Read It And Eat 08/03

Welcome to ‘Read it and Eat’ — your go-to for bite-sized updates on corporate actions in finance, AI and anything I consider newsworthy. Join me twice a week for quick reads, where I serve up the latest insights that matter in the world of business. I also want to celebrate the great and powerful women who are doing great things in their own corners of the earth both great and small!

Major Headlines

• Now Hiring: Astronaut for NASA [Easy Apply]:

• Being an astronaut comes with unique occupational challenges. What other job puts you at risk for your eyeball physically changing shape inmicrogravity, leading to permanent changes in eyesight? Or how about this hazard: Without the force of the Earth beneath our feet, bones become more brittle and muscles atrophy and the food, well, it sucks — by many accounts. (Which is not entirely the fault of the manufacturers of space food. In microgravity, food just tastes blander. Being in space does things to bodily fluids that make one feel like they always Despite the challenges, thousands still look to the stars and dream of themselves among them. The last time NASA opened up applications to become an astronaut in 2021, 12,000 people applied. And on Tuesday, just 10 people from that application pool graduated from NASA’s astronaut training program. If you click “Easy Apply” It will take you to the application page, good luck! [Bloomberg]
  

• Miami Beach Breaks Up with Spring Breakers:

• Miami Beach, in particular, the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties have put out an ad campaign that asks the spring breakers to cancel that flight and Airbnb they have booked and make alternative plans elsewhere. “This isn’t working anymore,” the ad begins. “And it’s not us, it’s you.” “Our idea of a good time is relaxing on the beach, hitting up the spa or checking out a new restaurant,” speakers in the ad continue. “You just want to get drunk in public and ignore laws. Do you even remember what happened last March? That was our breaking point. So we’re breaking up with you.” The city declared a state of emergency and imposed a temporary curfew after separate spring break shootings near the city’s beachfront left two people dead last year. The ad warns any spring breakers this year that they can expect curfews, bag checks, restricted beach access, DUI checkpoints, $100 parking fees and strong police activity to combat drug possession and violence. [Wall Street Journal]
  

• Mike Tyson to Fold Jake Paul… in a boxing match all streamed by Netflix :

• Former YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul will call Mike Tyson out of retirement to face him on the 20th of July. Jake Paul, 27 fought only his tenth fight and would call Tyson, 57, out of retirement to face him. Tyson’s most recent exhibition bout in 2020 even though he has been retired since 2005. Paul said on X: “My sights are set on becoming a world champion, and now I have a chance to prove myself against the greatest heavyweight champion of the world, the baddest man on the planet and the most dangerous boxer of all time. Time to put Iron Mike to sleep.” It’s a Win-Win situation for Jake Paul because all he needs to do is go more than one round with Mike to prove that he is no longer the new kid on the block, but a real contender. All of it would be streamed live on Netflix. [BBC]
  

• Harvard Back to No 1 “Dream School” despite the turmoil:

• After suffering a blow to its brand, Harvard is back on top as this year’s №1 “dream” school, according to a new survey of college-bound students. The Ivy League university beat out previous years’ favourites, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford. The Princeton Review’s 2024 College Hopes and Worries Survey polled nearly 8,000 college applicants between Jan. 15 and Feb. 20, just weeks after Harvard President Claudine Gay resigned amid allegations of plagiarism and controversy over her congressional testimony about antisemitism on campus. Yet, the Ivy League university bested last year’s dream college, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to secure the top spot, according to a new survey of college-bound students.[CNBC]
  

MINOR NEWS

• Foot Locker shares are down ~29% after a disappointing earnings call. [CNBC]

• iPhone sales fall 24% in China. [CNBC]

• Singapore’s Temasek is in discussions to invest in OpenAI [Financial Times]

• Venture Capitalist, Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) in end stages of closing $7B fundraise. [Axios]

• Private Equity bank’s odd relationship in failing banks. [CNBC]

• Disney CEO ‘Extremely Confident’ in 2024 Streaming Profit. [Bloomberg]

• The Euro sees an uptick in use with Central Banks. [Reuters]

• Klarna Investors demand greater control in the Post IPO Structure. [Bloomberg]
  

NEWS OF THE DAY:

The U.K. Newly Planned Tax on Vaping Might Accidentally Turbo-Charge its Sales:

Although this is one of the times that my naiveté might cause me to believe that this is a good thing, and in truth, a tax on Vaping is a good thing as a deterrence to those who want to start and a reason to want those who do to stop but the way the Government wants to implement it is asinine. The government’s desire might seem good-willed at first but let’s put our big boy and big girl brains on here and walk with me. The government has placed taxes on the end consumer, i.e. the total VAT on the item, which makes the vape even more expensive on their end, instead they should have put a tax on the earnings of the tobacco companies if they increased the companies tax liabilities then that would generally force the competition to all increase their prices to make up the difference. In this cart-before-the-horse situation, however, Big Tobacco companies like the British American Tobacco Company (BAT), can decide to take a temporary loss by not adjusting the prices or even make theirs cheaper in order to allow the competition to “sweat it out” (in essence run out of money because they cannot compete) and then when there is a pseudo-monopoly, they one by one hike their prices which causes others to hike their prices.

Not to be an alarmist or anything but this growing Vaping Epidemic might become the U.K’s version of the American Opioid Crisis. However, the signs are there, just as Purdue and other Opioid pain medication makers (Big Pharma) increased the number of milligrams from 20mg to 180mg at its peak after creating their own pseudo-monopolies with the creators of Valium, and Vicodin to increase their own MG, or when Big Tobacco in America upped the amount of nicotine in their vape pens almost 30 times, not 30%, 30x. All this feels like it was birthed in the mind of McKinsey consultants as they have advised the same thing to their clients. I would highly recommend my readers to read “When McKinsey Comes to Town” by Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe, in particular, “Turbocharging the Opioid Crisis,” and “Big Tobacco” Chapters, it is also a free audiobook for paying Spotify subscribers.

There is an understated Tobacco and Nicotine crisis we are facing within Europe and this policy, and its implementation would only Turbocharge the crisis. BAT said it supports the introduction of a “low” excise tax on the nicotine-infused liquid in vapes to better control the market, but said a tax linked to nicotine content would be difficult to enforce. “We encourage the government to implement a vape tax sooner than October 2026 to tackle the illicit market that is already prolific,” a BAT UK spokesperson added unsurprisingly. [Reuters]

Gen-Z Word Of The Day

Standing On Business:

When faced with a situation, you are urged to handle your own affairs with a certain expected level of excellence. To be about your grind/ take care of business.