Cash App offered purchases of the cryptocurrency. The investment appears to be a means to learn more about the crypto market, a means of hedging inflation and to promote access to the market.
Lost Women: According to McKinsey, more than one in four women are contemplating downshifting their careers or leaving the workforce completely. For the first time in the six years that McKinsey has issued this report, researchers are seeing evidence of women leaving the workforce at higher rates than men. COVID has had a significant impact on women, especially women of color. Women were more likely to be laid off and had increased challenges with childcare (mothers are three times as likely as fathers to be responsible for a majority of housework and childcare during the pandemic.) Let’s hope companies reset their goals or create a more empathetic work place in order to keep a diverse workforce.
Influencer IPO: Italian Fashion influencer Chiara Ferragni is considering an IPO for her lifestyle brand. Ferragni owns several companies which produce a fashion line, a blog and marketing campaigns. She also reportedly earns over €60,000 per each social media post, and her goal is €15M in revenue by 2025 (over ten times what she makes today). You may remember her name from a guest judging stint on Amazon’s Making the Cut. Seems like a fitting place to start for a modern fashion brand.
Core Testing: The US’s largest COVID testing program was created by CORE, the nonprofit founded by Sean Penn. Thanks to CORE in collaboration with Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Fire Department and their local testing partner, Curative, anyone can visit several testing sites across L.A. and get a COVID test for free—regardless of symptoms, citizenship, health insurance, or local address—with highly accurate results in under 48 hours. CORE has managed emergency relief efforts across the Caribbean, trained teenagers in Gulf states in disaster relief, and rebuilt communities in Haiti, under CEO Ann Young Lee (who had experience managing aid work for the UN).
Technology
Apple’s Event: Tomorrow Apple will hold yet another virtual event where it is expected to announce a new range of iPhones. The new phones may include 5G compatibility and magnetic charging or at least a new version of the charging cable. The new iPhone12s are expected to be reminiscent of the iPhone4 design (although who remembers back that far).
Vertical Farms: Singapore is the third most densely populated country in the world. Farms make up no more than 1% of its total land (in the United States it’s 40%), forcing the small city-state to shell out around $10 billion each year importing 90% of its food. As an alternative to land farming and an effort to give Singapore power over its food supply, VertiVegies has created an indoor warehouse which will be Singapore’s largest farm (roughly the size of three soccer fields), which can produce six metric tons of greens each day, helping the country to take a step toward food security. If it can meet its production targets, it will singlehandedly boost Singapore’s vegetable production by 10%. The company has invested in vertical farming technology from China’s SananBio and has access to their data on how to grow vegetables better and faster.
Cambridge Analytica: The UK's privacy regulator (the ICO) confirmed that Cambridge Analytica played no significant role in the Brexit referendum (nor the US elections), had no proprietary technology, and could not actually do the scary stuff it claimed. It brought our attention to things that did matter, but the company itself did not. Guess that should give us some feeling of calm despite all the new disinformation tricks that have evolved over the past four years.
Content Moderation: You may have heard that Facebook is banning all QAnon related posts, Etsy removed Q content, Twitter has cracked down, while YouTube has yet to determine its policy and Amazon continues to sell Q merch. But one platform where you might not have expected a flurry of QAnon hashtags: Peloton. The home fitness platform has added a social feedback component to its app, allowing users to create hashtags to form communities and make personal statements. Unfortunately, Peloton has discovered a variety of QAnon posts including a variation of its “where we go 1 we go all” hashtag. Peloton has been working to remove them, although it doesn’t appear to have a content moderation team.
Start your Engines: Today is Amazon Prime Day and many retailers are beginning their holiday sales as well.
Politics
North Korea: North Korean unveiled a new ICBM during its military parade this weekend set to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the North's ruling Workers' Party. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said "we will continue to strengthen the war deterrent.” Although the missile had not been tested yet, it was likely more powerful than the North's previous weapons, and could potentially travel further and inflict more damage. As is always the case with the opaque North Korean regime, it's unclear whether this display was a blusterous show of strength by Kim amid failed negotiations with the US and a faltering economy, or whether there's something more sinister at play.
Ballot Boxes: Yesterday, the California Republican Party admitted that it placed more than 50 unofficial, deceptive and illegal ballot boxes around the state. The dark gray metal boxes have been popping up over the past two weeks near churches, gun shops and Republican Party offices, mostly in conservative areas of a deep-blue state, affixed with a white paper label identifying them as either an “Official Ballot Drop off Box” or a “Ballot Drop Box.” The party claims they are “ballot harvesting” because it is not explicitly restricted by state law. No word as to what happens to your ballot if you actually used one of the drop boxes. We expected election interference, we just didn’t expect it from our fellow Americans.
Culture
Mac and Juice: There is a unique TikTok challenge going around that started with a young woman doing a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams while drinking cranberry juice. Then Nathan Apodaca picked up a juice and skateboard while lip syncing to the same song. The vibe was then replicated by an Army helicopter team (if you watch to the end, you’ll even see a dog in camo and doggles), a pumpkin drinking a PSL, and finally Mic Fleetwood himself. To top it off, the CEO of Ocean Spray gave Apodaca a new truck filled with juice. And now there is even one with the Mike Pence Fly.
Mental Health: This past weekend was National Mental Health Day, and Monica Lewinsky has penned a striking article calling for a mental health czar ( “The Forgotten F-Word in the Pandemic, referring to our feelings.) "No matter the circumstances, virtually none of us have been immune to the anxiety, depression, fear, anger, and loneliness that’s been exacerbated or spread, just like the virus itself," writes Lewinsky.
Strategic Napping: The US Army has rolled out a new wellness plan which includes strategic and aggressive napping. The updated health and fitness manual adds information on meditation, journaling, and spirituality, giving the soldiers a holistic approach to fitness (physical and mental). We applaud the Army’s change of approach, that real men actually do need sleep. We however are not quite sure what “aggressive napping” entails.
The US Army is also testing another new innovation for combat: augmented reality goggles for dogs. The military dogs are used to scout ahead for explosives and other hazards, but need instructions, so the goggles are meant to keep the handlers away from risk while they can still communicate with the dogs. In the end, they are still dogs, but they can be trained to follow visual cues. Guess we’ll see if the dogs become champions at Pokemon Go.
Bears with Skills: The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center (GWDC) is a nonprofit educational facility that houses grizzly bears unable to survive in the wild for one reason or another. The bears are put to good use testing products from outdoor manufacturers in order to prove that they are certified as bear safe. Every spring the center fills coolers sent in by Yeti, Igloo and Cabela’s (among others), and places them among the bears. If the container passes the test, or remains intact to a certain standard, it receives the bear seal of approval.
— Lauren Eve Cantor
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