My back to work morning train WFH reads:
• Ford’s F-150 Lightning Is Winning the EV Truck War for One Simple Reason This is a case of the early bird getting the worm, but not in the way you might expect. While other automakers may beat Ford to the starting line, Ford is set to beat everyone else to market with an electric truck that’s accessible, affordable and enticing to America’s gas-loving truck owners — and there are a heck of a lot of them. (Inside Hook)
• SoftBank Answered Critics With a Strong Turnaround. Its CEO Explains What Comes Next. Faced with widespread doubts about the company’s strategy, Masa has answered his critics with stellar performance. The past 18 months fundamentally revamped the 40 year-old company. The result is a more rigorous approach to investing, a clearer mission, and an increased conviction that SoftBank can generate substantial returns by investing in artificial-intelligence plays. (Barron’s)
• The Death and Life of the Central Business District Offices are not going back to the way they were pre-pandemic, and neither are the downtown neighborhoods that house them (Bloomberg)
• Inside the Rise and Fall (and Rise and Fall) of Shit Coins Welcome to the era of “pump and dump,” where investors bummed about missing out on getting rich with Bitcoin are being taken for rides by online jokesters pushing tokens with nonsensical names and no clear value. (Vanity Fair)
• How the Pandemic Has Changed Attitudes Toward Wealth Americans found that money cannot buy everything, and they used their wealth to build relationships and help others, according to two recent surveys. (New York Times)
• Wait, California Has Lower Middle-Class Taxes Than Texas? Ultra-high earners can cut their tax bills a lot by moving from a high-tax state to a low-tax one. For most other people, that’s not at all a sure thing. (Bloomberg)
• Asshole bosses are an entrenched part of Hollywood. Are they finally facing consequences? From Ellen DeGeneres to Scott Rudin, the entertainment industry’s coddling of jerks is coming under examination. Sort of. (Vox)
• The Texas Mask Mystery: When the governor lifted the state’s mandate, liberals predicted disaster. But it never came. Why? (The Atlantic)
• Heads up! The cardiovascular secrets of giraffes Because of their height, giraffes require scarily high blood pressures — yet they escape the massive health problems that plague people with hypertension. Can clinicians learn from these animals? (Knowable)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Scott Sperling, Co-Chief Executive Officer of private equity firm Thomas. H. Lee. The Co-CEO is a member of the firm’s management and investment committees. THL has completed more than 100 investments in excess of $125 billion of aggregate purchase price. Their flagship fund has more than $5B in it, and their Automation Fund has over $900 million in LP assets.
The trend in new infections remains clearly downward
Source: Bloomberg
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