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August 04, 2020 [View Online]( | [Sign Up](
[Daily Brew](
TOGETHER WITH
[Electric](
Good morning. In this issue: the TikTok saga from the Chinese POV, The Rock buys a sports league, we announce an exciting new podcast, and more audience participation.
To everyone on the East Coast, stay dry!
MARKETS
NASDAQ
10,902.80
+ 1.47%
S&P
3,294.62
+ 0.72%
DJIA
26,664.93
+ 0.90%
GOLD
1,993.10
+ 0.36%
10-YR
0.549%
+ 1.40 bps
OIL
40.83
+ 1.39%
*As of market close
- Economy: New metaphor alert, courtesy of Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin: âFour months ago, when we did the first stimulus, we thought the economy faced a pothole and the stimulus put a plate over it so we could navigate. Now escalation of the virus may be making that pothole into a sinkhole and creating a need for a longer plate,â he [said yesterday](.
- Markets: Pothole, sinkhole, the Nasdaq glides right by. The index [closed]( at a record high.
RESTAURANT
[Empty Chairs at Empty Tables](
[Restaurant table without patrons]
Francis Scialabba
Restaurants [across the country]( are folding, but nowhere is the crisis more pronounced than the Brewâs own stomping ground.Â
In July, 83% of NYC bars, restaurants, and nightlife establishments werenât able to pay full rent, according to an [NYC Hospitality Alliance survey]( of 471 businesses. 37% couldnât pay at all.
- Some landlords have tried working with battered tenants: Almost 29% waived some rent. But struggling with bills of their own, most did not.Â
NYCâs commercial tenant eviction moratorium expires tomorrow. The Hospitality Alliance has [asked](Â for an extension, as well as extra support for landlords.Â
The city has tried helping
NYC allowed margs-to-go and, with indoor dining banned indefinitely, set up the Open Restaurants program to convert sidewalks, parking spaces, and even streets into outdoor dining spaces. Nearly 10,000 restaurants [signed up](, helping an estimated 80,000 laid-off employees get back to work.
- But social distancing and reduced capacity means they still arenât bringing in enough foot traffic to cover expenses.Â
Open Restaurants runs through October 31, and NYC is considering options to keep it running through winter for al freezing dining. Yesterday, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised itâll return again next year by June 1.Â
Big picture
Itâs not just restaurants. Over 2,800 NYC businesses have [closed]( since March 1, the most of any major U.S. city, according to Yelp. Of those, minority- and female-owned businesses were likely the most vulnerable.Â
And the forecast is cloudier than Isaias. Small businesses account for more than 3 million jobs in the city, and so far, theyâve already lost 520,000. When the pandemic eases, a third of NYCâs 240,000 small businesses may be gone, per the Partnership for New York City.
+ While weâre here: 100+ execs from some of the U.S.â biggest companies sent a letter to Congress [requesting]( more small business aid.
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GEOPOLITICS
[The TikTok Drama: How Itâs Playing in China](
Not well.Â
By now, youâre aware that the U.S. government has essentially [forced]( Chinese tech company ByteDance to sell its TikTok app to an American firm to keep operating in the U.S. That American firm appears to be Microsoft.Â
Yesterday, both Chinese citizens and the government [went on the attack](. The Communist Party tabloid Global Times called a forced sale the âhunting and lootingâ of TikTok. And hundreds of social media users [took aim]( at ByteDance founder and CEO Zhang Yiming, who they accused of capitulating to the U.S.âChinaâs top economic and political rival.Â
- In a letter to staff yesterday, Zhang conceded, âWe understand their decision in the current macro environment.â
- âTheirâ refers to CFIUS, the U.S. agency that investigates mergers for national security concerns.
Zoom out: On the surface, ByteDance resembles another Chinese tech company, Huawei, which has faced U.S. opposition as itâs tried to expand globally. But Huawei is more strategically important to the Chinese government than ByteDance, the [FT reports](, so Beijing isnât likely to retaliate against the U.S. over TikTok. Â
+ While weâre here: Yesterday, President Trump [said]( the U.S. government should get a âsubstantial portionâ of TikTokâs sale for âmaking it possible for this deal to happen.âÂ
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TECH
[Google Starts Week With a Double Shot](
[Pixel 4a]
Google
Google brushed off last weekâs antitrust drama with two big announcements yesterday.Â
Announcement #1: [A 6.6% stake]( worth $450 million in home security company ADT, which will sell, install, and service Googleâs Nest line of home security devices. The goal is for Nest to become the â[cornerstone](â of ADTâs smart home business.
- By linking up with one of the leading home security providers, Googleâs going toe-to-toe with Amazonâs Echo smart devices and Ring home security system.
Announcement #2: A [trio of new Pixel smartphones](, including the $349 Pixel 4A thatâll start shipping this month. With competition tight in the packed the 4A with the Pixelâs famous camera, a good battery, lots of storage, and priced it lower than Appleâs budget iPhone SE.
- The new phone wonât get much love from carriers, which are focused on 5G compatibility, but Google also announced the Pixel 5 and Pixel 4A 5G, coming this fall with next-gen network support.
Looking ahead...Samsung [answers]( Googleâs call at its Galaxy Unpacked event tomorrow.
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SPONSORED BY ELECTRIC
[Thereâs Nothing Cooler Than This IT Support](#)
[Electric](
And we mean that literally. Because if your company has between 20 and 2,000 employees and you can make decisions about IT, simply [set up a meeting with Electric]( and theyâll give you a free Yeti cooler.
That means you can stop worrying about keeping your company secure AND keeping your drinks cool on a piping hot summer day.
But just who is [Electric]( and why is taking some time to speak with them worth it (besides the Yeti)? Theyâre the IT experts who are reinventing how businesses manage their IT security, support, and devices.Â
Theyâll streamline all those difficult, time-consuming IT processes that you need, but donât want to deal with.Â
And we cannot overstate this; theyâre cool. And they give you cool stuff. Just for having a chill meeting.
[Get the coolest IT support around with Electric](.
SPORTS
[The XFL Is Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place](
[The Rock gif]
Giphy
But for once, thatâs a great place to be. Yesterday, a group consisting of Dwayne âThe Rockâ Johnson, his business partner and ex-wife Dany Garcia, and private equity firm RedBird Capital [agreed to purchase]( the XFL for $15 million, Sportico reports. An auction for the league was set to begin just hours after the announcement.
The backstory: The XFL, a fan-favorite experimental football league, is the brainchild of WWE CEO Vince McMahon. After an inaugural season in 2001 that ended in bankruptcy, the league was resurrected in 2018 before again [succumbing to bankruptcy]( in April after the coronavirus pandemic cut its return season short.
The Rock is literally the perfect buyer
The Miami Hurricanes football player turned wrestling phenomenon turned [cod's worst nigthmare]( turned Kevin Hart sidekick is an expert promoter, and says his decision to [buy the league]( was "rooted deeply in two thingsâmy passion for the game and my desire to always take care of the fans.â
Looking ahead...donât expect any football right away. The XFL will look to [secure media partners]( before even thinking about launching a new season, Axios says.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
[SnapTok? TikChat?](
[Spiderman pointing meme]
Spiderman meme
Remember when Snapchat released Stories and then seemingly every other social network hopped on the bandwagon? Now Snap is the bandwagon-hopper. Yesterday, it announced it's adding âa robustâ music catalog to the app, giving users the [ability to incorporate music]( in their Snaps.Â
Itâs a subtle-but-not-so-subtle bid to attract a potentially fractured TikTok audience thatâs [unclear]( about the future of the app in the U.S.
How itâs different: Unlike TikTok, there [wonât be a public feed]( where you can browse through videos. And when a user clicks on a song featured in a Snap, theyâll be redirected to listen to the full song and get info about the artist and album, rather than seeing other videos using the same song.
Bottom line: With the [looming entry]( of Instagram Reels, the short-form video app market is getting crowded. But Snap says its new feature is meant to capitalize on Snapchat's existing strengthsâfacilitating connections with friends (and now artists) on a one-to-one basis.Â
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WHAT ELSE IS BREWING
- [Lordstown Motors](, an electric truck maker, will go public through a merger with a âblank checkâ company. Itâs the trend du jour.Â
- [Warren Buffettâs]( stake in Apple has tripled in value to more than $100 billion.Â
- [âGot milk?â]( ads are back...but theyâre very different than before.
- [A superintendent]( calls reopening schools a âfantasyâ in a piece for the WaPo.
- [Isaias]( made landfall in the Carolinas as a hurricane last night.
BREW'S BETS
Protect your walls; donât stare at them. Weâve been staring at walls lately. Then we heard about [SimpliSafe](, home security thatâs customizable with smart locks, video doorbells, and sensors monitored 24/7. Just 30 minutes later, we were back to staringâ[filled with the safety and comfort of SimpliSafe](.*
How to beat the S&P by 180%. Art has delivered significantly higher returns than the stock market since 2000 (according to Citi). [Masterworks]( is the easiest and most secure way to profit from art. Picking stocks is hard, investing in paintings by Kaws and Banksy is a no-brainer. Brew readers [skip the 25k waitlist](.*
YouTube rec: Our friends at OZY launched a new talk show featuring real, deep conversations with guests about the biggest issues facing our country. Up this week: heavy hitters like Rep. Karen Bass, Terry Crews, Bethenny Frankel, and Andrew Yang. [You can watch here](.
Tech Tip Tuesday: Emerging Tech Brew writer Ryan Duffy listens to his podcasts at 2x speed and says he would watch his TV shows at 1.5x. Well, he now can enjoy all the squirrel-pitched high-speed binging he wants with [this Chrome extension](.
- Audience participation alert: We know you're tech savvy...why not show it off to 2 million people? [Send in your best tech tips here](, and we'll select a few responses to feature in next week's Tech Tip Tuesday.Â
*This is sponsored advertising content. See Masterworks' disclaimer [here](.Â
FROM THE CREW
[Morning Brewâs Casting for Our Next Podcast](#)
Like most of you, we've have been working from home since March. This has been great for social distancing, but not so good for social debating.
We miss going at it IRL; thereâs nothing better than that feeling when you know youâve made the perfect point in a debate. But beyond that, we miss laughing in the office together over Finance Twitter, media memes, and all the other oddities of the biz world.
So weâre gonna do something about it the only way we know how: with a new podcast. Itâll be an audio + video business talk show featuring two hosts that will become a go-to source for engaging, exciting opinions on all things business. Theyâll cover everything from earnings reports to business trends to whatever a certain Mars-obsessed CEO did that week.
And with the perfect two hosts at the helm, weâre going to incorporate the best of the best: the banter from Pivot, the smart comedy from The Daily Show, the emotion from Mad Money, and the analysis from Stratechery.
Think youâve got what it takes to be a pod pro? [Apply to be a host.](
BRAND OBITUARY
An iconic American brand was retired yesterday. Can you name it? A few clues...
- I was retired as part of a merger with a peer
- My name is an acronym for a service once provided to railroads
- In 2011, I launched an ad campaign called "All. Together. Now."Â
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BRAND OBITUARY ANSWER
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           Â
Written by [Toby Howell](, [Alex Hickey](, and [Neal Freyman](
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