Episode 527: Toby and Ann dive into the deal reached between the US and Ukraine, where the US will jointly develop Ukraine’s key natural resources after some contentious negotiations. Then, two legacy retailers: Party CIty and Joann Fabrics close up shop, failing to keep up with the rise of ecommerce. Also, the FAA reached an agreement with SpaceX’s Starlink to upgrade its tech infrastructure, but the deal has some critics raising their eyebrows. Plus, PayPal wants to turn Venmo into the #1 payment app in the US. Finally, a recap of the biggest headlines from the day, LinkedIn will even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign so you can try it yourself. Go to LinkedIn.com/MBD Terms and conditions apply. Only on LinkedIn ads. Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. Check out https://linkedin.com/MBD for more! Listen to Morning Brew Daily Here: https://link.chtbl.com/MBD Watch Morning Brew Daily Here: https://www.youtube.com/@MorningBrewDailyShow Hear more from Ann on After Earnings: https://open.spotify.com/show/5I5q3LIg1ueDWoTM8AZsHQ?si=d427df87994941e2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Good morning, Brew Daily Show. I'm Toby Howell.
And I'm Anne Barry.
Today, Ukraine and the U.S. have hashed out a deal to jointly develop the country's mineral deposits.
And Party City, the party's over why all its doors are shutting down.
It's Wednesday, February 26th. Let's ride.
So Toby, before we start, the asteroid that was supposed to hit Earth in 2032 is absolutely not a threat anymore. Astronomers have said do not be concerned about the, quote, city killer flying space rock that was spotted in December and previously projected to have a 3% chance of hitting us.
But after further observation, experts say we are no longer at risk, which basically means, Toby, we're going to have to sit through the release of yet another fast and furious movie. Are you so grateful that this has happened?
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Chapter 2: What are the highlights of the US-Ukraine mineral deal?
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reportedly reached an agreement yesterday over access to the country's deposits of rare earth minerals as the two work towards a ceasefire deal with Russia. The deal, which is expected to be signed Friday, will see Ukraine develop their mineral resources, including oil and gas, with the help from the U.S. This framework replaces earlier U.S.
demands for a $500 billion payout, but is still seen as a way for the U.S. to get a return on investment in Ukraine while potentially opening up access to lucrative mineral deposits. Notably, though, this draft does not include the security guarantees that Ukraine had been pushing for, though U.S.
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Chapter 3: Why are Party City and Joann Fabrics closing down?
And it was actually, they almost were, they suffered from their own success because during the pandemic, they had this huge boost in sales because everyone was just stuck at home, you know, knitting, crocheting. I'm sure I took up calligraphy. I was going to as well. Yeah, I took up calligraphy. And so it just struggled to maintain that momentum.
It struggled with this inventory management, just supply chain disruptions as well, and just a shifting consumer taste. So pour one out for Party City, pour one out for Joanne's. The one thing I will say is that franchisees that represent Party City... are saying that they still plan to run their stores.
So for the foreseeable future, you might see a few Party City locations hanging on because their franchisees are like, we can continue to operate these profitably. So it's not like Party City will be wiped from the face of the earth. You still might see a couple locations dotting around the country.
Still need to keep looking out for this, Toby. It feels like Joanne's stores and Party City is not where it's going to end. Bloomberg reported that Forever 21 is rumored to file for bankruptcy next month. We saw the container store go under. It's since emerged. And we know that True Value Hardware also filed for bankruptcy.
Billabong and Quicksilver stores apparently now rumored to be thinking about disappearing. So, one, we've got to keep watching the graveyard of retail stores.
Remember when everyone feared that Elon Musk might use his position in the government to enrich his own businesses? Well, those conflicts of interest are conflicting after the FAA came to an agreement to use SpaceX's Starlink internet systems to upgrade the IT network it uses to manage U.S. airspace.
The FAA announced this week that it is testing out a few Starlink terminals, one in New Jersey at the FAA's Air Traffic Control Technology Lab, and two in what it called a non-safety critical location in Alaska. But the FAA's experimentation could quickly grow. According to Bloomberg, Musk approved a shipment of 4,000 Starlink terminals to the FAA last week for this initiative.
And on the one hand, this is exactly what people are worried about when it comes to Elon's proximity to the White House. But on the other hand, Starlink could very well provide an improvement to the FAA's aging airspace network, something that has been a priority for years now.
It has been, but let's talk about this conflict of interest piece of it and how that could really influence how this issue is being solved. The FAA does in fact have a contract with Verizon that is designed to upgrade its information technology. So what's a little unclear to me at the moment, is this Dalek swooping in and displacing Verizon? Is this a new contract? Unclear.
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