Kyle Heggie
Appearances
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Don't have to get someone Chick-fil-A perfume for their birthday.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Or like canned cocktails and canned wine. And that feels very un-French. So they are going to have to, I think, pivot in some ways. And I love this quote in the story. It was, with every generation of France, we see the change. If the grandfather drank 300 liters of red wine, the father drinks 180 and the son 30, said CIVB board member Jean-Pierre Duran. So we'll see how this plays out.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
But, Neil, are you— 80% drop. Yeah, huge. Are you a red or a white wine guy?
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Governor Newsom has declared a state of emergency, and as of now, at least five people have been killed. Now, pictures are worth a thousand words, and this story is no exception. Scenes of the devastation played out on X and traditional media outlets, and the images are just devastating.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
I've never heard of this before. This rocks. I absolutely love this. And what's funny is during this game, there was like a premature shot, and people thought in one corner it was the goal, so they started throwing teddy bears, and then they were like, wait, this actually wasn't the goal. Take the teddy bears back. This is the cutest thing.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
People brought their kids out on the ice after the players to take photos of the teddy bears. I think we need to bring this to the NHL.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Hockey fans do love throwing things on the ice, though. Hattrick. I'm thinking Minnesota Wild. You can't probably put wild cats on the ice, but we need to bring this to the NHL. We've got to change the rules.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Neil, I was texting with friends who live down there, who have family that have had to evacuate, people even who thought they would be clear, maybe aren't anymore. Very scary, and I'm hoping we can get this under control ASAP.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
It's interesting. I think we this is a common theme where you see the U.S. innovate and then the EU regulates. But then it does affect how the U.S. companies operate. They're going to run this test in part in the U.S. So the EU driving regulation that maybe the U.S. is not capable of.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
MoviePass is the gift that keeps on giving, which is funny because that essentially was their unsustainable business model. But I love the DOJ also said that they falsely claimed that this analytic company would use AI to generate revenue. So this movie pass was also ahead of the curve of just saying AI will fix everything. I cannot wait for the MoviePass movie.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
It was cool. James Franklin, the coach of Penn State, talked about that Tony Dungy-Lovey-Smith game, saying he saw it when he was younger and how it was like such a big moment in his life. And now it's very cool that he gets to almost live out another similar situation.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Yeah, we got to make sure Toby does not go to Calabria right now. Like it would be bad news. It was interesting in 2022, Cuba sent 497 doctors to the region and the regional government governor said that that actually like helped save the hospital system. So shout out to the Cuban doctors coming in for the save in Italy.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Let's run it back tomorrow.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Right, and UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, who's been all over the news, he called this, quote, an atmospheric blow-dryer. about the point of these wins. It is not a good situation. You have all of these different variables now happening at once, and we're seeing the devastation that's happening.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
The business angle, not that you want to go there right away, but the insurance angle of this is really interesting because The latest estimates by J.P. Morgan said 13000 homes are at risk. The losses from the fire to those homes could be upwards of 10 billion dollars. But there's been a lot of changes in the insurance market in California because unfortunately, these wildfires aren't, you know.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
They're pretty common in L.A. And a lot of the insurance companies have had to pull back in terms of offering people coverage. And the state and Allstate and other big insurance and State Farm, other big insurance players in the state have kind of gone back and forth of how to navigate this.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Many homeowners actually that live in the area had their insurance kind of clawed back a few years back because it just wasn't affordable for insurance companies to insure these areas. So that's going to be kind of the angle that happens after we get these fires under control is how do we recover from this incident?
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Yeah, we'll continue to monitor the situation and obviously keep this whole area in our prayers. Hopefully this gets under control, as you said. There might be some relief in a couple days, and then the rebuild will have to begin.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Yeah, I mean, I got to give kudos to Bill Ackman. He's done the impossible. He helped me learn, finally, what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac actually are. I mean, this is really interesting. They're these government-sponsored enterprises that were created by Congress in the 30s to basically help— Fannie Mae in the 30s, Freddie Mac later. Correct.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
And then Fannie Mae in the 30s, and then to help basically the U.S. mortgage market. Now, these two companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they support around 70% of all U.S. mortgages. And I actually found out in 2024, Fannie Mae had $4.3 trillion in assets, which is the largest company in the world or in the U.S. in terms of assets they have. So these are massive players.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
And the other thing I think is interesting outside of this privatization effort is how people are trying to influence this administration. I think in Trump one, it was like you go on Fox News. That's where the guy is. Now it feels like it's you go direct and you like lay out these large theses on X, which is Bill Ackman.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Very interesting. I feel like Jimmy Carter would want us trading stocks on today. So we got to look into that. But RIP to President Carter. And I'm not a presidential scholar, but I will say his dedication to Habitat for Humanity and like building homes all throughout his life in post-presidency is amazing. So thank you, President Carter, for your great service to this country.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
If you're Bill Ackman, obviously, which is controlled by Elon, one of Trump's biggest financial backers. So how we influence this administration, how people influence this administration, I think is also another part of this story.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Exactly. And like the Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency last week said, this is how we would do it. And even looking at that plan, a lot of people are like, we got to slow this down because it could have major ripple effects throughout the whole economy, to your point. Let's move on to our next story.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
If you think your most important technology is sitting in your pocket or on your desk, you might be wrong. Why? Because increasingly so, the most important technology is sitting inside. in your garage. That's right.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
With the rise of electric vehicles and sophisticated digital info and safety systems in old school gas guzzlers, car owners are now more reliant on software to drive value from their cars than ever before. Now, while the idea of a BMW giving you the power of heated seats via an over-the-air update sounds incredible, it's not that easy.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Traditional car makers have sprawling legacy in old electrical systems, and they have to integrate code written by suppliers. In fact, Software fixes made up 15% of U.S. recalls last year, which is up 6% from five years ago, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
As software becomes more and more important, it appears the upstart competitors are in a better position to succeed. Gartner, which ranked carmakers on digital performance last year... The top seven were all Chinese and U.S. EV makers, including familiar names like Tesla and Rivian. The traditional manufacturers posted a terrible score of 33 out of 100, according to Gartner.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
We start the show in Los Angeles, where the wildfires that started earlier this week continue to run rampant. The Palisades Fire that is ablaze on the seaside area between Malibu and Santa Monica has grown to more than 17,000 acres with very little to zero containment. It has destroyed at least 1,000 structures, making it the most destructive ever in LA County.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Neil, you were talking about your love of BMW yesterday.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Do you have faith in the ability for traditional automakers to get ahead of this curve on software?
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
And the under-the-radar stock that Bill Ackman hopes will net him a 1,200% return. It's Thursday, January 9th. Let's ride.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
And not just these updates. Accenture said that digital services could generate as much as $3.5 trillion annually for carmakers by the 2040s. So we're going to see this whole ecosystem, I think, of apps and updates and software that people can purchase from their car, which I think I love that we were like, do not distracted, don't drive distracted.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
And now we're like, but what if we put a hologram in the passenger seat while you drive? But I think being a car manufacturer went from just a hardware product now to you have to be excellent in hardware and you have to be excellent in software. I think Tesla was a pioneer here in the over-the-air updates, really leaning in on the software and other car companies have a lot of catching up to do.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
I mean, you see like CarPlay from Apple being like a real selling point for other cars. Obviously, Apple was working on its own car, which, you know, they shut down. But it's clear that the tech industry is kind of moving into the car space. I think it's really fascinating.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
And then you add in self-driving cars where, like, you can just press a button and then put Netflix on your screen and you'll arrive at a McDonald's in 15 minutes. Like, sign me up.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
Yeah, it's a really interesting space, and I feel like Chick-fil-A is always kind of ahead of the curve in terms of customer satisfaction and service. The acceptance rate to get a Chick-fil-A franchise is 0.15%. So these are like really hard businesses to own because they know what they're doing at the corporate level.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
In addition to the Palisades Fire, there's at least three other subsequent wildfires happening Eden, Hearst, and Brown that are all affecting the L.A. metro area. Over 100,000 people have already been evacuated. All schools in the L.A. Unified School District, which is the nation's second largest, are closed today.
Morning Brew Daily
Historic Wildfires Engulf LA & The Biggest Problem with Cars is... Software?
And I think we're only going to continue to see automation, as you've alluded, across the food industry, automated menus, general AI efficiencies, and now robots that can replace human labor like squeezing lemons.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
And how this Bezos-backed basic truck aims to disrupt the EV market. It's Monday, April 28th. Let's ride.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Literally, this is such a fun story. And one, I need to see a It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode where it's like the gang buys a soccer team because this would be a perfect episode. Rob and Ryan are literally living my dream where you were like, I was in sixth grade in a basement with my friend saying, if we ever get super rich, we would buy a sports team randomly and go all in on it.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
That's exactly what they've done. It's worked out. And I'm really excited to see if this team can get to the Premier League.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Encourage her to take another sip. Maybe let her start reading the label. Boom. Next thing you know, it's in her fridge. Because Planet Oat is like that. No drama, just delicious. Mom knows best. They'll figure it out. Get your hands on the oat milk that has it all.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Neil, cue exciting announcement and upbeat music because my winner of the weekend are people who enjoy subtitles. Why? Netflix has increased their closed captioning offerings, which will now allow people to only get subtitles of the spoken word and not general information like ominous tones playing or car door slams if they prefer.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Studies have repeatedly found that about half of American households watch TV and movies with subtitles on, but only a relatively small portion of those include someone with a hearing disability. That's because people just have trouble understanding dialogue in modern viewing situations.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Other streaming platforms like Amazon prime video have attempted to combat this issue with audio boost technology that basically identifies more soft spoken parts of movies or TV and boost the audio to more enjoyable levels. Neil, I, I guess this is quite exciting, although I have to admit, I'm not a subtitle guy.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
I also learned that you can customize the closed captioning or the subtitles on Netflix. So you can change the font, the size, the shadow, the background color. I never even knew this. So subtitles are like a new genre for me. I'm going to have to go dive deep in this week and experience this Netflix update.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
And, Neil, you mentioned Carney's the central banker. He's also the only non-Brit to lead the Bank of England, which is...
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
No, I spent all my money on this slate pre-order, so I got to go find some dough and get a Kentucky Derby hat.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Literally, these retail investors sound exactly like Warren Buffett. Some of these quotes from this Yahoo article talking about it, quote, I see this as another 2020 buying opportunity for long-term potential. Another quote about even if it keeps going lower, buy more to lower your cost average. 10 years from now, it'll be higher, so the cheaper it gets, the happier I am.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
These are straight out of the Warren Buffett playbook. When stocks are low, view them as on sale. Buy a ton of great companies. Now, 60% of the inflows, according to JP Morgan, are to individual stocks, Tesla, Nvidia being two large ones. But 40% are going to ETFs. So it sounds like the retail investor, less COVID meme stock mania and more disciplined buy for the long term and hold strategy.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
That's right. It's interesting. Anyone under 40 years old or so, we've only seen bull markets in our lives. There's maybe been a few exceptions, like the financial crisis 2009, That started an 11-year rally in the market, which was one of the best buying opportunities of all time. And then COVID obviously brought the stock market down. It recovered in like a month.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
And that also was one of the best buying opportunities of a lifetime. And so I think a lot of young adults who are coming into money have these retirement accounts. They've only seen basically stock go up. And they're continuing to hold that view.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Now, it's interesting, the American Association of Individual Investors, which surveys not just day traders, but general individual investors, does this survey where they look at the bull and the bear spread. So how many people think they expect a bull market? How many people expect a bear market?
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
The majority have a bearish view on equities over the next six months, but it's not stopping them from continuing to plow money into the stock market.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Yes, we are very powerful. I have news for you about a car company with the letters T E S L A and it's not Tesla. Yes, you heard that right. I'm talking about a brand new car company called slate, which coincidentally is an anagram of Tesla. Slate made a splashy entrance last week by being admittedly not splashy.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
The new default model, an EV truck called the Blank Slate, has no paint, no stereo, no touchscreen. The selling point is that it's all the car you need and none of the car you don't.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
However, you will be able to purchase accessories that allow you to transform the truck in a ton of different ways, include turning it into an SUV, enabling electric-powered windows, installing surround sound speakers, changing the paint color, and more. more.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
At about 15 feet long, with a payload capacity of 1,400 pounds, it's also a lot smaller than most modern trucks, coming in at about two-thirds the size of a Chevy Silverado. But with the diminished size comes a diminished price tag. The Should we put $50 down now to reserve one for a 2026 delivery? I'm loving this car.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Yeah, it is a, when they zig, we should zag. And there's a few trends I think Slade is leaning into. One is this kind of made in America trend. So the vehicles are designed in California and Michigan, engineered in Michigan, and then assembled somewhere in the Midwest. And their assembly process and their manufacturing process is so much easier because they're only making one base model.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
And they don't have a paint shop. And they don't have a paint shop, which is fascinating. So paint, you don't, you might not think about it, is very costly to do. Mercedes-Benz just announced that it's building a next generation paint shop in Germany. It's going to cost nearly $1 billion.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Slate said that by not having this metal stamping presses in a paint shop, it's saving them between $350 and $500 million, which are projected on a scale of 150,000 vehicles a year. So they're getting rid of the paint. They're made in America. The other trend I think they're leaning into is this customizable trend and this DIY home kit
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
If you had to go on American Idol, what song are you singing, Neil?
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
I'm very, very excited to see how this truck does. I'm going to compare it to a company that might seem a little crazy, which is Crocs. They started as this like very basic model, but really what blew them up in popularity was the customizable aspect. Slate also has this thing called Slatelets, which are like gibbets for Crocs. So you can put those little decals on them.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
You can like pimp out your car with all these little decals. So very interesting to see. They're definitely, again, zigging when others are zagging. The global trade war has put a few things in its sights since quote unquote Liberation Day. Multilateral trade agreements, currency manipulation, non-trade barriers. And now it's focused on another major target, the Sheen Hall TikTok videos.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
That's my jam. That would work. You would get the ticket to Hollywood if they still do that. I think so. And now a word from our sponsor, Planet Oat. Neil, you ever try and convince your mom to switch up something about her routine?
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
That's right. And what could be a kill shot to the Sheen Hall TikTok genre? The de minimis exemption will be removed, which has historically allowed small packages under $800 from China and Hong Kong to avoid tariffs and other duties, which have powered companies like Sheen and Timu. Now the products will face a 120% tariff or a flat $100 fee per postal item.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Sheen and Timu announced this change to their customers, saying this would increase the prices on goods, although they were vague on details about which specific products and by how much. Zooming out, Sheen reported $38 billion in total sales in 2024, up 19%. and Timo was reportedly on track to reach $50 billion in sales in 2024.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
The success of these companies inspired other low-priced e-com-powered businesses like Amazon Hall and TikTok Shop. Neil, it feels like the core value prop of Shein was that it was cheap. And if it isn't cheap anymore, are people still going to buy from this company?
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
And this kind of blew up on TikTok, not surprisingly, where people were putting in massive orders to these companies before the tariffs would hit. And so it'll be interesting to see the consumer reaction once the prices do maybe significantly go up.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Also, just to look at the de minimis exemption, which is not something that's common knowledge to everyone, de minimis imports have exploded from $9.2 billion in 2016 to $54.5 billion in 2023. And so the Trump administration clearly has it in its sights and will be removing it.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Exactly, which is why I've got a script for you. You just say, Mom, I found this oat milk that's actually good. Like, really good, creamy, rich, and blends right into your coffee. Then you just hand her the mug? Oh yes, a nice psychological trick.
Morning Brew Daily
Bezos-Backed $20K EV Truck Unveiled & Shein and Temu Raising Prices?
Amazon's got to get some TikTok influencers to do like Amazon Prime hauls and that will skyrocket it.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
It's Stock of the Week, Dog of the Week time, where we have one stock who is like Neil, sitting on a beautiful, warm, tropical island, and one stock that's stuck in freezing cold Minnesota. Toby, I won the James Bond Skill Challenge backstage, so I will go first.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
My Stock of the Week is hims and hers health, which is on an absolute heater lately, starting with their Super Bowl ad, which led to a 650% surge in website visits, new customer registrations hitting all-time highs, and shooting their app up to the number two slot in the health and wellness category on the App Store.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
And to follow that up, Hymnstock has had a massive gain on the news that the company has now acquired Tri-B Labs. The deal will allow the telehealth company to offer at-home blood draws and more comprehensive pre-treatment testing to its users.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Its chief medical officer, Dr. Carroll, said, quote, at-home lab testing is one of the most exciting steps towards elevating the personal, comprehensive care customers in this country should experience. So what does this mean for the stock? Well, so far, Wall Street loves the stock. Shares have soared 141 percent in 2025, entering trading as of Tuesday's close this week.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
And the stock spiked more than 20 percent in news after this deal was announced. Toby, the health and wellness space is so hot right now.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Yeah, personalized medicine, telehealth is all kind of emerging, and some of these companies are going to be big winners in the space.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
My pleasure, Toby. It was fun getting back into MBD prep last night. Felt like I was back in school again.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
I know, and Palantir is a really interesting company because it's like half real company, half meme stock. And they rely so much on retail investors. In fact, Nvidia, Tesla, and SPY, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF, they're the only stocks that have more net inflows from retail investors than Palantir.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
So people on the street really love this company, although it's more of a real company than maybe the AMC meme stock craze. The other thing is, Every meme stock company has to have like an iconic cult like figure. And Carp is no exception to that. This is someone who loves reveling in kind of the spotlight. He loves retail investors. And he says, I actually revere everyone that reveres me.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
And so he has this kind of like cult like personality that people really rally around.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
As much as I trust my improv skills, that sounds awful. I would much rather know what the heck is going on.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
It's interesting, though. I actually think Palantir is much more well-positioned to withstand those cuts than maybe some of the old legacy companies. And you mentioned the Doge-ification of the government. Proximity to Elon Musk is maybe important. Peter Thiel was a co-founder and is on the board of Palantir, who's great friends with Elon Musk.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
And so it feels like this is actually a company that would benefit from reduction from the Department of Defense because they are a little more forward-leaning. They're a little more focused on efficiency. They're a little more innovative than some of these old players. So this could actually be good news for Palantir going forward.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Yeah, I mean, the IRS is in a tough spot also just with general attrition and 63% of the current IRS is eligible to retire within six years. So more cuts, morale is low, people might start retiring. It might not be good news for our refunds getting here on time.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
That's where LinkedIn can help. It lets you target your audience by industry, company, and role, so you can feel prepared knowing your ads will reach the right people.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Yeah, the termination memo read, quote, your continued employment at the agency is not in the public interest, end quote, which that's a savage way to go out. Moving on to the great U.S.-Canada War of 2025, a.k.a. the Four Nations Hockey Tournament.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Now, if you haven't heard of the Four Nations Hockey Tournament, an NHL best-on-best tournament featuring players from Sweden, Finland, Canada, and the U.S., you probably saw some of the clips on social media. National anthems getting booed, fights breaking out on the ice before fans were even in their seats, and tweets about Canada becoming the 51st state or the U.S. becoming the 11th province.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Well, Canada was declared victorious last night after a 3-2 victory against the U.S., but the bigger story was just how electric this tournament was and the demand for tickets. whose prices rivaled those of the Super Bowl. The cheapest ticket was, at one point, hovering around $1,200, according to reseller TickPick.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
That's roughly 450% more expensive than the initial price for the ticket when this in-season NHL tournament was announced. Some of the games also drew 10 million-plus viewers across North America. Toby, since the U.S. lost, I think Morning Brew should have to tweet in English and French all of next week. I agree with you.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
I really wish we won. The tension made the on-ice game a little more electric. And also, these in-season tournaments now are really catching on. The NBA did it. Now the NHL is. So maybe more sports will get into that tournament mode, too.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
If you're interested in testing out LinkedIn ads, LinkedIn will give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. Just go to LinkedIn.com slash MBD. That's LinkedIn.com slash MBD. Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Yeah, and one, I wish I knew that Egyptologist was a job when I was growing up, because sign me up for that. Two, I think we've got to stop digging around tombs. I've seen The Mummy too many times. Great movie. I'm a little worried that some spirits are going to get out here. That is a hot take.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
It is cool that we think we've discovered everything on Earth, but there's still so much more mystery out there. So I'll give you that. It's pretty fun.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Yeah, Toby, you mentioned this at the beginning of the show. This is like a bellwether for retailers. I mean, Walmart is just so massive that how Walmart goes kind of the whole industry goes. I thought the tariffs were very interesting there. CFO John David Rainey said, look, we're not immune from tariffs.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
I think it's about two thirds of what Walmart sells is made is grown or assembled in the U.S., But they still have products coming in from Mexico, from Canada. The tariff situation seems pretty unclear, so they didn't actually talk about that in their guidance. But that is kind of the big cloud over all of this is are things going to get even harder if tariffs come into play?
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Yeah, I think this point about the diversification of Walmart's revenue stream is actually really interesting. Global membership from Walmart, their income grew 16% year over year. That's programs like Walmart Plus, Sam's Club. Their advertising business, as you mentioned, was near about 30%. 24% increase in Walmart Connect. They have these third-party marketplaces now. They're doing pharmacy.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
They're doing same-day delivery. So they've really diversified, and they're kind of becoming a little bit like Amazon, and that's never a bad thing.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
And how Amazon has finally got James Bond over to their side. It's Friday, February 21st. Let's ride.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Yeah, you mentioned the Walmart-Amazon distinction. Walmart, since 2012, has made the most annual revenue of any company in the U.S. I looked at when they first started tracking this in the S&P 500. Do you know, in 1955, what the top company was for revenue?
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
It's actually General Motors, and they made $9.8 billion in revenue. We have accelerated. We have accelerated. So let's move on to the big screen. James Bond has dodged over 4,000 bullets, gone up against 20-plus supervillains, and even once had to skydive into an airplane.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
However, he might have pulled off his greatest feat yet, wriggling out of the stalemate between the Broccoli family, who has had creative control of the franchise for decades, and Amazon, who after their purchase of MGM controlled the distribution rights of the Bond franchise. That's right.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
In a new deal announced yesterday, Amazon and the Broccoli family have formed a new joint venture to house Bond IP with Amazon MGM Studios, gaining creative control. Now, why is this news? Well,
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
The relationship between Amazon and the Broccoli family has been contentious since 2022, with the Broccoli family viewing Bond as a family heirloom to be handled delicately and skeptical that the algorithm-focused Amazon would do Bond justice. Amazon definitely didn't help themselves.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
They kept referring to Bond as, quote, content, which, according to a friend of Barbara Broccoli, felt like a curse word. So what does the new deal open up for Amazon? Well, the Bond franchise, it's one of the highest-grossing IPs series in history with over $7.6 billion in box office sales, with the latest Bond film, No Time to Die, raking in $775 million.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Now Bond can be the crown jewel in the fast-growing media empire Amazon is rapidly building. Toby, the real question is, are you throwing your hat into the ring to be the new Bond?
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
And this is a massive win for Amazon, I think, because they spent about $8.5 billion buying MGM, but then they couldn't unlock the power of James Bond. And there was an article that came on the Wall Street Journal at the end of last year that was about the relationship between Amazon and the broccoli family. I read that and literally was like, there's no way they're getting this.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Two months later, they have it. But it was very, very contentious. Barbara Broccoli literally said these people are effing idiots in reference to Amazon. And she said, quote, don't have temporary people make permanent decisions. So it seems like their idea was to keep ironclad control. I'm not sure how Amazon pulled it off, but now Amazon's in the driver's seat.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
I think it's funny, like, the Broccoli family being like, you have to take this serious. And Amazon's like, yeah, no, we will. And then instantly Jeff Bezos on Instagram, like, who's up? Who wants to play Bond? It's the question everyone wants answered.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
I mean, the branding is something else. I will say, personally, I'm a Tactical Casual type guy. That's how I put it. pull up to the function. Look, I think they're saying their market is for people that need high end security. The real market is people that want to cosplay as billionaires. I mean, we've seen this go viral on TikTok, actually.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
It's like a bunch of 20 somethings who just like want to roll up with bodyguards. And it's kind of a fun thing. There was one where the bodyguards were actually going to get them matcha and coming back. So I think the market, what they say the market is, is not actually the market who's going to take advantage of this. It feels a little gimmicky to me. We'll see if it has staying power, I suppose.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Yeah, the the the CEO, like having the app and saving us, that felt like in bad taste a little bit to me, like saying this app would have saved this person's life. Like, yeah, that that was a little odd to me. But the CEO of this, Nick Sarath, he has another app called Patrol.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
And so there clearly seems to be this market demand for like additional security services and patrol lets neighborhoods basically crowdfund extra security, including like if you raise enough money, you can have drones protecting your neighborhood. So this idea that we need enhanced security seems to be going from individual to even neighborhood level. And they're trying to capitalize on that.
Morning Brew Daily
Walmart Warns of Slow Sales in 2025 & Amazon Takes Over James Bond
Well, first, I just want to say I'm honored to be the MBD Minnesota correspondent. First, that is an honor. No, that's just another day in Minnesota. Parents still have shorts on. They'll walk outside. They go, oh, it's a bit chilly. Let's get on our way. And you go on with your day.
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