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Good morning. There are fewer than 100 days until the start of the Tokyo Olympics, which is a good time to remind you that this year's games will feature five new sports: baseball/softball, karate, sport climbing, surfing, and skateboarding.
No offense to sport climbing, but if you have to put the word “sport” in your name, are you even a...
Nvm we’ll just shut up and watch.
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MARKETS 1-DAY PERFORMANCE
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*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 9:00pm ET.
Here's what these numbers mean.
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Markets: Coinbase’s public debut grabbed headlines, and that was okay because stocks didn’t do much in the way of anything interesting yesterday. Big banks posted strong earnings thanks to government stimulus and a flurry of trading activity and dealmaking.
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Economy: The report du jour is retail sales for March, hitting Bloomberg Terminals everywhere at 8:30am ET. Don’t be surprised by a huge number, thanks to warmer weather, government stimulus, and easing Covid restrictions.
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Francis Scialabba
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Yesterday, Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, went public on the Nasdaq, a stock exchange.
Most of the coverage around the event included words like “historic,” “milestone,” and “  .” Here’s why:
- It’s the first major crypto company to go public in the US.
- With a valuation of around $86 billion when trading closed yesterday, it’s bigger than exchanges like the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
- The success of Coinbase reflects the rise of cryptocurrency from the murkier regions of the internet to potentially an asset class that is adopted across traditional finance.
The Coinbasics
The company was founded in 2012 by former Airbnb engineer Brian Armstrong (now Coinbase’s CEO) and former Goldman Sachs trader Fred Ehrsam. It allows you to buy and sell bitcoin, ethereum, and many other cryptocurrencies not named dogecoin.
As the price of bitcoin shot up, so did Coinbase’s fortunes. Just three years ago it was valued at $8 billion, but in the most recent quarter posted some Big League stats: $730–$800 million in net income on $1.8 billion in revenue, which 9x’d from a year earlier. It has 56 million users.
- Bitcoin itself has gained about 820% over the last year.
Like bitcoin, Coinbase is in many ways nontraditional. It is a remote-first company with no formal headquarters and, at a time when more companies are speaking up in political debates, said it won’t be involved in “broader societal issues.” Even its public market debut was unconventional—it opted for a direct listing instead of an IPO, sidestepping intermediaries that typically offer a more stable first day of trading.
So what's next?
Coinbase bulls argue that it’s positioned itself at the center of a blockchain-based model of finance that’s ruffling suits on Wall Street. Bears say a) future competition for crypto trades will be fierce and b) investing in Coinbase is risky because it may ride or die with the price of bitcoin...and while bitcoin is moonbound right now, remember when it plunged 75% in 2018?
Looking ahead...Coinbase will look to transition more of its client base from freshman pledges to institutional investors.
+ Go deeper: More companies are testing new approaches to going public, and it can get confusing. Check out our guide explaining the difference between SPACs, traditional IPOs, and direct listings.
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New York Times
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New York Times readers who didn’t immediately flip ahead to the crossword yesterday morning saw a two-page statement signed by hundreds of companies and corporate bigwigs condemning “any discriminatory legislation” that makes it harder for people to vote.
- They didn’t mention it by name, but execs were subtweeting a new voting law enacted in Georgia and others like it circulating through statehouses across the country.
Who signed: Amazon, BlackRock, Google, and Warren Buffett. Former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault and Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, two high-profile Black corporate leaders, spearheaded the effort.
Who notably didn’t sign: Coca-Cola, Delta, or the influential JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon. They did, however, all put out their own statements on the issue preceding the passage of Georgia’s controversial law. Walmart also declined to sign; its CEO Doug McMillon told employees, “We are not in the business of partisan politics.”
Why it matters: The developments "could possibly reshape political giving and potentially fracture a long-held alliance between the GOP and corporate business giants," per the WaPo.
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Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images
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Bernie Madoff, one of the most infamous investment bankers and the reason you know what a Ponzi scheme is, died in prison Wednesday at 82 from reported natural causes. Madoff orchestrated the biggest investment fraud in US history, costing his investors a total of $64.8 billion and earning him a 150-year prison sentence.
A quick timeline:
1960: At 22, Madoff started his investment company. From there he had a legendary career on Wall Street, and wealthy folks like Steven Spielberg and then-NY Mets owner Fred Wilpon trusted him with their cash.
?: No one knows for certain when the fraud began, but at some point Madoff began to pay off old investors with new investors’ money, i.e., running a Ponzi scheme, and falsifying bank statements. That means he didn’t actually invest any of the cash his clients gave him.
December 10, 2008: Madoff confessed to his sons, who turned him in immediately, and the next day the FBI raided his offices.
March 12, 2009: Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 felony charges.
Zoom out: While Madoff claimed he was the sole organizer, more than a dozen people, including his brother Peter Madoff, were convicted of federal crimes. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme forced sweeping reform within the SEC.
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We have a feeling quite a few of our readers won the coveted “Most Likely to Succeed and Wear Fancy Business Clothes” award in high school.
If that sounds familiar, then you need to hear this: Ohio, simply put, is for leaders. And since someone with your steely eyed determination likes facts and fancy figures, here you go:
- Ohio is the 9th best state for business, according to Chief Executive Magazine
- Ohio is home to two of the Top 25 Best Cities for Job Seekers: Cincinnati and Columbus
- Ohio’s venture capital growth was 134% between 2017 and 2019
What we’re saying is, they are doing WORK in Ohio. And they want big-time work-doers like you to be part of the action.
So grab your “Most Likely To” trophy and your finest slacks, and head over to Ohio.
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Our World in Data
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Stat: Bhutan, a Himalayan kingdom sandwiched between India and China, vaccinated almost 93% of its adult population in just 16 days. Granted, it has fewer people than Indianapolis, but it’s still an impressive feat that can be credited to its cold chain storage infrastructure and a network of volunteers.
- Perhaps more interesting is that Bhutan received its first batch of vaccines in January, but waited to administer them on an “auspicious date” determined by a panel of Buddhist monks.
Quote: “It is time to end America’s longest war.”
President Biden said yesterday that he’ll withdraw all remaining US troops from Afghanistan by September 11, the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Read: The redemption of Justin Bieber. (GQ)
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Giphy
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American Airlines has had it with these empty seats on these empty planes, announcing yesterday that it expects summer travel to hit pre-pandemic levels. After first-quarter seating capacity in Q1 fell 43% compared to early 2019, American said it’ll soar back up to 90% domestically and 80% internationally during the warmer months.
- To prepare, it's adding 150 new routes, both within the US and to international weekend destinations including Mexico and the Caribbean.
The entire industry is preparing for a Project X-style summer. Delta is reopening middle seats in May and United’s adding 24 new routes by Memorial Day.
However...yesterday, the CDC stepped in to remind everyone there's still a pandemic going on. It released a study with Kansas State concluding that vacant middle seats on airplanes reduce the risk of exposure to Covid-19. That's not likely to stop airlines from filling them given surging demand.
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Dell is spinning out VMware, the enterprise software maker, to pay down its debt. Shares jumped 9% after hours.
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McDonald’s is mandating anti-harassment training at locations worldwide starting next year.
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The ship that launched 1,000 memes, the Ever Given, has been seized by Egyptian authorities. They’re seeking $916 million in compensation from its owners for blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week.
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Gary Gensler was confirmed by the Senate to lead the SEC.
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A collection of NFTs from the digital artist Pak sold for more than $17 million at the auction house Sotheby’s.
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Upgrade your IT, bag a free Yeti. Electric delivers IT support and strategy that’s so blazin’ fast, they decided to offer something chill to go along with it. When you book a qualified meeting, they’ll throw in a free Yeti cooler. Get chat-based helpdesk support, streamlined employee onboarding and offboarding, protective security standardization—and that sweet Yeti cooler—when you chat with the chill peeps at Electric today.
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Great pod: Hosted by LinkedIn cofounder and investor at Greylock, Reid Hoffman, Masters of Scale shows how companies grow from 0 to a gazillion. Listen and subscribe to hear interviews with gazillionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates.
Still confused about NFTs? a16z put together this helpful NFT Canon, which is a curated list of links and resources to help get your brain wrapped around all things non-fungible.
Every no-color: Seriously, it's literally every single color all in one place. Just scroll and don't stop.
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It’s time for Three Headlines and a Lie, where we give you four headlines and you try to decide which one, like your reason for not being able to attend all the rescheduled Covid weddings this summer, is made up:
- “The ‘Leave Britney Alone’ video was sold as an NFT for over $40,000”
- “France investigates secret restaurants for Paris elite”
- “'World's biggest rabbit' stolen from owner's garden”
- “Coinbase partners with Pitbull to create ‘Direct Listing Anthem’”
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Coinbase is not teaming up with Pitbull.
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Written by
Jamie Wilde, Matty Merritt, and Neal Freyman
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