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According to Wells Fargo, hosting a Fourth of July gathering of 10 people this weekend will cost 11% more than it did last year. Though, if that math holds up, sounds like a simple solution would be to host a Fourth of July gathering of nine people this weekend. Now you just have to figure out which neighbor is expendable. |
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| • | | The retraction in venture capital funding that Silicon Valley insiders warned about has begun. | | | • | | Bob Chapek may be under fire at Disney board meeting. | | | • | | A sudden decline in Canada's bee population is a warning sign for other markets. | | | Please do not delete this text. |
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Venture Capital Funding Has Tumbled Back to 2020 Levels |
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Last month, Silicon Valley kingmaker Y Combinator warned startup founders to "cut costs," "extend your runway," and "plan for the worst" as declining markets suggested venture capital funding would soon dry up like a California desert. On Monday, new data showed that VC funding has fallen 27% in the current quarter. While the funding environment is no desert yet, it may be wise to treat any oasis as a mirage. |
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Let the Not Good Times Roll |
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Venture firms Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture were also among those who warned portfolio companies last month to get ready for the end of easy money. Sequoia, notably, warned founders that the double punch of inflation and war were harbingers for a "crucible moment"— even more dire sounding than the presentation it sent to partners in 2008 titled "R.I.P. Good Times." Last year, global VC funding increased 111% to a record $621 billion, shattering the previous record set just a year before. But, according to new data from business analytics firm CB Insights, the makings of that "crucible moment" may be starting to materialize: |
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• | | The number of funding deals for startups around the world has fallen 23% from the first quarter to the second quarter of this year, and the amount of dollars in those deals by 27%, both to their lowest levels since late 2020. Funding for rounds Series D or later is down 43% this quarter, meaning late-stage companies are being hit disproportionately hard. | |
• | | The drop in total funding dollars is significantly more than the 19% CB Insights predicted just one month ago. | | |
Lay Low: While the labor market remains strong, the battering of tech stocks this year and the rough funding environment have already materialized in the form of layoffs. Over 16,000 tech employees were laid off in May and over 12,000 have been laid off this month according to Layoffs.fyi, an industry tracker. In the meantime, here's looking forward to the "R.I.P. Bad Times" memo. |
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Disney Board Meeting Places CEO Bob Chapek Under Spotlight |
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(Bob Chapek presenting on stage at the 2017 D23 convention; Photo by Walt Disney Television) Performance reviews can be anxiety-inducing for anyone. Especially when you've just stepped into the impossibly large shoes left by a beloved and successful predecessor. That's essentially what Disney CEO Bob Chapek is facing during a two-day board meeting that began Monday after a not-so-storybook start to his tenure. With his contract expiring next February and yet to be renewed, the gathering is a critical juncture for the leader of the House of Mouse. |
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The Circle of Corporate Life |
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Chapek's run as CEO began in 2020, though his legendary predecessor Bob Iger — whose fifteen-year stint saw Disney acquire Marvel, Star Wars, and 20th Century Fox, and launch streaming service Disney+ — stayed on as Chair Emeritus until the start of this year. Which, coincidentally, kicked off a season of bumpy sailing. In April, the company lost its long-held special tax status in Florida after Chapek publicly challenged Governor Ron DeSantis over a controversial bill to limit LGBT teachings in elementary schools. That fueled speculation Iger may reclaim his throne. And last month, Chapek fired top TV executive Peter Rice, who outsiders pegged as one of his few possible in-house replacements. The ups and downs Chapek has faced don't stop there: |
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• | | The downs: Disney is keeping its Shanghai Disneyland park closed as executives fear a contact-traced infection could lead to a strict government-mandated closure by Chinese authorities, sources told The Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile at the box office, Toy Story-spinoff Lightyear is threatening to become one of the year's first big bombs — even as rival studios land blockbuster hits with Top Gun and Jurassic World installments. | | • | | The ups: Disney Wish, the company's latest cruise ship, is set for a christening celebration on Wednesday before a maiden voyage in July. The recent Star Wars show Obi-Wan Kenobi garnered the largest debut in Disney+ history and this winter will see the theatrical release of two long-awaited sequels to billion-dollar hits — Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Avatar 2: The Way of the Water. | | | Confidence, Man: Disney's board did grant Chapek a vote of confidence about three weeks ago, though it apparently isn't confident enough to renew his contract just yet. Don't expect fireworks out of this week's big meeting, though we wouldn't be half-surprised if Chapek broke into a stereotypical Disney villain musical number. |
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This One Asset Class Crushed The S&P 500 |
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You're either on the inside, or the outside. Stake your claim in the inner circle today. *Please note that these are historical returns for the trading cards market as a whole, and do not reflect the value of or potential returns on the shares in this Series on StartEngine. |
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Canada's Blueberry Farms Don't Have Enough Bees, Everyone Should Be Worried |
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No story, no matter how salacious or eye-grabbing, is as buzzworthy as this one. That's because it's about bees. Unfortunately, it's about the sudden lack of them in Canada, where farmers and the agriculture industry are fretting that a population collapse threatens millions in commerce and the stability of the food chain. |
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Not on Their Best Beehive-iour |
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Bees, as you learned in elementary school, spread pollen from one flowering plant to another, allowing the plants to reproduce. This provides the world with delicious treats like apples, cherries, and almonds. In fact, 100 US crops rely on pollinators, which add $18 billion to annual crop production, according to the Department of Agriculture. But bee populations are also notoriously volatile, especially in the last 20 years. While the number of honeybees managed by beekeepers has increased more than 80% since the 1960s, American beekeepers still lose an average of 40% of their bees each year due to things like parasite contagions and extreme weather. In Canada, a sudden decline has led to serious concerns in one key industry: |
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• | | Up to 400,000 bee colonies have been lost this year, the Canadian Honey Council says. The country has been able to import 40,000 packages of bees, mostly from New Zealand, but that equals only about 10% of the losses — the result is Canada's $211 million blueberry sector, the world's seventh-largest exporter, may soon not have the ecosystem required to grow. | | • | | "The number of bees we need this year highlights how susceptible the industry is to a disaster situation," said Rod Scarlett, executive director of the Canadian Honey Council, told Bloomberg. "The greater fear is if we have something close to this next year, things like the pollination industry and the fruit crops and even canola seed could be in jeopardy." | | | Paid Time Off: Mark Winston, an expert in bees at Simon Fraser University, told Bloomberg that overworking bees contributed to the pollination crisis. Commercial pollinators will move bees around on trucks in units, subjecting them to what many experts call an unnatural environment. "The paradigm of bringing in honeybees is at a breaking point," Winston said. "Bees are not getting better; they are slowly getting worse." |
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Please do not delete this text. | Extra Upside | • | | The hot weather won't be forever: the EU adopted mandatory gas storage rules as it prepares for a winter without Russian oil. | | | • | | Viking smithing — that's forging millennium-old Viking weapons using techniques from the 11th century — has become a viable career, thanks to Youtube, Twitch, and Etsy. | | | • | | Will the USD reach parity with the Euro? Why is the Russian dollar at its strongest level in 7 years, despite massive sanctions. The answers to these complex questions can be found in MacroCompass — a newsletter that provides expert analysis on a range of spicy macroeconomic topics. Founded by a former $20 billion Fund Manager, The MacroCompass is the perfect complement to The Daily Upside with crisp and insightful takes that go well beyond normal news coverage. We read it everyday - sign up at no cost today. | | | Please do not delete this text. |
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| Written by Sean Craig and Brian Boyle. |
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