2022’s Winners and Losers

Can you guess which industry captain made both lists? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

December 30, 2022

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Hello and welcome back to The Daily Upside.

For our final newsletter of 2022, we are bringing you our Winners and Losers of 2022 special.

It’s been quite a year in business, and while some have really thrived despite the seemingly non-stop chaos of 2022, most others have been either less fortunate or less realistic. And as we call out some people and companies who stood out, we offer this one important disclaimer: don’t count out this year’s losers in 2023, and don’t assume the winners will keep winning in the new year.

Enjoy the holiday weekend, we’ll return on Tuesday.

Some Winners and Losers of 2022

Did you star in a blockbuster action movie sequel that single-handedly saved the summer box office? Well, Tom Cruise did, making more than $100 million by using his clout to keep Top Gun: Maverick in theaters, and he did it all at the age of 60. Chris Smalls, the former Amazon worker who founded the grassroots Amazon Labor Union after being fired in 2020 for objecting to a lack of Covid safety at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, New York, won the vote to organize his old warehouse, making him a modern labor hero and landing him a meeting with President Joe Biden. Crypto site Coindesk managed to do something this year most news organizations only dream about: break the story that the entire industry you were created to cover is likely built on a throne of lies. “America’s Banker” Jamie Dimon looks poised to guide JPMorgan Chase through a second major financial crisis in his 18th year at the helm, a reality that might make you think he belongs on the other list… at least until you realize how few people have lasted long enough to do it. Prodigal CEO Bob Iger, who played the white knight so well by returning in Disney’s darkest hour that he might want to greenlight a movie about it. And lastly, Elon Musk, who despite his apparent reverse Midas touch, earns a place in the winner’s circle just for doing such a spectacular job at dominating the news cycle all year.

Sadly, our loser’s list was harder to whittle down this year. Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse dreams stumbled out of the gate, leading to his company’s first real downturn ever. In November, he acknowledged that his company is still plugging about 80% of its investment into its traditional, TikTok-threatened social media business. Remember when CNN+ was a thing? Well, you must have blinked. More like RIP+. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon will enter 2023 with enough egg on his face to feed an army of unemployed Wall Street bankers after having to pull an about-face on the megabank’s push into consumer lending and laying off 4,000 people just before the holidays. Crypto makes the list for being crypto. Swiss financial services giant Credit Suisse is still trying to overhaul itself after years of trying to shrink and fix its controls, but the changes keep coming, and so do the lawsuits and fines. And lastly, Elon Musk, for… see above.

The Biggest Losers

This year’s biggest loser was a fairly easy call, but there was actually a runner-up.

Since taking over in February 2020, former Disney CEO Bob Chapek burned hordes of cash on streamer Disney+, released the studio’s worst animated box office bomb – Strange World – in years, and stumbled through a messy political fight over LGBTQ rights with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. By November, Disney stock was down more than 30% since he took over, making him look like Goofy balancing plates, and when his fall finally came, Disney investors were thrilled to see him pushed aside by his predecessor —and now also successor — Bob Iger.

2022’s Biggest Loser

Sam Bankman-Fried entered 2022 as a hirsute financial and media golden boy, running the $32 billion crypto exchange FTX and preaching the gospel of “Effective Altruism” in DC and the world over. FTX was the lynchpin of the new crypto boom and its logo was popping up everywhere, almost as much as SBF himself when he deigned to leave the Caribbean paradise he had built to house his rapidly growing empire. But it was all allegedly a DeFi canard, and now SBF is the Bernie Madoff of the blockchain after the federal government had him arrested, indicted, and extradited on charges of wire fraud. His girlfriend/chief investor at his pass-through hedge fund has agreed to cooperate in his prosecution, the crypto world is crumbling in his wake, and he now has something in common with younger millennials in that he is living back home with his parents…although on a $250 million bond as he faces life in prison. Still think you had a bad year?

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The Big Winner of 2022

Again, we had a runner-up on this one, and while it’s not a name that many Americans will immediately recognize, the impact she had on tech stocks will make her impossible to forget for many American investors.

European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager continues to be the most persistent, and fashion-forward, thorn in the side of Big Tech. She cemented a big victory against Google and ended the year announcing that she will be going after Meta in 2023. The EU’s crusade to break up Big Tech monopolies will continue into next year and almost certainly beyond, and Vestager will again lead the charge.

Drumroll Please…

But this year’s biggest winner is actually more than one person, and they’ve had by far the biggest impact on our world this year: so tip your hat to the world’s Central Bankers, The Daily Upside’s biggest winner of 2022.

Love them or hate them (and we know you have feelings), central bankers the world over – and even belatedly in Tokyo – have spent this year combatting an inflation boom that came on the heels of a pandemic and war in Eastern Europe. By aggressively raising rates throughout most of the world, monetary policymakers have made the kind of calls that lead to a lifetime of unpopularity but have also so far proven largely effective. Inflation has begun to cool in the US and parts of Europe, giving some economies a fighting chance to stave off real panic in 2023. So, yes, central bankers deserve and probably need a hug this year.

Bonus Winner

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We can’t end this list without an honorable mention for Lionel Messi, who was maybe the biggest actual winner of 2022, hoisting his first FIFA World Cup and cementing his title as King Leo – all while avoiding any public meltdowns, or crypto endorsements, that have turned out to be not such a great look for other sports superstars

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Written by Thornton McEnery

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