| Good morning. Wanted to give an update on the fundraiser we just ran for World Central Kitchen (WCK), a nonprofit that provides meals after natural disasters. In two weeks, Brew readers contributed...drumroll please…$128,815 to help WCK with its important work. Much, much wow. Thanks so much to everyone who donated. | | | |  | Nasdaq | 14,663.64 | | |  | S&P | 4,343.54 | | | | | Dow | 34,577.37 | | | | | Bitcoin | $34,078.47 | | | | | 10-Year | 1.351% | | | | | Didi | $12.49 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 8:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: Stocks can't go up forever, and after seven straight days of closing at record highs, the S&P dropped yesterday due to declines in banks and industrials. Didi stock fell to below its IPO price after the Chinese government said it would block app downloads for the ride-hailer.
- Politics: Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, and he'll likely cruise in the general election this fall.
| | | Giphy | Cancel culture strikes again: The Pentagon said yesterday it's scrapping its $10 billion JEDI cloud-computing contract with Microsoft and replacing it with another one that will require multiple vendors. Why? The same reason you throw out milk that's been sitting in your refrigerator for a month—JEDI took so long to get off the ground that it spoiled. "With the shifting technology environment, it has become clear that the JEDI Cloud contract, which has long been delayed, no longer meets the requirements to fill the DoD's capability gaps," the Pentagon said in a statement. This story has it all Big Tech rivalries, Trump-era politics, next-gen warfare, the potential for Star Wars puns. The goal of the JEDI project was to upgrade the Pentagon's IT systems, allowing the Department of Defense to streamline its vast troves of data and lay the groundwork for greater utilization of artificial intelligence. After an intense bidding process involving Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle, the Pentagon awarded Microsoft the contract in 2019. That was just the beginning of the fiasco. Amazon challenged the decision in court, arguing that then-President Trump interfered with the result because he's not a fan of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post. Then Oracle sued, claiming that the process was unfairly tilted in favor of Amazon. What comes next? The Pentagon is replacing JEDI with the Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC) project and opening up the contract to multiple potential vendors including Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and anyone else that can prove they've got the cloud computing chops to give the Defense Department an IT makeover. It's an approach critics say the Pentagon should've taken from the beginning. A single-vendor strategy, lawmakers have argued, is not the industry standard and doesn't make sense for mammoth cloud computing projects like this one. | | | Starting July 13, you can add smashed avocado and fresh mozz to your $5 footlongs. After serving generally the same subs for 56 years, Subway is releasing its biggest menu makeover in history and rolling out a mobile app to lure back diners to its golden-scented restaurants. "People were really crying out for food innovation. There hadn't really been a whole lot of food innovation," Subway CEO John Chidsey said. - But not too much innovation. Subway has decided to keep its "premium 100% tuna" sandwiches, which may not have any actual tuna, per the NYT.
Some cold-cut knowledge: Subway is the largest fast-food chain in the US by number of locations (yes, it has even more than McDonald's). But since 2014, its sales have nose-dived, forcing it to close hundreds of stores each year. While fast-food rivals enjoyed booming demand for contactless pickups during Covid, Subway missed out on that opportunity since fewer than one in 10 Subway stores had a drive-thru. | | | Giphy | Nextdoor, everyone's favorite app to ask the question, "Y'all hear that loud boom?" on, is going public via SPAC at an expected valuation of $4.3 billion. The hyperlocal social platform was launched in 2011 and allows neighbors to share everything from food recs to safety updates. Nextdoor experienced huge growth in engagement during the pandemic as quarantineers 1) needed up-to-date info about school closures and vaccine availability in their communities and 2) craved gossip. - The company reported a 50% year-over-year increase in daily active users last year, and as of June, one-in-three US households are on the app, Nextdoor says.
- Nextdoor wasn't profitable in 2020, losing $75 million on $123 million in revenue.
Big picture: As the company scales and goes public, it'll be under greater scrutiny from investors to address racism and other toxic behaviors that have already surfaced on the app. Like other social media companies, it uses a mix of machine-learning tech and human moderators to supervise discussion. | | | | You've wondered about crypto. Maybe you've read a few articles, followed a few folks on social media, searched "wtf is a distributed ledger." But maybe you're still a little hesitant to go all in. Here's the sweetener you need: On eToro right now, you'll get $50* when you buy $1,000 worth of cryptocurrency. They've got over a dozen cryptos available, so whatever alternative currency you're curious about, eToro probably has it. Plus, you can experiment with a virtual portfolio, using $100K in "play money," and copy the moves of top-notch traders automatically with eToro's CopyTrader™ feature. You can also learn more about the industry (including wtf a distributed ledger is) with the help of market guides and a weekly newsletter. eToro already has 20 million users worldwide—join them (and nab $50) right here. | | | Stat: While average viewership for MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News fell 38% from the year prior in the first half of 2021, the Weather Channel audience grew 7%. No surprise, then, that Rupert Murdoch is planning to launch Fox Weather, a 24-hour weather streaming channel, later this year, per the NYT. Quote: "Should we sell it? Should we not sell it? What should we do? We're kind of just holding on tight and waiting to see." Ines Mason, the owner of a 14th-floor condo in South Florida, told the NYT she's concerned about the structural integrity of her building and whether she'll be able to get a return on her investment in the property following the partial collapse of a condo tower in Surfside, FL. The disaster is starting to ripple across South Florida's sizzling real estate sector. Read: Is it time to give up caffeine? (The Guardian) | | | | Along with the Northern Lights and the possibility of glimpsing the elusive Huldufólk, there might be one more reason to move to Iceland: in June, 86% of Iceland's working population were currently, or on the path to, working four-day workweeks with no reduction in pay. The stat comes from a recent study that tracked 2,500 employees whose workweek was shortened to 35–36 hours over five years. Researchers found that a four-day week with the same pay improved workers' well-being and productivity. Big picture: The explosion of remote work during the pandemic has led to a rethinking of work-life balance, and more countries and even some companies in the US are experimenting with a shorter workweek. - Buffer, a social media software company, has let its 89 employees work four days a week since May 2020. The crowdfunding platform Kickstarter will test a four-day week for its 95 employees starting in 2022.
- Both Spain and Japan are piloting a 32-hour work week over three years in response to changing perceptions of work during Covid.
Bottom line: Experts said the "overwhelming success" of the trial in Iceland is a signal that a four-day workweek could gain traction far from the Arctic Circle. | | - AMC has scrapped a plan to sell 25 million additional shares, which it had announced in early June.
- AAA sees gas prices gaining 10–20 cents through the end of August from the current national average of $3.13.
- Teneo, an influential PR firm, has hired former Xerox CEO Ursula Burns as its chairperson to steady the ship after its former CEO Declan Kelly resigned last week.
- Nintendo gave everyone a sneak peek of its new Switch model, but most of the rumored upgrades didn't come through.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning wine producers from labeling sparkling wine "Champagne" unless it's Russian-made "shampanskoe." Winemakers in Champagne, France, are not happy.
| | | Word search: It's Wednesday, which means it's time to put on your Sherlock Holmes deerstalker and look for all the words. Travel trivia The luxury travel operator Unforgettable Travel compiled a list of the top "bucket list" travel experiences people searched for over the past year. Can you name the top 10? | | | | Wanted to send a big congratulations to the 15 Brew readers who won fancy Caraway cookware sets during our recent giveaway. Even if you didn't win the raffle, Brew readers can snag the cookware set at 15% off with code BREW15. Upgrade your kitchen here. You can also win Brew swag at any point by sharing the Brew and hitting referral milestones. | | | 1. Visiting the Burj Khalifa in Dubai
2. Sailing around the Statue of Liberty
3. Hiking to Mt. Everest base camp
4. Cruising the Nile in Egypt
5. Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower
6. The Las Vegas Strip
7. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge in SF
8. Seeing NYC from the top of the Empire State Building
9. The Louvre in Paris
10. The Colosseum in Rome | | | ✢ A Note From eToro eToro USA LLC; Investments are subject to market risk, including the possible loss of principal. *Terms and conditions apply. | | |
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