Buy Side Story

A solar-powered car is hitting the market ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

June 13, 2022 Read in Browser TOGETHER WITH Good morning. A new coffee joint in Tokyo aimed at making their laptop-wielding customers as productive as possible has adopted a very unique honor system. Customers at The Manuscript Writing Cafe are asked to set a goal when they start working and, if they fail to accomplish it before they leave, pay a $22 fine.   "Maybe it's the atmosphere, maybe because I'm paying, but I sit down and immediately start typing," Joe Sasanuma, an attorney who is writing a legal book, told The Wall Street Journal. Is $22 enough for you to not slack off? Morning Brief • The Wall Street Journal is launching its own commerce website. • Mexico's president is on a crusade against foreign energy firms. • A solar-powered car will ship this year, but it will cost you. Please do not delete this text. Please do not delete this text. Media Wall Street Journal Enters the Affiliate Marketing Fray with "Buy Side" (Wall Street Journal printing; Photo by Neon Tommy)   The Wall Street Journal wants a cut of your next online shopping spree.   According to a report in Axios, the storied financial newspaper will launch a new commerce website today called "Buy Side from WSJ." Reviews of consumer products will live alongside links to buy them, with revenue made from referral links known in the industry as "affiliate marketing." Corporate Affiliates The WSJ is just the latest media org to get in on affiliate revenue, a term for the commission made from featuring consumer products. A simple example: you're reading an article about the 10 best electric shavers and it includes links to buy them on Amazon. If you click through and buy, the publisher you were reading gets a commission from a partner. (Amazon, Skimlinks, and Red Ventures are among Buy Side's affiliate launch partners).   Buy Side will operate independently from the newsroom as a unique section of the WSJ website. Expect reviews of products that interest WSJ readers, more likely to be tie-sporting financial professionals than t-shirted tech millennials — that means quality commuter backpacks, office furniture, and financial products. The site launches amid an affiliate marketing lull, but long-term growth prospects are strong: • According to Skimlinks data on publishers in the Comscore Top 250, total commission from affiliate revenue has grown just 2% this year, after increasing 37% in 2021 and 163% in 2020 during the pandemic ecommerce boom. But ecommerce ad spending, which was $28 billion or 13% of digital ad spending last year, is projected to grow to $63 billion and 20% of digital ad spending by 2025, according to eMarketer data. • "Despite the current headwinds, building an affiliate strategy is the right strategy for publishers to build a sustainable revenue stream long-term," Lauren Newmann, a VP at Skimlinks, told AdWeek. The New York Times bought consumer review site Wirecutter for $30 million in 2016 and by 2018 it was making $20 million in annual revenue. BDG (owner of Bustle, NYLON, TZR, and Elite Daily) and BuzzFeed, which has its own branded Amazon shop, are two other media companies with major affiliate marketing businesses. Ad Blocker: Publishers rely on Google search to drive traffic to their affiliate articles — Buy Side won't have a paywall like the regular WSJ, opening it up to more readers who arrive by click — but Google is cracking down. In the last year, the web giant began demoting affiliate articles that lacked original photography or a diverse mix of outbound links — though that may just breed some very poorly lit photos of new shaving kits. Please do not delete this text. Please do not delete this text. Global Economy Mexico Hits Road Bumps En Route to Nationalizing its Energy Industry Mexican President ​​Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants energy independence. Not from possibly-hostile foreign nations, but from multinational firms operating within his country's borders.   Obrador's populist campaign to reclaim the oil-and-gas industry from private firms has flipped the nation's energy paradigm on its head. The consequences: spiking energy costs, weak economic growth, a slowing transition to clean power, and a possible cessation from the global community. ¡Ay, caramba! Public Enemy Number One Mexico's economic growth has slowed in recent years, and the International Monetary Fund projects Indonesia will overtake it as the world's 15th-biggest economy next year. But Obrador is moving ahead with his crusade against multinational energy firms — which he claims, mostly without evidence, illicitly paid their way into the Mexican market — even as critics say it will only make matters worse.   Now, he's taking sharp action to return the power, literally, back to the government, consequences be damned: • Last year, a new law went into effect forcing the national electric grid to prioritize electricity produced by the state-owned Federal Electricity Commission (CFE). A study by the US government's National Renewable Energy Laboratory found this could raise Mexico's overall energy bill by over 50%, worth roughly $5.5 billion a year, and increase carbon emissions by 65%. • The Mexican government has also halted all new auctions for private oil-and-gas exploration, as well as investments into private electricity generation. That includes wind and solar farms that could produce power at 33% of the CFE's average cost, according to The Wall Street Journal. In sum, according to environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, the moves will likely prevent Mexico from achieving the carbon reduction goals outlined in the Paris Climate Agreements. Arbitration Nation: Private equity giant KKR says it will sue the government for $667 million in damages after one of its fuel-importing terminals was seized and closed by Mexico's energy regulator last year. Talos Energy, a Houston-based firm, is also pursuing legal recourse after Mexico took operating control of an oil field it discovered last year. Please do not delete this text. Please do not delete this text. SPONSORED BY PARALLEL Today, the Market for Drone Use is Dominated By… Wedding photographers Land conservationists Deep-pocketed hobbyists unafraid of a $1,500 joystick slip That's because most modern drones sport a comically short battery life and can barely outlift a toddler — making them useful for an incredibly narrow set of use cases.   Enter Parallel Flight. Their team — led by a former lead engineer at Tesla — is solving a key challenge: designing drones that can carry heavy payloads (100+ lbs) for exponentially longer periods of time. The immediately addressable markets are….massive: • In the $20 billion healthcare logistics market — Parallel has its eyes on delivering critical medication, time-sensitive biospecimens, and equipment. • Parallel Flight is making inroads in the $65 billion industrial logistics market and $10 billion wildfire suppression industry. • Internationally, the company has set up a European subsidiary and has more global growth plans in the near horizon. Importantly, this isn't some far off opportunity — Parallel already has 30 LOIs signed with contract value in excess of $60 million.   Learn more about Parallel Flight's exploding potential and become an investor before the campaign closes this month. Please do not delete this text. Please do not delete this text. Auto A $263,000, Solar-Powered Car Will Go Into Production This Year With a top speed of just 100 miles per hour, this two hundred thousand dollar auto will have you eating the dust of other luxury vehicles. A similarly priced Ferrari F-8, for example, can go more than twice that fast.   But that's not the point. Does the Ferrari F8 have battery-charging solar panels? No. The new $263,000 Lightyear 0 does, and its namesake parent company says deliveries will start this year. Driving Off-Grid An electric vehicle (EV) that can charge itself ​​by driving around or merely sitting in the sun is all about efficiency over speed and power. Lightyear, the Dutch company behind the Lightyear 0, says a person who commutes 21 miles or less each day could drive for months without needing to plug their car in for a recharge. The company has driven the car over 430 miles on a single charge of a 60-kilowatt-hour battery (a Tesla Model S with a 100-kilowatt-hour battery gets 348 to 402 miles, according to the Environmental Protection Agency).   If that wasn't eco-conscious enough to make you want to sing kumbaya while holding hands in a circle, the Lightspeed 0 is made from 100% vegan materials, including plant-based leather and fabrics made from recycled plastic bottles. But the star of the show, of course, remains the five square meters of exterior solar panels, which Lightyear says makes their vehicle more enviro-friendly than other EVs: • "Electric cars are a step in the right direction, but they are dependent on the grid, which is still dependent on mostly fossil fuel energy," CEO Lex Hoefsloot said at a launch event. In 2019, 63% of global electricity came from fossil fuels, according to statistics hub OurWorldInData. • EV batteries require mining raw materials like cobalt and lithium, which is very energy-intensive. Producing electric vehicles results in up to 40% more emissions than producing gas-powered cars, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge. The Lightyear would be able to make up that difference more quickly than other electric vehicles. Solar Luxury: But $263,000? For now, the Light year is a niche sun-powered product for people who could probably afford to take a Richard Branson-guided trip to the moon. But the company plans to launch a model priced at about $31,000 in late 2024 or early 2025, so you just have to wait. Please do not delete this text. Please do not delete this text. Extra Upside • Russia's McDonald's successor opened this weekend, see the surreal scene in photos. • Use messaging service Telegram? New paywalled features are coming. • Yes, tech stocks are down. But innovators have certainly not stopped innovating. Tom Gardner has made a career out of identifying underappreciated, disruptive companies that are quietly building the future. They just dropped their latest Ultimate Buy Alert right here, following in the footsteps of previous picks like Amazon, Netflix, and Nvidia. Grab the pick here (might not be a bad idea to check out when the market is down).*   *partner   Please do not delete this text. Just For Fun Over-extended.   Olympic speeds. Written by Sean Craig and Brian Boyle. ADVERTISE // CAREERS No longer want to receive these emails? Unsubscribe here. Copyright © 2022 The Daily Upside, LLC., All rights reserved. 1230 York Avenue, Box 154, New York, N‌Y 1‌0‌0‌6‌5