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May 17, 2023 | Read Online

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Growing its flock. Twitter just completed its first acquisition since Elon Musk took the helm. The company in question? A recruiting startup called Laskie. It’s all a part of Musk’s master plan to turn Twitter into a “super-app” that will offer users multiple functions — everything from payment to (apparently) job matching.

In other news… restaurants implement the service charge, TV advertisers rethink their tactics, and a new wave of bankruptcies.

Top Trends

YouTube → “Video Games” - Tenacious D
Twitter → The Cure
Google → John Cena
Reddit → Lil Wayne
TikTok → “XO” - Beyoncé
Spotify → “Ring Ring” - CHASE B, Travis Scott

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CULTURE

The mysterious number on your restaurant bill // Illustration by Kate Walker

What’s the point of the restaurant service charge?

The Future. To combat inflation and labor shortages — and upgrade employee wages and benefits — many US restaurants have added service charges of up to 22% (and sometimes more). This charge has left diners, who often confuse it with the tip, scratching their heads when the bill arrives. While imperfect, the service charge might become necessary to get servers closer to a livable wage.

What is it and why does it exist?
A service charge belongs to the employer, who can choose the amount added to the check, how to spend it, and how to disclose that information to staff and customers.

Many employers don’t want to depend solely on tipping, which can be inconsistent and inequitable, as gratuities are regulated by law and can only go to tipped workers.

They believe the service charge is the best they can do with what they have until federal labor laws change.

Why not raise menu prices instead?
Restaurant owners aren’t convinced people will pay more for food amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

Still, some diners accept the service charge because it tells them the restaurant cares about the employees and their well-being.

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MEDIA

To buy upfront, or not, that is the question // Illustration by Kate Walker

What does the future of TV advertising look like?

The Future. Every year, brands congregate in NYC for the annual upfronts to purchase commercial airtime before the TV season begins. As more channels and streaming services emerge, some brands are using the upfronts to identify buys they can make at a later date, often for lower prices, even if they’re not guaranteed. The move might point to the end of shelling out big bucks to guarantee inventory attached to the most-hyped TV series of the year.

TV’s tectonic shift
Consumers are cutting the cord and switching to streaming services, but they have a subscription ceiling.

The average consumer pays for fewer than three subscriptions at a time.

Cord-cutters are embracing free ad-supported TV. Almost 1,000 new FAST channels were launched in 2022.

Advertisers’ adaptability
Amid a changing market, broadcasters are offering packages that include a mix of linear and streaming inventory.

While CTV advertising (digital advertising that appears within streaming content) has created more inventory, buyers are likely to invest only if they know their ads will run next to quality content.

Quality may come first in the future of TV advertising, but lower rates may eclipse guaranteed ad space.

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TOGETHER WITH UPWAY

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ECONOMY

Things are looking bad for banks // Unsplash

Credit crunch causes wave of bankruptcy declarations

The Future. In the biggest wave of bankruptcy declarations by large companies since 2008, Vice Media and six other firms just filed for bankruptcy in a 48-hour span. These collapses may cause others — and could have dire consequences for the global financial system.

The rate depression
The Fed’s rate hike program has made debts much harder — and sometimes impossible — to pay off.

Companies often buy debt when interest rates are low, on the assumption that they’ll profit in the long term when rates increase and force debtors to pay more.

But if rates jump too much or too quickly, debtors might default on those loans, going bankrupt instead of paying them back in full.

That’s what happened to the seven firms in the recent bankruptcy wave, all of which had more than $50 million of liabilities each. Vice had over $1 billion.

Domino effect
This is especially bad for banks, which are already under serious strain ever since SVB’s crash caused a rash of bank failures and led investors to relocate money to other investment vehicles.

Moody’s and other analysts all expect defaults to increase significantly in the next year. As they do, more banks are likely to go down, too.

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TOGETHER WITH MUNCH

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Highlights

The best curated daily stories from around the web

Ikea hosts raves to attract customers

During Milan Design Week, Ikea hosted several DJs to throw two raves — one of which got shut down by the local authorities. The move comes as the furniture giant invests $2.2 billion in their brick-and-mortar stores in an effort to bring back foot traffic. Come for the parties, stay for the products.

iPhones can learn to speak in your voice in 15 minutes

Yesterday, Apple unveiled the Personal Voice iPhone feature for people who could lose their ability to speak. The program creates an authentic-sounding version of a user’s voice based on 15 minutes of user responses to voice prompts, which can later communicate for them. Gen AI raises many issues but can also give a voice to the voiceless.

Microsoft researchers claim their AI reasons like humans do

In a recent paper, Microsoft AI researchers claimed their program exhibited signs of general intelligence: flexible, human-like reasoning capable of incorporating contextual information. Scientists have made such assertions for decades, and many are skeptical, but recent leaps in Gen AI have made these claims more believable than ever — and this one just might be true.

The world’s top athletes are getting richer

The best of the best are better compensated than ever. On 2022’s list of the 50 best-paid athletes, the lowest earner brought in $45.2 million (20% more than the year before), and the whole list earned $3.44 billion (16% more than last year). Maybe do quit your day job.

Coal companies consider carbon capture

New EPA guidelines will force US power plants to cut emissions by 90% in the 2030s, and many have opted for carbon capture. But skeptics point out carbon capture is extraordinarily costly, sometimes ineffective, and often used to prop up coal companies that could instead transition to renewable energy. Why capture carbon when you can just stop producing it?