Is green bean casserole a vegetable?

Editor’s note: We have a huge announcement coming tomorrow. Be sure to read our note at the bottom — and don’t forget to open tomorrow’s email.

Campbell wants to sell its fresh-foods unit, and some investors aren’t happy about it

The Wall Street Journal reports that Warhol’s muse is in talks to sell its fresh-foods biz, including subsidiaries Bolthouse Farms and Garden Fresh, to a group of investors led by Bolthouse’s former CEO, Jeff Dunn.

Dunn, who as CEO of Bolthouse helped a private-equity firm sell it to Campbell for $1.5B in 2012, also co-founded and remains an investor in Campbell’s venture-capital fund, Acre Venture Partners.

If you’re thinking, isn’t this literally the opposite of what every other food company has been doing since 2015?

You’re not alone — and not everyone in Campbell’s corner thinks it’s a great move.

The honeymoon is over

The fresh-foods unit, which includes fresh carrots, refrigerated juices and other products, hasn’t exactly performed the way Campbell’s investors were hoping.

Bolthouse’s sales and operating profit have dipped over the years, and the business has reportedly been plagued with supply chain issues.

Campbell hopes to sell for between $500m and $700m, but opposing investors think selling off one of its units would be like putting a Band-Aid on an Ebola patient.

Disorder in the can

Campbell faces pressure from activist investment firms, including Third Point LLC, to bypass the asset yard sale and push for a sale of the entire company.

Now the soupsmith and the hedge fund have entered into a proxy battle with Third Point’s fearless leader, Daniel Loeb, who is calling for an upheaval of the company’s entire 12-person board.

Third Point has a lot to say

According to Loeb, Campbell “completely botched” its move into fresh foods and believes Campbell could get between $52 and $58 per share in a sale.

Loeb has also alleged that Campbell’s former CEO, Denise Morrison (who resigned in May), collected “lavish perks,” with compensation totaling more than $60m during her 7-year tenure that ended in June.

Now, Campbell’s fate rests on the decision of Campbell heirs -- who own at least 45% of the company’s stock.

Sounds like this company needs a souperhero.

Yale, the university-turned-hedge-fund, bet some of its $29B endowment on crypto

Yale University, which has the 2nd largest endowment of any US school, invested in a fund called Paradigm launched by one of the co-founders of crypto exchange Coinbase and a partner at Sequoia.

Assisted by huge tax advantages, US university endowments have become massive. And Yale’s David Swensen — famous for making risky bets — has decided to go crypto.

Hedge funds with universities attached

Yale’s $29B endowment is 2nd only to Harvard -- which has around $39B (if Harvard were a hedge fund, it would be the 5th largest in the country). But the Ivies aren’t alone: 96 American colleges and universities have $1B+ endowments (totaling $431B).

While hedge funds returned 8.5% in 2017 (the best outcome in 4 years), endowments returned 12.2% thanks to huge tax breaks for universities (which are nonprofits).

Harvard has historically managed its massive endowment conservatively. But thanks to Swensen, Yale is all about diversifying.

The ‘Warren Buffett of endowments’ is pretty alt

Swensen, AKA “The Sage of New Haven,” has invested Yale’s money across such a wide variety of assets that investors now call alternative endowment investing “the Yale model.”

Swensen decided to start investing in “alternative” assets like real estate, natural resources, VC funds, and hedge funds -- basically turning Yale’s endowment into a ‘fund-of-funds’ with rock-bottom tax obligations.

Now, Swensen will be placing Big Ed’s first real bet on crypto. Paradigm has raised $400m, but crypto’s rocky year means the investment still comes with a side of risk… just the way Swensen likes it.

After quiet growth, Amazon’s private label business is on track to hit $25B by 2022

By offering its own private label goods, Amazon is slowly reducing its reliance on 3rd-party sellers and increasing its profit margins — so much so that its private label business is on track to bring in $7.5B in revenue this year.

A new take on a retailer classic: The ‘store brand’

In supermarkets, store brands are easy to identify by their bargain-style packaging and clear labeling: At Costco it’s “Kirkland Signature,” at Walmart it’s “Great Value,” and at Whole Foods it’s “365.”

But online, it’s more difficult to tell which items come from 3rd parties and which ones come from Amazon, giving Amazon a huge edge.

Amazon sells 70+ in-house brands with names like “Lark & Ro” and “Arabella” that are nearly indistinguishable from 3rd-party products, often advertising private label products below competitors’ products.

They’re #AmazonBasic, but they’re also big business

Amazon’s 3rd-party sales have razor-thin profit margins, but some private labels, like AmazonBasics, already bring in about $400m a year.

The company has also launched an “Amazon Accelerator Program” to develop even more private label brands. Analysts forecast Amazon’s private label division to reach $25B by 2022.

Cue vocal fry: Kylie Jenner may have her smokey eye on the skincare industry

Quartz reports that reality star and beauty mogul Kylie Jenner may move into the skincare industry, after filing 3 trademarks with the US Patent Office back in July.

“Kylie Skin” and “Kylie Skin by Kylie Jenner” are patents for various skin products (lotions, cleaners, scrubs, oils, etc.) with the second “Kylie Skin” trademark reportedly aimed at brick-and-mortar retail stores.

Someone is doing something right

While we take issue with the “self-made” part of Kylie Jenner’s near-billionaire status, she does own 100% of Kylie Cosmetics, a company that after only 2 short years has sold more than $630m worth of makeup.

According to Forbes, Jenner has an estimated net worth of $900m (Kylie Cosmetics makes up $800m of that), and she’s barely of the legal American drinking age.

For perspective, her sister Kim (who she arguably owes much of her fortune to) is worth $350m.

‘Skincare’ is the new makeup

As color-based makeup faces stagnation (Jenner’s lip kits dipped 35% last year) the move to skincare would be yet another astute decision within the Jenner camp.

According to a report by Euromonitor, skincare experienced the strongest growth globally against all other cosmetics categories in Q3 amidst a booming wellness industry.

It’s not clear what will become of the patents, but Kylie has millennials wrapped around her “self-made” finger, so if Kylie Jenner skincare ever comes to fruition, you better believe it’s gonna make a splash.

Customers asked for it, Haven Life delivered

Since the first policy sold, Haven Life Insurance Agency has been razor-focused on helping its customers live healthier, fuller, and more protected lives.

Recently, they asked policyholders “How could your life insurance policy benefit you while you’re… alive?”

The answers:

• 83% wanted an online will
• 65% wanted a secure digital file vault
• 55% wanted family health service discounts

So, Haven Life listened…

And gave policyholders everything they wanted

An agency that listens and delivers? That’s no frozen pizza. That’s Haven Life’s new perk: Plus.

Haven Life Plus is a rider (think: extra feature) to the Haven Term policy that gives policyholders access to tools and services to make life easier, like a free online will service -- policyholders can now create a legal will online for free.

Or LifeSite, a secure online safe deposit box that lets you manage your most sensitive documents from anywhere, and share them with friends, family or even your financial advisor.

All that (and more) for just being a policyholder. Not one yet? Apply below and let the peace of mind commence.

FINE-ISH PRINT: Haven Term is a Term Life Insurance Policy (ICC18DTC) issued by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), Springfield, MA 01111 and offered exclusively through Haven Life Insurance Agency, LLC. Not all riders are available in all states. Our Agency license number in California is 0K71922 and in Arkansas, 100139527.

Haven Life Plus (Plus) is the marketing name for the Plus rider which is included as part of the Haven Term policy. The rider is not available in every state and is subject to change at any time. Neither Haven Life nor MassMutual are responsible for the provision of the benefits and services made accessible under the Plus Rider, which are provided by third party vendors (partners).

T minus 24 hours...

Hey folks, Sam here, CEO of The Hustle.

We launched this daily email in late April of 2016. Inside those 2 years and 5 months, we’ve accomplished some ridiculously exciting things.

Tomorrow, we’re going to announce a major milestone… a goal we’ve been laser focused on accomplishing since day 1.

Additionally, each day this week, John (my co-founder) and I will tell you some of the things we’ve learned along the way of building our mini media empire.

For any of you who are trying to build your own empire (or hope to one day try to), this week’s content is for you.

See you tomorrow.

Long live The Hustle,

Sam