Hey Snackers,
Shake Shack's secret Game of Thrones menu pro tip: Order in Valyrian, ~~kill~~ splurge on the chocolate Dragonglass shake.
Markets barely budged Thursday as investors prepped for big bank earnings and 10:1 odds Tyrion Lannister sits on the Iron Throne.
Disney unveils "Treasure Trove" to kill Netflix
Tinkerbell trained two years for this... Disney finally announced details on "Disney+," its streaming video service to take on Netflix. Disney blasted the audience at its Apple-esque unveil with its magical advantage: Its "treasure trove" of movies. Here are the details:
- Price: $6.99/month or $69.99/year, nearly half of Netflix's comparable plan.
- Launch: Nov 12, 2019, in the US.
- Bundle: Disney+ is separate from Hulu and ESPN+, Disney's other streaming assets, but there will "likely" be a discount if you bundle them.
Gold, silver, and bronze... Now that Disney's acquired 21st Century Fox, it owns the top three box-office films from 2016 and 2018. And it had 2017's top two. Imagine the binge-worthiness of Disney+:
- Adult: Star Wars, Marvel, Bohemian Rhapsody
- Kids: Toy Story, Frozen, Finding Nemo
- Classics: The Sound of Music, Titanic, Lion King, The Simpsons
Nostalgia vs. New... Disney's fighting Netflix with all the old DVDs and classic titles that Netflix execs probably grew up loving. When D+ rolls out, Disney will remove all its content from Netflix. Then it's Disney's billion-dollar branded movies/series vs. Netflix's never-heard-of-but-my-friends-say-it's-awesome original content.
Uber's IPO paperwork arrives (with a growth problem)
"We do the right thing. Period."... Bold opening pitch by Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber. The IPO paperwork filed Thursday revealed its financials, risks, opportunities, and a bunch of missions and values. These 420 pages are its most official step yet to become publicly traded, and the IPO ETA is early May.
312... That's how many times we counted "ride-sharing" in the filing. It's technically "ride-hailing" – And the word choice was a calculated (and not quite accurate) move. Here's what else we noticed:
- Slowing (even negative) growth: Revenues grew 22x from 2014 to 2018, reaching $11B. But it's pumped the brakes — in mid-2017, one measure of its revenue was growing 22% per year. By the end of 2018 that was actually negative, at -0.04%.
- Democracy: Unlike Lyft, Uber boasts a one share, one vote policy. Some Lyft investors are worried their two co-founders control 5% of shares but almost 50% of voting power.
- Uber everything, everywhere: Uber has 91M users on 6 continents and 4 kids: ride-hailing, bikes/scooters, food delivery, and freight — with autonomous driving/flying babies on the way.
Spoiler Alert: "We may not achieve profitability"... Uber lost $10B in the past three years as it's fought viciously with Lyft for market share. For Uber to reach profits, it'll need to make some changes.
- Fewer promos: Each "refer-a-friend and get $10 off" code costs money.
- Fewer human drivers: Awkward, but if it can replace drivers with computer software, it'll keep more of the 78% of each ride fare going to drivers.
- More rent-taking: Eventually Uber's likely to raise prices for rides, spend less on lawsuits and acquisitions, and take its cut of the billions of Ubers happening every year.
Keurig Dr. Pepper downgraded despite cocktail K-Cups
All latte highs come to an end... That's the message from a Morgan Stanley analyst who downgraded K-Cup icon Keurig Dr. Pepper. Shares fell 4% after he said the single-cup coffee's explosive growth era is ending. Blame Keurig's patent expiration and competition from Nespresso.
You take that mid-week cosmo shaken or stirred?... Cocktail mixing is now automated thanks to the recently-announced Keurig "Drinkworks" machine. It's a joint venture with Bud-owner AB-InBev, but the partnership is a result of both companies' insecurity: slowing growth.
- The dream: If you already toss in Keurig coffee pods in the morning, a Drinkworks cocktail was strategically conceived as your Keurig product in the evening.
- The reality: That $4 Moscow Mule pod may save you compared to $10 at the bar, but the $299 Drinkworks machine isn't cheap.
- And the history: Keurig's had partnership problems before — Its "Keurig Kold" creation with Coca-Cola was shut down in 2016.
The "razor and blades business model" isn't working here... That's when you sell one cheap item (razor) then make money off expensive refills (razor blades). Or your printer and its absurdly-priced ink. Keurig embraced the same model, but fresh competition makes its "cheap" entry pod machines too expensive to ever start.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Pagey: PagerDuty jumped 50% on its IPO day — But the highlight was its big-eyed pager mascot
- Lucky: Caesars casino jumps 4% on word it's trying to sell itself
- Official: Tinder just beat Netflix to become the top-grossing non-game app of the 1st quarter
- Unclean: Bed Bath & Beyond falls 9% as sales slip. Again.
- Switcheroo: Rite Aid will stop selling e-cigarettes and start selling CBD
Friday
- Big bank earnings from JPMorgan and Wells Fargo
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