Government lawsuits against Amazon and Alphabet; SpaceX and Apple history; Hard-Core Sleepers Obsess Over Their Snoozing Stats
1) Amazon (AMZN) and Alphabet (GOOGL) have been two of my favorite stocks for a number of years (and remain open recommendations in our flagship Empire Stock Investor newsletter – click here to get the details on how to get a no-risk, 30-day trial), so I've been following the lawsuits the government has filed against them. As background, I recommend these articles:
- FTC Sues Amazon, Alleging Illegal Online-Marketplace Monopoly (Wall Street Journal)
- Lina Khan vs. Jeff Bezos: This Is Big Tech's Real Cage Match (New York Times)
- Amazon's Own Track Record Undercuts the FTC's Case (WSJ Heard on the Street)
- 'Unprecedented' Secrecy in Google Trial as Tech Giants Push to Limit Disclosures (NYT)
I think it's healthy that our government (and the European Union) are closely monitoring the tech giants and taking steps to correct their excesses – of which I have no doubt there are many.
But as a shareholder, I'm not that worried because either: a) not much will happen (good news)... and b) they will be broken up (also good news because I think the pieces would be worth more than the whole).
2) I've been very critical of much of Elon Musk's behavior, especially in the past two years, but it's important to acknowledge his extraordinary accomplishments – so I wanted to highlight this:
I think Musk's "becoming an interplanetary species" talk is a bunch of hooey and a huge waste of money, but I can tell you from having been embedded with a front-line unit in Ukraine, his Starlink satellite internet network has changed the course of that war.
3) Another wonderful anniversary yesterday – read the entire thread for how the ad campaign that likely saved Apple (AAPL) from bankruptcy came to be...
4) I've written many times about the importance of getting lots of good sleep, so you might think that I'm like the people profiled in this recent WSJ article: Hard-Core Sleepers Obsess Over Their Snoozing Stats. Excerpt:
What if sleep isn't just our body's way to repair and re-energize, but a game we are playing to win?
Sound like a bad dream? Maybe. But for millions, chasing winks with the latest sleep-measuring technology has become a nighttime sport, complete with sleep scores and strategies on how to best sack the competition. Some people are even, well, losing sleep about whether they are sleeping up to their full potential.
Mike Skerrett, a 27-year-old television writer in Los Angeles, wears a Whoop band to track his biometrics constantly. ("I take it off sometimes in the shower," he clarifies.) The device, popular for measuring workouts, says it can track rest cycles when worn at night, helping to "optimize your sleep performance."
He has deployed tactics including blackout curtains and taping his mouth shut to max out his sleep score on Whoop's app.
"I can see that on days when I tape my mouth during sleep, I have a 7% higher recovery score in the morning than on days when I don't," he says. "I implemented these changes partially to chase the higher score on the app, and, it also does change the feel of the night's sleep, for the better."
He admits his preoccupation with proper shut-eye may have taken a turn for the obsessive.
At one time, I was like this – initially wearing a headband connected to an app on my phone and later using an Oura ring to track my sleep.
Eventually I stopped, however, because I found that knowing my sleep statistics stressed me out and caused me to have worse sleep. I try to sleep eight hours a night, meaning I usually go to bed at 11:30 and wake up at 7:30, and when I do, I'm happy. Therefore, why would I upset myself by having an app tell me that I woke up three times, only had four hours of deep sleep, etc.?
In this case, I think ignorance is bliss!
Best regards,
Whitney
P.S. I welcome your feedback at WTDfeedback@empirefinancialresearch.com.