📺 Tinky Winky is loaded

I can’t even get my one landlord to fix my sink, and now it turns out they may actually be a 100-headed landlord Hydra?

Per Wired, the hot new thing is “fractional investment,” or allowing multiple investors to buy shares of properties. Investors then do nothing except collect their share of the rental income.

It’s not entirely new

There have long been Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), akin to mutual funds — Fundrise, founded in 2010, has 387k+ investors across a $7B real-estate portfolio.

But fractional investment startups are on the rise as technology has made it easier to scout properties and streamline landlord responsibilities.

Arrived Homes, which accepts investments as low as $100 in vacation rentals and rental homes, has funded 240+ properties worth $89m+.

• “The Brookwood,” which sounds like a haunted school for wayward teens, is actually a three-bed Atlanta-area home that rents for ~$1.9k/mo. and has ~1.1k investors.
• “The Oasis” is a colorful Nashville vacation rental that 864 investors funded at ~$733.6k.

Similar companies include Here, which specializes in vacation rentals, and Landa, which offers homes and apartment buildings.

On the one hand…

… these models allow people to invest in property without accumulating debt, and earn passive income as their portfolios appreciate. In 2022, Arrived paid out $1.2m in dividends.

Yet there’s something a little dystopian about a rental experience that involves hundreds of unconnected people, who themselves may be unable to afford a home. Arrived told Wired that ~40% of its investors are renters.

Plus, every home that becomes a fractional investment property is a home someone can’t buy to live in amid an unaffordable housing crisis. In Q1 of 2022, investors bought 28% of single-family homes, up 9% YoY.

Meanwhile: Fractional investment startup Pacaso’s customers buy larger shares of vacation homes, which they can later use. Many of Pacaso’s properties are located in tony Newport Beach, California, where a ban is being considered as residents complain of party houses.

This week in moments that permanently alter the chemistry of our brains and understanding of the universe: learning that the original “Teletubbies” Sun Baby now works on the “administrative side” of a security company.

While she reportedly doesn’t remember much from her late ’90s career — which involved working alongside dancing rainbow aliens with TVs in their abdomens and an anthropomorphic vacuum cleaner — we think she’d be proud of where the show has ended up.

That place: The jewel of a Canadian entertainment behemoth

“Teletubbies,” originally a BBC series that built up the perfect parental arsenal — a war chest of 365 TV episodes — was purchased in 2013 by Canadian company WildBrain (then DHX Media) for CA$28.4m.

You may know WildBrain for other shows like “Degrassi,” “Caillou,” “Yo Gabba Gabba!,” or “Inspector Gadget.”

Hopefully, you do not know them for the “Teletubbies” high heels they debuted this month in celebration of the franchise’s 25th anniversary.

‘Teletubbies’ are the cherry on top of a very profitable sundae

WildBrain’s penchant for nostalgia-packed entertainment brands has paid off: The last fiscal year brought in CA$507.2m in revenue, up 12% YoY.

Those revenues are being put to use — earlier this week, WildBrain announced a CA$15.5m acquisition of House of Cool, an animation studio with pre-production credits including Despicable Me and Ice Age.

One boon for WildBrain’s business has been streaming deals, including a “Caillou” reboot with Peacock — and yes, a recent “Teletubbies” reboot on Netflix.

Controversially, the episodes feature a slate of five new Sun Babies.

While you await MrBeast’s next video — which, for all we know, could involve building a school on the moon — feel free to check out some of the latest on our channel:

• Turns out, all you need to make a $500m business is a yellow circle and some black lines. (Link)
• Wondering how much cruise lines make off of you getting seasick and sunburned for a week? Wonder no further! (Link)
• Sorry, ‘90s kids — your favorite online auction site may not be what it used to be. (Link)
• A peek inside LA’s new Super Nintendo World — kinda like Disneyland, but with mushrooms. (Link)
• A look into the business of Air Max and its architectural origins. (Link)

Grab some popcorn (a cob works, too), pop a squat, and enjoy.