Drill Offshore, Baby, Drill

Plus: Fragrance producers don’t pass the smell test ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

March 9, 2023

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TOGETHER WITH

Good morning.

The WWE is scripting a new chapter in sports betting. The professional wrestling organization is in talks with state gambling officials in Colorado and Michigan to legalize wagers on its high-profile wrestling matches, sources told CNBC.

Yes, that’s right, on its scripted, very not-real, closer-to-Broadway-than-basketball wrestling matches. The promotion is reportedly working with Ernst & Young to keep the, again, 100% staged results a secret, as PwC does for the Oscars. Regardless, we recommend betting the Under(taker).

Morning Brief

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Offshore drilling is getting a second life.

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Business schools want to be techies’ rebound.

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Is there an oligopoly in the odor industry?

Commodities

Offshore Oil Drilling Expected to Grow Plenty Over Next Two Years

(Photo Credit: Troms Fylkeskommune/Flickr)

Countries the world over are ready to spend a lot of green for black gold in the big blue.

New research from Norwegian energy industry intelligence firm Rystad says offshore oil drilling will see its highest growth in a decade as nations prepare to pump hundreds of billions into new projects over the next two years.

Oil Money

Rystad reported that nations have cumulatively already lined up $214 billion to invest in new rigs, vessels, and storage centers. Naturally, Middle Eastern countries are leading the charge, expecting to spend $33 billion on offshore projects this year alone, but coming right behind them are South America and Western Europe, which needs all the oil it can get after cutting ties with Russia. Rystad said that this year and next offshore activity is expected to account for 68% of all sanctioned conventional hydrocarbons, far surpassing hydrofracking, which previously produced the lion’s share.

Even though much of the world has big plans to go carbon neutral, those zero-emission dreams won’t become a reality for another 25 to 30 years, leaving many countries beset by energy shortfalls and high utility costs. So in the interim, they are willing to boost spending on fossil fuel extraction, which the offshore drilling industry has no qualms over:

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Guyana has recently become a premier location for offshore oil, and the South American nation is looking to auction off 14 more drilling blocks to minimize Exxon Mobil’s dominance in the country. Shell, Chevron, Petrobras, and a handful of other companies have already expressed interest in the blocks.

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The share price for Switzerland-based Transocean has risen nearly 65% year-to-date, Valaris out of Houston is up 9%, and Diamond Offshore Drill, which is also headquartered in Texas, saw shares climb 20%.

America’s Drillers: Even though the US is expected to spend $17.5 billion on offshore drilling projects this year, according to Rystad, trade groups and legislators say production is lagging. In America, roughly 15% of oil production comes from offshore drilling. The Biden administration had previously paused issuing any more offshore drilling leases, but the moratorium was later overturned by a federal appeals court. The Interior Department was supposed to have a five-year plan for leasing offshore territory for oil and gas development ready months ago, but in court documents this week, the office said it won’t be ready until December. Delays and pauses have earned the White House lawsuits from major trade groups like the American Petroleum Institute, who claim the slow pace is costing the US jobs and access to natural resources.

– Griffin Kelly

Education

Business Schools Want To Scoop Up Laid-Off Techies

Big Tech may no longer have any use for them, but business schools are bending over backwards to woo laid-off engineers.

They’re even lowering the application requirements for them, Bloomberg reported.

Symbiosis

The tech industry has been decimated by wave after wave of layoffs since the middle of last year. According to Layoffs.fyi, a site that tracks job loss in the tech sector, some 126,000 tech workers have been pink-slipped so far this year. The casualties come from all corners of the tech sector and it’s very possible companies’ belts will continue to tighten, with Bloomberg reporting Meta is bracing for another round of layoffs soon.

But as they’ll teach you in business school, every challenge is an opportunity — and business schools have carpe’d that diem. Bloomberg reports almost a dozen MBA programs have loosened their entry requirements to welcome laid-off techies:

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Standardized tests are among the hurdles laid-off techies won’t have to clear, as well as application fees.

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The decimation of the tech industry came at an opportune time for business schools, many of which were seeing lower application rates in 2022 and going into 2023, according to Caroline Diarte Edwards, director at MBA consulting and counseling firm Fortuna.

The tech layoffs have produced a sad but predictable wave of disillusionment. Former Twitter engineer Justine de Caires told CNN in an interview this week the tech job market currently resembles “hot garbage.”

“I was sitting down earlier this week after a wave of rejections and I was kind of like, maybe I should go be a firefighter or something… because the tech jobs are just not happening,” they said.

Beware The MBA Boss: The allure of an MBA isn’t just to get a job, it’s getting a top job, one where you’re deciding who to let go rather than lining up in front of the chopping block yourself. Research by the Financial Times might make companies think twice about the value of that qualification, however. It found that when MBA grads took over from CEOs with no such degree, there was no real improvement in the company’s fortunes. “The biggest shift when a chief executive with a business degree takes charge is a decline in wages and the share of revenues going to labor,” the FT reported. That’s something they really don’t teach you at Harvard Business School.

– Isobel Asher Hamilton

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Antitrust

US, European Regulators Set Sights on Big Fragrance Companies

This season’s hottest scent is… international criminal investigations.

On Wednesday, the world’s top four fragrance producers found themselves in the coordinated regulatory crosshairs from authorities in the US, the UK, Switzerland, and the EU. The suspected crime? Collusion, with hints of supply chain manipulation and subtle notes of price fixing.

Scents and Sensibility

Fragrance makers manufacture scents for more than just colognes and perfumes, providing odors for everything from toothpaste to soap to detergents. And smelling is a big business, with roughly $40 billion globally in 2020, according to data from Euromonitor.

At the center of it are four major players — US-based International Flavors & Fragrances, German-based Symrise, and Firmenich and Givaudan in Switzerland — which together control 60% of the total market. Now, the alleged odor oligopolists will have to prove their independence to shake free any whiff of criminality:

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“There are suspicions that [the four companies] have coordinated their pricing policy, prohibited their competitors from supplying certain customers and limited the production of certain fragrances,” Switzerland’s Competition Commission said on Wednesday after months of following its nose.

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While each jurisdiction would apply different penalties, the EU at least could slap companies with fines of up to 10% of global turnover for involvement in illegal cartel activity.

What Does Money Smell Like? Let’s not forget the real victims here: the wealthy consumers of luxury fragrance brands like Kering, LVMH, and Armani Acqua di Gio that get their smells from the big four producers. Apparently, the cost of smelling like a million bucks is sacrificing your disposable income at the altar of an alleged cologne cartel.

– Brian Boyle

Extra Upside

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Autopilot Engage: Regulators probe Tesla for steering wheels that come clean off.

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No More Ye, but a whole lot of Yeezys: Adidas has $540 million in unsold sneakers.

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