Field of Streams

MARKETS

• U.S. markets: A massive late-day tech sell-off pulled stocks into the red.
• International markets: European and Asian stocks finished higher after concerns of a trade war eased up.

MEDIA

A New Way to Watch Sports, Courtesy of Bleacher Report

For those of you struggling to find the World Armwrestling League championships on TV, Turner Sports has a solution.

Yesterday, it unveiled a direct-to-consumer live sports service through its brand Bleacher Report called "B/R Live." The service will feature those big bicep brawls...but also more, um, mainstream sports like the NBA, UEFA Champions League soccer, and golf's PGA Championship.

How it'll work: Like any self-respecting 2018 service, B/R Live will be free for the first few months. But come summer, you'll be asked to pay for each game you want to watch or buy a subscription.

But there's more. The NBA (sports' most experimental major league) will let you catch a game in progress for a small fee—think microtransactions in video games.

The backdrop: ESPN's throne looks a little vulnerable

Since 1979, the broadcaster revolutionized the way we consume sports. But it's struggling to keep up with the way we consume them now...aka less and less through broadcast TV.

The stats: By the end of this year, ESPN will have lost 14 million subscribers across its cable networks since 2010. That's despite spending more than $8 billion on sports rights last year, according to one estimate.

The game plan for ESPN? Dive headfirst into D2C. New president Jimmy Pitaro will launch digital subscription service ESPN+ in April ($4.99 a month). That's a huge shift in strategy for a company that's relied on linear TV.

With ESPN in flux, Bleacher Report is hoping to capitalize

And it's making Turner's 2012 acquisition for $175 million look smarter by the day. With a focus on the NBA, European soccer, and niche sports, B/R Live could be just what sports-crazed, cord-cutting millenials are looking for.

TECH

Apple Goes Back to School—Look Out Google

Apple (-2.56%) spent its education-focused product launch in Chicago asking an age-old question: "How do I reach these kids?"

Apple's answers:

1. A new 9.7-inch iPad that's integrated with the Apple Pencil (starting at $299 for students).
2. An education service called Schoolwork for teachers to organize curricula and keep track of students' progress.
3. ClassKit—a framework for integrating classroom-friendly education apps in Schoolwork.

Tim Cook must've been stealing notes from Google, which has a notable lead in the classroom. Chromebooks and other cheap notebooks running on Google OS account for 60% of the market. Macs and iPads have been held back a year, capturing only 17%.

The Crew's take: Apple's not just thinking about stealing market share from the $17.7 billion ed-tech space. It also wants to acquire users young and hungry. Every student typing away on a Chromebook is another potential lifetime customer to miss out on.

And um...teaching the kids is important too.

TRANSPORTATION

Despite Industry Chaos, Waymo Buys More Self-Driving Cars

Waymo's autonomous car program brakes for nobody. It ordered up to 20,000 Jaguar electric SUVs to add to its growing armada of self-driving taxis. And considering these beauties go for $70k, the deal could be worth over $1.3 billion.

The timing: Interesting. The industry suffered a major blow over a week ago, when an autonomous Uber car killed a pedestrian. Lawmakers re-upped calls for more oversight, and Uber and Toyota suspended testing for now.

But not Waymo.

After taking the pole position in a crowded self-driving field, Waymo is hoping to leave the competition in the dust—rolling out a commercial taxi service in Arizona later this year with a fleet of Chrysler minivans. The Jaguars won't join until 2020, but when they do...they could provide 1 million rides a day.

The Crew's take: The self-driving industry is a complex web of auto manufacturers and tech companies, all looking for an edge. But you gotta like the way Waymo has come out of the gate.

PHARMA

GSK Cuts the Cord with Novartis

British pharma giant GSK (think OTC remedies like Excedrin) coughed up a $13 billion co-pay to buy out Novartis from their consumer healthcare joint-venture.

What's in it for GSK: Stable business and higher earnings. Pharma's a tough game—you pump millions into new drug R&D and can lose millions when drug patents expire. Which is why GSK likes the idea of owning one of the world's largest consumer healthcare businesses. It means consistent profits, while investing in riskier, new drug opportunities.

What's in it for Novartis: A (somewhat) more streamlined operation. The company's old CEO had a bit of an acquisition spree over his tenure, and it hasn't always paid off—revenue growth has been declining the past couple years.

To turn things around, new CEO Vasant Narasimhan is giving the old pharma-roulette wheel a spin and diving headfirst into new drug discovery.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• The Carlyle Group is acquiring Akzo Nobel's specialty chemicals unit for $12.5 billion.
• How's your resume looking? Deutsche Bank is on the hunt to replace its CEO.
• Set your DVRs to C-SPAN: Mark Zuckerberg will likely testify before Congress in the coming weeks.
• Joshua Kushner's Oscar Health raised $165 million from the Founders Fund, Alphabet, and others.
• The NYTimes made some mesmerizing charts about income inequality in America.
• Google (-4.47%) and Oracle (-2.37%) will head back to the courtroom for round three of a software copyright trial.
• Google's buying the GIF company Tenor that's become wildly popular with advertisers.
• Reporting earnings today: Walgreens

WATER COOLER

FROM THE CREW

From our office, to your inbox. We’ll keep you in-the-know about all the latest happenings from our perspective. Here are some thoughts on data privacy from Michael.

So who exactly is Facebook sharing your data with and what data is it sharing? I don't know about you, but I had to find out.

I scrolled through the list of apps I had willingly given access to over the years.

• OpenTable: I once booked a reservation at a restaurant back in ‘13.
• StudyBlue: For that one time—okay more than one time—I tried to score study guides for Stat 272. I mean, who needs to remember a z-score anyways?

But what surprised me more than anything was one app called "You Hipster!"

The app—which I don't remember signing up for—has had access to my friends, relationships, interests, birthday, education history, work history, pictures, videos, political views, and website. I don't even have a website.

In fact, this app seems to know more about me than me. So who knows, maybe I am a hipster.

The point? If you’re concerned after the Facebook scandal and don’t want to share data with random, unused apps, follow these steps:

1. Open Facebook and go to your homepage.
2. From your homepage, click "Settings" from the top right drop-down button.
3. Click "Apps" on the left-hand side of the page.
4. In the next screen, scan the apps at the top of the page.
5. Click “x” to remove the apps you don’t want to use anymore.

BREAKROOM

VENTURE THIS RESPONSES
Yesterday, we asked whether you would invest in Barstool Sports, a controversial but booming digital media company. And people had plenty to say, replying by the thousands. In the end, 80% would invest, and 20% would not.

Two of our favorite responses: "Absolutely owns male eyeballs aged 14-30, and gaining female followers. Many of the top podcasts in the world, tons of diverse revenue streams, large personalities, finger on the pulse of youth"..."The climate around gender issues in the workplace is reaching a fever pitch and there has not been any indication Barstool Sports is looking to address its culture."

WHAT THE CREW IS LISTENING TO
The Digiday Podcast—Walk into our office in the morning and chances are we'll be in a heated debate about the most recent episode. Granted, the Crew is especially interested in media, but anyone who wants to wrap their head around the digital world in 2018 will love to hear the unfiltered thoughts of execs at Bleacher Report, Bustle, and Axios, to name a few. Get smart on media.

TRIVIA
To wrap up our media-themed Breakroom: HuffPost, Tumblr, TechCrunch, Engadget, and Yahoo! are all brands under which media company (a subsidiary of Verizon)?

(Answer located at bottom of newsletter)

Breakroom Answers

Business Trivia
Oath