Hello! It's that late August feeling... the US Open has just kicked off, college football is back, and Starbucks is already selling pumpkin spice lattes (earlier than ever). Today we're exploring:
There’s been much to celebrate for movie fans recently, The box office is basking in the post-Barbenheimer glow, and yesterday’s National Cinema Day only added to festivities, as more than 3,000 theaters across the US — nearly 75% of the nation’s cinemas — offered tickets for as little as $4. For the country’s largest cinema chain, however, the mood hasn't been as joyous.
Popcorn profits
Shares in AMC Theatres fell ~14% in value on Friday as the company’s preferred equity units converted into common stock — freeing up the company to sell more shares to new investors in future. The recent slide compounds what has been a miserable year for the company. AMC has now shed 64% of its market value in 2023 and shares in the company are down 97% since June 2021, when the chain found itself at the center of meme-stock mania.
AMC operates more than 900 theaters, but even at that scale profits aren’t coming easily, as the chain booked a $23m operating loss for the first six months of 2023, which might be hard to fathom for anyone used to buying popcorn or other food and drinks at the cinema. Indeed, the company raked in more than $817m in food and drink sales, reporting costs of just $153m associated with that revenue — a whopping 81% margin. Unfortunately, that margin vanished pretty quickly, as rent and other operating expenses tallied more than $2bn — a precarious position for a company with more than $9bn of debt hanging over it.
Bad influencers
If you’re heading to Bali to realize your Instagram influencer dreams of sipping cocktails, sampling acai bowls, and inspiring gut-wrenching envy in your followers, you’ll have to cough up 150,000 rupiah (~$10) on arrival, as the island cracks down on misbehaving tourists.
Bali’s beautiful weather, rich heritage, stunning beaches, and local cuisine all combine to make it a must-go for millions of travelers — and visitors to the Indonesian province had been rising every year before travel restrictions, with a record 6.3 million international tourists flocking to experience the island life in 2019.
Tourist tension
The rise of social media has meant that one viral video can be all it takes to send hundreds, or even thousands, of tourists descending on a newfound beauty spot. In June, the Balinese government proposed new laws to ban visitors from climbing its mountains, touching holy trees, and swearing in public, as Bali — like Venice and Hawaii — joins a growing list of hotspots that are turning to tourist taxes and restrictions to mitigate the negative impacts of excessive tourism.
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is perhaps the most extreme example, charging tourists $200 per day to visit — a rate that, even after it halves in September, will remain the highest tourist tax in the world.
The big shrink
Top executives at some of America’s largest retailers have found themselves repeating each other’s soundbites over the last couple of weeks, as they increasingly talk about “shrink”.
For those unfamiliar with the jargon, retail shrink is a broad term used for the issue of missing inventory, and was referenced by execs from Dick’s Sporting Goods, Dollar Tree, Macy’s, Foot Locker, Home Depot, and Walmart, all within the last 14 days. Some have slammed the discussions, noting that the euphemism often obscures a bigger issue at play in the US retail industry — theft.
Stealing focus
Foot Locker and Dick’s Sporting Goods suffered more than most after their shrink-referencing reports, with shares in each company plummeting 33% and 24%, respectively, after the pair laid out how theft has contributed to weaker earnings in recent months. Rising thefts at Walmart and Target could suggest that lower-income consumers more vulnerable to inflation are feeling the pinch, although Dick’s CEO said that the impact of “organized" retail crime was significantly larger than expected.
To combat shoplifting, retailers are increasingly sealing higher-priced products in locked cases and rolling out anti-theft tech.
• Michael Jordan is officially the richest basketball player of all time, with Bloomberg estimating the retired sports star is worth ~$3.5 billion after recently selling his Charlotte Hornets majority stake.
• Short films: over 2,400 performers have joined or rejoined Cameo, a platform where celebrities send fans paid video messages, since the actors’ strikes started in July, up 137% from June.
• A Russian company has bought 7 breweries for less than the price of a single bottle of beer, after Heineken sold its entire business in the heavily-sanctioned country for just €1.
• Not remotely interested: just 28% of employees who work from home full-time feel connected to their company’s mission and purpose.
• Charting the fact that (almost) anything you can do, AI can do better.
• MrBeast has won Creator of the Year at the Streamy Awards — check out our first ever deep dive on the YouTuber's growing media empire.
