Hey Snackers,
Not blue. Not red. Zuck went with the strategic maroon tie for his big day on Capitol Hill.
Stocks inched up Wednesday on a ton of earnings reports — now we get to chew on Amazon's today.
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Testify
Zuckerberg tells Congress he won't launch Libra without US regulators' blessing
No-friend zone... Facebook's Zuckerberg put a suit on for like the 2nd time in his life, showed up in DC, and got poked by politicians on the House Financial Services committee. He should've worn body armor. The representatives scolded Facebook's political ad policies, misinformation on newsfeeds, and even discrimination at the company. Then, finally, they talked about Libra. For hours.
A digital-only currency for the billions of Facebookers worldwide... Mark tried to explain how his proposed cryptocurrency, Libra, should be regulated and how it'll operate. It was a struggle. But we did learn this:
- How Zuck's pitching this to skeptical politicians: Do goodyness. “There are more than a billion people around the world who don't have access to a bank account, but they could through mobile phones if the right system existed.”
- How Zuck plans to make money: Through ads. "Buy with Libra" is a powerful button that would increase the value of ads on Facebook, letting it charge more.
- How Zuck will launch Libra: This one's key — Only with US regulators' blessing.
That last promise could doom Libra... The majority of the un-banked Zuck wants to help? They live outside the US — but Libra is now at US regulators' mercy. That's totally different than Facebook's move fast and break things past, or Uber's entire expansion strategy. So far, politicians aren't impressed — the top Republican on the committee put it simply: "I’m not sure we learned anything new here as policy makers."
Ride
Six Flags stock drops 12% after sales barely budge in most important quarter
Fun fact... Six Flags' name is actually inspired by the real 6 flags that have flown over its home state of Texas. Less fun fact: Founded in 1961, Six Flags claims that it's the world's largest "regional" theme park (cut out the "regional" and it's #7 on the list). This week, Six Flags shared its earnings from a major moment:
- Big year: It's aiming for a 10th consecutive year of record sales.
- Biggest quarter: 40% of its sales come during the 3rd quarter — July through September — when school's out and parents realize camp doesn't cover every single summer day.
Must be this high for investors to be happy... Six Flags shares plummeted 12% after announcing that 14M visitors showed up, waited in lines, and then waited in more lines last quarter. That's just 3% growth in Six Flags attendees since last year, and revenues only inched up 1%.
This isn’t an industry problem — it’s a Six Flags problem... Disney's theme park revenues surged 7% last quarter — that's driven by splurge-worthy new attractions based on Star Wars and Avengers. Earth's #2 theme park, Universal Studios, just whipped up Harry Potter land and Jurassic World sections too. Their character ecosystems make them true theme parks — Six Flags is still a roller coaster park with 35-second-long thrills.
Cruising
Tesla unveils a surprise profit (and a bunch of things are "ahead of schedule")
Best-in-class PDF formatting... As frequent readers of Tesla earnings reports, we appreciate the company's new slide layout (the old earnings letters were impossible to read). Tesla shareholders appreciated the actual substance of the 3rd quarter earnings report, boosting the stock a whopping 20% on these key updates:
- Model Y is "ahead of schedule": The Goldilocks model is bigger than Model 3, smaller than Model X. Americans love this type of crossover SUV, and production's now expected to start summer 2020.
- China is "ahead of schedule": Tesla's building full production capabilities to serve the biggest market (by far) for electric vehicles. The gigafactory in Shanghai materialized in just 10 months, now ready for production.
- It's profitable (!): Tesla's yet to have a full year of profitability, and even quarterly ones are collectors items for Tesla stock owners.
Tesla's supposed to be setting records... It's 16-years-old, but company-wise it's still in puberty. Tesla's adding new plants and should be setting sales records each quarter. While the number of cars delivered did hit an all-time high, revenues actually dipped last quarter from $6.8B to $6.3B. Tesla says that's because more customers are leasing — apparently that satisfied investors.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Freebies: Spotify is dishing out Google Home speakers to its premium subscribers because it wants your ear-tention
- Lovely: Tinder's new "Swipe Night" show worked — total Tinder matches jumped 26% on days when the episodes were released
- 10010110: Google announces "Quantum Supremacy": a super-super computer that completes a problem in 3 minutes that would take existing supercomputers 10K years (IBM disagrees)
- Indicator: Caterpillar's machinery already powers global construction — so its disappointing earnings are interpreted as a reflection of a slowing global economy
- Revived: FAO Schwarz will open up 2 stores in Europe
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