📱NYC sues social media

…and unicorn company herds are thinning out   NYC Mayor Eric Adams (Lev Radin/Getty Images)   Yesterday’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 38,773 (+0.91%) S&P 500 5,030 (+0.58%) Nasdaq 15,906 (+0.30%) Bitcoin $51,689 (-0.33%) Dow Jones 38,773 (+0.91%) S&P 500 5,030 (+0.58%) Nasdaq 15,906 (+0.30%) Bitcoin $51,689 (-0.33%) Hey Snackers, The tooth fairy got the inflation memo: today’s tots are leaving their baby teeth under pillows and finding them [replaced]( with $100 bills, video games, and iPhones. Don’t get any ideas, grownups — loose teeth will just earn you a trip to the dentist. The S&P 500 hit another record high yesterday. Cooling retail sales #s gave investors (spooked by Tuesday’s hot inflation data) some peace of mind. 🧠Hugs & quizzes: Give our [Snacks Seven Quiz]( a little love this Valentine’s Week, and maybe learn something that’ll impress your date. Try the first Q: - [Amazon]( is the most popular shopping app. Which is No. 2? ([Check your answer]( Presidential P.S. US markets will be closed on Monday for Presidents’ Day. We’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday. Mute NYC sues social-media titans, seeking financial retribution for a youth mental-health crisis City Hall showdown… New York City is [suing]( the biggest social-media companies in a battle against swipe addiction among teens and kids. The suit, filed yesterday in a California superior court, alleges that TikTok, [Meta]( [Snap]( and YouTube exploit young users and cost the city $100M/year in mental-health services. The city’s hoping a court will find the platforms financially responsible for their role in the youth crisis. - Hot mic: Meta and TikTok replied, saying they have features and safeguards to address addictive behavior. Snap said its app is focused on connecting close friends and doesn’t open to a content feed. - Hot seat: This month, bipartisan lawmakers blasted the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X, Snap, and Discord during a hearing on child safety, accusing them of fueling the mental-health crisis and not doing enough to prevent online child sexual exploitation. Doom-scrolling disaster… More than half of US teens spend at least four hours a day on social media — with 15% saying they use TikTok “almost constantly.” The Surgeon General has warned that exposure to harmful content can cause anxiety and depression in young people. Lawmakers have had enough: in October, 40+ states sued Meta, accusing it of designing addictive features. Florida and Virginia proposed TikTok bans for kids, but have faced opposition from those who say it could overstep states’ rights and violate free speech. Montana passed a TikTok ban, but a judge blocked it. THE TAKEAWAY Small shields can be big blockers… Despite rising scrutiny and stacked-up lawsuits, holding social platforms legally accountable is tough because of protections that give them immunity from being liable for users’ posts (see: Section 230). But pressure’s mounting: yesterday the Senate secured 60+ backers for its Kids Online Safety Act, which, if passed, would be the first major child online safety measure to clear a congressional chamber in decades. Neigh Unicorn companies have become common, but their herds may be shrinking From myth to mundane… When a venture capitalist coined the term “unicorn” a decade ago, private startups with billion-dollar valuations (think: SpaceX, ByteDance, Epic Games) were rare enough to warrant a fairytale nickname. A new report has found that the # of unicorns [surged]( from 87 to ~1.4K over the past 10 years — less “unicorn” than “horse wearing a party hat,” tbh. In that time, unicorns’ market value has reared up 19X to $4.5T. But with zero-interest-rate days in the distant past, and VC cash drying up, unicorns are becoming rare once again. - Thinning herds: Last year saw 81 unicorns emerge globally, way down from 2022’s 330 (and the lowest in more than five years). 44% of new unicorns were AI related. - Hanging up the horn: About 3.2K private startups closed last year, including former unicorns such as trucking co Convoy (which wiped out investors like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates), and robot pizza co Zume. Running out of pasture… Just 10 unicorns were minted last month, a hefty fall from December’s 2021’s peak of 66. Some may not be mythical at all: 40% of US unicorns are trading at valuations below $1B in secondary markets. Many startups have shied away from fresh funding altogether to avoid lowered valuations. 60% of US unicorns are “zirpcorns”: billion-dollar startups that haven’t raised cash since interest rates were near zero. THE TAKEAWAY In tough times, profit trumps potential… Startups are known for prioritizing growth over profits — a fact VCs were happy to accept during the low-interest-rate days. But as global VC returns went negative in the first three quarters of last year (while the stock market made strong gains), investors turned against big bets: last year VC fundraising hit a six-year low. SATOSH-TEE The Crypto Catch-Up… 🪙 Coins… Franklin Templeton followed other big asset managers including [BlackRock]( and Fidelity in [applying]( for a spot [ethereum]( ETF. While the SEC’s so far undecided, some traders say there’s a 50% chance it’ll make up its mind before June. 🤖 Techy… Solana Mobile said it’d sell a [new version]( of its crypto smartphone (feat. a built-in crypto wallet) after hitting 100K preorders. Investors scooped up the first phone when they realized it came with tokens worth more than the device itself. 🤹‍♀️ Quirky… [Block]( CEO and [bitcoin]( mega-fan Jack Dorsey showed up at the Super Bowl [wearing]( a shirt that said “Satoshi.” Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonymous creator of BTC, which this week regained (and passed) a $1T market cap. What else we're Snackin' - [Ungenius]( Some folks are returning their [Apple]( Vision Pro headsets just two weeks after the device went on sale. Their complaints? Headaches, eye issues, and too few useful apps to justify the $3.5K price tag. - [Stellar]( Chrysler parent [Stellantis]( said it turned a profit on EV sales and that it wouldn’t slow electric production, unlike some rival carmakers. [Ford]( and [GM]( put billions of EV investments on ice as demand cooled. - [Swipe]( As dating-app downloads decline, a Valentine’s Day lawsuit said that [Match]( apps (Hinge, Tinder) encourage “compulsive” use. Suits against social cos including Meta say gamified designs hurt users’ mental health. - [UKO]( The UK and Japan [fell]( into a recession last year with two straight quarters of shrinking GDP. UK officials said their recession was expected to be shallow, and investors actually cheered Japan’s #s. - [Bad$$]( Vox Media and Bustle Digital Group are said to have seen a 15% decline in revenue last year, hurt by weaker ad sales. But so far this year, both digital media cos have seen a 10% ad pop. 🍪 Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to share the Snacks? Invite your friends to sign up [here](. Snack Fact Of the Day Nvidia passed Alphabet to become the US’s third-most-valuable company [Read more]( Friday - Earnings expected from Bridgestone, Cinemark, and PPL Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and ethereum and shares of: Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Block, GM, Match, Nvidia, and Snap Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... [See more]( [Sherwood Terms and Conditions]( • [Our Editorial Principles]( • [Contact Us](mailto:hellosnacks@sherwoodmedia.com) • [Privacy Policy]( • [Advertise with us](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com) [Unsubscribe](