The weekend edition
Google's too big, your car got repossessed, but your portfolio is up this week
Hello again.
As a reminder, I’m Chris Bakke, a Twitterer, and the CEO of Laskie - the best hiring platform for tech talent. I write about hiring, careers, investing, finance, web5, and tech.
Special announcement: as I mentioned last week, we turned this newsletter into a podcast. We’ll run through some top business and tech stories, make fun of the stories, and make fun of ourselves. We closed in on being a top-100 tech podcast in the first couple episodes, so thank you all for listening, subscribing, and supporting.
Listen to the latest episode here and send us feedback by replying to this email.
Okay, now let’s dive into the good, the bad, and the ugly from the past few days. As always, we’ll flip it so we don’t end the newsletter on a bad note.
The ugly:
The Department of Justice sued the
artistcompany formerly known as Google, which is now called Alphabet - but really no one calls it that, so what’s the point - for having a monopoly on advertising. Maybe Google should counter-sue the Department of Justice for having a monopoly on breaking up companies? Come on. Do it. We need more drama this year.Automobile repossessions are climbing at a higher rate than in 2009. In 2020, you spent your life savings on NFTs. In 2021, you had to move back in with your parents. In 2022, you had to move into your car. In 2023, your car got repossessed. Things are going great.
The bad:
Google created an AI that can generate music from text descriptions, but won’t release it. Check out some examples here. Your local starving musician is about to be even more starving. Thanks, nerds.
Biz Stone - one of the co-founder of Twitter - said Elon Musk doesn’t seem like the right owner for Twitter. I disagree. Everything is going 100% to plan:
The good:
Stripe is planning to I.P.O. Or maybe do a direct listing. Or maybe allow employees to sell shares in a private-market transaction. Great to see a small, up and coming startup like Stripe finally book a win.
Stocks went up this week. The S&P 500 added 2.5%, while the Dow gained 1.8%. The Nasdaq jumped 4.3%, notching a fourth week of wins that has driven it higher by 11%. But, just remember that this is your 12-month performance:
Okay, that’s all.
If you’re enjoying this newsletter, print out 100 copies, and deliver the copies to your neighbors. Then, invoice your neighbors for $2.50/each. Boom! You now own a successful paper route, and all of your neighbors are really confused. We’re making money in 2023.
See you soon.
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