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TOGETHER
WITH

Good morning. If
there’s one thing more
impressive than reciting
the alphabet backwards,
the alphabet backwards,
it’s becoming a black belt
in Microsoft Excel.
Nothing draws the
“ooohs” and “ahhhs” at a
party like a perfectly
executed F4.
To help you upgrade

your spreadsheeting
skills, we put together a
guide of our favorite
guide of our favorite
Excel shortcuts. Check it
out.
—Neal Freyman, Matty
Merritt, Max Knoblauch

MARKETS

Nasdaq11,623.25 -4.29%

S&P 3,991.24 -3.20%

 Dow 32,245.70 -1.99%

10-Year 3.011% -6.9 bps

Bitcoin$30,903.13 -9.53%

Apple $152.06 -3.32%

*Stock data as of market

*Stock data as of market
close, cryptocurrency
data as of 10:00pm ET.
Here's what these

numbers mean.
Markets: The S&P fell
below 4,000 points for
the first time in more
than a year as inflation
concerns ruined a
gorgeous day down on
gorgeous day down on
Wall Street. Big Tech
companies have lost

more than $1 trillion in

market value over the
past three trading
sessions alone.
Crypto: If bitcoin is
indeed a store of value,
it certainly hasn’t
proven itself yet. With
bitcoin’s price falling
bitcoin’s price falling

below $30,000 for the

first time since July
2021, at least 40% of
bitcoin investors are
underwater, according
to new data from
Glassnode.

BUSINESS
How Uber is preparing
for lean times

Philip Pacheco/AFP via

Getty Images

As stocks plummet even

further and an economic
further and an economic
recession looms,
companies are starting
to hoard their acorns in
anticipation of harsher
conditions.
Take Uber. On Sunday,
CEO Dara Khosrowshahi

sent a letter to staff

explaining how Uber is
hunkering down given
hunkering down given
the rapidly deteriorating
macro environment—
and what he laid out is
probably being mimicked
in boardrooms across
the country. The

takeaways:
The stock market is
FUBAR. After meeting
with investors,
with investors,
Khosrowshahi noted “the
market is experiencing a
seismic shift” due to
uncertainty and that
safer bets are being

prioritized over riskier

ones.
How do you appear
“safer” as an
investment? You
generate cash.
generate cash.
Khosrowshahi said the
company would work to
achieve profitability on a

free cash flow basis

rather than its adjusted
EBITDA metric, which
has been knocked for
painting a misleading
picture of Uber’s
finances. “The goalposts
have changed,”
Khosrowshahi said.

And so has Uber’s job

board. More specifically,
it’s getting smaller.
Khosrowshahi is now
treating hiring as a
“privilege” and will be
“deliberate” about adding
more employees, which
may indicate a broader
may indicate a broader

hiring freeze. Uber’s not

the only one realizing its
org chart needs a trim…
Meta introduced a
hiring freeze across
most of its engineering
units.
Amazon execs are
worried their
 warehouses are
overstaffed (then
again, it did hire
800,000 people in 2020
and 2021).
Robinhood cut 9% of
its staff last month.

Uber is also trimming

costs elsewhere. It’s
taking a more cautious
approach to scaling up
approach to scaling up
certain projects, and it’s
pulling back on the least
efficient marketing and
driver incentive
programs. In the CEO’s
words, “We will be even
more hardcore about

costs across the board.”

Big picture: Just as
companies adapted to
companies adapted to
Covid lockdowns in
2020, and to worker
shortages and rising
inflation in 2021, this
year they’ll have to pivot
once again to weather

an oncoming storm
fueled by higher interest
rates, slower growth, and
market volatility.—NF
TOGETHER WITH
COMETEER
The coffee gods have
spoken
Birch. Go Get ’Em Tiger.
Equator. Are these but
random words, dear
coffee gods?
Nay. Those are
legendary coffee
roasters from across the
country—and you can
taste ’em all with
Cometeer.
Cometeer.
Cometeer is the hottest
(or coolest, depending
on your preference) thing
to happen to coffee since
creamer was invented.
No café lines, no wonky
machines, and no
kitchen mess. Just
excellent coffee for under
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up.

You just need a few

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endless possibilities that
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awe.
Did we mention the
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best possible flavor,
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have to worry about an
inconsistent cup again,
because Cometeer

never lets your taste

buds down.
buds down.
Try Cometeer today and
get 10 cups free with
your first order.

WORLD
Tour de headlines
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via
Getty Images
A record-breaking
sale: An Andy Warhol
silkscreen of Marilyn
Monroe sold for $195
million at Christie’s last
night. If that sounds like
a lot, it is: It’s the priciest
sale of any American
artwork at auction, and
the most expensive 20th-
century artwork to sell at

auction. A $450 million

Leonardo da Vinci
painting remains No. 1
on the all-time list.
Tensions rise in the
fight over abortion
fight over abortion
rights. A fire that broke
out at an anti-abortion
group’s office in

Wisconsin is being
investigated as an arson
case. (The building was
also vandalized with the
message, “If abortions
aren’t safe then you
aren’t either.”) And after
aren’t either.”) And after
pro-choice activists
protested outside the

houses of two
conservative Supreme
Court justices last
weekend, law
enforcement agencies
are beefing up security
for the judges.
Ukrainian war
protests: Channel

guides on Russian smart

TVs on Monday were
altered to display the
message, “There is
blood on your hands
from thousands of
Ukrainians and hundreds
of their murdered
children. TV and
government are lying-
Say No to War.” In
Warsaw, Russia’s
ambassador to Poland
was doused with red
paint at an event
honoring Soviet World
War II soldiers.

CONSUMER GOODS
Baby formula is
powdered gold
powdered gold

Photo Illustration: Dianna

“Mick” McDougall, Photos,
Getty Images
Tracking down baby
formula in the US right
now makes snagging a
now makes snagging a
PS5 look like an Easter
egg hunt in an empty
parking lot. Almost 40%
of formula brands were
sold out during the last
week of April, a massive

jump from the 2%–8% in

early 2021, according to
Datasembly.
And no, there weren’t
And no, there weren’t
that many pandemic
babies. Several factors
have parents scrambling
to feed their babies,
including (say it with us)

Covid-era supply chain

issues and a top
manufacturer’s recall in
February.
Abbott Nutrition recalled
four brands of powdered
four brands of powdered
formula, including
Similac, made at a
facility in Michigan and

paused production after

the formulas were
connected to the death
of two infants. The FDA
is still investigating the
facility and has yet to
give the shutdown an
give the shutdown an
end date.
Big picture: Retailers

are capping baby

formula sales in
response to the severe
shortages. Walgreens
and CVS have limited
shoppers nationwide to
three formula products
per purchase, while
Target is allowing four
Target is allowing four

per online order. Some

parents said they’ve had
to travel out of state to
find formula or have
faced 1–2 month wait
times on sites like
Amazon.—MM

FINANCE
FINANCE
Goldman says SPAC
you later
The Bachelor/ABC via
Giphy
Goldman Sachs is telling
SPACs it needs some
space. The investment
bank, which was the
second-biggest
underwriter of SPACs
last year, is halting its
work with most of those
work with most of those
companies now that
regulators are cracking
down on the
controversial financial
mechanism.
Thx for the memories:
While SPACs aren’t a

Covid invention, they

boomed in popularity
early in the pandemic as
early in the pandemic as
an alternate way for
private companies to hit
the stock exchange.
How they work: A
SPAC (special purpose
acquisition company) is

basically a shell
company that goes
public, then acquires a
private company to
 private company to
take them public in the
process.

By opting to SPAC, a
company can avoid the
oversight required by the
traditional IPO process—
and celebs found that
they could make big $$$
by generating buzz for a
SPAC they link up with.
It was all quite sketchy,
It was all quite sketchy,
and regulators weren’t
going to let it fly forever.
The SEC released a plan

in March that laid out

more rules for SPACs,
depriving them of their
charm for underwriters
like Goldman, which
would face more liability
under the new
under the new
guidelines.
Big picture: The SPAC

boom may be over, but

don’t expect a complete
extinction event. The gay
dating app Grindr
announced yesterday it
will go public via SPAC
at a valuation of $2.1
billion.—NF
GRAB BAG
Key performance
indicators
Prakash Mathema/AFP
via Getty Images
Stat: Nepalese Sherpa
guide Kami Rita
summited Mount Everest
for the 26th time last
weekend, breaking his
weekend, breaking his
own record as the
person who’s seen the
top of the world the most
times. Everest has been
summited 10,657 times
since Sir Edmund Hillary
and Tenzing Norgay first
conquered the mountain
in 1953.

Quote: “If the office

didn’t exist, I like to ask,
would we invent it? And
if we invented it, what
would it be invented for?”
Airbnb CEO Brian
Chesky was asking the
deep questions in an
interview with Time.

We’re gonna go with a)

yes and b) to give
everyone a break from
everyone a break from
their roommates/
spouses/kids.
Read: The 2022 Pulitzer
Prizes were announced
yesterday. Here’s a
complete list of the

winners and their work.

(Pulitzer Prize Board)

BREW'S BETS
Nice to meet you. Can I
eat at your place? In
this fascinating new
travel podcast, a
journalist tries to get

invited to a stranger’s
house for dinner every
week. Listen to Not Lost
now.
Art like you’ve never
experienced it before.
Go behind-the-scenes
with a Dutch still-life
painting.

This is a video of a
train station: Except it
was generated by a
computer. See it to
believe it.
Trade events, not
noise: Buy and sell
noise: Buy and sell
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WHAT ELSE IS
BREWING
On Russia’s Victory
Day, President Vladimir
Putin did not announce
an escalation of the
war in Ukraine nor did
he declare victory.
The Biden
administration is
teaming up with
internet providers

including Verizon and

AT&T to help low-
income Americans
income Americans
access high-speed
internet.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr.,
the son of violent
former dictator
Ferdinand Marcos,

coasted to victory in
the presidential
election in the
Philippines.
 Philippines.
Meet the man building
the future of quantum
for IBM.
Ukraine is rebuilding
cities as fast as Russia

is destroying them.

GAMES
The puzzle section
Brew Mini: Spanx
Brew Mini: Spanx
founder Blakely (four
letters) is your clue of the
day. Play the Mini here.
Get to know your
neighbors
We’ll give you two US
states, and you have to
pick out the one with
more states bordering it.
1. California / West
Virginia
Virginia
2. Rhode Island / South
Carolina
3. Tennessee / Ohio
4. New York / New
Mexico
5. Florida / Maine

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ANSWER

1. West Virginia 5,
California 3

2. Rhode Island 3, South

Carolina 2
3. Tennessee 8, Ohio 5
3. Tennessee 8, Ohio 5
4. New York 6, New
Mexico 5
5. Florida 2, Maine 1

Written by Neal
Freyman, Max
Knoblauch, and Matty
Merritt
Merritt
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