Data <> money

MARKETS

• 2020: Let’s try this again. Democrats will attempt to put nightmares of Iowa behind them during today's Nevada caucuses. Sen. Bernie Sanders is expected to win, according to FiveThirtyEight.
• U.S. markets: Stocks couldn’t shake fears that the growing number of coronavirus cases would hit the global economy. All three major indexes ended lower for the week.

INTERNET

We’ve Got a Outrage Dot Org

It doesn’t matter if you haven’t memorized a URL since ClubPenguin.com—the arbiters of the internet’s most valuable real estate are in a fight to the death over domains.

Last fall, private equity firm Ethos Capital said it planned to spend $1.1 billion to buy the Public Interest Registry, the body that controls “dot org” domains, from nonprofit the Internet Society (real name).

• Outrage followed. Dot org giants from the Girl Scouts to the YMCA were concerned that selling the registry to a for-profit firm would turn the go-to domain for nonprofits into a capitalist cesspool.
• One hypothetical raising blood pressures: Ethos could cut deals with governments or corporations looking to shut down certain dot org domains. That would amount to "censorship as a service," as one attorney told the LA Times.

Anyone who’s accidentally typed “facebool” knows domains matter, even if Google auto-handles all of your browsing. Computers need domains for activities like sending emails (eyo) and advertising and businesses use them for branding purposes. That’s sent the values of today’s more than 350 million registered domain names through the roof.

Which brings us to yesterday, when Ethos proposed a series of concessions to mitigate dot org registrants’ concerns. Among those concessions:

• Limit price hikes to an average of 10% per year for eight years
• Let an advisory board veto any proposed changes to registry policies on issues like censorship and user data (but not on prices)
• Direct $10 million from the registry to fund initiatives designed to support dot orgs

It’s not clear if that’ll be enough to appease deal critics, who wonder how Ethos could maintain the registry’s integrity and still earn an ROI from its $1.1 billion. The Public Interest Registry raked in a little under $93 million in registration fees in 2018, but profit has yoyo-ed between red and black in recent years.

Looking ahead...the group that oversees domain names will make a ruling on the deal by March 20.

BANKING

Wells Fargo to Blame for Shortage of Friday Beers

Yesterday, Wells Fargo agreed to a $3 billion settlement to put to bed civil and criminal investigations by the Justice Department and SEC into a decade of customer abuses. You’d buy the bodega out of Bud Lights, too.

As one of the largest corporate penalties of the Trump administration, the deal seems a fitting end to an astounding series of mess-ups at Wells Fargo, which included the creation of millions of fake accounts to meet hyper-aggressive internal sales goals.

• The bank admitted it “unlawfully misused customers’ sensitive personal information” and harmed some of their credit scores...all while pocketing millions in fees and interest.
• FYI: Wells Fargo put aside over $3 billion for legal matters last year. Yesterday’s settlement represents about 15% of the bank’s 2019 profits.

Looking ahead...while this deal snuffs out most of the bank’s fake account legal woes, it doesn’t unlock Wells Fargo from the Fed's handcuffs. The central bank still hasn’t lifted the cap it put on the bank’s growth in 2018.

HEALTHCARE

Healthcare Stat That Makes You Go “Wow”

Eight million Americans have started crowdfunding campaigns to pay for medical care for themselves or someone in their household, according to a new survey from research group NORC at the University of Chicago.

When that many people ask for help, a lot of helpers show up. About 20% of Americans said they or someone in their household contributed to a crowdfunding campaign to pay for medical bills or treatment. And 35% gave to someone they didn’t know personally.

• By crowdfunding, the study is referring to individuals using sites like GoFundMe to raise money from anyone on the internet.

What’s going on? Faced with rising out-of-pocket costs like deductibles, copays, or coinsurance, people with medical bills they can’t pay have no other option but to ask the internet for help.

Zoom out: Don’t be surprised to hear this stat used in stump speeches from Democratic presidential candidates advocating for healthcare reform.

TECH

Facebook Ain’t Much, But It’s Honest Work

Last year, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft were caught red-handed sending voice recordings to human moderators without user consent. At least one of those companies appears to be making an attempt to right its eavesdropping wrongs.

Facebook announced this week it will begin paying some users for voice recordings it can utilize to train its speech recognition technology on skills like name pronunciation.

• How it works: If you’re a U.S. user who’s 18+ and is ridiculously popular (has over 75 Facebook friends), you can qualify to record the phrase “Hey Portal” then read the first names of up to 10 FB friends.
• One set of recordings earns you 200 “points” in Facebook’s Viewpoints market research app. Once you hit 1,000 points, you can cash out for a $5 PayPal credit and retire like a king.

Why it matters: Mark Zuckerberg turns into Sméagol when he hears the words “user data.” But this is a rare instance of Big Tech directly paying for that data—and if regulators get their wish, Facebook’s move could be the new normal.

AGRICULTURE

Fear the Deere

Deere’s surprisingly strong fiscal Q1 earnings yesterday were the first indication in a long time that American farmers might escape the trade war’s shadow after all.

Net income grew 4% annually to $517 million. And while sales fell 4% to $7.6 billion, it was the best kind of fall because it was less than Wall Street was expecting. Shares climbed 7% and set a new intraday high.

• “John Deere’s first-quarter performance reflected early signs of stabilization in the U.S. farm sector,” CEO John May said.
• Deere makes equipment for the agriculture industry, so the company’s success is linked to the industry’s success.

Zoom out: The trade war was a slog for American farmers whose most lucrative exports (like soybeans) were decimated by Chinese retaliatory tariffs. Things got so bad, the Trump administration stepped in to authorize a total of $28 billion in bailouts to keep the industry afloat.

Deere’s earnings show that the calm between the U.S. and China is giving farmers the confidence to buy more equipment, but it’s a fragile peace.

ILLUSION

So That's Pretty Trippy

These circles are the same size.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs’s former CEO, said he might vote for President Trump over Bernie Sanders.
• Mike Bloomberg offered to release three women from NDAs with his company, Bloomberg LP. Going forward, the firm will not offer NDAs to "resolve claims of sexual harassment or misconduct."
• SpaceX is hoping to raise $250 million at a $36 billion valuation, CNBC reports.
• Airlines have now canceled more than 200,000 flights as a result of the coronavirus. The outbreak could result in $29 billion in lost revenue for the industry, per the IATA.
• Mattel and Tesla created two remote-controlled Cybertrucks.

SATURDAY HEADLINES

Welcome to another episode of Saturday Headlines, where everything's made up and the headlines don't matter. Whoops—mixed up intros. In this game, we'll give you three wacky headlines from the week's news and one we made up. Can you spot the imposter?

1. “Bloomberg campaign hires Deloitte to find more houses owned by Sanders”
2. “Tesla ordered to halt work on German factory amid anger over chopping down trees”
3. “Footballer in France suspended for 5 years for biting opponent's...” use your imagination to complete the headline
4. “Why McDonald’s is putting out a beef-scented candle”

SATURDAY HEADLINES ANSWER