Less Moonves, please

Editor’s Note: Yesterday, a killer robot took over our Sunday email and sent out the wrong subject line. Okay, not really: it was us. We apologize for the error. If you missed it, you can read yesterday’s story here.

CBS stock falls after Les Moonves harassment allegations

CBS stock dropped 6.1% on Friday in anticipation of Ronan Farrow’s latest New Yorker expose, alleging longtime CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves sexually harassed at least 6 women over the past few decades.

The hits continued after hours, dropping another 1.3% over the weekend after Farrow’s article finally hit newsstands.

Ronan Farrow: Grim Reaper for the Hollywood creeper

While no single person owns sole credit, Farrow’s Pulitzer-winning expose on Hollywood super creep, Harvey Weinstein, kick-started the #metoo movement back in 2017.

Since then, the floodgates have opened wide. Farrow’s latest article, which reports the allegations of 6 women who claim they were sexually harassed by Moonves between the ’80s and late 2000s, shows that there is much more to come.

People are already talking exits

According to the The Wall Street Journal, some CBS Corp. directors deliberated over the weekend whether Moonves should step aside from the company pending its investigation. He will likely get the boot soon, but if history tells us anything, the damage may already be done.

Even after Harvey Weinstein’s exit, the Weinstein Company went on to file for bankruptcy, desperate to find anyone even remotely interested in buying the company.

And let’s not forget about Spacey… Netflix still lost a reported $39m after Kevin Spacey’s accuser came forward, even though the entertainment giant fired him almost immediately.

The timing couldn’t be worse for CBS

The company is currently engaged in an arduous legal battle where majority shareholder Shari Redstone is attempting to forcibly recombine CBS with Viacom against the wishes of Moonves and the board.

Rumors surrounding Moonves’ misconduct started circulating last winter after the Weinstein piece dropped. Redstone reportedly brought these allegations to the board in December, but no action was taken.

Redstone issued a statement Friday supporting the investigation into the allegations, but insisted that any claims that she played a role in the report were a “malicious insinuation.”

The board, scheduled to meet today, is expected to select a special committee to oversee an outside party to investigate.

You weren’t imagining it: Research shows rideshares make traffic worse, not better

A study by urban transportation researcher Bruce Schaller found that Uber, Lyft, and other ridesharing platforms make traffic worse in urban areas, contrary to long-standing claims they take cars off the road.

The research won’t kill rideshares, but it fans the flames of other alternative urban mobility options (like, say, electric scooters???).

One of the biggest ‘benefits’ of ridesharing turns out to be BS

Proponents have long claimed rideshares will reduce car traffic by encouraging passengers to leave personal rides at home. But this study found that UberPools and Lyft Lines add 2.6 extra miles driven for every 1 mile of personal driving reduced.

Based on 5.7B miles ridden across 9 cities, 60% of rideshare users would have walked, biked, used public transit, or skipped the trip if they hadn’t gotten an Uber or Lyft.

For cities that are already struggling with traffic problems, this is bad news.

The good news: Everyone wants to reinvent urban ‘mobility’

From scooters to self-driving cars, entrepreneurs are developing all sorts of new modes of transportation. But not all of these options are equal.

Like rideshares, self-driving cars promise to reduce the number of personal cars on the road -- but research from Schaller and others suggests they will still increase traffic and urban congestion.

But smaller options, like bike-shares or scooter-shares, don’t clog up highways -- making them an attractive business alternative to clunky car-based options.

Hmmm, maybe Uber and Lyft were onto something when they started buying bike and scooter companies left and right...

The farming industry is going hog wild trying to get rid of 2.5B pounds of meat

Recent trade disputes have decreased global demand for American agricultural products, causing a surplus of more than 2.5B pounds of meat.

While the price of your frozen meatballs may fall, the unpredictable market is a disaster for farmers and agricultural producers -- and while a recently approved $12B bailout will buy (some) farmers time, it won’t stabilize volatile markets.

For ranchers, it’s an inconvenient time for a trade war

Due to increasing consumer demand, ranchers are projected to produce a record 102.7B pounds of meat this year. But China and Mexico recently passed meaty tariffs (62% and 20%, respectively) on US pork.

Now, cold-storage warehouse owners are scrambling to expand their operations to keep meat cold so farmers can sell it.

But in the meantime, bacon waits for no man -- prices for pork have already dropped 14% as supply continues to exceed demand.

We hope you’re hungry, America

’Merica’s meat market isn’t the only one in trouble -- the US stockpile of cheese also recently hit 1.39B pounds, causing problems in the dairy industry.

To prevent farmers from completely choking on their cheese, the Trump administration passed a $12B emergency relief fund to insulate farmers from protectionist policies.

But farmers have already lost an estimated $13B from the recent tariffs. If the US remains as tariff-happy as it has been in recent months, those losses will continue to increase -- and 3.89B pounds of rotting cheese and meat is gonna stink...

OG internet browser maker, Opera, goes public… again

Web browser Opera Ltd., a company that goes back to the mid-1990s when Windows 95 reigned supreme and Steve Jobs was brain-deep in a company that wasn’t Apple, is back in the public eye.

The Norway-based browser maker, who listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange back in 2004, debuted on the Nasdaq Global Select Market Friday after raising as much as $115m in stock.

3rd is the one in the wedding dress...

Created by engineers Jon von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsoy, the first major version of the browser for Microsoft’s Windows was Opera 2.1, released in 1997.

According to Bloomberg, Opera developed a cult following that helped the company become the world’s 3rd most popular web browser at one point. But Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Google Chrome (in its infancy at the time), proved to be too much for the lesser-known company, putting their trajectory in a weird spot.

By 2016, the company moved toward a $1B buyout by a consortium of Chinese investors, but the deal was quickly shot down by the government, forcing them to agree to sell just its web-browser business for $575m.

Now they’ve gotta find a way to stay relevant

Now, Opera obviously has miniscule market share compared to its competition. But the company has a handful of products that reach around 182m users every month, and since the market is huge, that has been enough to generate revenue.

As Techcrunch reports, the company reported $128.9m in operating revenue in 2017, with a $6.1m net profit.

Now, the company is looking to attract as many users as possible in order to retain relevance against the big boys.

“The Sunshine City” lures tech and talent with higher quality of life (and more closet space)

Average temperature: 73.7 degrees. Average sunny days: 361. No, it’s not heaven. It’s St. Petersburg, Florida.

Nestled on the Gulf Coast, St. Petersburg (or ‘St. Pete’ as the cool kids say) has exploded into the mainstream gobbling up awards for affordability, quality of life, and even its public parks -- all 137 of them.

Today, St. Pete is a melting pot of technological innovation, arts, culture, talent, and entrepreneurs looking to put St. Pete on the map.

Forget everything you know about Florida

For starters, St. Pete is ranked the No. 1 place for female entrepreneurs to start a business. It’s home to a burgeoning class of designers, engineers, growth hackers -- and 7 miles of idyllic downtown waterfront

It’s a city with small-town vibes and big-city amenities, and companies are taking notice. St. Petersburg is ground-zero for startups focused on data analytics, financial services, creative arts and design, and marine and life sciences.

The way we see it: it’s the energy and inclusivity of San Fran, with the small town charm of Austin. And to that, we say, “Sam, it’s time to move the office.”

Let’s talk about dog food

Almost everything today is measurable, encouraging people to strive to optimize everything.

But with a million hacks out there to improve the efficiency of everything from workflows to eating habits, I sometimes wonder about what happens when over-optimization leads us to take efficiency too far...

So, as a thought experiment, I have consumed nothing but dog food and water for the last week.

My energy levels have been more consistent, I have lost no time prepping meals, and I have spent less than $8 for a week’s worth of nutritious food.

Efficient, yes, BUT... is it worth it?

That’s a question I hope to answer soon, when I get off the kibble carousel. But first, I have a question for you:

What’s the most radical thing you’ve done in the name of efficiency?

If you -- or someone you know -- have ever pushed the boundaries of efficiency too far, please email us what you did and whether or not you feel it was worth it.

I hope your bad ideas taste better than mine...

- Conor, Director of Dumb Decisions