Business

The Postal Service’s $40 Billion Overhaul Is Off to a Rough Start. “The U.S. Postal Service has been hemorrhaging money for years, due in part to declining mail volumes, limits on what it can charge customers and a costly mandate to deliver to every address. The agency is fighting for a larger share of the package business to turn itself around. It is overhauling its vast network of sorting centers and truck routes that had long been focused on moving flat letters. The $40 billion plan includes outfitting sorting centers with new equipment, purchasing electric vehicles to replace aging trucks, and consolidating processes and facilities. The efforts haven’t gone smoothly.” 

Price hikes and boycotts: Is trouble brewing at Starbucks? Inflation putting strain on consumers’ finance, intense competition from thousands of local coffee shops, unknown macroeconomic conditions and consumers’ growing more health conscious. It just doesn’t look like a rosy path ahead for Starbucks

Microsoft’s Nadella Is Building an AI Empire. OpenAI Was Just the First Step. What I don’t see in this article is any mention of an overarching strategy for AI. It’s logical for Nadell to hedge his bet on OpenAI (and it’s an expensive bet), but what is the ultimate goal of scouting the Earth for AI technologies? How is it going to benefit Microsoft’s customers? Yes they announced a new Surface line, but already decided to shelf the controversial Recall feature and it remains to be seen how this new lineup fares against Apple’s. Microsoft doesn’t have an equivalent to iPhone. He claimed that he wanted to make Google “dance” with the AI-powered Bing, but has Bing even taken any percentage point of market share from Google yet? Plus, how will OpenAI and the challenger built internally help corporate customers? I am not discounting a CEO who transformed Microsoft into a $3 trillion company, but we need to wait and see if/how his expensive bets into AI turn out.

Amazon Has Upended the Streaming Ad Market, and Netflix Is Paying the Price. “Ad executives say that advertising is even more effective when viewers see a product within a show and then see a commercial for that very product shortly afterward. Although Amazon has plenty of reach, ad buyers said Netflix programming is attractive because it tends to be more popular and often generates more buzz in the marketplace.” It sounds like if an advertiser wants to create buzz and boost its popularity, Netflix is the platform. On the other hand, Amazon may be a better platform to drive sales as viewers are one-step closer to that Buy button. It’s also interesting that Amazon is pricing ads lower than Netflix even when its ads platform more likely entices a sale.

The N.B.A. Sees Its Future in Africa. It’s nice to see how the NBA strategically expands its footprint in Africa and how the African people seem to appreciate the localization. Africa can be the NBA’s second China. The continent poses a tremendous commercial opportunity with young demographics and growing economies. Some of the stars currently in the league have African connections, including Giannis, Embiid or Siakam. They may need to leverage these stars, such as having summer camps, hosting tournaments or just visits to local communities.

Other Stuff I Find Interesting

Synapse bankruptcy trustee says $85 million of customer savings is missing in fintech meltdown. I fear that there will be no going back for the reputation and credibility of fintechs after this saga. End users were already wary of the risks related to fintechs before the Synapse blowup. Now, that trust seems to be permanently damaged. I wonder if the bankruptcy caused FDIC to issue this warning. Have a read and you’ll understand in general why if you bank with a third-party, your money is not always legally protected.

Between 1988 and 2023, investors would earn higher returns in a 3-year+ timeframe if they invested in S&P500 on a new high than on any other day

Plant-based or not, processed food is harmful to your health. “The findings of this large UK cohort study indicate that higher dietary contribution of plant-sourced non-UPF may be associated with a lower risk of CVD. These results support the notion to improve CVD health outcomes with a shift towards plant-sourced food choices that consider the degree of food processing. Our findings also demonstrated that the relationship between the dietary contribution of non-red meat (all foods, except red meat) and CVD risk depended on whether it underwent ultra-processing or not. Future research and dietary guidelines promoting a plant-sourced diet should emphasize not only the reduction of meat, red meat, or animal-sourced foods but also the need to avoid all UPF“

Stats

The top 10 firms made up 10% of the total market capitalization of the S&P 500 as of May 31, 2024

Violent crime fell in the first quarter of 2024 by more than 15%

In 2024, an estimated 60.2 million Apple Pay users live in the United States