Hot Ones for Sale

Good morning! Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has stepped onto Australian soil as a free man, after pleading guilty to a [single espionage charge in the US](. Today we’re exploring: - To the Moon: The space race 2.0 is heating up. - Content cull: Streamers have been cutting original shows. - Burning desire: BuzzFeed is trying to sell Hot Ones. Have feedback for us? Just hit reply - we'd love to hear from you! TOGETHER WITH [Sponsor Logo](   On Tuesday, the [WSJ reported]( that a lunar capsule carrying the first rock samples from the far side of the moon had touched down on Earth, marking a significant milestone in space exploration. But, unlike the pioneering missions of the space race of decades past, this cutting-edge endeavor wasn’t masterminded by the US or Russia, but by China. Space Race 2.0 China's lunar ambitions have been growing steadily since its Chang'e 1 lunar orbit mission in 2007, with NASA [data]( revealing that the country has now made 9 missions to the Moon. But, collecting rocks is just one small step in China’s plans: the country wants to put astronauts on the surface by 2030 and build a base on the lunar south pole, in conjunction with Russia, by 2035. Meanwhile, after decades focused on the Earth’s orbit and the International Space Station, NASA has rekindled its own lunar ambitions with the Artemis program. Launched in 2017, Artemis has the out-of-this-world [aim]( to "learn how to live and work on another world as we prepare for human missions to Mars". Like China and Russia, America’s plans for a permanent lunar base also center around the strategically important lunar south pole. The risk, of course, is that this new space race exacerbates the tensions between China and the US. There are legal accords, most notably the Outer Space Treaty, which precludes nations from claiming sovereignty over the Moon. But if your chief economic rival is on the Moon and you’re not, then pieces of paper thousands of miles away could be hard to enforce. Furthermore, China isn’t the only new country in this space race, with more than 70 countries now boasting a space [program](. The other difference compared to the 1960s is the new role of private companies: 5 out of the 6 Artemis launches this year are part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, which allows companies to bid on delivering payloads for NASA. America’s most recent mission, for example, saw the Odysseus lander launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. [Read this on the web instead](   Seasons change If you’ve been mindlessly scrolling through streaming services and have been feeling even less enthused than usual, you may not be entirely to blame: almost all major US streamers have been cutting their original TV output this year, according to [new analysis]( from Variety. From content monolith Netflix, which released 203 original shows in the first half of 2023 compared with 174 in H1 ‘24, to Disney+, which has halved its already-slim original TV library as it continues an [apparent shift]( to quality over quantity, shrinkage has hit the streaming world hard. Indeed, of the 8 major streamers Variety studied from Luminate data, only Max and Peacock maintained their output level year over year. All told, the number of original seasons fell 19% at the 8 streamers tracked. For a while, it seemed we might float forever on an endless stream of new series, as companies competed to supply viewers who’d become accustomed to basking in the Golden Age of Television. However, the financial reality of producing content in an increasingly-competitive arena where margins are tight and [churn rates]( are growing is becoming apparent. It’ll be interesting to see how streamers’ original show libraries stack up in the latter half of this year compared to H2 2023, when original production tallies at some major players began to reflect the effects of the extended [Hollywood strikes](. [Read this on the web instead](   [Sponsored by 10 East]( Where sophisticated investors can access private markets For individual investors, sourcing and vetting high-quality, sub-scale private market opportunities poses challenges — information asymmetry, adverse selection, insufficient resources, etc. [Enter 10 East](. 10 East, led by Michael Leffell, is a platform where qualified investors can invest in vetted private credit, real estate, niche venture/private equity, and other one-off investments that aren’t typically available through traditional channels. [10 East principals]( have a 12+ year track record of strong performance across 355+ transactions. And the best part? 10 East offers the flexibility to invest on a deal-by-deal basis, while co-investing alongside industry veterans who have skin-in-the-game. Founders, executives, and portfolio managers from leading firms are diversifying their personal wealth with 10 East. [Join 10 East with complimentary access here*](   Poultry in motion Faced with a wall of debt and agitating [activist investors](, BuzzFeed is trying to sell one of its hottest commodities. But, after months of talks, the struggling media company is yet to find a buyer willing to pay the $70M asking price for First We Feast, the makers of smash-hit YouTube series Hot Ones, per [Bloomberg](. Created by Chris Schonberger and host Sean Evans in 2015, Hot Ones — “the show with hot questions and even hotter wings” — joined BuzzFeed as part of Complex 3 years ago, and now has more than 300 star-studded episodes to its name. However, since Evans has produced the show with BuzzFeed under short-term deal extensions, contract disputes could shake up the tried-and-tested format as negotiations continue. In the wake of BuzzFeed’s disastrous [SPAC merger](, which saw shares tank (once valued at over $1B, BuzzFeed’s market cap is now less than one-tenth of that), the company has been grappling with ways to pay off its $100M+ debt. In February, it sold media start-up Complex for $109M, but retained the crown jewel in the portfolio: Hot Ones. Now, just a few months later, holding onto its prized possession appears to be less of a priority than shoring up its balance sheet. Slow burn Its arguable that the success of Hot Ones — which has garnered many of the channel’s 3B+ views, and is currently vying for a talk show Emmy nomination — justifies the cost, with First We Feast reportedly making $30M in annual revenue... thanks in no small part to its [lucrative sauce business](. Even so, the cynical view might be that $70M is a lot to pay for a media property that’s seeing its audience growth slow. In fact, in the last 3 years, First We Feast has added 3.4 million new YouTube subscribers. In the 3 years before that, it gained 6.6 million. [Read this on the web instead](   More Data - Guac market: Chipotle is prepping for a 50-for-1 [stock split]( after the bell today — one of the biggest the NYSE has ever seen and the first in the chain's 30-year history. - Delivery giant FedEx is continuing its cost-cutting campaign, announcing up to 2,000 [staff layoffs]( in Europe. - Rivian secures up to $5 billion from Volkswagen, sending [shares up more than 50%](. - How North Koreans are [sneaking into American coding jobs](. - Glastonbury Festival, one of the world’s [biggest music events](, kicks off today in the UK, with over 200,000 punters descending on Worthy Farm to see the likes of Coldplay and Dua Lipa perform. Investor access to private markets is widening. That makes it harder to know where to invest your time — but [10 East principals]( have skin-in-the-game and a 12+ year track record of performance across 355+ transactions. [Join 10 East with complimentary access here]( Ad   Hi-Viz - Funny ages: Statistical exploration of how our humor changes as we [get older](. - Check if your future child is likely to be taller than you with this [Reddit heatmap](. Off the charts: Which highly profitable car company were we charting about below? Hint: The company’s first foray into EVs is set to cost more than $500,000. - Porsche - Bugatti - Bentley - Ferrari [Answer here.](   Thanks for stopping by! Have some [feedback](mailto:daily@chartr.co?subject=Feedback&body=Hi, I like the newsletters, but I had a thought for you...) or want to [sponsor this newsletter](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com?subject=I’m interested in advertising with Sherwood Media)?   Not a subscriber? Sign up for free below. 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