Friday morning articles
Twitter is dying: It’s five months since Elon Musk overpaid for a relatively small microblogging platform called Twitter. The platform had punched above its weight in pure user numbers thanks to an unrivaled ability to both distribute real-time information and make expertise available. Combine these elements with your own critical faculty — to weed out the usual spam and bs — and it could feel like the only place online that really mattered. (TechCrunch)
Exodus From America’s Big Cities Slowed Last Year as Pandemic Receded: New census figures show suburbs and smaller metro areas claimed most U.S. growth. (Wall Street Journal)
Is Coffee Bringing People Back to the Office? Data show workers are staying in the office for coffee and here’s why it may be part of return to office strategies. (Bloomberg)
Remote Banking Crisis: Banks tried to kill remote work. Now, remote work is trying to kill banks. In 2021, banks tried to kill remote work. Goldman Sachs’s David Solomon called it “an aberration that we are going to correct as quickly as possible.” JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon declared he’s canceling all his Zoom meetings and expected the office to “look just like it did before.” In 2023, remote work is threatening to kill banks. Days after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, some media reports suggested remote work was to blame. (Dror Poleg)
Apple Wants to Solve One of Music’s Biggest Problems: Forget the metaverse. The future is metadata. It’s how the world’s most valuable company built a better way of listening to Mozart and Beethoven. (Wall Street Journal)
First Republic Bank is not currently looking for a buyer. Embattled First Republic Bank is no longer searching for a buyer as investment advisors and company executives seek to repair the company’s balance sheet before any sale might take place, FOX Business has learned. (Fox Business)
10 of the strangest merch items from companies that crashed: WeWork mugs for $500, FTX fortune cookies and Theranos gift cards offer souvenirs from recent business disasters. (The Guardian)
What Broke Sweden? Real Estate Bust Exposes Big Divide At the heart of the country’s economic and social crisis is a broken housing market, which has amplified social divisions. (Bloomberg)
The Kremlin Has Entered the Chat: Russian antiwar activists placed their faith in Telegram, a supposedly secure messaging app. How does Putin’s regime seem to know their every move? (Wired)
DeSantis Fights for Everglades As He Neglects Climate Crisis: Picking environmental fights has paid off for Florida’s governor, who built a 2024 base with a unique mix of crusading for wetlands conservation and attacking ESG. (Bloomberg)
Elusive ‘Einstein’ Solves a Longstanding Math Problem: And it all began with a hobbyist “messing about and experimenting with shapes.” (New York Times)
Volcker Slayed Inflation. Bernanke Saved the Banks. Can Powell Do Both? In 140 years, American policymakers have never faced a banking crisis quite like this. (Bloomberg)
A Tale of Two Housing Markets: Prices Fall in the West: While the East Booms In an unusual pattern, the 12 major housing markets west of Texas, plus Austin, saw home prices fall in January, while the opposite happened in the rest of the country. (Wall Street Journal)
How Wall Street Became a Fancy Residential Neighborhood: The effort to repopulate downtown Manhattan has been a big success, but not for everyone. (Bloomberg)
Why Investment Complexity Is Not Your Friend: When it comes to investing, keep it simple instead. (Morningstar)
This Analyst Bootcamp Wants to Transform Training at Hedge Funds: Inspired by the Point72 Academy, Fundamental Edge aims to better prepare junior employees and career-changers for the demanding industry. (Institutional Investor)
Traders Go Long Treasuries After Hedge Funds Unwind Short Bets: Citigroup model shows some positioning has flipped long Speculators covered SOFR, two-year shorts from record level. (Bloomberg)
How Microsoft became tech’s top dog again: After a lost decade in which it flailed and lost its prominence in the world of tech, Microsoft is again on the rise — thanks to ChatGPT and the company’s focus on AI. (Computerworld)
Why are young people driving less? Evidence points to economics, not preferences: Research indicates that it is changes in the circumstances of young adults that explains most of these trends. Neither better urban policy nor generational change is likely responsible for these changes—at least not yet. (Brookings)
China Takes Its Climate Fight to the Rooftops: One in five solar panels installed worldwide last year were mounted on a Chinese roof, putting households at the forefront of efforts to decarbonize a top emitter. (Bloomberg)
Steve Cohen’s Amazin’, Maddening, Money-Losing Bid to Own New York: Once a symbol of Wall Street excess, Cohen has invested lavishly in the Mets, becoming the most beloved billionaire in Queens. Is that enough to reverse team history? (New York Times)