"No touch-ey. I no own-ey"
Hey Snackers,
Can't believe we almost forgot — Happy Birthday, Batman.
Markets inched up to start the week. That's even as a British travel agency/airline went bankrupt mid-flight, stranding 600K travelers worldwide (more on our Snacks pod).
"People familiar with the matter"... They're usually important. On Friday they said Fitbit hired an investment bank to help find a buyer. Investors didn't care about the lack of official-ness to the headline, and snatched up stock on hopes they'd benefit from an acquisition (companies tend to buy other ones for an amount higher than the current share price).
368 calories burned, 982 steps taken... and a 12% stock price jump. That was Friday, but Fitbit has fallen 90% since 2015. Back when Fitbit and Jawbone were in their prime leading the wearable devices game, things were different. Now Fitbit is squeezed on both sides:
Where are the synergies?... Fitbit lost money each year since it pivoted to smartwatches to compete with Apple. For another company to acquire Fitbit, it must use Fitbit's hardware, software, and people to make money better than Fitbit did (aka find "positive synergies"). Tying Fitbit more closely to Google's Android operating system could do that. Or plant fitness-tracking chips into Nike shoes? We're idea people.
Macs are bigger in Texas... Apple will not move Mac Pro desktop production to China, like it had reportedly been planning to. It's another "supporting America" move that Apple's PR team loved announcing. But this one has a scent of trade war diplomacy that investors were into — Apple stock rose almost a half percent on the decision.
Keep Austin weird and wired... Your Mac Pro smell like brisket? It's one of the few Apple products not assembled in China — it's made in Austin, TX since 2013. But this past summer, that almost changed:
The transactional states of America... The new tariffs would've cost Apple $$$ (American companies that buy Chinese stuff pay for tariffs, and often try to pass that on to you and us by raising prices). Instead, Apple essentially threatened to move jobs outside the US. Then it got the tariffs waived by the Administration. This is the nature in which companies and countries handle relations with President Trump, and vice versa.
Disowning is the new black... Legendary department store Bloomingdale's jumped into clothing rental this week. Confusingly-named "My List at Bloomindale's" costs $149/month for 10 items you use, minorly-abuse, then return. Rental-ware is just 1% of the apparel market, but it surged 24% last year, while fashion overall grew 5%. Here's who recently got in:
"Clothing as a Service"... CaaS. It's now a thing. The startup CaaStle has it in its name. Clothing rental is almost entirely logistics — shipping is its greatest cost. So CaaStle's software and warehouses handle all that for clients like retail chain Express. And solving that logistics challenge could make it the greatest threat to Bloomingdale's and Rent The Runway yet.
Clothing Rental is one big bet... and we’re all waiting on the answer. Both fashion brands and retail chains are experimenting with clothing rental programs because the industry could go in 1 of 2 directions:
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