Mind the pay gap

Quote of the Day

I think a lot depends upon how successful we are in turning the moon into a kind of gas station for outer space.”

Market Snapshot

• Strong labor market data pushed the Dow and S&P higher.
• Bitcoin dropped below $10,000 again.
• HPE stock jumped up to ~19% after hours following an earnings beat.
• The Hang Seng fell 1.5% and the Nikkei fell 1.1%.

After Shooting, Social Media Giants Fail Again to Squash Fake News

On Wednesday morning, a YouTube video promoting the conspiracy that David Hogg—a student who survived the Parkland, FL shooting—was a paid “crisis actor” had been viewed more than 200,000 times. Hogg is not a paid actor.

But….that fact didn’t stop the video from appearing as YouTube’s No. 1 trending video at one point Wednesday morning.

And after this latest news cycle, it appears as though social media platforms once again failed to limit the spread of misinformation.

This is how a conspiracy video goes viral

1. A YouTube user called “mike m.” (a 51-year-old guy in Idaho) re-uploaded an old news clip showing Hogg in an unrelated situation. Mike m. added a caption wrongly claiming the 17-year-old student was an actor.
2. Fringe sites, social media accounts, Russian trolls, and forums like 4chan picked up on the video and shared it.
3. YouTube’s algorithms kicked in and promoted the content. They work by crawling the site for high-trafficked videos and pushing them to users…all to keep eyeballs glued to the platform so YouTube can sell more ads.

Comment from YouTube: “As soon as we became aware of the video, we removed it from ‘trending’ and from YouTube for violating our policies,” adding that it initially misclassified the video because it was linked to a credible news source.

YouTube isn’t the only one struggling to contain fake news

In the days following the shooting, conspiracy-related posts on Facebook and Twitter also received thousands of “likes” and retweets before they were removed, often thanks to bots that are engineered to automatically engage with divisive posts.

Critics view these “engagement metrics” as low-hanging fruit for bots to game the system and spread fake news. And some argue we should get rid of them altogether.

Bottom line: Despite initiatives from Big Tech to limit the spread of misinformation—adding thousands of human moderators, tweaking algorithms to limit exposure to news—it seems like an adequate solution is nowhere in sight

Barclays Is First to Report Gender Pay Gap Data in UK

They say the early bird gets the worm…and at Barclays’ investment banking division, that’s particularly true if the bird is male. The London-based bank was the first major UK lender to release gender pay gap data to comply with a government mandate.

The results? On average, women in investment banking at Barclays’ make 50% less than their male counterparts. Not to mention, bonus payouts at its international division were 78% less for female employees.

CEO Jes Staley jumped in to clarify, explaining male and female workers in the same position earn the same salary—“[the announcements] reflect the high proportions of women in more junior, lower paid roles and the high proportions of men in senior, highly paid roles.” Luckily, gasoline always puts out a fire.

Forty-seven percent of Barclays’ employees are women, but only 15% work in managing director positions. The bank pledges to boost that number this year, and have a third of its board and executive committee roles filled by women by 2020.

Airbnb Remodels Site and Hosts New Rental Features

To celebrate its 10th anniversary, Airbnb booked an extended stay in the travel industry by rolling out a suite of new services. The accomodation startup will offer Beyond Airbnb, a new section for boutique hotels, bed and breakfasts, treehouses, and boats. But if you’re looking to rent a royal castle on Heirbnb, it doesn’t exist…yet.

Another feature: Airbnb Plus—an attempt at quality assurance. Plus listings must pass a 100-point inspection that includes:

* A kitchen stocked with cookware and a clean refrigerator
* Guest bedrooms with an ironing board, closet, drawers, window treatments, soft/clean bedding, and comfortable mattresses
* Bathroom cabinets empty of owners’ belongings, a clean shower, two sets of plush towels, and toiletries

CEO Brian Chesky acknowledged that “some travelers want predictability and certain comforts.” As opposed to others who enjoy walking into an active crime scene.

For Airbnb Plus—debuting with 2,000+ homes in 13 cities including LA, Toronto, Milan, and Shanghai—travelers can expect to pay an average nightly rate of $200 (vs. $100 for a standard listing).

Your Stock Got Crushed? Ours Too.

These three companies all found creative ways to collectively lose billions of dollars in market cap on Thursday.

Snap: Kylie Jenner told 24.5 million of her closest friends Twitter followers she doesn’t use Snapchat anymore, sending Snap’s stock down 7%. It’s further proof that the app’s redesign is not going according to plan. Siding with Kylie, 1.2 million angry selfie-takers signed a petition asking CEO Evan Spiegel to get “back to the basics.”

Rovio: The maker of Angry Birds saw nearly half of its market cap vanish because…it’s been nine years since Rovio introduced Angry Birds and we’re still calling it “the maker of Angry Birds.” The gaming company forecasted lower than expected profits as user acquisition costs have increased.

Wayfair: Shares in the e-commerce furniture retailer plunged 23% after posting a substantial loss in Q4 (despite growing its active customer base 33% in 2017). Still, its stock is up 83% over the past year and enters 2018 “with tremendous strength,” according to CEO Niraj Shah.

What Else Is Happening…

• Ford (+0.28%) quickly replaced its North American President, Raj Nair, a day after he stepped down for “inappropriate behavior.”
• Recode: Amazon (+0.16%) plans to open six more Amazon Go locations this year.
• SpaceX launched two test satellites with the eventual goal of providing low-cost broadband internet access.
• Esports investment fund Vision Esports raised a $38 million round.
• CBS tapped Margaret Brennan to host “Face the Nation.”

Economic Calendar

• Monday     Earnings: No Events

                    Economic Events: No Events

• Tuesday    Earnings: Domino’s (+/-), Home Depot (+), HSBC Holdings (-)

                  Economic Events: No Events

• Wednesday    Earnings: Pandora (+), Roku (+/-)

                        Economic Events: PMI (+), Existing Home Sales (-)

• Thursday   Earnings: Barclays (+), HP (+)

                   Economic Events: Jobless Claims (+)

• Friday       Earnings: No Events

                 Economic Events: No Events

Taking Inventory: Wisdom from the Oracle of Omaha

Tomorrow, legendary investor Warren Buffett will release his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. And we’re excited. If you stranded us on a desert island with the opportunity to bring only one item, Buffett’s annual letters—full of wisdom and insight—would be in the running.

As a pre-game for the main event, here are some of our favorite Buffett-isms from previous letters.

* “Every decade or so, dark clouds will fill the economic skies, and they will briefly rain gold. When downpours of that sort occur, it’s imperative that we rush outdoors carrying washtubs, not teaspoons.” — 2016.
* “At Berkshire, we much prefer owning a non-controlling but substantial portion of a wonderful company to owning 100% of a so-so business. It’s better to have a partial interest in the Hope Diamond than to own all of a rhinestone.“ — 2015.
* “Cash, though, is to a business as oxygen is to an individual: never thought about when it is present, the only thing in mind when it is absent.” — 2014.
* “Games are won by players who focus on the playing field (long term)—not by those whose eyes are glued to the scoreboard (short term).” — 2013.

The Breakroom

Question of the Day

Can you make this statement true by adding two mathematic symbols?
25-9=2

(Answer located at the bottom of newsletter)

Business Trivia

What was a unique feature of Snap’s IPO?

(Answer located at the bottom of newsletter)

Stat of the Day

480—The number of ICOs launched so far in 2018, raising about $1.66 billion. Last year, ICOs raised a total of $6.5 billion.

Breakroom Answers

Question of the Day: Take the square roots. Square root of 25 is 5. Square root of 9 is 3. 5-3 is 2.

Business Trivia: The new shares sold didn’t come with voting rights. Which, at the time, makes them the only company that “has completed an initial public offering of non-voting stock on a U.S. stock exchange.”