…and sleeping giant Tempur Sealy offers to buy Mattress Firm
| Backwards (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) | |
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Yesterday's Market Moves | | Dow Jones
33,488 (-0.22%) | S&P 500
4,129 (+0.24%) | Nasdaq
12,180 (-0.63%) | Bitcoin
$27,524 (-0.45%) |
| Dow Jones
33,488 (-0.22%) | S&P 500
4,129 (+0.24%) | Nasdaq
12,180 (-0.63%) | Bitcoin
$27,524 (-0.45%) |
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Hey Snackers, Sorry, "Succession." The workplace drama that has Microsoft employees chatting 'round the watercooler is "Trust Code." But the show's not available on any streamer — it's a series of compliance vids made by the tech titan. Stocks were mixed yesterday as fresh data showed inflation cooled last month, giving investors added hope that the Fed might be done with rate hikes for now. | |
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Goldman Sachs settles a $215M gender-discrimination lawsuit that put "boys' club" culture on blast | Payday delayed… Goldman Sachs agreed to one of the largest settlements ever for a gender-discrimination lawsuit, wrapping up a 13-year-old case weeks before it was set to go to trial. The suit said the investment-banking behemoth paid female vice presidents 20% less than male VPs and called out the bank's performance-review process as favoring men. Goldman's expected to pay $215M to about 2.8K women (minus legal fees), or around $47K each. - More than $$: The settlement also requires Goldman to hire an outside expert to look into how it goes about performance reviews, promotions, and pay equity.
Wall Street women… Goldman's not the first bank to be accused of shorting its women employees. In 1998, Smith Barney (which became part of Citigroup, then Morgan Stanley) paid $150M to 2K women claiming a hostile workplace rife with pay disparity and derogatory language. Not to be left out, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley have also settled suits alleging discrimination. The #s: Women made up a record 29% of Goldman's most recent partner class, and about a quarter of senior leaders are women at Morgan Stanley. Boys' club: Jane Fraser was named Citi's CEO in 2021, becoming the first woman to lead a major US bank.
|  | THE TAKEAWAY |
| The gender pay gap is stuck… Women made 82 cents on the dollar compared to men last year, which is only 2 cents more than they made in 2002. (FYI: female CEOs of S&P 500 companies only recently outnumbered CEOs named "John.") Meanwhile, a McKinsey report found that companies with more women executives usually outperform those with fewer. | |
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Tempur Sealy makes a deal to buy Mattress Firm for $4B as the sleep industry shows no sign of slumber | Not sleeping on the job… Tempur Sealy agreed to buy Mattress Firm this week in a $4B deal that would combine one of the US's largest mattress manufacturers with its largest specialty mattress retailer. The acquisition could help firm up two companies and an industry facing sagging post-pandemic mattress demand. If approved, the deal would create a biz with a combined 3K brick-and-mortar stores and 21K employees, and might inspire competitors (like: Sleep Number, Purple) to follow suit, or risk losing market share to a would-be juggernaut. But it's not all sweet dreams: - Counting sheep: Antitrust regulators are paying close attention to the deal, which is expected to close late next year.
Dreamland is open for business… and Big Sleep isn't hitting the hay anytime soon. Merging manufacturing and retail, Tempur Sealy aims to stay at the top of a $100B industry that's more than just mattress tech and bedding-material science. Close your eyes and see: posture-specific pillows to Dr. Scholl's-ify your head, functional beverages to help you wind down, snoozy podcasts by Calm and Audible to lull you into a slumber, and trackers to help you catch the best z's. | | THE TAKEAWAY |
| Peak REM-fficiency is always just around the corner… 40% of surveyed adults said their sleep quality decreased during the pandemic, while 55% listed getting good sleep as a major priority. A rise in "sleep tourism" — aka: hotels and spas promoting rest-focused rooms and amenities — suggests sleep searchers are willing to pay for the pleasure. High up on bedtime optimizers' list: a lasting mattress. | |
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What else we're Snackin' | Jumbo: Ryanair said it'll buy up to 300 new Boeing aircraft in a deal valued at $40B. The Irish carrier expects its traffic to grow by 80% (to 300M passengers a year, up from 168M) over the next decade. Power: Microsoft signed what could be the first commercial deal to buy fusion-generated electricity within five years. Despite recent advancements, it could take decades for fusion power to hit the grid. Spark: The # of North American-made EVs shot up 39% on the year last quarter as manufacturers strained to meet demand. The jump came as the price of electric vehicles trickled down, led by Tesla cuts. Growblox: Roblox reported a 23% year-over-year growth in bookings (picture: sales, deferred revenue), sending shares up 6%. The metaverse gaming biz saw record user #s last quarter, averaging 66M a day. Coinbust: An ex-Coinbase employee was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to insider trading. Just last week, a former OpenSea manager was convicted in an NFT insider-trading case.
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Snack Fact Of the Day | US airlines made nearly $7B last year from checked-baggage fees | | |
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Thursday | Weekly jobless claims Earnings expected from JD.com, Fiverr, Yeti, Krispy Kreme, News Corp., and Getty Images
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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more | |
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