A hidden Juul

MARKETS

• U.S. markets: On what's known as the S&P's most bullish trading day of the year, stocks managed to eke out a win.
• Currency: The Mexican peso fell against the dollar following the country's presidential election. Left-wing candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (nickname: AMLO) won in a landslide victory.

SPORTS

How the NBA Conquered the Calendar

Fact check: The NBA season doesn't tip-off until October.

But you wouldn't know it, thanks to this summer's free agency circus that just saw LeBron James sign a blockbuster $153 million deal with the LA Lakers.

Zoom out: The NBA has solidified itself as a 12-month league. But how'd it get there? Here are four things it's doing really well:

1. The NBA is a dominant presence on social media

• According to ESPN's Darren Rovell, anxious LeBron-watchers fired off 56,000 tweets per minute at one point Sunday night.
• Commissioner Adam Silver has also made game highlights more available on social media than most other leagues. And instead of cannibalizing TV eyeballs, he believes "greater fan engagement through social media helps drive television ratings."

2. It's driven by stars...and those stars are savvy

• LeBron's learned a few tricks from his buddy Warren Buffett. He is a successful investor in fast-growing chain Blaze Pizza and co-founded a few firms like sports agency Klutch Sports Group. After this deal, Rovell puts LeBron's career earnings at $1 billion (65% from endorsements).
• In the Bay Area, some of the Golden State Warriors are becoming well-known VCs. Kevin Durant, for example, has invested in startups like Acorns and Postmates through his investment firm, Durant Company.

3. The NBA stays ahead of the curve

• One example is its esports venture, the NBA 2K League. With 17 teams competing this season, it's the first professional esports league operated by a U.S. professional sports league.
• The league estimates the global audience for esports will reach close to 600 million by 2021.

4. It's got a young fan base

• In 2016, the average NBA TV viewer was 42 years old (second "youngest" league behind the MLS). For comparison, the average MLB viewer was 57.

Bottom line: Drawing on its star power and forward-thinking mentality, the NBA is transcending sports to become one of the most influential media and entertainment powerhouses in the country.

+ Elsewhere in sports, Roger Federer tells LeBron to hold his beer: The tennis star inked an endorsement deal with Uniqlo reportedly worth more than $300 million. Federer had been rocking Nikes since 1994.

TECH

Dell: From Public to Private, Back to Public

Dell is high-fiving its way back into the public markets after quite the journey. Try to follow along...

• 2013: A struggling PC market forces Dell into a $25 billion buyout, which takes it private.
• 2013-2015: Founder and CEO Michael Dell waits, plots, and invents a plan to keep Dell in PCs, while also pushing it into emerging technologies (IoT, Cloud, AI, etc.).
• 2016: As part of the plan, Dell buys public data-storage company EMC (which comes packaged with cloud company VMware) for $67 billion. But it can't afford the whole thing itself.

Solution: Dell owners raise $4 billion for the purchase, take out a $50 billion loan, and raise the rest by issuing stock.

Present day: Dell is going public again in a $22 billion deal. And while it's still heavily indebted from the EMC acquisition, it has Michael Dell's full confidence.

+ This is not your average IPO: Take a deep dive with Matt Levine to learn about the "tracking stock" Dell issued to help make this possible.

FUNDRAISING

Juul Inhales a $15 Billion Valuation

It's super cool to Juul (just kidding, mom). Last Friday, Bloomberg reported the popular e-cig company is raising $1.2 billion at a $15 billion valuation.

That's a woolly mammoth of a funding round and yesterday, Axios finally gave us some insight into what's commanding these top dollars:

• Revenue: (2016—$60 million), (2017—$245 million), (2018 projected—$940 million)
• Gross margin: 70%
• Projected EBITDA 2018: $250 million

Hold up...need a rip of the Juul, because these numbers are making our heads spin. In two years, Juul is on pace to grow 1,466% and it's only selling in the U.S. and Israel. Well, news flash: there's a whole world waiting to be filled with vaporized nicotine (which is exactly what Juul plans on doing with the money).

Bottom line: This momentum isn't going anywhere. Like "googling" something, anytime a company's name starts being used as a verb, you know there's serious staying power.

AUTO

Ford’s Europe CEO Trolls Musk

It's hard to attract any lovers without attracting some haters. Yesterday, we told you Tesla finally hit its fabled 5k weekly production mark for the Model 3 just hours after the deadline. Well, Ford's Europe CEO, Steven Armstrong, decided to chime in on the "accomplishment"...

Passive aggressive tweets aside, Tesla released its entire Q2 production report on Monday:

• Q2 production: 53,339 vehicles—a 55% increase from last year.
• Model 3 production: 28,578—3x the previous quarter.
• Model 3 deliveries: 18,440—Wall Street was gunning for 28,000.

Investors seemed at best, pleased, at worst...content: shares rose initially, but finished the day down 2.3%.

COSMETICS

To Save the Coral Reef, Hawaii Bans...Sunscreens?

This week, Hawaii's governor David Ige is expected to sign a first-of-its-kind bill that'll ban the sale and distribution of certain sunscreens in the state.

So...he wants me to fry like an egg?

Well, not exactly. The banned sunscreens contain two chemicals—oxybenzone and octinoxate—which, according to the bill, "have significant harmful impacts on Hawaii's marine environment and residing ecosystems, including coral reefs that protect Hawaii's shoreline."

Not everyone's on board

The Consumer Healthcare Products Association (with the blessing of Neutrogena parent Johnson & Johnson) blasted the bill, saying it was "based on weak science" and "severely compromised" the safety of Hawaii residents and tourists.

Still, the ban won't start until 2021, so producers will have some time to hit the lab and tinker with their formulas.

+ Food for thought: At least 70% of sunscreens in the U.S. market contain oxybenzone.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Quartz, a digital media company, is being acquired by Japanese financial intelligence firm Uzabase for between $75 million and $110 million.
• Lyft is strapping on its helmet and getting into cycling, acquiring Citi Bike's operator, Motivate.
• Facebook (+1.56%) is again saying "I'm sorry." This time, it's apologizing for a bug that "unblocked" some users who had been blocked.
• Tesla's senior VP of engineering, Doug Field, is officially leaving the company.

BREAKROOM

WHAT WE'RE LISTENING TO
A wise man once told us: Your July 4th barbecue is only as good as its soundtrack. So here are a few playlist ideas for your celebration tomorrow:

• Bet you can't memorize the lyrics to all 25 songs on Drake's new album, Scorpion.
• For those of you trying to cast a wide net, this "BBQ Playlist" on Spotify has got a little bit of everything: Ariana Grande, George Ezra, Sia, Weezer.
• Celebrate the Fourth of July the right way: by listening to this audio recording of the Declaration of Independence being read aloud in a subtle British accent.

BRAIN TEASER
There's a 3-digit number. The sum of its digits is 10, the product of its digits is 20, and it is divisible by 7. What is the 3-digit number?

(Answer located at bottom of newsletter)

Breakroom Answers

Brain Teaser
154