🤑 Oh-tani!
Money might not grow on trees, but banks are still called branches. Ohanti signs mega deal, Zelensky visits Biden, Tesla recalls it's entire fleet of cars, and much more!
PRESENTED BY EPILOGUE
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Good mornin’ fellow enthusiast! 🏂
On this day. On December 15, 2011, The Iraq War officially ended as the United States declared that its mission in the country was over.
IN THIS ISSUE
🤑 Uber to join the S&P 500
💰 Ohtani signs record-smashing contract
🇺🇦 Zelenskyy meets with Biden
Image courtesy of The Walt Disney Company
IMPORTANT
🏦 The Fed is prepared to cut rates
This week, the Fed decided to put a pause on interest rates once again, and signalled that there might be rate cuts in early 2024. Even Chairman Jerome Powell said that rate hikes aren’t their main priority anymore.
The market loved this news, with the S&P, Dow Jones, and the S&P/TSX all rising over 1% by day-end trading, and the dollar and treasury bonds dropping.
Despite all of this, interest rates will remain at their 22-year-highs, as the interest rate saga continues.
🚗 Tesla to recall it’s entire fleet
Whoops! Tesla is recalling over 2 million cars in the U.S., nearly all its cars, due to safety concerns with its "Autopilot" system. The recall involves models Y, S, 3, and X produced since October 2012.
An NHTSA investigation revealed problems with Autopilot's driver-attention while driving…resulting in a recall. The recall comes with an over-the-air update, will be provided at no cost, and enhances driver monitoring to prevent distractions.
A tiny side note: In order to even use the autopilot feature you need to purchace an add-on for your Tesla that costs $12,000 or $199 a month.
🗳️ UN votes for Israel-Hamas ceasefire
The United Nations General Assembly held a vote for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. It included the release of hostages, compliance with international law, and the protection of citizens.
Out of the 193 members, 153 voted in favour, 10 against, and 23 abstained, resulting in a majority vote in favour.
The U.S. tried to amend the resolution, adding a paragraph that said the assembly "unequivocally rejects and condemns the heinous terrorist attacks by Hamas," but it was voted down.
So, what does this vote mean for the conflict? Absolutely nothing, but it shows what other countries are thinking about the war.
FINANCE
Image courtesy of AP
🤑 Uber to join the S&P 500
Uber is set to join the S&P club, replacing Sealed Air Corp. The official addition will take place on December 18, 2023, as announced by Dow Jones earlier this month. Uber's stock rose over 2% following the announcement.
To meet the S&P's criteria, companies must have positive earnings in the most recent quarter and the last four quarters, as well as a market cap of over $14.5 billion. Uber reported $221 million in profit for Q3, $1 billion in profit in the past four quarters, and with a market cap of $128 billion—they are pretty well-qualified.
👮♂️ That’s called corruption
A former Facebook (now Meta) diversity executive, Barbara Furlow-Smiles, pled guilty to fraud, admitting to stealing over $4 million from the company.
Here’s how she did it: She connected PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App to her Facebook credit cards and transferred funds to friends, family, and colleagues for services to Facebook that were never provided.
She would cover up the transactions by submitting fake expense reports and by providing false expenses to her colleagues for work on company programs or events. Basically, she moved the transactions away from herself, pinned them onto her colleagues, and lied about where the transactions came from.
These colleagues had no idea where the money came from and returned most of it as kickbacks to Furlow-Smiles in cash or through transfers to accounts in her husband’s name. She would then use the money to have a luxury lifestyle in California and Georgia.
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✍️ Wills reach all time lows
PRESENTED BY EPILOGUE
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BUSINESS
Image courtesy of Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
💰 Ohtani signs contract for $700 million
Shohei Ohtani, one of the most anticipated free agents in baseball history, signed a groundbreaking $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday. The biggest professional sports deal in history.
The contract is structured quite…what’s the word…interesting, with Ohtani receiving only $20 million over the next decade.
The deal includes $680 million deferred payments, payable 2034-43, and adds a $46 million luxury tax to the Dodgers' yearly payroll.
Ohtani's contract, combined with Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, increases the Dodgers’ deferred payments owed to a whopping $857 million from 2033-44.
🏆 #1 Victory Royale
Back in 2020, Epic Games sued Google for running an app store monopoly, and now, the creator of Fortnite has finally won…three years later.
A jury found Google guilty of operating an illegal monopoly, but Google plans to fight the outcome, saying it has transparency and fair competition on all Android and Google Play platforms.
The decision rose questions about Google's 30% transaction fees for app developers, which is identical to Apple’s app store, who Epic also sued for the same reason.
POLITICS
Image courtesy of Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images
🇺🇦 Zelensky meets with Biden
Zelensky visited Washington again this week, marking his third visit to Biden, as an attempt to receive additional military aid from Congress before the approved amount runs dry.
Biden sees the Ukrainian conflict as important struggle between democracies and autocracies. However, the visit really did nothing, and was mostly closed-door sessions and a quiet welcome. Additional aid has not yet been approved.
⚡️COP28 deal reached
After two weeks of negotiations, almost 200 countries at the Cop28 climate summit reached an historic deal calling all nations to start transitioning away from fossil fuels by the year 2025.
Despite mixed feelings, the deal once again set the 1.5°C goal, and called for an increase in renewable energy and other clean energy sources. It also acknowledged the need for trillions of dollars in climate finance.
The next summit, Cop29, is scheduled for November 2024 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
📚 Book of the Week
How to Win Friends & Influence People
Book Description:
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Three fundamental techniques in handling people
The six ways to make people like you
The twelve ways to win people to you way of thinking
The nine ways to change people without arousing resentment
That’s today’s issue, thank you for reading!