iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI
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Happy to see you again! New York’s dining elite are back and heading to restaurants and private clubs that promise extravagance and caviar on everything.
Let’s dive into this week’s biggest stories.
On today’s agenda:
Who are the HENRYs?
This is what electric vehicle buyers really want.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton says he was wrong.
Take a tour of Y Combinator’s university HQ.
But first : Mickey Mouse’s House beat the smiling crocodile. Here’s a 60-second recap.
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Heidi Gutman/CNBC/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Image; Michael Kovac/Getty Images for Vanity Fair; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI
This week’s shipment
A hard blow for Mouse House
Disney boss Bob Iger last week won a long-running proxy battle against Nelson Peltz, the activist investor known as the Smiling Crocodile. But his work is far from finished.
Disney shareholders voted to retain the existing board by a “substantial margin.” Iger said the company would now focus on shareholder returns and “creative excellence”. Peltz pointed to the 50% rise in Disney stock since the start of his campaign as a sign of victory in defeat.
This victory follows an action-packed few months. Disney has bet on Hulu, video games and Taylor Swift. He announced a new sports streaming platform. She settled her legal dispute with Florida. Iger came back from Disney “awakened.”
But the on-again, off-again CEO still faces two looming challenges.
He must first find his successor. Iger, who has a history of failing that test, stressed after the proxy victory that finding the next CEO was a priority.
Then there’s Disney’s biggest challenge: how to reinvent a century-old company for a new era.
The wiring harness is broken. Attendance at films has collapsed. Gen Z is turning off streamers. YouTube could be worth as much as Disney and Comcast combined. These are the kinds of obstacles that will keep Iger and his successor up at night for years to come.
iStock; Rebecca Zisser/BI
Meet the HENRYs
To identify America’s HENRYs – an acronym for high earners, not yet rich – BI used the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances to analyze Americans who earned $200,000 or more per year but whose net worth was less than 1 million dollars.
We found that on average, HENRYs are white members of Generation X. An overwhelming majority of them are married. And a good part is in debt.
See how the data breaks down.
Ford Motor Co.
Give the people what they want
When the electric vehicle frenzy began, Detroit automakers scrambled to offer what they do best: pickup trucks.
But demand for electric pickup trucks has dried up, and consumers are no longer interested in six-figure behemoths like the GMC Hummer EV and Ford F-150 Lightning. Instead, they are turning to smaller, cheaper cars.
Why no one wants big, expensive electric vehicles.
Read also :
Tesla can’t avoid electric vehicle slowdown
REUTERS/Dominick Reuter
Angus Deaton reexamines his views
The 78-year-old Nobel Prize-winning economist is rethinking his views on major topics like unions, immigration and global trade.
Deaton told BI that he no longer saw unions as a “nuisance,” had become skeptical of free trade, and realized immigration had long-term impacts on inequality.
Everything else Deaton rethinks.
Read also :
China produces too many things. The West is worried.
Y combiner
Y Combinator’s new digs
The AI gold rush is bringing tech workers back to San Francisco, and Y Combinator is ready. Last year, it moved its headquarters from Mountain View to Pier 70.
In January, the startup accelerator tripled its size by expanding into the building next door, bringing it to 60,000 square feet. Its new headquarters is intended to be more of a campus than a coworking space.
Check out the sprawling new HQ.
This week’s quote:
“Artificial intelligence is not the future, it’s just a marketing term for a slightly updated version of the automation that has ruled our lives for years.”
Ed Zitron, on the AI apocalypse that is already upon us.
More top reads this week:
Best tips from someone who saved $100,000 by 25.
Apollo’s Leon Black says he’s so rich he didn’t know he paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million.
About a third of hiring managers don’t want to hire Gen Z or older workers.
Wall Street’s biggest wealth managers could face an avalanche of lawsuits thanks to a judge’s ruling.
A preview of the hedge fund industry’s annual best pitch conference.
Microsoft warns that China will use AI to try to influence US elections.
How Apple uses consumer psychology to make the iPhone seem like a “cool” brand.
Wall Street is obsessed with HubSpot, its growing rival to Salesforce.
The Insider Today team: Matt Turner, deputy editor, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, associate editor and presenter, in New York. Lisa Ryan, editor-in-chief, in New York.
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