Hot guys run worse firms.
But they get more promotions!
There’s a lot of reading in here today so you might want to save for tonight. Or tomorrow morning. But I don’t know how you read your newsletters, or how you spend your weekend. Maybe you have time right NOW to become more culturally aware.
I am in Maine this weekend.
Do you want the bad news first? Flexport is laying off 20% of their employees, starting today, according to an internal memo. In case you’ve been living under a rock, the cuts are the latest and most drastic in a series of cost-cutting moves founder Ryan Petersen has made at the decade-old company since he returned as CEO in September. I’ve been following this for a few weeks since the shifts began at the top of the company. While Petersen said in September that Flexport has more $1 billion in net cash, Flexport is under immense pressure to cut costs. The company’s revenue collapsed 70% year-over-year in the first six months of 2023 as freight rates fell, and the company burned about $300 million in cash during that period.
A little bit more bad news. Olaplex sales have been down bad — earlier this year it was reporting a 61% decrease at salons, one of their key markets. There has also been skepticism on social media from users on how effective the products are. Today, their CEO JuE Wong (who oversaw the company’s IPO in 2021) stopped down, and will be replaced next year with former Supergoop CEO Amanda Baldwin (formerly L. Catterton and LVMH, baller). The company was valued at $13.6 billion at its IPO. However, the brand has struggled since then. In August, the company reduced its fiscal year outlook as net sales slumped by 48.2% compared to the same period last year. Olaplex’s stock price is down more than 90% from where it started trading two years ago. Godspeed to Baldwin.
Some recent song lyrics about Jack Daniels:
“Dark-haired girl, too much Jack Daniels. I'll be honest right now, I'm too drunk to handle” - Zach Bryan, Sober Side of Sorry
“Jack D, there's a seven on the label, one glass on the living room table.” - Morgan Wallen, 865
“You're as smooth as Tennessee whiskey, you're as sweet as strawberry wine.” - Chris Stapleton, Tennessee Whiskey (we’re going to assume this is about Jack Daniels for the purpose of this exercise)
Don’t these lyrics make you want to pour some whiskey on a big cube of ice? This is all to say that Jack Daniels is rebranding. Even as Jack Daniel’s retains its position as one of the highest-volume whiskey brands in the world — in 2022 it sold 14.6 million nine-liter cases, almost all of it Old No. 7 — the distillery has been quietly remaking its image to attract a more discerning crowd. Until the last decade or so, whiskey drinkers in the United States tended to be fiercely loyal to a single brand, and valued stolid continuity over innovation. But a new generation of drinkers (WHO FIT REALLY WELL INTO MY AMERICANA TREND PREDICTIONS), raised in a world with thousands of whiskeys to choose from, have made brand loyalty a thing of the past. There is just too much to explore — especially when they’re inundated with Instagram photos and YouTube videos of other fans talking up some sought-after new release.
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