Happy May Day, Brewers. Now is a great time to brush up on the history—and violence—that brought you the eight-hour work day.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“They’ve now locked us in the airport. No rules, just right. Welcome to the Bahamas! (Tell my family I love them)”—A Fyre Festival attendee on the horrid conditions at the “ultra-luxury” music festival in the Bahamas. With ticket prices ranging from $450-$12,000, the debacle had guests extremely fyred up.
Palo Alto, California-based Tesla (+1.76%) and its $2 billion acquisition of residential solar energy company SolarCity may not be paying off like CEO Elon Musk expected.
Tesla said late Friday that it would halt door-to-door sales of solar panels in favor of internet and showroom sales (it is 2017, after all). Additionally, a “vast majority” of SolarCity’s 30,000 employees will be reassigned. Ouch.
It might not be Tesla’s fault: In 2015, analysts said residential solar panel installations would to jump by 64%, but those lofty expectations fell to just 3% last year. Not good for an industry still trying to recover from Solyndra.
You do remember Solyndra, right?
In case you’ve you’ve forgoten, Solyndra is the lightning rod for green energy debates in the U.S. After a $535 million loan from the federal government, the Silicon Valley solar panel maker went bankrupt in 2011, casting a shadow on President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package.
Add in SunEdison’s $16 billion bankruptcy last year, and it’s easy to see why people are pretty timid about solar. If Tesla can’t successfully run a solar business… who can?
Death and taxes…
…but mostly taxes. SolarCity and its competitors count on consumer tax breaks to fuel their growth. (Who doesn’t love coupons?) If these tax benefits go away, installing solar panels on your home will get much more expensive.
Federal tax credits for solar installations are locked in for at least four more years. But, once these solar sweeteners expire, it could be the last of them. Investors are looking towards the 2018 midterms—and the to-be-elected 116th Congress—to see how green the future will be.
Alligator Pears (order that on your toast next time) have taken the world by storm. Americans have doubled their consumption of avocados in the last decade to almost seven pounds per year. Tragically, weaker crops from Mexico and California this year have stretched supply and blown prices to a 19-year high, over double last year’s price. Happy Cinco de Mayo.
Apple (-0.10%) is expected to report a slight profit jump on Tuesday, but the good news comes at a turning point for the world’s largest public company. Here’s what’s at the front of investors’ minds:
Over the weekend, Twitter (-0.72%) CEO Jack Dorsey bought back $9.5 million worth of Twitter shares. This marks Dorsey’s second public attempt to reassert his confidence in the struggling social network after a $7 million purchase earlier this year. After a decent earnings report last week, the strategy might pay off for 40-year-old Dorsey. That is, if he can also convince investors of a turn around. So far, Twitter’s stock barely budged. You can’t win ‘em all.
Finals are here for many Brewers, a time of the year marked by stress, little sleep and no time for things like TV binging (even though all of the good shows seem to be coming out right now).
It turns out there are more benefits to “wasting” time than it seems. In addition to letting your mind recharge, zoning out from stressful work is also redeeming in itself.
The catch? It doesn’t quite work if you’re constantly berating yourself for being distracted, one study found. Even things that seem to increase productivity, like Inbox Zero (remember that fad?) can do more harm than good.
So how do you keep from burning out?
You have eight marbles. Seven have the exact same mass—the other is heavier. Using a balance, how would you find the heaviest marble by measuring only twice?
(Answer)
$199.7 million—Google CEO Sundar Pichai’s 2016 compensation, according to regulatory filings released Friday. Not a bad reward for overseeing a 17.8% jump in Google’s ad revenue last year.
