IPO

An IPO Unlike Any Other

Robinhood execs gave a livestreamed presentation to the public Saturday, ahead of the company’s much-anticipated IPO later this week.

Like many aspects of the company’s public offering, that isn’t normal. Typically, this investor presentation, known as a “roadshow,” is given behind closed doors to hedge funds and bankers to hype them up ahead of the offering. 

But Robinhood isn’t just trying to court professional investors, it’s trying to court you, the trader who has a non-finance job but loves to talk stocks in your group chat. 

As part of its mission to “democratize investing,” Robinhood plans to sell as much as 35% of its shares, or $770 million worth, directly to customers on its app. That will allow individual traders to buy stock in the company alongside professionals, and perhaps get ahead of any first-day “pop” in the stock price. 

Companies have historically reserved only 1%–2% of shares for customers, because what Robinhood is doing is risky. Here’s why:

• When professional investors buy shares in an IPO, they tend to hold them for a long time. Individual traders could sell the stock immediately. 
• Robinhood has experienced technical glitches in the past when trading volume is particularly intense. Any snags during its IPO would be disastrous and could potentially lead to lawsuits.

Even if the offering does go smoothly, don’t expect a flood of companies trying to replicate this model. As the app that single-handedly revolutionized the world of stock trading, Robinhood has far greater name recognition with the average investor than most companies and is uniquely positioned to take advantage.

OK, back to the presentation 

Did the investors reveal anything interesting? Actually, yes. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said the company was considering offering retirement accounts, IRAs and Roth IRAs, through the platform. “We want to make first-time investors into long-term investors,” he said.

Looking ahead...Robinhood will price its IPO on Wednesday night and start trading on Thursday. It’s aiming for a valuation of around $35 billion. 

TOBACCO

Smoking CEO Wants to “Unsmoke the World”

Jacek Olczak, the CEO of Marlboro maker Philip Morris, told The Mail yesterday that the company will stop selling cigarettes in Britain in the next 10 years.  

Yeah, we did a double take too, but it is not fake news: Olczak is urging the British government to treat cigarettes like fossil-fuel cars and basically regulate them to death (the government is banning the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles in 2030). 

So how will that work from a business perspective, exactly? Philip Morris wants to transition to a “healthcare and wellness company” where half of its sales come from non-smoking products.  

• The company currently generates a quarter of its revenue from alternatives such as its electronic IQOS device that heats tobacco instead of burning it. 
• Earlier this month, Philip Morris said it would buy Vectura, a company that makes asthma inhalers. 

Big picture: Critics say the public shouldn’t trust cigarette companies to lead a campaign that would ban smoking, especially when they’re still marketing cigarettes in lower income countries where most of the world’s smokers now reside.  

ANTITRUST

Biden’s A-Team

A = antitrust

With last week’s nomination of Jonathan Kanter to lead the DOJ’s antitrust division, President Biden has assembled a three-headed beast of a team to take on Big Tech’s market dominance. 

Let’s look at the players.

1. Jonathan Kanter: He’s a private lawyer who’s represented companies, like Yelp, that have accused Google of abusing its position to quash rivals. A favorite of progressives, he has criticized the current antitrust framework for years.
2. Lina Khan: The new chair of the Federal Trade Commission is just 32, but she could fill libraries with her writings on antitrust policy. Her 2017 paper, Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox, put her on the map as a fresh thinker in the space.   
3. Tim Wu: The Columbia law professor now serving on the National Economic Council has encouraged the government to break up Facebook. He thinks the Obama administration, which he also worked for, was too lenient in letting some tech mergers slide. 

Zoom out: Some of these folks have been so vocal with their criticisms of Big Tech that they might be asked to recuse themselves from investigations over conflicts of interest. Facebook and Amazon have asked Khan to step back on any matters involving their companies, while Google could ask the same of Kanter. 

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GRAB BAG

Key Performance Indicators

Stat: The opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics drew just 16.7 million viewers in the US, down 37% from Rio 2016 and the smallest audience for the event in 33 years.

Quote: “I’ve been trying to find some silver linings and I guess one of the good things that I tell myself is that the next Olympics is only three years away now instead of four.” 

American beach volleyball player Taylor Crabb described what it felt like to train for years to compete in the Olympics only to be quarantined in a Tokyo hotel room. Crabb tested positive for Covid-19 when he arrived in Japan on Sunday and can’t leave the country for 10 days.  

Read: Can Silicon Valley find God? (New York Times)

CALENDAR

The Week Ahead

Earnings: More than a third of S&P 500 companies will report their Q2 results this week, including Tesla, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Boeing. Q2 earnings are projected to have increased 74% annually, the biggest rise since Q4 2009. 

Fed meeting: The central bank surprised the business world last meeting when it said it would hike interest rates by 2023. Will we get some information on its bond-buying program this time around? Tune in Wednesday.  

Economic data: GDP for the second quarter will drop on Thursday. It’s expected to show the US at peak growth—9.7%.  

Everything else: 

• Lots and lots of Olympics
• The NBA Draft is on Thursday. So is Lollapalooza. 
• Wanna feel old? Harry Potter turns 41 on Saturday.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Olympics rundown: Golfers Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau tested positive for Covid-19 and are out of the competition. USA men’s basketball lost to France, its first loss at the Olympics since 2004. Russia topped the US women’s gymnastics team in qualifying. A math PhD took gold in a historic cycling upset.
• GM and its Cruise subsidiary sued Ford to stop it from calling its hands-free driving tech “BlueCruise.” 
• Crocs sued Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and other companies for copying the “iconic design” of its shoes.
• Armani sales increased 34% in the first half of 2021, but said revenue wouldn’t get back to pre-pandemic levels until next year.
• The Dixie Fire, California's biggest fire and one of 86 major fires burning out west, destroyed dozens of homes in the northern region of the state.

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Dive back into the week: 

• Shallow dive: Basketball robot
• Medium dive: Football robot
• Deep dive: Why we’re blind to the color blue
• Cannonball: I breed pigeons that are bred and trained to steal other pigeons. AMA.

GAMES

The Puzzle Section

Kriss Kross: The feedback for our new Kriss Kross game has been hugely positive. If you haven't played, see what the hype is about.

Final Jeopardy

Yes, you absolutely must phrase your answer in the form of a question for full credit.

ANSWER

What is Oldsmobile?