12/04/2020: Weekly Newsletter
Money & Crypto
Stripe to offer banking services and Google to partner with banks to offer checking accounts. What a jump in digital wallet users over the past two years (see above chart.) I wish the chart would show what 2019 looked like. It would be interesting to know if most of the jump was within the last 12 months, due to the impact COVID had on payment behaviors, or if the growth was evenly spread out over the 2 years.
Salesforce to acquire Slack for $27B
S&P to acquire IHS Markit for $44B
Luminar goes public via SPAC
Warner Bros to release 2021 movies simultaneously in theatres and on HBOMax
Current, a U.S.-based challenger bank, raised ~$130M
Chainanalysis, blockchain compliance, seeks to raise $100M
Tech
Astronaut and former pilot Scott Kelly talks about his experiences in space
Etc.
NPR’s annual book concierge for 2020 is out!
More books! The Economist’s book picks of the year
NatGeo’s best animal photos of 2020
♫ Spotify releases the top hits of 2020.
♫ Hilary Clinton interviewed by Dax Shepard about how she recovered from her election loss
♫ President Obama interviewed on Fresh Air
Spoiler: Great British Bake Off crowns winner!
