Amazon snags 15% of the Yankees (network)

Now batting, for the New York Yankees... Jeff Bezos. In one of the final chapters of the Disney-acquires-Fox saga, Disney officially sold the YES Network Thursday to the NY Yankees, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Amazon, and some other investors. Here's what they're buying:

• YES is the TV channel with rights to broadcast the Yankees, Brooklyn Nets, NY Liberty, and NYC FC teams.
• And it's worth $3.7B because New York sports have global appeal despite local frustration.

This Disney & Fox deal goes way back to 2017... That's when Mickey started a bidding war against Comcast to acquire 21st Century Fox, which included X-Men, Fantastic Four, The Simpsons, Avatar, 22 regional sports networks, and the YES Network. The Justice Department allowed the merger on 1 big condition:

• The requirement: Disney can add all those big names, but only if it sells the sports channels and YES — otherwise it would have too much media power.
• Sports translation: LeBron and Kobe can be on the same team, but only if they trade away Steph to another one.

Because you need that fall transitional cropped sweater ASAP... "fast fashion" became a thing: it's the art of catching new trends and pumping out styles quick with efficient supply chains — and the big 3 have been H&M, Zara, and Forever 21. Now Forever 21 and its satin belted 800 stores are reportedly filing for bankruptcy.

Travel back to 1984... Mock turtlenecks were in and a South Korean immigrant couple with $11K founded a store in LA committed to chambray, bomber jackets, and anything that had staying potential (fyi, Forever 21 is still private — you can't buy the stock). That fast fashion trend it rode hit a peak this decade, but now the leaders are feeling pains. Fast.

• H&M lost half its market value in just the last 5 years — and it's stuck with $4.3B in unsold clothes, some of which it burns to get rid of.
• Zara just missed full-year earnings expectations.
• Fast fashion has now faced the f-word: "Fad" — it's become one.

Free bread's not enough... The CFO of Panera told CNBC that he's suffering through 100% employee turnover every year. With 100K employees, this stat means the carbo-loaded chain needs to hire 100K people every year because about 100K quit every year. Let that sink in. And get this:

• The "turnover rate" is even higher in the rest of fast food — up to 150%.
• That means more than 1 person quits from the same position each year, and the company just has to keep on rehiring.

Different industry, same problem... To keep employees from leaving, Citigroup just increased its minimum wage to $15/hour, finally catching up with Wells Fargo ($15/hour), but still trailing JP Morgan ($15-18) and Bank of America ($20).

• High turnover is driven by our ridiculously low unemployment rate (3.7%) that puts workers in high demand, more able to switch jobs and make more money.
• The response is to do nothing or pay more to preempt a cook from bouncing to Chipotle for an extra buck or two an hour.

• Future: Nike unveils a new shoe that can tighten when you tell Siri to make that happen
• eSafe: Tesla announces a new car insurance product for its drivers
• Un-popped: Abercrombie plummets 15% because of the tariffs about to hit footwear and apparel
• Huge: Saudi Aramco, the not-yet-publicly-traded massive oil company, is considering a 2-part IPO in Hong Kong and London — but geopolitical issues in both may completely change that
• GDP: The US economy continued its 11-year expansion by growing at a 2% rate last quarter, a tad below the 3.1% we enjoyed in the 1st quarter

• The Consumer Sentiment poll tells us how we're all feeling about the economy right now
• Earnings from Campbell Soup
• FYI, markets are closed Monday for Labor Day, so we'll be back in your inbox Tuesday morning

Disclosure: Authors of this Snacks own shares of Amazon and Tesla

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