BUSINESS

The Top Five Business Stories of Q2

Let's count down the top 5 business stories of last quarter, as chosen (correctly) by Morning Brew's editorial staff.

5. Meme stocks capitalize 

In the winter, executives at meme stock companies were flummoxed by their newfound popularity; last quarter they decided to do something about it.

After AMC gained more than 400% in just over a week, the company said it would sell shares to raise more than $720 million, and introduced perks for its individual shareholders, which now own around 80% of the company. 

GameStop, too, began its makeover, raising $1.1 billion and stuffing its c-suite with former Amazon execs. It’s not clear whether these struggling companies can actually pull off a turnaround, but the moves could provide a blueprint for future Reddit faves to capitalize on their 15 minutes of fame.

4. Ransomware 

Cybercriminals attacked two of Americans’ favorite things: automobiles and burgers. First, hackers forced the Colonial Pipeline to shut down, leading to a gas shortage on the East Coast and warnings to not hoard gas in plastic bags. Then, a separate criminal group disrupted the meat supply chain by hitting the world's biggest meat processor, JBS.

Against the FBI’s advice, both Colonial and JBS paid millions of dollars in bitcoin as ransom to the hackers. Intelligence officials are worried about the proliferation of ransomware attacks, which they now consider as much of a priority as terrorism. 

3. Covid who? 

Masks came off, bars filled up, and we even shook a hand or three as vaccinations climbed and officials dropped Covid-19 restrictions that had been in place for more than a year. Virtually all states have reopened with venues at full capacity; the Foo Fighters took the MSG stage and Bruce serenaded a full crowd on Broadway.

We’re not at the finish line yet: The Biden administration admitted that the US wouldn't hit its goal of partially vaccinating 70% of adults by July 4. Officials are also concerned that the Delta variant could cause a surge of infections in areas with lower vaccination rates. For example, in Mississippi less than a third of the population is fully vaccinated.

2. Help wanted

9.3 million. That was the number of job openings in the US at the end of April, a record high. With the economy reawakening faster than expected, employers are desperate to hire employees to meet demand. Yet lingering health concerns, childcare responsibilities, and generous unemployment payments have kept Americans from signing up for jobs.

And if finding workers wasn’t painful enough, retaining them is harder. More Americans quit in April than in any month on record. Workers are demanding flexible work schedules and higher pay—and they’re not tolerating stressful environments like restaurants and retail. 

1. Inflation scaries 

With prices increasing at their highest rate in more than a decade, the No. 1 business story of the quarter could only be inflation. The number of companies citing inflation in their earnings calls hit a 10-year high, Chipotle hiked its menu prices, and at one point in April the cheapest rental car on Maui was a Toyota Camry that cost $722 a day. 

Whether we should be freaking out about these price surges has divided the economic community. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has argued higher inflation is mostly transitory, while legendary investor Paul Tudor Jones responded, “That one just doesn’t work the way I see the world.” 

It looks like the Fed is no longer ignoring spiking inflation, penciling an interest rate increase by 2023. 

CULTURE

Time Capsule

Facts on facts

We read a lot of news stories over the past three months. Here are some of the craziest things we learned: 

College coaches were the highest-paid public employees in 40 states in 2019.

Facebook has nearly 10,000 employees working on its augmented and virtual reality devices. That’s almost 20% of its entire workforce, and double the number of Twitter’s total employees.

The number of Costco memberships is higher than the number of US households that pay for cable TV.

More than 10% of Florida’s estimated manatee population has died since the beginning of 2021.

Bitcoin accounts for 47% of total crypto market capitalization, compared to 70% at the beginning of the year.

26% of podcasts in the Apple Podcasts app have produced just one episode.

More twins are being born now than at any point in history.

SPONSORED BY THE MOTLEY FOOL

HENRY, Meet HANK

HENRY stands for High Earner, Not Rich Yet. It’s a cute little term you hear thrown around a lot—and it means you’re making solid money but you haven’t quite hit the threshold of what we like to call a HANK.

HANK, of course, stands for Has Alotta Net Kash. (It’s a stretch and we totally made it up, but stay with us here.)

Now, to be frank, building your financial future and becoming a HANK requires a little help. That’s where The Motley Fool comes in—they’ve been providing investment guidance to their members since 1993.

In fact, their Stock Advisor service has picked quite a few winners over the years, including: AOL in 1994, Amazon in 1997, and Netflix in 2004.

The Motley Fool believes there’s a HANK inside all of us. Sign up for Stock Advisor and get five free stock picks under $49 today.

MARKETS

Portfolio Check

*Not pictured because it would break the chart: AMC, which gained 503% last quarter.

BEST OF

Reads and Recs

Here are the 10 most popular Morning Brew articles from the past quarter. 

1. Icebreakers with Barbara Corcoran
2. How to write a cover letter and not hate the process 
3. The dude who became a dogecoin millionaire (unclear whether he’s still a millionaire) 
4. Learn how to analyze a stock
5. How to not get ripped off when ordering wine at a restaurant
6. Black Wall Street, 100 years later 
7. NFTs, IP, and what it means to actually own a digital kitty
8. How Airbnb failed its own anti-discrimination team—and let racial disparities slip through the cracks
9. Founder’s Journal: How Morning Brew cofounder Alex Lieberman manages his anxiety 
10. The unlikely story of Hot Rod Charlie at the Kentucky Derby

Best of Brew's Bets 

The Brew’s Bets section of the newsletter features a smorgasbord of viral videos, lifestyle recs, and tips on leveling up your career. Here are the most clicked-on links from Q2. 

Movie recs: Someone on Twitter asked, "What is a truly fantastic but totally underrated film that should've been a massive hit but not enough people know about?" Peep the replies.

Conversation starters: What’s an alternative to asking, “How are you?” 

XOXO: How to never lose at tic-tac-toe

More movie content: Who is the character that had roughly 15 minutes or less in a film but had a huge impact on it?

Summer reading: Bill Gates has five ideas for your beach reads. 

Deep dive: 20 ways to stand out in the hiring process.

Summer recipe: This Mexican street corn salad will get everyone talking 

PREDICTIONS

What'll Happen Next?

In the previous quarterly recap email in March, we asked readers to predict five outcomes by today, June 30. Here's how you did:

1. Will bitcoin be above $75,000? 50% said yes, 50% said no. It’s currently at ~$35,000 .

2. Which index will have the better quarter: the Nasdaq or the Dow? 51% said the Dow would have the better quarter, but the Nasdaq actually wiped the floor with the Dow in Q2.

3. Will the 7-day average number of US Covid-19 cases be above or below 20,000? 52% correctly said below. The current 7-day average is about 11,500. 

4. Will Facebook’s independent oversight board reinstate Donald Trump’s account? 61% correctly predicted that Trump’s account wouldn’t be reinstated. 

5. Will an NFT sell for more than Beeple’s $69.3 million? 63% correctly said no. 

That was so much fun let’s do it again. Click here to cast your vote for next quarter’s predictions.

SPONSORED BY THE MOTLEY FOOL

Here’s another tip, HENRY. Earlier, we explained what it takes to go from being a HENRY (High Earner, Not Rich Yet) to a HANK (Has Alotta Net Kash). But we left something out. The Motley Fool Stock Advisor just issued their ultra-rare “All In” buy signal for a little internet company that operates in the advertising market—a market 10X bigger than the online streaming industry. Get all the deets when you sign up for Stock Advisor today.

QUIZ

Yep, There's a Quiz

Getting a 10/10 on the Brew’s Quarterly News Quiz has been compared to getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz.

It’s that—if not more—satisfying. Ace the quiz.