🛻 Ford’s electric discount
Hey Snackers,
Summer is filled with bachelorettes, weddings, and… divorce parties. People are celebrating uncouplings with breakup cakes, “Bye Felicia” banners, and divorcée gift registries. Don’t forget the “End of an Error” sashes.
US stocks rose to fresh highs yesterday as investors waited for a slew of Q2 earnings results, including from Bank of America today and Tesla and Netflix tomorrow.
Ford’s slashing the price of its electric pickup as EVs lose premium status
U-turn… Ford debuted its F-150 Lightning two years ago, advertising a modest $40K price tag for the e-pickup. But after supply snags, inflation, and a devastating fire curbed production, it hiked the starting price to $60K, forcing some customers to cancel their orders. Now Ford’s slashing prices as EV competition revs up.
New tag: The cuts range from $6K to $10K across the 2023 Lightning lineup. Trucks ordered (but not delivered) will get the difference refunded.
New competition: On Saturday Tesla finally produced its first Cybertruck, four years after unveiling it (still TBD when it goes on sale).
Electric overload… Global EV sales have tripled since 2020 as top players like Tesla, Ford, and GM spend billions ramping up production. But inventories are starting to outpace EV demand, which this year has slowed. US car dealers have 92K EVs sitting on their lots (up 3X from a year ago). Meanwhile, 90+ new models are set to hit the market by ’26. With more e-options and bloated inventories, carmakers are lowering prices to stay in the fast lane.
EVs are losing their premium status… The EV-exclusivity era is fading as cheaper models are mass-produced. With competition heating up, EV makers can’t lean on premium prices to pad their profits. Tesla reported record deliveries for its latest quarter, after slashing its Model 3 and Model Y prices by as much as 20% in January. And while price cuts fuel demand, they can weigh on profits too. Following its discount announcement yesterday, Ford shares dropped nearly 6%.
Netflix taps gaming as its next growth play in the transmedia gold rush
Netflix cheat codes… After logging its slowest revenue growth on record last year, Netflix has focused on money-milking strategies like its password-mooching crackdown and the rollout of its ad tier. But on the content side the streamer is betting on an industry that even the biggest of big techies have struggled with: gaming.
Testing: Since Netflix introduced mobile games in 2021, its Games division has expanded to a library of 67 titles and 450 employees.
Playing: Also in ’21, Netflix bought the studio behind narrative adventure game “Oxenfree.” Since then it’s purchased three more gaming studios and created two from scratch.
AAA: It plans to launch 40 games this year. Last week it released “Oxenfree II” on its mobile app, PlayStation, Nintendo, and Steam. Netflix is also working on a high-budget title from former “Halo” and “Overwatch” creators.
Big hands, little controllers… Despite trying their best to carve out a slice of the $200B/year gaming pie, new-entrant tech giants have had a hard time leveling up. Google shuttered its gaming service, Stadia, in January after three years in operation. Amazon Game Studios’ $500M/year price tag has resulted in several failures and exec departures. Unlike those two, Netflix plans on moving slow and steady till it finds its footing. Its games have been downloaded only 44M times (or about once per every 100 subscribers).
The transmedia train runs both ways… As gaming IP (like “The Last of Us” and “Super Mario”) finds onscreen success, Netflix is hoping that the trend can work the other way around: fans downloading their favorite shows’ video-game counterparts. The streamer released “Stranger Things” tie-in games, and “Queen’s Gambit Chess” is expected this month.
What else we’re Snackin’
MI7: The new $300M “Mission Impossible” brought in an underwhelming $56M on opening weekend. Summer box-office success could hinge on the dual premiere of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” this weekend (#Barbenheimer).
Interest: The resumption of student-debt payments this fall could feel like a 5% pay cut for borrowers (who benefited from a three-year payment pause) and hurt US spending.
GrainPain: Wheat, corn, and soybean prices jumped after Russia ended a wartime deal that let Ukraine export grain across the Black Sea. Experts said Russia’s move could threaten food security worldwide.
Squad: Xbox maker Microsoft signed a 10-year deal to keep “Call of Duty” games on Sony's PlayStation. The move could ease regulatory concerns over Microsoft’s $75B acquisition of CoD maker Activision Blizzard.
Credit: 8K authors signed a letter asking AI leaders to get consent (and to pay) before using their writing to train bots. Last week Sarah Silverman sued OpenAI and Meta, saying they infringed on her book.
Tuesday
US retail sales
Earnings expected from Bank of America, BNY Mellon, Charles Schwab, J.B. Hunt, Lockheed Martin, Morgan Stanley, Novartis, Omnicom, and Western Alliance Bank
Authors of this Snacks own shares of: Amazon, GM, Google, Microsoft, and Tesla