The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• Breaking Down OnlyFans’ Stunning Economics: In 2024, OnlyFans generated $6.3 billion in gross revenues, up from $300 million five years earlier. Though OnlyFans is based around subscriptions, over 60% over consumer spending is now via transactions (and unlike say, Candy Crush, these are not micro transactions but instead add-on purchases that can cost dozens of dollars or more). OnlyFans revenues are now believed to be twice that of pornography giant Aylo (formerly known as MindGeek), which owns PornHub, Brazzers, RedTube, YouPorn, and XTube, and the platform counts over 300MM registered users (not all of whom pay or are active, but no such disclosures have been made). Two thirds of revenues are from users in the United States. (Matthew Ball)
• How Fox Threw a Tom Brady Hail Mary and Won: It began with a hopeful text message and a clandestine hotel room meeting. This is the story of how Fox consulted its playbook and won the biggest prize in the Great Announcer Swap. (The Ringer)
• The ETF Market: A Zine. I have grown weary of AI-generated hyper-smooth images and soulless perfect AI grammar. So I stopped doing that and now all I’m doing when someone asks for a “deck” or a “presentation” or a “standup” is making Zines. (I did a presentation for Kitces. Here’s the upshot). (Echo Beach)
• How pour-over coffee got good: Pour-over coffee has long been popular with coffee enthusiasts, but it frustrated coffee shops because it takes so long to make. That’s changing. (Works in Progress)
• Is There a Future for Collectible Cars? Yes, and it might just be the Tesla Cybertruck. As an honorary judge at the world’s premier car show, Dan Neil considers how the concept of the ‘classic’ automobile might look to future generations. (Wall Street Journal)
• Europe jumps on the train: More and more people are using this form of travel to get around the continent, using high-speed routes and a network of night trains that continues to expand. We traveled from Madrid to Prague and witnessed how the future of European transportation is clean and fast. (El Pais)
• 50 Years Later: Remembering How the Future Looked in 1974: A half-century ago, “Saturday Review” asked some of the era’s visionaries for their predictions of what 2024 would look like. Here are their hits and misses. (The New Stack)
• Doctors and Health Experts Are Changing Their Minds About Whole Milk and Cheese: Consuming full-fat milk products could help stave off diseases seniors are more prone to, including heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. (Barron’s)
• Diminishing Dark Energy May Evade the ‘Swampland’ of Impossible Universes: The largest-ever 3D map of the cosmos hints that the dark energy that’s fueling the universe’s expansion may be weakening. One community of theoretical physicists expected as much. . (Quanta Magazine)
• In the Shack With Robert Caro: The Power Broker is turning 50. The final LBJ book is almost — well, he won’t say. But he’s trying for 900 words a day. (Curbed)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this week with David M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of The Carlyle Group. The firm manages over $430 billion. His new book “The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency” is out this week.
Monetary policy convergence accelerates
Source: BofA Global Research
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