🍋 Walmart's Shoplifting Problem

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Good Morning! Elon Musk’s Twitter venture continues to land him in hot water - this time with the Mayor of San Francisco. Musk is under investigation for turning office space at Twitter HQ into bedrooms. But it's not just the mayor who's frustrated with Elon - his Tesla investors are also unhappy that his Twitter escapades have been a major distraction.

It's been a tough year for degen day traders. Some experts think the 'meme stock' era is over, and many have lost a lot of money on crypto too.

One of the meme stocks, Carvana took a nosedive yesterday, plunging 43%, and now investors are worried the company might go bankrupt. Meanwhile, Dish is offering a $25/month mobile service for life, in a bold attempt to take on AT&T and Verizon.

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1. Story of the Day: Walmart's Shoplifting Problem

The Fed is trying to solve the inflation puzzle, but they might be missing a major piece - organized retail theft. Major retailers like Walmart are facing a shoplifting crisis that could leave customers with empty wallets and stores with empty shelves.

But don't worry, CEOs of retail companies are on it. They're sounding the alarm on organized retail theft. This isn't your typical shoplifter stealing a couple of bags of chips for a midnight snack. No, these are organized criminal groups stealing millions of dollars worth of goods and reselling them on the black market.

Target's CEO saw a 50% increase in shoplifting this year and estimates his company will lose $400 million from shoplifting alone in 2022. Walmart's CEO is thinking about closing stores or increasing prices to offset losses from shoplifting.

Takeaway: Organized retail thieves are stealing from stores left and right, and retail CEOs are taking the easy way out by raising prices. Ordinary Americans are already feeling the pinch from inflation, and retail giants are threatening to make things even worse by increasing prices to cover their losses from shoplifting.

2. Markets Rundown

If you want access to Wall Street insider interviews, industry deep-dives, premium research/resources and weekly Knowledge Drop newsletter, check out our Insiders membership.

Stocks added to a five-day losing streak as investors weigh inflation data.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) State Street ($STT) +8% because the asset management company announced a buyback program.

• (–) Tripadvisor ($TRIP) -6% after trouble ahead for the travel sector amidst recession concerns.

• (–) Carvana ($CVNA) -43% as the used car retailer nears bankruptcy.

Private Dealmaking

• Squadron Energy will buy CWP Renewables, a wind and solar farm developer, for $2.7 billion 

• Drata, a security compliance and automation platform, raised $200 million

• UpStream, a healthcare platform for physicians, raised $140 million

• Dine Brands, the parent company of Applebee’s and IHOP, will buy Fuzzy’s Taco Shop for $80 million

• KreditBee, a personal loan platform, raised $80 million

• Le Collectionist, a French vacation rental platform, raised $63 million

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Top Reads

• SBF lobbied for $100 million Taylor Swift deal as FTX bled cash (CNBC)

• Top Wall Street CEO amplify recession warnings (Fox)

• White House economic advisor says U.S. economy is slowing but resilient (CNBC)

• SEC votes on proposals that could overhaul Wall Street trading (Reuters)

• Americans’ pandemic-era cash pile is shrinking (Axios)

• Airlines will begin making money again in 2023 as travel recovers (CNN)

• Rent prices fall for 3rd straight month (YF)

• Robinhood goes after retirement funds (Axios)

• Coinbase CEO expects revenue to plunge over 50% (YF)

• The fate of SBF’s investments (Axios)

4. Book of the Day: Blood and Oil

35-year-old Mohammed bin Salman's sudden rise stunned the world. Political and business leaders such as former UK prime minister Tony Blair and WME chairman Ari Emanuel flew out to meet with the crown prince and came away convinced that his desire to reform the kingdom was sincere.

He spoke passionately about bringing women into the workforce and toning down Saudi Arabia's restrictive Islamic law. He lifted the ban on women driving and explored investments in Silicon Valley.

But MBS began to betray an erratic interior beneath the polish laid on by scores of consultants and public relations experts like McKinsey & Company. The allegations of his extreme brutality and excess began to slip out, including that he ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

While stamping out dissent by holding 300 people, including prominent members of the Saudi royal family, in the Ritz-Carlton hotel and elsewhere for months, he continued to exhibit his extreme wealth, including buying a $70 million chateau in Europe and one of the world's most expensive yachts.

It seemed that he did not understand nor care about how the outside world would react to his displays of autocratic muscle—what mattered was the flex.

“I fear that the day I die, I am going to die without accomplishing what I have in my mind.”

5. Short Squeez Picks

• How to build a buy-side network 

• Great things never came from comfort zones

• 10 of the most powerful Google Sheets shortcuts

• The senior shift

• While we sleep, our mind goes on an amazing journey

A Message from Tangle: Looking for balanced, unbiased political news?

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Tangle is the only place you can get balanced, holistic debate about controversial topics. And you can read it for free. Subscribe here.

6. Daily Visual: Engagement with Musk's Tweets Explodes Post Takeover

Change in engagement with Elon Musk's tweets before and after Twitter acquisition - Jan 1 to Oct 26 compared with Oct 27 to Dec 4, 2022

Source: Axios

7. Daily Acumen

Kevin de Bruyne on the value of multiple perspectives:

I ask why so many European footballers seem better educated than their British counterparts.

Perhaps the difference is languages, he says.

“There are a lot of people from different countries who speak two or three languages, where English players usually only speak English. I come from a country where by 13 you are studying Dutch, French and English.”

With languages, perhaps comes wisdom and humility – an ability to put yourself in the shoes of others, a knowledge that your way is not the only way.

He smiles. The Belgian way was never going to be the only way, he says.

8. Job Board

• Cash App - Quantitative Finance Analytics Manager - San Francisco, CA

• Amex - Manager – Finance (Risk Finance) - New York, NY

• JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. - Asset & Wealth Management Technology Finance Associate - Plano, TX

• Bank of America - SR Full Stack Software Engineer III Commodities Fixed Income Technology - New York, NY

• UBS - Regulatory Reporting Risk Compliance Quality Assurance - Broker Dealer - New York, NY

• U.S. Bank National Association - Sr. Investment Portfolio Analyst 4 - New York, NY

10. Memes of the Day

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