👀 The Presidential Debate had 67M viewers

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TOP STORY
👀 The Presidential Debate had 67M viewers

Earlier this week, many of us eagerly watched the presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

• Some thought she was great, others thought he was great, and most believe that we’re screwed either way.

• The debate itself, though, was a massive hit, drawing in over 67.14 million viewers.

For context, that's ~31% more than the debate between Trump and President Biden, which had 51.14 million viewers in June. 

Here’s the network breakdown:

• ABC News had the largest single network audience with 19.05 million viewers.

• NBC followed with 10.08 million, and Fox News had 9.06 million viewers.

• The rest:

  • MSNBC: 6.38 million

  • CBS: 6.19 million

  • Fox broadcast network: 4.85 million

  • CNN: 4.39 million

  • Telemundo: 1.16 million

  • Univision: 975,000

  • Fox Business: 295,000

And that doesn’t even include the additional 7.4 million people who streamed the debate via Hulu, Disney+, and other ABC-owned apps.

Now, pretend I’m saying this in a UFC voice. 

Aaaand still… the undisputed presidential debate champion of the world…

The first debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016, with 84 MILLION VIEWERS!

FINANCIALS
🤑 Goldman Sachs earns $92M “advisement fee”

Goldman Sachs is set to earn a monstrous $92M fee from its work advising Kellanova, the maker of Pringles and Pop-Tarts, on its $36 billion merger with Mars.

The deal, which closed in August, is the largest U.S. merger this year.

• But damn, a $92 million check just for saying 'deal or no deal' seems like a lot.

• What an awesome business model, though!

• Nah, but actually, how exactly does this kind of "fee" work?

Alright, this will be fun for all the aspiring finance bros and gals.

Basically, when banks like Goldman Sachs advise on big deals, they agree on a fee, but most of that money is only paid if the deal goes through successfully.

Unlike lawyers, who get paid regardless, contracts between companies and investment banks are set up to ensure that the bank works hard to close the deal.

If the deal falls apart, which happens a lot, they don’t get the full amount.

Some recent Goldman fees:

• Earned a ~$46 million fee for managing the $65 billion sale of Pioneer last year.

• Earned a $80 million from Hess Corp's $60 billion sale to Chevron.

Finally, I understand why everyone wants to be an investment banker; the analysts must get a lot of that money, right?

RETAIL
🏪 Amazon’s new affordable private-label brand

This week, we learned that Amazon is launching a brand-new line of budget-friendly food items.

The label, which is boringly called Amazon Saver, offers most of its items at $5 or less, from cookies and crackers to perishable items like sliced turkey and ham.

Sounds like a steal to me, especially in this economy.

This isn’t the first time Amazon has created a private label; they already have brands like Amazon Fresh, 365, Happy Belly, and Solimo.

But this line is evidently much cheaper because Amazon’s ultimate goal is to attract budget shoppers who are switching from name brands to save money.

Duh.

It won’t be easy, though. 

• Walmart, Aldi, and Target all have their own versions of these long-standing cheap private labels, which people have already come to know and love.

• Who here doesn’t love some of Target’s Good & Gather freeze-dried strawberries?

• Whackos, that’s who.

But, as we know with Amazon, money is no object, so they’ll be willing to buy their way to the top.

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