It's Friday... and we are back on the moon, as lander Odysseus relayed a weak but clear signal that it had made it to the lunar surface — the first US landing in more than 50 years, and the first ever by a private business. Today we explore:
Bags secured
Bad news just landed if traveling light isn’t exactly your forte: American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and low-cost carrier JetBlue Airways have all announced that they’re raising baggage fees this year, with others predicted to follow.
The price hikes are landing in the $5-10 zone across a range of both domestic and international flights, with American Airlines explaining that the raises are a result of “inflation, fuel costs, and increased operating costs” in a statement to Newsweek on Wednesday.
Let’s unpack…
In the last 15 years, airlines have increasingly leaned on baggage charges as an opportunity to cash in. Data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics reveals that US airlines raked in a total ~$6.8 billion in baggage fees in 2022, with 2023 figures tracking even higher over the first 9 months of the year —15 years ago, BTS attributed just $1.1 billion to baggage fees.
Of course, not all airlines lump costly luggage fees onto customers. Southwest and its famously generous 2-bags-free policy, for example, made just $66m in bag revenue for 2022 from more than 157 million passengers. Meanwhile, "lower cost" carriers like Frontier and Spirit made $745m and $933m, respectively, from less than 65 million passengers between them.
Complex matters
Ailing digital outlet BuzzFeed announced yesterday that it is selling streetwear, music, and sports-centric media brand Complex in a $108m all-cash deal — booking a ~$200m loss on its acquisition 3 years ago.
As part of the deal, Buzzfeed will retain one of Complex’s crown jewels: First We Feast, an online food culture brand with over 13 million YouTube subscribers, famous for producing the popular Hot Ones series, which has built a strong following for its hot sauces and spicy content.
Hot commodity
“It’s the show with hot questions and even hotter wings,” host Sean Evans declares at the start of each star-studded episode of Hot Ones, as celebrities sweat their way through 10 deeply-researched questions while eating 10 increasingly spicy wings.
Distributed primarily on YouTube, the format has become an international phenomenon: viral moments featuring VIPs like Gordon Ramsay, Paul Rudd, and Jennifer Lawrence have been snipped, cut, and memed across social media, helping to take the First We Feast channel to more than 3.5 billion total views.
Of course, a large audience isn’t always enough to create a thriving digital business (see BuzzFeed), which is why Hot Ones is so unique. Thanks to the marketability of its premise, Hot Ones shifts thousands of bottles of their eponymous tongue-tingling hot sauces every year, with a box of 10 retailing for $120.
Zooming out: Buzzfeed is also set to lay off 16% of its workforce as it looks to cut costs in a bid to survive on the public markets, with shares down 97% since it 2021 IPO, and the WSJ reporting last month that they are even considering flogging longtime mealticket Tasty.
Quarters pounded
Beyond Meat just announced that it will be debuting a new burger as part of its Beyond IV product line in the US this spring, adapting its plant-based patties to follow a healthier recipe in the face of lean-looking sales.
A press release touted the new Beyond Burger and Beyond Beef products, which are made with avocado oil and contain less sodium and sat-fats, as the “juiciest” and “meatiest” yet — the company’s recent sales, however, couldn’t be described in the same way. Indeed, year-on-year revenue has slipped in 7 of the last 8 quarters, as appetite for Beyond’s alt offerings (mostly) dries up.
Life of the patty
While meat alternatives were beginning to look like the future in the very recent past — like when Beyond’s stock soared 163% on its IPO in 2019 — some dieticians have been bashing highly-processed plant protein products for their negative health implications of late, pointing to potentially harmful additives, missing nutrients, and generally higher sodium content.
Not helping Beyond's cause is the broad plateau, or even decline, in vegetarian and vegan diets: according to Pew Research, the meatless contingent dropped from 5% of Americans in 2019 to 4% in 2023, and those eschewing all animal products fell from 3% to 1% over the same period.
• One innovative approach to bypass luggage check-in costs: a girl donned 45 sweaters simultaneously, setting a new record for the most worn at once.
• Nvidia's financial triumph continued, as Q4 revenues soared above already-high expectations to $22 billion — a 270% increase from the previous year — with shares rising ~9% on the news.
• Lyle’s Golden Syrup is set to modernize its signature logo after 140 iconic years, bidding farewell to its title as the biz with the world's oldest, unchanged branding.
• Yale has decided to reinstate its test admission policy, becoming the second Ivy League university to do so.
• Which words have risen — and fallen — on NYT crosswords since 1993.
• Why Reservoir Dogs, American History X, and Dazed and Confused are among some of the most underappreciated films in cinematic history.
Off the charts: Which digital media company that we were charting the devaluation of last May is ceasing to publish stories on its website, as it plans to cut hundreds more jobs? [Answer below].
