- __[Dismissal](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/3do8YTeMc1o5ouXYxDJMjM/articles/2VeNxgBDUGn9Tyo5q82MGq/):__ The FTC was disappointed when a judge failed to Like its antitrust complaint against __[Facebook](https://robinhood.com/stocks/FB)__. 
- __[Tok](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/4pL5CXoQ8WqEd2krxJNCcR/articles/4xlYC1FzgdfLlf3hjCbsBz/):__  __TikTok__ is rolling out longer videos, but the real story is its Chinese sister Douyin. 
- __[Spaghetti](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/5MbpAg6JNCCUZT9rzZmVeK/articles/1TtaqnhsNW91YZNIQTFbsb/):__ __[Bumble](https://robinhood.com/stocks/BMBL)__ is opening its first restaurant to facilitate IRL connections. But it's not about dating — it's about relevance.


ICYMI

Last week's highlights...

Snacks

"The Big Short" investor Michael Burry has de-registered his hedge fund, Scion Asset Management, acc...

Hyunsoo Rim

Data Reporter

Markets

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Claire Yubin Oh

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Power

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Jon Keegan

Tech Reporter

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 saw orders from AI hyperscalers accelerate in its most recent quarter, the company reported Wednesd...

Matt Phillips

Senior Markets Correspondent 

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Tasha Matsumoto

Editorial Operations Manager

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Luke Kawa

Markets Editor

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Typically when consumers shell out for a new  iPhone, their preferred color is black or something cl...

Rani Molla

XRP, the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is getting another US-based ETF.  C...

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Crypto Reporter

Crypto

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Culture

US-listed ADRs of  reached their highest point since the early 2000s on Wednesday as investors conti...

Two directors at  bought over $1 million in company stock on Tuesday, a vote of confidence that bett...

A judge in the  copyright lawsuit against OpenAI (and ) has ordered that the ChatGPT maker hand over...

__Alexa, play "In My Life" by The Beatles...__ Jeff Bezos is feeling post-Prime Day nostalgia. Yesterday, __[Amazon](https://robinhood.com/stocks/AMZN)__'s founder officially stepped down as CEO after 27 years at the helm. The 'Zon has come a long way since 1995, when Bezos sold the site's first book from his Seattle garage. Bezos had left a cushy hedge fund job to take a risk on his ecomm idea, [saying](https://yourstory.com/2020/02/jeff-bezos-boss-david-shaw-ecommerce-amazon/amp) "Even if I fail, I would not have any regrets." Spoiler: *he didn't fail*. 

- __Enter Jassy:__ Andy Jassy = Amazon's new CEO. The Amazon lifer was the CEO of AWS, Amazon's *massive* cloud computing service ($45B in annual sales).    
- __Exit Bezos:__ Kind of. Bezos is now exec chairman, focusing on new Amazon products and special projects. 
- __Cue investors:__ Amazon stock barely budged when the transition was [announced](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/74ToixyRpxD4zT2RPAUqb/articles/1TzZuEtqxwSJ5xwQGSycsr/) in February, signaling investors have confidence in the shift.

__Special delivery...__ CEO onboarding packet, coming in *bulky*. Jassy is inheriting an ecomm and cloud leader with side-hustles in hardware, grocery, advertising, healthcare, streaming, *and* Hollywood (see: [MGM acquisition](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/1N31BqWqFLT91MgZLUXNEq/articles/6ccELOc86lnzTpPcIn2vKo/)). 

- __What’s going well:__ Money. Amazon's sales surged 44% last quarter, and profit more than tripled as the ecommerce boom keeps booming. The 'Zon is expected to rake in [40%+](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/18/as-e-commerce-sales-proliferate-amazon-holds-on-to-top-online-retail-spot.html) of US ecomm sales by the end of the year. 
- __*Not* going well:__ Regulatory scrutiny. The FTC's new leader Lina Khan is a Big Tech critic who wrote a [major](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/2Z4BofvGDzgoroXZ4OTaiL/articles/75lgUHK9VCoHmFBsxK4D6C/) paper on Amazon's dominance while at Yale Law. Last week, Amazon made moves to stop her from participating in 'Zon-related antitrust investigations. Oh, and a House committee just [advanced](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/5tRYnsRgn3rJ4caqG3lXnl/articles/1RLuAoU5YouPqt1GL30lzZ/) major legislation to curb Big Tech's dominance. 

Nostalgic

__Bezos' focus was  blistering growth...__ Jassy's focus might be  corporate responsibility. Amazon's 14 corporate principles include: "deliver results," "bias for action," and "customer obsession." A few days before Jassy took over, Amazon renamed them Leadership Principles and [added](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-01/amazon-revises-corporate-values-days-before-bezos-steps-down#:~:text=Amazon%20Revises%20Corporate%20Values%20Days%20Before%20Bezos%20Steps%20Down,-By&text=Amazon.com%20Inc.%20employees%20are,adding%20two%20more%20bullet%20points.) two: “Strive to be Earth’s Best Employer,” and “Success and Scale Bring Broad Responsibility.” They're reactions to criticism Amazon has received over the years — but they're also Bezo's parting words to Jassy,  to tee up Amazon's next chapter. 

The King of Amazon hands over his crown: here's what's ahead for the new CEO 

__Space Battle of the Billionaires...__ Most people do summer vacays in Florida or Yosemite — billionaires go to space. __Virgin Galactic__ founder Richard Branson plans to [board](https://www.wsj.com/articles/richard-branson-plans-virgin-galactic-space-trip-before-jeff-bezos-11625181813) a test spaceflight on Sunday. Awkward, since that's nine days before Jeff Bezos is scheduled to embark on his __Blue Origin__ space trip (announced *before* Branson's). Aside from fueling billionaires' egos, these trips are billboards for NASA-sponsored [space tourism](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/5FWjUZF34wCrp57CR8ykmX/articles/4nclQE3efo2kF2GIohnPxn/). The fact that CEOs are getting aboard helps build confidence in the emerging industry. 

__Marvel returns...__ with a vengeance. __Marvel__ is releasing *Black Widow* in theaters and Disney+ on Friday, after delaying it for more than a year. It’s the first Marvel flick to debut in theaters since the pandemic began. Now: 80% of movie theaters are open, and Covid restrictions have  relaxed. The US box office is [seeing](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/02/fourth-of-july-box-office-not-as-robust-this-year-but-its-on-track.html) a strong recovery, but hasn't caught up to its pre-Covid success yet. *Black Widow*'s ticket sales could give us a glimpse into summer demand. 

Events

Coming up this week...

__Labor shortage update...__ Still short. US employers [added](https://www.wsj.com/articles/june-jobs-report-unemployment-rate-2021-11625176511?mod=hp_lead_pos1) an expectation-beating 850K jobs in June, the biggest gain in 10 months. Unemployment ticked up to 5.9%, in part because more Americans started job-searching. As the US economy roars back to life, demand for workers is revving up, too. Wages jumped last month as employers from restaurants to gig apps tried to attract workers. Case in point: __[Uber](https://robinhood.com/stocks/UBER)__ and __[Lyft](https://robinhood.com/stocks/LYFT)__ are spending millions on driver incentives, and you've probably seen ads recruiting food delivery drivers. 

__Heat waves in the middle of June...__  A record-breaking heat wave has been [plaguing](https://snacks.robinhood.com/newsletters/5MbpAg6JNCCUZT9rzZmVeK/articles/786ZOvBNd39DMDQ0HLmZ2b/) the Pacific Northwest. The temp in Portland soared to 116 degrees last week, hotter than Miami, Dallas, and LA have *ever* been. All that sweat means more $$$ for A/C companies like __[Carrier](https://robinhood.com/stocks/CARR)__, __[Lennox](https://robinhood.com/stocks/LII)__, and __[Trane](https://robinhood.com/stocks/TT)__, whose stocks are near record highs. But for the agriculture industry, the too-hot-handle temps could mean [smaller](https://www.nationalobserver.com/2021/07/02/news/heat-wave-bc-prairies-farmers-climate-change) crops and fewer workers. For consumers, it could mean even pricier food. 


Last week's highlights...

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