Musical Chairs

Hi, today we're looking at: (1) How Broadway's holding up, (2) A corporate expensing giant's potential IPO, (3) Amazon's impact on the name Alexa. Good morning! Well, the dream has gone, but the shrimp was real... Red Lobster is [finally filing]( for bankruptcy with a growing crowd pointing to its "[endless shrimp]( deal as a factor in the chain's demise. Today we're exploring: - On Broadway: New York's theaters look a little healthier. - Public expenses: Corporate travel company Navan's potential IPO. - Alexa: Amazon's impact on the once-popular girls' name. Have feedback for us? Just hit reply — we'd love to hear from you! Musical chairs While the pandemic drew the curtain on live musical theater for some time, so far this year, Broadway seems to be successfully calling back audiences. Despite reports that NYC’s hallowed stages and theater halls are [stalling]( weekly attendance figures from The Broadway League via [IBDB]( show that April was actually pretty strong for audience turnout, averaging just under 300K attendees per week — up ~20% from the the same period in 2022 and only ~6% less than in 2019. Although cumulative annual attendance for the 2022-23 season was still down ~17% from its pre-pandemic peak, a flurry of [new show openings]( in April — including 12 premieres in the space of just 9 days — drove figures up to levels that may suggest a return to (show) business as usual. Setting the stage April typically sees a bump in Broadway attendees, since the deadline for the Tonys at the end of the month brings a deluge of show openings in a rush to qualify for the awards. However, notwithstanding more spectators in seats than most other post-pandemic months, this April’s launch frenzy came against a backdrop of skyrocketing operating costs. Indeed, many Broadway productions now take months to break even — if they do at all — and limited, star-studded shows have, in many cases, overtaken musical mainstays in turning a profit. In result, the turnover rate for shows in the 41 theaters comprising Broadway is now much higher, and, as such, the continuation of NYC’s Covid-originated [theater tax subsidy program]( — which has given more than $100M to commercial Broadway giants like Disney’s The Lion King over the last 3 years — is in the spotlight for neglecting nonprofit productions. [Read this on the web instead]( Travel money Navan, a platform that promises to simplify the business of corporate travel and expenses, is still dallying towards its long-slated IPO, with the company’s CEO forecasting that the business will reach profitability this year and is “not far” from [going public](. Counting Heineken, Shopify, Zoom, and Pinterest among its customers, Navan’s made a splash in the working world, as a growing list of organizations use the online booking platform to lighten the logistical hassle of organizing hotels, flights, corporate cards, and other expenses for their employees. The company started life in 2015 as TripActions, but changed its name to a portmanteau of “navigate” and “avant” ([apparently]( as in "avant-garde") in 2023, and whispers of a potential IPO have abounded for years. After seeing its valuation soar above $1B in 2018 and growing further since, the company has reportedly considered going public in [2023]( [2024]( and [2025]( — despite Covid’s impact on the travel industry — [cutting]( its workforce and [building]( its leadership team ahead of the rumored offering. System overload Navan could be viewed as another ripple in the ever-growing wave of software services that companies use to outsource some of their more time-sapping internal processes. There’s all-in-one platforms like Oracle and Workday, which is used — and seemingly [semi-despised]( — by more than 50% of Fortune 500 companies; payroll and HR management tools like Gusto; Workable and Greenhouse, which are for applicant tracking; Checkr, which runs background checks; and a [meme-sparking]( array of others that do almost everything else. [Read this on the web instead]( What’s in a name... While we were exploring the most common baby names in the US [last Monday]( OpenAI announced its latest creation: ChatGPT-4o, an AI-powered voice assistant that makes the last generation of lackey automatons — like Siri, [Google Assistant]( and Alexa — seem a little outdated. That concurrence got our own data cogs whirring, so we decided to dig into a baby-naming trend that’s been brewing for a few years, and ask: where did all the Alexas go? Some 4 decades ago, when US parents welcomed ~68K Michaels into the world, as well as ~54K baby girls named Jennifer, the name Alexa was just a small dot in the American naming psyche, ranking as the 745th most popular name for baby girls in 1983. In the years since, though, the name’s gained traction in the States, according to the SSA, rising to become the 39th most common girl’s name in 2006, when over 6,100 Alexas were born. While the name dropped off a little after that, the steepest decline was just around the corner… Past its Prime When Amazon initially introduced the seminal tech in Nov. 2014, a spike in Alexas was observed in 2015, just as the voice assistant started to be heard in an increasing number of homes. However, the name’s popularity steeply declined in the years following — presumably as people increasingly grew annoyed of saying ‘Alexa’ repeatedly to their children, in addition to their beloved device. Cut to present day: last year, only 490 babies in the US were named ‘Alexa’, and, while ‘Siri’ and ‘Google Assistant’ never really took off, we’ll have to watch this space for any little ‘GPT’s or ‘4o’s. [Read this on the web instead]( More Data • Everyone's got their eyes on Nvidia's coming report, out Wednesday, with the [average analyst]( expecting a 242% jump in rev to $24.6B. • Money (That's What I Got): Paul McCartney apparently only just now became the UK's first billionaire musician, with a [reported net worth]( of $1.27B. • Online archivists have rediscovered and rebooted Archie, the internet's first [search engine](. • Grabbing a slice and sitting out in Central Park has become so popular that NYC authorities have introduced a recycling bin specifically for [pizza boxes](. Hi-Viz • Sample size: Charting how samples have overtaken cover songs in [modern music](. Off the charts: Which notoriously unfashionable fashion brand could climb to become a whopping $3.25 billion business in 2024? [Answer below.] [Answer here](. Thanks for stopping by! Have some [feedback](mailto:daily@chartr.co?subject=Feedback&body=Hi%2C%0A%0AI%20like%20the%20newsletters%2C%20but%20I%20had%20a%20thought%20for%20you...) or want to [sponsor]( newsletter](mailto:james@sherwoodmedia.com?subject=Chartr%20NL%20Sponsorship%20Enquiry%20)? Not a subscriber? Sign up for free below. [Subscribe]( Copyright © 2024 CHARTR LIMITED, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: CHARTR LIMITED 231 Vauxhall Bridge RoadLondon, SW1V 1AD United Kingdom [Add us to your address book]( Don't want charts in your inbox anymore? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](. [Privacy Policy](