Tesla stock soars 📈
UPI transactions up, jobless influencers, and Uber's mask policy.
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Stock market summary:
US - S&P 500 up 0.45%
India - Sensex up 0.38%
Retail consolidation gives RIL pole position 🤑
RIL’s ambitions know no bounds. The conglomerate is close to inking a deal with Kishore Biyani’s “Future Group” to buy a controlling stake in their retail business unit.
The deal, reportedly in its final stages, will help RIL expand its retail footprint in high growth categories such as fashion, general merchandise and groceries. Biyani will be left with control of the group’s FMCG business and some other smaller entities.
RIL is planning on signing the deal before its Annual General Meeting scheduled on July 15.
Talks of the deal began earlier this year when Future’s holding entities which are saddled by a lot of debt ended up defaulting on a loan payment. The entrepreneur courted multiple other buyers before settling on RIL.
Apparently AMZN had shown an interest as a buyer too, but the deal with RIL offered “a more thorough solution” to Biyani’s debt issues - whatever that means. Perhaps some swadeshi sentiment at play too? Regardless, the transaction will help RIL take on AMZN in India. Read more.
Delivering on shareholder promises, and a green future 🚗
Tesla became the most valuable car maker in the world by blowing past Toyota as stock surged in past couple trading sessions in anticipation of blowout sales this quarter. The run ensured that market cap doubled since the start of the year, crossing $225 Billion, roughly $20 Billion higher than Toyota.
To add some perspective, the electric car maker is now worth more than Honda, Ferrari, BMW, GM, Nikola and Nissan combined.
Promising outlook for EVs in the new decade, continued catchup played by traditional automakers, and considerable growth in unit sales by TSLA so far gave investors immense confidence in the company and its role to shape the future of EVs, which is causing stock to test new highs.
Bears however believe the company is overvalued, especially when you see that Toyota sold 10.46 Million vehicles last year and reported revenues of $281.20 Billion, while TSLA brought in $24.6 Billion in revenues and delivered just 367K vehicles.
UPI transactions hit record high 📈
Data released by National Payments Corp. of India (NCPI) shows payments on Unified Payments Interface hit an all time high of 1.34 Billion transactions for the month of June, bringing total volume to Rs 2.62 lakh crore.
Transactions grew 9% MoM from 1.23 billion in May and beat the previous record of 1.32 billion transactions with a volume of ₹2.22 Trillion in Feb, just before pandemic induced weakness began creeping in.
Experts believe the growth rates should continue to remain strong as digital payments get a push due to the pandemic driving people to online services and contactless payments. A secular shift that is expected to stay elevated.
When the government imposed a strict lockdown, suspending and barring services, UPI transactions had plunged to 999 million in April at its supposed bottom during this situation. Read more.
Influencers rendered jobless 🙁
India’s overnight ban on multiple Chinese technology platforms have rendered creators who built a following on these platforms jobless and out of income.
Regional creators who leveraged the platform's notoriously efficient distribution algorithm to find a voice, show their skills, build niches, and even attract success toward their other offline regular businesses like a grocery shop in a village are now thrown back to square one in their digital success.
Post ban, other domestic platforms are having a field day though, with leading franchises like Roposo claiming 10 million new users within a matter of hours. YouTube, Chingari, and other small platforms have been new favorites where viewers have been spending their time.
It might take time for domestic platforms to offer the same broad acceptance that influencers received from the Chinese counterparts. Read more.
No mask, No ride 😷
Ride hailing giant Uber will be extending its mask requirement policy to riders and drivers indefinitely as the company monitors the spread of the coronavirus globally.
The decision by the company comes as many states in the US are seeing a surge in new coronavirus cases. Cases in India which is a key market for the company are on a rise as well.
Back in May Uber even implemented a policy where the drivers were required to wear masks and click selfies as a verification and now the company is looking to develop a similar system for riders as well. Since May 18, the company completed over 100 million ride trips and 50 million mask detections with drivers and delivery persons.
While the ride hailer is doing everything possible to make travelers feel comfortable, ride activity is down as much as 60%-75% in many markets since the pandemic began. Read more.
Tweet of the day -
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
👊 Twitter vs. The President - After receiving a copyright complaint from NYT, Twitter took down an image which was tweeted by Donald Trump. The image was clicked by a NYT photographer back in 2015 when Trump was the Presidential candidate, and is the latest move by twitter to flag content posted by Trump due to copyright issues.
🍎 Apple to reclose more stores in the US- with pandemic sweeping through the US, AAPL is closing more than 2 dozen stores again in seven states which brings the total stores closed to 77. In cities where the stores are open customers and staff are required to wear masks with temperature checks and cleaning on entry.
🌿 Coronil to be sold as corona management drug- After Patanjali’s spat with the government over its Coronavirus cure, permission has now been granted to sell and manufacture the drug as an immunity booster.
🗽 NYC delays opening indoor dining at restaurants- Even with NYC in its second phase of reopening and new cases of COVID-19 declining in the city, the indoor dining experience will be delayed over fears that it will lead to a spike in new cases.
🎧 Spotify to extend premium duo plans in India and other markets- under the new plans, 2 individuals will get a cheaper priced tier, with features like duo mix playlist which will include songs that both listeners like, based on their shared history of listening.
🤝 Scootsy merges operations with Swiggy- Scootsy is merging with its parent app Swiggy finally, after Swiggy saw a surge in demand for food from premium hospitality brands and doesn’t believe in running a separate entity focusing on that segment alone.
🙌 Fair and Lovely gets a new name- Days after HUL decided to drop the word fair from its name, it has renamed its best selling brand from Fair and Lovely to Glow and Lovely in an attempt to make it more “inclusive and diverse”. This decision came after the company came under a lot of pressure for reinforcing racial stereotypes.
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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