Shannon Watts’ tweet<\/a> in response to the incident that received more than 100,000 likes.\n <\/p>\n\n
Earlier this month after West wore a \u201cWhite Lives Matter\u201d shirt in public, Adidas said that it was reviewing its lucrative partnership with his Yeezy brand.\n <\/p>\n
\n
\u201cAfter repeated efforts to privately resolve the situation, we have taken the decision to place the partnership under review,\u201d the apparel maker said in a statement. \u201cWe will continue to co-manage the current product during this period.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Bottom line: <\/strong>Since that statement, West has come out and targeted Jews explicitly in shocking public statements, becoming the most prominent openly anti-Semitic public figure in a generation.\n <\/p>\n\n
With pressure mounting and West’s hate campaign against Jewish people continuing, it seems the question is when, not if, Adidas will cut ties.\n <\/p>\n
\n Big Number<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n\n
\u00a3730 million\n <\/p>\n
\n
Incoming British PM Rishi Sunak’s net worth is approaching the three point club. The former banking exec and his wife, Akshata Murty, the daughter of an Indian billionaire, are worth a combined \u00a3 730 million, or roughly $ 824 million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. \u201cRicher than Royals\u201d is how the Washington Post describes the couple’s massive fortune.\n <\/p>\n
\n Zuckerberg’s Meta-headache<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n\n
Altimeter Capital Chair and CEO Brad Gerstner published an open letter to Meta and Mark Zuckerberg calling for the company to \u201cstreamline and focus its path forward.\u201d In other words: limit the gigantic piles of cash being used in service of Zuckerberg’s flailing metaverse vision.\n <\/p>\n
\n
\u201cLike many other companies in a zero rate world \u2014 Meta has drifted into the land of excess \u2014 too many people, too many ideas, too little urgency,\u201d Gerstner wrote. \u201cThis lack of focus and fitness is obscured when growth is easy but deadly when growth slows and technology changes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n
Gerstner’s prescription for Meta, which he says has \u201clost the confidence of investors,\u201d is a three step plan.\n <\/p>\n
\n
1. Layoffs
2. Cut capital expenditure from $30 billion to $25 billion
3. Limit metaverse investment to \u201cno more than $5 [billion] a year.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n
Gerstner is not alone in being Meta-skeptical. Bank Of America downgraded the company from buy to neutral Monday citing in part Zuckerberg’s metaverse investment (which the bank called \u201coverhang.\u201d)\n <\/p>\n
\n Let’s step back:<\/strong> In an interview with Alex Heath of the Verge earlier this month, Zuckerberg acknowledged that the once rock bottom interest rates \u2014 remember those? \u2014 made his 2021 strategic shift possible in a way that might not have worked in 2022.\n <\/p>\n\n
\u201cThere’s a part of me that thinks that it actually would’ve been a lot harder, and probably wouldn’t have been received as well, to have announced this vision this year than last year given where the world is,\u201d Zuckerberg said.\n <\/p>\n
\n
Zuckerberg isn’t wrong, the economy of 2021 is now a distant memory. Although burning through huge piles of cash was long the go-to move in Silicon Valley c-suites, that simply isn’t sustainable anymore in a world with high inflation, high interest rates and slumping tech valuations.\n <\/p>\n
\n
So how long can Zuckerberg keep pumping money into the metaverse with little-to-no results to show for it?\n <\/p>\n
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Meta will report its third-quarter results Wednesday. Expect investors to look closely at any metaverse related numbers in the report.\n <\/p>\n
\n What else is going on?<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n\n
Railroad strike: not dead yet. The labor deal that the Biden administration brokered last month is on thin ice over a dispute about paid time off with rank and file members of a handful of key unions. Results of the final round of ratifying votes are due in mid-November.\n <\/p>\n
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Chick-Fil-A is Gen Z’s most popular restaurant, according to the annual Piper Sandler survey of not-quite-16-year olds. Starbucks ranked second, followed by Chipotle and McDonald’s.\n <\/p>\n
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The WSJ takes a look into Lego’s controversial packaging change, which makes it difficult for would-be collectors to identify what pieces are inside. Some hip terminology: AFOL – adult fans of Lego and TFOL – teen fans of Lego.\n <\/p>\n
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\u201cWhat would a nation of sports gamblers look like?\u201d Jay Caspian Kang examines America’s booming new (old) industry. As a Californian, I can tell you that Prop 27 ads are currently inescapable.\n <\/p>\n
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