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As America's largest economic center and its most populous city what happens in New York is often an interesting barometer for the rest of the US — and, according to the latest data from the MTA, New Yorkers aren't in a rush to get back to the office.
The latest subway ridership data shows daily subway usage in March 2022 that is still roughly 41% below what it was when compared to pre-pandemic days, a significant recovery on 2020, but still nowhere near "back to normal".
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
That data is interesting in the context of New York's wider economic recovery. Relative to other cities, NYC has struggled more economically since the pandemic. Its unemployment rate is 7.6% — double the national average of 3.8% — and the borough of Manhattan, by far New York's most prosperous, has been the slowest to recover.
Drop in the ocean
This week iconic investor Warren Buffett announced that his company Berkshire Hathaway was acquiring an insurance company, Alleghany, for $11.6 billion.
That's a pretty big deal (worth more than the value of GameStop, American Airlines or Rolls-Royce for context), but for Berkshire's $146bn+ cash pile, it's something of a drop in the ocean.
Good, big, ideas
Every year Warren Buffett has written a letter to shareholders of his conglomerate company Berkshire Hathaway. In 1995, already 30 years into running Berkshire, Buffett wrote that "in the early years, we needed only good ideas, but now we need good big ideas". That sentiment was true then, and it's only become more true.
As Berkshire has grown, the opportunity set has narrowed, and Buffett and co. have had to remain disciplined in their hunt for bargains, leading to a growing cash pile on the company's balance sheet.
No bankers allowed
In classic Buffett style, he managed to telegraph his dislike for Wall Street's bankers during the deal. He offered $850 a share, but wanted a refund for the fee reserved for the investment bank representing Alleghany — which was Goldman Sachs. The result? A final price of $848.02 per share, saving Berkshire $27m in total.
Once a digital media darling, BuzzFeed has had a rough start to life as a public company since its merger with a blank-check company at the end of last year, with its shares down more than 40%.
News vs. listicles
As we wrote about last year, BuzzFeed isn't just about the outrageous clickbait or listicles these days. They've also invested millions into BuzzFeed News — by far its most serious journalistic effort — and it has seen some impressive results, including winning a coveted Pulitzer prize.
Unfortunately, BuzzFeed News burns about $10 million a year, which has led to some investors, who understandably care more about the "bottom line", to call for the entire division to be shut down. So far CEO Jonah Peretti has refused to go quite that far, but the company did announce a shrinking of the division on Tuesday, including a departure of the editor-in-chief. Serious journalism might be more "worthy", but it's not an easy business to make money in (hey you should sponsor this newsletter).
1) Not all maps are created equal; great thread on how the New York Times has changed its approach to mapping the Ukraine invasion.
2) Never mind smartphones, "dumbphones" are making a comeback, with searches for phones with limited functionality up 89% over the last 3 years (thanks Katie S. for this).
3) Manufacturing issues are a thing of the past for Nike, as the company reported a solid set of results, sending shares up 6%.
4) Pants with sizing for men 5'8" to nearly 7ft tall? Check out the best-selling All Day Every Day Pant from Public Rec.**
5) The iPhone killer? Or just tech marketing hype? The "nothing phone" is set for release this summer.
6) MacKenzie Scott has donated $436m to Habitat for Humanity, taking her total charitable donations since 2019 to more than $8 billion.
7) Interesting blog post from Netflix about the origins of the “Skip Intro” button, which is pressed around 136 million times per day.
