đź“… 4-day workweek?
Hey Snackers,
We’re taking a moment to remember the many thousands who’ve been killed, injured, and displaced since Russia invaded Ukraine exactly one year ago. While there’s no end to the war in sight, yesterday the UN overwhelmingly condemned the invasion and called for peace.
Stocks ticked up yesterday to snap a four-day losing streak fueled by rate-hike fears. Tech and energy stocks led the gains.
The 4-day workweek gains steams as a perk, after positive results from a large trial
Thursday’s the new Friday?... The four-day workweek is #trending. Driving the hype: one of the largest trials of a four-day workweek ever conducted. In the six-month study, 61 British companies across industries gave 2.9K workers one paid day off each week. The goal: determine whether they could be as productive while working less, but also more effective (think: fewer meetings). The results are in — and they’re promising:
More than 90% of companies in the study said they’d continue testing the four-day week after seeing major reductions in turnover and absenteeism, in addition to productivity holding mostly steady. And 18 planned to make it permanent.
Happy days: The pilot found that many workers slept better, were less stressed, and were less likely to say they didn’t have time to care for their loved ones. Male workers spent 27% more time on childcare, compared to a rise of 13% for female workers.
Long weekend… short week. Four-day-week experimentation isn’t just happening in the UK: companies in the US and Canada recently completed a smaller trial, and pilots are underway in Australia and Brazil. The Spanish government even plans to pay companies to try it. But so far, most companies that have experimented with short weeks are small. Many large employers haven’t embraced short weeks, but Unilever tested four-day work at its New Zealand offices.
Four days’ work could become the new perk… The pandemic transformed the working world, making employers more accepting of flexible arrangements like remote and hybrid work. Four-day weeks could be a new way to attract and retain talent in a still strong labor market. But widespread adoption could be hard: it probably wouldn’t work for all businesses, and it’s possible that productivity could go down long term once decisive trial periods end.
NBA Top Shot heads to court in a case that could classify some NFTs as securities
Going hard in the (digital) paint… but it's no game. A judge this week denied a request from Dapper Labs, the maker of NBA-themed NFTs dubbed “Top Shot Moments,” to toss out a lawsuit against it. The suit, brought by Top Shot Moments buyers, alleges that Dapper’s blockchain-based collectibles are securities and therefore should’ve been registered with the SEC. It’s one of the first judicial decisions addressing whether NFTs are securities.
Top whats: After Moments launched in 2020, the NFT highlight clips found fast success among non-crypto-native collectors.
Top whys: Collectors could buy Moments with a credit card, no blockchain knowledge required (just a love of b-ball).
Top buys: Moments have seen $982M in trading volume, with some sought-after NFTs selling for more than $200K.
On the rebound… While crypto winter chilled the already cooling NFT market, it didn't put it on ice. Last month saw $780M in NFT transactions on the ethereum blockchain, up from $547M in December (but way down from $5B in January 2022). And Blur, an NFT marketplace that launched in October, has surged in popularity — capturing 40% of NFT retail trades this month. Meanwhile, bitcoin hopped on the NFT train with ordinals. But bubbling NFT hype could be dampened by regulatory scrutiny.
“Fun and games” could get serious… While Dapper Labs bills its NFTs as sports collectables, it's not clear if the courts will agree. And although it's no slam dunk, a ruling saying that Top Shot Moments are securities could pressure some crypto businesses to register their NFTs with the SEC and shake up the entire nonfungible industry.
The Crypto Catch-Up…
🌶️ Spicy… Sam Bankman-Fried was hit with additional charges this week, including bank fraud and campaign-finance charges. Officials said the former FTX CEO broke donation laws to evade campaign-contribution limits.
🤹‍♀️ Quirky… A DAO (a crypto community where token holders call the shots) is angling to buy a Scottish golf course. The decentralized org, LinksDAO, plans to fund the $900K purchase through NFT sales.
🤖 Techy… Coinbase announced it's launching a “layer-2” network on top of ethereum with the goal of creating a space for developers to build decentralized apps (“dapps”) on the blockchain.
What else we’re Snackin’
Sliced: Shares of pizza icon Domino’s dipped 12% after a delivery-driver shortage took a bite out of last quarter’s sales. Rival Papa Johns also saw sales slip as consumers suffered from pandemic pizza fatigue.
Charge: Lucid’s revenue dipped below expectations after the EV maker built fewer of its Air luxury sedans than forecast. Still, it plans to double production this year, though EV sales growth is poised to slow.
Dupe: The US Copyright Office said that AI-generated images used in a graphic novel should not have been granted copyright protection. It's one of the first US agencies to take an IP stance on AI-created content.
Change: For the first time, people of color make up one in five corporate-board seats at America’s largest companies. The milestone comes as lawmakers and investors push for businesses to boost diversity.
GPS: The DOJ is said to be probing Google’s mapping dominance and how it requires developers to use its Maps and Search products together. Google’s already facing an antitrust suit over its search-market ad dominance.
Friday
One year since Russia invaded Ukraine
Earnings expected from Cinemark
Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin, ethereum and shares of: Google
ID: 2756196