đ A quick test: There are 34,752,434 American small businesses, employing ~59m people â and well, if you read numbers like that and think, âOh, hell yeah! Data! More, more, I need more,â youâre going to like todayâs email.
$6.2m: How much a duct-taped banana fetched at auction in November. âComedianâ â a conceptual artwork by Maurizio Cattelan that first appeared at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019 â was sold to crypto investor Justin Sun, who received a certificate of authenticity, a roll of tape, and installation instructions. Sun ate the banana a week later and is now being sued for fraud by the SEC.
69%: Share of people who could correctly interpret a chickenâs mood based on its cluck, regardless of their experience with the birds, in a global study of ~200 participants.
$20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000: The unpronounceable sum that Russia fined Google for blocking state media channels on YouTube. Converted from USD, thatâs two undecillion rubles â a 37-digit number thatâs exponentially higher than the worldâs total GDP, and which the Kremlin called symbolic.
1m+: New user signups on Bluesky in the week following the US elections. X, meanwhile, saw 115k users deactivate their accounts the day following the election, per Similarweb.
$28: How much one Mexican man paid for two pairs of diamond Cartier earrings, a 99.9% discount from their regular price thanks to a typo on the retailerâs website. Cartier attempted to cancel the order, but was ultimately forced to swallow the mistake after Mexican officials argued that the price be honored.
0.305: How many seconds it took Mitsubishiâs TOKUI Fast Accurate Synchronized Motion Testing Robot (TOKUFASTbot) to solve a Rubikâs cube, besting human record holder Max Parkâs 2023 time of 3.13 seconds.
35B+: How many minutes Americans have spent watching âBlueyâ this year, as of September, making the Australian animation the most-watched show in the US.
1T+:Estimated number of cicadas that emerged in the US this spring thanks to a rare double-brood year. Brood XIX and Brood XIII, which resurface every 13 and 17 years, respectively, last co-emerged in 1803. The next time they meet wonât be until 2245.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
Increase in size 3XL listings over the past two years on Poshmark, which also saw a 78% increase in posts listing âweight lossâ as a reason why users are selling various items. These increases coincide with one of 2024âs buzziest topics: the rise of Ozempic and other diabetes medications as weight loss drugs.
Jim Davis, chief revenue officer of Goodwillfinds, told Vogue that the nonprofit has noticed a similar trend in donations, which could impact its goal of never throwing anything in a landfill if itâs unable to offload larger-sized clothing.
But Davis believes it could also pose an opportunity for brand loyalty if retailers use their own resale platforms to allow customers whoâve had a size change to trade in old items for ones that fit.
NOTEWORTHY NEWSMAKERS
The stock marketâs biggest winners and losers
Some companies had a pretty great 2024, and others, not so much.
Weâll start with the bad newsâŚ
Moderna
What went wrong: The darling of the pandemic, Moderna Inc. fell from grace as the masks came off and the world returned to normal-ish. The companyâs stock sank ~63% in 2024 as its only revenue-maker, the Spikevax covid vaccine, saw declining demand.
Reason for hope: That wonât be the case for long. Moderna is busy developing other vaccines and medications using its mRNA technology (including a combination flu and covid vaccine). Plus, the company has been cutting costs, with a goal of saving $1.1B by 2027.
Intel
What went wrong: While some chipmakers had a reallygood year (weâll get to that), Intel struggled to stay afloat. Its stock fell ~54% in 2024, and it announced a 15% headcount reduction as part of a plan to help reduce costs by $10B by 2025. Intel, which once ruled supreme in the heyday of PCs and Macs, has fallen behind competitors in mobile computing and the AI race.
Reason for hope: Not all is lost for 2025 as Intel revives its core business with new chips for laptops and desktops. Intel is also betting on its 18A chip-making process â cutting-edge tech that promises faster, more energy-efficient chips â and has already secured major contracts with Amazon, Microsoft, and the US Department of Defense.
Walgreens
What went wrong: Walgreens saw its stock sink ~67% in 2024 and announced plans in October to close 1.2k stores over the next three years. One of the companyâs major problems: Consumers, sick of waiting for employees to unlock security cabinets and standing in long lines, have flocked to online options like Amazon. Adding to the hardships, reimbursement rates for prescription drugs at Walgreens pharmacies have fallen.
Reason for hope: While closing thousands of locations isnât a signal of a healthy company, cutting loose unprofitable stores could free Walgreens up to rebound in 2025. Walgreens is also pushing pharmacy benefit managers toward a new reimbursement model that would pay pharmacies for their part in filling drugs.
Now for the companies that came out on top:
Nvidia
What went right: If there was one stock you talked about this year, it was probably Nvidia. Up ~200% in 2024, the AI chipmaker had a record-breaking year, briefly becoming the worldâs largest company in November, with a current market cap of ~$3.5T. The reason Nvidia crushed its competition? AI. The introduction of OpenAIâs ChatGPT and the explosion of the sector relied on Nvidiaâs specialized AI chips.
Reason to be cautious: Canât help but think of the saying, âWhat goes up, must come down.â Nvidiaâs success depends on the rate of AI adoption accelerating or, at least, staying steady. Letâs see what happens.
MicroStrategy Inc.
What went right: Among this yearâs best performing stocks, software company MicroStrategy Inc. saw a 492% gain in 2024. The company, which is the largest corporate bitcoin holder and known for using the currency as its primary treasury asset, has purchased $17.8B+ worth of bitcoin this year. Itâs created quite the flywheel, running up MicroStrategyâs stock and bitcoinâs value.
Reason to be cautious: MicroStrategy is raising $42B to buy more bitcoin over the next three years. While ambitious, that money is going to the cryptocurrency, not back into the business. That could pay out, or not â as we all know, bitcoin is known for being a volatile investment.
Walmart
What went right: Not every company that flourished in 2024 was a tech company. The largest company in the world by sales, Walmart had quite the year, with its stock up 78% to date. While brands like Walgreens are falling behind in the ecommerce rat race, Walmart has kept up, with the launch of same-day pharmacy deliveries, drone deliveries, and an expanded third-party marketplace.
Reason to be cautious: Part of Walmartâs current shine is due to the floundering of its competitors â Target stock, for example, is down ~9% this year. Plus, Walmart will continue to move in the shadow of the behemoth: Amazon.
Note: This brief was written on Dec. 15, 2024. Stock values may have since fluctuated.
SHOWER THOUGHT
Kids are on their best behavior right before Christmas. Adults are on their best behavior right after New Yearâs.SOURCE
Today’s email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah, Sara Friedman, and Singdhi Sokpo. Editing by: Ben “B- in statistics class” Berkley.
