Streamin' Sheeran (Theo Wargo/Getty Images) |
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Hey Snackers, Funner isn't just an adjective — it's a celeb-led town. Actor Martin Short has been cast as the next mayor of Funner, California (population: 1.5K). David Hasselhoff was the town's first mayor. US stocks fell sharply yesterday as oil prices hit a six-month high on escalating Middle East tensions. Today investors are focused on the March jobs report, which is expected to show solid US hiring growth. |
🎡 Quizchella: There's a rumor going around (which we started) that Taylor Swift is taking this week's Snacks Seven Quiz. Don't leave a blank space. Try the first Q here: |
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Please don't stop the music… but feel free to stop the price hikes. Spotify subscriptions will cost more this year for some users. The Swedish streamer is reportedly set to hike monthly prices by up to $2 this month across five markets (including the UK and Australia). Spotify's also said to be considering hikes in the US (its biggest market). The music-streaming leader has 236M paying subscribers but hasn't posted an annual profit. Now it's trying to: |
- Chord change: Spotify laid off 1.5K+ employees last year to cut costs and raised the price of its most popular US plan by $1. Execs say more hikes are on the way.
- Volume up: Spotify plans to launch several new price tiers, including a "supremium" plan with higher-quality audio.
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Strategy Wrapped… Spotify's become an audio empire by spending billions to bolster its podcast biz and adding audiobooks to premium plans last year. But quality content carries a hefty bill: Spotify paid a record $9B to the music industry last year, and spends 70% of its revenue on royalties. Price hikes are a way to offset those costs. Apple Music has raised prices twice since 2022, and Amazon upped the fee of its Music Unlimited plan. |
- Royal beef: After TikTok and Universal Music Group failed to agree on royalty payments, TikTok removed all music from UMG artists like T. Swift and Drake.
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 THE TAKEAWAY |
Spotify's tuned in to profit mode… The streamer has lost money every year since going public in 2018. But after massive splurges on deals for pods like "The Joe Rogan Experience" and "Call Her Daddy," Spotify's reining in spend and upping prices. It could all pay off: Spotify forecast it'll post a profitable quarter this month. |
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Investors are noticing this EV startup |
$470B micro-EV market… According to McKinsey, Micro-EVs are shaping up to be the next big thing*. With hundreds of their award-winning electric vehicles already being sold and shipped in Europe, Eli Electric Vehicles is poised to dominate the micro-EV space — and 3,000+ investors have already backed them. The iPad of cars… Specifically designed for urban commutes, Eli's flagship Eli ZERO fills the gap between bikes and cars, offering a convenient, cost-effective, and sustainable solution for daily travel. Crossing the pond... Eli is making waves — on both sides of the Atlantic. This year, they're launching in the fast-growing US market, boasting a manufacturing capacity of 4,000+ vehicles annually. Investors are noticing, and the global market awaits. Now, investors have the opportunity to share in Eli's next-gen micro-EVs. Invest by today, Friday April 5, to be eligible for 5% bonus shares**. *McKinsey, September 2022. |
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Investors are noticing this EV startup |
$470B micro-EV market… According to McKinsey, Micro-EVs are shaping up to be the next big thing*. With hundreds of their award-winning electric vehicles already being sold and shipped in Europe, Eli Electric Vehicles is poised to dominate the micro-EV space — and 3,000+ investors have already backed them. The iPad of cars… Specifically designed for urban commutes, Eli's flagship Eli ZERO fills the gap between bikes and cars, offering a convenient, cost-effective, and sustainable solution for daily travel. Crossing the pond... Eli is making waves — on both sides of the Atlantic. This year, they're launching in the fast-growing US market, boasting a manufacturing capacity of 4,000+ vehicles annually. Investors are noticing, and the global market awaits. Now, investors have the opportunity to share in Eli's next-gen micro-EVs. Invest by today, Friday April 5, to be eligible for 5% bonus shares**. *McKinsey, September 2022. |
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Sliding into the LinkedIn DMs like… "Wanna make a million bucks?" Big Tech's AI talent race has hit warp speed. Tesla said it's raising pay for AI engineers to ward off poaching from the likes of OpenAI. Elon Musk said it's "the craziest talent war I've ever seen," referring to the multimillion-dollar pay packages being doled out for AI-focused roles (see: "AI officers"). |
- On- and off-boarding: Google this week hired OpenAI's former head of developer relations. Last month Microsoft nabbed the cofounder of Google's AI division, DeepMind. Three AI leaders recently left Meta.
- Not just Big Tech: Banks, streamers, retailers, pharma cos, and insurance firms have nabbed anyone with ChatGPT as a reference. The public sector's AI'ing too: as of last month, all US federal agencies were required to hire a chief AI officer.
- Machine unlearning: Some universities have noted enrollment drops in AI doctoral programs as workers get scooped at the undergrad level.
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Small pond, big lures… Generating AI departments ain't cheap. That's because there could be as few as several hundred workers with actual experience training AI and solving complex issues like "hallucinations." $5M+ pay packages are being dangled to top talent. The frenzy is so great that Meta has reportedly extended offers without interviews, and execs like Mark Zuckerberg and Google cofounder Sergey Brin are said to have personally reached out to some AI researchers. |
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THE TAKEAWAY |
Tech's tale of two cities… As AI experts count their cash, other tech workers are being squeezed by cost cutting. 57K tech workers have been laid off this year, in some cases to make room for AI investments. That's caused morale to drop, and tech co rankings have plunged on Glassdoor's "best places to work" list. |
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⚖️ Judgy… The former legal head of fake crypto OneCoin was sentenced to four years in prison for her role in the $4B Ponzi scheme. It's the latest high-profile sentencing for the industry: Last week SBF got 25 years. 🤖 Techy… Bitcoin cash, a crypto that forked from bitcoin in 2017, underwent its own "halving" this week, cutting into miners' earnings. Bitcoin's halving is expected this month, and miners including Hut 8 have spent big to up their efficiency in preparation. 🪙 Coins… Ripple said it's launching a stablecoin pegged to the USD. The biz, which has been fighting regulators for years over its $32B+ market cap XRP token, is entering a crowded market: PayPal launched its own stable last year to challenge Circle's heavyweight USDC. |
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- GPay: Google's considering charging for some AI search features, which would be the first time it's paywalled a core product. AI rivals like OpenAI's CGPT pose a threat to Google's search-ad biz.
- Quake: Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC paused some production after a deadly earthquake hit Taiwan on Wednesday. TSMC makes 90% of the world's advanced chips, and the pause could disrupt global supply chains.
- Arrived: Alaska Air got $160M from Boeing as initial payback for the "doorbacle" (recall: a door on a Boeing 737 yeeted off mid-flight). Alaska expects a quarterly loss after the grounding of its 737 fleet.
- Distressed: Levi swung to a quarterly loss as department-store sales sagged, but the jeans giant gave a higher-waisted outlook. It's focusing on its direct-to-consumer biz, which now makes up nearly half its sales.
- Allies: POTUS will host Japanese PM Kishida Fumio next week as the world leaders look to curb China's growing influence. Biden's scaling back US-China trade while strengthening ties with other Asia-Pacific nations.
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Travel for the solar eclipse could bring $1.5B to states on the path of totality |
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- US unemployment rate
- F1 Japanese Grand Prix weekend begins
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Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and shares of: Alaska Airlines, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Tesla **Advertiser's Disclosure: This is a paid advertisement for Eli Electric Vehicles' REG CF offering. Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.eli.world. Equity crowdfunding investments in private placements, and start-up investments in particular, are speculative and involve a high degree of risk and those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest in start-ups. Companies seeking startup investment through equity crowdfunding tend to be in earlier stages of development and their business model, products and services may not yet be fully developed, operational or tested in the public marketplace. There is no guarantee that the stated valuation and other terms are accurate or in agreement with the market or industry valuations. Further, investors may receive illiquid and/or restricted stock that may be subject to holding period requirements and/or liquidity concerns. DealMaker Securities LLC, a registered broker-dealer, and member of FINRA | SIPC, located at 4000 Eagle Point Corporate Drive, Suite 950, Birmingham, AL 35242, is the Intermediary for this offering and is not an affiliate of or connected with the Issuer. Please check our background on FINRA's BrokerCheck. |
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