| |
| Here are our top stories today: - The U.S. economy grew by 2.1% on an annual basis in Q2 2023
- Chinese law enforcement detained the founder of embattled property firm Evergrande as the company's shares stopped trading in Hong Kong
- iPhone designer Jony Ive is reportedly teaming up with OpenAI to create the "iPhone of artificial intelligence"
If you find this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends and colleagues. Thank you! Your faithful IDB writer, Daniel
p/Dan-Smith | |
| 1 | | OpenAI is reportedly in talks with former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive's firm to create the "iPhone of artificial intelligence." The Financial Times reported that Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son has provided the new venture with over $1B in funding. More: - Ive's firm LoveFrom is reportedly involved in OpenAI's plans to design and launch a physical device for consumers.
- The Financial Times said that Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have held brainstorming sessions to discuss what the product could look like.
- They are looking to create a device with a "natural and intuitive user experience" for the use of AI, sources said.
- Son has pushed for chip design firm Arm (of which SoftBank owns 90%) to play a key role in the design of the new device.
Zoom Out: - Ive, who worked at Apple from 1992 to 2019, was closely involved in designing iconic Apple products like the iMac, the iPhone, the iPad, and the MacBook.
- In 2018, Ive said Apple has a "moral responsibility" to address the addictive nature of its devices.
Q: Do you think there will be popular demand for a physical AI device? Join the debate here. |     | |
| 2 | | GameStop stock fell by over 1% after the company named billionaire investor Ryan Cohen as its new CEO. 
What happened: Cohen, who is the largest investor in GameStop, has been on the video game retailer's board for over two years. He took over as executive chairman when former CEO Matt Furlong was forced out in June. GameStop said that Cohen will not receive a salary. Background: Cohen sold online pet products company Chewy for ~$3.5B in 2017. As an activist investor in GameStop, he tried to push the company away from its brick-and-mortar store model toward a digital sales model. GameStop stock is down over 80% from its record high in 2021. | | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Sandhill. |  | | IPO Season is back! Recent IPOs from companies like Instacart, Klaviyo, and Arm have opened the door to more startups going public in the coming months. Sandhill Markets opens up access for accredited individuals to invest in these institutional Pre-IPO deals like Stripe, Anthropic, Databricks and Epic Games. How does it work?
Through Auctions. We don’t set the price. You and other investors do: - Databricks last round was at ~$73/share
- Rippling last round: ~$43/share
- Flexport last round: ~$14/share
Bids for all of these start at $1. New auctions every week. This week's auction is Flexport 🥳 Check Auction Prices Here | |
|
| 3 | | The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.1% in the second quarter of 2023. Higher interest rates have not yet dampened U.S. economic growth, but some data show that parts of the economy are cooling off after a record rate-hiking campaign by the Federal Reserve over the last year and a half. More: - The growth rate slowed slightly from 2.2% in the first quarter.
- Consumer spending rose by an annualized 0.8% rate in Q2, the lowest growth rate since Q1 2022.
- Business investment, excluding housing, grew at an annualized 7.4% rate, the highest level seen in over a year.
- State and local government spending rose 4.7% on an annual basis, the highest quarterly growth rate since 2019.
- The Atlanta Fed forecasts a 4.9% growth rate for the third quarter.
Zoom Out: - High energy prices, the resumption of student loan payments, the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike, and a possible government shutdown could dampen economic growth in the short term.
| | | |
| 4 | | GOOD NEWS: Millions of U.S. schoolchildren will become eligible for free school meals, thanks to a new policy from the Department of Agriculture. The federal government will cover the cost of free meals for all students at schools where more than 25% of families participate in public benefits programs like the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). More: - The policy lowers the qualifying threshold for federally-funded school meals under the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program from 40% to 25%.
- The change will make ~3,000 additional schools serving more than 5 million students eligible for the program.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress passed short-term legislation providing free school meals to all students.
- The program ended last year, but many states are now taking action to ensure students have access to free meals at school.
- California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Vermont have all made free breakfast and lunch available to all students regardless of parental income.
- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the new policy will "decrease childhood hunger, [and] improve child health and student readiness."
| | | |
| A message from our sponsor, Masterworks. |  | | 2,478 everyday investors shared a $1,123,615 net profit on this Claude Monet Now you might be thinking: “what the heck are you talking about?” But keep reading, because this investment platform's users are already smiling all the way to the bank. Thanks to Masterworks, the award winning platform for investing in blue-chip art. Every single one of Masterworks’ 14 sales has returned a profit to investors, for a 100% positive net return track record. With 3 recent sales, Masterworks investors realized net annualized returns of 17.8%, 21.5% and 35%. How does it work? Simple, Masterworks does all of the heavy lifting like finding the painting, buying it, storing it, and eventually selling it. It files each offering with the SEC so that nearly anyone can invest in highly coveted artworks for just a fraction of the price of the entire piece. Shares of every offering are limited, but Inside readers can skip the waitlist with this exclusive link. Skip The Waitlist See important disclosures at masterworks.com/cd | |
|
| 5 | | China said it is investigating whether Hui Ka Yan, the chairman and founder of troubled Chinese real estate giant Evergrande, may have committed crimes. Evergrande shares stopped trading in Hong Kong on Thursday, as the company's efforts to restructure its debt failed to make progress. More: - Hui, who founded Evergrande in 1996, was taken into custody by Chinese law enforcement earlier this month.
- Evergrande grew to become China's largest property developer, with a market capitalization of over $125B in early 2021, but it defaulted on international bonds later that year.
- At the end of June 2023, Evergrande had more than $327B in liabilities.
- Last weekend, the company abandoned a potential offshore debt restructuring plan with international creditors.
- It said that an investigation into one of its subsidiaries blocked it from issuing new bonds outside of China, making the restructuring plan impossible.
- Evergrande's property business in mainland China, Hengda Real Estate Group, skipped a ~$547M payment on principal and interest for a yuan-denominated bond earlier this week.
Zoom Out: - Economist Hao Hong said the potential bankruptcy of Evergrande and a broader downturn in the Chinese real estate sector could mark the end of a 10-year period of Chinese urbanization.
- He said that it could take "a decade's work" to fix the troubled Chinese property sector.
| | | |
| 6 | | The government of the Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region said it will disband after more than 30 years of separatist rule. The move comes after Azerbaijan attacked the region earlier this month, prompting over 50,000 residents to flee to neighboring Armenia. More: - Azerbaijani authorities arrested former Nagorno-Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan as he attempted to enter Armenia on Wednesday.
- The territory's leader said all government entities will be dissolved by the end of 2023.
- A government decree said that ethnic Armenians in the region can choose whether they want to leave or stay to live under Azerbaijani rule.
- Azerbaijani authorities said they will start registering Armenian residents through a website.
Zoom Out: - The countries have fought two wars over the Nagorno-Karabakh region since the 1990s.
| | | |
| 7 | | QUICK HITS *This is sponsored content. | | | |
| |
Term of the Day Backorders: Backorders refer to orders placed for products that are currently out of stock. Question of the Week Do you share details about your salary with your coworkers? Join the conversation |
INSIDE DAILY BRIEF LEADERBOARD (30 DAYS) |
| Upcoming Events | | OCT
16 | | Meet Our Fund 5, Building and Investing in AI | | | | | | * This is a sponsored event | | | |
 | Writer | | Dr. Daniel Smith is an Inside writer with a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Cambridge. Follow him on Twitter @DJS12321 or email him at Daniel@inside.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
| |
| |
|
 | Join 790,000+ people on the premier blue-chip art investing platform, Masterworks. Skip the waitlist.
| |
|
| |
Comments
Post a Comment