☕ Price cut pressure

Elon Musk reveals his master plan... March 02, 2023 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( TOGETHER WITH [The Ascent]( Good morning. We know there are a lot of business-oriented readers in our audience who are responsible for creating financial forecasts for their companies. But if you’re not sure where to start, the brilliant folks at Morning Brew Learning are running a Financial Forecasting Sprint beginning later this month. In just one week, you’ll complete a business budget for this year and gain the skills to build others down the line. [Learn more here](. —Matty Merritt, Jamie Wilde, Max Knoblauch, Abby Rubesntein, Neal Freyman MARKETS Nasdaq 11,379.48 -0.66% S&P 3,951.39 -0.47% Dow 32,661.84 +0.02% 10-Year 3.994% +7.1 bps Bitcoin $23,531.51 +1.54% AMC $6.57 -7.98% *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 4:00am ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Stocks kicked off March like a lamb rather than a lion, with investors still [spooked]( by the bond market’s moves. AMC failed to bring out the magic (or the meme-stock mafia) yesterday, after the movie theater chain reported a loss for its 14th straight quarter and fourth straight year on Tuesday.  BIG PHARMA [Eli Lilly finally gives in to insulin price-cut pressure]( [Syringe outline in front of medicine vials and Eli Lilly logo.]( Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/Getty Images Some diabetic Americans will soon be able to spend less than their monthly internet bill to pick up life-saving medicine. Drugmaker Eli Lilly [said]( yesterday it would slash the list prices for its two most prescribed insulin products, Humalog and Humulin, by 70%. It also said it would cap insulin costs at $35/month when people pay out-of-pocket for the drug. Roughly 8.4 million of the 37 million people living with diabetes in the US rely on insulin, and without it, potentially face kidney failure or death. Insulin-makers like Eli Lilly have received growing social and political pressure over the last few years to make insulin more affordable. That’s because insulin prices have skyrocketed in the last 30 years. For example, Eli Lilly has raised the sticker price for Humalog by more than 1,000% since the ’90s. Lilly is getting ahead of DC drama The Inflation Reduction Act included a $35 monthly insulin price cap for seniors on Medicare, and in his State of the Union address last month, President Biden called for expanding that cap to everyone. Some lawmakers said they would support that expansion if it came up for a vote. Besides seeing the writing on the wall, the company is also likely trying to play nice with Biden and other politicians since it is lobbying for a new bill that would allow weight loss drugs to be covered by Medicare. If you’re feeling a little déjà vu…you’re probably thinking of the viral tweet from November written by Sean Morrow, who paid $8 for a blue checkmark in order to impersonate Eli Lilly and announce that “insulin is free now.” The real pharma company had to issue a correction (which another fake Eli Lilly account [spoofed]() and saw billions evaporate from its market cap. Zoom out: Biden encouraged other Big Pharma companies to join in on the discounting, but fellow insulin-makers Sanofi and Novo Nordisk haven’t yet said whether they’ll follow suit.—MM �  �  �  TOGETHER WITH THE ASCENT [The card credit card experts use]( [The Ascent]( The pros at The Ascent review hundreds of credit cards on the reg. So when [their top experts sign up]( for a card personally, ya know it’s gotta be good. [This top-rated card]( lives up to its rep. It lets you earn up to 5% cash back on rotating categories, which is great on its own. But then, they take it a step further by offering 0% interest until 2024 on purchases and balance transfers. On top of that, there’s no annual fee. Join the experts. [Sign up for this card today](. WORLD Tour de headlines [The aftermath of a train crash in Greece]Vasilis Ververidis/Eurokinissi/motionteam/AFP/Getty Images Tragic train crash in Greece. A head-on [collision]( between a passenger train and a freight train in Greece that the nation’s prime minister preliminarily attributed to “a tragic human error” left at least 43 people dead. The passenger train was traveling from Athens to Thessaloniki with 350 passengers. The fallout from the deadly crash has already begun: Greece’s transportation minister resigned, and the stationmaster at the train’s last stop was arrested. The government called for three days of national mourning starting yesterday. Biden is poised to exercise his first veto. Congress has passed a resolution that would roll back a Department of Labor rule allowing retirement plans to consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when selecting investments—even though President Biden threatened to [veto]( it. If Biden follows through and refuses to sign the bill, it’ll be his first veto as president. The law’s backers could try to override the veto, but they likely don’t have enough votes to succeed. Iranian schoolgirls fall ill in suspected poisonings. Hundreds of schoolgirls have been hospitalized across Iran after apparent poisonings over the past several months. Many in the country suspect that the poisonings are a deliberate attempt to get girls’ schools shut down, but a government official said yesterday that the motive was unknown and no arrests have been made. Iranian women and girls have been at the forefront of protests demanding greater freedom from the government, and activists suspect there is a connection to the attacks. AUTO [Elon Musk unveils Tesla’s ‘master plan’]( [Elon Musk presenting at Tesla's investor day]( Tesla Yesterday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other top execs laid out a big-picture vision for the electric vehicle company’s future at its inaugural [investor day event](. Musk, who recently reclaimed the title of world’s richest person thanks to a $310 billion surge in Tesla stock, called it his “Master Plan 3” (with a straight face) and tried to sell investors on Tesla’s super-long-term goals. A big chunk of the three-hour presentation was about how to save the world by [building]( a “sustainable energy economy”—a feat Musk estimates will cost $10 trillion. Here are some less lofty details of how Tesla plans to reach that goal: - Engineers are working to make vehicle assembly cost 50% less. - The much-delayed Cybertruck will start shipping by the end of this year, lead designer Franz von Holzhausen said. - “We have a whole lab full of arms and legs,” Musk said, talking about the fleet (army?) of robots Tesla’s been building to do human labor eventually. If you’re wondering, “Where’s the rest?”...so are investors, who were hoping for bigger news like a next-gen vehicle reveal. Instead, execs just said that a lower-priced car would be produced at a new plant in Mexico and details would come at a later date. Tesla stock fell more than 5% in after-hours trading following the presentation.—JW �  �  �  TOGETHER WITH INTUIT MAILCHIMP [Intuit Mailchimp]( Right message, right moment, right on. In today’s crowded acquisition market, personalization holds a lot of power. [Create and automate marketing workflows]( that are adaptable, relevant, and—you guessed it—powerfully personal with Mailchimp’s Customer Journey Builder. Users saw up to a 127% (!!!) increase in click rates with these automated sends vs. bulk emails. [Try it out](. SOCIAL MEDIA [Tick tock]( [An animatedGIF of the TikTok logo on a watch face]( Francis Scialabba The “Hold on, you’ve been scrolling for way too long now” guy just got some serious backup. Facing scrutiny over children’s safety on its platform, TikTok said yesterday it would [implement]( a 60-minute daily screen time “limit” for users younger than 18. We put “limit” in quotation marks because it’s really just a prompt, similar to Netflix’s “Are you still watching?” feature. Underage users can enter a passcode to keep scrolling after the prompt pops up, but TikTok says it will force users to make an “active decision” to keep watching. Of course, if TikTok really wanted people to scroll less, they’d ban videos of that guy’s [basement eel pit](. With many experts laying at least partial blame for the teen mental health crisis on social media, TikTok chose the 60-minute limit after consulting experts at Boston Children’s Hospital. Around 67% of American teens use TikTok, and 16% of all teens use it “constantly,” per a Pew Research study released last August. Zoom out: As TikTok makes changes to appease critics, many are still calling for an outright ban of the Chinese-owned app. A House committee yesterday approved a bill that would give President Biden the power to ban TikTok, but the proposal would likely face steep resistance if it makes it to the Senate.—MK �  �  �  GRAB BAG Key performance indicators [Matthew McConaughy saying ]George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight/CBC via Giphy Stat: Salesforce slashed 8,000 jobs this year, but it pays more than $10 million per year to actor Matthew McConaughey to be a [creative advisor]( and TV commercial star, according to the WSJ. Maybe the movie star knows something the rest of us don’t: Maybe the movie star knows something the rest of us don’t: The slimmed-down company reported better-than-expected financial results yesterday and projected big profit gains for the year. CEO Marc Benioff noted that the activist investors who swarmed to the company as it struggled are “making a lot of money today.” Quote: “The heavier the paper, the greater the momentum when you go to throw it.” A pair of Boeing engineers recently earned a spot in the Guinness World Records for clever folding that resulted in the farthest flight ever by a [paper aircraft](. They broke the record by throwing their plane 88 meters (290 feet). While working for an actual airplane-maker might have given them a bit of an edge, the pair spent up to 500 hours using principles of origami and aerodynamics to build different prototypes in hopes of achieving a long-haul paper journey. Read: The surprisingly scientific history of monkey bars. ([Smithsonian Magazine]() NEWS What else is brewing - [Kobe Bryant’s widow](, Vanessa Bryant, secured a $29 million settlement in a lawsuit in which she claimed emergency personnel shared graphic photos of the helicopter crash that killed the basketball star and their daughter. - [YouTube]( plans to add AI features for video creators as the AI arms race heats up. And here are Meta’s [VR and AR hardware]( plans for the next four years. - [“Havana syndrome,”]( the strange acoustic sensations that afflicted US government workers abroad, was not caused by the actions of a foreign adversary, a new US intelligence report said. - [Prince Harry]( and Meghan Markle have been asked to vacate Frogmore Cottage, their former British home, reportedly to make room for Prince Andrew. RECS [To do list Thursday] Don’t forget your sunscreen: Here’s a list of the world’s [best beaches](. Bone up on your paradoxes: Time travel and quantum physics, [explained](. This day in (personal) history: Check out [this website]( that publishes one historical diary entry every day. Party in the back: All the US presidents…but [with mullets](. Retail insights: Retail Brew’s [free newsletter]( is built for retail professionals, delivering industry news, how-to guides, event opportunities, and more to your inbox M–F. Your logo embroidered here: [Great quality shirts]( with your custom embroidered logo starting at just $14.95, including free shipping. $75 minimum order. No Returns Necessary Guarantee. Since 1982. [Queensboro.com](. Trust the Queen.* *This is sponsored advertising content. INSIDE JOBS [1-on-1 with a professional basketball shooting coach]( [Inside Jobs]( Francis Scialabba Inside Jobs, our series on unconventional careers, is back. For BriAnna Garza, a basketball shot is so much more than throwing an orange ball into a hoop. It’s a part of someone’s identity. And there’s a reason Garza thinks deeply about basketball shots—she makes a living from doing it. Garza is a [professional shooting coach](, helping players from youth leagues to the WNBA sharpen their form and improve their overall confidence at the same time. We had a fascinating conversation about what makes free throws unique, who the best shooter in pro basketball is right now, and what you can work on in the gym to improve your shot immediately. If you’re a basketball fan or curious at all about the mechanics of shooting, this interview is a must-read. [Check it out](. GAMES The puzzle section Brew Mini: If you’ve never beaten Neal’s crossword score before, today might be your day. He struggled to a 6:47 time on this Mini. [Play it here](. Three headlines and a lie Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than the estimated wait time to talk to your internet provider’s customer service rep. Can you spot the odd one out? - Hawaii [ranks]( No. 1 in life expectancy and SPAM consumption - FBI [arrests]( Jan. 6 ‘Seditious Panda’ - ‘It’s my girlfriend’: Peru man [found]( with 800-year-old mummy in bag - AI-developed ice cream flavor at Miami shop is making customers [sick]( AROUND THE BREW [Dream big]( [Dream big]( Money With Katie’s [free crash course]( can help you make early retirement a reality. Want to enhance your marketing prowess? The Brief, a one-day marketing summit from Marketing Brew, is back. [Buy your ticket](. Going to SXSW? Join us for happy hour[to network, play shuffleboard, and chat about financial news](. SHARE THE BREW [Share Morning Brew]( with your friends, acquire free Brew swag, and then acquire more friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We’re saying we’ll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. 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