Hey Snackers,
Not the surprise you’d expect after shelling out millions for a trip: SpaceX’s first tourist flight featured some unexpected liquids after a toilet tube broke loose under the cabin floor.
Stocks rebounded today, closing at records after several strong earnings. Investors shrugged off news of slowing economic growth, driven by a major slowdown in consumer spending last quarter.
Badgley Mischka dress for the rehearsal dinner... Minus the $700 price tag. Designer clothing rental pioneer Rent the Runway made its Wall Street runway debut yesterday. Shares opened for trading 9% above their $21 IPO price, but closed the day down 8%. The 13-year-old company lets you rent chic clothes, bags, and accessories for a fraction of the sticker price. RTR handles the dry cleaning, so you don't quick-wash a $400 blouse.
"Need a gown for the gala"... But not mid-pandemic. Last year, RTR lost more than half its subscribers, and its loss widened to $171M (it's still not profitable). Even though 90% of its customers still WFH, proms and posh parties are coming back: In September, RTR subscribers rebounded to 112K — down from 134K pre-pandemic, but up 2X from September last year.
Sharing > owning... This 2021 theme isn't only about sustainability. The pandemic taught us that life — and plans — can change fast. You don't want to splurge on a gown when the event could be canceled at any moment, or invest in a car when you don't know where you'll be in a month. That's why Airbnb is thriving with rentals like yurts and car companies like Volkswagen are launching subscriptions.
Alert Elon… Elon Musk’s personal wealth rocketed past $250B this week, cementing his position as Earth’s richest person (insert Bezos side-eye). But this week a Democratic senator drew up the deets for a first-of-its-kind “billionaires tax,” proposed as part of Biden’s $2T spending package. This would be a tax on unrealized gains — aka investments that have risen in price but haven’t been sold. Quick refresher:
Billionaires weren’t happy… Cue Elon’s disappointed tweet. Elon’s wealth surged $36B on Monday alone after Tesla’s stock spiked. Under the tax, he’d owe $7.8B if he ended the year with just those gains, even if he never sold his Tesla shares. America’s 732 billionaires — a quarter of the world’s total — would be the only people affected by the tax. It would reportedly generate $250B to fund the Democrats’ $2T agenda. But because of political opposition and a lack of legal precedent, the proposal has already been shot down.
This B-tax was just a first draft… While the number of Americans who own stocks is growing, gains remain unequal: The top 1% gained 5X more from stocks and funds during the pandemic than the bottom 90%. With US wealth inequality worsening — the top 1% own 32% of US wealth while the bottom half own 2% — support for some type of billionaire tax remains high.
Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Uber, Amazon, Apple, Ford, Twitter, Tesla, and GM
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