☕️ Getting juicy

Your iPhone could soon fold in half... July 24, 2024 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( PRESENTED BY [Infinity Fuel]( Good morning. The mayor of Saint-Denis, France, revealed who will be carrying the Olympic torch on its last leg to the Eiffel Tower on Friday: hip-hop legend Snoop Dogg. It’s an interesting choice, given the guy doesn’t exactly have a reputation for holding onto hot items. No word yet on the identity of the final torchbearer, who will take the torch from Snoop and light the Olympic cauldron at the opening ceremony. —Holly Van Leuven, Cassandra Cassidy, Sam Klebanov, Adam Epstein, Neal Freyman MARKETS Nasdaq 17,997.35 -0.06% S&P 5,555.74 -0.16% Dow 40,358.09 -0.14% 10-Year 4.239% -2.0 bps Bitcoin $65,614.43 -3.58% Spotify $330.79 +11.96% Data is provided by *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 4:00pm ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Following Monday’s bonanza, stocks ticked back down yesterday as investors parsed a series of [mixed earnings reports](. One that had Wall Street giddy was Spotify’s, which soared after the company reported that price hikes and a new efficiency strategy led to record profits last quarter.  SPORTS [The NBA’s TV contract bidding war is getting juicy]( [Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James in an NBA game]( Stockman/Getty Images The current tit-for-tat between the NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery makes Lucille Bluth and Lucille Austero look sweet. Both entities, along with other media giants, are locked in an old-fashioned TV [bidding war]( over the league’s lucrative new contract. Currently, ESPN (owned by Disney) and TNT Sports, which is responsible for the live sports programming on TNT (owned by Warner Bros. Discovery), are wrapping up an NBA licensing deal that started with the 2016–17 season and lasts through April 2025. It’s rumored to be worth ~$2.6 billion/year for the NBA, with WBD forking over $1.2 billion annually. But WBD is le tired. The company has more than $40 billion in debt. In 2022, while on a cost-cutting spree, CEO David Zaslav cavalierly said, “We don’t have to have the NBA” at an [investor meeting]( and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver took that personally. In its new agreement, the NBA cut off its old friend and found some new ones: - ESPN will be paying $2.8 billion a year for the “A” package, which includes the NBA Finals. - NBC will plunk down $2.6 billion to get the “B” package that TNT currently has. It will get to broadcast the All-Star Game. - Package “C” at $1.8 billion is earmarked for Amazon, which will get a conference final every other year. Down but not out: WBD said it will exercise a “[matching rights provision]( in its current contract, which in theory allows it to pay the NBA the same amount for one of the three packages that a new partner would. It’s reportedly going after the cheapest option—Amazon’s. Live sports still make money. An analyst told MarketWatch that WBD will lose $600 million in annual profit if it loses NBA games. But the NBA would prefer to work with Amazon: Prime Video is in 200+ million homes compared with TNT, which is in 89 million, according to Sports Illustrated. A lawsuit will likely determine if that discrepancy invalidates TNT’s right to match.—HVL PRESENTED BY INFINITY FUEL [Discovered: An “infinite” supply of energy]( [Infinity Fuel]( The renewable energy market is about to get real in 2024: Infinity Fuel is inviting private investors like you to [participate in their first capital raise](. Why invest in Infinity? [The company is pioneering fuel cells that work underwater]( and in space. They’ve already received $50m+ in grants and contracts working with names like NASA, US Navy, and Air Force. Plus, they just made history by launching their tech on Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-23 and NS-24 flight (yes, Jeff Bezos’ spacecraft). Not to mention, William Shatner* joined as Infinity’s brand ambassador and advisory committee member, thanks to their shared goal of a future fueled by clean power. Don’t miss your chance to join their next webinar featuring William Shatner! [Learn more and become one of Infinity’s earliest shareholders while you can](. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#) [Former Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle]Chris Kleponis/Getty Images Secret Service head Kimberly Cheatle resigned. Just one day after enduring a bipartisan grilling on Capitol Hill over the security failures that allowed for the assassination attempt on former President Trump, Cheatle [stepped down]( writing in an email to Secret Service employees that she didn’t want the chorus of criticism to be a distraction. She admitted that the agency “fell short” of its mission to protect US leaders when a gunman managed to fire several shots at Trump and spectators from a nearby roof at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Democrats and Republicans in Congress are now launching a bipartisan task force to investigate the assassination attempt. Zuck’s coming for OpenAI with Meta’s biggest AI model yet. Meta yesterday unveiled Llama 3.1, a powerful new artificial intelligence model that CEO Mark Zuckerberg boasted is “state of the art.” The model, which like previous versions is free to the public, comes with [improved reasoning]( and can instantly synthesize an entire book, Bloomberg reported. The model also includes a new feature that can use photos of a person to create images from prompts like “Imagine me with tattoos.” Zuckerberg said Llama cost hundreds of millions of dollars to train, and successive models will likely cost even more as they get stronger. 🚙 Tesla continued to ride the struggle bus. Profit at Elon Musk’s automaker failed to meet Wall Street’s expectations and fell for the second straight quarter as it tries to power through a period of [weaker demand](. The company also said 2024 growth will be “notably slower” than before, in part due to increased competition from rivals like China’s BYD. Meanwhile, Tesla plans to move ahead with a number of new ventures, including artificial intelligence, a robotaxi, and humanoid robots. PRIVACY [Your data may be driving the prices you pay]( [FTC Chair Lina Khan]( Williams/Getty Images As the old adage goes, what makes you unique could also be what makes you pay more for a Ninja CREAMi…and if so, the FTC wants to find out. The agency announced yesterday that it’s [investigating]( if and how companies use AI to target consumers with individualized pricing based on their personal data, a tactic known as surveillance pricing. The FTC issued civil subpoenas to eight [companies]( in financial services and consulting—including Mastercard, JPMorgan, and McKinsey—that advertise targeted pricing products to clients like Starbucks, McDonald’s, Home Depot, and Kirkland’s. While it’s not accusing any of the companies of wrongdoing, the agency says it’s trying to find out what these pricing products are, what [data]( they collect, who uses them, and how this affects prices. The FTC wants to know if, for example, you’re charged more for cheddar cheese because an algorithm figured out that you’re really into fondue. Sound familiar? Surveillance pricing is a cousin of [dynamic pricing]( which has been used by airlines and ride-hailing companies to charge customers higher prices when there’s higher demand. And, while adjusting prices for different customers is a common sales strategy, the FTC is concerned about the level of specificity—and opacity—involved in surveillance pricing.—CC TOGETHER WITH INFINITY FUEL [Infinity Fuel]( Discovered, an “infinite” supply of energy. The renewable energy market is about to get real in 2024. Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen, Inc. is [inviting private investors to participate in their first capital raise](. They’re pioneering hydrogen fuel cells that work underwater and in space—developed with $50m+ of previous contracts from NASA, the US Navy, and more. [Become one of Infinity’s earliest shareholders while you can](. TECH [Report: Apple will soon fold…the iPhone]( [Folded iPhone]( Scialabba Apple could be taking us back to 2006 when annoying calls were ended by snapping your cell phone shut. The glossy gadget purveyor is [charging ahead]( with creating a flip phone that you can still be addicted to an iPhone that folds like a clam shell, according to The Information. Rumors turn real The more pocket-friendly flip iPhone is a concept that Geek Squad types have speculated about for years, but it now sounds like a concrete plan: - Apple recently contacted suppliers in Asia about manufacturing components for an iPhone that would fold along its width, per The Information. - The company also reportedly gave the new product an official code name, and was granted a patent for the foldable screen this month. Plans could still change, but if they do proceed, Apple’s engineers would need to figure out how to avoid a crease on the screen and make the phone significantly thinner. As with most of Apple’s product releases, a flip iPhone wouldn’t be the first foldable smartphone on the market: Samsung, Google, and Motorola have been selling them for years. Looking ahead…experts expect foldable iPhones to drop no earlier than 2026.—SK STAT [Prime number](#) [Amazon Echo dot device]Jaque Silva/Getty Images “Alexa, throw on some Dave Matthews Band, set my alarm for 6am, and pay us back for the $25 billion you owe us” could be something Amazon CEO Andy Jassy just yelled at his Echo speaker. According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon’s Alexa-enabled smart home devices business, which it launched a decade ago, is a [financial black hole](. Between 2017 and 2021, Amazon lost $25b on devices, despite the 500+ million Alexa-enabled gadgets in use globally. The issue, it seems, is that consumers are not using the intentionally underpriced devices to buy more products through Amazon, as the e-commerce giant hoped they would. Instead, they’re telling the gizmos to check the weather and play “Crash Into Me”—helpful, but not monetizable. WSJ reports that Amazon is now working on a paid Alexa subscription service with new features. NEWS [What else is brewing](#) - [Sen. Bob Menendez]( of New Jersey is reportedly expected to resign next month after he was convicted on all 16 counts in his federal corruption trial. - [General Motors]( announced that it’s restarting its Cruise driverless taxi operations, which it had suspended last year after one of the vehicles hit a pedestrian in San Francisco. - [The Department of Transportation]( is investigating Delta’s flight cancellations following last week’s global tech outage. - [Google’s]( proposed $23 billion takeover of cybersecurity company Wiz reportedly fell apart. The startup is now planning an IPO. - [Philip Morris]( raised its annual profit forecast after it said sales of its ridiculously popular Zyn nicotine pouches could hit 580 million cans this year. - [Best Buy]( refreshed its brand with a new color palette and a holographic spokesperson named Gram. RECS [Wednesday to-do list] Go for gold: [30 US Olympians]( to root for in Paris. Browse: A database of [fictional companies]( like Waystar Royco from HBO’s Succession. Dial M: Alfred Hitchcock’s [25 best films]( ranked. Settle down: Silver Spring, MD, tops Fortune’s list of the [best places to live]( for families. AITA? Kaila and Kyle from Per My Last Email [react to your workplace predicaments](. Oh, high there: Big news, investors—M1 Finance introduced a [High-Yield Cash Account](. This dedicated cash reserve lets you grow your money and invest when you’re ready. [Get a 5.00% APY¹]( *A message from our affiliate partner. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Word Search: What’s your favorite form of potato? Survey your options in today’s [starchy Word Search](. Cousins trivia On National Cousins Day, we’ll give you a pair of people, and you have to decide whether they are cousins or not (doesn’t necessarily have to be first cousins). - Jenny McCarthy and Melissa McCarthy - Al Roker and Lenny Kravitz - Melania Trump and Luka Dončić - Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins - Kim Kardashian and Donald Glover - Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady - Kamala Harris and Calvin Harris 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=a905682a]( ANSWER - Yes (first cousins) - Yes (second cousins) - No, but they are both Slovenian. - Yes (second cousins twice removed) - No - Yes (step-second cousins once removed) - No Word of the Day Today’s Word of the Day is: cavalierly, meaning “in a way that shows a lack of care.” Thanks to Ben from Portland, Oregon, for caring enough to make the suggestion. Submit another [Word of the Day here](. ✢ A Note From Infinity Fuel This is a paid advertisement for Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen, Inc. Reg CF offering. Please read the offering circular at [( * Section 17(b) disclosure. Mr. Shatner is compensated as an Infinity advisor at $10K/month. He also has received options to purchase up to 100K shares vesting over 9 months at an $8.00/share strike price. ✳︎ A Note From Infinity Fuel This is a paid advertisement for Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen, Inc. Reg CF offering. Please read the offering circular at [( Written by [Adam Epstein]( [Holly Van Leuven]( [Cassandra Cassidy]( Sam Klebanov, and [Neal Freyman]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. Interested in podcasts? - Check out ours [here]( [ADVERTISE]( // [CAREERS]( // [SHOP]( // [FAQ]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here](. View our privacy policy [here](. Copyright © 2024 Morning Brew. All rights reserved. 22 W 19th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011