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Business

Imagine Passing on 23 Billion…

That’s Billion, with a B!

It’s tough to walk away from $23 billion… but that’s exactly what Wiz did. 

Wiz, a cybersecurity startup, turned down a $23 billion acquisition offer from Alphabet, which is the parent company of Google. Even though the offer far exceeded the last private valuation of Wiz, which was $12 billion. This would have been Google’s largest ever acquisition. 

The CEO of Wiz wrote a letter to all of their employees on Monday, explaining that they’d prefer to remain independent, and did not want to be taken over by Google. Instead, they plan to take the company public. 

Assaf Rappaport, the aforementioned CEO, said he hopes to get Wiz to $1 billion in annual recurring revenue, before an initial public offering. In his memo, he said, “saying no to such humbling offers is tough, but with our exceptional team, I feel confident in making that choice.” Of course having that offer from Google, and seeing how much they think of your company and it’s potential, can be uplifting, and inspiring in regards to your future. 

Wiz was founded in 2020 in Israel, before moving their headquarters to New York City. They currently have about 900 employees. They had been talking about an IPO as early as May, before the potential deal with Google started to come together over the past month. 

Part of the apprehension could have been the fact that one of their founders, Jyoti Bansal, has publicly said he regrets previously selling a startup to Cisco. In 2017, he sold AppDynamics to Cisco for $3.7 billion, two days before the company was set to go public. Bansal believed that the move did not maximize their value. 

Wiz might now be betting on themselves, but of course… no one beats them. 

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Finance

Tech Stocks Making Headlines

For the wrong reasons.

Speaking of Google… It hasn't been the best week for them, even without getting left at the altar by Wiz. Stocks ended moderately lower on Tuesday, followed by another slump yesterday, which was led by the tech companies.

Tesla, whose earnings are nearly half of a year ago, posted its weakest profit margins in five years, as their net income dropped 45%. CEO Elon Musk has attributed their struggles to a price war that has broken out among electric vehicle makers. Their shares dropped 8% in after-hours trading.

Musk has said that production of a new, lower-priced car will begin in 2025, as Tesla also pushed back its delivery date of the robotaxi to October. 

Meanwhile, shares of Alphabet (the parent company of Google) were indicated 3% lower in premarket. They beat both top and bottom lines, but their ad sales slowed. Also, they’re forecasting tighter operating margins for this third quarter, as they get set to release their new Pixel phone. Their capital spending levels are expected to remain elevated for the rest of the calendar year.  

Economy

Mortgage Rates Finally Dropping

Just under 7% though, don’t get too excited.

Good news! The average interest rate on 30-year fixed mortgages fell to its lowest level since mid-March. It doesn’t sound like much, but at least the numbers are moving in that direction. And they might continue to do so, for a housing market struggling to find its footing, if the Federal Reserve cuts rates in the months ahead, as expected. 

The 30-year fixed mortgage rate averaged 6.77% for last week, which was down from 6.89% the week prior, and is at its lowest number since mid-March. It’s also slightly down from this same time a year ago, when it was 6.78%. 

This trend is needed, as purchase applications are still 5% lower than the spring. Homebuyers still seem to be waiting on better news. Single-family home construction hit an eight-month low in June, while sales of pre-owned homes have dropped in each of the last three months. And this comes after 2023, where the volume of existing-home sales reached its lowest level since 1995.

Let’s just hope that the 6.77% number keeps dropping.

World News

China and U.S. Talk Nukes

Let’s keep’em holstered.

China has demanded that the United States adopt a no-first-use policy and give up its “nuclear umbrella” to allies in Europe and Asia. This comes after Beijing suspended arms control talks with Washington over Taiwan last week. 

The Chinese Foreign Ministry published two papers on Monday in regard to the “no-first-use of nuclear weapons” policy, that were already previously submitted to the Preparatory Committee for the 2026 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

The idea of the international treaty NPT was to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and, instead, further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament. The treaty first began in 1968 and went into effect two years later. It involves China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States - a group known as the “P5”.

China advocated a “no-first-use” initiative and requested the other members of the P5 follow suit, to publicly promise to not be the first to use nuclear weapons at any time or under any circumstances. China also states that their nuclear arsenal is just for self defense and never to threaten others.

Meanwhile, the United States has sold weapons to Taipei for decades, leading to Beijing accusing the U.S. of undermining their core interests (as Taipei is the capital of Taiwan, which is a self-ruled breakaway province). Just last week, China announced the decision to stop nuclear talks because of these sales between the U.S. and Taipei. 

In rebuttal, the U.S. has questioned China’s real commitment to nuclear restraint. Adam Scheinman, the U.S. special representative of the president for nuclear proliferation, claims that China is expanding its nuclear arsenal while avoiding arms control. 

In these working papers, China did not specify the U.S., but did seem to allude to them when referencing “the relevant nuclear-weapon state” and urging them to abandon their arrangement of nuclear sharing. While not mentioned by name, the United States does have nuclear arrangements with Australia, Japan, NATO and South Korea. So many took that as a direct message to this country. 

Politics

Trump vs. Harris

She’s closing the gap

With Kamala Harris swapped in for President Biden, the Democratic party has seemingly been buoyed. According to a new CNN poll, conducted by SSRS, the race has tightened since Harris has replaced Biden. The data suggests that Trump holds 49% support amongst registered voters, while Harris is at 46% nationwide. The survey also found that voters widely supported the decision to replace Biden, but also the decision for him to finish out this term. The previous version of this poll found Trump had a 6% lead on Biden (most recently conducted in June). Furthermore, this poll found that Harris has held on to 95% of those who supported Biden. 

50% of voters in support of Harris said that their vote was more in support of her, than against Trump. Meanwhile, 74% of Trump’s supporters said their vote was in support of him, as opposed to being against Harris.

Meanwhile, Fox News has invited Trump and Harris to debate in September. Prior to President Biden withdrawing, he had committed to debate Trump a second time on September 10th, as well. He even reassured his participation following the first debate.

On Sunday, Trump posted on his social media: “My debate with Crooked Joe Biden, the Worst President in the history of the United States, was slated to be broadcast on Fake News ABC, the home of George Slopadopolus, sometime in September. Now that Joe has, not surprisingly, has quit the race, I think the Debate, with whomever the Radical Left Democrats choose, should be held on FoxNews, rather than very biased ABC. Thank you! DJT.” So Trump seems to be on board with the idea. 

In fact, he told media on Tuesday that he would be open to more than one debate, and that the nominees have an “obligation” to debate. 

With all the news going on this week, golfer Bryson DeChambeau released his video of golfing with Trump from earlier this month (prior to the assassination attempt) on his YouTube page, which you can view here. The video garnered over four million views in the first 24 hours, was the #1 trending video on YouTube, added 300k subscribers to DeChambeau’s account, and also featured an eagle from Trump. 

Sports | Olympics

Paris, Here We Go!

It’s time for the world’s best to compete.

The 2024 Summer Olympics officially kick off in Paris tomorrow, with the opening ceremony. However, the men’s soccer and rugby teams already opened play yesterday. Men’s soccer is competing in the games for the first time since 2008 - but 15 of their 18 players were born after 2000. So don’t expect to recognize many names.

Meanwhile, the Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow. And basketball star LeBron James was chosen as the male flag bearer for the United States. Which certainly seems like an incredible honor… until you realize Snoop Dogg, for some reason, will be the torch carrier?

After many close calls in the exhibition games, we’ll see if LeBron can lead Team USA to the gold for the fifth straight Olympics. 

Additionally, there has already been one scandal… as Canada was apparently caught using a drone to film the practice of the New Zealand women’s soccer team on Monday (the two teams are both in Group A of the Olympic tournament). The two teams actually play each other today at 11 A.M. ET.  

For the top rivalries of this summer’s olympics, click here. And enjoy the games!

Listen to this!

Weekly Commute

Electric Guest

Music to get you through the workday.

With a funky sound, and smooth melody. Electric Guest has been my go-to choice this week as I knock out my day-to-day. If you haven’t heard them yet, check’em out below.

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