Business

Your Data May Not Be Yours Anymore

23 & Me selling data as a last resort.

Many’s biggest fear about these DNA companies (23andMe, Ancestry, etc.) seems to be becoming a reality. Security was always a concern - what could happen with all of that specific genetic data?

Well 23andMe is on the verge of collapse, with all that data just sitting there. They were once a $6 billion biotech company, but now seem to be in disarray, having lost 99.9% of that value. 

All seven of their independent directors have resigned, citing frustration with the current CEO’s “strategic direction” and efforts to take the company private. The company, which has yet to turn a profit, seems to be spending money like crazy, as The Wall Street Journal has reported that they’ll run out of funds next year. 

This despite the company having 14 million customers. But the problem? Zero repeat customers… people don’t need to check their DNA or ethnic background multiple times.

And with the company tanking financially, could they look to sell that all important (and unique) data that they possess? Desperate people do desperate things.

In fact, they had already sold some customer data to a drug company, GSK, for $20 million last year. This deal allowed GSK to access anonymous DNA data for researching new medicines and 23&Me claimed the data only came from “consenting customers.”

A 23andMe spokesperson has stressed the company's commitment to being transparent with whatever happens to customer data, stating their core value is, “behind every data point is a human being.” But, do you trust them?

There was already a $30 million settlement last month due to a 2023 data breach that leaked user’s ancestry reports, DNA matches, family names, birthdates, location and more. 23andMe did not reveal the extent of the issue until two months after it had occurred…

The good news, customers, theoretically, aren’t helpless. They can ask for their samples to be withdrawn from databases under certain laws (in certain states). HIPAA does not apply here.

Covid Start-Ups Are Crushing It!

The Pandemic was awful, but for these companies boomed.

Let's start with the obvious: the Covid-19 pandemic was awful. It cost a lot of people their lives, their loved ones, their jobs, their financial security, their company, etc. 

Now, please indulge us in one positive: start up companies from that timeframe are doing great (okay, two - because working from home is pretty great, right?). 

A record surge in new businesses has helped drive job growth and could offer long-term benefits for the economy, as well. Applications to start a new business are up 59% since the pandemic and this comes after startup rates languished near all-time lows throughout the 2010s - the decade preceded the pandemic. As they say: necessity is the mother of all inventions. 

These startups are important for a multitude of reasons, but, most notably: job growth and productivity. Especially in economic times like this one. The number of startups is a determining factor behind the net job creation across the economy, as many jobs that are lost at large firms can be balanced out by the jobs created by new startups. 

Additionally, startups drive productivity by adopting and commercializing new technologies, introducing new business models, advancing innovations, sharpening competition and just simply making a better use of the economy’s resources, including people.

In summation, startups are a good thing. And we’re seeing a record amount since Covid, when people lost their jobs, or were stuck at home, and were forced to be resourceful.

Around the Water Cooler:

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Politics

That JD Vance Sure is Slick…

Seriously, does every news station get the same script?

It seems most in the media world have received their marching orders, following the Vice President debate last week. “Slick” has been the term thrown around to describe JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate. 

Seems like a random word to be used so heavily as a descriptor for Vance. And yet, if you google it: New York Magazine called Vance “slick”, Rachel Maddow called Vance “very slick”, the New York Times referred to him as “slick JD”, the Guardian called it a “slick performance” for Vance, and the Independent described him as “Trump, but slicker.” And these are all just in the headlines. The main takeaway. 

The narrative, the modus operandi, is to refer to Vance as being “slick” - maybe a negative connotation, maybe an excuse, maybe a bit of a backhanded compliment or way to compliment(?) Vance without fully giving him the credit of winning. It all depends on your definition of slick. The merriam-webster definition is “clever”, which, again, could be taken as a positive or negative. 

(P.S. allow us to acknowledge that “outkicking your coverage” is another one of those backhanded compliments. They’re putting you down by being shocked you could be that attractive person. Stop falling for it)

Maybe it’s innocent enough, but slick seems like an uncommon enough word to raise some eyebrows when it’s everyone’s number one takeaway of JD Vance. Throw on the tinfoil hats!

Around the Hill:

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Finance

Jobs Up, and Unemployment Down.

The economy looks good, and rates should stay put.

September brought some good news, as 254,00 new jobs were added - far more than anticipated, according to the job report that was released on Friday. The unemployment rate also ticked lower, falling from 4.2% in August to 4.1% in September. 

The jobs added were nearly twice as many as the expected 150,000. It was also greater than the 159,000 jobs that were added in August (which is the revised figure and much higher than the original number that was released…).

Furthermore, wage growth increased 0.4% from August and is now 4% higher than this time a year ago. 

Following this report, S&P 500 futures added 0.8%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 0.5% and Nasdaq 100 moved 1.1% higher. 

Because of these positive developments, another Fed cut of the interest rates is no longer anticipated. Right now, the markets price another half percentage point cut in November at a 5% chance, which is all the way down from 53% just a week ago! 

The job’s report also shared that food services and drink places paved the way in job gains, adding 69,000 new jobs in September. Meanwhile, healthcare added 45,000 jobs and the government added more than 31,000. The private sector added 143,000 jobs, up from the 99,000 in August. All good things.

From the Street:

💲 Activist Starboard Value Takes $1 Billion Stake in Pfizer.

📈 Goldman Sachs bumped its S&P 500 target for 3rd time this year.

U.S. News

The Dock Workers Strike is Over!

Well suspended, for now…

More good news: the strike of the dockworkers is over… for now. Suspended might be the more appropriate description, as the two sides reached an agreement until January 15, 2025. 

The two sides reached a deal on a 62% increase in pay in the meantime, which is up from the 50% that the shipping companies, represented by the U.S. Maritime Alliance, had previously offered. However, it’s still much lower than the 77% raise that the International Longshoremen’s Association was seeking. The raise will be phased in over the next six years and comes following heavy pressure from the Biden administration to get something done. 

With the suspension of the strike for (atleast) another three months, the hope is that this time will allow the two sides to come to an agreement on other negotiations and issues. 

Even though the strike was merely three days, it still created a logjam that could take two to three weeks to unfurl. Therefore, you might still see an increase in some prices in the meantime, such as coffee.

But with this suspension, it pushes any potential strike past the holiday season (as well as the election), avoiding some sort of disastrous interruption for the American people. A lengthy strike was estimated to cost this country $5 billion PER DAY, according to a JP Morgan projection.

The suspension also helps with recovery efforts following Hurricane Helene, along with getting supplies to certain areas. That fact might have actually played a huge role (weighing on the conscience of these workers) in this temporary agreement.

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Tech

A.I. is Going Hollywood

Meta announces their A.I. video generator.

With Hollywood reaching a dearth of ideas (We’re now getting a spin-off of a terrible spin-off of a bad TV show), AI might be here to help.

Meta announced last week that they will be releasing a new AI-powered video generator that will produce high-definition footage, with sound, creatively titled “Movie Gen.” This comes after OpenAI unveiled “Sora,” a text-to-video model earlier this year.

However, public access to Movie Gen isn’t occurring just yet. But once it does, you’ll go from saying “how did this ever get made?” to… well… “how did this ever get made?”

Movie Gen will use text inputs to generate new videos, as well as edit existing footage or still images. The audio added will be AI-generated, according to the New York Times, and will match the imagery with ambient noise, sound effects and/or background music. The videos will be able to be generated in different aspect ratios too.

Furthermore, Movie Gen will also have the ability to create custom videos from images or take an existing video and change certain elements of it. What were once coined “deep fakes” might someday become a version of Hollywood. 

Just the fact that this technology is becoming greater and more prominent, won’t ease the actors and writers of Tinseltown… who already had to strike last year.

But Meta said they need to get the cost and generation time down before they release the product to the public. Meta also said they’ve trained their AI to be able to identify licensed materials.

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