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𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚅𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚘 𝙶𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝙸𝚗𝚍𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚢 𝙸𝚜 𝙱𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚎 𝙱𝚘𝚡 𝙾𝚏𝚏𝚒𝚌𝚎... 𝙱𝚢 𝙰 𝙻𝚘𝚝
The chart gives some context on just how big the video game biz is. Last year the video game industry was pegged at somewhere around $180bn. That's roughly 10x what the global movie industry brought in at the box office last year. Admittedly last year the movie industry was still dealing with a pandemic hangover, but even in its best ever year the box office only brought in $39bn.
Video games may not carry the cultural impact of movies yet, but as a market they are in a completely different league. Mobile games, that is games played on a smartphone or tablet, have grown so quickly that they are now bigger than console & PC games combined.
Zynga's pivot to mobile is a great example of a company that's been flexible to its rapidly changing surroundings. Mobile games that almost killed them, now is the reason that got them $12.7bn.
𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚙𝚘𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝙼𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝙶𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚃𝚘 𝙴𝚊𝚝 𝚃𝚊𝚌𝚘 𝙱𝚎𝚕𝚕'𝚜 𝙻𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚑
Fast Mexican (or Tex-Mex) food is a really hot market — and Chipotle is catching up to Taco Bell, the biggest Mexican-based fast food chain in the US. Last year Taco Bell's sales were flat YoY, but Chipotle grew 7%.
So it's interesting that recently Taco Bell announced its latest innovation to re-invigorate growth: the Taco Lover's Pass subscription, which gives you one taco a day for a whole month for $10.
The idea is that you might stop by Taco Bell for your free taco, and decide that actually you were hungry and thirsty after all, and end up adding to your order.
Taco Bell isn't the first to experiment with subscriptions. Panera has one for drinks, and Sweetgreen just launched a loyalty subscription for its salads.
So far the jury's out on whether these subscriptions actually work, or if they're more of a short-term gimmick.
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙽𝚈𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝙸𝚜 𝚂𝚎𝚝 𝚃𝚘 𝙰𝚌𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝙼𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊 𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝-𝚄𝚙 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙰𝚝𝚑𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚌
The New York Times has a new year's resolution — to get in shape. It plans to do so by splashing $550m in cash on acquiring The Athletic, the sports media start-up founded in 2016.
The idea that millions of people would be willing to pay $5 or even $10 a month for coverage of their favorite sports was a fairly wild one back in 2016. After all, there were already plenty of free opinions to read on the internet. But, The Athletic didn't listen to any of that conventional wisdom, building a 1.2 million subscriber base.
To get there The Athletic took a leaf out of the early Facebook growth model, targeting specific sports city by city, as Facebook did with colleges.
From the NYTimes perspective this deal is a big step towards achieving the company's target of 10 million paid subscribers by 2025 and strengthens their sports coverage.
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙾𝚖𝚒𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚗 𝚆𝚊𝚟𝚎: 𝙴𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝙴𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚄𝙺
Recently US has reported 1 million new daily confirmed cases of COVID-19, blowing past the records from previous peaks.
The surge means that more than 1% of Americans have now tested positive in the last 7 days, with the Omicron variant responsible for 95% of those infections, according to the latest data from the CDC.
The silver lining (if there is one) is in the early evidence from the UK.
Benchmarking cases, hospitalizations and deaths to their respective peaks from last winter shows that the more serious COVID metrics are still way down on where they were last winter.
There is of course a lag between cases and the more serious outcomes, which is why watching the UK data over the next few weeks will be a crucial indicator for how the US Omicron wave might play out.
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝙾𝚏 𝚃𝚑𝚎 "𝙳𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝙽𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚍"
The pandemic has upended the normal way of working for millions of people, with many now opting to work from home, if they can.
But some people are taking remote-working one step further, and are now working from anywhere as the pandemic accelerated a trend that had been slowly gaining traction in the 2010s — the idea of being a "digital nomad".
A digital nomad is someone who can work fully remotely thanks to the internet, and often travels from city to city or even country to country, and it’s an idea that’s been growing and growing. There are now more than 1 million members on the forum r/digitalnomad on social media site reddit.
𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚃𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚃𝚘 𝚆𝚒𝚔𝚒𝚙𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊 𝚃𝚘 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚄𝚙 𝙾𝚗 𝙸𝚜𝚛𝚊𝚎𝚕-𝙿𝚊𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎
In May 2021 tensions between Israel and Palestine spilled over into intense violence for 11 days.
Instinctively that led thousands of people to turn to Wikipedia to read up on the history and context of the crisis.
The situation was a good reminder of why Wikipedia's core feature — that anyone can theoretically edit its content, can also be a weakness. In important and contentious issues, such as Israel-Palestine, bad actors or propagandists on both sides have strong reasons to misrepresent, change or misreport events.
Wikipedia’s role as a non-profit, and its efforts in transparency over who is editing what (and why) has helped it navigate some of those problems, but for topics like Israel-Palestine, its process is tested to the limit. Often daily.
𝙶𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚙: 𝙰 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝟺 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚜
Stock markets had a fascinating year of 2021, but no story eclipsed what happened in late January, when reddit’s r/wallstreetbets forum exploded into the mainstream, organizing a short-squeeze of hedge fund investors who were betting against beloved retailer GameStop.
Today r/wallstreetbets has more than 11 million members, but nothing since has gotten the r/wallstreetbets community as excited as GameStop did, with chatter on the forum way down on Jan / Feb levels.
As for GameStop itself, the company’s equity has held onto many of the gains, and is currently worth roughly $12bn, more than 10x what it was worth the year before.
𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚝 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚂𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝙱𝚎 𝙰𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚃𝚘 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚝 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝙸𝚝𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏
Recently Reddit has officially filed to go public, more than 16 years since the company was founded.
In many ways, modern day reddit looks a lot like the internet forums of the early 2000s, with communities built around interests, ideas or identities. There's a subreddit for movies, music, Melbourne, and much more.
Then there is r/wallstreetbets — the 11 million strong community of investors / traders / gamblers that turned wall street on its head earlier in 2021 in the GameStop saga.
Those 11 million traders have pioneered the idea of a "meme stock" — a company whose shares suddenly see an enormous wave of buying demand for the sole reason of, well, "it's funny". With the IPO, reddit itself is now presumably a candidate for being the next meme stock... although the r/wallstreetbets folks have been taking it easier in the second half of 2021.
𝙰 𝙱𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚏 𝙼𝚘𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚗 𝙷𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝙾𝚏 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝙼𝚘𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚌𝚢𝚌𝚕𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚛 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚢-𝙳𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚜𝚘𝚗
Few companies embody the U-S-A more than that of Harley-Davidson, the iconic motorcycle maker that's been producing "hogs" since 1903. As a uniquely American brand the loyalty of its customer base, many of whom owned multiple Harley-Davidson's, drove revenue and profits higher and higher.
The financial crisis took the fizz out of HOG's share price, but that overshadowed a fundamental problem: younger people were not interested in buying motorcycles, and Harley-Davidson's customers were getting older, and fewer in number. Recognizing this, the company announced an electric bike brand LiveWire in 2014. Now LiveWire is about to go public, after being spun out. But, even with one of the biggest electric bike brands, motorcycle sales at Harley-Davidson have declined steadily since 2014, and their valuation is back to where it was in 90s.
𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚛 𝚄𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙼𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙 𝙷𝚊𝚜 𝚂𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝙳𝚎𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝙸𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚄𝚂
Starbucks workers at an outlet in Buffalo, New York, have voted to unionize — which is the first time a union has won the right to represent Starbucks workers in the company's history.
Starbucks has 235k employees in the US, and the votes in New York were closely watched by Starbucks management, which had spent significant resources on trying to dissuade the stores from unionizing.
Unions have been on the decline in the US, and in other countries, for more than half-a-century — particularly in the private sector.
Previously, also the battles to unionize at Amazon warehouses in Alabama and Staten Island have made national headlines this year.
The US labor market is at an interesting crossroads - with job resignations at an all-time high, and many industries reporting a shortage of workers.
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚊𝚙𝚒𝚍 𝚁𝚒𝚜𝚎 𝙾𝚏 𝚂𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚗: 𝙶𝚎𝚗 𝚉'𝚜 𝙵𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚂𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙰𝚙𝚙
Shein was founded in 2008 in China, and exploded into the world of fast fashion, with Google data showing it surpassed H&M, Zara and ASOS in search interest. It's also held the 2nd spot in the iOS App Store Shopping category for much of 2021, even overtaking Amazon.
Shein makes the world of fast fashion, pioneered in the late 90s by Zara, H&M and others, look glacial. "Fast fashion" meant that designs from fashion shows make it into stores in just a few weeks. Shein takes it further. If a top design goes viral on TikTok, Shein ramp up production instantly thanks to its tight production control, and small initial batches of items. That supply chain, coupled with super-low prices and endless virality on TikTok, is a powerful feedback loop.
Shein reportedly racked up more than $10bn of sales last year, but otherwise relatively little is known about the company.
The 2023 Utility Decarbonization Index
The 2023 Utility Decarbonization Index
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This was originally posted on the Decarbonization Channel. Subscribe to the free mailing list to be the first to see graphics related to decarbonization with a focus on the U.S. energy sector.
Electric utilities and the power sector have a pivotal role to play in decarbonizing the U.S. economy, especially with the electrification of sectors such as transportation.
So, where do the country’s largest electricity producers stand on the path to decarbonization?
In collaboration with our sponsor National Public Utilities Council, we present the 2023 edition of our Annual Utility Decarbonization Index. The index uses 2021 data (the latest available at the time of data collection) to track the comparative decarbonization progress of the 47 largest investor-owned utilities (IOUs) in the United States.
In the graphic above, we give a preview of the top 10 rankers.
Methodology of the Utility Decarbonization Index
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The Utility Decarbonization Index uses the following six metrics to track decarbonization progress:
Fuel Mix
The share of low-carbon sources in a utility’s owned net electricity generation.CO2 Emissions Intensity
The amount of CO2 emitted per megawatt-hour of owned and purchased net electricity generation.Total CO2 Emissions
The absolute amount of CO2 emitted from owned and purchased net electricity generation.CO2 Emissions Per Customer
The amount of CO2 emitted per retail, commercial, and industrial customer served.Decarbonization Goals
An evaluation of the company’s interim greenhouse gas reduction and net-zero targets, with a 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 and net-zero by 2050 as baseline targets.Low-Carbon investment
The share of planned capital expenditure for electricity generation dedicated to low-carbon sources.All 47 IOUs in the Decarbonization Index are scored on a scale of one (lowest) to five (highest) for each of the six metrics, indicating whether they are trailing or leading compared to their peers. A utility’s final decarbonization score is an average of its scores across the six metrics.
The data for these metrics comes from company sustainability reports, quantitative ESG reporting templates from the Edison Electric Institute, and the Climate Disclosure Project’s Climate Change Questionnaire filings.
Read details below
Visualized: Air Quality and Pollution in 50 Capital Cities
Comparing Air Quality and Pollution in 50 Capital Cities
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We know bad air quality when we breathe it in—but how does it measure and compare across different cities?
To assess air quality, agencies measure the amount of particulate matter in an area to arrive at a number the resident population is breathing in over a period of time.
Airborne particulate matter (PM) is a complex mix of solids and aerosols and is defined by diameter for regulatory purposes. Particles with a diameter of 10 microns or less (PM10) are inhalable and can induce adverse health effects.In this case, Planet Anomaly visualized the concentration of PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) in 50 select capital cities across the globe, using data from IQAir’s 2022 World Air Quality Report.
The report applied population-based adjustments to standardize its results and calculated an annual average of the data. If a city exceeded the WHO safety guideline of 5 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m³) for annual average PM2.5 levels, it implied potential health risks for its residents.
Ranked: Capital Cities With the Best and Worst Air Quality
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At the top of the list with the best air quality, Canberra, the capital of Australia, had an average PM2.5 level of 2.8 μg/m³ in 2022. Vehicle emissions and dust storms are the few sources of air pollutants in the city.
However, while Canberra did well in 2022, it had some of the worst air quality in 2020 when bushfire smoke blackened the skies.
Here’s the full list of all 116 capital cities measured by IQAir’s report, ranked by air quality from best to worst.
Read details below
What’s New on VC+ in October
If you’re a regular visitor to Visual Capitalist, you know that we’re your home base for data-driven, visual storytelling that helps explain a complex world.
But did you know there’s a way to get even more out of Visual Capitalist, all while helping support the work we do?
VC+ is our members program that gives you exclusive access to the weekly visual insights that leaders at Fortune 500 companies use to stay ahead.
Along with The Trendline newsletter twice a week and our monthly special dispatches, you’ll also get access to our new VC+ Archive—unlocking hundreds of our in-depth briefings and insights in one place.
Sign Up Now Here’s what VC+ members can look forward to for the rest of this month:
New to VC+ in October 2023
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### “Exploring the Growth of Economic Complexity in Europe”
SPECIAL DISPATCH: An Exploration of Export Complexity in European Countries
Economic complexity of exports is a useful metric that underscores the technological and economic development of countries.
This dispatch dives into the economic complexity of European countries, from top ranking nations like Switzerland to the steady improvement of various smaller countries of the continent.
Coming Tuesday, October 17th, 2023 (Get VC+ to access)
### ”Markets This Month: October Edition”
SPECIAL DISPATCH: Everything You Need to Know for This Month in the Markets
This Special Dispatch exclusive to VC+ subscribers provides a high-level summary of the month’s key events and most important market trends. It’s our way of cutting through the noise and sending you the data that matters most for the markets this month.
October’s edition will include:
An economic calendar of the biggest data and earnings releases to be aware ofA handful of essential charts diving into the state of the marketsAnd a collection of insightful links worth reading, watching, and listening toComing Tuesday, October 31st, 2023 (Get VC+ to access)
### The Trendline
PREMIUM NEWSLETTER: Our Bi-Weekly Newsletter for VC+ Members
The Sunday Edition The Midweek Edition
The Best Visualizations Each Week The Best Data and Reports Each Week
>> View free sample >> View free sample
The Trendline is our premium newsletter sent to members twice a week.
Read details below
How AI and the Metaverse Will Impact the Datasphere
How AI and the Metaverse Will Impact the Datasphere
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The datasphere—the infrastructure that stores and processes our data—is critical to many of the advanced technologies on which we rely.
So we partnered with HIVE Digital on this infographic to take a deep dive on how it could evolve to meet the twin challenges of AI and the metaverse.
The Rise and Rise of Large Language Models
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If the second decade of the 21st century is remembered for anything, it will probably be the leaps and bounds made in the field of AI. Large language models (LLMs) have pushed AI performance to near-human levels, and in some cases beyond. But to get there, it is taking more and more computational resources to train and operate them.
The Large-Scale Era is often considered to have started in late 2015 with the release of DeepMind’s AlphaGo Fan, the first computer to defeat a professional Go player.
That LLM required a training compute of 380 quintillion FLOP/s, or floating-point operations per second, a measure of computer performance. In 2023, OpenAI’s GPT-4 had a training compute 55 thousand times greater, at 21 septillion FLOP/s.
At this rate of growth—essentially doubling every 9.9 months—future AI systems will need exponentially larger computers to train and operate them.
Building the Metaverse
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The metaverse, an immersive and frictionless web accessed through augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR), will only add to these demands. One way to quantify this demand is to compare bitrates across applications, which measures the amount of data (i.e. bits) transmitted.
On the low end: music streaming, web browsing, and gaming all have relatively low bitrate requirements. Only streaming gaming breaks the one Mbps (megabits per second) threshold. Things go up from there, and fast. AR, VR, and holograms, all technologies that will be integral for the metaverse, top out at 300 Mbps.
Consider also that VR and AR require incredibly low latency—less than five milliseconds—to avoid motion sickness. So not only will the metaverse contribute increase the amount of data that needs to be moved—644 GB per household per day—but it will also need to move it very quickly.
Read details below
𝙼𝚘𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝙶𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚛 𝚉𝚢𝚗𝚐𝚊 𝙸𝚜 𝙶𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙰𝚌𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝙵𝚘𝚛 $𝟷𝟸.𝟽𝚋𝚗
Zynga, the gaming giant responsible for FarmVille, Words With Friends, Zynga Poker, Mafia Wars and many others is getting bought for $12.7 billion by Take-Two Interactive, the publisher behind Grand Theft Auto and the 2K sports series, in one of the biggest video game deals ever.
From its founding in 2004, until it hit one billion active users in 2012, the early years of Facebook presented an enormous opportunity for game makers. Facebook's rise meant that game makers could get in front of millions of procrastinating people by building a game directly into the Facebook platform, instead of competing for traffic on the wider internet.
Zynga took advantage of that creating some of the most popular Facebook games. Every time you, or that distant cousin, successfully "invited" someone to play FarmVille on Facebook, Zynga got a new user, for free.
𝚁𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚕𝚢 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚏 𝙾𝚏 𝚄𝚜 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝙽𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝙶𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝙱𝚢 𝟸𝟶𝟻𝟶
Myopia, or short-sightedness, is on the rise.
Data from the BHVI predicts that by 2050 almost half of the global population could be affected by Myopia — more than a doubling of the rate from the year 2000.
Has the pandemic made it worse?
With increased amounts of screen-time, it feels intuitive that our eyes might have been put under more strain in the last two years — and there's a decent amount of scientific evidence to back that up, as myopia has long been associated with spending more time indoors.
Although there haven't been any conclusive studies in adults since the pandemic, a study of children in Hong Kong from 2021 found that "the rate of nearsightedness that developed during the pandemic more than doubled what was found in a pre-pandemic study of children the same age". Good time to be a glasses maker.
𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚜 𝙶𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝙰𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝟸𝟿% 𝙻𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛: 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝙻𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝙲𝚊𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚢 𝙻𝚊𝚜𝚝?
US stock markets closed out 2021 with a total return of 29%. That means that for the last 3 years US stock markets have gained 26% a year on average, and two of those years were during a global pandemic. It is the best 3-year stretch since 1997-1999.
The gains made last year were spurred on by supportive monetary policy, fiscal stimulus and the relentless upward march of big tech. Indeed, just a few of the FAATMAN group of stocks — Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Microsoft, Alphabet and Nvidia (sorry Netflix) — now account for 25-30% of the entire S&P 500 index, depending on the day. Apple alone is almost 7%.
The worrying indicator that could stop the music is inflation — which has returned in pretty much every market now. To combat inflation central banks will raise interest rates. Will stocks hold onto their gains if interest rates raise?
𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚝𝚜 𝙾𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍: 𝟸𝟶 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝙾𝚏 𝚄𝚂 𝚃𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚙𝚜 𝙸𝚗 𝙰𝚏𝚐𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗
One of the biggest geopolitical stories of 2021 was the Western evacuation of Afghanistan. At the end of August, with the Taliban already occupying control of much of the city, the last US troops left Kabul - Afghanistan’s capital city.
The withdrawal was the final chapter of US involvement in Afghanistan that at one point had seen around 100,000 US troops stationed in various parts of Afghanistan, which is not to mention the thousands of contractors and the thousands of troops from allies such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Italy, France and others.
𝚄𝚂 𝙿𝚞𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚌 𝙾𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙾𝚏 𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚊 𝙷𝚊𝚜 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝙰 𝙻𝚘𝚝 𝚂𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟽
In May 2021 the United States' top diplomat, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, strongly rejected the idea that the US and China were entering a "cold war".
Whether Blinken was right or not, US-China relations were stretched further this year along multiple lines. Tech policy, trade restrictions and Taiwan were among the flash points that raised tensions throughout the year.
With China’s economy likely to become the world’s largest in the next decade or so, China's role as a global superpower for the rest of the 21st Century seems almost guaranteed, and it means the US-China relationship is arguably the most important of any two countries in the world.
Data from YouGov reveals that in 2017 only roughly 10% of respondents polled would identify China as an "enemy" of the US. In 2021 that number was closer to 35%.
𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚘𝚋𝚒𝚗𝚑𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙰𝚙𝚙 𝙸𝚜 𝙶𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙷𝚊𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝙸𝚗 𝙽𝚎𝚠 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠𝚜
The GameStop story took a turn when trading platform Robinhood - which was the app of choice for many of reddit’s traders - briefly restricted buying on a few key shares, including GameStop.
That anger spilled outward and eventually into the App Store, with mostly positive reviews turning into a torrent of negative reviews almost overnight, hurting Robinhood’s reputation ahead of its own upcoming IPO (which it completed in July).
CEO Vlad Tenev ended up writing a blog post outlining why the real culprit of the entire saga was actually the US two-day trade settlement period, known as T+2. True or not, Robinhood’s reputation had taken a hit.
𝚁𝚎𝚍𝚍𝚒𝚝 𝚃𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝙱𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚀𝚞𝚒𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝙸𝚗 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚂𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝙷𝚊𝚕𝚏 𝙾𝚏 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟷
In December 2021, r/wallstreetbets has been getting 15-20k comments per day, way down on the 100k+ per day that was common during peak "GameStop mania". The moment may have passed for another GameStop moment.
If reddit traders pass on the stock, other investors will likely actually look at the fundamental of reddit's business, which is advertising driven, like most social platforms.
And in theory, the way reddit is organized should be an advertisers dream. Want to advertise a Rolex? There's 1.6 million people in a watches community ready to go.
In practice however, reddit has struggled to make the big ad dollars, with the company expecting to bring in roughly $350m in revenue in 2021. By comparison, Pinterest did $1.7bn in 2020, with a similar sized audience. Twitter did $3.7bn.
𝙸𝚜 𝙽𝙵𝚃-𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚊 𝚂𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗?
If you've managed to avoid reading about NFTs until now, we'll catch you up. The short version of the explainer is that NFTs allow you to "own" a distinct piece of media (image or video), that is authenticated by a blockchain to be unique or original — no matter how many times it is copied or replicated across the internet.
Many remain skeptical about NFTs. Why anyone would want to pay thousands of dollars for a .JPEG that anyone can theoretically copy, save, distribute or modify can be hard to get your head around.
Data from DappRadar shows that trading volumes in NFTs hit $300m a day in August on marketplace OpenSea, with more than 9.5 million transactions in 2021. However, the mania seems to have cooled slightly, with average daily volumes falling to $71m in December, and active users and transaction numbers also coming down. Is this the beginning of the end for NFTs? Or still just the beginning?
𝙳𝚛𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚃𝚘 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚎: 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙽𝚎𝚝𝚏𝚕𝚒𝚡 𝚂𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝙶𝚛𝚘𝚠 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚊 𝙾𝚗𝚎
Recently the controversial final round of the Formula One World Championship took place, with Max Verstappen beating Lewis Hamilton to the finish line on - literally.
That race will very likely go down in history as one of the most watched in the sport's 70-year history - and somewhere a Netflix executive is very quietly rubbing their hands, preparing to translate the story of this season into series 4 of Drive To Survive, Netflix's documentary series.
The on-track drama would always have created a buzz on its own, but it's also hard to understate the impact of Netflix. Like The Queen's Gambit - which revitalized interest in chess, Drive To Survive has created a legion of F1 fans. People reading up on F1 on Wikipedia is up roughly 60% since the show came out, and ESPN has reported that the average race audience was up 40% in 2021 vs 2019.
𝙿𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝙱𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚋𝚊𝚕𝚕? 𝙰𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝙼𝙻𝙱 𝙰𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝙰𝚛𝚎 𝚃𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙳𝚘𝚠𝚗
Baseball used to regularly be described as America's favorite national pastime. Sadly, that phrase is getting closer to retirement with every passing year, as attendance at Major League Baseball games has been falling steadily since 2007.
So it's unfortunate for baseball fans that the collective bargaining agreement between Major League Baseball and the players' union has expired — meaning the first lockout in more than 25 years.
The issue at play is, unsurprisingly, money. Unlike the NBA or NFL, the MLB has no direct mechanism for players to benefit from rising league revenues. That's partly contributed to why the median salary for MLB players has fallen by 30% since 2015. During that time the median NBA salary was up 50%.
One of the core issues is the disparity between teams. The New York Yankees pull in 10x the local revenue of the smallest teams.
Mapped: Investment Risk, by Country
Mapped: Investment Risk, by Country
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What is the risk of investing in another country?
Given the rapid growth of emerging economies, and the opportunities this may present to investors, it raises the question: does investment exposure abroad come with risk, and how can that risk be analyzed?
To help answer this question, this graphic shows country risk around the world, based on analysis from Aswath Damodaran at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
The Methodology
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For many reasons, there are variations in risk across different countries. These can be influenced by geopolitical factors, such as political risk, whether they are in a stage of early growth, or have stable property rights.
To get a clearer picture of country risk, Damodaran analyzed the following broad factors:
Political risk: Type of regime, corruption, level of conflictLegal risk: Property rights protections, contract rightsEconomic risk: Diversification of economyIn addition, a nation’s default risk was analyzed, which is a common measure used in financial markets. When a nation defaults on its debt, it often leads to market turbulence, and other negative effects that can last for many years.
Together, these factors, along with others, estimate a country risk premium, which is the extra risk in a given market. The U.S. served as baseline for measuring the extra risk of each country.
Investment Risk in 2023
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Below, we show country risk around the world, from highest to lowest risk as of July, 2023:
As the table above shows, five countries share the highest risk: Belarus, Lebanon, Venezuela, Sudan, and Syria. In Belarus, Russian military forces continue to operate. Venezuela has faced hyperinflation and endemic corruption for many years.
On the other hand, 13 countries had the lowest risk, including several European nations, Singapore, and New Zealand. This is due to factors such as their AAA-rated government bonds, low corruption, and strong property right protections.
What Does This Mean for Investors?
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Charted: The U.S. Mortgage Rate vs. Existing Home Sales
The U.S. Mortgage Rate vs. Existing Home Sales
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The U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has reached its highest level since 2002.
Coupled with rising home prices and a constrained housing inventory, U.S. housing affordability is now at its lowest point in history, according to the National Association of Realtors.
In the graphic above, we take a closer look at how the U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has evolved since 2013 against the backdrop of existing home sales, using data from both Freddie Mac and Trading Economics.
A Decade in Review: U.S. 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgages
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Due to the stability and predictability they offer, fixed-rate mortgages remain very popular among American homebuyers. In 2021, 30-year fixed-rate mortgages made up 70% of all issued mortgages in the country.
Let’s take a look at how U.S. 30-year mortgage rates have evolved through the years.
In the last few years alone, Americans have seen 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hit their lowest point in U.S. history—2.65% in January 2021—as well as skyrocket to their current rate of 7.31% (as of October 3, 2023.)
Naturally, this surge may leave many people wondering about the reasons behind this drastic change and whether they will drop any time soon.
Why Do Mortgage Rates Rise?
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Mortgage rates rise in response to various economic indicators and policy changes.
Over the years, factors such as shifts in the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy, inflation concerns, the state of the bond market, and fluctuations in economic growth have all played roles in influencing mortgage rates.
2023 is no different, with many different economic and global events at play. It’s also notable that these high mortgage rates are affecting home sales in the U.S., specifically with existing home sales taking a dip while new home sales subtly rise.
This change in dynamics is occurring as homeowners with low mortgage rates hesitate to sell their homes and get back in the market amidst high mortgage rates. In turn, demand from buyers is increasing new home sales and pushing prices even higher.
What’s In Store for U.S. Mortgage Rates?
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U.S. mortgage rates remain above 7% for the time being.
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Visualizing All Attempted and Successful Moon Landings
Visualizing All Attempted and Successful Moon Landings
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Since before Ancient Greece and the first Chinese Dynasties, people have sought to understand and learn more about the moon.
Curiosity and centuries of study culminated in the first moon landing in the 1960s. But there have been many other attempted moon landings, both before and after.
This chart by Preyash Shah illustrates all the moon landings using NASA data since 1966 when Soviet lander Luna 9 touched down.
Race to the Moon
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The 1960s and 1970s marked an era of intense competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union as they raced to conquer the moon.
During the Cold War, space became a priority as each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology, its military firepower, and its political-economic system.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy set a national goal to have a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth.
After several failed attempts from both sides, on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission was successful and astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon.
After the Apollo missions, the fervor of lunar exploration waned. From 1976 to 2013, no moon landing attempts occurred due to budget constraints, shifting priorities, and advances in robotic missions.
However, a new chapter in space exploration has unfolded in recent years, with emerging players entering the cosmic arena. With its Chang’e missions, China has made significant strides, landing rovers on the moon and exploring the far side of the moon.
India, too, has asserted its presence with the Chandrayaan missions. In 2023, the country became the 4th nation to reach the moon as an unmanned spacecraft landed near the lunar south pole, advancing the country’s space ambitions to learn more about the lunar ice, potentially one of the moon’s most valuable resources.
Exploring Lunar Water
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Since the 1960s, even before the historic Apollo landing, scientists had theorized the potential existence of water on the moon.
In 2008, Brown University researchers employed advanced technology to reexamine lunar samples, discovering hydrogen within beads of volcanic glass. And in 2009, a NASA instrument aboard the India’s Chandrayaan-1 probe confirmed the presence of water on the moon’s surface.
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Mapped: The Age of U.S. Senators, by State
Mapped: The Age of U.S. Senators, by State
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The passing of California Senator Dianne Feinstein at the age of 90 is throwing a spotlight on America’s political establishment, not only with the government narrowly escaping shutdown, but on questions of ageism, representation, and fitness for office.
Feinstein had a noteworthy career. As the longest-running woman in the Senate’s history, she served the nation’s most populous state.
Yet Feinstein’s growing health complications along with two incidents of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell freezing while speaking this year highlight the growing trend of America’s aging leadership.
The above graphic shows the age of U.S. senators, by state as of October 5, 2023.
How the Age of U.S. Senators Breaks Down
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Today, 66% of senators are over the age of 60.
While senators have historically been older than the American population, consider how the median age in the U.S. is 39 according to the 2020 U.S. Census, and the median age of the Senate prior to Feinstein’s passing was 65.
We can see in the below table how the Senate has become growingly older, influenced by longer lifespans and the increased likelihood of members running for re-election (and winning). In addition, members in the Baby Boomer generation, ages 58 to 77 years old, often have more resources and wealth to help secure their seat.
On the other end of the spectrum are nine senators under the age of 50, including Democrat Jon Ossoff of Georgia, at 36, and Republican senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, at 39. Laphonza Butler, 44, the newly appointed senator to replace Feinstein, also falls within this camp.
This trend of an older Senate may have policy ramifications.
Studies show that lawmakers’ identities can influence legislative behavior. Older members of Congress have been shown to have a higher likelihood of introducing legislation on prescription drugs and long-term care, and other issues affecting seniors.
Other studies show that racial minorities, women, and veterans are more likely to intervene in Congress in the interest of these groups.
Top U.S. Senators, by Time in Office
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Along with the trend of an older Congress, the average number of years served has also increased.
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Why Do People Start Businesses in Every U.S. State?
Why Do People Start Businesses in Every U.S. State?
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People have various motivations for starting their businesses.
Some seek higher income. Others are looking for a balance between family life and career. In some situations, entrepreneurship may be the only way to fight unemployment.
In this infographic, OnDeck uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 Annual Business Survey to highlight the most unique reasons for why people start businesses in each U.S. state.
Editor’s note: The map tracks the most popular unique reasons to start a business. In this case, “unique” is defined by how much a particular reason stands out from the U.S. average across all states. For example, in Delaware, more respondents said they started businesses because they “couldn’t find jobs” (11.6%) than in any other state (U.S. average: 7.3%). So, even though it’s not numerically the most popular reason overall, it is the unique reason that stands out the most for that state.
The Most Popular Unique Reasons to Start a Business
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According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, entrepreneurship rates in the U.S. have been trending upward over the past two decades.
In fact, despite multi-billion dollar companies getting the spotlight, 99.9% of businesses across the U.S. are small businesses, employing over 60 million people.
Wanting to make more income is the biggest unique factor in starting a business in 14 states, including some of the states with the highest unemployment rates, like New Hampshire, North Dakota, and Alabama.
In Utah, a higher percentage (65.4%) of entrepreneurs start businesses to achieve a work-life balance than in any other state. Notably, Utah is known for having the largest average family size, as reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, and has a strong religious presence.
On the other hand, in Florida, more business founders (69.2%) start their businesses to become their own bosses than anywhere else.
New York and California are states where entrepreneurs mentioned that they couldn’t find a job as a key unique reason to start a business. In fact, both states lead as the worst for job seekers, as shown in another Visual Capitalist graphic.
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