There is a generational divide on socks
Shooting stars and evolving steel.
Hello Hi,
It’s not been the quietest of summers so far with all the presidential shenanigans, rioting (which is directly correlated to hotter weather) and stock market turmoil. Nonetheless the Olympics have been pretty cheery for the most part and humanity continues to rumble on.
Whilst we’re all busy doing homo sapiens stuff the universe continues to do universe things. We’re in for a plethora of shooting stars / flying lumps of rock as the annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak thanks to the lack of moon. You’ll need to find yourself a spot without too much light pollution after 11pm on Sunday. Quite late for a school night but it is nice to see stuff flying about in the sky for some reason.
More later,
Hugo
Chief Starman
The Business of Stuff
The Stuff
Hargreaves Lansdown accepts takeover offer 🤝 - a consortium of private equity companies have reached agreement to take the FTSE 100-listed company private. Shareholders are able to either cash in or take a stake in the unlisted company. Both Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown still own substantial portions of the company which they are divesting much of as part of the deal.
Barclays are first bank to scrap bonus cap 🏦 - bonuses became the source of much consternation after the banking crisis but unless they’re incentivising risky behaviour their regulation has always seemed a bit self-defeating. The money that isn’t paid out to them isn’t then donated to charity, it just goes back to shareholders who are more adept at tax gymnastics.
Perplexity AI is gaining users as it takes on Google 🔎 - the search company has increased its usage and revenue sevenfold since the start of the year. The platform answered 250 million questions last month which is still a fair way off the 100 billion answered by Google (most of which are from writing these newsletter). Nonetheless, it should alarm Google that an alternative model is developing.
Deadpool & Wolverine has been good for NSYNC 🎶 - their song “Bye Bye Bye” and “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls have seen massive spikes in streaming thanks to their inclusion in the film’s soundtrack. They are also both absolute bangers to be fair so it hasn’t taken much to get them back in the charts.
Bensons for Beds cops 19 Carpetright stores 🛏️ - they’re the type of shops that seem to be permanently having a closing down sale and Carpetright did in fact go into administration last month. B4B (as they’re known in sleep furniture circles) snapped up the shops to sell more beds. I have to say it does feel like carpets are out, rugs fine but for the most part you need a wooden floor.
There’s a generational divide on socks 🧦 - this has been doing the rounds recently on social media but there is data from YouGov showing that Gen Z are the first generation since the silent generation to prefer long socks. Gen Z are also the most likely to wear socks with sandals which was a massive faux pax for decades.
There’s a good chance Höegh Autoliners shipped your car ⛴️ - July was a record setting month for the automobile carrier, shifting 1.2 million cubic metres of automobiles. It currently costs $105,000 per day to hire a boat that can carry 6,500 cars, with prices particularly high thanks to the number of exports out of China.
Steel is evolving and becoming more efficient ⛏️ - improved manufacturing processes are generating better steel which is both stronger and lighter meaning cars require less fuel to shift them about. This is particularly important for electric cars which are heavier than gas powered cars due to their batteries. Good old steady march of progress, long live material sciences.
Paramount writes down value of cable networks by $6bn 📺 - ahead of a merger with film studio Skydance it is cutting 15% of its workforce in the face of shrinking audiences as people move online. This comes just a day after Warner Bros Discovery took a $9bn write down on its TV assets. Bad day to be linear television.
Rachel Reeves' plan to remove urinal scuppered 🚹 - the chancellor of the exchequer quite understandably wanted to get rid of the now-defunct plumbing fixture in her office but it has become a weird metaphor for the challenge she faces in her role. The work has been abandoned as it would require planning permission, costing north of £8000. Fighting the status quo is expensive work.
Quote of the week
“We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle” - Marilyn Monroe