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Are remote layoffs the future? [Advertisement] April 07, 2023 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( TOGETHER WITH [Ooni]( Good morning. It’s Good Friday, which is a market holiday but not a federal holiday. That will result in a highly unusual scenario: When the government releases the pivotal jobs report this morning, the stock market won’t be open to react to it. Investors will have to spend three days marinating in the details before placing their wagers on Monday. Maybe that’s a lesson about resisting knee-jerk reactions, but we’ll leave that for LinkedIn... —Neal Freyman, Matty Merritt, Jamie Wilde MARKETS Nasdaq 12,087.96 +0.76% S&P 4,105.02 +0.36% Dow 33,485.29 +0.01% 10-Year 3.307% -0.6 bps Bitcoin $28,004.42 -0.60% Alphabet $108.42 +3.78% *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 3:00am ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: A tech rally led stocks higher yesterday, but overall this short week was [pretty much a wash](, with the S&P falling just 0.1% since Monday. Investors are treading water without a strong current tugging them in any direction—maybe today’s job report will provide one.  ETHICS [Clarence Thomas’s free vacations could be costly]( [Clarence Thomas in front of a vacation background]( Illustration: Hannah Minn/Photo: Getty When your billionaire friend invites you on their yacht for an island-hopping adventure, you reply, “omw.” Well, unless you’re a Supreme Court justice—then you might want to think twice. Clarence Thomas apparently didn’t get the memo because, according to a [bombshell ProPublica report]( published yesterday, the conservative Supreme Court justice has been whisked around on luxury vacations for 20+ years by the Dallas-based real estate mogul and GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. These gifted vacations, which Thomas didn’t disclose, have alarmed ethics watchdogs and spurred calls by senators to create a binding ethics code for Supreme Court justices. Currently, the SCOTUS justices are the [only federal judges]( who aren’t officially tied to a code of conduct, according to Bloomberg. However, they are required to report when they travel on a private jet (which Thomas did with Crow) and stay at commercial properties like resorts. Since Thomas didn’t disclose these gifts, ethics experts told ProPublica that he appears to have violated the law. Got my toes in the water… What were these luxury vacations Thomas took on Crow’s dime? Some include… - Nine days on a megayacht in Indonesia, a trip that would have cost Thomas and his wife $500,000+ had they paid for it themselves, ProPublica wrote. - Summer stays at Crow’s estate in the Adirondacks, Camp Topridge, where Thomas reportedly came into contact with execs at Verizon and PwC, as well as big GOP donors. In a statement to ProPublica, Crow said that Thomas never asked to be taken on vacations, and his invites were “no different from the hospitality we have extended to our many other dear friends.” But a SCOTUS justice is not like Crow’s other friends, in that they are expected to avoid any appearance of outside influence in order to maintain public trust in the institution. The revelation that Thomas accepted secret gifts from the ultrawealthy shows that he “seems to have completely disregarded his higher ethical obligations,” former government ethics lawyer Virginia Canter told ProPublica.—NF �  �  �  TOGETHER WITH OONI [Greatest thing since sliced]( [Ooni]( Ah, the simple pleasures of making pizza…choosing your fave ingredients, perfecting the sauce–cheese ratio, that mouthwatering first-bite moment. Thanks to Ooni, you can enjoy those joyful moments with loved ones more often. The innovative [Ooni Volt 12]( is an electric pizza oven ready to use wherever there’s a power outlet. No patio? No problem. It’s weather resistant and portable, so you can share your chef skills indoors or outdoors. The Volt reaches a spicy 850°F within 20 minutes and can [cook up a pie in just 90 seconds](. Its adjustable heat source settings help you whip up any style, from classic Neapolitan to cheesy Detroit. Savor the precious moments. [Make pizza](. WORLD Tour de headlines [Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville speaks prior to a vote on his expulsion from the legislature at the State Capitol Building]Seth Herald/Getty Images Tennessee Republicans expel Democrats from the legislature. In a dramatic and controversial move seen only a few times since the Civil War, GOP state representatives [expelled]( two Democrats from the chamber after they joined gun control protests at the Tennessee State Capitol last week—days after six people were killed in a Nashville school shooting. Republicans accused these lawmakers of conducting a “mutiny,” while the expelled Democrats said the GOP was attacking democracy instead of addressing gun violence. Transgender girl can keep racing on her girls track team. The Supreme Court [rejected]( West Virginia’s emergency attempt to remove 12-year-old Becky Pepper-Jackson from her middle school’s girls track team. It was the first time the high court ruled on state-level restrictions on transgender athletes, but more decisions are expected as 19 states have limited transgender students’ participation in athletics in the last three years, according to the ACLU. Also yesterday, the Biden administration proposed barring schools from banning transgender athletes, with certain exceptions. The IRS is hiring. The tax agency, flush with $80 billion in new funding, plans to bring on [30,000 staff]( in the next two years to replenish its depleted workforce, ramp up enforcement, and improve customer service. As part of its “digital first” overhaul, the IRS said it’ll be using data analytics and machine learning to uncover more Al Capone-types and boost government revenue. But Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has told them: No increased auditing of people making less than $400k. WORK [McDonald’s remote layoffs might be the future]( [McDonald's sign]( Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images When McDonald’s cut hundreds of corporate jobs this week, it utilized a pandemic trend that’s still going strong: remote layoffs. The fast-food giant [closed]( corporate offices Monday–Wednesday to remotely lay off a slice of its 45,000 US (and some international) white-collar workers. Telling an employee their position has been eliminated in front of a blurred Zoom background has gotten a lot more common since waves of corporate workers ditched their offices at the onset of the pandemic. But in turning to remote layoffs, some companies have made an awful situation even awful-er: - When Twitter closed its offices to cut nearly 3,700 staffers in November, some employees reported losing access to work emails and Slack in the middle of the night prior to receiving an emailed pink slip. - Google’s parent company, Alphabet, chaotically [laid off]( 6% of its staff in January via email. - Better.com’s CEO infamously laid off 900 employees in a virtual town hall in December 2021. HR experts have mixed feelings. Some argue that finding out the bad news in the comfort of your home is a better alternative to packing up your office plants while catching coworker side-eyes. Plus, why drag someone into the office only to send them back home? But others say email and Zoom are impersonal and relieve managers of taking responsibility for layoffs. + HR Brew talked to experts on how to make the process [less awful](.—MM �  �  �  ENTERTAINMENT [Game adaptations take over the box office]( [Mario looking at you]( Universal Pictures The Super Mario Bros. Movie [warps into theaters]( this weekend, joining a different kind of game → movie adaptation conjured at the box office last weekend, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. What’s going on? All types of games—from analog to digital—are surging in popularity, and Hollywood wants some of that Coin. - The video game industry made about $320 billion last year—levels above what TV and movies earn—and the industry will be worth $482 billion in 2027, Statista estimates. - Board games aren’t quite as lucrative ($11 billion to $13 billion in annual sales) but are growing at a similar clip. The tabletop RPG Dungeons & Dragons had over 50 million players as of 2020, and its audience was growing 33% annually. But can Hollywood reproduce that success? The Super Mario Bros. Movie, despite reviews dissing it as “[8-bit](,” is expected to [gross]( upward of $75 million this Friday to Sunday. That would be the best opening weekend for a video game adaptation ever, spinning past Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Meanwhile, Dungeons & Dragons had a respectable but not block-busting debut last weekend. Whether D&D breaks even on its $150 million production budget (plus marketing!) could depend on if gamers keep seeing it even when Mario yahoos into theaters.—JW �  �  �  TOGETHER WITH TAXACT [TaxAct]( Side-hustle stories. If you love a good motivational story, you’re in luck…because we’ve got two for you. We partnered with TaxAct to hear from two women small-business owners about the 5-to-9 work they’re passionate about—and sprinkled in some tax filing tips along the way. [Watch it now]( + [start your return for free with TaxAct](. GRAB BAG Key performance indicators [Diddy on a $5,000 bill]Morning Brew Stat: Sean “Diddy” Combs revealed that he [pays Sting $5,000 per day]( for sampling the singer’s “Every Breath You Take” on his own 1997 track, “I’ll Be Missing You”—a tribute to Biggie Smalls. Sting has said that Diddy never asked him for permission to sample his song until “after the fact,” but it seems to have worked out because now he’s raking in $1.8 million a year in passive income. Of course, Sting doesn’t really need Diddy’s royalties—he sold his music catalog to Universal Records for ~$300 million last year. Quote: “If you’re in the business, like we are, of creating technology that really enriches people’s lives–you want to know what it’s doing. You want to know how people are feeling about it.” In an interview with GQ, Apple CEO Tim Cook says he [gets up at 5am]( to read customer feedback—and he probably gets a lot of it. Unlike other high-profile execs, Cook’s corporate email address is public (tcook@apple.com), though an army of assistants will probably review your note before it gets to him. Jeff Bezos, on the other hand, has said he spends his mornings “puttering” before his first meeting at 10am. Read: Why everything is the same. ([Alex Murrell]() QUIZ [This Barbie is a quiz]( [Weekly news quiz]( The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz has been compared to opening up the dishwasher to find out someone else already unloaded it. It’s that satisfying. [Ace the quiz](. NEWS What else is brewing - [A Biden administration report]( on the US’ messy pullout from Afghanistan in 2021 mostly blamed former President Trump’s decisions in the region, which “severely constrained” Biden. - [The burrito brawl]( is already over: Sweetgreen agreed to change the name of its Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowl after Chipotle sued it for trademark infringement. The bowl will now be called the Chicken + Chipotle Pepper Bowl. - [Tesla employees]( passed around “highly invasive videos and images” taken by cameras in customers’ cars between 2019 and 2022, according to Reuters. - [Apple]( teased the opening of its first retail store in India. The company said it would be “arriving soon.” - [Starbucks customers]( are complaining that the chain’s new olive oil drinks give them stomach issues. RECS [Friday to-do list] We still don’t know who they are: Satoshi Nakamoto, Elena Ferrante, and [everyone else whose identity remains unknown](. TIL…why [plastic injection molding]( is so important. The word “indictment” was everywhere this week. [Here’s the story]( behind its odd pronunciation. Brain-breaker: This is [the speed of light](, visualized. An investing cheat sheet: Our tax-smart investing cheat sheet will show you how to save thousands every year by investing strategically. [Check it out](. Absolute A game: Peak performance begins in the brain. And the [nootropic brain supplement]( from Mind Lab Pro® can help you unlock your cognitive potential. Check out the [scientifically proven results]( for yourself.* *This is sponsored advertising content. GAMES The puzzle section Picdoku: In today’s Picdoku, you’ll be playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers. [Check it out](. Friday puzzle There is only one number that, when spelled out, has its letters in alphabetical order. Can you name it? AROUND THE BREW [Get smart on analytics]( [Character from SpongeBob crunching the numbers]( SpongeBob SquarePants/Paramount Global via Giphy You won’t fear spreadsheets anymore after taking our Business Analytics Accelerator, which will teach you how companies use datasets and financial models to drive performance. It starts May 1 and runs for seven weeks. [Apply now](. With Money Scoop’s Salary Negotiation guide, you’ll learn how to communicate your value to get a raise. It’s 100% free. [Check out the guide here](. Is ChatGPT disrupting healthcare? Not quite yet, but Healthcare Brew reports on how AI can revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry. [Read it here](. 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. Your referral count: 0 [Click to Share]( Or copy & paste your referral link to others: [morningbrew.com/daily/r/?kid=4904f90a]( ANSWER Forty � � � � � Written by [Neal Freyman](, [Matty Merritt](, and [Jamie Wilde]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. 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