Hey Snackers,
As the war in Ukraine enters its sixth week, Russian forces have been accused of committing war crimes against civilians. Now Ukrainian President Zelensky is calling on the UN Security Council to expel Russia from the group, or dissolve it entirely. The council hasn’t taken any action against Russia because Moscow is using its veto power to block it.
Tech stocks fell yesterday after Fed Governor Lael Brainard said the central bank was committed to fighting inflation (think: higher interest rates, cooler economy).
GM and Honda partner on sub-$30K electric cars in a push to bring EVs mainstream
Got my (electric) driver's license last week... but these two won't be driving alone past your street. Honda and GM are teaming up to develop EVs for under $30K — even cheaper than GM's upcoming $30K electric Chevy. EVs at those prices are virtually unheard of, but GM and Honda want to start cranking out millions by 2027.
- Plugged in: The compact SUVs will use GM’s next-gen Ultium battery tech that’s the base for its electric Hummer. GM says Ultium can get up to 450 miles/charge at 40% less cost than its current batteries.
- Partnered up: The collab will yield new EVs for both GM and Honda, expanding on their existing electric partnership (GM already made two EVs for Honda).
Chev-EV... As policymakers and consumers lean into green tech, GM, VW, and other gassy OGs are investing billions in an electric future. Even Honda, which has focused more on hybrids, is pivoting to all-electric. Two ways to gain an edge over industry leader Tesla: de-luxify EVs and boost battery range.
- Price anxiety: EVs are still much pricier than their gas cousins. A new electric model costs $60K, on average — $15K more than new cars generally.
- Range anxiety: Road trips can be sweat-inducing when you’re far from a charging station, while gas pumps populate every exit.
Priced out = iced out… EV makers are still iced out by consumers, because they’ve priced out consumers. Despite increasing adoption, fewer than 1% of the 250M cars on US roads are electric. Most Americans aren’t ready to buy an EV yet, citing price as a main concern. A recent Axios poll found that 7 in 10 young adults would buy an EV if they could afford one. By developing lower-priced EVs at scale, GM and Honda could tap into an iced-out market.
Amazon signs a huge rocket deal to bring satellite internet worldwide, sending the space race into a new orbit
Shoot for the moon… Even if you miss, you’ll land among the SpaceX satellites. Yesterday Amazon announced the biggest rocket deal in commercial space history. The goal: bring on partners to help launch thousands of satellites that beam WiFi across the globe.
- The mission: Amazon’s Project Kuiper plans to send thousands of internet satellites into orbit in 83 rocket launches over the next five years (and will spend billions to do it).
- The crew: The Zon’s tapped three rocket-makers: United Launch Alliance (run by Boeing and defense giant Lockheed Martin), French biz Arianespace, and of course Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.
- The countdown: Amazon got Uncle Sam’s permission in 2020 to launch 3K+ satellites. But there’s a catch: if half of those aren’t live by 2026, it loses its license.
There’s a new space race… and it’s centered on earthly WiFi, not Martian colonies. A third of the world’s population still doesn’t have internet access. One solution: small, low-orbiting satellites that send broadband to remote locations, and do it without the latency issues that satellite internet is known for.
Amazon already had the rocket fuel… Now it’s got the rockets. This won’t be the Zon’s first time blasting off into a new industry: the corporate behemoth has already successfully leveraged its size and scale to enter grocery, cloud computing, streaming, and healthcare. It may not have a head start with satellites, but its cash, customers, and infrastructure give it an edge in any space.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Seat: Elon’s joining Twitter's board after taking a 9.2% stake in the company. As part of the arrangement, Musk promised not to acquire more than 14.9% of Twitter’s shares.
- Deal: The Senate agreed on a $10B Covid aid bill to pay for more research, vaccines, and testing for new variants. That’s less than half of what President Biden had asked for, and doesn’t include any $$ for international aid.
- Punt: The White House is said to be planning to extend the freeze on federal student-loan payments again, this time through August. The two-year pause has been saving 40M borrowers $5B a month.
- Spoiler: Spirit shares soared 22% on news that JetBlue made an all-cash offer for the budget airline. The bid will complicate the planned Frontier-Spirit merger (it’s reportedly more than Frontier offered).
- Exit: WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar is stepping down after two eventful years, ahead of Warner’s mega-merger with Discovery (which could close any day now).
Wednesday
- Earnings expected from: RPM International, Levi Strauss & Co., The Simply Good Foods Co., and Sprinklr
Authors of this Snacks own: shares of Amazon, GM, Tesla, and Twitter
ID: 2113076