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Hey Snackers,
Itâs the not-so-final frontier for the legendary Captain Kirk: âStar Trekâ actor William Shatner plans to board Jeff Bezosâ Blue Origin tourist rocket launch next week. At age 90, heâll become the oldest person to fly to space.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell more than 2% yesterday after a selloff in shares of Facebook and other big tech companies. The moves weighed on other major indices too. Meanwhile, President Biden warned that the US might default on its $28B debt ceiling for the first time.
The UK just plugged in the worldâs longest undersea cable â but the transformation of the power grid is just beginning
Not your average extension cord⊠The worldâs longest undersea electricity cable started sending electricity between the UK and Norway earlier this week. Shares of National Grid, the UK energy giant behind the 450-mile cable, which trades on the NYSE, rose nearly 2% yesterday. NG has big plans for its network:
- Wind, water, wire: The new $1.9B North Sea Link cable will send British wind power to Norway and Norwegian hydropower back to the UK.
- Underwater energy superhighway: NG already built âinterconnectorsâ in the Netherlands, France, and Belgium â and it has plans to connect even more countries.
- Low carbon: NG aims for 90% of its imported electricity to come from zero-carbon sources by 2030.
Energy sharing = energy caring⊠One issue with renewables is intermittency, which happens when solar panels stop generating electricity on cloudy days and wind turbines slow down in less gusty weather. But power grids need to keep the lights on in all kinds of weather. One solution: electricity sharing. National Gridâs new cable enables both the UK and Norway to borrow spare juice from each other when their own wind and water systems slow down.
Better grids are key to a renewable future⊠Shared energy grids are crucial now that 160+ countries have adopted renewable-energy targets and need backup when their sources wane. Businesses and orgs like the Renewable Energy Institute are working to connect cables across borders to make âsupergrids.â Others, such as battery giants LG and Panasonic, are building mega-batteries that can store renewable energy, while carmakers Tesla, VW, and Nissan are working to transform their EVs into mini power plants. But countries still have a ways to go to reach targets: The US needs to triple its renewable investments by 2030 to hit its global climate goals.
Netflixâs K-thriller âSquid Gameâ series goes viral, underscoring Netflixâs big opportunity overseas
"Hunger Games" meets "Black Mirror"⊠Netflixâs new South Korean fictional thriller âSquid Gameâ debuted 10 days ago and is already on track to becoming its biggest show ever (sorry, âBridgertonâ). The drama follows hundreds of cash-strapped contestants competing in childrenâs games for a big $$ prize (think red light, green light), but losing could mean death. The results are viral:
- From the couch to the monitor: Fans are using apps like TikTok to recreate the seriesâ tasks (see the Dalogna candy challenge). Game makers on Roblox are also creating playable spinoffs.
- 82M million subscribers are expected to tune in by the end of the month. Itâs now the top show in 90 countries.
Netflixâs streaming passport⊠is full of stamps. Since its international debut in Canada a decade ago, âFlix has added 180+ countries to its roster. America still accounts for about a quarter of Netflixâs 209M global paying memberships, but US growth is tapping out. To unlock new audiences, Netflix is looking overseas:
- International reels: This year, Netflix plans to spend half its $17B original content spend on productions outside the US.
- Hits: Popular shows like Germanyâs âBarbarians,â the French series âLupin,â and South Koreaâs âSweet Homeâ have boosted Netflixâs international subscribers 18%+ since 2018.
Going global means it might be time to âcopy and pasteâ⊠Netflixâs US subscriber base is no longer growing â it actually dropped by 400K people this year â which means the streaming giant has two options to grow: Raise prices or win new customers somewhere else. With hits like âSquid Game,â Netflix is doubling down on high-quality international content to win over new subscribers overseas. The push seems to be working, but it does bring some new costs: Think pricey licensing fees and conflicts with broadband providers facing traffic spikes.
What else weâre Snackinâ
- Spill: Shares of Amplify Energy plunged 42% after the company revealed that its offshore pipeline caused a massive oil spill in Southern California over the weekend.
- Out(r)age: Facebookâs stock slid nearly 5% yesterday over fallout from this weekendâs scandalous CBS whistleblower interview and an hours-long FB, Insta, and WhatsApp outage.
- Taxiing: The global airline biz is expected to cut losses in 2022 by 78%, to $12B, a sign that airlines are (slowly) recovering from the pandemic.
- Shifting: Volvo, which is owned by the Chinese auto giant Geely, reportedly plans to raise $2.9B in an IPO in Sweden to accelerate its EV plans.
- Pharma: Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens are headed to federal court for their roles in the opioid epidemic, and could face up $15B in fines.
- #FedUp: Sen. Elizabeth Warren asked the SEC to investigate whether senior Federal Reserve officialsâ stock trades violated insider-trading rules.
Tuesday
- Earnings expected from PepsiCo
Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Netflix
ID: 1861994