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Good morning. What’s better than a Nadal vs. Djokovic French Open semifinal? Not much, but a new segment in Morning Brew could probably compete. On Saturdays this summer, our personal finance writer Ryan Lasker will be answering all your money questions—except whether you should splurge on appetizers. The answer's always yes.
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Nasdaq
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14,069.42
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S&P
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4,247.44
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Dow
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34,479.60
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Bitcoin
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$36,913.91
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10-Year
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1.453%
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Gold
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$1,879.50
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*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:00pm ET.
Here's what these numbers mean.
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Markets: The S&P closed its third straight week in the green, though it was more lazy river than Splash Mountain in terms of excitement. Investors are twiddling their thumbs ahead of the big Fed meeting next week, during which we’ll learn more about the central bank’s views on higher inflation.
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Government: The DOJ’s independent watchdog has launched an investigation a day after the NYT reported that the Trump administration had secretly seized phone data from House Democrats and reporters.
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A bipartisan group of House lawmakers interrupted Summer Fridays across the US yesterday afternoon by dropping five antitrust bills designed to finally put some speed limits on the tech industry’s autobahn.
The bills don’t mention any company by name, but they clearly subtweet four: Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple, which have a combined market capitalization of $6.4 trillion and collectively represent Big Tech’s domination of industries spanning from advertising to ecommerce.
Why it matters: After years of a simmering “techlash” on Capitol Hill, this is the biggest effort yet to make Big Tech into Still Big But Slightly Smaller Tech. If passed, the bills would require those companies to significantly rejigger their businesses, or break up altogether, to conform to the new antitrust laws.
Those new laws
Here’s a quick look at the major themes of the five bills lawmakers dropped yesterday.
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Conflict of interest: Huge tech companies wouldn't be able to own or operate a business that would incentive it to favor its own products over those of a competitor. In theory that means Amazon would need to split up its business, because it operates a marketplace and also sells its own products on that marketplace.
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Self-preference: This bill would bar companies like Google from promoting their own products in search results to the disadvantage of a competitor.
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Interoperability: Big Tech would need to tweak their platforms to make porting data from one service to another easier.
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Mergers: A fourth bill would make it more difficult for Big Tech companies to snatch up smaller competitors.
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More mergers: The final bill would raise filing fees for large mergers in order to raise money for antitrust enforcement agencies.
Looking ahead...the path to President Biden’s desk is long and winding—first the bills will need to get past the House Judiciary Committee, then the full House, then the Senate before they become actual law. If they do, they’ll represent the biggest changes to antitrust law in decades.
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Giphy
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On Thursday, Didi Chuxing, China’s largest ride-hailing service, filed for a US IPO at a reported $70 billion valuation. Didi reported 2020 revenue of $21.6 billion, more than Lyft and Uber...combined.
If you’re like us, the high temps make you cranky and sweat through even the strongest Dri-FIT tank. But IPOs this summer are only revving up. Bankers are forecasting that US-listed IPOs could raise up to $40 billion from June through August this year, topping last year’s record of $32 billion, per the WSJ.
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Oatly went public in May and set the stage for this gangbusters IPO season. Its stock is currently up more than 50% from its initial price.
- The Regina George of stock trading, Robinhood, is also preparing for a highly anticipated IPO at a potential $40 billion valuation.
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Krispy Kreme and its stunning ticker symbol DNUT filed to go public for the second time at the end of May.
Big picture: When the SEC started poking around into the SPAC frenzy earlier this year, the blank-check boom cooled down a bit. Now it’s traditional IPOs’ time to shine.
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Re-entering society is not easy, especially for the leaders of the G7 at their summit in Cornwall.
Karwai Tang/Pool/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Karwai Tang/Pool/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Toby Howell
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Lots of people like saying the phrase "time is money” as a part of the ongoing philosophical debate about which is more important.
To those people, we say: Why don’t you just join Walmart+ and save both?
Walmart+ is the membership that helps you save both time and money—avoiding all philosophical quandaries involved in choosing between the two.
Walmart+ gives you free same day delivery* from your store on all the fresh groceries and goods you’ve come to expect from Walmart. (So long as you order 35 bucks worth of stuff.)
To recap: You spend no money on delivery. And you spend no time picking it up. Because it’s delivery.
Start saving time and money with a 15-day free trial of Walmart+.
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Stat: Six of the highest-earning execs from 2020 were among the people with the top 10 largest pay packages in the last decade, according to an Equilar analysis for the NYT. The CEOs in the survey earned 274x the pay of the median employee at their company in 2020, compared to 245x in 2019.
Quote: “I am concerned that the initial reaction of a regulator is always to say, ‘I want to grab hold of this and make it like the markets I already regulate.’ I am not sure that’s going to be great for innovation.”
Hester Peirce, a commissioner at the SEC, told the Financial Times that she doesn’t support strict government regulation of the cryptocurrency market as her colleagues do.
Read: A pleasant story about everyone’s favorite courtroom TV star, Judge Judy. (LA Times)
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In this brand new segment, the Brew’s personal finance writer Ryan Lasker is nose-diving into our inbox to address your personal finance questions. Submit your money woes here.
Q: I work for a startup and have shares in a non-public company that vests over time. What does that mean, and will the shares only be worth something if we go public or are acquired?—Lauren from Philadelphia
In most cases, startups dangle equity compensation over employees like a just-out-of-reach cupcake in front of a treadmill. Vesting means some condition needs to be met before you fully own your shares, whether it’s staying at the company for a period of time, reaching a target valuation, or both.
Once your shares have fully vested, you’d think you can finally cash in. But that’s not always the case. It’s a hassle to sell private company shares because there are far fewer buyers compared to selling shares in a publicly traded company.
If you want to sell your stake before the company goes public, you can ask the execs at your company to buy back your shares. If they say no—and they might, because once they let one employee sell, it’s hard to turn down others—you need another buyer, like an outside investor.
There are eBay-like marketplaces for selling private company shares, but it’s not like posting a picture of your old iPod and offering free shipping. You can only sell to accredited investors (aka hedge funds and other rich folks), and your company needs to authorize the sale.
It’s way easier to sell your shares if and when your company goes public or is acquired by another company. Thanks in advance for the lobster feast when that happens.
—Ryan
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The FDA ordered Johnson & Johson to scrap 60 million vaccine doses that were made at a contractor’s troubled Baltimore plant.
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Starbucks filed a trademark application to use its name on a stadium.
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Spotify is discussing a licensing deal with the podcast Call Her Daddy valued at around or over $20 million, per the WSJ.
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The 2021 Pulitzer Prize winners for journalism.
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Hedge funds started buying bitcoin at $500. Now they’re pouring millions of dollars into a massive (and previously unavailable) investment: blue-chip art. Masterworks has your ticket to this exclusive $1.7 trillion asset class. Get in before the rush with this private Morning Brew link.*
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Interesting facts: That’s pretty much it—a long thread of very interesting facts.
Weekend Conversation Starters:
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Pointy objects are everywhere in today’s Brew Crossword. Give it a go, but don’t say we didn’t warn you.
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✢ A Note From Walmart
*Free shipping – Excludes freight & Marketplace items. Free delivery - $35 order min. Restrictions apply.
✤ A Note From Masterworks
See Masterworks' disclaimer here.
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