Good Saturday morning. Here's a friendly reminder that your drinking vessel lineup is down a star player: a Morning Brew beer glass. We're giving these limited edition glasses away to readers who get 10 friends signed up to the Brew by Monday at 11:59pm.
To start knocking out referrals, go to the share section at the bottom of the newsletter...and maybe catch some business news on your way down.
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S&P
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2,888.84
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+1.45%
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NASDAQ
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7,895.99
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+1.67%
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DJIA
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25,887.62
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+1.20%
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10-YR
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1.543%
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+1.5 bps
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GOLD
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1,523.20
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-0.52%
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OIL
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54.87
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+0.73%
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*As of market close
- U.S. markets: A major rally Friday wasn't enough to erase Wall Street's nightmarish performance a few days earlier. Stocks headed to Friday happy hour lower for the week.
- U.S. bonds: The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note has dropped about 46 basis points this month, trending toward its biggest monthly decline since January 2015.
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Francis Scialabba
Superteam complete. Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai will become the sole owner of the Brooklyn Nets after agreeing to buy the remaining stake he didn't already own from Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov.
The terms weren't disclosed, but we know from the AP that Tsai is paying about $2.4 billion for the Nets. That would make the deal the biggest ever for a U.S. sports franchise. (You knew this was coming: What is now No. 2? Answer at the bottom).
A little bit about Tsai
He's a Taiwan native and executive vice chairman of Alibaba, China's e-commerce leader. And lax broskis, you'll probably be stoked to hear this: Tsai played lacrosse at Yale and invested in Paul Rabil's Premier Lacrosse League. Tsai's net worth? $10.3 billion.
By taking full control of the Nets, Tsai is adding to the 49% stake he bought for $1 billion last year. He's also paying close to $1 billion for the team's home arena, the Barclays Center, which sits in a prime section of Brooklyn.
The Nets as an investment
It was a good one for Prokhorov, who in 2009 paid just $223 million for 80% of the Nets and 45% of the Barclays Center operating rights. He oversaw the team's move from New Jersey to Brooklyn...but in the years following some disastrous trades, the most exciting events at the Barclays Center were J Balvin concerts.
Now, things are looking up. The Nets signed superstars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant this summer, and the team is projecting a revenue increase of 10% to 15% for this upcoming season.
Zoom out: The transaction reflects the NBA's global ambitions. Tsai is on the board of directors of NBA China, expanding the league's presence in a country in which at least 490 million people watched NBA programming in 2018. And this fall, India will host its first ever preseason NBA game.
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Giphy
SmileDirectClub is taking the next step in its mission to ensure no 9th grader is ever called Train Tracks again. The D2C teeth-straightening service filed paperwork yesterday to IPO on the Nasdaq.
Run the numbers:
- SmileDirect has raised close to $400 million in venture funding from heavyweights like Spark Capital and Kleiner Perkins.
- During the first half of 2019, SmileDirect tallied a net loss of roughly $53 million on about $374 million in revenue (both stats climbed year-over-year).
- Catch any SDC ads on the subway? Costs for sales and marketing more than doubled annually to $209 million.
Sooo...VCs were foaming at the mouth, revenue is growing like a weed, and losses are mounting. SmileDirect should fit in well with the rest of 2019's IPOs.
Keep in mind: SmileDirect's impressive revenue growth and disruptive business model will keep Robinhood busy on IPO day. But shares of already-public rival Align are down over 50% in a year as uncertainty in China hampers demand for its products.
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The WSJ reported Thursday that President Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of the U.S. purchasing Greenland, the autonomous country that's part of the Kingdom of Denmark.
Greenland's government in response: "We're open for business, not for sale."
But say Greenland were for sale. Why would anyone want to buy it?
- Many of its 811,000 square miles are full of natural resources.
- It's rich in seafood and renewable energy sources.
- With a strategic position in the Arctic, it's a target for many countries hoping to flex their muscles in the region.
What they don't teach you in school: The U.S. tried to purchase Greenland in 1956 for $100 million in gold. But Denmark's held on to it. Greenland currently receives $591 million in subsidies from Denmark annually, accounting for 60% of its budget.
Bottom line: Don't expect a 51st state anytime soon, since many Greenlandic and Danish officials dismissed the idea. One Danish MP tweeted, "Out of all the things that are not going to happen, this is the most unlikely."
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| TOGETHER WITH THE POINTS GUY |
🗣️Use Your PTO
We say this with love: You're probably not making the most of your employee perks, especially when it comes to taking some well-deserved time off.
If you're on the fence about using your PTO days, snag a card with travel protections (plus some crazy rewards to rack up while you're enjoying your time off the grid).
When you redeem your bonus points with this credit card, you'll get over $700 to put toward travel expenses, like a surfside villa stay or a chateau in wine country.
And if all doesn't go according to plan? First, order another drink. Next, know your card covers things like baggage protection, cancelation protection, emergency medical benefits, and more.
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Virgin Galactic
The first space tourists are in for an experience that's a bit like our approach to skiing; it's more about the après. Virgin Galactic's Spaceport America, a sprawling New Mexico compound dedicated to commercial space travel, opened up to reporters on Thursday.
The lucky ducks: About 600 people have already dropped $250,000 apiece on a 90-minute space ride. They'll spend three days preparing for the trip, then head to the stars on the morning of the fourth day.
- Spaceport America has the pre-space travel hors d'oeuvres (caviar and seared tuna) down pat, but not so much the date on which the first flight will take place, which Virgin Galactic declined to provide to reporters.
Zoom out: Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson first pitched the idea for a spaceport almost 15 years ago. It's attracted some controversy over its use of taxpayer funds.
A #showerthought for your Saturday: "The problem with history is that you don't really [comprehend] it while it's happening, but here we are and it's happening"—Virgin Galactic's CEO George Whitesides.
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Props to the Keio University Graduate School of Media Design for helping us stay balanced.
Keio University Graduate School of Media Design via YouTube
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- The CEO of Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong's flag carrier, resigned over pressure from the Chinese government.
- NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange won regulatory approval that'll clear the path for its Bakkt unit to let investors buy derivatives that pay out in bitcoin.
- Amazon (+0.93%) is testing a new "top brands" product designation online.
- Deere & Co. (+3.84%) took an S240 Lawn Mower to its profit guidance, telling investors for the second time this year that the U.S.-China trade war would cut into sales.
- President Trump reportedly had a phone call with the CEOs of Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Bank of America as the market tanked earlier in the week. Was Wells Fargo not invited?
- U.S. Customs's computer system was down at some airports yesterday afternoon, which is the last thing you want to hear after your 11-hour flight home from Athens.
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Brew's Bets
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- Stare at the plus sign for at least 10 seconds, and the colors will disappear. There's actually a name for this: the Troxler Effect.
*This is a sponsored post
Saturday Headlines
For today's Saturday Headlines we're headed to the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. The 11-day extravaganza is known for its butter sculptures, presidential candidates, and most of all... food on a stick. You can actually buy three of the following dishes at the Iowa State Fair, and one you can only buy in our fantasy world. Can you figure it out?
- Beyond Meat's Beyond Burger Deep Fried On A Stick
- Chocolate Covered Key Lime On A Stick
- Breakfast Sausage In A Waffle On A Stick
- Fruit Kabob—Strawberries, Pineapple & Peaches Deep Fried On A Stick
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Francis Scialabba
How it works: Get 10 friends signed up to Morning Brew by Monday at 11:59pm. (Your current referral count doesn't matter, but you need to be in the U.S.)
Just follow these three easy steps:
- Click on the big Share button.
- Send your unique referral link to everyone you know. Growth hack: Throw your link in big group chats or "accidentally" hit Reply All on a large email chain.
- Check your inbox Tuesday morning. If you got the 10 referrals needed, you'll have a confirmation email from us.
Bottom line: Knock out those referrals now and you'll be drinking out of this glass in no time.
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Saturday Headlines
There's no Beyond Meat on a stick...yet. But you have to think that's coming.
Answer from Nets story
Tilman Fertitta and David Tepper paid $2.2 billion for the Houston Rockets and Carolina Panthers, respectively.
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