☕ Kebab crisis

Google unveiled the next big thing for AI-designed drugs... May 09, 2024 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( PRESENTED BY [SmartAsset]( Good morning. Everyone is returning to the office these days—even The Office. Yesterday, Peacock announced it was picking up a new iteration of The Office that will be set in the same universe and filmed in a mockumentary style similar to the Steve Carrell classic. Instead of focusing on a struggling paper company in Scranton, V2 of The Office will explore the workplace dynamics of “a dying historic Midwestern newspaper and the publisher trying to revive it with volunteer reporters.” *Stares blankly at camera* —Holly Van Leuven, Cassandra Cassidy, Matty Merritt, Abby Rubenstein, Neal Freyman MARKETS Nasdaq 16,302.76 -0.18% S&P 5,187.67 -0.00% Dow 39,056.39 +0.44% 10-Year 4.492% +2.9 bps Bitcoin $61,537.25 -1.26% Shopify $62.73 -18.59% Data is provided by *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 3:00am ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Stocks were mixed yesterday, but nothing could stop the Dow, which notched its [sixth straight]( trading day on the rise. Shopify’s value plunged by nearly $20 billion after the online payments company released a gloomy forecast for this quarter. It’s the latest pandemic darling to stumble: According to the FT, the firms that skyrocketed during lockdowns have [lost]( a collective $1.5 trillion in value since the end of 2020.  Markets Sponsored by GolfSuites The sweetest swing: Join golf entertainment’s revolution alongside an OG Shark Tank investor. GolfSuites aims to add 3x+ locations by 2026. [Invest before their share price changes tonight](. BIOTECH [The next drug you take may be designed by AI]( [A prescription drug bottle filled with 0s and 1s to represent binary code. ]( Scialabba If humankind ever gets drugs that cure cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, we might have AI to thank. Because each attempt to make a drug requires vast amounts of data, money, and experimentation, biotech companies have bet big on machine-learning models to develop brand-new ones and help match patients to the right medications for their biochemistry. Google raised the stakes yesterday when its DeepMind AI research laboratory, in partnership with Isomorphic Labs, [released AlphaFold 3]( an AI model that “predicts the structure and interactions of all of life’s molecules.” Why is that a big deal? Google is hoping to improve on the current drug discovery process, which has a 90% failure rate, largely because scientists have a limited map of all the tiny components of the human body and the ways diseases interact with them. - Explaining the potential of AI pharma development generally, the CEO of a drug startup told the [MIT Technology Review]( “All of Big Pharma taken together…has an ingredient list of at most 10 million molecules to build drugs from.” But, he explained, the number of molecules that exist is thought to be a decillion, a number with 33 zeros rather than 7. And that’s where the computational power of machine-learning models comes in. - If the AI can predict how a proposed drug will affect the body, it can find promising candidates more quickly. AlphaFold 3 will allow researchers to test more hypotheses before committing to the slow and expensive testing protocols that still need to be carried out IRL before a new drug gets approved. Access to the tool will be free for noncommercial use. What about AI hallucinations? What’s bad for your report on Richard III may be great for drug R&D. Scientists have said that AI’s [norm-shattering conjectures]( are sometimes fruitful. The fine print: While independent scientists hailed AlphaFold 3 as a significant step forward, the system is “not good at predicting how proteins can change shape in living systems in response to their environment,” the Guardian said, which could impact drug efficacy in the real world.—HVL PRESENTED BY SMARTASSET [Startup disrupting the retirement industry]( [SmartAsset]( This Princeton grad’s startup raised $161m to [help people plan for retirement](. If you’re one of the whopping 110m Americans over age 50—or a wise millennial planning ahead—SmartAsset’s no-cost tool makes it easy to find vetted financial advisors who serve your area. Research suggests that people who work with a financial advisor could end up with 15% more money to spend in retirement.¹ Ready to kick-start your retirement plans? Try SmartAsset’s [no-cost tool]( to get matched with up to three financial advisors serving your area, each legally bound to work in your best interests. It’s never too late to work toward financial freedom. [Get your financial advisor matches today](. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#) [Ex FTX CEO SBF testifying to Congress in 2021 ]SBF in the simpler days of 2021. C-SPAN via giphy. FTX’s customers are getting their money back—plus interest. This probably isn’t an outcome anyone would have bet on when the crypto exchange imploded in 2022 (except maybe FTX’s notoriously risk-embracing founder, Sam Bankman-Fried), but attorneys for the bankrupt company say they’ve found enough cash to [pay back]( its customers with interest. The recovery of the crypto market plus the ability to sell assets like a stake in AI company Anthropic will give FTX as much as $16.3 billion to distribute, the lawyers said. The plan still has to be okayed by a judge, but current CEO John Ray, who took over FTX after its collapse, noted, “In any bankruptcy, this is just an unbelievable result.” However, there won’t be money left for the investors that backed FTX. Uber profits hit the brakes. Last year, Uber boasted its first full-year profit since going public. But yesterday, the company reported a [surprise loss]( for the first quarter of 2024, dashing investors’ hopes for steady profits and sending its stock way down. The disappointing numbers suggested Uber’s growth has slowed and reflected the toll that constant legal battles with regulators are taking on the company’s finances. Meanwhile, Uber’s smaller rival Lyft appears to have its foot on the gas pedal. It posted better-than-expected quarterly results on Tuesday and saw a stock bump yesterday. Microsoft is investing $3.3 billion in a Wisconsin AI hub. The software giant plans to put the cash toward creating an [AI data center](. President Biden was on hand in Wisconsin yesterday to help announce the news—and not just to tout a big investment that’s expected to create jobs. The president also likely wanted to tweak his Republican rival Donald Trump, who during his own presidency announced a $10 billion investment by Foxconn to create a factory on the same land, a plan that never came to fruition. FINANCE [Trial begins for alleged Wall Street schemer]( [Bill Hwang]( Platt/Getty Images The trial of the cryptic investor who allegedly masterminded one of Wall Street’s strangest and most far-reaching white-collar crimes [began]( yesterday, three years after his firm, Archegos, imploded in a matter of days. Bill Hwang, a Korean pastor’s son who had an epic Wall Street rise and an equally epic fall, now faces 11 [counts]( of racketeering, conspiracy, and fraud relating to an alleged “pump-and-brag” [scheme]( in which Hwang—through Archegos, his family office—inflated the value of stocks using billions of dollars borrowed from banks. - At one point, Archegos’s stock portfolio was worth over $100 billion. But when the firm collapsed over a little more than a week in 2021, it wiped out all of that value—including over half the value of media conglomerate Viacom. - Credit Suisse also took a $5.5 billion hit when Archegos went belly-up, contributing to the bank’s 2023 demise. Why Wall Street is watching: 1) Hwang got his start in the business working for a legendary hedge fund manager 2) the outcome could impact how family office funds are regulated and 3) Hwang’s strategy wasn’t profitable. Even the judge presiding over the case [admitted]( to being confused about what Hwang was trying to do, and if prosecutors can’t explain it, they might have a hard time convincing a jury he acted criminally.—CC TOGETHER WITH ENERGYX [EnergyX]( The lithium boom. One EV needs 10k smartphone batteries’ worth of lithium, and forecasts expect 350m+ EVs by 2030. Well, [EnergyX can extract 300% more lithium]( than today’s methods. That’s earned them a $50m investment from GM, a $5m DOE grant, and acquired land with ~5.5m tons of lithium. Now they’re accepting shareholders for a limited time. [Invest here](. FOOD [German political party wants a price cap on...kebabs]( [Worker shaving meat of vertical rotisserie.]( Berry/Getty Images In a move that feels like it was pitched by an angry middle-school student council, a German political party said it would propose a government price cap on doner kebabs, a popular street food in the country. Around [$7.5 billion]( worth of doner kebabs—a Turkish dish that involves tossing some shaved meat + fixins on a flatbread—are sold every year in Germany. But young people and some politicians are complaining that the formerly cheap meal is now almost out of reach for ordinary Germans. - Some businesses have raised kebab prices from ~$4 two years ago to nearly $11, according to Germany’s left-wing Die Linke party. - The party wants a cap of $5.30 per sandwich and for the German government to subsidize the popular dish, proposing that every household get a voucher for their daily doner. Foodflation: While this might seem like a political stunt, people get riled up about about the price of their favorite noshes inflating. Last year, the Italian government called an [emergency meeting]( to discuss pasta prices rising over 16% two months in a row. French President Emmanuel Macron has made [statements]( about shielding the baguette from rising energy costs. And US East Coasters were not happy when they saw the [exorbitant price tag]( on a Double Quarter Pounder at a McD’s in Connecticut.—MM GRAB BAG [Key performance indicators](#) [Taylor Swift performing during the Eras Tour]Don Arnold, TAS24/Getty Images Stat: There’s one major attraction Americans are flocking to Europe to see: Taylor Swift. The European leg of her Eras Tours kicks off today in Paris, and her concerts will bring five times more US [luxury travelers]( to the city than the upcoming Olympics, high-end travel agency Embark Beyond told Bloomberg. And it’s not just the richest Swifties willing to use their fortnight’s vacation to catch the show: The Associated Press [reports]( that some American fans are following the singer to Europe after realizing that stricter restrictions on ticket prices made it cheaper to see her there. In Paris, 20% of tickets were snapped up by Americans, and when Swift performs in Stockholm, 10,000 Americans are expected to attend. Quote: “[It] was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.” Apologies for hitting you with that mental image while you’re trying to enjoy your morning coffee, but don’t blame us—blame the New York Times, which [dug up]( a 2012 deposition in which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said a doctor believed that’s what happened to him. Kennedy, now an independent candidate for president despite the objections of some members of his famous family, recounted in his deposition that a doctor told him that a dark spot on scans of his brain was a deceased parasite. In the deposition, Kennedy said the incident caused cognitive problems, but he told the NYT he has fully recovered and there are no aftereffects. Read: Your phone can tell when you’re depressed. ([Vox]( NEWS [What else is brewing](#) - [President Biden]( said the US will not supply Israel with offensive weapons if it launches a major assault on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza to which many Palestinians have fled during the war, but would continue to send defensive weapons. - [Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery]( plan to offer a bundle of their streaming services: Hulu, Disney+, and Max. It's like cable, but you can watch it on a way smaller screen. - [A Georgia appeals court]( agreed to consider Donald Trump’s attempt to get Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis tossed from the election interference case against him. - [Shohei Ohtani’s former interpreter]( will plead guilty to bank and tax fraud in a case stemming from his sports betting scandal and will be required to repay the Dodgers star nearly $17 million, prosecutors say. - [Neuralink]( said a part of its first implant in a human brain has malfunctioned, though the patient is still able to use the brain-computer interface system. - [House Speaker Mike Johnson]( survived Marjorie Taylor Greene’s effort to oust him, in part by getting help from Democrats. - [A record-breaking 30%]( of the world’s electricity was produced by renewables last year as wind and solar power got more popular. RECS [To do list Thursday] Royally concerned: Why brands that use the UK royal family’s [coat of arms]( are sweating right now. Watch: Everything you ever wanted to know [about tomatoes](. Trade: Level up your closet with an online community [clothing swap](. Practically twins: Find out what food product was born the [same year as you](. Last chance: Time is running out to join the program students say is “the best way to cut through the AI noise.” [Get 20% off using code BREW20](. Save $2k on summer flights…for life: Every year, fly round-trip to Europe from $299 or Hawaii (in business class) from $800. Dollar Flight Club’s [lifetime membership]( is just $129 (was $1,690) until midnight tonight, [so don’t wait]( *A message from our sponsor. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Brew Mini: Slither your way through today’s Mini [here](. Three Headlines and a Lie We love a theme, and Tesla’s Cybertruck release has been plagued with so many mishaps that we rounded up three real headlines about it and one that’s faker than your friend who keeps saying his is backordered. Can you spot the odd one out? - Texas Cybertruck parade [canceled]( after no one signs up - 'One folly to the next': Cybertruck blunders [mocked]( by locals on wealthy island - Cybertruck owner [breaks]( his finger trying to show vehicle is safe - Sharp edge [slashes]( Cybertruck owners leg open, but he still loves the truck ANSWER We made up the one about the parade. Word of the Day Today’s Word of the Day is: fortnight, meaning “two weeks.” Thanks to Alison Barfoot from Uganda and several other readers for the timely suggestion. Submit another [Word of the Day here](. ✷ A Note From GolfSuites This is a paid advertisement for GolfSuites 1, Inc.’s Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at [invest.golfsuites.com](. ✢ A Note From SmartAsset 1. [The Journal of Retirement, winter 2020](. The projections or other information regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of your future results. Please follow the link to see the methodologies employed in the [The Journal of Retirement study](. ✳︎ A Note From EnergyX This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX’s Regulation A+ offering. Please read the offering circular at [invest.energyx.com/](. Written by [Neal Freyman]( [Abigail Rubenstein]( [Holly Van Leuven]( [Cassandra Cassidy]( and [Matty Merritt]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. [ADVERTISE]( // [CAREERS]( // [SHOP]( // [FAQ]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here](. View our privacy policy [here](. Copyright © 2024 Morning Brew. All rights reserved. 22 W 19th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011