Hello!
My Insider Inc. colleagues and I are now all working from home, and I expect many of you are too. I will admit that so far that it’s been an adjustment. With that in mind, I want to start the newsletter this week with advice from six of our senior editors who have worked remotely for years about how to do it productively.
I hope it’s helpful. I should also note that cybersecurity experts are warning that hackers are targeting people now working from home amid the coronavirus outbreak. Be careful online.
Below is a breakdown of how the coronavirus is impacting the healthcare industry, markets, Wall Street and Big Law, Big Tech and Silicon Valley startups, cleantech, the advertising and media industry, and even space exploration.
But before that, I want to highlight some non-coronavirus related features from the past week that are worth your time:
- Inside the wild world of ‘The Points Guy,’ Brian Kelly: A massively profitable media empire and claims of non-stop partying, drugs and extravagant spending
- We talked to 42 insiders about Tesla’s factory of the future. They revealed the corners cut to hit ambitious production targets.
- SigFig raised $120 million on the promise of reinventing investing, but hasn’t announced a big partnership in years. Here’s how it went from deals with UBS and Wells Fargo to struggling to compete.
Coming back to coronavirus, here are a couple of bullet points from across our coverage just to highlight how far-ranging of an impact the outbreak is having.
- Coronavirus could stop in-person campaigning in the 2020 US election. As Rob Price reported, that could give Facebook, Google, and Twitter more power over American democracy than ever before.
- The world has turned upside down since DoorDash filed for an IPO two weeks ago. CEO Tony Xu talked to Meghan Morris and Troy Wolverton about competition, coronavirus, and going public.
- Big Law M&A work is evaporating, but Casey Sullivan reported that some firms are about to make bank. Here are the winners and losers.
- Benji Jones reported that the leading clean-energy research firm just slashed its outlook in response to the coronavirus pandemic, revealing that solar energy installations could decline for the first time in decades.
- Lauren Johnson got her hands on a leaked document showing that top ad agency Magna Global is predicting that cancelled NBA and NCAA events will cost TV networks up to a 25% drop in viewership.
A nurse demonstrates taking a sample for a coronavirus test at the infection station of the university hospital in Essen, Germany, Thursday, March 12, 2020. AP Photo/Martin Meissner
What coronavirus means for the healthcare system
Italy has quickly become one of the epicenters of the coronavirus pandemic, Lydia Ramsey reports. From her story:
In a conversation hosted by the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Maurizio Cecconi, the head of the department of anesthesia and intensive care units at Humanitas Research Hospital in Milan, said Italy’s situation began on February 20, when a patient in his 30s tested positive for COVID-19.
As of Friday, Italy had more than 15,000 infections and more than 1,000 deaths related to COVID-19.
You can read her story here:
Lydia’s story from a week ago is continuing to attract lots of attention. If you missed it, you can read it here:
Elsewhere:
- $120 billion pharma giant Eli Lilly just teamed up with a biotech startup to fight the coronavirus pandemic. “We’ve never moved at this speed before,” Eli Lilly chief scientific officer Dan Skovronsky told Andrew Dunn.
- The “most promising” coronavirus treatment is facing its biggest test yet, Andrew reported. Clinical data for Gilead‘s drug remdesivir is coming in a matter of weeks.
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after the opening bell of the trading session in New York Reuters
What it means for markets
The Global COVID Crisis (GCC), as JPMorgan referred to it in a research note this week, triggered a wild stretch for markets, including the fastest 20% drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in history and the Dow’s worst single-day drop since 1987. Stocks on Friday then surged as policymakers stepped up their efforts to contain the economic damage of the outbreak.
Our investing team had lots of stories on how to navigate it all:
- Akin Oyedele talked to Jim Rogers, the famed investor who earned a 4,200% return with George Soros, who identified the best two assets to buy for profits after a “total collapse” in markets.
- Famed economist David Rosenberg called the housing bubble. He told Marley Jay why the oil-price war will be more damaging than the coronavirus, and outlined a scenario where stocks plunge another 13%.
- And Goldman Sachs studied every bear market in stocks since 1835, and found three red flags that make this coronavirus-driven one unlike any other in history.
What it means for Wall Street firms and Big Law
- CME and Cboe are clearing trading floors. Dan DeFrancesco talked to one veteran trader who thinks the millions they’ll save will be too good to ever reopen the iconic pits.
- Rebecca Ungarino delved in to why Goldman Sachs analysts think Morgan Stanley‘s stock will be Wall Street’s big winner if a full-blown recession strikes.
- People are rethinking daily habits like touching dirty dollar bills as coronavirus spreads. Shannen Balogh reported that this could be the catalyst that finally triggers the US to tap their phones to pay.
- Bradley Saacks reported that hedge fund Bridgewater made an $11.8 billion bet against giant European companies like Bayer, Santander, and Adidas as the coronavirus spread put Italy on lockdown. Bradley also identified six hedge fund that have returned as much as 14% in recent weeks with bets focused on volatility and macro trends.
- Meanwhile, Big Law M&A work is evaporating, but Casey Sullivan reported that some firms are about to make bank. Here are the winners and losers.
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos Reuters
What coronavirus means for Silicon Valley
Let’s start with Big Tech:
- Eugene Kim reported that Amazon has postponed its twice-a-year all-hands meeting because of the coronavirus, meaning workers won’t hear directly from Jeff Bezos at a time of uncertainty.
- Coronavirus could stop in-person campaigning in the 2020 US election. As Rob Price reported, that could give Facebook, Google, and Twitter more power over American democracy than ever before.
- Ashley Stewart reported that Microsoft offered paid leave to employees who can’t work from home while schools are closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
- Paayal Zaveri reported on a new filing from Salesforce showing all the ways the company is concerned about coronavirus.
- Troy Wolverton reports that the coronavirus crisis has exposed a crucial weakness in Airbnb‘s business model and it’s likely to haunt the $31 billion company’s IPO plans.
- Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield touted its customer wins against Microsoft Teams. Paayal reported that analysts worry the coronavirus crisis will hurt its ability to compete.
And now for startups:
- Silicon Valley’s startups are facing the biggest crisis in a generation, Melia Russell and Megan Hernbroth reported. Here’s what venture capital investors like Greycroft, Menlo Ventures, and Mayfieldare telling founders they need to do to survive.
- The world has turned upside down since DoorDash filed for an IPO two weeks ago. CEO Tony Xu talked to Meghan Morris and Troy Wolverton about competition, coronavirus, and going public.
- Melia reported that Lux Capital, a top VC firm, is asking employees to log everywhere they go in case they catch the coronavirus, saying they have a “moral responsibility” to stem the spread.
- Megan reported that top VC firm Kleiner Perkins says it signed the first term sheet of the “work from home” era. Here’s how it came together.
- Megan also reported that Y Combinator, Silicon Valley’s most famous startup training program, scrapped its famous ‘Demo Day’ founder pitches and will instead make startups submit investor-friendly slides
What it means for renewables
Cleantech is one of our newer areas of coverage, and I couldn’t be happier to have Benji Jones the leading the charge at a really interesting time for the industry. Here’s what you need to know:
- The coronavirus cratered solar panel manufacturing. Now, China is ramping back up, but top analysts say there could still be month-long delays and price hikes.
- The leading clean-energy research firm just slashed its outlook in response to the coronavirus pandemic, revealing that solar energy installations could decline for the first time in decades.
- Shuttered factories, tangled supply chains, and cratering demand: eight experts told us how the coronavirus pandemic and oil price war are hitting clean energy
John Minchillo/AP
John Minchillo/AP
What it means for the advertising and media business
- Lauren Johnson got her hands on a leaked document showing that top ad agency Magna Global is predicting that cancelled NBA and NCAA events will cost TV networks up to a 25% drop in viewership. The firm is also telling clients to stop avoiding coronavirus-related content as publishers get squeezed.
- Patrick Coffee got his hands on the full memo from advertising holding company IPG saying all its offices will stay open amid coronavirus outbreak
- Dan Whateley reported that Instagram influencers say brand sponsorships and travel content are taking a major hit as deals get put “on hold until further notice.” That’s even as engagement on Instagram sponsored posts has soared the last two weeks.
- Disney has closed its parks around the world and risks losing $2 billion in revenue if they remain shuttered for 30 days, Ashley Rodriguez reported.
Lastly, coronavirus concerns have reached those planning to go to space. Dave Mosher reported that NASA is limiting access to astronauts scheduled to fly on SpaceX‘s first spaceship for people.
Stay safe.
— Matt
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