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Good morning,
Look up at the sky tonight—it will only look like that once in a blue moon.
Wednesday night, we’ll get a glimpse of the rare “super blue moon.” A supermoon occurs when the moon is both full and at or near its closest point to Earth, according to NASA, which happens just three or four times a year—but if one month sees two full moons, the second is called a blue moon, making two supermoons in one month a “super blue moon.”
The moon will appear opposite the sun at 9:36 p.m. ET, and if you miss it, you’ll have to wait another 14 years for the next one.
BREAKING NEWS
Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend Region on Wednesday morning as a Category 3 storm with sustained wind speeds of 125 mph, after strengthening significantly overnight as it passed over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Parts of Georgia and South Carolina’s coastline are also under storm surge warnings.
Military officers in Gabon claim they have overthrown the country’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba and scrapped the country’s general elections moments after its results were announced Wednesday, the latest coup to hit an ex-French colony. Serious questions were raised about the legitimacy of the polling process in the election both by opposition leaders and foreign media.
BUSINESS + FINANCE
A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the SEC must review asset manager Grayscale’s application to convert its bitcoin trust into an exchange-traded fund, a ruling some see as the next step in the race for a publicly-listed bitcoin ETF. The ruling sent crypto prices surging, but the decision does not mean that the SEC must approve Grayscale’s application, only that it must review it again.
In a new lawsuit, Disney shareholders allege its top executives “repeatedly misled investors” about the extent of the losses of its core Disney+ streaming service. It’s the latest headache for Disney, whose stock hit a nine-year low and is the 15th worst performing stock on the S&P 500.
TECH + INNOVATION
Redwood Materials, which recycles old lithium-ion batteries and makes components for new ones, said it’s raised more than $1 billion in a new funding round as the company works to set up some of the first U.S. production facilities making anode and cathode materials for electric vehicle batteries. The company, led by Tesla cofounder JB Straubel, is valued at over $5 billion.
There’s no need to attend those pesky afternoon meetings anymore: On Tuesday, Google unveiled a new feature for its Google Meet video service that lets a user send a bot to attend a meeting on their behalf. After the meeting, the user will receive AI-generated meeting notes and action items, though it can’t speak for you or share other real-time information from you.
MONEY + POLITICS
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin said, as it denies speculation the Russian leader ordered the death of his former ally who led a mutinous march against Moscow. There is little information about the funeral for Prigozhin, who Russian officials confirmed was among 10 people who died in a private jet crash, and no public announcements have been made as to where he will be buried.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez ended his longshot presidential campaign less than a week after failing to meet the requirements to participate in last week’s GOP debate, becoming the first candidate to drop out of the crowded 2024 race. Suarez’s average in the 2024 primary polls was the lowest of all candidates, at just 0.2% as of Tuesday, according to FiveThirtyEight.
SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT
The average NFL team is now worth a record $5.1 billion, 14% more than last year. The increase is powered by more television money and the $6.05 billion sale of the Washington Commanders, according to Forbes’ 2023 rankings of the most valuable NFL teams. The Dallas Cowboys remain the most valuable team in the league at a record $9 billion, 13% more than a year ago.
MORE: The NFL is guaranteed $125.5 billion in television money over the next decade, but the league will end up raking in more—likely much more—when you look at how its media deals are structured.
Speaking of football, ESPN will broadcast a number of college football games in movie theaters for the upcoming season. The network will televise the game as part of an agreement with Theater Sports Network, whose president Scott Daw said he believes “movie theaters are the next great frontier for live sporting events.”
SCIENCE + HEALTHCARE
The Biden administration announced that 10 drugs taken by millions of older Americans will be subject to Medicare price negotiations, the first in a four-year program that will negotiate prices for up to 60 drugs covered under Medicare Part D and Part B. The selected medications, including those for conditions like diabetes, chronic kidney disease and heart failure, cost senior citizens $3.4 billion in out-of-pocket costs last year, the administration says.
To woo more healthcare customers, Google has been developing a healthcare-specific large language model, and announced Tuesday it will release the latest version to a wider number of customers in September. This renewed push into healthcare comes as Microsoft and Amazon are making their own AI-powered inroads into the sector, and it’s far from clear which will come out on top when the dust clears.
TRAVEL + LIFESTYLE
More than 700 flights in and out of Tampa International Airport were canceled for Tuesday and Wednesday ahead of Hurricane Idalia’s landfall in Florida, and more cancellations are expected. Major U.S. airlines are issuing travel waivers allowing passengers flying in or out of impacted airports to rebook without paying the fare difference.
TRENDS + EXPLAINERS
Tailei Qi, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder and possession of a weapon on educational property in the shooting that left faculty member Zijie Yan dead on the university’s campus. Students at the university were locked down for hours Monday during the shooting, a week after the start of classes.
More than half of the country’s wetlands could lose federal protections after the EPA rolled back its definition of federal waters to comply with a May Supreme Court ruling that was a major blow to environmental regulations. The new rules increase the area near wetlands eligible for unpermitted development—a win for property developers—and reduce the acreage eligible for federal funding.
DAILY COVER STORY
Course Hero Is Graduating—Just In Time
TOPLINE Andrew Grauer started building Course Hero, an online library of class notes, essays and exam answers mostly crowdsourced from other students, from his dorm room at Cornell University.
Grauer rode the Covid-19 wave of venture capital washing over edtech. Course Hero raised $80 million in the summer of 2020, hitting unicorn status, and another $395 million in late 2021—at a hefty $3.6 billion valuation.
The new capital was meant largely for acquisitions, in both the student and broader online learning and productivity market.
So far, Grauer has picked up seven businesses, building to more than $250 million in annual sales, 750 employees and 100 million monthly active users worldwide of products ranging from CliffsNotes to AI-enabled writing tools to a math problem search engine. The company says it still has “ample funding” left (it won’t be more specific)— and that money in the bank is crucial because VC investment in edtech has fallen.
In December, Grauer became CEO of a newly named holding company, Learneo, passing the top job at Course Hero to longtime executive John Peacock. It made sense for Grauer to broaden his business sights. For one thing, college enrollments have declined for the past three years and based on births, the combined high school and college-age population in the U.S. will be shrinking.
Plus, publicly traded Chegg had risen to dominate the market for online study help (or, as a lot of professors see it, cheating). Yet, Chegg’s stock started falling as students returned to classrooms and then collapsed further earlier this year after the company acknowledged that OpenAI’s free chatbot, ChatGPT, was hurting sign-ups.
In March, Course Hero laid off 15% of its staff in a move that Grauer frames as making it “lean and focused on quicker decisions and innovations” as it builds “in an AI-driven world.”
Overall, across all of Learneo’s businesses, the company says, it had 3 million paying subscribers last year, up from 1 million in 2019—a reflection of its acquisitions as well as any internal growth.
WHY IT MATTERS Grauer has been spreading his bets on the future, with some purchases showing an eye for AI, as well as for other entrepreneurs who might have the smarts to help Learneo ride this wave, too.
Michael Horn, who writes and consults on education disruption and is cofounder of the Clayton Christensen Institute, frames Grauer’s approach as a smart strategic choice. “He’s a savvy person who’s thinking about how to keep an innovative muscle,” Horn says. “If you want to have a deeper, widespread impact that’s sustainable over time, you need to catch the next disruptions. And by moving into this structure, [Grauer] allows himself to support the up-and-coming innovators.”
MORE ChatGPT And AI Will Fuel New EdTech Boom
FACTS AND COMMENTS
Researchers from Tufts University looked at nearly 4,000 people across a dozen states who participated in “produce prescription” programs, where healthcare providers could prescribe fruits and vegetables alongside traditional medications. Participants were given between $15 and $300 per month to purchase fresh produce at grocery stores or farmers markets, and within six months, almost all had improved health outcomes and reduced food insecurity:
62%: Of adults studied were more likely to self-report they felt healthier than before they participated
$2.10 to $2.60 per day: The amount the USDA and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates Americans can spend to meet their ideal fruit and vegetable intake
$1.7 trillion: The amount spent per year on healthcare costs for obesity-related illnesses in the U.S.
STRATEGY AND SUCCESS
In a world where more people are working remotely and away from colleagues, communication skills are as critical as ever. When communicating, be concise and clear, have humility, listen to the other person and ensure the flow of the exchange works based on feedback.
VIDEO
QUIZ
Programs to attract remote workers are catching on across the globe, from Canada to Barbados and beyond. Which European country recently launched a digital nomad visa aimed at addressing a shortage of qualified IT professionals and bolstering the economy?
A. Belgium
B. Poland
C. The Czech Republic
D. Sweden
Check your answer.
ACROSS THE NEWSROOM
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