The King of Manuscripts, Private Equity Market, and Brooks Koepka
Issue 366
by David Wells – Nashville TN
From the Editor
Happy Friday,
What a long week! One can scarcely turn on the TV or scroll through the news without being confronted with near-universal, gut-wrenching uncertainty about the state of the world’s affairs. Coronavirus’s spread, the tragic accompanying loss of life, and its whack-a-mole like appearance across geographies is enough to cause sleepless nights. Layering on top of that, a chaotic 2020 campaign season and one of the fastest stock market corrections in recorded history this week, and it’s no wonder there is a commonplace sense of dread about the state of things.
With that said, I thought I’d share one lighthearted thing, Geico’s new woodchucks commercial called “The Lumber Yard.” Not a sponsored link – just made me laugh and thought you might need one too.
All the best,
David
What a long week! One can scarcely turn on the TV or scroll through the news without being confronted with near-universal, gut-wrenching uncertainty about the state of the world’s affairs. Coronavirus’s spread, the tragic accompanying loss of life, and its whack-a-mole like appearance across geographies is enough to cause sleepless nights. Layering on top of that, a chaotic 2020 campaign season and one of the fastest stock market corrections in recorded history this week, and it’s no wonder there is a commonplace sense of dread about the state of things.
With that said, I thought I’d share one lighthearted thing, Geico’s new woodchucks commercial called “The Lumber Yard.” Not a sponsored link – just made me laugh and thought you might need one too.
David
Food for Thought
- TheAtlantic – Kids Don’t Need to Stay ‘On Track’ to Succeed When parents portray success as a linear progression of SAT scores, acceptance to selective colleges, and high-powered internships, they set kids up for disappointment.
- NYT – Laurene Powell Jobs Is Putting Her Own Dent in the Universe An interview with the 35th-richest person in the world, who is funding efforts on immigration, education and independent media.
- Washingtonian – This Is How You Train As a Spy in the CIA’s Most Elite Covert Unit Source meetings at Panera. Dead drops all over DC. How to develop a cover identity. Former spy Amaryllis Fox tells all in this excerpt from her book, Life Undercover.
- NYT – A Billion-Dollar Scandal Turns the ‘King of Manuscripts’ Into the ‘Madoff of France’ Accused of orchestrating a literary Ponzi scheme, Gérard Lhéritier prepares his defense as his breathtaking collection is auctioned off.
Business
- WolfStreet – Is Private Equity Having its WeWork Moment? Funds have invested in PE due to its Madoff-like volatility profile. Ironically, they forgot that this led to a collapse.
- Bain – Global Private Equity Report One of the most complete updates on the global PE space. What could go wrong with deals transacting at an average of 11.5x EBITDA, with 75% of deals financed with debt levels greater than 6x EBITDA….
- Economist – Why active bond investors can beat the index when active equity investors can’t
- Permanent Equity – Why You Can’t Sell Your Business
Culture/Tech/Science:
- GQ – Brooks Koepka, the World’s Best Golfer, Has Some Issues With Golf Koepka is collecting majors at a record clip while upending the tour’s social norms, wearing Off-White on the course—and making clear he wouldn’t mind changing the game forever.
- FastCo – Panera debuts $9/month unlimited coffee and tea subscription Panera’s 150 test locations over the last three months saw subscribers visit three times more frequently and purchase 70% more in add-on items than the average customer.
- Slate – DrDrunkenstein’s Reign of Terror Magnus Carlsen, the best chess player alive, has been slipping into online speed tournaments behind pseudonyms to crack jokes, let loose, and destroy the competition.
- Verge – Folding Glass A look at the science behind folding smart phones