Brief - The Hustle

Digits: Icelandic workers, an art critic’s epic smackdown, and Toyota’s tiny win

Written by Jacob Cohen | Jul 13, 2021 8:02:21 AM

“It’s a me…a Mario!” (Soure: GameRadar)

  1. Days after a rare version of The Legend of Zelda grabbed $870k at auction (a record), a pristine copy of Super Mario 64 said “It’s a-me!” and took home $1.56m.
  2. New York Magazine’s senior art critic Jerry Saltz turned down a $250k exclusive deal from Substack, more than twice his current salary.
  3. Between April and June, Toyota sold US consumers 577 more cars than GM for a grand total of 688,813. It was a first for Japanese manufacturers (though GM is probably hoping it’ll also be the last).
  4. Pre-made guac sales totaled ~$585m in the US in 2020. (National Avocado Day is July 31, for those unaware.)
  5. 86% of Iceland’s workforce is livin’ it up working shorter hours or will be able to, following the release of findings from a multiyear workforce study and subsequent union negotiations.
  6. Marvel’s Black Widow bagged $60m+ in sales on Disney+. Not too shabby for the streaming service, given it saw $80m in domestic box office sales and $78m internationally.