Welcome to Buy/Sell/Hold, Marker’s weekly newsletter that’s 100% business intelligence and 0% investment advice. Each week, our writers Steve LeVine and Rob Walker make sense of the most important developments in business right now — and give them a Buy for clever moves or positive trends, a Sell for mistakes or missed opportunities, or a Hold if they’re noteworthy but too early to call.
🏆 Awards shows are officially past their peak 🏆
The Buy/Sell/Hold Analysis
If an organization started handing out trophies for the most astonishing collapse in cultural relevance, this year’s top prize would have to go to — awards shows. The ratings plunges for recent awards…
Like most people, the story of my career does not track against a simple, linear path. If anything, it looks utterly chaotic: I have jumped industries, jumped back, worked as a freelancer, managed people, been managed, and been laid off. I have worked out of cramped co-working offices, Park Avenue skyscrapers, and my bedroom. I have been asked numerous times if I was willing to work for free. (The answer’s still no on that one.)
Some of these experiences were better than others, but each of these experiences was revealing and formative. Through the best and worst and weirdest of…
Welcome to Buy/Sell/Hold, Marker’s weekly newsletter that’s 100% business intelligence and 0% investment advice. Each week, our writers Steve LeVine and Rob Walker make sense of the most important developments in business right now — and give them a Buy for clever moves or positive trends, a Sell for mistakes or missed opportunities, or a Hold if they’re noteworthy but too early to call.
⛏️ A Big Tech breakup may be just around the corner ⛏️
The Buy/Sell/Hold Analysis
If you haven’t noticed by now, two major Biden administration appointments affecting antitrust policy are attracting extraordinary chatter across industries, experts, and media. The reason is vexing confusion as to whether President Biden…
Welcome to Buy/Sell/Hold, Marker’s weekly newsletter that’s 100% business intelligence and 0% investment advice. Each week, our writers Steve LeVine and Rob Walker make sense of the most important developments in business right now — and give them a Buy for clever moves or positive trends, a Sell for mistakes or missed opportunities, or a Hold if they’re noteworthy but too early to call.
🔲 What the surprise Square-Tidal deal is really about 🔲
The Buy/Sell/Hold Analysis
In a deal that basically no one was anticipating, payment service Square announced yesterday that it will acquire a majority stake in Tidal, the music-streaming platform co-owned by Jay-Z, for $297 million in…
Welcome to Buy/Sell/Hold, Marker’s weekly newsletter that’s 100% business intelligence and 0% investment advice. Each week, our writers Steve LeVine and Rob Walker make sense of the most important developments in business right now — and give them a Buy for clever moves or positive trends, a Sell for mistakes or missed opportunities, or a Hold if they’re noteworthy but too early to call.
🍗 Even Taco Bell wants a piece of Popeyes’ chicken sales🍗
The Buy/Sell/Hold Analysis
In summer 2019, Popeyes fired the first shot in the chicken sandwich war, going after chicken king Chick-fil-A and vowing to take no prisoners. After just two weeks, the first battle reports were…
Welcome to Buy/Sell/Hold, Marker’s weekly newsletter that’s 100% business intelligence and 0% investment advice. Each week, our writers Steve LeVine and Rob Walker make sense of the most important developments in business right now — and give them a Buy for clever moves or positive trends, a Sell for mistakes or missed opportunities, or a Hold if they’re noteworthy but too early to call.
😮💨 Why Elon Musk is a living, breathing subreddit 😮💨
The Buy/Sell/Hold Analysis
“Underestimating Elon is not a good idea,” Bill Gates said on Kara Swisher’s podcast the other day. But really, at this point, who is underestimating Elon Musk? The man is everywhere, influencing everything…
Welcome to Buy/Sell/Hold, Marker’s weekly newsletter that’s 100% business intelligence and 0% investment advice. Each week, our writers Steve LeVine and Rob Walker make sense of the most important developments in business right now — and give them a Buy for clever moves or positive trends, a Sell for mistakes or missed opportunities, or a Hold if they’re noteworthy but too early to call.
🔌 The frugal fast-charging fantasy 🔌
The Buy/Sell/Hold Analysis
Over the last few months, three big U.S. electric vehicle charging companies have announced multibillion-dollar reverse mergers to take themselves public. In the latest, Volta Industries said Monday that it will go public…
Welcome to Buy/Sell/Hold, Marker’s weekly newsletter that’s 100% business intelligence and 0% investment advice. Each week, our writers Steve LeVine and Rob Walker make sense of the most important developments in business right now — and give them a Buy for clever moves or positive trends, a Sell for mistakes or missed opportunities, or a Hold if they’re noteworthy but too early to call.
🌤️ The upside of our national stonkmare 🌤️
The Buy/Sell/Hold Analysis
“We are all investors now,” Robinhood, the investing app, declares in its Super Bowl ad that will run this weekend. It’s a gauzy, feel-good spot, making the fintech company’s usual pitch as a…
Welcome to Buy/Sell/Hold, Marker’s weekly newsletter that’s 100% business intelligence and 0% investment advice. Each week, our writers Steve LeVine and Rob Walker make sense of the most important developments in business right now — and give them a Buy for clever moves or positive trends, a Sell for mistakes or missed opportunities, or a Hold if they’re noteworthy but too early to call.
📈 The End of Robinhood Is Nigh 📉
The Buy/Sell/Hold Analysis
For a year or two Robinhood has been, well, a Robin Hood — a no-fee savior to little guy investors everywhere, who got on the platform, yakked it up with fellow little guys…
We know businesses can check our emails and Slacks. Should they be able to check our happiness, too?
One of the biggest advantages of working from home is the illusion of privacy. Yes, your emails, Slacks, Google Docs, Zoom recordings, and — if you have a company phone — calls and texts are all more or less free game for a snoopy employer. And yes, every second you’re on a video call is a second you can’t freely eat a meatball sub in your bed. …
Jean-Luc Bouchard
Bylines in Vox, VICE, The Paris Review, BuzzFeed, and more. Contributor to The Onion. Check out my work here: jeanlucbouchard.com.
