Preys, 67 hours, & Slightly Good News 🧽

The US had over 8,000 publicly traded companies in 1996, which has now fallen to approximately 4,600 in 2022. That's a sharp decline. 43% to be precise. 

Various explanations have been offered for this trend. One favored by American executives attributes it to the increased costliness of going public due to new regulations post the early 2000s fraud and accounting scandals, notably the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. However, this theory doesn't hold water, as the decline predates these regulations.

Another explanation points to the growing dominance of private equity and venture capital since the relaxation of securities regulations in 1996. Private investment now outpaces public market financing by a significant margin.

But none of these are the real drivers - at least not significant drivers - of the decline in the number of listed companies. 

So where did the missing companies vanish?
A 2023 study proposes a simple answer: mergers and acquisitions. The "Magnificent Seven" tech giants, including Google, Microsoft, and Apple, have devoured hundreds of smaller firms since the late '90s, significantly reducing the number of independent listings.

The implications are significant. While shareholders of acquiring companies benefit, competition and innovation may suffer. The broader economic impact is also in question, as public companies are seen as better catalysts for revenue growth and innovation than private equity firms.

Ultimately, the consequences of this decline depend on one's perspective. Shareholders may celebrate, but consumers and the economy at large might be missing out on the benefits of a robust public market.

There’s been plenty written about the pay disparity between women and men in the U.S. 

Still, when it comes to startup CEO pay, our data reveals some good news. Hold your horses. Once more, women continue to trail behind men in startup CEO compensation, with female CEOs earning an average of $14,000 less in 2023.

But on the bright side: This gap has narrowed compared to the $20,000 difference observed in 2022.

In fact, and interestingly, while both male and female CEOs saw a decrease in compensation from 2022 to 2023, the reduction was more pronounced for men, with their salaries dropping by $8,000 compared to a $2,000 decrease for women. This marks the first instance where men experienced a larger salary reduction than their female counterparts, contributing significantly to the smaller pay gap seen in 2023 compared to previous years.

Nevertheless, the setback in salaries for female startup CEOs is still troubling, especially considering that the market was much closer to parity in 2019, prior to the COVID crisis. 

🫤 Uninterested - The share of Americans who are highly interested in the presidential election just slumped to a near 20-year low for this point in the cycle.

🫂 Embracing it - Lifestyle gyms are embracing Ozempic and launching programs for those who are or want to be on weight-loss drugs. 

🙆‍♀️ Women of AI - Meta has at least 29,000 ads for explicit AI girlfriend bots published across its social media platforms, according to Wired.

↩️ Re-entry - After 6-year hiatus, Stripe will start taking crypto payments, starting with USDC stablecoin.

🙅 More Blocks - 52% of Americans now use an ad blocker, up from 34% according to 2022 Statista data. 

🚶‍♂️ Another Stepdown - Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS and MTV, announced late Monday that CEO Bob Bakish is stepping down from his role.

😠 Yes, I Am A Human - It's not just you. Those "I'm Not a Robot" Captchas on websites have gotten harder over the years, per The Wall Street Journal.