Nike and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Hello! Another day, [another monolith](... a mysterious slab — one of ~250 that have appeared unexplained worldwide since 2020 — has cropped up in Colorado, just days after the removal of a similar structure in Las Vegas. Today we’re exploring: - Downtick: Nike’s stock had a very bad Friday. - Smashed: The latest burger trend. - First down: YouTube TV subscribers fell. Have feedback for us? Just hit reply - we'd love to hear from you!   Downtick On Friday, shares in Nike dropped some 20%. That’s the worst day in Nike’s 4+ decades as a public company — a period that’s seen the athletic brand survive recessions, pandemics, supply chain issues, and scandals. The sharp fall came after the world’s most valuable provider of shoes and stuff-to-sweat-in forecast that sales are expected to drop about 10% in its current quarter. As Nate Becker [astutely observes](, that is unusual for Nike not just because the company almost always grows its sales — which topped $51 billion last year — but because this quarter is an Olympic quarter. That means hundreds of Swoosh-adorned athletes will be trying to run, jump, climb, kayak, and pole-vault their way into the history books, to mention but a few of the 329 events that will feature in the upcoming Paris games. Per Becker: “An analysis of financial data going back to the 2000 summer games in Sydney shows that Nike’s sales during Olympic quarters have risen an average of 9.9%, slightly higher than an average of 7.9% during non-Olympic quarters. So a drop of 10% is especially abnormal.” So, why is Nike struggling so much? The bad news for the company is that there isn’t just one factor [being cited](. Its classic footwear lines are struggling, demand in China is soft, sales and traffic to its digital properties are down, and the company is expecting to sell less to wholesalers. One factor, at least in its athletic shoe division, is the rise of competitors like On Running and Hoka — two brands that are at the forefront of the [boom in “running culture”](, as a growing number of communities come together across America, and indeed the world, to embrace the simplest of athletic endeavors. [Read this on the web instead](   Smash hit There’s beauty in simplicity… even for America’s favorite sandwich. After years of burger aficionados stacking up their offerings, consumers are now turning away from complex, topping-heavy buns and towards a more humble hamburger: the smash burger. Indeed, per reporting from the [WSJ](, smash burger-related queries on restaurant review page Yelp more than doubled between 2019 and 2023, according to company data, and Google searches for “smash burger” have increased 10x since the start of 2020, overtaking the ever-popular “chicken burger” by search volume last month. Although pressing patties down on a grill to speed up cooking has been typical of diner chefs for decades, a newfound appreciation for the sear and texture that this technique produces — thanks to the all-important, umami-making [Maillard reaction]( — has seen the smash burger take off. Fast-food chains like [Shake Shack]( and the aptly named Smashburger, which has 220 locations in the US, have seen success with their single- and double-pattied efforts, and the trend has also given rise to social media hits like [7th Street Burger](. Even upmarket eateries are now riding the smash wave, with wagyu beef versions cropping up across the country, and chefs from Michelin-starred restaurants opening smash burger joints in [San Diego]( and [Austin](. Related to the “veggie burger” line on the chart above: [Like most Americans, McDonald’s has given up on Beyond]([Meat](. [Read this on the web instead](   First Down “YouTube TV” might sound like something of an oxymoron — with many turning to YouTube for short hits or highlights — but, since its launch in 2017, the premium service from YouTube had grown steadily to some 8 million subscribers. At least, until Q1 this year, when it took its first backward step. Estimates from MoffettNathanson, [reported by Variety’s VIP+](, reveal that YouTube TV experienced its first quarterly loss of subscribers, dropping 150K paying members, as the virtual pay TV service begins to grapple with the seasonality of live sports offerings. The end of the football season — live TV's largest draw — makes Q1 particularly challenging for pay TV and this year the exodus wasn’t just limited to traditional cable. YouTube execs will be hoping that the lost subscribers return once the season picks back up again come September, as YouTube TV holds the exclusive streaming rights to Sunday Ticket games… particularly because the company is still in the early years of a 2023-2029 deal that’s [reportedly worth]( an eye-watering $2 billion a year. That is, as Variety points out, if the Sunday Ticket still exists following last week’s bumper antitrust trial verdict, in which the NFL was ordered to pay [$4.7 billion]( to plaintiffs. For years, YouTube TV was big tech’s answer to cord-cutting, but its latest quarter proves that consumers don’t exactly care how they get access to the content… once it stops being a draw, they will cancel. [Read this on the web instead](   More Data - Big feelings: Inside Out 2 has continued its impressive run at the box office, surpassing $1B in [sales]( globally — making it the first film to hit the 10-figure mark since Barbie. - More than 51 million people tuned into the presidential debate on CNN last [week](. - Over the last decade, the average number of library visits per user per year has [nearly halved](. - In an attempt to mend its issues, Boeing is acquiring key supplier Spirit AeroSystems for $4.7B... two decades after spinning [them off](. - Grindr is the hottest dating app of the year, with shares up more than 30% [year-to-date]( as of Wednesday, while competitors Match Group and Bumble were both down in the same period.   Hi-Viz - Zoom out: The finalists of a drone photo [competition](. Off the charts: What eye-catching drink were we charting about here? [Answer here.](   Thanks for stopping by! 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