Sherwood
Wednesday Jun.19, 2019

Your FB account = Your bank account

_"Just Libra me 50 and the couch is yours"_
_"Just Libra me 50 and the couch is yours"_

Hey Snackers,

Venmo. Uber. Google. When can/will "Libra" become a verb?

Facebook unveiled its crypto-details Tuesday. The Dow was busy jumping 353 points as President Trump and China's President Xi scheduled an "extended meeting" at next week's big G20 meeting in Japan.

Create

"Libra": Facebook unveils its cryptocurrency (and global banking ambition)

Because we all want more Facebook in our lives... The social network just announced Libra, its own cryptocurrency. Like Bitcoin, Facebook's ZuckBucks run on the blockchain, not banking systems. And the digital wallet that holds Libra (its symbol is three exotic waves instead of "$" or "€") will be pre-installed in accounts of 2.4B Facebook users. If you can Venmo your roommate Laura $26 + emoji for brunch, you can send her Libra (starting in 2020).

"A new global currency on a new global network"... That's one of the (many) lofty claims from Facebook about what this could mean for the world.

  • Cheap: According to FB, $25B is lost by migrants every year through fees paid on international transfers. Transferring on Libra will be "low to no cost."
  • Shared responsibility: Facebook and 27 other "partners" (aka well known international corporations like Uber and Mastercard) will run a nonprofit that oversees this currency, so it's not all in Zuck's control (they each paid $10M to fund Libra and get one vote governing it).
  • Stable: This "stablecoin" will be backed up by hard money, like the US dollar, South Korean won, or South African rand. So unlike Bitcoin, the value of Libra will be relatively stable.
  • Awkward name: In horoscopes, Libras are balanced babies born Sept 23-Oct 23. In French, Libre means free. In Australia, Libra is a leading tampon brand.

This is targeting emerging markets... In the West, Facebook faces major distrust — Libra's combatting that with ID verification, fraud protection, and a promise not to use financial data to sell ads without users' consent. But even if Libra fails in the US, it could succeed in developing countries where there are more people, more trust for the 'Book, and huge needs for low-cost banking services.

Sweat

Best Buy's big move into FitnessTech

"Put them where the DVDs were"... Best Buy's upgrading its shelf space — 100 stores will dedicate entire sections to fitness gear by year-end. That fits with the chain's "store-within-a-store" strategy (picture your local Best Buy's Apple, Samsung, and Google sections), but this isn't free weights. It's tech-infused workout gear. Here are our highlights:

  • Flywheel stationary bikes that stream live spin classes, just like Peloton (which is why Peloton is suing Flywheel).
  • NordicTrack treadmills (yep, they still exist) with interactive coaching built in.
  • Hydrow rowing machines featuring an immersive water scene on the screen — so you forget about land.

Home FitnessTech is the new iPhone... so Best Buy wants in. Wearable tech like Fitbits have become one of its fastest-growing categories. Meanwhile, home-bike Peloton is planning an IPO and furniture-turned-workout-buddy Mirror just hit a nearly $300M valuation. Best Buy wants to become the resource for that “growing intersection between fitness and technology.”

Best Buy is trying to be the Apple Store for Baby Boomers... It's using the Millennial-powered wellness trend to become extra relevant for an aging Boomer population. Its two latest acquisitions show that its focus on FitnessTech is embedded in HealthTech:

Takeoff

Everyone who just won and lost the Paris Air Show

Paris: City of Flights... Airline execs and fans of flying are gathered this week at the 53rd annual International Paris Air Show. Aside from some aerial acrobatics, cool new toys (electric planes), and we assume a lack of legroom, the show has high PR potential.

CEOs brought their most expensive pens... Here are the big deals that went down so far this week:

  • Boeing's crippling order drought for its toxic 737 Max brand was snapped — British Airways parent IAG is buying 200 of them.
  • Amazon is leasing 15 Boeings (that brings the total to 70) to continue growing its FedEx-scaring shipping operation.
  • The only thing Europe's truly united on is Airbus, the continent's proud Boeing competitor. It unveiled the uncreatively-named A321XLR, a slender single-aisle jetliner for trans-Atlantic hauls.

But what's up with that 737 Max?... Boeing's back to selling planes, but the problems with its former "best seller ever" aren't gone. Here's a status update on the flight delay:

  • Boeing finished a software upgrade and new training materials while the model remains grounded during the height of travel (and wedding) season.
  • Today, American Airlines' pilots union reveals what it thinks of the new training — It's expected to be "concerned."
  • Then Boeing needs regulators' approval to get 737 Max in the air again.

What else we’re Snackin’

  • Compliments: Pinterest jumps 3% after an analyst says it's more "differentiated" than other social networks — Its future is in ecommerce
  • Hits: SiriusXM's Pandora was sued for showing Tom Petty lyrics
  • Splurge: Google invests $1B to build 20K homes over the next decade since the Bay Area is unaffordable
  • Procrastinate: Apple TV is bringing back "picture-in-picture" so you can watch two things at once
  • Leaked: CBS is planning an offer to buy its sister media company Viacom — their 3rd attempt to unite the companies after they were divided 13 years ago

Wednesday

Disclosure: Authors of this Snacks own shares of Amazon and Lululemon.

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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.