Tale of the Tape
Aloha friends. 👋 🌺 Happy Thursday!! The major market indices ended green today.
The Russell 2000 and Dow rallied 1.31% and 0.95%, respectively.
Financials and communication services were the strongest sectors, and $XLC closed at a new all-time high.
It was a busy day on the earnings front for $FDX, $NKE, $CCL, $BB, and others! 🎉 Read more below.
After weeks of rumors, it’s finally been settled— Buzzfeed will go public in an attempt to compete with big cap tech. 🥊
$DBGI soared 31%, $RAIL ripped 25.6%, and $PIRS popped 23.45%.
Here are the closing prints:
| S&P 500 | 4,266 | +0.58% |
| Nasdaq | 14,369 | +0.69% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,333 | +1.31% |
| Dow Jones | 34,196 | +0.95% |
Earnings Roundup
Nike reported record North American revenues in its Q4 earnings report. 👟 ✨
Here are the stats:
EPS: $0.93 vs $0.51 est
Revenue: $12.3B, +96% YoY
NIKE CEO Matt Friend said:
NIKE’s brand momentum is a testament to our authentic consumer connections, digital strength and continued operational execution. As we advance our consumer-led digital transformation, we are building a new financial model that will continue to fuel long-term sustainable, profitable growth for NIKE.
$NKE ran 5% after hours.
Accenture ascended 2% today after reporting better-than-expected earnings and sales.
Here are the details:
EPS: $2.4 vs $2.24 est
Revenue: $13.3B, +21% YoY
Julie Sweet, CEO of $ACN, said:
We are particularly pleased with our ability to continue to invest significantly in our business and our people. This includes acquisitions of 39 innovative companies that we have announced for the fiscal year to date, bringing us scale and new or expanded capabilities.
FedEx released Q4 earnings today after the bell. 🔔 📦 The delivery service company nearly doubled profits and grew revenue by 30%.
Here are the numbers:
EPS: $5.01 vs $5.02 est
Revenue: $22.6B, +30% YoY
$FDX flopped 4% after hours.
BuzzFeed Means Business
For weeks, the media’s been buzzing about BuzzFeed’s $200M raise to purchase Complex Networks. 🐝 💰Everyone thought the company would use debt for the acquisition, but there’s been a change of plans.
Now, BuzzFeed will go public via the 890 5th Avenue SPAC, using proceeds from $ENFA to acquire Complex. The transaction adds another brand to BuzzFeed’s parent company, which recently acquired Huffington Post from Verizon.
BuzzFeed means business. 🤝 The company aims to compete with Big Tech for advertising dollars… but there’s no guarantee this plan will work. 😬 After all, so many advertisers already rely on Google, Facebook, and Amazon.
Weeks before the Buzzfeed/SPAC rumors, it was rumored that Vice Media would go public via 7GC & Co Holdings. In January, Group Nine Media (owner of Thrillist, NowThis, and PopSugar) announced its own SPAC launch to fuel the hunt for acquisitions. 🔥
Buzzfeed and Vice Media have a lot in common. Both raised money from media conglomerates, failed to hit revenue estimates, and both have conducted mega layoffs.
To make matters worse, these companies tend towards unprofitability and stagnation with (usually) low multiples. Investors don’t exactly like that, but who knows… big moves like this could change the game. 🤷
Twitter’s OnlyFans Moment
OnlyFans is kinda controversial. 😅 The content subscription service has roots in adult entertainment/sex work, but just raised millions to become “mainstream.“
It turns out, OnlyFans will have to compete with… Twitter.
Yesterday, Twitter previewed two new features— ‘Super Follows’ and ‘Ticketed Spaces.’ Both aim to bolster the platform’s influencers by monetizing followings.
With ‘Super Follows,’ creators can sell paywalled content to users. ‘Ticketed Spaces’ will monetize Twitter Spaces, Twitter’s Clubhouse ripoff. With ‘Ticketed Spaces,’ room hosts can sell tickets for $1-$999. 🎟️ 🤑
Twitter will take a 3% fee on the first $50K made by influencers. Once users make $50K, the platform takes 20%. Twitter primarily relies on ads, but it’s looking to expand with monetization tools.
$TWTR lost over $1.1B (after taxes) last year. The stock is still up 21% YTD.
The Tokens to Happiness 🔑 ❤️ 📈
You can now buy popular stocks like Tesla, Facebook, Google, and others in tokenized form. Like… you can trade company shares as tokens. 😍
Thanks to Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, these stocks are available for trading— they’ll run on the Solana blockchain. Buyers and sellers in permitted jurisdictions can trade ~55 free-floating stocks.
Tokenized stocks are becoming popular because you can trade them anytime and anywhere, just like crypto. 🌎 ❤️ Earlier this year, Binance started trading tokenized versions of $TSLA, $AAPL, and $COIN.
As the experts say, ‘‘Blockchain is the future of financial markets.’’ 🤗
Links That Don’t Suck
💸 Biden, Senators Agree to Roughly $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan
♻️ Lego Group Unveils Prototype of New Legos Sourced from Recycled Plastic
📺 A List of All The Latest Media & Entertainment SPACs
🦢 Canada Goose Goes Fur-Free
🖥️ Microsoft Announces Windows 11, Generally Available by the Holidays
💭 How Much Do You Need to Be Financially Independent?
🎙️ Managing Partner at GGV Capital Joins Panic with Friends to Discuss Why He’s Bullish on Fintech and the Post-COVID Rebound
