🏢 Lyft’s office-leasing biz
Hey Snackers,
The hottest trend this summer: hot dogs. First there was hot-dog-flavored seltzer. Then it was hot-dog candy corn. Now Oscar Mayer’s unveiled a “Cold Dog” wiener popsicle. We can’t wait to see what the hot-dog obsession inspires next.
The S&P 500 surged 1.4% yesterday, boosted by Big Tech. Meanwhile, California regulators voted to ban the sale of new gas cars by 2035. Today, investors have eyes on J. Powell’s much-hyped speech.
From Lyft to Salesforce, companies are starting to sublease office space as workers stay home
A WFR kind of day… work from rideshare. Lyft is lightening its office load as more employees ditch cubicles for WFH couches. Refresher: Back in March, Lyft told its 4K employees they could work remotely indefinitely (FYI: Lyft drivers not included). Now…
- Not your average sublet: Lyft plans to rent out nearly half its office space in SF, NYC, Nashville, and Seattle as its desks and snack-filled kitchens remain empty.
- Call the movers: Last month Salesforce opted to lease out 412K square feet of its SF office space. BuzzFeed also signed a sublet deal for its NYC office this week.
- Status: While hybrid work remains the most popular option, 35% of employed Americans have the option to WFH full time — and 87% take advantage of it.
Unused kombucha taps… Occupancy rates in major cities are less than 45% of available space, vs. 95% pre-panny. This week, Apple workers signed a petition opposing the company's mandate to work three days a week in the office. While more employees work remote or hybrid, companies are still paying full price to keep offices running. Now, Lyft isn’t the only biz shedding desk space:
You don’t need to lose it if you can use it… Lyft doesn’t want to lose office space in case it needs the flexibility to scale up later. By subleasing unused offices, companies can cut costs and generate reliable cash during downturns. But not everyone is shedding: Google’s planning to spend $9.5B this year on new offices and data centers.
ChargePoint is turning 30K EV stations into a national ad network to diversify electric revenue
It’s good to be in charge… ChargePoint is the largest US EV-station operator by a country mile: it runs 29K of the 50K charging stations across the country (nearly 3X as many as Tesla). It sells to retailers (think: malls), landlords (think: offices), and even cities. Its revenue doubled last quarter, but it’s still losing $$. Now, ChargePoint’s reportedly pushing into advertising by turning its stations into digital billboards:
- Watch while you charge: ChargePoint plans to install its first 1K screens in the coming year. They’ll show short vids about news, weather, and culture — with ads in between.
- Premium ads… for premium audiences. The ads will give retailers a way to target high-earning EV owners. Think: Starbucks can plug $7 lattes to Tesla-heads.
EV stations are all over the map… especially in terms of biz strategy. Long term, it’s hard for charging companies to profit from hardware alone, because it’s a one-time sale. So while ChargePoint still makes about three quarters of its revenue from hardware, it’s investing in other moneymakers:
Just stick an ad on it… for an added revenue stream. Thanks to this month’s climate bill, EV stations could boom: the climate-focused IRA includes EV-station incentives, and President Biden’s infrastructure bill includes $5B in funding for a nationwide charging network. But fresh cash means fresh competition, and ads could help ChargePoint stay ahead of the energy pack.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Fellaton: Peloton shares plunged 18% after the struggling spin company reported a $1.2B quarterly loss. Broader demand for connected-fitness devices has tanked 51% this year as gyms rebound.
- Max: Airlines' cost to rent some Boeing planes is up 20% since April 2020. Leasers like Air Lease and Avolon own or manage half the world's single- and double-aisle jetliners, and are profiting from a demand-driven plane shortage.
- SPACoin: Bitcoin Depot, which says it’s the biggest bitcoin ATM company in North America (7K+ ATMs), notched a deal to go public through a SPAC that values it at $885M. But consumer demand for BTC ATMs is largely untested.
- Chill: Snowflake shares popped 23% after the cloud-analytics company reported an expectation-beating revenue and growth. Despite recessionary trends, the world’s still hungry for cloud computing.
- Smollar: Dollar Tree beat expectations as #flation-fatigued shoppers hunted for dollar deals. But shares fell 10% after it cut its guidance, as customers focus on necessities over extras like fabric softener.
Friday
- Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks at Jackson Hole
Authors of this Snacks own: bitcoin and shares of Starbucks, Tesla, Twitter, Netflix, Apple, Google, and Amazon
ID: 2397830