Infinity+. Get ready to have your mind blown, Future Party people. If you love daydreaming and contemplating the vastness of the universe, check out mathematician Emily Riehl's latest video with Wired. It's a humbling deep dive into the concept of infinity and its mathematical properties, broken down into five levels of comprehension (ranging from child to expert). You won't be disappointed.
Warning: Your brain might hurt while watching. She’s really smart.
In other news… Hasbro loses its magic, Disney ends its proxy war, and media execs predict the future of TV.
Top Trends
YouTube → The Legend of Zelda
Twitter → #NationalPizzaDay
Google → Burt Bacharach
Reddit → Kevin Durant
TikTok → Heavy Rotation
Spotify → “Boy’s a liar” - PinkPantheress
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BUSINESS
Hasbro may get burned for their hot streak // Illustration by Kate Walker
Hasbro jeopardizes share value by alienating customers
The Future. Hasbro, Inc. has caught flak recently for their increased efforts to monetize their popular brands — especially Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. This drive to grow profits has alienated Hasbro’s customers so much that Bank of America has predicted the company’s stock may lose up to 29% of its value if the company doesn’t restore goodwill quickly. Otherwise, it may be game over for Hasbro.
Magic: The WarningInsider recently covered Bank of America’s warning and the rationale behind it.
BofA reiterated its “Underperform” rating for Hasbro’s stock this Tuesday. The bank initially issued the rating back in November, giving the stock a double downgrade due to brand mismanagement.
According to BofA, the most pressing issue is Hasbro’s overproduction of Magic cards for the sake of generating short-term profits. While this strategy has worked up until now, it’s also lowered the long-term value of the game.
As a result of this effort, BofA explained that “card prices are falling, game stores are losing money, collectors are liquidating, and large retailers are cutting orders.”
Across the boardHasbro’s issues with fan approval go beyond Magic: The Gathering. The company recently tried to roll out licensing changes to Dungeons & Dragons — which has operated on an open license for 20 years — that would have forced content creators to pay significant fees to Hasbro for making money off the IP. Huge community pushback forced Hasbro to backpedal this initiative and instead put D&D under a creative commons license.
That was certainly a good move, but Hasbro’s just treading water. If they don’t win back the trust of their customers by curtailing production, their house of cards just might come down.
ENTERTAINMENT
Harmony is restored to Disney’s board // Illustration by Kate Walker
Disney averts a leadership proxy war
The Future. The proxy battle raging between reinstated Disney CEO Bob Iger and activist investor Nelson Peltz ended yesterday after Iger announced a corporate reorganization initiative that satisfied Peltz. The truce suggests that most parties believe Iger’s reorganization program could help Disney increase share value and revenue after several difficult years.
Happily ever afterThe WSJ outlined the earnings call that pushed Peltz to back down.
Iger outlined plans to cut 7,000 jobs and $5.5 billion in total company costs.
The corporate reorganization initiative would also shift power to content executives and sports media.
Finally, Iger announced his intention to reinstate a small dividend by the end of the calendar year — a measure Peltz had explicitly requested.
Before the truce, Iger had repeatedly slammed Peltz for lacking a concrete plan for how he’d restructure the company. More recently, Peltz’s fund, Trian Partners, wrote up an almost 100-page whitepaper detailing their requested changes — only to find that Iger already planned to institute many of them.
Disney’s stock price spiked after the earnings call ended.
Back in (the) blackLately, Disney has struggled with streaming losses, political controversy, and falling share prices — which were near $200 in March 2021 but now trade at $115. The Peltz-Iger feud was fought over how the company could turn things around, and the end of that feud suggests that the two parties now agree on how to do that.
Disney beat analysts’ expectations on revenue and earnings per share this past quarter. The company has made shareholders and financiers happy — now all they need to do is please their audience.
TOGETHER WITH MOOD
Set the Mood
Valentine’s Day is next week, y’all. May we suggest treating your lover to a little strawberry cheesecake? The smokeable kind that is…
If you haven’t already caught on to Mood, it’s time to check them out. Mood’s products are 100% federally legal under the 2018 Farm Bill. They include flowers, gummies, hash, pre-rolls, and vapes from small, organic farms.
And you can get 20% off with code FIRST20 at checkout to really enjoy the mood.
💚💚💚💚
ENTERTAINMENT
What's next for TV? // Unsplash
Where is TV headed?
The Future. That’s the million-dollar question running through every media executive’s mind these days. Most agree there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for the business, as people’s TV consumption habits are constantly changing. Because consumers usually decide what to watch based on how they feel, networks must provide highly specialized content to grow and maintain their subscriber base. Without it, they may not be able to survive.
Industry predictionsCNBC asked media insiders, including Barry Diller, Bela Bajaria, Jeff Zucker, and Bill Simmons, to predict what TV will be like in three years.
Legacy cable TV will shrink but not die. The number of subscribers will decline, and the average age of the viewers will increase. More scripted programming will migrate to streaming. Because the four major broadcasters — ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC — have locked up the NFL for the next 11 years, people will still tune in for sports. But fragmentation hurts the leagues’ ability to maintain mass engagement.
Netflix, Prime Video, Apple, and the Disney suite will definitely still exist. More or less, every current platform will still be around — just with fewer employees and less original content.
Bundling makes sense from a consumer perspective (paying one rate is easier), but most media companies don’t want intermediaries controlling their audiences and determining the value of their programming. Streamers like to own the relationship with the consumer — which they would have to give up for bundling. Still, it’s cumbersome to go in and out of each app. Streaming needs to develop a user interface that lets the viewer seamlessly enter and exit content.
A “metaverse” that offers commerce, gaming, social interaction, sports, news, and entertainment could become a TV standard that doesn’t exist today — as could the ability to gamble while watching sports on TV with a voice-activated remote control.
Hazy crystal ballEven with the erosion of the cable TV bundle, many networks (independent of streaming) still generate hundreds of millions of dollars in profit — even if it’s declining profit.
Media execs anticipate those that don’t substantially contribute to the bottom line will shut down, while those that still have earning potential will merge with other networks.
The fate of the TV industry really lies in the consumer’s hands, so may the network that best engages the consumer win.
Future Forecast
For those of you who like to stay a step ahead, here are a few things we’re excited about right now:
Superbowl LVII. Of course, we’re excited about the game, the half-time show, the commercials, the food, and (if you know us) the PARTIES. There are always too many to count, but we gotta plug AZsipsters for a pretty solid list.
Love capsules. The Human Made Valentine’s Day Capsule has got us 😍. The collection is a collaboration with Girls Don’t Cry, a project created by Tokyo graphic artist Verdy, as a gift to his wife. In keeping with the V-Day traditions, there’s also a sweet element in the collection: a can of French couverture chocolate resembling fine caviar from leading Japanese chocolatier Koji Tsuchiya.
Air. If you’re more of a basketball or sneaker person than a football fanatic, the recently dropped trailer for Air might be up your alley. The Nike biopic starring Hollywood besties Matt Damon and Ben Affleck tells the story of the game-changing (pun intended) partnership between the then-struggling shoe brand and rookie Michael Jordan to create the most iconic shoe of all time. The trailer itself is entertaining… but where is the star player? Viola Davis and Julius Tennon play Jordan’s parents, but Michael Jordan is not depicted in the trailer or the film, as far as we can tell.
Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
It’ll cost more to throw a Super Bowl party in 2023
According to the latest Consumer Price Index data, the prices of many Super Bowl party staples have soared over the last few years. As of December 2022, the cost of meat, fish, eggs, fruits, and veggies has increased 8% year-over-year, while alcohol has jumped 6% and non-alcoholic beverages 13%. But wing lovers can rest easy now that the price of whole chicken wings is $2.65 per pound — down from $3.38 during last year’s Big Game, per the US Department of Agriculture. Just in the kick of time.
Read More → axios
Paris Hilton will play matchmaker in the metaverse
11:11 Media has teamed with The Sandbox to create Parisland, which will see contestants participate in an in-game dating reality show hosted by Paris Hilton on The Sandbox’s metaverse platform. Parisland will assign five potential romantic partners to each player, who will complete tasks such as picking out wedding rings and outfits, discovering the secrets of the island chef’s Love Burger, rescuing a castaway, and flirting with other players before choosing a partner. They’ll then have a wedding where Hilton DJs. Marketed as a “romantic adventure set on a tropical island,” Parisland launches on February 13th (just in time for Valentine’s Day) and runs for a month. That’s hot.
Read More → deadline
AI can now take care of your expense report
Microsoft and American Express have recently announced a deal that will help revolutionize the way businesses manage their expense reports. Using Microsoft Cloud and AI technologies, the new system will implement an AI-powered decision engine that understands the company’s travel and expense policy and how it applies to submitted expenses. It will leverage that understanding, along with the employee’s purchase and payment history, to categorize and assign a risk score to individual transactions. If successful, this system could save time and reduce headaches all over the corporate world.
Read More → techcrunch
Richard’s Rainwater turns rain into bottled water
The Austin-based company is building a business out of turning drizzle into a clean, low-carbon, and renewable source for bottled water by capturing the rainfall on local breweries’ roofs. With just two commercial installations, the brand hopes to establish at least 15 to 20 locations throughout the US with sufficient local rainfall to provide a consistent water supply. Richard’s Rainwater is available at Whole Foods, AGB, Kroger, and Albertsons. Has anyone tried it?
Read More → forbes
It’ll cost more to celebrate Valentine’s Day in 2023 too
According to a recent survey by Trustpilot, 41% of Americans have decided Valentine’s Day isn’t in their budgets, while another 23% are on the fence about participating in the festivities this year. Nearly half of the respondents say they’ll put what would have been their V-Day spending toward living expenses, and even those exchanging gifts say they’ll cut back due to inflation. V-Day staples are more expensive now than they were a year ago, with the price of chocolate increasing by 12%, greeting cards by 16.4%, and the overall cost of eating out by 8.2%. Oddly enough, a bouquet of roses is more affordable in 2023 than in previous years, costing about 5% less. Still, the most important part of the holiday is spending time with the ones you love.
Read More → cnbc
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Today's email was brought to you by Luke Perrotta and Kait Cunniff.Editing by Nick Comney. Publishing by Sara Kitnick.