January 29, 2025

The Appetizer

“There’s one writer that I wasn’t able to get a vote from. I would like to invite him over to my house, and we’ll have a drink together, and we’ll have a good chat.”

• MLB great Ichiro Suzuki, after receiving 393 of 394 votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Now, on to the numbers. Drum roll, please …

• 1.4 billion: The number of people that traveled internationally in 2024, “a virtual recovery (99%) to pre-pandemic levels,” according to the UN’s World Tourism Organization.
• 300 million+: The number of subscribers Netflix recently surpassed.
• $545,371: The price a rare gold medal from the 1904 St. Louis Olympics sold for at a recent auction.
• 52%: The percentage of U.S. adult TikTok users that say they regularly get news there, roughly 17% of all U.S. adults.
• 7 million.: The estimated cost of a 30-second commercial for the upcoming Super Bowl, unchanged from last year’s game.

Dig In
Athletes Cash In

The winter blues are real – mainly because football season is winding down. It stings a little more every year. Even though College Football Playoff viewership dipped this year, (looking at you, salty Alabama fans), 22.1 million people still tuned in to watch Ohio State claim their first championship in 11 years. Instead of breaking down the game, let’s look at how name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals are playing out for these players.

If you have been living under a rock, college athletes can now cash in on their name, something that wasn’t allowed until 2021. They can snag endorsement deals, star in ads, and make money off their social media posts. While some critics have worried this might water down the competitiveness of college sports, others think it’s about time!

Colorado senior quarterback Shedeur Sanders has reportedly earned $6 million in deals with his partnerships with Gatorade, Nike, and even Mercedes-Benz. And get this – Texas sophomore quarterback Arch Manning’s (yes, the nephew of Eli and Peyton) NIL valuation is $6.6 million, and he’s not even the starter yet!

At least we have the Super Bowl to look forward to. My prediction? One AFC and one NFC team will make it (nailed it, right?). All jokes aside, football is America’s favorite sport, so maybe these athletes do deserve their payday.

Weekly Specials

January 2023 was when the world first got a taste of the amazing power of AI and large language models like ChatGPT. But you know what they say, all good things must come to an end. This month, a made-in-China AI model showed up with similar performance at a fraction of the cost. The competition jitters and already high valuations caused a sharp drop to kick off the week.

Iceland’s largest geothermal power station now has a futuristic indoor farm, thanks to Vaxa Technologies. They’re growing microalgae using energy from the nearby plant. The general manager calls it “a new way of thinking about food production.” Why not? Vertical farming is on our list of 10 ways the world may be different over the next decade.

Politics may not be our favorite topic, but President Trump is setting records with his executive orders since returning to the Oval Office. While some are stirring up debate, everyone can enjoy the return of the Oval Office Diet Coke button.

Corporate Lunch

Netflix is raising its prices after reporting its largest-ever subscriber jump. That’s it, I’m putting antennas on my TV. Squid Game Season 2 isn’t worth it.

OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank are forming a partnership called Stargate to develop AI infrastructure in Texas. Perfect timing for China to release its own chatbot app.

Nothing Bundt Cakes, hilarious name, now requires stores to open for at least five hours on Sundays. Very mindful of them to wait for the NFL regular season to finish before implementing this change.

Instagram is reportedly offering cash bonuses of up to $50,000 a MONTH if they post exclusively to Reels. Sign. Me. Up.

Back to the clubhouse: MLB is requiring office employees to work in-person five days per week

Walgreens management admitted that locking up products has resulted in lower sales. I put the same system in my pantry, and it has done wonders for my waistline.

JetBlue will be the first airline to take Venmo for online bookings. Can we send two separate transactions to clear our Venmo balances?

Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against loss.

Indices are unmanaged and are not available for direct investment.

Past performance is not indicative of future results.