Fashion faux pas

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Search giant Baidu has the Xiaoyu Zaijia and JD.com has the LingLong DingDong." — CNBC, referring to rivals of Alibaba’s new home speaker.

That’s right. There is currently a device named LingLong DingDong.


Ticker

MARKET CORNER

Market Snapshot

  • The S&P and Nasdaq climbed during another strong day for tech.
  • The Dow settled lower, driven by a retreating Exxon (-1.52%).
  • The dollar index steadied following the Fed’s June minutes.
  • Gold rallied on tensions with North Korea.
  • Want Morning Brew Daily Served Fresh to Your Inbox?
    Drop Your Email Below...

It’s Electric Boogie, Woogie, Woogie

By 2019, all new Volvo models will be exclusively electric or hybrid, making it the first mainstream car maker to bid adjö to the internal combustion engine.

Not to be a backseat driver, but this seems pretty risky.

With historically low gas prices, insufficient nationwide charging stations and electric vehicles making up a tiny fraction (1%) of industry sales, this might not feel like the right time to go all-in on electric.

But, let’s step into Volvo’s seat for a second.

The Swedish automaker doesn’t just see a budding industry (electric, that is) that could scale to 40% of global auto sales in 2020.

It also sees a technology that aligns with its safety-centric mission and jives with stricter emissions regulations in China, the home of its parent company, Geely.

Time to turn the key and let that engine purrrrrr.

You Talk, I Yell

Let’s be real. Fed talk—always important, but rarely interesting. Minutes from June 13th and 14th were no different.

Here’s the quick and dirty:

  1. Fed Raises Rates

    Eight of nine committee members voted "yes." The fed funds rate was lifted to 1.25%. Neel Kashkari, Mr. Lone Dissenter, shared a strongly-worded letter with the public.

  2. Fed Divided Over Its $4.2 Trillion Pile of Sh*t

    Slightly aggressive, but very appropriate. The Fed’s balance sheet is 25% of U.S. GDP and no one knows exactly what to do with it. The FOMC is split between reducing the balance sheet’s size starting in September or December.

  3. To Hike or Not to Hike

    The FOMC is undecided on the pace of future interest rate hikes. The fast-hike camp argues that investors are not responding to recent hikes and are in fact taking more risks. The slow-hike camp says the FOMC’s goto metric for inflation, core PCE, still sits below the Fed’s target level of 2%.

Checkmate

U.S. credit card-processing firm Vantiv (-2.38%) is buying Wordplay (its British counterpart) for $10 billion—apparently, independence just wasn’t enough.

Vantiv, which drives 50% of its revenue from transactions at large, brick-and-mortar retailers in North America, has felt a similar squeeze to the companies it serves.

This deal looks to be just the fix.

Wordplay processes 31 million payments per day and offers Vantiv hundreds of thousands of e-commerce and small business customers across 146 countries.

Together, the two would command a market value of $20 billion, alleviating some of the pressure applied by Amazon and a slew of fintech startups.

Now, let’s just hope the check doesn’t bounce.

Fashion Faux Pas

True Religion: a fashion-forward jean brand and most recently, chapter 11’s latest victim.

To keep its doors open and its jeans skin tight, True Religion is now swapping 90% of all newly issued equity for $350 million in debt relief.

But that solution isn’t one-size-fits-all.

The jean brand is giving the boot to underperforming stores, renegotiating shop leases and diving head first into the world of e-commerce as a part of its $60 million restructuring plan.

With any luck, the result will look better than last year’s $78.5 million loss.

What Else Is Happening…

  • Airbus (+1.11%) is selling 140 aircrafts to China in a deal worth $23 billion.
  • China’s top internet search company Baidu formed a 50-partner alliance as it gets more serious about self-driving.
  • Snapchat introduced three new features: Paperclip, Backdrops and Voice Filters.
  • Blue Apron dropped 9% on its fourth day of public trading.
Economic Calendar

  • Monday: Auto Sales (-), Construction Spending (+/-)
  • Tuesday: No Events Today
  • Wednesday: No Events Today
  • Thursday: Crude Inventories, Continuing Claims
  • Friday: Unemployment Rate

WATER COOLER

The Backstory: Leonardo Del Vecchio

Imagine this for a second.

You’re relaxing on a lounge chair. Fingers interlaced behind your fedora-covered head. Legs crossed. Shades down.

You’re under a cabana on the third level of a 203-foot yacht named Moneikos.

You are Leonardo Del Vecchio, the founder of Luxottica and the second richest man in Italy, having built a $25 billion eyewear behemoth with your bare hands.

Let’s rewind.

Leonardo was born in 1935 to an impoverished Milanese family. He grew up in an orphanage, and started his first job as a manufacturing trainee, making molds for auto parts in Milan.

The job proved perilous for the fresh-faced fourteen-year-old, who has part of a missing index finger to prove it. But, even that didn’t stop Del Vecchio.

The man became obsessed with industrial design, which led him to glasses.

The visionary saw a new future for eyewear. Not just as a category for improving vision, but as an art form for expressing personality.

At the age of 25, he closed up shop and left for Agordo, a valley town in northeast Italy. No surprise, it’s also a hub for Italian eyeglass makers.

Armed with passion and experience, Del Vecchio founded Luxottica shortly after arriving.

Fast-forward 50 years.

Luxottica is still based in Italy, but looks just a tad different.

It employs over 82,000 people, rakes in over $10 billion in revenue, boasts a portfolio of top-notch brands (including LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Ray-Ban and Oakley) and accounts for 80% of the high-end eyewear market.

Now, back to the yacht...

THE BREAKROOM

Interview Question of the Day

Can you write down eight eights so that they add up to one thousand? Use any mathematical symbols.

(Give up?)

Who am I?

  1. My family moved to Halifax, Canada with $20 to its name.
  2. My father’s first job was in a factory. He made only $76 a week.
  3. I started my internet security company from the basement of my home.
  4. I sold BRAK Systems for $30.2 million in 2000.

(Any guesses?)

Stat of the Day

$1 billion

The amount of money spent on beer last 4th of July...we can only imagine it was more this year. Keep on brewin’, folks.

Want Morning Brew Daily Served Fresh to Your Inbox?
Drop Your Email Below...

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”