Tuesday Jan.21, 2020

♻️ Microsoft pulls a "carbon negative"

"_Anything you can do I can do better_"
"_Anything you can do I can do better_"

Hey Snackers,

Akon, the man behind 2000s classic "Smack That," is starting his own city in Senegal — and Akon City (actual name) will operate exclusively on his cryptocurrency (wait for it)... Akoin.

Markets popped last week to fresh record highs on the signing of the US-China phase 1 trade deal. Extra strong bank earnings didn't hurt either.

Sustain

Microsoft one-ups Amazon with its bold carbon-negative pledge

Hold my beer... That's Microsoft to tech rival Amazon. Microsoft's direct business has been carbon-neutral since 2012, but its supply chain hasn't. Now, the software giant's pledging for itself and all related factories and facilities to become carbon-negative by 2030. That means not only reducing emissions, but actively removing more carbon from the environment than it's emitting. Microsoft's environmental one-upsmanship in perspective:

  • 87 Companies worth a total $2.3T made a UN pledge to become carbon-neutral (aka, not adding any net carbon to the atmosphere) by 2050.
  • Amazon pledged to do it 10 years faster — carbon-neutral by 2040. Jeff Bezos said they'll get there with 100K electric delivery vans and investing in forest restoration.
  • Carbon Debt: Microsoft pledged not only to become carbon-negative by 2030, but to continue doing so until it paid back (i.e. removed) all the carbon it has ever emitted since 1975 (it hopes to do that by 2050). Mic (rosoft) drop.

America's Next Top Climate Model is... Consumers and investors have been rewarding environmentally-friendly companies. BlackRock, the world's largest investment manager (with $7T in hand), just said it'll focus on creating funds that invest in climate-friendly companies. While the products companies make are important, sometimes the way companies operate matters more.

Not just hot air (pun intended)... While these sustainability pledges are PR-boosters, it's not all talk. American companies' enviro-pledges require the purchase of tons of renewable energy — tech companies' data centers are huge electricity hogs. And that clean energy demand is why half of all corporate-sponsored wind and solar projects in the EU were built. Google-parent Alphabet bought enough wind and solar energy in 2019 to power about 500M European homes.

Highs

Who's up...

Money doesn't grow on trees... It grows on bank branches. Last week's big bank earnings validated both Wall Street's and Main street's economic booms. The biggest winner was JPMorgan Chase, which had the most profitable year of any American bank ever – $36B in profits was 12% growth from 2018. JPM is already the bank that 1/2 of Americans do business with, including the Chasers racking up travel/dining expenses on Sapphire Reserve cards.

Delta's updated resume... Beat quarterly profit expectations. Biggest strength? Not having any Boeing 737 Max planes, which will be grounded at least 15 months (through June) for rivals United, Southwest, and American. Besides Delta's incredibly lucky jet selection, strong travel demand and cheap(er) fuel are helping Delta's profits fly. And it saw success in steering travelers to pricier not-quite-first-class fares (Comfort+, Premium, Business).

Lows

...and who's down

Lost my appetite... How American meal-kit company Blue Apron felt after German rival HelloFresh remained America's most-used meal kit crafter. Despite shrinking overall meal kit demand, HelloFresh's simpler DIY-ish mealkits enjoy 1.5M customers, a stock that's up 250% in the last year, and profitability. Blue Apron's down under 400K customers now, with shares 96% lower than their IPO price and it's so far allergic to profits.

Hands off my wheels... Volkswagen, BMW, and Daimler felt pressure from China over Germany's prized auto industry. Fun Snackfact: Germany sells more cars to China than to any other country (including Germany). Not-so-fun: China wants its own tech giant Huawei to build out Germany's 5G wireless network. Even-less-fun: US officials suspect Huawei can be used by China's gov to spy on American/Euro communications. Now Germany's stuck between US pressure (and potential tariffs) and China's threat to drop the Audis and Mercedes purchases.

What else we’re Snackin’

  • Think: How ancient philosophies like stoicism are still relevant to navigating life in 2020
  • Deny: Why many big streaming execs will never admit there's a Steaming War going on (some deny even being part of the conversation)
  • Royalties: The net worth of the British royal family and where it comes from (it's lower than you think)
  • Move: The world's 10 most liveable cities (spoiler: Vienna has taken the top spot for 2 years in a row)
  • Unreal: Why half the luxury skyscraper condo units in Manhattan that went on the market in the past 5 years are still unsold

This Week

Disclosure: Authors of this Snacks own shares of Microsoft, Amazon, and Volkswagen

ID: 1063652

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Kering Warns Profit to Tumble Following Gucci Woes in China

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