🍋 Goldman Execs: Show Me the Money

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Happy Friday! Tesla has officially moved its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Texas after a California lawmaker hurt Elon's feelings. Lorena Gonzalez tweeted “F*k Elon Musk,” which prompted Musk to pack his bags for Texas. In flex of the day, Mark Cuban bought an entire town in Texas. The town of Mustang now belongs to the Dallas Mavericks owner. In crypto news, the first ETF to focus on NFTs was launched (was only a matter of time) by Defiance ETFs with ticker $NFTZ.

This week has flown by and we are a day away from our Holiday Party on Saturday (last few tickets here). See y'all tomorrow night!

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1. Story of the Day: Goldman Execs: Show Me the Money

Who is someone that makes $20 million a year and is still not happy? Well apparently, a Goldman Sachs’ banker. In an era where, tech, crypto and NFT millionaires are being minted (pun intended) by the second, Goldman execs are feeling the FOMO and believe they are not getting paid enough.

CEO David Solomon (aka as DJ D-Sol in the Hamptons) and his deputies having been searching for ways to increase their 8-figure pay packages.

DJ D-Sol's stake in Goldman is worth $180 million and the board has awarded him $105 million in the last 2 years ($27.5 million in 2019 and $77.5 million 2020).

Recently departed Goldman execs have landed some serious dough-making roles. Gregg Lemkau runs Michael Dell’s MSD Partners and Pablo Salame is running $43 billion hedge fund giant Citadel.

DJ has personally asked some departing execs if their main reason for leaving Goldman was money.

Among the ideas being considered to juice pay include utilizing the SPAC promote to pay bankers – founders can acquire 20% of the SPAC’s shares at a steep discount and turn thousands into millions quickly. Goldman has an in-house SPAC business and plans to give executives more of this promote.

Short Squeez Takeaway: 2021 was the year junior staff at investment banks got significant raises. The boomers want their increase too now, which is probably not too unfair. Short Squeez Research team has been bearish on SPACs but after hearing how they will be used as vehicles to pay Goldman bankers, we are assigning a SELL rating to all SPACs as of today.

Source: Bloomberg

2. Markets Rundown

• US stocks finished Thursday strong as investors bought the dip and a bipartisan deal in Washington on government funding.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) Snowflake ($SNOW) 16% following a stronger than expected third-quarter report.

• (+) Kroger ($KR) 11% after the grocery chain posted a better-than-expected quarterly report.

• (–) Signet ($SIG) -5% on worries Signet’s growth was unsustainable going into next year.

3. Top Reads

• More people of color are turning to cryptocurrency (WP)

• Apple's frontline employees are struggling to survive (Verge)

• Your future landlord just outbid you for that house (NYT)

• Delete your social media accounts—it's worth it (Zapier)

• Remote work should be (mostly) asynchronous (HBR)

• DocuSign plunges 30% (CNBC)

• Ski town crisis (OO)

• FTC sues Nvidia's $40 billion deal (CNBC)

• The surprising reason that allocators are embracing ESG (II)

A Message from FWIW: In 2 Years ESG Investing has Grown 10x

Investments with a sustainability, ESG, and socially conscious focus are booming. Investors are realizing they don't just have to settle for a financial return — they can demand that their money also help create the world they want. 

• Why this matters: This isn't just a "do-gooder" trend — the biggest banks, insurance companies, and major investors are turning to ESG stocks to guard against investment risk. And there's no reason you shouldn't consider following their lead.

Want to learn how to get in on this growing market in just 5 minutes a week? Sign up and read For What It's Worth (FWIW), a free weekly newsletter that delivers socially responsible investing news, tools, and resources in a way that's informative, easy to read, and cuts out all the jargon, just like you get here at Short Squeez.

Don't miss out — sign up for the FWIW newsletter today.

4. Book of the Day: Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

According to the Japanese, everyone has an ikigai—a reason for living. And according to the residents of the Japanese village with the world’s longest-living people, finding it is the key to a happier and longer life. Having a strong sense of ikigai—the place where passion, mission, vocation, and profession intersect—means that each day is infused with meaning. It’s the reason we get up in the morning. 

It’s also the reason many Japanese never really retire (in fact there’s no word in Japanese that means retire in the sense it does in English): They remain active and work at what they enjoy, because they’ve found a real purpose in life—the happiness of always being busy. 

In researching this book, the authors interviewed the residents of the Japanese village with the highest percentage of 100-year-olds—one of the world’s Blue Zones. Ikigai reveals the secrets to their longevity and happiness: how they eat, how they move, how they work, how they foster collaboration and community, and—their best-kept secret—how they find the ikigai that brings satisfaction to their lives. And it provides practical tools to help you discover your own ikigai. Because who doesn’t want to find happiness in every day?

“Only staying active will make you want to live a hundred years."

5. Short Squeez Picks

• Invest beyond stocks & crypto with alternative investments in art, real estate, and more to earn yields up to 18%

• Useful crypto investing guide

• Productive ways to spend a three hour flight

6. Daily Visual: Crypto / Blockchain Startup Funding in Billions

Source: CB Insights

7. Daily Acumen: How to give a five-minute presentation

“Give a four-minute presentation and take your time.

The alternative is to try to give a six or seven-minute long talk in five minutes. To rush. To get flustered. To go over your time. To act in a way that belies your professional nature.

Nope. Better to stick with the four-minute approach.

The thing is, you’ll never have enough time to tell us every single thing in enough detail. It would take you years.

Portion control is your friend. Figure out how big the plate is and serve just the right amount.”

Source: Seths Blog

8. Career Portal

If you are looking for a new job, check out our Career Portal, where we curate the the best jobs in finance and crypto for you.

Featured Job: We are looking to hire a content creator / social media intern for our growing team. If you think you've got what it takes, apply here.  

Employers: If you are looking to hire a candidate and want to post a job, just click on "Start hiring" on the top right corner of the Career Portal.

9. Memes of the Day

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