Hey Snackers,
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The S&P 500 fumbled its Friday record while bitcoin briefly broke past $50K for the first time in two years. Today investors will have eyes on the January consumer-inflation report for a hint of when the Fed might (finally) cut rates.
California fast-food workers form a rare union, hoping to spark a national movement
Hot off the grill… Hundreds of fast-food workers in California have joined forces to form a union that could help turn the tables on the labor-power balance. The first-of-its-kind California Fast Food Workers Union represents staff from big chains including McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and Subway. To join, they’ll have to pay a $20/month membership fee. FYI: over half a million people in California work in fast food, the most of any state.
Double-double: The union aims to raise fast-food minimum wage by 3.5% over the next three years, protect workers from unfair firings, and guarantee enough shift hours for all employees to make a living wage.
A less crusty Mr. Krabs… Union leaders want to build on years of fighting for higher pay and better conditions in the low-wage food industry. While lots of industries have powerful unions, organized labor is rare in fast food. But workers in CA have been making strides:
Golden State: A law passed last year will force fast-food chains with 60+ US locations to pay workers at least $20/hr — up from $15.50 — starting in April.
Golden Arches: While drive-thru biggies like McDonald’s appeared to support the wage hike, it could add $250K to the operating cost of each location.
Labor’s getting supersized… Workers in industries like automotive and entertainment made large gains last year during #HotStrikeSummer. But for hourly fast-food staff, wages tend to stagnate for years. A union could promote consistent pay growth and better working conditions. But gains can come at a cost: critics say higher wages could lead to even more inflated menu prices, or more automation to cut labor costs. Over half of restaurant operators have incorporated automation (picture: Chipotle’s tortilla-frying bot).
Why trade at the tip of the iceberg?
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Digital Currency Group’s big revenue gains are clouded by claims of a $3B fraud
Stackin’ satoshis… In a leaked letter to investors, crypto colossus Digital Currency Group said that last quarter it scored a nearly 60% surge in year-over-year revenue. While the venture-capital company isn’t a household name, it touches almost every piece of the crypto ecosystem. DCG has invested in 100+ crypto-focused startups in fields including metaverse games, NFT collectables, bitcoin scaling, and stablecoins. Driving the rev pop:
Winter’s thaw: The crypto market has staged a comeback (bitcoin’s price passed $50K yesterday for the first time in years) and the rising tide has lifted DCG’s boat.
ET-Yes: DCG said revenues at its subsidiary, Grayscale, which operates the largest spot bitcoin ETF, were up 25% quarter over quarter. ICYMI: the SEC recently approved spot bitcoin ETFs, which let investors get exposure to BTC’s price without owning it.
Trouble in paradise… it’s not all sunshine and revenues in DCG land. The New York attorney general sued the crypto VC in October over fraud allegations, and on Friday the AG filed a multibillion-dollar update to the state’s civil case. The allegation: DCG defrauded 230K investors out of $3B, up from an initial $1B claim. At issue: DCG’s troubled crypto-lending subsidiary, Genesis, which got entangled with the Winklevoss twins’ Gemini Earn program that promised customers up to 8% interest on crypto lending. That all blew up when TerraUSD imploded, vaporizing billions in investor value and setting off a chain reaction that helped kickstart crypto winter.
You gotta watch out for rotten apples… especially if you’re the barrel. DCG’s sprawling investments and subsidiaries expose the VC to crypto’s ups and downs — both financial and reputational. DCG called the NY attorney general’s complaint “baseless” and said it would fight it in court. But Genesis’ bankruptcy early last year and the ongoing civil case still loomed large in DCG’s latest investor letter.
What else we’re Snackin’
Hike: Amazon nabbed an exclusive NFL playoff game next season after its “Thursday Night Football” success (viewership jumped 24%). Last month, NBC’s Peacock exclusive game scored big, netting the streamer 2.8M subs.
Fizzy: Pepsi’s quarterly revenue fell for the first time in about four years as shoppers cut back on snacks like Cheetos and Doritos. The snack-’n’-soda giant’s US sales went flat after it hiked prices for seven straight quarters.
Rerun: Chinese online budget retailer Temu forked out huge $$ for three Super Bowl commercials. Along with $15M in discounts/giveaways, the ads were part of Temu’s effort to bag up more US market share from #1 rival Shein.
BlackGold: Diamondback Energy plans to buy Endeavor Energy for $26B, a deal that’d make it the third-largest oil co after Exxon and Chevron. Gassy mega-mergers have popped as titans bet on a fossil-fuel-y future.
Offline: Elon Musk and the Kremlin denied Ukraine’s claim that Russia is using SpaceX’s Starlink internet terminals. SpaceX donated thousands of terminals to Ukraine early in the war to keep troops online.
Tuesday
Earnings expected from Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Denny’s, Hasbro, Instacart, Krispy Kreme, Lyft, Marriott International, MGM Resorts, Molson Coors Beverage, Robinhood, Shopify, and WK Kellogg
Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and shares of: Amazon, Exxon, Robinhood, and Shopify