Hey Snackers,
Invites to Apple's iPhone 11 reveal next month just went out. We didn't get one either. We're relaxing until Tuesday for Labor Day Weekend to get over it.
Stocks continued the rebound Thursday as China signaled it didn't want to escalate the trade war further.
Now batting, for the New York Yankees... Jeff Bezos. In one of the final chapters of the Disney-acquires-Fox saga, Disney officially sold the YES Network Thursday to the NY Yankees, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Amazon, and some other investors. Here's what they're buying:
This Disney & Fox deal goes way back to 2017... That's when Mickey started a bidding war against Comcast to acquire 21st Century Fox, which included X-Men, Fantastic Four, The Simpsons, Avatar, 22 regional sports networks, and the YES Network. The Justice Department allowed the merger on 1 big condition:
Amazon's now the proud 15% owner of YES Network... It hasn't said what it will do with that — But we're all hoping for the Yankees to be a #PrimePerk. Amazon Prime Video has already done deals with the NFL's Thursday Night Football and the Premier League. CEO Bezos won't offer up details yet, but it's already generating HQ2-style speculation.
Because you need that fall transitional cropped sweater ASAP... "fast fashion" became a thing: it's the art of catching new trends and pumping out styles quick with efficient supply chains — and the big 3 have been H&M, Zara, and Forever 21. Now Forever 21 and its satin belted 800 stores are reportedly filing for bankruptcy.
Travel back to 1984... Mock turtlenecks were in and a South Korean immigrant couple with $11K founded a store in LA committed to chambray, bomber jackets, and anything that had staying potential (fyi, Forever 21 is still private — you can't buy the stock). That fast fashion trend it rode hit a peak this decade, but now the leaders are feeling pains. Fast.
Fast Fashion's losing to its opposite... sustainable fashion. Sure, Forever 21 is also dependent on physical stores and malls that are struggling — but overall, the used fashion industry is now suddenly expected to pass the fast fashion one within a decade. Here's who's out-dressing fast fashion:
Free bread's not enough... The CFO of Panera told CNBC that he's suffering through 100% employee turnover every year. With 100K employees, this stat means the carbo-loaded chain needs to hire 100K people every year because about 100K quit every year. Let that sink in. And get this:
Different industry, same problem... To keep employees from leaving, Citigroup just increased its minimum wage to $15/hour, finally catching up with Wells Fargo ($15/hour), but still trailing JP Morgan ($15-18) and Bank of America ($20).
Companies can save money by paying workers more... To replace a Panera employee, it has to hire (+ paperwork/interviews), train (that takes time), and wait until the worker is actually good (many mis-flipped eggs later). Paying more could prevent those costs by keeping workers around. But wages are still not growing fast on average, forcing some states to push minimum wage increases.
Disclosure: Authors of this Snacks own shares of Amazon and Tesla
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