🏈 Stadium-subsidy szn

…and bitcoin tumbles down Mt. Gox   New taxpayer-funded jaguar head coming soon? (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)   Sponsored by Yesterday’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 39,128 (+0.04%) S&P 500 5,478 (+0.16%) Nasdaq 17,805 (+0.49%) Bitcoin $61,004 (-1.27%) Dow Jones 39,128 (+0.04%) S&P 500 5,478 (+0.16%) Nasdaq 17,805 (+0.49%) Bitcoin $61,004 (-1.27%) Hey Snackers, In a move the White Rabbit would love, Disney World will soon let hotel guests book ride [reservations]( seven days before their trip. Because sprinting to Space Mountain when the gates open isn’t the most fun family-bonding activity. Stocks [ticked]( up yesterday with Amazon crossing $2T and helping to push the Nasdaq into the green. Meantime, the Fed said all 31 big US banks had passed its annual “stress test.” MAKESOMENOISE The NFL’s Panthers and Jaguars score taxpayer infusions as stadium subsidies grow Upgrading the kiss cam… with a little help from taxpayers. The Carolina Panthers [secured]( $650M in public funds this week to renovate Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium. That’s half the $1.3B expected cost to upgrade the nearly 30-year-old facility. (FYI: the Panthers ended last season with the worst record in the NFL.) Nearly 400 miles south, Jacksonville taxpayers will kick in $775M toward the Jaguars’ $1.4B revamp of EverBank Stadium. Economists have said that stadium subsidies don’t provide a net economic benefit for their surrounding metros. The practice doesn’t look to be letting up: - The border war: Kansas officials last week [passed]( a law that would help cover 70% of the expected $3.5B cost of new stadiums if the Chiefs and Royals moved from Missouri. - Browns’ noise: In Cleveland, lawmakers are considering $600M in state funding for a new stadium for the Browns. That would amount to 12x Ohio’s record for state spending on a single pro-stadium project. The money’s not here… Taxpayers have spent ~$30B on stadiums since 1990, but researchers have said the projects — often pitched as investments in jobs and growth — haven’t resulted in notable ROI for taxpayers. A 2021 New York analysis of the state’s $850M stadium subsidy for the Buffalo Bills said the largest revenue source from the deal would come from income taxes paid by the team’s players. THE TAKEAWAY Fandom gives owners leverage… Stadium subsidies gain momentum through pressure on lawmakers who don’t want to be “the one who let ’em go.” Federal legislation to curb the practice hasn’t had much success. Still, when taxpayers have had a say in the matter, they’ve occasionally nixed big subsidy deals. In April, Missouri voters rejected a stadium-financing effort for the Chiefs and Royals, which led to Kansas’ poaching attempt. [Read this online]( Sponsored by EnergyX The Lithium Boom Did you know it takes 10,000 iPhone batteries worth of Lithium to make just 1 EV battery? With 350M+ EVs projected to be sold globally by 2030, demand for Li is projected to soar and current extraction methods won’t be able to meet the demand. So when [EnergyX]( revealed that their technology could extract 300% more lithium than traditional methods, investors everywhere took note. The company has raised [$90M+ of investments from General Motors and others,]( and just last week they announced Project Lonestar, a US lithium plant supported by a $5M Department of Energy grant. EnergyX has opened a retail offering for all investors. This is a unique opportunity to join one of the biggest Fortune 500 companies and invest on the ground floor as EnergyX is set to unlock a massive lithium supply. [Invest in EnergyX at $9/share price before midnight PST tonight.]( GOT-GOX Bitcoin seesaws as investors stare down Mt. Gox’s looming $8.5B crypto repayment Slidin’ down the mountain… Bitcoin’s had a rough week. The OG crypto fell below $60K on Monday and has struggled to climb back to its mid-March highs. The price stumble came after Mt. Gox, a defunct bitcoin exchange, said it would start repaying $8.5B in bitcoin and bitcoin cash to its creditors next month. Some investors feared the newly coin-rich creditors might immediately sell their crypto, which could flood the market and push prices down. - Adding fuel: Traders pointed to the German gov’t, which last week was said to have sold $325M in BTC seized from the operators of a movie-piracy site (authorities confiscated ~$3B). - Dragged down: Crypto-linked companies like Coinbase and MicroStrategy also saw their share prices slip early this week. Worth the wait… Tokyo-based Mt. Gox collapsed and declared bankruptcy in 2014 after a series of hacks, placing 24K customers’ digi assets in legal limbo. At the time, one bitcoin was worth ~$600. Now the Mt. Gox users who’ve been waiting a decade will be (partially) repaid coins worth more than 100x that amount. But [not everyone]( thinks they’ll rush to cash in on their newfound coin wealth. Galaxy Research, a digital asset and blockchain biz, wrote on X that many creditors had the opportunity to sell their claims long ago. Aka: if those Mt. Gox customers are still holding out, they may be in crypto for the long haul. THE TAKEAWAY The “future of finance” is working through its past… Crypto keeps striding toward the mainstream with developments like [spot bitcoin ETFs]( but its foundation was built on rough patches in the margins. Like: Mt. Gox started as a place to trade “Magic: The Gathering” cards. Those rough spots showed up in the markets this week. [Read this online]( What else we're Snackin' - [Volts]( Rivian shares spiked 23% after Volkswagen said it’d invest up to $5B in the e-pickup maker. Rivian has cut costs and teased five new vehicles in a drive to reach its first profit. - [IOU]( A federal judge blocked President Biden’s income-driven student-loan repayment program (aka “SAVE”) from forgiving more debt. The Biden admin’s canceled $5.5B in debt for 414K borrowers since SAVE launched in August. - [Cuff]( Grindr shares gained nearly 40% this year as the biz grew user #s, shared rosy outlooks, and pivoted from hookups. Meanwhile, Tinder parent Match Group and Bumble have struggled to get more paying users. - [Mics]( The year’s first debate between President Biden and former POTUS Trump is tonight, and CNN’s viewership could use a boost. For markets, experts are predicting [volatility]( this election szn. - [Hibit]( Bybit zoomed past Coinbase in March to become the world’s No. 2 crypto exchange by trading volume (behind Binance). The launch of bitcoin ETFs helped Bybit 2x its market share in less than six months. Snack Fact Of the Day Traffic congestion last year cost the US $70B+ [Read more]( Thursday - Q1 GDP - Earnings expected from Walgreens Boots Alliance, McCormick, and Nike Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and shares of: Amazon and Disney Advertiser's disclosures: * 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. 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