Special Delivery

The MLS is moving to Apple ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

June 15, 2022 Read in Browser TOGETHER WITH Good morning. Domestic flight prices have soared like a Boeing 747 since January, up 47% and topping pre-pandemic 2019 levels, according to researchers at Adobe Digital Insights. The causes are obvious, the release of pent-up demand after Covid lockdowns and wallet-burning fuel costs.   With staycations so last year and road trips also increasingly priced out by gas costs, maybe it's time to try a bike holiday — the only inflation you'll need to worry about will involve a tire pump. Morning Brief • Everyone wants in on sports broadcasting rights. • Marc Lore's budding food truck company hits the gas. • The job market is finally opening up to former criminals. Please do not delete this text. Please do not delete this text. TV Rights Streamers and Broadcasters Square Off for Rights to Soccer, Cricket Leagues (Photo credit: public.resource.org)   The final buzzer has sounded. After a high-flying auction season for the streaming and broadcasting rights to wildly popular Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket and rapidly growing US-based Major League Soccer (MLS), winners have, for the most part, been declared.   For traditional players like Disney and Paramount, and disruptors like Amazon and Apple, it's a game of musical chairs — everyone wants a seat, somewhere, and there aren't enough to go around. Apple Scores a Goal In a television world increasingly defined by fragmentation (not to mention obsolescence in the face of internet-based, attention-eating competitors like TikTok and YouTube), the broadcasting rights for live sports remains one of the few universally-coveted pieces of content. So when leagues near the end of their broadcasting contracts, incumbents and competitors giddily line up for a shot at carrying contests that essentially guarantee dedicated viewers — or, for streamers, subscribers.   Savvy sports leagues have realized they can double their haul, and now often separate their linear TV network and online streaming rights. For the IPL and MLS it meant turning the auction process into a bare-knuckle, bench-clearing barnburner: • On Tuesday, Disney ponied up $3 billion to retain IPL's TV rights in India — which will air on its Star India television network — but lost the streaming rights it previously owned to a $2.6 billion bid led by Paramount Global. Star India (then owned by 21st Century Fox) won both TV and streaming rights in 2017 for only $2.2 billion. • Meanwhile, Apple announced a new 10-year deal to exclusively stream MLS matches through its Apple TV app, though early reporting suggests it may require a separate subscription entirely from Apple TV+. According to reporting from the Sports Business Journal, Apple is paying a minimum of $250 million per season, starting in 2023; linear TV rights, meanwhile, are still up for grabs. Disney-Minus: Under the previous Star India contract, Disney streamed cricket matches on Disney+ in India, helping it garner 50 million subscribers there. Without IPL, analysts tell The Wall Street Journal the streamer could lose tens of millions subscribers. Ouch.   Too Rich for Bezos: Rumors of Amazon's interest in IPL rights had long circulated, but Bloomberg reports the multi-billion price tag scared the e-commerce giant away. After agreeing last year to pay $1 billion per season for exclusive rights to NFL Thursday Night Football games (and reporting its first quarterly loss in seven years in April), it isn't any wonder Amazon is suddenly cost-conscious. Please do not delete this text. Please do not delete this text. Dining Marc Lore's Food Truck Company Cooks Up a $350 Million Funding Round You may not think much of the truck at the end of the street slinging carne asada and al pastor tacos for $1.50 a pop. But for Marc Lore, it's a multibillion-dollar venture.   On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal reported the former Walmart e-commerce CEO secured a $350 million funding round — at a mouth-watering $3.5 billion valuation — for Wonder, his latest startup that calls itself a "cloud kitchen on wheels." Yeah, we'll just call it a food truck. More Than Wonder Bread Wonder doesn't offer meals in a brick-and-mortar restaurant, or from a street-side food truck. It doesn't offer delivery from a ghost kitchen via Postmates or Uber Eats, or ship meal ingredients like Blue Apron. Instead, Wonder allows users to order a food truck straight to their driveway or curbside. Chefs then whip-up meals to serve as hot and fresh as possible. Sounds appetizing, sure, but not exactly industry-breaking.   Still, Lore has been able to grow the business since it first fried potatoes and seared steaks in 2018: • Wonder is currently available to some 130,000 households in New Jersey suburbs just west of New York City, with plans to expand across the state later this year. Its latest funding round brings Wonder's total amount raised (including debt and equity) to $900 million. • One repeat investor described the bull case to Axios: Lore's scaling experience, perpetual menu licenses with celebrity chefs like The Food Channel's Bobby Flay, and tech innovation within the trucks. The start-up also offers a DoorDash-like service called Envoy in its app within its areas of operation, which generates about a quarter of its overall revenue. Name-Brand Value: The funding round already feels displaced in time, more suitable to last year's era of tech optimism and low-interest rates. "Six months ago, we would have raised at a higher valuation," Lore told the WSJ. We'll just have to assume Wonder's reheated enchiladas taste like a billion bucks. Please do not delete this text. Please do not delete this text. SPONSORED BY LEX MARKETS A (Much Needed) Ballast for Your Portfolio in 2022 If you're anything like us, you're likely plenty comfortable buying and selling stocks.   While owning real, tangible (and cash-flowing) assets that serve as an inflation hedge sounds great, who has the time to source, acquire, and manage real estate? Not us.   The team at LEX had the same feeling — which is why they built a platform to make it possible for individual investors to buy and sell individual buildings, just like stocks.   As a shareholder, you get the benefit of: • Distributions flowing directly from income paid by tenants (just like traditional real estate) • Favorable tax treatment associated with passive income • The liquidity that comes with the stock market (no lockups) In turbulent times, portfolios need an anchor that bricks, steel, and glass can provide in spades.   Daily Upside readers can receive up to $500 in deposit bonuses. Become a LEX member here. Please do not delete this text. Please do not delete this text. Employment The Labor Market is Giving Job Applicants With Criminal Records a Second Chance The US labor market is tighter than a pair of skinny jeans right now, but at least the positive outcomes — for workers, at least — are going beyond the obvious.   New data shows more American employers are opening up hiring to candidates with criminal backgrounds, a group advocates say is unfairly punished for past transgressions. Time Served, Job Deserved A third of American adults have been arrested at least once, a figure that towers above other advanced economies. A first-of-its-kind study by economists at nonprofit think tank RAND, published in February, shows just how drastic this impacts their job prospects: 64% of unemployed 35-year-old men have a criminal conviction.   The US labor market, meanwhile, is on a year-long hot streak. Most recently, the economy added 390,000 new jobs in May, according to the Labor Department, and the unemployment rate remained near a half-century low at 3.6% for the third month in a row. With jobs galore on offer, employers are rethinking who they hire: • A 2017 University of Michigan study found job applicants without criminal records were 60% more likely to get a callback than applicants with minor, nonviolent felony convictions. In March, background check company First Advantage told Axios that employers typically look seven years back into an applicant's history. • But that's starting to ease, incrementally at least: according to AnnElizabeth Konkel, an economist at the jobs portal Indeed, 2.5% of job listings on the site in May advertised "fair chance" hiring, a term for positions open to people with convictions. That may seem small, but it's more than double the 1% observed in 2018. "The majority of people who go to prison don't go back," Shawn Bushway, a senior policy researcher at RAND, told CNBC. "How long does this record have to hang over their head?" Smart Wager: Companies can benefit from widening their hiring pool to tame wages, which grew 5% in the private sector in the first quarter of 2022. "Suddenly employers are faced with a choice of raising wages to attract workers or attempting to increase hiring of people with records to keep wages low," Beth Avery, an attorney at the National Employment Law Project, told Axios. "I hope the changes are sticky and continue even after the tight labor market is not as tight." Please do not delete this text. Please do not delete this text. Extra Upside • Coinbase is laying off 1,100 people, or nearly a fifth of its staff, amid this week's crypto plunge. • Congress is investigating fraud in pandemic aid handed out to small businesses. • Wealth managers suggest allocating 15-20% of your portfolio to alternatives. Ask yourself: does your portfolio meet that bar, or are you woefully under-diversified (not where you want to be these days). To help balance your portfolio, Yieldstreet gives investors access to the clubby and previously inaccessible world of private investment. Explore why investors have already funded $3 billion worth of deals on Yieldstreet.*   *Partner Please do not delete this text. Just For Fun Perfect shadow.   Catching some fresh air. Written by Brian Boyle and Sean Craig. Disclaimer LEX Markets Disclaimer: Distributions and liquidity not guaranteed. Property performance and performance of property tenants not guaranteed. Diversification does not eliminate the risk of experiencing investment loss. All investment services are offered by LEX Markets LLC, Member FINRA/SIPC 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