Bloomberg - Evening Briefing - Tech’s grim new look

Silicon Valley tells the world its empires are built on ingenuity and determination. In the tech boom of the past decade, however, much of its growth came not from bringing new products into the world but from getting people to buy more of the old ones. In other words, it came from the sales department. The conventional wisdom among tech executives that you couldn’t have too many salespeople was an idea that started with Salesforce. But mass-firings by tech companies over the past year—partially in contemplation of a recession that never came—have ushered in an era of leaner marketing and sales teams. Nowhere is that more apparent than at Marc Benioff’s aforementioned behemoth. Sales and marketing workers at Salesforce were four times more likely to be terminated than engineers. While dismissals upended the lives of many a Salesforce worker, they helped the giant survive pressure from its activist investors. Now, Salesforce stock is one of the best-performing of the year. Still, its new iteration provides a look at how the golden age of software sales may end. —Margaret Sutherlin

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Bond traders who powered a ferocious rally in the $26 trillion US Treasury market are about to find out if they’ve gotten ahead of their skis. A key report Friday on the US labor market, which bulls hope will provide fresh evidence of a cooling economy, could further solidify investor bets that rate cuts are in store over the next 12 months (the Fed says that talk of cuts is premature). Payrolls probably grew by 185,000 last month, after increasing 150,000 in October, while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.9%, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Here’s your markets wrap.

Tensions between Guyana and Venezuela are on the rise after Venezuela held a referendum to claim sovereignty over its neighbor’s oil-rich Essequibo region. After claiming a landslide “victory” in the vote—which suffered from low turnout—Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro ordered state officials to start granting oil and mineral licenses there and proposed a law to evict companies working there under Guyana concessions. Exxon discovered oil in the region in 2015—so much oil that it transformed Guyana’s economic future overnight. Now Exxon’s discovery, and Guyana’s economic powerhouse, are at risk. Guyana’s defense force has reached out to military counterparts, including the US.

Israel’s military said its mission to destroy an estimated 311 miles of Hamas tunnels across the Gaza Strip will take months. The drawn-out campaign against the militant group will cause a scale of urban destruction that may prove impossible to reverse, and is likely to leave many of about 2.2 million Palestinians homeless. Almost as many have already been displaced. Already, 16,000 people in Gaza have been killed by Israeli attacks as it expands bombing in the South, and the United Nations warned the humanitarian crisis is worsening. 

CycleBar. StretchLab. Pure Barre. Club Pilates. Row House. AKT and Rumble Boxing. Across suburban America you’re likely to run into one—or sometimes many—of these boutique fitness studios. There are about 3,000 after all, and it’s no coincidence that they seem like different versions of the same thing. In 2015, California entrepreneur Anthony Geisler began acquiring these small studio chains. Between the time Equinox acquired SoulCycle in 2011 and Peloton fell back to Earth in 2022, Geisler quietly built the world’s biggest boutique workout empire, Xponential Fitness using the franchise model. Now some owners say they’re bleeding cash, and the promise of a franchise that runs on autopilot was a pipedream. 

A Pure Barre in Silver Spring, Maryland Source: Alamy

China’s imports unexpectedly shrank in November from a Covid-hit period a year ago, while exports edged up from a low base, suggesting the nation’s slowing economy still hasn’t bottomed out. The data will fan concerns over China’s economic outlook and could prompt calls for stimulus to bolster domestic spending. Policymakers’ efforts to step up growth this year have focused more on stimulating supply and stabilizing the property market rather generating demand.

When Tesla delivered the first Cybertrucks to customers on Nov. 30 in Austin, it was almost exactly four years since the prototype debuted and a decade since Elon Musk started talking about an electric pickup.  The path from concept car to production vehicle is a long one. Here are our favorite concept cars from 2023.

When it comes to gift giving there’s a hard and fast rule for watches: don’t err on the side of flair. Bloomberg Pursuits editor Chris Rovzar has your guide on how to shop. 

Source (from left): Chanel; Rolex; Jaeger-LeCoultre

• SpaceX valued at $175 billion or more according to a tender offer. 
• Elon Musk took his dispute with the SEC to the Supreme Court. 
• Nikki Haley solidified her spot as top GOP rival of Donald Trump.
• Carlyle’s David Rubenstein is in talks to acquire MLB’s Baltimore Orioles.
• Jakarta is sinking. Its future may lie with a noodle billionaire. 
• Harvard, Penn leaders clarify earlier statements on Israel-Hamas war. 
• No degree needed: one of the hottest US jobs is remote, pays $80,000.

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Move over, Walmart’s Waltons. Another family has emerged as the richest dynasty in the world. For the first time, the House of Nayhan has joined Bloomberg’s annual ranking of family fortunes, and done so at the very top. With a $305 billion fortune, the Al Nahyans of Abu Dhabi topped the Walton family, which has long dominated the list. Another new entrant is the Al Thanis, the royal family of Qatar, at No. 5. As a group, the world’s richest families have gotten $1.5 trillion wealthier since the last ranking, and the new tallies from the Middle East weren’t the only noteworthy shifts. Among the biggest gainers was the family behind luxury brand Hermes, who added $56 billion to becomethe world’s third-richest. But if you want to see everyone who has more money than the most of the rest of the world combined, we have your list right here.

Pierre-Alexis Dumas, center, at the opening of the new Hermès flagship store in Manhattan, in September 2022. Photographer: Landon Nordeman/The New York Times/Redux

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