Tuesday, April 19, 2022

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Morning Brew

Good morning. Have you been getting all your leadership tips from Ted Lasso? No disrespect to Coach, but folksy witticisms don't pack the same punch in the real world as they do in the AFC Richmond locker room.

Which is where we come in. The Brew is super excited to launch our newest education program: Morning Brew Leadership. In eight short weeks, you'll gain valuable skills in hiring, delegating, strategic thinking, execution, and more, all in an enjoyable and engaging way. Plus, the founding cohort (beginning June 13) will save $500 on tuition.

Learn more here.

Matty Merritt, Max Knoblauch, Neal Freyman

MARKETS

Nasdaq

13,332.36

S&P

4,391.69

Dow

34,411.69

10-Year

2.861%

Bitcoin

$40,773.23

Twitter

$48.45

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 9:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

  • Markets: Stocks dipped to start off the week without many market-moving developments arising on the Ukraine or inflation fronts. Twitter's use of a "poison pill" to prevent Elon Musk from taking over the company was a hit with investors, who sent shares soaring yesterday. The company's stock is up more than 23% since Musk revealed he owned a 9.2% stake.
  • Commodities: Prices are going up and to the right. Corn hit a nine-year high in part due to the war in Ukraine, while US natural gas prices reached their highest level in 13 years ahead of an unusual April snowstorm hitting the Northeast. Natural gas prices have more than doubled so far this year.

AUTO

EVs really wishing they had Chucky powers

Low battery on dash of electric vehicle Photo Illustration: Dianna "Mick" McDougall, Photos: Getty Images, Rivian Forums

The EV battery shortage is about to hurt more than pinching your finger in a car door.

RJ Scaringe, CEO of EV startup Rivian, told reporters on a tour of the company's Illinois plant last week that the recent semiconductor shortage hampering the auto industry is just a "small appetizer to what we are about to feel on battery cells over the next two decades." And with EV manufacturers' lofty production goals, every part of the supply chain is struggling to keep up.

The biggest hiccup starts at the very beginning

We're talking raw materials. 80% of the cost of a lithium-ion battery comes from raw materials including lithium (duh), cobalt, and nickel. But as companies scramble to snag those supplies, prices have skyrocketed. The price of lithium alone has gone up over 480% in the last year, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

  • Tesla CEO Elon Musk said lithium battery prices were so "insane" he might just get into mining himself. You and us both, buddy.
  • And because lithium-ion batteries account for at least 30% of the cost of an EV, higher battery prices are translating to higher prices for consumers. Both Rivian and Tesla have hiked prices recently, saying expensive raw materials are partly to blame.

And those materials are not Made in the USA

In 2020, the US imported over half of its supply of 46 minerals and all its supply of 17, according to the US Geological Survey. One of the biggest suppliers is China—the world leader in lithium-ion battery manufacturing—which has a history of restricting trade for political reasons.

That's enough to spook the White House, which considers the EV supply chain to be a national security issue. Last month, President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act, which gives the government access to $750 million to invest in domestic mining operations for critical raw materials needed by battery manufacturers. But it could take up to a decade to see new US mining projects or battery plants.

Zoom out: President Biden's goal is for half of all new cars sold by 2030 to be electric. But given the shortage of materials, that's like asking MasterChef contestants to make a meal with two footballs and a single noodle. According to Rivian's Scaringe, "90% to 95% of the supply chain does not exist."—MM

Want more EV news? We've got an entire newsletter focused on emerging technologies. Subscribe here.

        

FROM THE CREW

Jump start your innovation

Jump start your innovation

A convo with Morning Brew cofounder Alex Lieberman, an interactive case study review, and an open discussion about innovation in the workplace with a group of your peers—you'll get all this in the free Morning Brew Accelerator Innovation Workshop taking place April 20 at 7pm ET.

In this 90-minute interactive event, you will:

  • Get introduced to innovation frameworks
  • Discuss the common pitfalls of innovation
  • Learn how to lead innovation in your own role

And this is just a taste of what you'd get in the 8-week Morning Brew Accelerator course!

Register now while spots are still available!

GRAB BAG

Tour de headlines

Commuters ride the subway while wearing masks on the "L" train on March 25, 2021 in New York City Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

The transportation mask mandate has been scrapped. A federal judge in Florida overturned the federal mask requirement on airplanes, trains, and other forms of public transportation, arguing that the CDC had overstepped its authority with the rule, which the Biden administration had just extended for another 15 days less than a week ago. The four major US airlines dropped their mask requirements for domestic flights following the ruling.

Infowars filed for bankruptcy. The conspiracy site, as well as two others owned by far-right radio host Alex Jones, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, with each entity estimating up to $10 million in liabilities. Jones was sued for defamation by the relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook massacre for calling it a hoax, and was found liable by default by a Connecticut judge.

Moscow's economy is suffering from the corporate exodus. The city's mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, wrote in a blog post that Western companies' mass withdrawal from Russia has put 200,000 jobs at risk. Officials have created a $41 million fund to support those employees.

        

ENTERTAINMENT

Subscriptions are canceled

Composite illustration of television screens displaying streaming platform logos Illustration: Dianna "Mick" McDougall, Francis Scialabba

Tired: Cutting the cord.

Wired: Cutting the $5.99 per month subscription to PBS Masterpiece.

35% of Americans have canceled a monthly subscription in the past six months due to inflation, according to a recent CNBC survey.

Plus, 36% of respondents will cancel a subscription if higher prices persist. But it's not just Yanks yanking the bill. British households have canceled about 1.5 million streaming accounts in 2022, according to the analytics group Kantar.

As subscription fatigue sets in, some new entrants are learning that you can't just slap a + on your name and cash your chips in. CNN+, CNN's new streaming service, is reportedly getting below 10,000 viewers a day despite its launch budget of $250 million.

Still, recurring revenue has a nice ring to it, and the risk of failure hasn't stopped major companies including Taco Bell, Alaska Airlines, and Sweetgreen from jumping on the subscription bandwagon this year.

Bottom line: The debt-by-a-thousand-cuts model of the subscription era may be a tough spiral to escape, but as more companies introduce subscription options, more consumers are finding peace in cancellation.—MK

        

SPORTS

Name to know: Rōki Sasaki

Roki Sasaki Stringer/Jiji Press/AFP via Getty Images

The 20-year-old Japanese pitcher either took the Limitless pill, or he's just that good.

Two Sundays ago, Sasaki pitched the first perfect game in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) since 1994, striking out 19 batters with an average fastball of more than 99.5 mph. It's being called one of the most incredible feats in sports history.

This Sunday, Sasaki followed that up with eight more perfect innings, perhaps an even more impressive accomplishment considering he was competing against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

Will you get to see him pitch in the US? Because of MLB's rules governing international free agents, Sasaki would have to wait until his 25th birthday in order to get a big payout from an MLB team. So the earliest he would play in North America would be 2027, per CBS Sports. And that's only if he wants to make the trek across the Pacific—NPB is considered the second-best baseball league in the world.

Big picture: Sasaki is one of several Japanese players shaking up baseball. The Los Angeles Angels' Shohei Ohtani is a two-way superstar, and the Chicago Cubs' Seiya Suzuki has reached base in his first 10 games.—NF

        

GRAB BAG

Key performance indicators

Key performance indicators Yes, that is Jon Stewart in 'Big Daddy.' Columbia Pictures via Giphy.

Stat: The Problem with Jon Stewart is that nobody is watching it. The first episode of Stewart's show on AppleTV+ was seen by 180,000 US homes, but by the fifth ep, viewership had dropped to ~40,000, according to measurement provider Samba TV. That lags far behind other broadcast- and cable talk shows. 844,000 homes tuned in to a March episode of John Oliver's Last Week Tonight.

Quote: "People are willing to write off the plight of Etsy sellers because people don't take us seriously, but the reality is we depend on the platform, a lot of us, to make a living."

Mattie Boyd was one of thousands of Etsy sellers who decided to strike over the past week to protest the company's fee hikes and what they consider other harmful policies toward sellers. While the strike is now over, activist Etsy sellers are hoping to keep up the pressure on the e-commerce site and form a "solidarity organization" similar to a union, they told the Washington Post.

Watch: Why the past 10 years of American life have been uniquely stupid. (The Atlantic)

        

BREW'S BETS

Tech Tip Tuesday: Five Excel formatting shortcuts that just make sense. Plus, a list of things people bought under $250 that changed their workspace for the better.

Climate changed: See how temperatures have risen from 1880–2021 in this unique visualization.

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WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

  • Apollo Global Management, the private-equity giant that owns Yahoo, is reportedly considering making a bid for Twitter.
  • China reported the first Covid deaths in Shanghai since the city was locked down last month. Authorities said the victims were unvaccinated and ranged between 89–91 years old.
  • Photos are circulating on social media that appear to show the Russian flagship Moskva before it sank.
  • The FDA is investigating Lucky Charms after receiving more than 100 complaints that people had gotten sick after eating them.

GAMES

The puzzle section

Brew Mini: Know which city Coachella is held in? Then you're on your way to solving today's Mini. Play it here.

Spirited away

To celebrate National Amaretto Day, here's a quiz about delicious liqueurs (thank you, spellcheck) from around the world. We'll give you a brief description, and you have to identify the liqueur.

  1. An Irish cream liqueur flavored with cream, cocoa, and Irish whiskey.
  2. A French liqueur made with elderflowers that are hand-picked once a year in the late spring.
  3. A German digestif made from 56 herbs and spices whose recipe has not changed since it was developed in 1934.
  4. A red, Italian bitter often used in cocktails.
  5. A French herbal liqueur in green and yellow versions that has been made by monks since 1737.

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ANSWER

  1. Baileys Irish Cream
  2. St-Germain
  3. Jägermeister
  4. Campari
  5. Chartreuse

✤ A Note From Facet Wealth

Disclosures: Facet Wealth is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. This is not an offer to sell securities or the solicitation of an offer to purchase securities. This is not investment, financial, legal, or tax advice. 

*Two months free offer is only valid for an annual fee paid at the time of signing.

         

Written by Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt, and Max Knoblauch

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