TRANSPORTATION

U.S. Transportation’s Long, Strange Trip

If diseases have to-do lists, COVID-19 can check off “shake up U.S. transportation.” In a new report shared exclusively with Morning Brew, app tracker Apptopia and location data platform Foursquare show that the pandemic has rerouted how we get around. 

What’s up: New wheels, of the four and two variety

More Americans are turning to the tried-and-true automobile as a transportation option that minimizes personal contact; visits to auto dealerships have already returned to pre-pandemic levels. Plus, new user growth in auto shopping apps has increased year over year in every month of the pandemic except April. 

• Gas station visits are up too, and are even outpacing pre-pandemic levels in the Midwest (probably because gas is so cheap). 

Similarly, people are flocking to bikes. Apptopia’s “bikeshare index” of bike-sharing apps such as Bay Wheels and Blue Bikes has catapulted beyond last year’s heights. 

What’s down: scooters and public transportation

Downloads of the top public transit apps lag last year’s numbers by 50%. Foot traffic to metro stations is down 68% since mid-February, while train station visits have sunk 60%.

That’s not too surprising—getting on a crowded subway car is as unthinkable as a game of Twister right now. But the decline in scooter usage is more puzzling. Scoot-share apps Bird and Lime usually take a bit to recover from the winter months, but their daily active user numbers are still nowhere near last year’s ceiling. 

What’s downish: ridesharing. Although demand for Uber and Lyft is on the rebound, those apps’ combined downloads are still 21% below last year.

+ While we’re on the travel train: United reportedly warned employees on Monday that the resurgence of coronavirus infections in the West and South sharply knocked bookings. United was the second-worst performer in the S&P yesterday, falling 7.6%. 

INTERNATIONAL

COVID-19 Around the World

Brazil: President Jair Bolsonaro said he tested positive for the coronavirus, a crisis he’s minimized for months even as Brazil suffers one of the world’s worst outbreaks. More than 65,000 people have died of the virus in Brazil. 

Israel: The country’s top public health official quit yesterday over the government’s handling of a new spike in cases. Israel has once again closed businesses like bars and gyms due to the outbreak, which PM Benjamin Netanyahu said is spreading “as clear as the sun.” 

Australia: Authorities are reimplementing a lockdown on Melbourne, the second-largest city, following a record high in daily COVID-19 cases. The measures go into effect tonight and will last six weeks. 

Sweden: The country did not shut down its private sector as the coronavirus spread, but it’s still suffering considerable economic damage, writes the NYT.

Southeast Asia: Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand remain remarkable success stories in controlling the virus. Of the four, only Thailand has any reported deaths (58). 

RETAIL

Walmart Almost Ready to Greet New Subscription Service

Walmart will roll out its new subscription service later this month, Recode reported yesterday. 

The name: Walmart+. The service will reportedly cost $98 a year and include same-day delivery, reserved delivery slots, and notifications when those slots are available, among other perks. 

The game: Make Amazon Prime work for it. Amazon’s subscription service has given it a giraffe leg up over Walmart in e-commerce...for too long, if you ask Walmart. 

• More than half of Walmart’s top-spending families reportedly have Amazon Prime memberships. 

Walmart’s advantage is its grocery business, which is currently larger than Amazon’s. But Walmart worries that if it doesn’t add its own subscription service, Prime’s perks could seduce its customers. 

The pain: Walmart originally planned to launch the service in March or April, per Recode’s reporting, but COVID-19 forced it to push those plans back.

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SOCIAL MEDIA

TikTok Misses Slow News Season Memo

For decades, China protected its tech industry like a mother bear. But now that its platforms are developing global ambitions, they’re having to deal with blowback from the government’s controversial actions. 

Just look at TikTok, which recently found itself ensnared in four geopolitical dramas.

Drama #1: On Monday, Sec. of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. is “looking at” banning the video app. TikTok has tried distancing itself from Chinese parent company ByteDance⁠ by hiring an American CEO, moving data centers outside China, and pledging not to hand over user data⁠—but some officials still worry Beijing is using it to spy.

• Bad news for TikTok is good news for U.S. platforms: Snap stock rose over 8% following Pompeo’s comments.

Drama #2: ByteDance said it will pull TikTok in Hong Kong, following similar moves of protest from Facebook, Twitter, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Zoom over a new Chinese national security law that critics say violates Hong Kong’s autonomy.

Drama #3: Last week, India banned TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps over an escalating border dispute with China. 

And finally, drama #4: Chase “Lil Huddy” Hudson reportedly cheated on TikTok darling Charli D’Amelio earlier this year.

PROFILE

Know Your Mogul

Name: Amancio Ortega

Claim to fame: Ortega is the cofounder of Inditex, the world’s largest fashion group and owner of the Zara fashion chain. With a net worth of $63.6 billion, he’s Spain’s richest person. 

Why he’s the mogul for the moment: Yesterday, his holding company Pontegadea revealed it’s got an outrageously huge real estate portfolio worth $17.2 billion at the end of 2019. Its properties include the E.V. Haughwout Building in NYC’s SoHo neighborhood, office buildings in London, Miami, and Seattle, and a hotel in downtown Chicago. 

But the pandemic tests even the moguliest of moguls. Ortega’s toes are dipped in two industries—commercial real estate and retail—that are getting especially crushed by the coronavirus. The commercial real estate market has collapsed in cities like NYC, while Inditex suffered its first-ever quarterly loss in Q1. 

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Facebook's top execs met with civil rights leaders promoting the current advertiser boycott over the company's hate speech policies. At least one civil rights leader was not satisfied by FB's response. 
• The U.S. government plugged two drugmakers working on a coronavirus vaccine with $2 billion.
• New York fined Deutsche Bank $150 million over its business relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 
• About 9% of workers at meat and poultry processing facilities in 14 states have contracted the coronavirus, per the CDC.
• The MLS is back today with the MLS is Back Tournament. 

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