đ Itâs somehow Monday again. To soften the blow of checking your inbox, weâve got Spirit Halloween popping up in your house, a floundering fine art industry, and some good news for your passwords.
đ§ On the pod:How Wendyâs exploited one of McDonaldâs biggest weaknesses.
NEWS FLASH
đ Spooky on demand: Uber will deliver more than food this October. The company said customers will be able to order costumes, makeup, and decorations directly from Spirit Halloween to their doors. The Halloween retailer, known for popping up in abandoned storefronts, is North Americaâs largest, with 1.5k+ locations.
đ SpaceXlaunched a rescue mission Saturday to retrieve the two astronauts stranded at the International Space Station, but they still wonât return until late February. The pair, who arrived at the ISS on Boeing’s Starliner in June, will have been in space for more than eight months.
â´ď¸ Port workers across 14 East and Gulf Coast port authorities are expected to strike on Tuesday if negotiations between the United States Maritime Alliance, which reps shipping lines, and the International Longshoremenâs Association arenât reached. This could cause shortages and increased prices, and prevent US factories from receiving needed parts. This would be the first ILA strike to affect these ports since 1977.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
Music from Adele, Green Day, and others is blocked on YouTube due to a legal dispute with performance rights organization SESAC. The block is similar to a recent scuffle between UMG and TikTok.
Hope you celebrated National Coffee Day yesterday with a big cup of caffeine. Coffee is the second most popular beverage in the US â behind bottled water â with 63% of Americans saying theyâve had it in the past day.
Two climate activists who threw soup at Vincent van Goghâs âSunflowersâ at Londonâs National Gallery were sentenced to two years in prison. The painting was protected with glass but its frame suffered ~$13.4k in damages.
SKILL UP
Seedlings to inspire your next side hustle
We hope you love that we took the liberty of pinpointing 50+ of the finest startup ideas available in the My First Million archives, including absolute light bulbs like:
Divorce Island
Last-minute gift delivery
âClub-ifyingâ boring businesses
Addressing the pet care frenzy
A slew of smart AI-powered apps
Episode links included (of course), so you can listen in on the original pitches â courtesy of The Hustle founder Sam Parr, Milk Road founder Shaan Puri, and the worker bees here at HubSpot Media.
Has the gavel come down on fine art auction houses?
In 2017, Leonardo da Vinciâs âSalvator Mundiâ became the most expensive painting ever sold at auction at $450m.
But record-breaking sales like that one are now a distant memory for an industry thatâs feeling the pressure of rising prices, interest rates, and inflation, perThe Wall Street Journal.
Sothebyâs, one of the worldâs most famed auction houses, is not immune to the downswing:
While it previously earned $7B+ in sales annually, the companyâs auction business saw a $115m loss and just $3m in profit for the first half of 2023.
Despite holding $1.8B in debt, the company paid $100m+ for New Yorkâs Breuer building on Madison Avenue last year.
And while the price of Sotheby’s bonds tanked this summer, the announcement of a $1B infusion from Abu Dhabi sovereign-wealth fund ADQ fueled a rebound in August.
But, until that lifeline kicks in, insiders told WSJ that the company is delaying payments for its conservators and art shippers by as much as six months and dishing out IOUs in place of incentive pay for senior staffers.
Not-so-fine art
Sothebyâs is far from alone in its plight.
Sales at Christieâs, Sothebyâs, and Phillips totaled $1.2B-$1.8B this spring season, down from the 2022 peak of $2.8B.
And the average price of art sold at auction decreased 32% in 2023 â the largest single-year decline in more than seven years, according to data from ArtTactic via Bank of America.
Adding salt to the wound, Christieâs was hit by a cyberattack in May, with hackers stealing sensitive personal information from the auction house’s clients.
Scared youâll have nowhere to spend your millions? Fret not. Christieâs sold a Mark Rothko painting for $100m+ in February to hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin.
Where do US Open tennis balls go when they die? The answer to this question is now on our podcast.
Totally understandable: A Businessolver survey found that 80% of CEOs believe empathy is a key driver of success. OK, but why?
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
Share of shoppers who wonât purchase a product if the retailer puts it behind a lock. A Consumer World survey found that 13% of respondents would search for an unlocked alternative, but 55% would simply go elsewhere. While locking up everything from earbuds to toothpaste has become increasingly common to deter shoplifters, thereâs also some debate as to whether the issue is as severe as retailers once made it seem.
AROUND THE WEB
đ On this day: In 1868, Louisa May Alcottâs Little Women was published.
đ§ Thatâs interesting: How people over time have viewed our stomachâs impact on who we are.
đ§ My First Million: Author Guy Spier shares everything heâs learned from studying the greatest value investors of all time.
High-tech cars that rely on software updates, subscription services, and special dealer-provided maintenance will probably tank the used car market in 20-30 years.SOURCE
