QUOTE OF THE DAY
“We’re woke. Our community is woke, and the U.S. population is woke,”— John Zimmer, President of Lyft to Time. We’re not exactly sure what he was going for here, but he also said the ride-hailing company is a “better boyfriend” than its recently-embattled competitor Uber. Hopefully that makes sense to whoever’s language Zimmer thinks he’s speaking.
MARKET CORNER
Market Snapshot
- Financial companies led U.S. markets higher as investors reacted positively to upticks in both consumer confidence, which reached a 16-year high, and U.S. home prices, which rose at the fastest pace in over two years this January
- Shares of Apple finished at a record high on Tuesday, the stock’s 5th record close this month and its 11th this year as the iPhone maker continues to climb, up 19% since crushing earnings on January 31st
Is 2 Greater Than 1?
…David Einhorn thinks so. Yesterday, the billionaire activist investor and president of Greenlight Capital urged General Motors (+ 2.45%) to dramatically alter its capital structure by splitting its stock into two classes. Under his proposal, GM would have two types of stock: one would receive GM’s current dividend, while the other would rely on the growth of the company. The split could "unlock significant value without any default, refinancing, or balance sheet risk," Einhorn said in a statement. But GM swiftly rejected the proposal, citing substantial risk that it is unwilling to take.
The Results Are In
…Uber might have made some progress. But there’s plenty more to be had. In an effort to be more transparent, the ride-hailing company released its first-ever diversity report yesterday. The results? Uber is mostly male, like many of its peers, but it’s racial breakdown is more evenly spread. 15 percent of Uber’s U.S. workers have visas, the company says. While the positive signs are dwarfed in the light of recent scandals, they’re also unlikely to earn Uber the PR brownie points it so desperately needs. After getting battered by #DeleteUber, a sexual harassment scandal, and a mass exodus of its top executives, CEO Travis Kalanick is desperately trying to get back on track. In other words, no rest for the weary.
Tencent Invests in Tesla
...As the automaker’s Chinese sales soar. After dishing out about $1.8 billion, China’s most valuable company—and owner of messaging app WeChat—is now Tesla’s fifth largest shareholder, owning 5% of shares. Having the support of a powerful Chinese tech firm bodes well for Tesla. Just ask CEO Elon Musk, who expects China to eventually become one of the electric vehicle maker’s biggest markets. For Tencent, this is its second major U.S. investment, after Snap. We’ll see if the gamble(s) pay off.
Adidas Wants Out of Your Closet
…And into your phone. The German athletic brand (+1.08%) debuted its ’Adidas All Day’ app at SXSW in Austin this year and released the beta version yesterday. It’s understandable why the shoemaker would want to be here: Under Armour paid a whopping $475 million for My Fitness Pal back in 2015, and Asics acquired Runkeeper for $85 million last year. Data-collecting apps pair perfectly with Apple’s Health and Google’s Fit programs, and brands are racing to be here. Apps like these can keep brands on consumers’ minds between trips to the mall: just look at this prom-posal.
What Else Is Happening…
- BlackRock will start using robots to pick stocks, meaning job cuts for traders
- Tinder to will now work on desktop, meaning you can truly swipe from anywhere… including work
- Bloomberg Terminal—the financial world’s workhorse—lost users last year. Only the second decline in over three decades
- A Texas bookstore is turning classic titles into ‘lit-bait’ headlines to entice new readers
- Raw sewage somehow got into Coke cans at a Northern Ireland facility…gross
Economic Calendar
- Monday: Dallas Fed Manufacturing Survey (-)
- Tuesday: Carnival Corp (-), Dave & Buster’s (+/-), McCormick (-) Earnings; Redbook Retail Sales (-), State Street Investor Confidence Index (-)
- Wednesday: Pending Home Sales Index
- Thursday: GDP, Jobless Claims, Farm Prices, Fed Balance Sheet, Money Supply
- Friday: Baker-Hughes Oil Rig Count, Consumer Sentiment
WATER COOLER
Age Bias: The Real Deal
The workforce is getting older, but baby boomers aren’t ready to retire just yet. In fact, many of them are still looking for work...and unfortunately aren’t having much luck. A new study out of the University of California at Irvine found that the older the candidate, the harder it is to land a job.
- In the study, researchers sent out 40,000 nearly identical resumes to thousands of real jobs, with the only difference being the age of the candidate. The result: a callback rate far worse for older applicants, with older women facing the most bias.
- Of course, this kind of age discrimination is illegal, as the Age Discrimination Employment Act has been in place for 50 years now.
- Some employers have found other ways to screen applicants, indicating that candidates shouldn’t be more than 2-3 years out of college—openly and explicitly avoiding older applicants. It’s a young man’s world, that’s for sure.
THE BREAKROOM
Interview Question of the Day
How many people must be there in a room to make the probability 50% that two people in the room have same birthday? (Answer)
Stat of the Day
Every day we hear that Millennials are now the largest demographic, but can you guess which exact age makes up the largest chunk of the American population? (Answer)
Our Bad: Yesterday we incorrectly referred to Justine Musk as Elon Musk’s second wife. She was his first wife. His second (and third) marriage was to Talulah Riley.
