The Hustle
Mon, August 8
The coverage of the summer games is already out of hand and it’s only been a couple of days.
Olympics overload
Not sure if you noticed, but the 31st Summer Olympics officially started over the weekend and with 28 sports, 306 events, and over 11k athletes from 206 nations competing– it’s pretty hard to miss.
That’s why the Washington Post decided to beef up their coverage this year with a little help from Heliograf, a custom artificially intelligent software designed to quickly create thousands of data-centric news reports without human intervention.
So quick stuff like updates on game scores and medal counts will be produced faster and in greater quantity, while The Post’s real reporters can spend time working on more interesting, complex journalism.
And that makes a lot of sense.
But at this point, it’s already impossible to keep up
NBC, which paid more than $4.3B for the rights to air the games, decided to fully embrace technological advancements and by streaming more than 4,500 hours of competition over the course of 2 weeks.
That’s almost 188 DAYS of video to try and keep up with which means you’d need over 13 screens streaming 24/7 to catch all the action.
Obviously, that isn’t going to happen, and now we’re faced with more options than we know what to do with.
Handball or archery? Men play field hockey, too? And what the heck is even going on with the 10m air pistols?
It’s the ultimate paradox of choice
As much as we rib on traditional TV programming and Bob Costas’ pink eye fiasco, there’s something to be said about turning on one channel and just getting the important stuff.
That’s why the Washington Post’s latest initiative doesn’t actually help viewers understand what’s going on. Instead, they’re just turning up the volume.
Countless live streams available at all times makes it easy to get lost in the sea of coverage, dissatisfied and wondering what you’re missing on the other 50 channels.
But guess that’s the world we live in these days… Too much content, not enough being content.
The value of owning the pipeline
For a company who claims they’re not a monopoly, Google does a lot of Monopoly-like things.
Last Friday, the CEOs of both Tripadvisor and Yelp tweeted their dissatisfaction with Google’s most recent change to their search rankings, pushing their websites’ pages down way below the fold.
And since both of those companies heavily rely on traffic from Google to showcase their reviews and recommendations, this could be rough on their bottom line.
So what happened exactly?
Google released a search update on their app last Thursday that moves “reviews from top critics and best-of-lists from reputable publishers” to the top of the results.
That means hungry searchers will now see the closest Michelin-starred restaurants and, oh yeah, Zagat ratings — a company that Google happens to own.
Back in April, the search monstrosity was hit by an antitrust charge by the European Union claiming Google was stifling competition through their business practices.
While there’s no “right” answer in this debate, it’s painfully obvious how tough it is for competitors to spark new ideas if Google owns the fire hose.
Alright… that analogy didn’t really pan out but you get the point.
Killing mosquitoes with… more mosquitoes?
In hopes of fighting the spread of the dreaded Zika virus, the US Food and Drug Administration just approved a field test to release genetically-modified mosquitoes in Florida.
The mutant mosquitoes come specially equipped with laser vision and super-insect strength that allow them to hunt down infected individuals with speed, bear-like ferociousness, and precision.
Just kidding… after mating, the modified male mosquitoes transmit a fatal gene to the females that kills the offspring, thereby curbing the population.
And boy, does it work
Oxitec, the biotech company that made the mosquitoes, ran similar tests in Brazil and saw a 90% reduction in the local mosquito population whereas traditional methods like pesticides and mosquito traps range from 30-60%.
Amazon takes to the skies
Vertical integration is hot these days. We talked about it last week with LeEco making phones, TVs, and cars and now Amazon’s stepping up their VI game with a brand spankin’ new fleet of airplanes.
Dubbed “Prime Air,” Amazon struck a deal with a couple aircraft leasing companies to fly as many as 40 dedicated cargo planes over the next 2 years.
While 11 are already in operation, last Thursday the company hosted a media event unveiling a fully-branded Boeing 767 to officially make it “a thing.”
Next stop: world domination
Amazon’s been killing it recently — their North America sales are growing by 28% year over year — and fully-owning their complex logistics is their next logical step.
Think of it like flying private versus commercial. Rather than having to stick to the established routes and carriers, Amazon will now be able to move product based on their exact timing and needs.
Another day, another billion in Bezos’ pocket.
Airbnb raising money
Everyone’s favorite unicorn trying to revolutionize creeping through strangers’ possessions submitted a 28-page filing stating they’re raising another $850m at a $30B valuation, second only to Uber’s $68B.
And according to the Wall Street Journal, they actually rejected another deal valuing them at $34B.
So they passed on $4B?
Pretty much. Stay with us here.
Investors are going to start a $200m stock buyback program from early employees. These things are pretty typical in late-stage, private companies who want to offer employees liquidity without having to wait for an acquisition or IPO.
It also allows early investors with preferred shares to get bought off the company’s cap table or, in less business-y speak, stop the debt collectors from asking the C-level to take the company public.
Airbnb, like Uber, is doing their darndest to stay private as long as possible– most likely to maintain full control of their operation and take advantage of their inflated valuation.
The only problem is they’re stuck in a tough situation trying to raise money without diluting their equity or taking on too much debt.
But don’t shed a tear on their behalf. This is all classic money games and ways for founders, employees, and investors to add zeroes to their bank statements.
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John "Substitute writer" Havel
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