| |
| Here's your daily business briefing. - 📺 Netflix secures exclusive 10-year, $5B rights to WWE's "Raw," marking its entry into live events.
- 🔍 Deep Dive: Cushman & Wakefield reported a 5.2% warehouse vacancy rate in Q4, the highest since the pandemic and up 3.1% YoY.
- 💼 P&G's Q2 earnings were mixed, with a narrowed outlook for adjusted earnings and decreased unadjusted earnings due to planned write-downs and restructuring.
- 💊 J&J reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue slightly exceeding expectations, driven by a significant surge in pharmaceutical and medical devices sales.
- 📱 In Q4 2023, Verizon added 318,000 retail mobile customers, its highest quarterly gain since 2021.
- 🚚 Cargo thefts rose by over 57% in 2023, totaling nearly $130M in reported stolen goods, and likely higher due to non-mandatory reporting.
Thanks for reading!! Shriram
p/Shriram | |
| 1 | | Netflix ($NFLX) secured exclusive rights to WWE's "Raw" and other programming in a 10-year, $5B deal, marking its foray into live events. Starting January 2025, as part of the agreement, Netflix will feature three hours of live wrestling weekly, including "Raw," in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and other international markets. More: - "SmackDown" and "NXT," as well as all WWE specials and episodes, will now only be available on Netflix outside of the U.S.
- Netflix subscribers will have free access to pay-per-view events, including "Royal Rumble," "Summer Slam," and "Wrestlemania."
- WWE's parent company, TKO Group Holdings Inc.($TKO), saw a 24% increase in shares to $95.92, while Endeavour Group Holdings Inc. ($EDR) got a 6.8% increase.
- Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has joined Netflix's board, gained "The Rock" trademark rights, and is licensing them back to WWE for up to 10 years.
|     | |
| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: The U.S. warehouse vacancy rate increased to 5.2% in Q4 2023, the highest since 2020, driven by reduced demand for storage. Despite developers adding 2 billion square feet of storage space, new leases in 2023 dropped by 27%, totaling around 588 million square feet. Relevance: Increasing warehouse vacancy rates signal a broader demand slowdown and economic uncertainty, raising concerns about a potential surplus of space. Despite the rise, warehouse availability remains relatively low historically as retailers, wary of economic uncertainty and rising interest rates, curtailed inventory restocking and leasing decisions. More data: The Logistics Managers' Index shows a slower expansion of warehouse capacity in December. Despite construction slowing down, demand is driving a 10% year-over-year increase in industrial rent to $9.79 per square foot, particularly in significant hubs like Houston, eastern Pennsylvania, and Southern California, with caution about potential oversupply from speculative projects. | | | |
| A message from our sponsor, MindStudio by YouAI. |  | | Build And Launch AI Applications With Zero Code 📲 MindStudio makes it easy to build and customize AI apps for yourself or your team, with absolutely no code. Seamlessly connect a broad range of data, from internal spreadsheets to external data sources, to the world’s leading foundational AI models to create powerful AI tools and templates that minimize manual analysis, accelerate insights, and increase actionability across your workforce. MindStudio is a single backend that builds AI tools across all facets of your business: - FINANCE & DATA ANALYTICS (BI) - Leverage AI within your financial datasets and software suite to quickly run scenarios and bolster insights
- SUPPLY CHAIN - Gain maximum efficiency and dramatic cost reduction by integrating AI to your internal inventory software and external production and fulfillment providers
- SALES & CX - Increase repeatability across your reps and agents by automating preparatory tasks, AI prompted follow up messages, and optimize strategic lead generation and outreach
- MARKETING - Integrate AI with marketing data to highlight new opportunities and cross-reference financial and sales reports to identify lower performing campaigns to improve
Start Building AI | |
|
| 3 | | P&G's ($PG) Q2 2024 earnings and revenue were mixed, with quarterly revenue reaching $21.44B, a 3% increase but slightly below the anticipated $21.48B. Adjusted earnings per share surpassed expectations at $1.84, while net income attributable to the company decreased to $3.47B from $3.93B a year earlier. More: - P&G devalued Gillette by $1.3B per its December announcement, planning up to $2.5B in charges over the next two fiscal years for Gillette impairment and business restructuring in markets like Argentina and Nigeria.
- Organic revenue, excluding acquisitions and foreign exchange impact, rose 4%, with overall product volumes flat except for growth in grooming.
- P&G's beauty segment reported flat volume for the quarter, which is attributed to challenges in SK-II sales, particularly in China, and the fabric and home-care business also reported flat volume.
- P&G's healthcare division had a 3% volume decline, and the feminine, baby, and family care businesses saw a 2% drop, with only the family care segment, including Bounty paper towels, showing an increase.
- In fiscal 2024, P&G reduced its expected core earnings per share growth to 8%-9% and lowered its full-year adjusted earnings per share estimate to $6.37 to $6.43.
| | | |
| 4 | | In Q4 2023, Johnson & Johnson ($JNJ) reported adjusted EPS of $2.29, surpassing the expected $2.28, with Q4 revenue reaching $21.40B, exceeding the anticipated $21.01B. The full-year 2024 guidance outlines sales projected between $87.8B and $88.6B and adjusted earnings per share ranging from $10.55 to $10.75. More: - The American multinational pharmaceutical firm's shares declined over 2% after the announcement, despite a 7.3% increase in Q4 total sales to $21.40B compared to the same period in 2022.
- With $13.72B in sales, the pharmaceutical business unit saw a 4.2% YoY gain.
- J&J credited divisional growth to robust sales of Darzalex, Erleada, and other oncology treatments, with the blockbuster drug Stelara also contributing to overall growth.
- The New Jersey-based medical devices business reported $7.67B in Q4 2023 sales, up 13.3% YoY, with the acquisition of Abiomed in December 2022 driving the increase.
- J&J reported these results six months after separating from Kenvue ($KVUE), a historic move in its 140-year history.
| | | |
| 5 | | In Q4 2023, Verizon ($VZ) added 318,000 retail mobile customers, its highest quarterly gain since 2021, marking a turnaround from three consecutive quarters of subscriber losses. Led by Sowmyanarayan Sampath, the consumer division, which contributed 76% to Verizon's Q4 revenue, implemented pricing changes and flexible plans to target about 1 million new customers annually. More: - Verizon's CEO, Hans Vestberg, credited operational changes and team adjustments, while CFO Tony Skiadas attributed customer growth to new pricing tiers and bundles like the myPlan.
- Last week, the company reported a further decline in its enterprise division following a $5.8B write-down, citing decreased demand and competitive pressure.
- With price increases and new premium plans, Verizon's total revenue from wireless services increased 3.2% YoY in Q4 to $19.4B.
- Additionally, the firm announced 413,000 net new broadband accounts, of which 375,000 were fixed wireless accounts.
- The American multinational telecommunications firm's shares increased to 6.1% after its Q4 adjusted earnings of $1.08 per share met analyst expectations.
| | | |
| 6 | | Cargo theft incidents rose by over 57% in 2023, totaling nearly $130M in reported stolen goods, but the actual figure is likely higher due to non-mandatory reporting. Described as unprecedented, the increase reached all-time highs, with over 220 monthly reports, up significantly from about 100 in 2014. More: - According to CargoNet's analysis of Q4 2023 statistics, incidences of cargo theft increased 68% YoY compared to 2022.
- While Florida, Texas, and California remained the top three states for cargo theft in 2023, inland logistics hubs, such as Louisville, Kentucky, reported an increasing number of instances.
- To stop cargo theft, businesses are spending money on tech and preventive measures like telematics, digital locking systems, and real-time tracking.
- Lior Ron, the CEO of Uber Freight ($UBER), stressed the value of visibility via GPS and real-time tracking, emphasizing product-level tracking in particular. NOTE: Inside.com founder and CEO Jason Calacanis is an investor in Uber.
- Smart door seals and similar technologies aim to prevent cargo theft by detecting unauthorized access and triggering immediate alerts.
| | | |
| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Want to maximize passive income from your stocks? Check out Shareholder Vote Exchange to unlock a new source of yield from your portfolio.*
- Beyond Yoga appointed former Athleta CEO Nancy Green as its new CEO, signaling a move for the brand to stand out in the competitive athletic apparel market.
- Oatly and Carvel are teaming up to introduce oat milk-based items at Carvel's ice cream stores nationwide, offering a boost to Oatly, whose share price has declined since its 2021 IPO.
- On Monday, Sandoz revealed a $170M deal to acquire Cimerli, a biosimilar drug treating vision impairment and loss, from Coherus BioSciences Inc.
- China's stock market experienced difficulties in 2023, and the downturn worsened in the new year as Beijing dashed hopes for additional economic support.
- Unlock optimal savings with DoiT's guide to AWS and Google Cloud compute discount plans.*
*This is a sponsored listing. | | | |
| Upcoming Events | | MAR
7 | | Alternative investment assets to know in 2024. | | | | | | * This is a sponsored event | | | |
 | Freelance Writer | | Shriram is pursuing Master’s in Business with Marketing at Warwick Business School. He worked as a Senior Consultant in Tech and Political Consultancies before his Masters. He is passionate about Tech, Marketing, Strategy, Anthropology and Politics. He is also the Postgraduate Ambassador for Warwick Business School. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
| |
 | Create no-code AI workflows that can automate and optimize all parts of your business with MindStudio. | |
|
| |
