Hey Snackers,
If a four-egg scramble seems like a luxury, wait till you see this trés eggspensive brunch: a French town is prepping to celebrate Easter with a giant omelet made of 15K+ eggs.
Oil prices had their slickest daily gain in over a year yesterday after OPEC+ said it planned to cut oil production next month. Energy stocks like Chevron and Exxon popped too. Also in the green: home prices rose in February for the first time in seven months.
WWE and the UFC plan to join as a public company as live entertainment takes center stage
Flyin' over the top rope… World Wrestling Entertainment said it planned to merge with Endeavor, the biz behind the Ultimate Fighting Championship. If approved, the deal would combine two live-entertainment powerhouses — the scripted, high-drama WWE and the raw cage-fightin' fave UFC — into one publicly traded company worth $21B (new ticker: TKO — aka technical knockout). Last year WWE and the UFC pulled the same weight with $1.3B in revenue.
Doin’ it live… The power of real-time entertainment isn't limited to big-league sports. WWE matches have attracted major eyeballs, and networks have bought into their pre-choreographed storylines (no kayfabe required). Fox paid over $200M/year to air WWE's Friday-night "SmackDown" and NBCUniversal reportedly paid $1B for rights to show WWE on Peacock. Streamers have increasingly made a play for the live prize, scripted or otherwise:
- Hoping for overtime: Amazon forks over $1B a year to stream NFL games, Apple TV+ shells out for some MLB games and Major League Soccer matches, and YouTube made a deal with the NFL to stream Sunday games.
- LiveFlix: Last month Netflix broadcast a Chris Rock comedy special live — a first for the streaming leader. And Disney+ streamed a live Elton John concert last year, while Paramount+ showed the Grammys.
People love seeing it first… instead of reading about it later on Twitter. It’s more exciting to watch a big moment in real time — from a championship-winning shot, to a match-ending Tombstone Piledriver, to an awards-show gaffe. WWE and the UFC have long shared talent and viewers, and their combined expertise could be a powerful live-entertainment tag team.
Google makes social-friendly updates to Search as it focuses on protecting home base
Trusting the algorithm… to pick a brunch spot. Yesterday Google announced new features to make its flagship search engine more appealing, and surprisingly didn’t mention AI once. The search titan is hustling to make sure “Googling” remains a relevant verb. It found that 40% of Gen Zers prefer searching on TikTok or Instagram when looking for a lunch spot (aesthetic pics from peers > walls of sponsored blue links from corporate). The latest features reflect Google’s effort to remain indispensable:
- Google Stories? Searching for hotels and restaurants will now lead users to an Instagram-esque Story format for better vibe checks, including summaries of what visitors found noteworthy (think: intel about just how “partial” that ocean view really is).
- Review-happy: Last week the company added a “Perspectives” feature that’ll highlight insights from experts under topics you’re searching.
- Let it fly: A new “price guarantee” badge will show users when flights aren’t getting any cheaper. If prices continue to drop after you book, Google says it’ll pay you the difference.
Battening down the hatches… Gen Z’s search shift, plus the increasingly common refrain that ads and spam sites are killing Google’s core product, seems to have lit a fire under the search heavyweight. It’s never been more important to stay competitive as Microsoft pushes its ChatGPT-fueled Bing search engine. Still, Google didn’t even name-drop its Bard AI bot in its Search updates.
The best offense is a good defense… Instead of making a run, Google’s protecting its home base: Search. It’s shelved most of its big-bet “moonshot' projects (think: WiFi balloons, techy contact lenses) as it navigates choppy waters and fresh competition. The fact that AI wasn’t mentioned in the updates suggests Google thinks it can win with things that ChatGPT can’t do, like real-time flight-price monitoring and curated restaurant reviews.
What else we’re Snackin’
- Cut: Tesla shares sank 7% after it announced a record 423K deliveries for the first quarter. Investors were bummed that deliveries grew only 4% from the previous quarter, despite major price cuts in January.
- GPTaly: Italy became the first Western country to ban OpenAI’s ChatGPT over privacy concerns as calls to curb the pace of AI releases mount. Its data-protection regulator raised the potential of a $22M fine.
- McClose: Cuts are coming to the Golden Arches. McDonald’s has reportedly closed its US offices as it prepares to lay off corporate workers. Job cuts have spread from tech to retail and beyond.
- Undo: The FTC ordered Illumina to unwind its $7B acquisition of cancer-test developer Grail, saying it would hurt competition and consumers. It’s the latest example of the FTC’s more hawkish stance on mergers.
- Chevy: GM’s US sales grew 18% last quarter as breezier supply-chain conditions helped it deliver 600K+ vehicles, including 20K EVs (though people aren’t happy that it’s cutting off CarPlay for them).
Tuesday
- Earnings expected from Acuity Brands
Authors of this Snacks own shares: of Amazon, Apple, Disney, Google, GM, Microsoft, and Tesla
ID: 2827449