Extreme makeover

MARKETS

• U.S. markets: Stocks found their footing after a rough start to the week. Investors will keep their eyes and ears focused on any new trade war developments.
• Oil: Prices surged as the U.S. State Dept. told allies to stop importing crude from Iran by November 4.

FOOD & BEVERAGE

The Restaurant of the Future Is Opening Today

It could be the most important burger innovation since the introduction of the Krabby Patty: today, a startup called Creator is opening a restaurant in San Francisco that employs a robot chef to fully prepare your burger.

• How does it work? A 14-ft "culinary instrument" sends a brioche bun on a journey of a lifetime: pushed down a chute and then sliced, toasted, drenched in sauce, layered with toppings, and finally saddled with a fresh patty (which it also cooked).
• Then, things start to get really interesting: With the release of the app in a few months, you'll be able to customize your Creator burger into an almost infinite number of configurations...even down to the milliliter of BBQ sauce.

You're not the only one licking your lips. Big-time VCs like Google Ventures and Khosla Ventures invested in the company, which raised $18 million last year.

Sure, it's easy to dismiss Creator as a gimmick...

...but some form of automation is racing to a fast-food joint near you, if it hasn't already.

• That ranges from self-ordering kiosks (shoutout to Wawa) all the way to Flippy, another burger-slinging robot that's handling grill duties at a CaliBurger location in California.

The elephant in the room: All this robot talk is sure to spark visions of restaurant employees being replaced by a kitchen staff of foul-mouthed Flippys. But for right now, at least, the problem is the exact opposite.

The industry is in desperate need of workers

Restaurant worker unemployment sits at a record-low 6%. And per the Labor Department, the hospitality sector had 844,000 job openings as of April (also a record).

So how can restaurant owners hire staff and keep them busy?

Or...how about just sitting down with a book? Creator's COO told TechCrunch that 5% of the time his employees are paid "just to read."

INDUSTRIALS

Extreme Makeover: GE Edition

Well...that's a wrap, folks. GE's (+7.96%) plan to spin-off or offload $20 billion worth of company assets is reaching its conclusion.

The final chapter? Spinning its healthcare business into a separate entity and selling ownership of its oil company, Baker Hughes.

But for those who haven't been reading the beginning chapters, here are the sparknotes:

• GE: A once-massive, now-struggling company with a depressed stock price (down 50% YoY).
• CEO John Flannery: He joined last August, cut dividends, and weaved together the plan to streamline GE's operations.
• Businesses that didn't make the cut: Lighting ($2 billion in revenue), Transportation ($4.2 billion), Oil & Gas ($17.2 billion), Healthcare ($19.1 billion).
• What GE is left with: Power ($36 billion in revenue), Aviation ($27.4 billion), Renewable Energy ($10.3 billion), Capital ($9.1 billion).

Bottom line: Up until yesterday—when it was replaced by Walgreens—GE was the last remaining member of the original Dow Jones. Now, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, GE has been reborn (but as a much, much smaller phoenix).

TRANSPORTATION

And Just Like That, Uber’s Out of Timeout in London

The verdict is in: a judge allowed Uber to continue operating in London following a two-day hearing at the Westminster Magistrates' Court.

Remember: Uber's operating license in its largest European market wasn't renewed in September because of subpar business practices.

But even with this victory, it'll be walking on eggshells:

• Uber's officially "on probation." It was granted a 15-month license during which it'll need to prove it's grown up from ex-CEO Travis Kalanick's shenanigans.
• It'll also need to become a better community member. Uber promised to work more closely with regulators and update them with any changes to company policy.

So...what now?

CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is celebrating like Alex Ovechkin with the Stanley Cup. Because after retreating from several regions (like SE Asia), Uber needed to maintain its foothold in London, where it's got more than 3.6 million active users.

TRADE

Two Charts Showing the International Toll of Trade War Fears

1. Chinese stocks have been getting rocked

2. And some other major economies? You may want to avert your eyes...

H/t Bloomberg graphics team...nice work.

TECH

Hey, Tell Me About a Time Facebook Reversed One of Its Policies

The year was 2018. The day? June 26.

In a moment of brilliance, Facebook (+1.05%) realized it could make more money if it reversed its ban on crypto ads (a ban it announced back in January).

But this time would be different: It would keep Initial Coin Offerings and "deceptive promotional practices, such as binary options," out of the picture.

This time: It will vet each crypto product and service through an application process— public trading exchanges, licenses, background information, you name it.

Because this time: There's a lot more at stake. Facebook's still reeling from 2018's data privacy scandals. And according to an FTC rep, consumers could lose $3 billion to crypto scams by the end of 2018.

If that's the case, Facebook better hope it's stopping scammers rather then lending them a helping hand.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• President Trump attacked Harley-Davidson for its plan to move some manufacturing overseas.
• Amazon (+1.63%) will finish rolling out Prime discounts at Whole Foods locations across the country tomorrow.
• Sequoia Capital, a prominent VC firm in Silicon Valley, has raised $6 billion (of a historic $8 billion fund) in the face of competition from foreign investors like SoftBank.
• Conagra (-1.81%) is in late-stage talks to buy Pinnacle Foods, per CNBC.
• The New York Times obtained a copy of the newly revamped income tax form.

BREAKROOM

PODCAST EPISODES WE'RE LISTENING TO
Planet Money: "When CEO Pay Exploded."

Hear why it would take more than 1,000 years for a worker at Walmart (making the company’s median salary) to earn what the CEO made in just one year.

BRAIN TEASER
Three children, Peter, Jane and Eric, shared a bag of peanuts. There were 770 peanuts in the bag. For every 4 peanuts Peter took, Jane took 3, and for every 6 peanuts Peter took, Eric took 7. How many peanuts did Peter get?

(Answer located at bottom of newsletter)

Breakroom Answers