🥑 The looming avo crisis

Enjoy that avo toast while you can… A supply problem is coming for your guac, and it’s not because of a chip shortage. Over the weekend, the US banned all avocado imports from Mexico after an American food inspector in Mexico said they received a death threat. Why that affects shelves: Mexico supplies 80% of the US’s avocados.

• Toast: Avocados approved for export before this week will still be imported to the US, but any additional avocados will stay in Mexico "until further notice."
• Mexico’s president criticized Biden’s avo ban, saying it’s an attempt to boost sales for American farmers. While California provides 15% of America’s avocados, its capacity is far from meeting demand.

Big-time avo crime… The average American consumes 8 pounds of avocados/year, adding $3B to the Mexican economy in the process. The green gold rush has caught the attention of Mexican cartels looking to diversify their income. For decades, they’ve accessed government databases to extort and kidnap avocado farmers. In 2019, US officials warned that any threats to American food inspectors would result in an avo-import ban. The consequences are spread out:

• Companies: Avocados make up one-tenth of Chipotle's food costs. Now the fast-food chain says it has only a few weeks' worth left in stock.
• Consumers: Avocado prices are already up 40% from last year thanks to inflation, and this ban could make them way pricier.

Avatar all-hands meeting, stat... Five months ago: a little company known as Facebook rebranded as Meta to reflect its focus on building an immersive digital future (aka: the metaverse). Now Meta’s revamping its corporate values too. In a note to employees, Meta CEO Zuck outlined the company's updated values, which were established in 2007. New things:

• "Metamates" — sounds like Tinder for the metaverse, actually what Facebook employees will henceforth be known as. Also: News Feed is now "Feed" (less drama).
• "Live in the future" — one of Meta's new values, and also the opposite of what your meditation app tells you.
• "Move fast" — and hopefully don't break things? Other values include “be direct and respect your colleagues.”

"Meta, Metamates, Me"... Meta's final value is a nod to the naval slogan "Ship, shipmate, self" (say that three times fast), which is also used by Insta employees. Zuck said it's about "being good stewards of our company and mission." Picture: avatar sailors navigating a ship into the Pacific dawn of the metaverse. Meta is investing billions into building the next social universe, but the journey may not be so pacific.

• Meta has faced heat from regulators, politicians, and the public over failing to protect user privacy and combat hate speech and misinfo.
• Meta’s social networks — particularly Instagram — have been scrutinized for the psychological harm they cause teens.

• Droid: Big news for ad views: Google said it plans to limit ad tracking on Android phones in two years, after Apple made a similar move that’s wiped out billions in sales for companies like Meta.
• Mountain: ViacomCBS’s getting streamy. The media giant is changing its name to Paramount Global to refocus on its Paramount+ streaming biz as it competes with Disney+, Discovery+, etc.
• Lit: The Marlboro man will be able to puff an e-cig after all: a judge ruled Altria didn’t break antitrust rules when it took a 35% stake in Juul in 2018. The FTC can still appeal the ruling.
• Whale: Shamu’s expansion plans were left high and dry after theme-park powerhouse Cedar Fair rejected SeaWorld’s $3.4B takeover offer. Cedar Fair previously shot down a $4B offer from Six Flags.
• Appetite: The burrito boom isn’t over: DoorDash shares surged over 20% after-hours yesterday after the delivery dynamo reported 2021’s sales exceeded the previous year’s, despite a wave of restaurant reopenings.

• Weekly jobless claims
• Earnings expected from: Walmart, Hyatt, Barclays, Dropbox, Planet Fitness, Shake Shack, and Fiverr

Authors of this Snacks own shares of Disney, Google, and Apple

ID: 2044098