Stop slacking

MARKETS

  • U.S. markets: What a week. The S&P and Nasdaq both closed at record highs piggybacking on strong economic data (keep reading ).
  • China: Some of the country’s biggest companies are scheduled to report earnings between now and Tuesday’s deadline.

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TECH

Slack's no Slacker

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Slack made its IPO filing with the SEC public yesterday, finally offering some answers to questions above Slackbot’s pay grade.

The workplace messaging company will trade on the NYSE under the ticker “SK,” likely within the next month or so. It’s expected to go public with a valuation above its most recent price tag of $7.2 billion.

And by this time in 2019’s neverending IPO parade, you know making a filing public means giving the people a look into your once-murky financials.

So what is Slack working with?

It reported impressive revenue growth, up 82% annually to $400.6 million in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31.

Slack had 10 million daily users and 88,000 paid customers (up almost 50% from last year). No surprise, given it's become the go-to for calling an all-hands or for important team discussions like this:

  • Shayna [1:16 PM] Psa matzo ball soup at hale and hearty
  • Shayna [1:32 PM] update: not the best matzo ball soup...5/10, don't recommend

But like most other tech firms lining up for the IPO parade, Slack’s not profitable—it lost $140.7 million last fiscal year. And like one tech firm in particular, Slack will sell shares in a direct listing…

Which is what, exactly?

You remember it from Spotify’s listing last year. A direct listing means Slack will bypass bankers (and the tens of millions they typically charge) to list shares directly on the open market.

  • Risk: Demand from public market investors will be Slack’s only safety net, and it’ll forego safeguards that guarantee liquidity.
  • Reward: Bypassing bankers.

Roll call

Slack joins a crowded roster of Silicon Valley’s favorite VC targets taking things public. So far, the results are...pretty good. While Lyft stock fell below its IPO price, PagerDuty, Zoom, and Pinterest are all in the green.

ECONOMY

How Do You Like Them Economic Indicators?

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We got her number: Gross domestic product (aka the broadest measure of goods + services produced in the U.S. economy) climbed at a 3.2% annualized rate in Q1. That’s way better than economists expected and the strongest Q1 growth rate in four years.

We weren't expecting that. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow tracker projected growth as slow as 0.3% at one point. But then...the Fed put interest rate hikes on hold. Stocks climbed back to record highs. Economic data started looking good. We started bathing again.

But...there’s always a but: Q1 growth was boosted (maybe too boosted) by a sharp decline in all-important imports.

  • Imports count as a negative in GDP scorekeeping, meaning a drop in imports makes growth look meatier.
  • Those imports dipped mostly in anticipation of Trump administration tariffs that haven’t materialized yet.

Looking ahead: Most economists don’t expect the economy's 7th grade growth spurt to continue throughout the year. But the decade-long economic expansion isn’t in danger yet.

MEDIA

Forget Math, Endgame Is the Universal Language

You know those New Year’s Eve montages when they show fireworks going off around the world and everyone goes nuts? That’s a metaphor for what happened when Avengers: Endgame debuted in 46 international markets.

Put simply, it’s shattering records. Let’s start in the U.S. and Canada, where Endgame opened with $60 million Thursday night, the best domestic preview ever.

Globally, it earned $305 million in its first two days and set a single-day record in countries including the U.K., Panama, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Turkey.

Leave it to Italy to pause for five minutes so we can release Infinity Stones (the movie is over 3 hours long).
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It’s time to talk about China

Hollywood hasn’t had much success penetrating the world’s fastest-growing box office, but this movie is an exception. The $154 million Endgame already secured in China makes an “unprecedented $1 billion global opening a strong possibility,” according to Deadline.

AUTO

Dude...Where's My Limo?

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Daimler is having trouble keeping track of its limos.

After AP pictures showed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un getting into a Mercedes limousine this week, a Daimler spokesperson was forced to admit, “We have absolutely no idea how those vehicles were delivered to North Korea.”

Why it matters: The UN has banned the sale of luxury goods—including limos—to North Korea under its current sanctions program.

  • The German automaker said it has had no business connections with North Korea for over 15 years, but…
  • “Sales of vehicles by third parties, especially of used vehicles, are beyond our control and responsibility.”

Bottom line: Daimler, against its wishes, has become Kim’s whip of choice for his recent run of summits with world leaders, including President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. This shows that international sanctions sometimes lack teeth, per the AP.

MANUFACTURING

So That's How They Make It

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WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

  • Ford (+10.74%) disclosed that the Department of Justice has launched a probe into its emissions testing practices.
  • Tesla (+0.64% after hours) CEO Elon Musk struck a deal with the SEC over his tweets—he won't discuss finances without a lawyer's approval.
  • Apple (-0.48%) reportedly showed interest in buying Intel’s (-8.99%) smartphone chip business. The whirlwind romance slowed down once Apple settled its differences with Qualcomm, the WSJ reports.
  • Amazon (+2.54%) is on track to dish out $7 billion on video and music content this year.
  • Exxon Mobil’s (-2.15%) Q1 profit fell 49% for its worst quarter since 2016.

BREAKROOM

Saturday Headlines
Last week in “Saturday Headlines” we provided you with the most clickbaity headlines the news had to offer. Today, we’ll give you headlines that make you want to click just because they’re so weird. Keep in mind...we made one up.

  • “Woman vows retribution on husband after bachelorette party ruined by NFL draft”
  • “Chinese man to be named chief in northern Nigeria”
  • “Amazon’s upcoming one-day Prime shipping will reportedly not include its nixed HQ2 home, Long Island City”
  • “The joys of muck diving”

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Breakroom Answers


Saturday Headlines
Bezos isn't that spiteful. We made up the story about Amazon.

 

MorningBrewDaily, sorry about the lack of response. Maybe one of these topics will help:

  • What to do about my Analyst who won't stop trading Crypto? likely making more money than me, but he's slacking. Thoughts on what I should do? Bitcoin ...
  • Slacks for Men with Big Buts, Big Hips, and Big Thighs Boys, Can you recommend some pants that fit someone with muscular thighs, wide hips, a big ass, and small calves/ankles? I played hockey and golf growing up and everyone always told me I had the stereotypical hockey/golf butt. I didn't understand wha ...
  • Do You Use Slack? Slack is nearing a $7 billion valuation after their latest round of financing. They recently ... Slack or do you think its overvalued? to Thursday, August 16, 2018- 4:55pm No Yes 439876 339328 425464 ...
  • Do schools stop you from actually learning? Thanks to the generosity of my company's founder, I am able to work full-time while still being allowed to go out of the office during the day to take classes and try to get a second degree (Government). Lately, I've been noticing that most of m ...
  • How do you stop being butthurt and emotional in this business? feeling irritated by your MD/co workers who speak in a stern voice? How do you stop taking all of this ...
  • Best Fitting Slacks for Business Casual slacks even for a larger body type (5'8" 185 LBs- muscular legs, chest/arms/back with some ... slight belly fat). Any suggestions on places to buy slacks or business casual appropriate pants that have ... somewhat of a tapered leg and fit well on loafers as opposed to ballooning at the bottom? slacks Dress ...
  • What size are your slacks? according to the CDC, avg US adult male (20+) has a size 40 waist. Oh my. Depending on brand, my slacks are- ...
  • More suggestions...

You're welcome.

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

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