…and Italy bans lab-grown meat
| Sam's new jam (Bill Clark/Getty Images) | |
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Yesterday's Market Moves | | Dow Jones
35,151 (+0.58%) | S&P 500
4,547 (+0.74%) | Nasdaq
14,285 (+1.13%) | Bitcoin
$37,459 (+0.12%) |
| Dow Jones
35,151 (+0.58%) | S&P 500
4,547 (+0.74%) | Nasdaq
14,285 (+1.13%) | Bitcoin
$37,459 (+0.12%) |
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Hey Snackers, The company that supplied animation clay for stop-motion classics like "Wallace and Gromit" and "Chicken Run" has gone out of business, stoking fears the studio behind the films would run out of clay. Yesterday, Aardman Animations reassured fans there's plenty left. Phew. Stocks gained yesterday to kick off the short week, fueled by AI-associated names like Nvidia (which reports today) and Microsoft (which just hired Sam Altman). Both companies' stocks hit a record high. About that Altman thing… ⬇️ | |
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An OpenAI "coup" spotlights major differences in the vision for AI's future | Generating some drama… In a move that continues to jolt the biz world, ChatGPT maker OpenAI fired CEO Sam Altman, who'd led the company for four years. After his ouster, some senior employees resigned. As of yesterday, OpenAI had named its third boss in three days (Twitch cofounder Emmett Shear), while OpenAI's biggest investor, Microsoft, quickly scooped up Altman to lead a new AI unit. Analysts are comparing the news to when Apple gave Steve Jobs the boot in 1985. Prompting pushback: In response to Altman's sacking, 650+ of the company's ~770 employees signed a letter saying they might quit and join their former boss's Microsoft team if the board doesn't step down. Employees reportedly refused to attend an all-hands meeting with new chief exec Shear. At odds: OpenAI hasn't been clear about why Altman was shown the door, other than saying he wasn't "consistently candid" with the board. The Atlantic reported that a rift had formed between Altman (who was pushing to commercialize AI products) and the side of the company focused on safety and regulation. Up in the AIr: the status of the $86B valuation OpenAI was set to receive (who knows whether it'll still be valued the same with Altman gone).
And the winner is… Microsoft, clearly. Not only does it own 49% of OpenAI, but it also now has its star exec, plus the new AI division he's building. And it didn't have to deal with an acquisition fight (see: Activision merger) to get it all. Still, if the OpenAI board steps down, it's possible Altman could rejoin. |  | THE TAKEAWAY |
| The rift's causing shockwaves… On the one hand, you have "techno-optimists" like Altman and Marc Andreessen, who say AI should roam free. On the other, you have experts and execs warning of doom if we don't tread with caution. Meanwhile, regulators are lagging behind the tech's rapid pace. ChatGPT isn't even a year old. | |
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| | A Banksy got everyday investors 32%* returns? | Mm-hmm, sure. So, what's the catch? We know it may sound too good to be true. But thousands of investors are already smiling all the way to the bank, thanks to the fine-art investing platform Masterworks. While this is just one sale, Masterworks has delivered 16 exits in total, including annualized net returns of +10.4%, +27.3%, and +35.0%, even while financial markets plummeted. But art? Really? Okay, skeptics, here are the numbers. Contemporary art prices: outpaced the S&P 500 by 136% over the last 27 years have the lowest correlation to equities of any asset class, according to Citi
Got your attention yet? Snacks readers can skip the waitlist with this exclusive link. |
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Italy bans lab-grown meat, as the futuristic food struggles to overcome its ick factor | Lab-grown Bolognese… Meat cultivated from animal cells won't be topping pizzas in Italy anytime soon. It became the first country to ban the production, sale, and import of lab-grown meat, in a move meant to keep Italy "safe from the social and economic risks of synthetic food," its agricultural minister said. The ban passed overwhelmingly in Italy's Parliament, but not everyone supports it. Critics of the ban argue lab-grown meat is natural, because it's cultivated from animal cells that aren't genetically modified. Animal-welfare groups and environmentalists tend to side with lab-grown, because no slaughter is involved, though its climate impact is debated. Only two countries have approved cultivated meat for human consumption (Singapore and the US), making Italy's ban more symbolic than substantive.
From tofurkey to tofauxkey… Just two companies — Upside Foods and Eat Just — have the US's approval to sell lab-grown meat. Since getting the regulatory green light in June, they've started selling limited quantities in two fine-dining restaurants. Despite investors pouring $3B into cultured-meat cos, their ability to scale to your local Whole Foods is in question. Bill Gates-backed Upside may be struggling to mass-produce the whole cuts it's known for (think: cutlets, not nuggets), Wired reported. In the meantime, Eat Just is being sued for $100M+ by suppliers that say it failed to pay on time. | | THE TAKEAWAY |
| Lab-grown's biggest test is appetite… Italy's ban highlights a core issue for cultivated meat: its ick factor. Even if Upside and Eat Just can solve their scaling issues, it's unclear whether people will want to buy their products. The US's approval was seen as a milestone for public policy and opinion. If the EU also approves the techy food, Italy might have to say ciao to its ban… but it could be a long time before people accept lab-grown bacon in their carbonara. | |
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What else we're Snackin' | Unmute: Videoconferencing legend Zoom reported stronger-than-expected 3% revenue growth thanks to solid demand from corporate customers. CEO Eric Yuan touted new AI features like meeting summaries. Stolen: T-Mobile is being sued after an employee at one of its stores was accused of stealing a nude photo from a customer's phone. T-Mobile has been accused of similar privacy incidents. Exit: Companies including Apple, Disney, and Comcast halted ads on X after Elon Musk supported a post saying that Jews were stoking hatred against white people. Musk has been accused of allowing antisemitic abuse on X. VirusSzn: The Biden admin is offering Americans another free round of at-home Covid tests. Demand for tests and vaccines has waned along with public concern, but cases are rising as the holidays near. Pivot: Shipping is down but travel's booming. Cue: American Airlines is offering $250K bonuses to lure UPS and FedEx pilots to its captain seats. With air cargo slowing, FedEx has encouraged its pilots to consider it.
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Snack Fact Of the Day | NFL QBs with major injuries this season have contracts worth a combined $1B+ | | |
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Tuesday | Earnings expected from American Eagle, Abercrombie & Fitch, Baidu, Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods, Urban Outfitters, Lowe's, Nordstrom, and Nvidia
Authors of this Snacks own shares of Apple, Disney, Microsoft, and Nvidia *Advertiser's disclosure: The content is not intended to provide legal, tax, or investment advice. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Investing involves risk. Details can be found in the 1U for the Banksy exit here. Net Annualized Return for Masterworks 003, LLC is based on an initial offering size of $1,039,000 and a sale price of $1,500,000, resulting in a distribution amount of $26.67 per Class A share (including 806 Class A shares issued in respect of Masterworks administrative service fees), after deduction of the Class B profit share equal to $87,996 and sale and liquidation expenses of $5,000, and a holding period of 378 days. "Net Annualized Return" refers to the annualized internal rate of return, or IRR, net of all fees and costs, to holders of Class A shares from the primary offering, calculated from the final closing date of such offering to the date the sale is consummated. A more detailed breakdown of the Net Annualized Return calculation for each issuer can be found in the respective Form 1-U for each exit. Masterworks has had 16 total exits and the three numbers above represent the ones closest to the median of all 16 exits. Contemporary art prices are measured by the Masterworks All Art Index, 1995 to 2022. Art sales price data and metrics are used for comparative modeling purposes only. Each painting is unique and historical price trends of a group of selected artwork is not a direct proxy for historical price performance of any specific painting or any investment in securities referenced. The data shown represents whole art and is not comparative of an investment into our offerings, which includes fees and expenses. Source for lowest correlation claim is specific to developed-market equities (see Global Art Market Disruption: Pushing the Boundaries, March 2022). | |
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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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