Colin Kaepernick hits Wall Street’s latest craze

Colin Kaepernick hits Wall Street’s latest craze

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Tonight: Kap joins the SPAC fad; Uber’s incredible loss is still pretty good news; and do not forget your savings quarters – Aldi’s are entering America. Let’s go into it.

Colin Kaepernick, the activist and former NFL quarterback, is the latest notable investor to intervene in the SPAC craze.

A SPAC, or specialty procurement venture, is a very trendy way to make a company public. Instead of carrying out the expensive, time-consuming process of a stock exchange, private companies can merge with a SPAC, or a blank check firm, which exists solely to raise money by listing on a stock exchange. .

Kaepernick will serve as co-chair of Mission Advancement Corp., which wants to raise about $ 250 million to invest in socially conscious consumer brands. Hood follows on the heels of other star athletes who are on the – can we call it another bubble? – tendency. Alex Rodriguez, former Yankee and future husband of J.Lo, has one. Billy Beane of the “Moneyball” fame has one. And Shaq has a SPAC.

SPACs were once an obscure part of the market, but then 2020 happened. With pockets full of easy money from the Fed, investors began looking for creative ways to invest. Last year, SPACs raised $ 76 billion – almost six times more than in 2019.

LARGE PICTURE

While the GameStop frenzy has subsided, there is still a lot of appetite for risky investments – especially as interest rates remain virtually zero.

You can see it in the spirit of unprofitable businesses like Airbnb and DoorDash, which became gangbusters on their first trading day. Or consider Tesla, which does not even make money from the sales of its electric vehicles, but has a market value greater than any other major automaker combined.

And of course in SPACs. “What you’re doing is throwing money out there – and hoping to find an idea,” Richard Fisher, the former president of the Dallas Federal Reserve, told my colleague Matt Egan. “This is another indication that money is too cheap.”

ALDI IS EVERYTHING IN

Aldi, the German grocery store known for its mega-deals and quirky in-store rules (such as charging a quarter to use a cart), says it’s on track to become the third largest supermarket chain in the US , to Kroger and Walmart.

The grocery store has just announced that it will open 100 new U.S. stores this year, adding more than 2,000 in 37 states.

WHY THE FLOOD?

This is, of course, a pandemic bump. For the past year or so, Americans have been supplementing necessities to eat at home rather than eat out. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, sales at grocery stores rose nearly 8% in December of the same month in 2019. And Aldi has an edge in terms of price and scalability, reports my colleague Nathaniel Meyersohn.
  • Support prices: The store boasts up to 50% cheaper prices than traditional supermarkets. Aldi often beats Walmart in its own low-price game.
  • Smaller shops: The stores are about 12,000 square feet smaller than a 40,000-square-foot U.S. supermarket, making it easier to set up stores in urban areas.
  • Private labels: More than 90% of the brands Aldi sells are its own private brands – a large cash cow for groceries.

However, Aldi is not without challenges:

  • The competition: Lidl, another German grocery store with a similar business model, is also rushing to grow in the United States, with plans to open 50 new stores by the end of this year.
  • 2021 is not 2020: According to one UBS analyst, grocery sales will drop by 5% this year as vaccines (hopefully) help curb the pandemic and enable customers to return to restaurants.
  • Not all Americans love the peculiarities of the store. A quarter for a shopping cart? Of course you get it back if you return the cart (this is another way Aldi keeps labor costs lower), but who has more change in their pockets? And at the checkout, a cashier will send you to another place to pack your own groceries.

NUMBER OF THE DAY

92.5%

Double mask it: If a cloth mask is applied over a medical procedure, such as a blue surgical mask, 92.5% of the potential infectious particles can be prevented from escaping by creating a tighter fit and eliminating leakage, US health officials said. Said Wednesday.

FOODS

When fast food news breaks, Nightcap is on it.

HI-C SE KOMBAK

Our long national nightmare is over. McDonald’s brings back Hi-C Orange. The fans’ favorite drink got the boot almost four years ago when McDonald’s replaced it with Sprite Tropic Berry. People were so mad that they started a petition to bring it back. You know, people say Americans are a fair fate – I say we were fighting in what we believe.

WAY FISHIN ‘

Popeyes opens a maritime front in the Great Chicken Sandwich Wars. The chain is building a new crispy fish sandwich that hopes to give it a head start as more and more competitors take advantage of the chicken fad. Popeyes also offers ‘sandwich insurance’ on the first day – for an additional 15 cents, people who buy the fish sandwich and don’t like it can exchange it for a chicken sandwich.

WHAT OTHERS ARE GOING ON

  • Corporate responsibility: Goal is to give workers free Lyft rides to get Covid-19 vaccines.
  • Ban: Former President Trump will not be allowed on Twitter again, even as a candidate, according to Twitter’s chief financial officer.
  • Big Tech approach: The man behind Fortnite makes the most risky bet of his career. The payout can be huge.

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