(Nintendo of America/YouTube) |
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With a Sunday TikTok ban looking likely, Americans are flocking to another Chinese short-video app called RedNote — and trying to speed-learn Mandarin to fit in. Duolingo said the number of Mandarin learners in the US has tripled from last year. The S&P 500 snapped its three-day green streak yesterday, dragged down by tech. Banks continued to beat expectations, joining 77% of the companies that've reported so far this earnings season. 🇺🇸 MLK Day: US stock markets will be closed Monday to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. We'll be back in your inbox Tuesday. 🧠 Brain workout: Take our Snacks Seven quiz to test your biz-news chops. Try the first q: |
- Colossal Biosciences, which said it hit a $10B+ valuation, aims to revive what animals? (Check your answer.)
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Back on Rainbow Road… Nintendo showed off the long-awaited Switch 2 for the first time yesterday, and confirmed the console will go on sale sometime this year. The announcement is a BFD for gamers, who've been speculating for years about when the Japanese gaming legend would drop the successor to its seven-year-old Switch. The Switch 2 looks similar to its portable predecessor, but appears to have a few notable upgrades, like magnetically attaching controllers and a bigger screen. |
- Loading… Nintendo plans to drop more deets and let some lucky gamers demo its new device at events this spring — which might mean playing the new "Mario Kart" that appeared in yesterday's promo.
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If it ain't broke… don't break it. The Switch reinvigorated industry interest in portable gaming, which Sony and Microsoft are both said to be trying to tap into. With 146M units sold, the Switch is Nintendo's second-best-selling console behind the DS, and it's the third-most-popular console ever (Sony's PlayStation 2 is No. 1). Plus, the Switch's "Mario Kart 8" game is Nintendo's best-selling standalone title of all time with 64M copies sold. But as the Switch nears its eighth birthday (ancient in console years), its sales are slowing. |
- Nintendo reported a lower profit for the fifth straight quarter in November and cut its annual guidance after selling millions fewer Switches than it did in the year-ago quarter.
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Boring can be strategic… Nintendo's not messing with the Switch too much, and its tried-and-true approach could help the sequel replay (or even surpass) the original's success. Nintendo's said to have readied a supply chain that'll allow it to ship 20M Switch 2s in the console's first year — a start that'd put it ahead of the Switch by 5M units. |
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Get Exposure to Discord, Epic Games, Acorns, Databricks, and More
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Kevin O'Leary is our Strategic Advisor & Spokesman.1 |
Ever wish you could invest in some of today's well-known private companies like Discord, Epic Games, Acorns, and Databricks? Enter StartEngine, a leading alternative investment platform that has enabled 1.8 million users2 to invest $1.3 billion into startups (when combined with our recent competitor acquisition SeedInvest).3 How's it going? StartEngine doubled its revenue YoY in the first half of 20244 thanks to the launch of StartEngine Private for accredited investors, an investing portal offering exposure to some of the more popular private venture-backed businesses, like Acorns, Fanatics, Discord, Perplexity, Epic Games, and more.
The even more exciting news? Well, StartEngine is actually accepting investors in their new funding round. Invest in StartEngine.5
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Get Exposure to Discord, Epic Games, Acorns, Databricks, and More |
Kevin O'Leary is our Strategic Advisor & Spokesman.1 |
Ever wish you could invest in some of today's well-known private companies like Discord, Epic Games, Acorns, and Databricks? Enter StartEngine, a leading alternative investment platform that has enabled 1.8 million users2 to invest $1.3 billion into startups (when combined with our recent competitor acquisition SeedInvest).3 How's it going? StartEngine doubled its revenue YoY in the first half of 20244 thanks to the launch of StartEngine Private for accredited investors, an investing portal offering exposure to some of the more popular private venture-backed businesses, like Acorns, Fanatics, Discord, Perplexity, Epic Games, and more. The even more exciting news? Well, StartEngine is actually accepting investors in their new funding round. Invest in StartEngine.5 |
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More than cleaning fees… Airbnb is waging a pricey lobbying campaign to reverse NYC's strict short-term-rental rules: it's reportedly spending $5M to back politicians who support home sharing and tourism. Refresher: in 2023, Gotham tried to curb its housing shortage by imposing strict rules for stays under 30 days. It included requiring hosts to stay onsite during rental periods and capping guests at two. |
- Check-out: Within a year of the new restrictions, Airbnb had lost 80% of its NYC listings and millions in revenue. Meanwhile, the average hotel-room rate in September hit a record $417/night.
- Not just New York… Airbnb's urged other cities to rethink rental crackdowns, notably Barcelona, which plans to ban short-term rentals by 2029.
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Lobby in the lobby… Rental platforms like Airbnb and Expedia's Vrbo thrived during the postpandemic "revenge travel" era. But the boom in vacay rentals sparked lobbying from the hotel industry and scrutiny from city governments, leading to new rules. Last year, short-term-rental supply slowed in 17 of North America's 30 largest cities. Now, platforms are fighting back. |
- Payback: Airbnb dropped $1M+ to lobby NY lawmakers last year — more than it spent lobbying in the state over the previous five years combined. Expedia reportedly boosted its annual lobbying spend by 60% last year.
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It pays to pay up… Corporate lobbying has soared as companies splurge to influence policies. The crypto industry spent $130M to support pro-crypto candidates during the 2024 elections, and it worked. In 2015, Airbnb coughed up $8M+ to defeat a ballot measure that would've imposed stricter rental rules in San Francisco, and achieved its goal. |
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An administrative-law judge canceled a hearing on cannabis rescheduling until three months from now, putting the ball in Trump's court. Read more. |
Yesterday's Big Daily Movers |
Apple stock plunged nearly 4% after a report said the iPhone maker had been dethroned as the top smartphone seller in China, falling behind domestic rivals Vivo and Huawei. TSMC, the largest semiconductor producer, saw its stock pop after reporting that its fourth-quarter profit surged 57% to a record high. UnitedHealth shares sank 6% after the insurance giant reported disappointing Q4 results, as it spent a larger chunk of its revenue paying customers' medical bills. |
💰 Spendy… Crypto- and stock-trading platform eToro is said to have moved to file for a US IPO that'd value the biz at $5B. It first tried going public in 2021 via a SPAC, but backed off as crypto winter set in. 🏛️ Votey… Outgoing SEC Chair Gary Gensler said that crypto wasn't a deciding factor for voters in the POTUS election. The industry spent $130M+ in the run-up to November 5, and counts 269 pro-crypto candidates as winning congressional seats. 🪙 Coins… XRP's price grazed a 7-year high of $3.40 yesterday. The token was boosted by speculation that the SEC's legal case against Ripple, a cross-border payments platform associated with XRP, would fizzle under Trump's crypto-friendly admin. |
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Should you cancel your car insurance? |
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Should you cancel your car insurance? |
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- TikTok's CEO will attend Trump's inauguration — a ray of hope for the app on the brink of a ban. The Biden admin is "exploring options" to keep it alive.
- The Department of Transportation sued Southwest and fined Frontier, alleging the airlines operated "chronically delayed" flights for months.
- Fox said it'll stream the Super Bowl on its free, ad-backed Tubi app in addition to its regular broadcast, in a boost for ad partners like AB InBev, which bought five slots.
- Target said its holiday sales were better than it expected, but kept its profit outlook the same, signaling that discounts drove sales.
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- Industrial production and housing-starts data for December
- Earnings expected from SLB, Truist Financial, and State Street
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Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Apple and Microsoft |
Advertiser's disclosures: ¹ Kevin O'Leary is a paid spokesperson for StartEngine. See his 17(b) disclosure, here. 2 Count determined by the number of unique email addresses in StartEngine's database as of 08-27-2024. One individual may have more than one email address. 3 In May 2023, StartEngine acquired assets of SeedInvest, including email lists for SeedInvest's users, investors and founders. Go here for more details. 4 This revenue growth has been driven by StartEngine Private, a new product line that offers funds in late stage companies. This product line has driven over $11.5M of the $21.6M of the revenue in the first 6 months of 2024. To understand the impact on margins, see financials.This revenue growth is H1 2023 vs. H1 2024. There is no guarantee that StartEngine revenue will continue to increase at similar rates. 5 This is a paid advertisement for StartEngine's Reg. A+ offering. Please read the most recent offering circular and related risks at invest.startengine.com. The offering is made available through StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc. No broker-dealer or intermediary was involved in offering. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investing in private company securities is not suitable for all investors. This investment is highly speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment. There is no guarantee that a market will develop for such securities. |
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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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