Who Saw This Coming? -- August 1, 2021

I've been traveling for a week or so. I haven't kept up with business news, but when I left more than a week ago, and still following the news, all the "experts" over at CNBC were suggesting that "Square" would be acquired by "someone."

Now this, what a shock! "Square" becomes the acquirer.

"Square" to buy Afterpay for $29 billion as "buy now, pay later" booms.

Link here. 

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It's A Spending Problem; Not A Revenue Problem

Link here to The WSJ:

After several weeks of encouraging premieres, Hollywood’s return to the box office has struggled with middling performances topping the charts.

The latest example: Walt Disney Co.’s “Jungle Cruise,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, which premiered to $34.2 million in the U.S. and Canada.

While it is a top performer in the pandemic era, the opening continues an uncomfortable reality for Hollywood as it struggles to emerge from Covid-19: Box-office performances that are good in a pandemic year are still going to have a tough path to profitability. For a movie like “Jungle Cruise,” which cost more than $200 million to make, that is certainly the case.

I see the same problem with EVs.  Cost of production is going to really cut into profits.

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Covid-19 Vaccination Rollout

Link here.

• delivered: 400,674,525
• administered: 346,456,669
• at least one dose: 191,498,983
• fully vaccinated: 164,757,423