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Good morning. PSA: Fight the urge to start your emails with "Happy Monday!" today.
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Nasdaq
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14,639.33
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S&P
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4,352.34
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Dow
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34,786.35
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Bitcoin
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$33,963.62
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10-Year
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1.444%
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Oil
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$76.78
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*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 10:00pm ET.
Here's what these numbers mean.
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Energy: OPEC and its allies left their tense meeting without a deal, meaning no production increase is currently on the table. Oil prices are expected to keep pushing higher if producers don’t boost their output to meet greater demand.
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Nation: The search for victims in the Surfside, FL, building collapse resumed after crews demolished what remained of the structure late Sunday night. The death toll rose to 28, and 112 people remain unaccounted for.
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David Ryder/Getty Images
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As of yesterday, Jeff Bezos is no longer the CEO of Amazon, the company he founded as an online book retailer in Seattle in 1994.
Bezos left the CEO position as the richest person in the world, having amassed a $199 billion fortune. And though he just bought a $500+ million superyacht, all signs point to him not spending much time on it.
Let’s look at some of Bezos’s side hustles that could become main hustles.
Space
Bezos’s interest in space dates back to his teenage days, when the high school valedictorian told the Miami Herald he wanted to “build space hotels, amusement parks, and colonies for 2 million or 3 million people who would be in orbit.”
Fast forward to 2000, when Bezos founded his rocket company Blue Origin two years before Elon Musk would start SpaceX. The amusement park idea may still be decades out, but the company has shorter-term ambitions in space tourism, satellite launches, and lunar landers.
In 2016, Bezos was spending one day a week working at Blue Origin—expect that to jump.
Philanthropy
Bezos has pledged $10 billion to climate-focused initiatives through the Bezos Earth Fund and gave $2 billion to increase access to education and address homelessness through the Bezos Day One Fund. But his philanthropic endeavors have been overshadowed by generous donations made by his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, and Bezos hasn’t signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment by the ultra-wealthy to give away at least half of their fortune.
The other stuff
When Mark Cuban sold his audio streaming company to Yahoo for $5.6 billion in 1999, he bought the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks the next year. Will Bezos also buy a sports team? Perhaps—he reportedly has expressed interest in owning an NFL franchise.
When he’s not busy with all of the above, Bezos owns the Washington Post, is building a 10,000-year clock in remote West Texas, and will certainly keep a close eye on Amazon as executive chairman.
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Last week, Chinese ride-hailing company Didi Chuxing went public in one of the largest US IPOs of the past decade. This weekend, Chinese regulators stopped new users from signing up and ordered its removal from app stores. Its stock has plunged more than 20% in pre-market trading.
What’s going on? Regulators think Didi’s trove of data could land in the wrong hands. A 2015 article making the rounds on Monday showed why that could be a problem: It analyzed how many Didi rides went to and from government departments in one day and estimated how much overtime their employees work.
Didi’s not the only one caught in Beijing’s dragnet. Yesterday, China’s Cyberspace Administration announced it was reviewing three other domestic companies (the parent companies of which recently listed shares in the US) and halted new user signups for their platforms.
Zoom out: China has become increasingly wary of its tech giants and is starting to curb their power, which had gone largely unchecked until the past year. In April, the Chinese government blocked the IPO of the world’s largest fintech company, Ant Group, and forced it to restructure.
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Giphy
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This sounds like a sci-fi plot but it happened this weekend: A cybercrime organization claims to have infected 1 million systems across 17 countries. Now, it’s demanding $70 million in bitcoin in exchange for a "universal decryptor" that will return users’ access.
Hackers targeted the US IT firm Kaseya, then used that company’s software to slip into the victims’ systems, which they’re now holding hostage. They also appeared to time the attack for Fourth of July weekend intentionally, knowing US office workers would be OOO.
Most of the victims were public agencies and small businesses—like Swedish grocery chain Coop, which had to close most of its 800 stores all weekend.
A worse sequel than Anchorman 2
This is the Russia-based REvil Group’s second widespread attack of the year. Last month, it extorted $11 million from meat supplier JBS after forcing it to shut down its plants.
Looking ahead...Biden has “directed the full resources of the government to investigate this incident” and suggested that the US is prepared to respond if it turns out the Russian government was involved.
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SPONSORED BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Going from regular old snap decisions to informed ones is a game-changer. That’s the difference you get when you read the Wall Street Journal. Whatever decision is in front of you—from a potential job change to a portfolio tweak—you’ll have all the reliable info you need at your fingertips.
With the WSJ’s accurate reporting and insight, you’ll get the confidence and peace of mind provided by the knowledge that your choices aren’t without reason, but backed by the journalism you need to trust your decisions.
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Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images
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Quote: “The roar of his assault will sunder the dome of Heaven to reach the ears of God himself.”
In one of the most epic sports intros of all time, Major League Eating’s George Shea introduced competitive eater Joey Chestnut before Chestnut downed 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes at the Nathan’s Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest. That topped his own record of 75 dogs last year.
Stat: Only 1.1% of Africa’s ~1.3 billion people are fully vaccinated, and at least 21 of its 54 countries are experiencing Covid surges. The highly contagious Delta variant is causing fresh lockdowns and rising deaths in lower-income countries across the globe, including Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Uganda.
Read: Britney Spears’s conservatorship nightmare, by Ronan Farrow and Jia Tolentino. (New Yorker)
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Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
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Sun Valley: After a one-year hiatus, Allen & Co.’s hyper-exclusive conference, aka the “summer camp for billionaires,” returns to the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho this week with a guest list including Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, and other people who don’t feel guilty with over-$40 DoorDash orders.
Economic data: In April, there were a record 9.3 million job openings in the US; we’ll find out on Wednesday whether employers were able to fill those positions in May. Also on Wednesday, the Fed will release the minutes from its June meeting. Investors will be looking for more details on the central bank’s plan to cut back its bond-buying ways.
A sports bonanza: The Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns tip off in Game 1 of the NBA Finals tonight. The semifinal matches for the Euros are today and tomorrow. The Stanley Cup finals are going to a Game 5. Wimbledon continues through this week. And the National Spelling Bee (def a sport) final will be televised Thursday after getting canceled last year.
Everything else:
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A Gossip Girl reboot comes to HBO Max on Thursday.
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Marvel’s Black Widow arrives Friday.
- Richard Branson will fly in a Virgin Galactic test flight to space on Sunday.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said all distancing and mask requirements for Covid-19 will end on July 19.
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Retail investors bought nearly $28 billion of stocks and ETFs on a net basis in June, even more than during the height of meme stock mania in January.
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Tyson is recalling almost 8.5 million pounds of chicken products over Listeria contamination concerns.
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BoltBus is shutting down operations. Did anyone reading this ever snag one of those $1 tickets?
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Death of Doge? How do billionaires and hedge funds invest outside the market without touching scam coins or meme stocks? They stash millions into an overlooked asset class that's projected to grow by over $1 trillion by 2026. Unlock this investment with this private Morning Brew link.*
Excel with this accelerator. Target has utilized all their retail know-how to create Target Accelerators—programs designed to help entrepreneurs in the CPG space shape the future of retail through innovation and smart growth. To learn about their upcoming programs, get in touch here.*
Tech Tip Tuesday: We’re cheating a bit today and replacing a tech tip with grilling tips. Here’s your complete guide to cleaning hacks, grill recs, recipes, and more. Plus, some inspiration for dressing up your hot dogs.
Dive back into the week:
*This is sponsored advertising content
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Brew Mini: Another week, another spicy Mini puzzle for you to challenge your friends with. Play it here.
Decode the map
What is unique about the population of the states shaded black? Hint: Yes, it has to do with agriculture.
Reddit user toddrjones
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In those states, the cattle population is greater than the human population.
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Written by
Jamie Wilde and Neal Freyman
Illustrations & graphics by
Francis Scialabba
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