đ The incredible consolidating US oil industry
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Hereâs what you need to know
The US oil industry just keeps getting more consolidated. Onetime Texas rivals Diamondback Energy and Endeavor Energy Resources are combining in a $26 billion deal.
Tesla has succeeded in making its charging stations the industry standard. Stellantis has become the last of major automakers to adopt it. Meanwhile, Tesla cut prices of its Model Y car because âmost people donât love to buy cars in the middle of winter,â CEO Elon Musk said.
Speaking of Musk, he and the Kremlin denied that SpaceX is selling Starlink terminals to Russia. Ukraineâs military intelligence agency had accused Russian troops of using Starlink for internet.
Bitcoinâs price has more than doubled in the past year. The biggest driver in the surge of interest is the US government allowing the proliferation of new exchange-traded funds.
Russiaâs war economy is looking pretty Soviet
Russiaâs hot war with Ukraineâwhich is boosting the formerâs economyâis having some chilly callbacks to the Soviet Unionâs longstanding detente with the United States, namely that state military spending is crowding out other forms of economic growth.
Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, made that comparison in an interview with CNBC: âIf you look at Russia, today, production goes up [for the] military, [and] consumption goes down. And that is pretty much what the Soviet Union used to look like. High level of production, low level of consumption.â Read more takeaways from her interview.
One big number: $700,000
How much the romantic partners of San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs players make, cumulatively speaking, for every sponsored Instagram post they share
To be fair, nearly all of it is earned by one girlfriendâbet you can guess which one.
The AI craze has made Nvidia worth more than Amazon
AI has gone from âjust a lot of buzzâ to âactually making moneyâ as its hype cycle nears a close.
Chipmaker Nvidia sailed past Amazon in market value to become the fourth most valuable American company yesterday with a valuation of $1.82 trillion, compared to $1.81 trillion for Amazon. Believe it or not, this isnât the first time this has happenedâbut to relive that, youâd have to go back to 2002, when their respective market caps were much, much smaller.
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Surprising discoveries
Cassette tapes are having a revival in Japan. Listeners are drawn to the sound of analog audio.
Itâs a tradition in the Chinese business world for American CEOs to dance on stage. Leaders are supposed to appear more relatable when they look dorky, but maybe itâs just awkward.
Meet Goody-2, the worldâs most responsible chatbot. It will tell you that you probably shouldnât get those new boots because of overconsumption.
Donât ghost people you no longer want to date. Send them a break-up pizza.
One of the fastest companies to make $1 billion in revenue wasnât one of the ones youâd guess. Booking Holdings generated a billion in just three yearsâtwo less than Google.
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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, break-up pizzas, and questions for Goody-2 to [email protected]. Todayâs Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.