☕️ Permanent happy hour

Landmark discounts for Medicare drugs... August 16, 2024 [View Online]( | [Sign Up]( | [Shop]( [Morning Brew]( PRESENTED BY [LMNT]( Good morning. Fun tidbit from Walmart’s earnings report yesterday: People were scooping up pool noodles by the dozen this summer. In fact, according to CFO David Rainey, combining all the pool noodles sold last quarter would stretch the length of [30,000 football fields](. Americans…anything but the metric system. —Sam Klebanov, Matty Merritt, Molly Liebergall, Adam Epstein, Neal Freyman MARKETS Nasdaq 17,594.50 +2.34% S&P 5,543.22 +1.61% Dow 40,563.06 +1.39% 10-Year 3.926% +11.0 bps Bitcoin $56,879.40 -3.73% Ulta $365.80 +11.17% Data is provided by *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 4:00pm ET. [Here's what these numbers mean.]( - Markets: Last week’s stock sell-off vanished faster than Keyser Söze as Thursday’s session helped the market [fully recoup]( its August losses. It was the sixth straight day of gains for the S&P 500, fueled by more promising data on unemployment and consumer spending. Ulta covered its blemishes with an 11% spike thanks to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway snagging a small stake in the beauty co.  Markets Sponsored by Miso Robotics Fast-food’s future = automation. That’s why brands like White Castle use Miso. Now Miso’s ready to deploy their most advanced robot yet to 100k+ potential US fast-food locations. [Become a Miso shareholder today](. HEALTHCARE [White House wrangles discounts out of Big Pharma]( [Biden and Harris at Medicare price event]( McNamee/Getty Images Uncle Sam unveiled the fruits of its monthslong haggling sesh with Big Pharma in the form of lower prescription drug prices. The Biden administration announced yesterday that Medicare used its newfound power to negotiate with drugmakers to win [landmark discounts]( for 10 widely prescribed drugs to treat ailments like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law two years ago, allows the federal health insurance program to directly bargain with pharma companies for the first time. Permanent happy hour The new pricing will go into effect in 2026, with the costs of some drugs slashed by as much as 79% from 2023 prices, albeit without taking into account existing rebates and discounts. For example, a 30-day supply of… - Arthritis drug Enbrel will go for $2,355 instead of $7,106. - Blood thinner Eliquis, produced by Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer, is getting discounted to $231 from $521. Officials said that if the new price tags had been in place last year, $6 billion would have been saved. Patients’ out-of-pocket spending would’ve been $1.5 billion lower, since they’re often charged a percentage of the total. However, some of the drugs might have become cheaper in the coming years due to expiring patents. Pharma sighs While patient advocacy groups cheered the announcement, and Joe Biden held an official event with Kamala Harris to tout it as a win, the discount-givers aren’t celebrating: - Novartis and Johnson & Johnson claimed that negotiated price reductions will harm patient access to medicines. - Meanwhile, the industry lobbying group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America warned that Medicare flexing its pricing muscles diminishes incentives for new drug discovery. Though drugmakers expect limited financial impacts from the new drug prices, experts say the industry is likely more worried about upcoming negotiations. Looking ahead: By February, Medicare plans to announce 15 additional drugs it wants discounted. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects price concessions from Big Pharma will save the government $100 billion by 2031.—SK PRESENTED BY LMNT [Skip the dog days of summer]( [LMNT]( This summer has been hot—like, record-breaking scorcher kind of hot—so keeping hydrated is serious business. But it’s not just about drinking lots of water. Being optimally hydrated (aka a state called euhydration) is about optimizing your body’s fluid ratios with electrolytes. [LMNT]( helps you balance those critical hydration ratios without dodgy ingredients or public health enemy #1: sugar. LMNT’s formula has a [science-backed electrolyte ratio]( 1,000 mg of sodium, 200 mg of potassium, and 60 mg of magnesium. With optimized electrolyte levels, you can: - maintain steady energy - improve cognitive function (bye, brain fog) - boost endurance Max out your hydration + enjoy this summer to the fullest. [Get a free sample pack with any LMNT purchase](. WORLD [Tour de headlines](#) [A Walmart employee stocks shelves]Chris Hondros/Getty Images Walmart’s smash quarter headlined a retail resurgence. The recession that Bloomberg Economics projected with 100% certainty faded further from imagination yesterday when the Commerce Department revealed that retail sales were up 1% last month—much better than expected. One of the main beneficiaries of US consumer spending was Walmart, which said [sales increased]( by 4.2% last quarter, operating income jumped by 8.5%, and digital sales rocketed up 22%. The retailer also raised its outlook for the rest of the year as shoppers power through their weariness about inflation. Five people were charged in Matthew Perry’s death. Prosecutors said the Friends star’s assistant, [two doctors]( and a drug dealer were among those arrested for his death from a ketamine overdose last year, the Associated Press reported. “These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry’s addiction issues to enrich themselves,” US Attorney Martin Estrada said. Two of the five were arrested yesterday: Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who is charged with distribution of ketamine and falsifying records, and Jasveen Sangha, a drug dealer nicknamed “the ketamine queen” who supplied the drugs that led to Perry’s death. Harris proposes federal ban on price gouging for food and groceries. In the first major economic policy speech of her presidential candidacy, Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce the first-ever [proposal to outlaw]( corporate “price-gouging,” part of a broader agenda to cut costs for consumers. Under the plan, the White House would direct the Federal Trade Commission to punish companies deemed to have unfairly jacked up prices. Republicans criticized the proposal, arguing it’s government overreach that would hurt the corporate sector. AI [X’s new AI image generator is the Wild West]( [AI images generated by Grok. Left: Trump kissing Elon Musk. Right: Trump smoking blunt on Joe Rogan Podacast.]( generated images by Grok, @grok/X Elon Musk’s attempt to make Grok, X’s AI companion, an “anti-woke chatbot” is coming through loud and clear after the social media platform [rolled out]( some image generation capabilities this week. Premium and Premium Plus X users were able to quickly conjure up unhinged images of real people and copyright characters, like Bill Gates snorting cocaine and Pikachu holding a machine gun. - Grok also created sexual images of stars like Taylor Swift, who had previously been targeted with deepfakes. Through a loophole, one X user created violent photos of children being gunned down by Mickey Mouse and Elon Musk. - The chatbot has stopped short of generating fully nude images. Thus far, Grok, which has already been in hot water for misinformation, appears willing to generate photos that competitors like OpenAI and Gemini have tried to block. After being widely roasted for a lack of guardrails, AI companies have scrambled to tweak their image generators fast enough to prevent some Reddit user from making more celeb deepfakes. Behind Grok’s questionable art: The new feature is [powered]( by Black Forest Labs, a Germany-based startup that just raised $31 million from investors like Andreessen Horowitz. The startup has plans to create a text-to-video model soon.—MM TOGETHER WITH MISO ROBOTICS [Miso Robotics]( Remember when humans did that? Working a kitchen deep fryer is tough. So much so that fast-food operators grapple with 150% or more turnover. [Miso has the solution](. Their AI-powered robot, Flippy, has deep fryers mastered, boosting profits by up to 4x. And now, Miso is commercializing their most advanced robot ever across 100k+ potential US fast-food locations. [See why 35k people have already joined them—check out Miso’s investment offering today](. SPORTS [Holy $2b dome]( [Intuit Dome]( Moore/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images This is what retirement looks like for former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the eighth-richest person in the world: buying the Los Angeles Clippers and then building them the Intuit Dome, a spaceship of a stadium that opened yesterday in Inglewood after a decade of construction. The 18,000-seat arena, which will host the 2028 Olympic basketball games, [sports]( some serious tech: - The jewel in its crown, the Halo Board, cost nearly $100 million. It’s a double-sided, 44,000-square-foot wraparound screen that hangs high above the court so fans in any seat can watch clear gameplay. - There are 20 cashierless food spots with checkout via tap-to-pay or facial scan. - Being the least demure fan in the house will be rewarded: Each cushioned seat has decibel meters that detect fan rowdiness, with the loudest receiving discounts on snacks and merchandise via the Clippers app. (Each seat also has a phone charger.) Ballmer balled out. As Microsoft’s largest individual shareholder, Ballmer chose to [finance]( this project himself (rare). He spared no expense on the fan experience: The seats boast the most legroom of any NBA stadium, high-altitude t-shirt cannons democratize merch opportunities for people in the nosebleeds, and the entire section behind one basket is reserved for Clippers diehards.—ML STAT [Prime number: Venti payday](#) [Incoming Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol]Dylan Buell/Getty Images Not since Gob Bluth has anyone had such a good living in Newport Beach, CA. Incoming Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol’s pay package is reportedly worth a preposterous [$113 million]( broken down as follows: - $75 million in stock grants - $28 million in annual pay - $10 million bonus Best of all, Niccol gets to run Starbucks from home in sunny California, only traveling to the company HQ in Seattle as needed. The pay and the perks are mere drops in the bucket for the coffee giant, which added over $21 billion in market cap after news broke this week that Niccol—dubbed “the LeBron James of the restaurant industry”—was joining Sbux from Chipotle. QUIZ [Once in a blue quiz]( [New Friday quiz image]( The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz has been compared to when someone asks for a pen and you get to be the person to give it to them. It’s that satisfying. [Ace the quiz](. NEWS [What else is brewing](#) - [Subway]( reportedly convened an “emergency” meeting of franchisees to reveal plans to boost foot traffic amid a major sales slump. - [Edgar Bronfman Jr.]( the heir to the Seagram beverage empire, is “close” to making a competing offer to buy Paramount Global, which already has an agreement in place to merge with Skydance Media, Bloomberg reported. - [Lockheed Martin]( bought Terran Orbital for $450 million in a bid to take the spacecraft-maker private. - [North Korea]( is set to reopen to tourists for the first time since the start of the Covid pandemic. - [Gaza]( cease-fire talks resumed yesterday among the US, Qatar, Egypt, and Israel—but without Hamas. - [Here’s what to know]( about the alleged hack of 2.9 billion records, including Social Security numbers. RECS [Friday to-do list] Train like an Olympian: Four Olympic and Paralympic athletes [share their workouts](. Make history: In honor of Woodstock’s 55th anniversary, here are Billboard’s [20 most iconic sets]( from the legendary music festival. Summit: Scale Everest without leaving your desk with this [3D map]( of the world’s tallest mountain. Watch: Morning Brew investigates private equity’s role in [Red Lobster’s demise](. Become a bedroom legend: The [Tenuto 2]( is an FDA-registered, doctor-recommended device that’s clinically proven to help with performance anxiety and ED—and provide powerful, 2-person pleasure. [Save 30%]( on yours.* *A message from our sponsor. GAMES [The puzzle section](#) Jigsaw: The Little League World Series is underway in Williamsport, PA, so [take yourself out to the ballgame]( in today’s jigsaw puzzle. Friday puzzle Arrange the digits 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 to form a single fraction that is equal to one-eighth. The numerator contains four digits, while the denominator contains five digits. (There are multiple solutions.) 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 One solution is: 3187/25496. But the one you found probably works, too! [Source]( Word of the Day Today’s Word of the Day is: preposterous, meaning “completely unreasonable and ridiculous.” Thanks to Christy from NJ and several others for the sensible suggestion. Submit another [Word of the Day here](. ✳︎ A Note From Miso Robotics This is a paid advertisement for Miso Robotics’ Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at [invest.misorobotics.com](. Written by [Adam Epstein]( Sam Klebanov, [Matty Merritt]( [Molly Liebergall]( and [Neal Freyman]( Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. 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