Good Morning! Happy Valentine’s Day or Happy Excel Day, whichever one you celebrate. For those of you single, there's a new dating app on the block called Score - and you can only join if you have a high credit score. January's CPI was hotter than expected, signaling that inflation isn't cooling down just yet. Stocks had their worst day since March 2023 on the news. Meanwhile, VC's fund distributions are scraping a 14-year low. Tiger Woods is launching a lifestyle brand after his Nike breakup. Plus 20 tips to improve your photos, and a list of phrases to use instead of pretending to agree with someone. 

2024 Comp Survey: Please fill out our compensation survey here. Every response makes the overall results more accurate, so please submit a response if you can.

_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

Lyft’s Fat Finger Mistake

Hope everyone’s having a great morning…except for Lyft’s investor relations department.

The ride share company reported earnings after the bell on Tuesday, releasing a press report. And to the surprise of investors, the company announced an EBITDA margin expansion of 500 basis points, or 5% of growth, for 2024.

And the stock shot up 60% on the news. But right away to kick off the earnings call, the company's CFO pointed out that it was a typo and the actual increase was 50 basis points (or 0.5%).

As a result, Lyft's shares went from +60% in after hours to +15%. That's a market cap decline of over $2 billion for a company that closed Tuesday valued at $4.8B. One editor said, “I've been doing this for 2 decades, and I don't ever remember a mistake this bad on an earnings report.”

Takeaway: Definitely a rough look for Lyft, and making matters worse - some of its drivers are striking today for fair pay. The most likely explanation is that someone (blame it on the IR or FP&A intern) made a fat finger mistake. Or maybe Lyft’s using community-adjusted EBITDA. Whatever the reason, the lesson of the day is in the world of finance, a zero can be worth a couple billion—give or take.

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_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Consumer Price Index is hotter than expected in January (Axios)

• Carlyle, KKR raise the stakes for rainmakers to deliver returns (BB)

• Sony’s $600M Michael Jackson buy (BBC)

• New dating app requires good credit to join (YF)

• Tiger Woods launches lifestyle brand after Nike split (CNBC)

• It’s crunch time for one of Europe’s last big Wall Street players (WSJ)

• Will Vision Pro replace the iPad? (BB)

• Venture capital fund distributions hit 14-year low (Axios)

• Jeff Bezos will save over $600 million in taxes by moving to Miami (CNBC)

• Why rate cuts won't make buying a house much easier (Axios)

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Stocks closed lower and had their worst day since March 2023 on hotter-than-expected inflation data.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) JetBlue ($JBLU) +22% after activist investor Carl Icahn took a stake in the airline.

• (+) Tripadvisor ($TRIP) +14% because the online travel agency is preparing for a take-private.

• (–) Shopify ($SHOP) -13% after the company reported light guidance.

Private Dealmaking

• BioAge Labs, an anti-obesity therapies developer, raised $170 million

• Sierra, a custom AI agents builder, raised $110 million

• Finom, a Dutch challenger bank, raised $54 million

• Bob W, an apartment rental marketplace, raised $43 million

• Aquemia, a drug discovery startup, raised $33 million

• LeoLabs, an AI-powered space startup, raised $29 million

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

Money And Morons

For the first time in American history, several events are simultaneously unfolding that, when combined, create new levels of risk and contagion not seen before. Human longevity, an aging population and unprecedented levels of debt and deficits will create The Great Conflux and the worst part is that it’s all our fault.

We’re the ones who elect politicians who are not mandated to control spending and reduce the national debt. That moronic behavior pushes us further and further into a debt spiral that will be impossible to pull ourselves out of. 

The outcome is inevitable: crisis. That crisis could come in the form of inflation, rising interest rates, lower home prices, higher taxes, political instability, currency depreciation, decreased trade, and even national security concerns. And when that crisis arrives, the government and politicians won’t be able to save us. It will be the responsibility of every individual to insulate themselves and their families.

Are you prepared for when crisis hits? Most Americans don’t have enough money saved up to cover a medical emergency, never mind retire. Many assume the reason for this is because they don’t make enough money, and while learning how to be more productive with your time and earn more money is part of the equation, the problem is more complicated.

The basics of saving and investing are not taught in school, so most people enter the workforce already behind the eight ball. What makes the problem exponentially worse is the disease of consumerism that has spread throughout our culture like wildfire.

Every day, we are bombarded with advertisements convincing us to buy things we don’t need. The grand lifestyle we are being pitched is not attainable by the average citizen without properly saving and investing.

“Money and Morons is a wake-up call for those who want to become wealthy and stay wealthy.”

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Super Bowl LVIII Makes History

Super Bowl LVIII the most-watched American telecast ever

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

Compounding

Compound interest is not just a financial concept; it's a principle that can be applied to personal development, learning, and skill acquisition.

Just as small, consistent investments can grow into substantial wealth over time, regular, incremental efforts in self-improvement and learning can lead to significant personal growth.

The key is patience and consistency.

Whether it's investing money, learning a new language, or developing a new habit, the effects of compounding become most powerful over time.

Start small, remain consistent, and the compound effect will help you achieve remarkable results, transforming small initial efforts into a portfolio of skills, knowledge, and wealth.

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• Build a lifelong habit of learning with the 5-hour rule

• 20 easy ways to improve your pictures

• How to get motivated even when you don’t feel with it

• Use these phrases instead of pretending to agree with someone

• 11 clever tips for getting out of bed for a morning workout

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day