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đ Sweetgreen Down Bad
Looks like finance bros might have to start brown-bagging it. Those of us that work in central business districts like Midtown/Financial District in New York and the Loop in Chicago are in for a rough ride, as more and more of their beloved business lunch spots are closing their doors.
Together With
"I'm a great believer in solving hard problems by using a checklist." â Ray Dalio
Good Morning! The tech bloodbath continues - Google will lay off 12,000 employees - the company is scaling back after growing rapidly in the pandemic. More and more banks and tech firms are setting return-to-office dates, and they might have a cheerleader in JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who says WFH should be mostly avoided by young employees especially.
The new FTX CEO wants to restart the exchange. The only problem is SBF keeps tweeting and writing Substack posts - and itâs a distraction during bankruptcy proceedings. And the FTC asked a judge to hold âpharma-broâ turned convicted felon Martin Shkreli in contempt of court for forming a new drug firm.
Wall Street 2023 Compensation Survey: Please fill out the survey here. We'll be send out the results as soon as the intern can figure out how to use Excel. Our last year's comp deck got a ton of y'all raises, so you'll likely be doing yourself a favor by filling it out.
For those looking for an afternoon pick-me-up, check out today's sponsor Verb Energy, a plant-based snack with as much caffeine as an espresso (from green tea).
1. Story of the Day: Sweetgreen Down Bad
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(pic above not inflation adjusted)
Looks like finance bros might have to start brown-bagging it. Those of us that work in central business districts like Midtown/Financial District in New York and the Loop in Chicago are in for a rough ride, as more and more of their beloved business lunch spots are closing their doors.
But itâs not just the independent mom-and-dad spots feeling the crunch. With more and more employees working from home, some of the most popular chains are seeing a decline in lunchtime foot traffic. Take Sweetgreen for example - a favorite of those willing to drop nearly $20 on a salad. The company, with 37 locations in New York City alone, is feeling the effects with a 60% drop in stock over the past 12 months.
Restaurants that relied on catering to white-collar professionals are scrambling to re-think their business model. Many chains are building a digital presence and attracting customers through online sales and loyalty programs.
Looks like Sweetgreen is taking the lead in the digital ordering game, with 60% of their orders being placed online last year. Chipotle also stepped up its online game with nearly 40% of orders being placed through the app.
Takeaway: Some experts thought fast-casual restaurants couldnât make a full comeback after Covid. But with the rise of delivery services and more robust mobile apps, restaurants are getting creative to meet customers where they are. Incoming LBO for Sweetgreen anyone?
2. Markets Rundown
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If you want access to Wall Street insider interviews, industry deep-dives, premium research/resources and weekly Knowledge Drop newsletter, check out our Insiders membership.
Stocks rallied on Friday, and tech stocks led the way.
Movers & Shakers
(+) Ally Financial ($ALLY) +20% after beating Q4 revenue and earnings estimates.
(+) SVB Financial ($SIVB) +17% after the bank reported positive earnings, increased net interest income.
(â) Goldman Sachs ($GS) -3% because the firm is under investigation for its consumer finance division.
Private Dealmaking
Pathalys Pharma, a biotech startup that treats kidney diseases, raised $150 million
Vannevar Labs, a national security machine learning startup, raised $75 million
Outrider, an autonomous electric truck developer, raised $73 million
Summit Nanotech, a lithium extraction technology developer, raised $50 million
Flashbots, an Ethereum infrastructure service, eyes raising $50 million
Array Behavior Care, a telehealth startup for mental illnesses, raised $25 million
A Message from Verb Energy: Your Afternoon Pick-Me-Up
Youâve never had energy like this.
Verb energy has as much caffeine as an espresso in a delicious, plant-sized bar thatâs ready to unwrap anytime, anywhere.
Conveniently pocket-sized for on-the-go, itâs made with Organic Green Tea and natural ingredients like quinoa and brown rice crisp.
Stash them in your bag, desk drawer or bedside table so you never get caught without energy.
3. Top Reads
Bad vibes break out on Wall Street (Axios)
Are tech layoffs the canary in the U.S. jobs market? (Fox)
Netflixâs next chapter (Axios)
Why Americans feel so poor (CNBC)
How robots are helping address the fast-food labor shortage (CNBC)
When the stock market and JPow are frenemies (WSJ)
The 3 biggest reasons startups failed in 2022 (CNBC)
What does it mean to align AI with human values? (Quanta)
Google Docs is more popular than Microsoft, but ChatGPT could change that (Forbes)
What top CEOs are saying about a recession (YF)
Home prices hit a record high last year (CNN)
4. Book of the Day: What My Bones Know
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By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend.
But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning.
After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSDâa conditixon that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years.
Both of Fooâs parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect.
She thought sheâd moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career.
She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD.
âForgiveness is this act of love where you say to someone, âYouâre an imperfect being and I still love you.â You want to have this energy of âWeâre not giving up on each other; weâre in this for the long haul. You hurt me. And, yes, I hurt you. And Iâm sorry, but youâre still mine.âââ
5. Short Squeez Picks
How to ask for a raise without alienating your boss
23 questions you should ask yourself before you give up
The number one phrase that makes relationships successful
How to negotiate over practically anything
ChatGPT is the best journal Iâve ever used
A Message from Shortform: Shortform: Learn Faster, Get Smarter
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6. Daily Visual: It's Layoff Szn
![](https://media.beehiiv.com/cdn-cgi/image/fit=scale-down,format=auto,onerror=redirect,quality=80/uploads/asset/file/470b0497-a07d-4dd9-9a5f-02a432fe90c9/image.png)
Source: Axios
7. Daily Acumen
âThere are a lot of things in life that only work when you commit.
I donât mean dabble. I donât mean half-in. I mean commit.
Commitment means all in, all the time.
Itâs easy to trick yourself into thinking that if you put in half the effort, you can get 80 percent of the results.
While that might work for some things, it doesnât work for anything important.
If youâre half trustworthy, youâre not trustworthy. If youâre often reliable, youâre not reliable. If youâre mostly consistent, youâre not consistent.
The key to doing anything well is commitment. Not only does commitment help you become better at what you do, but it also makes other people want to help you.â
Source: FS Blog
8. Memes of the Day
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