Category Archives: Business

Business

NYC developers eyeing casinos for Hudson Yards, Times Square, Willets Point, Coney Island

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New York City developers and gaming operators are putting their chips on the table in a frenzied bid for the right to open local casinos, including in Times Square and Hudson Yards, The Post has learned.

Some of the other sites being eyed are Willets Point near the Mets Citi Field ballpark in Queens and Brooklyn’s Coney Island, according to sources familiar with the plans.

The state Gaming Commission is authorized to issue up to three licenses in the Big Apple downstate region, and Mayor Eric Adams has said he wants at least two of the licenses given to the city.

Real-estate giants Related Companies in Hudson Yards and Vornado and SL Green in Times Square are interested in forming partnerships with casino behemoths such as Hard Rock, Sands and Wynn for local venues, industry and government sources said.

Representatives with the developers and casinos have apprised Adams’ office, as well as Gov. Kathy Hochul and state officials, of their preliminary plans, sources said.

Officials from Related Companies have met with City Hall to discuss a proposal to build a casino over rail tracks on the far West Side.

Related Companies Chairman Stephen Ross is a hefty donor to Hochul, the biggest player in the casino sweepstakes who oversees the state’s gambling regulators.

A rep for Related Companies, the major developer of the West Side’s Hudson Yards, confirmed interest in building a casino in Manhattan.

Hudson Yards developer Related Companies is looking into a potential casino on the West Side.
William Farrington

“We’re exploring our options,” Related spokesman Jon Weinstein told The Post on Sunday.  

Sources familiar with the discussions said Hudson Yards has ample space to build a casino, along with the transportation infrastructure needed to get people to and from a gaming facility. The No. 7 and Penn Station stations are nearby. The site also is close to the Javits convention center.

Mets owner Steve Cohen and his associates — who have good relations with Adams — have spoken to City Hall about potentially building a local casino, too, sources said.

Thor Equities has discussed erecting a casino in Coney Island, as well, an insider said.

Business mogul John Catsimatidis, who developed the Ocean Drive waterfront residences along the Coney Island oceanfront, also has expressed support for opening a casino there.

“A casino would be a wonderful thing for Coney Island and Brooklyn,” Catsimatidis said Sunday. “A Coney Island casino would bring a lot of vigor to Brooklyn.”

Thor Equities is reportedly interested in building a casino in Coney Island.
Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/ Getty Images

On the casino side, Hard Rock has indicated it has already joined the party.

It just donated $119,000 to the Gov. Hochul-controlled state Democratic Party and has contributed more than six figures to the governor’s election campaign, according to fund-raising records filed with the state Board of Elections.

Hard Rock’s lobbyists also have met with City Hall Chief of Staff Frank Carone about wanting to build a casino, lobbying records show. Hard Rock executives have discussed a partnership with the Mets’ Cohen for a Willets’ Point casino.

A selling point: Willet’s Point is easily accessible using the No. 7 subway train, the Long Island Rail Road and the Grand Central Parkway and Long Island Expressway and has a large population just minutes away in Flushing, a potential gambling constituency, sources said.

Mets owner Steve Cohen has talked to City Hall about a casino near Citi Field in Willets Point, sources said.
NY POST Photo/Corey Sipkin

Meanwhile, Sands CEO Rob Goldstein also has met with Carone about a Big Apple casino, a source close to the discussions said. 

In terms of support for any local project, Carone noted to The Post, “Casinos provide good-paying union jobs.”

Two existing slots parlors at state horse-race tracks — Resorts World/Genting at Aqueduct in Queens and the Empire City/MGM at Yonkers in Westchester County — have been in business for more than a decade and will apply for a full license to expand and offer live table games. If those two sites are selected, there will be a fight for the one remaining license for a new downstate casino.

But opening a casino anywhere in the city — particularly in Manhattan — won’t be easy.

Under state law, gaming interests are going to need to woo community support.

Backers would have to win approval from two-thirds of a six-member community advisory board for the area where a casino is proposed. The reps are to include appointees from the borough president, local state senator and assembly member and City Council member, as well as the governor and mayor.

Unless the proposed casino is on state-owned property, it also would have to be approved according to the city’s lengthy land-use review procedure that needs the blessing of the City Council.

The situation gives community activists and local elected officials tremendous leverage in the selection process.

Other controversial projects on Manhattan’s West Side have ended up in the graveyard — notably former Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s proposed Olympic stadium and the Westway highway.

“I strongly oppose a Manhattan casino in concept,” said state Sen. Brad Hoylman, who represents the Hudson Yards and Times Square neighborhoods, to The Post on Sunday.

“I don’t know one constituent who wants a casino,” he said. “Outside forces want a casino. Insiders who live here don’t want a casino.”

Studies have questioned the economic benefits of land-based casinos in the digital age, too. The region is saturated with gambling parlors, critics say.

But New York government stands to benefit from billions of dollars in revenues.

The state is expected to fetch at least $500 million for each casino license — or least $1.5 billion.

The tax rates will ultimately be determined by the competitive bidding process for the licenses, but the law says they can’t be less than 25% of slot revenue and 10% of table game revenue.

The tax rates will likely be higher. The four upstate casinos all pay between 30% and 40%.

The gaming commission will appoint members to a casino siting board by October 4. The board will then have 90 days to issue a request for bids.

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Business

Safety is No. 1 concern among NYC subway riders: MTA survey

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New York City subway riders say keeping safe on the transit system remains their No. 1 concern, according to a new MTA survey.

“Personal safety & security” ranked top of the list of “what needs to improve” to increase rider satisfaction, the agency’s June customer survey found — followed in order by “homeless people,” “people behaving erratically,” “wait times” and “cleanliness.”

Nearly one in five respondents, meanwhile, said they would ride the subway more often if there were “fewer people behaving erratically,” the survey found. 

Between 10% and 15% of respondents cited more cops, shorter wait times and their personal security as potential incentives to ride more often.

The concerns over safety come after several high profile subway crimes, including a mass shooting on April 12 and the random murder of a Goldman Sachs worker gunned down as he headed to brunch in May.

But overall transit crime dropped in June, according to NYPD stats.

The department said 162 felonies were reported underground in June, a steep dip from the 219 seen in May. Murder, rape, robbery, assault, burglary and grand larceny all dropped month-over-month.

Nearly one in five respondents said they would ride the subway more often if there were “fewer people behaving erratically,” the survey found. 
William Farrington
The concerns over safety come after several high profile subway crimes, including a mass shooting on April 12 and the random murder of a Goldman Sachs worker.
DANIEL WILLIAM MCKNIGHT

Both figures reflect steep jumps compared to last year, even when adjusted for this year’s higher ridership — June 2022 saw an average of 1.84 felony crimes per million, a 5.1% increase compared to the 1.75 average recorded in June 2021.

Some 23 million more people rode the subways last month compared to June 2021.

“There are some people obviously very worried,” said MTA board rep Andrew Albert, “I’m also seeing very crowded trains at various times of the day. I think people, when they choose to go out, are using the system.”

Between 10% and 15% of respondents cited more cops, shorter wait times and their personal security as potential incentives to ride more often.
Christopher Sadowski

Wait times on the subways on weekends and buses in general remain a top concern for riders, regular or otherwise, Albert said. Bus riders cited wait times, crowding, travel time, reliability and fare evasion as their top concerns, the MTA said.

“Twenty-some odd minutes between trains in the middle of a weekend day is just unacceptable,” Albert said. “I can’t tell you how many tourists I’ve helped out in the last couple days, because it’s so confusing for them.”

The MTA said the survey is drawn from “statistically valid” sample of around 1,000 self-selected respondents.

Spokesman Aaron Donovan praised NYPD for upping its presence underground under Mayor Eric Adams.

“New strategies have shown signs of success, and the MTA is encouraged by Mayor Adams’ commitment to add social services and police officers as necessary in the subways to achieve further improvement,” Donovan said in a statement.

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Business

We test an electric Mercedes that can can go 747 miles on a single charge

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Enlarge / There’s only one Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX, so bringing it back in one piece was important.

Jonathan Gitlin

IMMENDINGEN, GERMANY—Driving off in the Mercedes-Benz Vision EQXX was slightly more stressful than I anticipated. Not that it’s difficult to drive, or to see out of the low-slung streamliner, but it’s also the only one in existence. Mercedes wouldn’t tell us the program’s exact budget, simply warning us that the sole EQXX should be considered priceless, but I’d guess somewhere in the range of three Bugatti Pur Sports.

Like the Bugatti, the EQXX was built to an engineering brief—in this case to build an electric vehicle capable of at least 621 miles (1,000km) on a single charge. Also like the Bugatti, it’s road-legal: in April of this year, less than two years after the project was given the green light, the team drove the EV 625 miles (1,006 km) from Sindelfingen in Germany to Cassis, France, arriving with a 15 percent state of charge in the battery.

Two months later, they followed that up with a longer drive that involved descending down fewer mountains, driving from Stuttgart, Germany to the Silverstone racetrack in the UK, where reigning Formula E champion Nyck de Vries then used the remaining charge to drive some hot laps, the car eventually completing 747 miles (1,202 km) before coming to a halt in the pit lane.

But this is not Bugatti and there are no plans for a low volume production run, not even at eye-waveringly expensive prices. The Vision EQXX is a one-off, a concept car come to life, but more fully realized than any other concept I’ve yet encountered. A pure engineering exercise or world record breaker wouldn’t bother with a functional infotainment system that uses a single 44-inch 8k display, nor a completely trimmed interior, even if it is one that uses a cactus fiber fabric instead of leather, bamboo fiber carpets, and a biotech-derived silk, among other innovations.

And despite the priceless nature of this low-drag EV, Mercedes let Ars drive it.

Enlarge / It’s a dramatic shape, but in service to the laws of aerodynamics.

Jonathan Gitlin

As you might guess from the way it looks, the Vision EQXX’s shape is more than a little aero-optimized. About 62 percent of the work the motor has to do is fighting against air resistance, after all. It’s a smaller car than it seems from the pictures—about a foot shorter than the production EQS at 195.9 inches long. And that includes the long overhanging nose and tail, so the Vision EQXX’s wheelbase is actually compact car-short, at 110.2 inches (2,800 mm).

A narrow 73.6-inch (1,870-mm) width and low 53.1-inch (1,348-mm) roofline give the car a rather small frontal area—22.8 sq ft (2.12 m2)—and frontal area works with the drag coefficient, which in this case is just 0.17, which makes it one of the lowest-drag cars ever made.

From the nose to the C pillar it might remind you of the Porsche Taycan, a very slippery customer itself. The door handles retract flush to the doors, or at least they do up front; the rear doors don’t open, one of the few tells that this really is a concept and not a production car.

The side view mirrors are of a size you might expect to find on a racing car rather than something wearing a license plate, but they work well enough. Which is good, because there’s no rear window. Instead that space, and the roof too, is given over to a 300 w solar array that feeds into the car’s 12 V battery which like the traction battery is also lithium ion. (Since the priceless one-off will never be left parked outside for very long, Mercedes didn’t bother adding the extra gubbins that would allow the panel to trickle-charge the traction battery.)

From the rear wheels back, it’s like little else, other than perhaps the Lightyear Solo. When parked, the lower part of the tail retracts into the bodywork, extending out when the car’s onboard brain decides its more efficient to do so.

Enlarge / The rear extension can also be retracted if you need to drive up a ramp.

Jonathan Gitlin

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Business

Plan to force cap on Russian oil prices could actually work

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The U.S. still remains ‘a ways away’ from reaching an international agreement to impose a price cap on Russian oil exports, with limited enthusiasm from the world’s largest energy buyers India and China, so far, a Senior Biden energy advisor said.

But Amos Hochstein, Special Coordinator for International Energy Affairs for President Biden, said he remains optimistic that Russia would ultimately continue its output despite a price limit, in large part because ‘their economy has nothing else.’

“We already are seeing evidence in the market that Russia is selling its oil at a significant discount. So we wanna put that max,” Hochstein told Yahoo Finance. “So we know that they’re willing to sell it at a discount in order to be able to sell it, because frankly they have cash in the bank, that is true, but they don’t have anything else.”

Hochstein’s comments come after Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said Friday, Moscow had no plans to supply crude oil to countries that choose to impose a price cap on its exports. Speaking to reporters, Nabiullina added that any Russian oil would be redirected to countries that are ready to “cooperate” with the country.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about gas prices during remarks in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building’s South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 22, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The Biden administration has proposed a price cap on Russian oil exports to limit President Vladimir Putin’s revenues from oil, which Hochstein said is being used directly to fund the country’s war against Ukraine. The cap is intended to keep Russian oil prices low, without cutting off supply altogether, triggering a devastating spike in global oil prices.

But some EU countries largely dependent on Russian oil have been hesitant to embrace such a move. This is partially because of fears Putin will refuse to sell at the price, and cut off Moscow’s supply altogether.

‘Trying to perfect the mechanism’

Last month, the G7 nations agreed in principle to explore ways to prohibit “all services, which enable transportation of Russian seaborne crude oil and petroleum products globally, unless the oil is purchased at or below a price to be agreed in consultation with international partners.” Hochstein said the U.S. has yet to settle on the specifics of a framework for a global price cap.

“We’re trying to perfect the mechanism of how that would actually look and how it would work. We’re not at a point where we have an agreement,” Hochstein said. “We have an agreement in principle with the major economies, but not an actual agreement.”

Brent crude, the global benchmark, has pulled back significantly since climbing near $140 a barrel since Russia began its war on Ukraine earlier this year. Oil futures settled near $103 a barrel on Friday, though that still marks an increase of more than 30 percent this year.

Gas prices are displayed at a petrol station in Monterey Park, California, on July 19, 2022. (Photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. crude prices fell below $95 a barrel for the first time since April, following a decision by European Union member states to adjust sanctions to allow Russian state-owned companies to ship third countries.

Yet, critics of the administration’s proposed policy remain skeptical of its efficacy, in part because Washington has yet to receive any commitments from the world’s largest buyers, India and China, who remain wary of disrupting their long-term relationship with Moscow.

The plan will prevail

Since the war began, China has nearly doubled its imports from Russia to 1 million barrels per day, while India’s Russian crude imports have soared 24-fold to 600,000 barrels per day, according to the Eurasia Group.

Jorge Montepeque, who is credited with reforming benchmark oil pricing, told Reuters, the mandates to fix prices have been tried before and failed.

“The U.S. tried to fix prices for oil in the 1970s, the U.K. tried fixed forex prices in the 80s, Mexico tried fixed tortillas prices. And then — boom! — the market settles. It is a waste of time,” Montepeque said.

Hochstein is convinced the economics of the plan will prevail, arguing that “every country wants to pay as low a price as possible.” He added, that Russia has very limited options, and is likely to force Putin to come to the table.

“Their economy has nothing else. They produce weapons and they produce and they drill for oil and gas,” he said.

Akiko Fujita is an anchor and reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @AkikoFujita

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Business

Billionaire Mark Cuban Says He Suffered Losses

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Mark Cuban is one of the most famous and influential billionaire entrepreneurs. 

On the hit TV show “Shark Tank” on ABC, many entrepreneurs and startups hope and dream that he will be attracted to their idea and invest in their project.

His success and his nose for businesses with great potential transcend the simple sphere of financial circles. He is one of the faces of the NBA, almost in the same way as the star players. Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, an NBA franchise he completely transformed. 

He is a model businessman that many young people want to emulate. His ambition to disrupt the pharmaceutical industry by cutting prices has further increased his notoriety, so that the tweets calling him to run for president in 2024 are numerous and recurrent. 

‘I’m Down on My Shark Tank Investments’

But like many investors, the past few months have been tough for Cuban. Uncertainties over growth following the Federal Reserve’s policy of aggressively raising rates and inflation at the highest level in 40 years cloud the horizon, causing jitters in the markets.

It is in this context that Cuban has just admitted that he has suffered losses in his portfolio of companies in which he has invested since his participation in Shark Tank. It all started with a tweet featuring an article from CNBC.

“Mark Cuban has invested nearly $20 million in 85 startups on ‘Shark Tank,’ and he’s taken a net loss across all of those deals combined,” the tweet says, quoting CNBC. “I’ve gotten beat,’ Cuban admitted with a laugh.”

Cuban responded to the tweet without trying to hijack the conversation.

“Brings up an interesting discussion,” the entrepreneur, 63, commented on Twitter on July 23. “On a cash basis I’m down on my shark tank investments,” he admitted, without saying how much his losses amount to.

Then he added that: “But that doesn’t include private valuations of operating companies. Which is the majority. I’m not a fan of the ‘mark to market’ games PE/VC firms play. Should illiquid valuations count?” 

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Cuban was referring to private equity, or PE, and venture capital, or VC.

‘To help Someone Or Send a Message’

If he admits that he is at a loss if we stick to the cash metric or what liquidates, the investor explains the situation is not the same if we take into account the new fundraisings of the companies of his wallet. Because the ability of a startup to raise funds from investors on its terms without difficulty increases its valuation.

“If I add the valuations based on the last raise, I’m doing great. But that’s not money in my pocket. Its potential. Raising money hopefully creates more upside,” Cuban argued.

But, he acknowledges that, “however. IMHO [in my humble opinion], if you can’t spend it, its not a financial gain.”

He concludes by giving the philosophy behind his investments in the Shark Tank show. He explains for example that sometimes his investments are motivated by the desire to send a message or to help someone, not necessarily by the lure of gain.

“And I’m good with that with my Shark Tank companies. I don’t do the show to get the best investments,” Cuban said. “And I don’t always invest because I think I’ll make money. Sometimes my deals are purely to help someone or send a message.”

Cuban has been on 111 episodes of Shark Tank and closed 85 deals for a total investment of $19.85 million, according to sharkalytics. His biggest individual investment was in the company Ten Thirty One Production in which he invested $2 million against a 20% equity stake. 

In general, Cuban has invested an average of $233,529 in exchange of an average participation of 23% in the capital of the companies in question.

You can find the complete list of companies in which Cuban, through MCC (Mark Cuban Companies), has invested here. In view of this list, his investments are very varied: there is for example a tattoo firm, a robotics company, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) companies, etc.

Cuban recently found himself caught in the bankruptcy of the crypto lender Voyager Digital with which the Dallas Mavericks had signed a partnership, one of the missions of which is to promote cryptocurrencies.



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Business

Elon Musk Reportedly Had Affair With Sergey Brin’s Wife

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Elon Musk had a brief affair last fall with the wife of Sergey Brin, leading the Google co-founder to file for divorce earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The two entrepreneurs were formerly close friends, but the affair ended their friendship, the Journal reported.

Brin and his wife, Nicole Shanahan, were separated but still living together at the time of the affair in December, a person close to her told the Journal. Brin, who married Shanahan in 2018, filed for divorce in January, citing “irreconcilable differences,” several weeks after learning of the affair, the Journal reported.

Musk apologized to Brin at a party earlier this year, begging for forgiveness for the affair, according to the Journal. Brin acknowledged the apology but isn’t on regular speaking terms with Musk, people with knowledge of the event told the Journal.

Musk and Brin had been longtime friends, with Musk reportedly often sleeping at Brin’s Silicon Valley home. Brin, who’s worth $95 billion, also reportedly made a $500,000 investment in Tesla during the 2008 financial crisis when the carmaker was struggling with production issues.

News of the alleged affair comes at a turbulent time for the Tesla and SpaceX founder and CEO, who’s also the wealthiest person on the planet. Earlier this month, Twitter sued Musk to complete his proposed $44 billion purchase of the social media platform after he informed Twitter he was ending the agreement to buy the company.

Around the same time, it was revealed that Musk and one of his top executives secretly had twins in November. Musk has also battled allegations that SpaceX paid a flight attendant $250,000 to settle allegations that the billionaire exposed himself to her during a flight.

Musk didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither Brin nor Shanahan, who runs a foundation focused on reproductive justice, could immediately be reached for comment.

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Business

Elon Musk Reportedly Had Affair With Wife of Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin

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  • Elon Musk had an affair with Google co-founder Sergey Brin’s wife, according to the Wall Street Journal.
  • Brin and Nicole Shanahan divorced in January of this year, shortly after Brin learned of the affair, the report states. 
  • Brin, a longtime friend of Musk, has pulled investments from the Tesla CEO’s various companies in recent months. 

Elon Musk was reportedly involved in a romantic affair last fall with the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, a long-time friend of Musk and a Tesla investor, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

The affair allegedly prompted Brin’s divorce from Nicole Shanahan in January, WSJ reported. According to court filings, the two cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split and the filings were submitted just weeks after Brin learned of the affair, according to the Journal. 

A source close to the matter told the Journal that the relationship between Musk and Brin has been strained in recent months, and Brin instructed his financial advisers to sell his investments in the Tesla CEO’s various businesses. Brin formerly invested $500,000 in Tesla in 2008. 

Nicole Shanahan (left) and Sergey Brin.

Ian Tuttle/Getty Images


Sources told the Journal that at the time of the affair — which reportedly began in December 2021 in Art Basel in Miami — Brin and Shanahan were separated, but still living together.

The sources said Brin and Shanahan were encountering difficulties in their marriage at the time, largely tied to stressors connected to COVID-19 and caring for their 3-year-old daughter. 

The affair also allegedly started when Musk and his girlfriend, Grimes, were broken up. Grimes and Musk have two children, including most recently a daughter who was born via surrogate the same month of the affair. 

The news comes after a particularly tumultuous few months for Musk in both his personal and professional life. Earlier this month, Insider’s Julia Black reported that the billionaire quietly had twins last November with Shivon Zilis, director of operations and special projects for Neuralink, one of Musk’s companies. 

 

His father, 76-year-old Errol Musk, also reportedly had a second child with his stepdaughter recently, and told The Sun that he’s been asked to donate his sperm in order to reproduce more people like his son.  

Meanwhile, Musk is currently embroiled in a contentious legal battle with Twitter, after the Tesla CEO pulled out of his $44 billion deal to purchase the social media platform. In a letter filed by his lawyers, Musk claimed Twitter had now “met its contractual obligations,” a claim the company has disputed and is now taking Musk to court. 

This is a developing story, please check back for updates.

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Business

Crypto Analyst Predicts Unexpected Bitcoin (BTC) Rally That Fakes Out Bears – Here’s His Target

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Closely followed crypto analyst Nicholas Merten says that market conditions have reached a point that an unexpected relief bounce that liquidates Bitcoin bears is becoming more likely.

In a new market update, the host of DataDash tells his 515,000 YouTube subscribers that just like in July of 2021, BTC could pull off a bounce that catches most bears off guard.

He says that Bitcoin’s major moving averages are pointing towards a relief rally to about the $30,000 range.

“We rallied all the way from $29,000 to $53,000 [in July 2021]. To put that into perspective, in a matter of just a few weeks, or simply put, less than months, we saw an 80% move in Bitcoin’s price. Am I calling for that exactly? No, what I am calling for is for us to come up and to retest this previous consolidative range [$30,000].

There is no significant points of resistance here, and the moving averages are coming straight down into this point where it gives us a perfect setup for Bitcoin to come up and retest this range here, and see if it can interact with these moving averages…

A lot of people won’t think it can happen. You’d be surprised how relief rallies can get to an exacerbated level, especially in a market where there [are] excessive amounts of derivatives.”

Source: DataDash/YouTube

While Merten expects a relief rally from BTC in the short term, the analyst is still remaining cautious of the possibility that the top crypto asset by market cap hasn’t reached its absolute bottom yet.

According to the strategist, macro conditions are still weighing down on the digital assets market.

“A lot of people think that this is the absolute bottom here in June 18th. And to be honest, I understand where many of them are coming from. We clearly have had a very dramatic sell-off here, and a nice rebound at that, plus we’ve really flushed out a lot of the leverage and a lot of the excessive credit that people had utilized in order to borrow cryptocurrencies to speculate…

I get why people could think this is the absolute bottom, but you can’t discount the reality that the macro environment is still in effect. It is still going to suppress long-term capital allocation for cryptocurrencies if we get up back in this range.”

I

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any loses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

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Business

McDonald’s Menu Adds Two Items that You Really Want to Try

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Fast-food chains want to find that elusive new menu item that gets the public talking, becomes a social media sensation, and ultimately sells out making its eventual return an even bigger event. That’s why Restaurants Brands International’s (QSR) – Get Restaurant Brands International Inc. Report Burger King tries so many wacky Whoppers, alongside more traditional variations on the classic sandwich.  

Yum! Brands (YUM) – Get Yum! Brands Inc. Report Taco Bell has been the leader in this space regularly adding menu items that push boundaries. It may not seem all that novel to use a Doritos-based taco shell, but at the time it was and the Doritos Locos Taco become a huge hit that led to countless spin-offs. It also led to snack chip mash-ups becoming a thing with Burget King offering Mac N’ Cheetos, a deep-fried take on Maccaroni and cheese, and Taco Bell itself recently testing two products using variants of the Cheez-It.   

Starbucks (SBUX) – Get Starbucks Corporation Report also spent a period of time after its Unicorn Frappuccino became a surprise hit chasing the wacky is better strategy. That ultimately seemed to make its new drinks less special and the chain never captured the viral success of its multi-colored frozen beverage, so it actually toned down its new release schedule. 

McDonald’s (MCD) – Get McDonald’s Corporation Report, however, has generally been more conservative when it comes to its menu. The chain, which was built on doing a limited menu really well has generally stuck to the model. Sure, it has some weird outliers like the McRib, but generally, McDonald’s limited-time-offers stick to being variants on a hamburger with perhaps some new toppings.

Now, the chain has shaken up its dessert menu in one part of the world with a product that has the potential to be a global smash.

Image source: McDonald’s

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McDonald’s Adds a New Pie, McFlurry  

Over the years McDonald’s has kept its dessert menu very focused. It offers its core Apple Pie, ice cream cones, shakes, very basic sundaes, and of course, the McFlurry. The chain has experimented with different pie flavors on rare occasions, and it offers the seasonal Shamrock Shake around St. Patrick’s Day, but it generally keeps its dessert experimentation to mixing up its McFlurry flavors.

Now, McDonald’s Australia has not only done that, it has a new flavor of pie, both of which could be contenders to be added to the menu anywhere in the world.

“McDonald’s Australia welcomes the new Creme Brulee Pie and Creme Brulee McFlurry for a limited time,” Brand Eating reported. “The Creme Brulee Pie features a blend of caramel and vanilla custard inside of a turnover-style, fried pastry crust.McDonald’s Australia’s Creme Brulee McFlurry takes pieces of Creme Brulee Pie and mixes it into vanilla soft serve along with caramel sauce.”

A traditional creme brulee features a layer of crystallized sugar (usually finished with a blowtorch) on top of a sweet custard.

Why McDonald’s Dessert Matters

Once McDonald’s (or any chain for that matter) gets a customer through its doors, it wants to get them to spend the most money possible. Realistically most customers won’t order two sandwiches or multiple orders of french fries. That means that meal add-ons like shakes, pies, and McFlurries can increase check size and likely the fast-food giant’s margins.

Ice cream, at least the soft-serve version of it, has a very low cost. Even adding in some mix-ins likely leaves McDonald’s capturing a higher margin than on a hamburger. Adding a flavor like creme brulee, which is both exotic and familiar, gives the chain’s customers an excuse to be a little indulgent, spend some more money, and try something new.    



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Business

Here’s What World’s Richest Crypto Billionaire Has To Say About Tesla Dumping Bitcoin

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Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (with a net worth of $27.3 billion as of July 21) shared his view about Tesla Inc TSLA unloading most of its Bitcoin BTC/USD holdings. 

In a recent interview, Zhao said people shouldn’t read too deeply into Elon Musk cashing out of Bitcoin so heavily.

“He’s a smart guy, but it doesn’t mean that he holds every valuable asset in the world. For example, he probably doesn’t hold many other company stocks, many other valuable cryptocurrencies, etc.,” Zhao said. 

He added that just because Musk buys and sells some Bitcoin doesn’t reflect its underlying value. And Musk’s acceptance of Bitcoin didn’t make it better, and just because he sold Bitcoin, didn’t make it worse.

Even though Bitcoin is going through rough weather in the crypto market, Zhao advocated for the apex crypto and has said that no matter what any prominent investor is doing, Bitcoin continues to prove itself structurally and in terms of user popularity.

“The fundamental properties of Bitcoin didn’t change because one guy bought or sold. Nobody knows the reasons why Musk bought it or sold are. Maybe he needed cash for Tesla or tried to buy Twitter or something else — I don’t know. But it doesn’t mean much,” he said.

Last week, Tesla mentioned that it had liquidated about 75% of its Bitcoin holdings to add $936 million to the EV giant’s balance sheet in its second quarter. 

Musk said that he sold Tesla’s Bitcoin as a hedge against the macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty global markets face.

“The reason we sold a bunch of our Bitcoin holdings was that we were uncertain when the COVID lockdowns in China would alleviate,” Musk said. 

Tesla purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin in January 2021. In the first quarter of 2021, Tesla sold $272 million of the cryptocurrency and said it had a “positive impact” of $101 million on its profitability.

Tesla ended the first quarter of 2022 with $1.26 billion of Bitcoin on its balance sheet. 

Photo courtesy: Binance and NVIDIA Corporation on Flickr



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