McDumped

Good morning! America is still digesting last night’s debate, with calls for President Biden to step down as the Democratic candidate getting [louder](. Today we’re exploring: - Homeworking: How the WFH boom is keeping us OOO. - McDumped: Beyond Meat’s out of the Golden Arches. Have feedback for us? Just hit reply - we'd love to hear from you! TOGETHER WITH [Sponsor Logo](   Homework club The pandemic turned the world upside down. People stockpiled toilet paper, did yoga over Zoom, baked banana bread, bought Pelotons, went crazy for online shopping, and anyone who was even thinking about buying a pool went and [got one](. Pretty much all of those trends have since returned to normal, but a major one has remained: working from home. According to new [data]( published in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Time Use Survey for 2023, ~35% of all employed persons in the US spent the average working day doing at least some of their work from home — up from the previous year, which saw a slight downturn after peaking at ~38% in 2021, and 16% more than two decades ago. Homework club While employees initially had to create home office setups by necessity, factors like work-life balance, reduced time spent commuting, and generally becoming accustomed to the comforts of their own desks (and/or couches) left many with a taste for the hybrid 9-5 model that still lingers today… despite [mounting pressure]( from businesses trying to clamp down on remote working. Indeed, the desire to WFH remains strong: research cited by The [Economist]( indicates that the typical worker worldwide wants 2 days at home — an entire day more than the actual average — and a LinkedIn [survey]( in January found that now only 39% of US employees want a fully in-person job. With WFH looking increasingly established, one sector in particular is struggling to adjust to the new normal: commercial real estate. In fact, although US office vacancy rates are already at record highs, according to a [report]( from Moody’s published yesterday, they are set to continue rising up to 24% by early 2026, driven by the expiration of leases and an influx of new office buildings onto the market. As we [noted earlier]( this week, the pressures on the commercial real estate sector are weighing heavily on REITs and other real estate-exposed stocks… but, while there might be short-term pain, the outlook is not entirely bleak. Moody's foresees vacancy rates eventually stabilizing as redundant offices are either demolished or repurposed into warehouses and residential properties. [Read this on the web instead](   [Sponsored by EnergyX]( Cornering The $112B Battery Market EVs won’t overtake combustion engines without lithium – a lot of it. The problem is extracting lithium — a key component in EV batteries — is painfully slow and wasteful. That’s despite there being “white gold”1 mines sitting untapped in North and South America. [General Motors led a $50M investment round in EnergyX because](: - 🔋 EnergyX’s patented extraction tech is 300% more efficient than conventional methods and takes just two days. - 🚀 Demand for lithium is expected to grow by 20X by the year 2040. - 🗺️ They’ve acquired [90,000 acres of Chilean land for lithium mining and just announced Project Lonestar,]( a commercial lithium plant on U.S. soil supported by a $5M DOE grant. [Learn more about EnergyX and how you can invest in the future of American lithium.2](   Unplanted McDonald’s will likely be meat-free-free in America for the foreseeable future, after the company confirmed at a WSJ forum [on Wednesday]( that the McPlant, a burger made in collaboration with Beyond Meat, failed when it was rolled out in hundreds of locations across California and Texas in 2022. That’s a sizable setback for Beyond, which, despite some serious hype around the brand in earlier years, has never turned a profit and has seen its stock drop ~90% from its 2019 IPO. In its [latest quarter](, the plant-based producer reported net revenues that sunk 18% to $76M, the company’s 8th quarter of shrinking sales in a row. Beyond’s been shouting about its grill-friendly [Beyond IV]( range of burgers and sausages recently, but all anyone else has [been talking about]( is how cooked the brand itself is. Growing concerns around processed food and [waning]( veggie and vegan communities could explain Beyond’s decline in the past few years. Whatever the reason, when consumers stood in a McDonald’s and were given the choice between a beef burger and a Beyond burger, not enough people chose the latter. Beyond America The fake meat co’s fortunes have looked healthier overseas in recent years, with sales in Beyond Meat’s “International” division growing 20% in 2023 compared to the year before. Interestingly, the McPlant is [still available]( across European nations like Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands. However, it appears that America’s meat-free malaise might be starting to spread, with overseas sales down 22% in the first quarter of 2024, which was more extreme than the 16% dropoff seen in the states. Joe Erlinger, the McDonald’s USA president, told the WSJ’s Global Food Forum that he doesn’t think “the US consumer is coming to McDonald’s for the McPlant or other plant based proteins” — if Beyond’s sales are anything to go by, they’re not going direct to source either. [Read this on the web instead](   More Data - Korean online comic giant Webtoon just closed its [first day]( on the US stock market with a ~$2.9B valuation. - McMargins: Analysts estimate that McDonald’s is still making $0.05-0.25 on its [$5 value meals](. - Time has become the latest publisher to broker a content licensing deal with OpenAI, per [Axios reporting](. - The Economist named Vienna as the world’s most liveable city for the 3rd [consecutive year]( — and the highest ranking US city? Honolulu… in 23rd place. - Take a look around the Parisian [Olympic Village](, built for the “greenest” games in history. Chinese companies produce 80% of the world’s lithium. Ramping up American production is critical — and EnergyX has plans to supply lithium to both North and South America. With funding from GM and the US DoE, you can join 24,000 investors by [becoming an EnergyX shareholder today](.2 Ad   Hi-Viz - Less on housing, more on food: Explore how someone your age was spending their money [in 1972](. - Where Americans stand on Trump and Biden, [politics aside](. Off the charts: Which once must-have phone-maker could soon be approaching profitability, after posting growing sales for the first time in 3 years? [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. [Subscribe](   Advertiser’s disclosures: 1 Lithium is referred to as “white gold.” [Center for Strategic and International Studies](, August 2021. 2 Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Start-up investments are speculative and involve a high degree of risk. Those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest in start-ups. Companies seeking startup investment tend to be in earlier stages of development and their business model, products and services may not yet be fully developed, operational or tested in the public marketplace. There is no guarantee that the stated valuation and other terms are accurate or in agreement with the market or industry valuations. Further, investors may receive illiquid and/or restricted stock that may be subject to holding period requirements and/or liquidity concerns. This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX’s Regulation A+ Offering. 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