Good morning, and welcome back. On today’s docket:

• 🛍️ The most wonderful shopping time of the year is in full swing
• 🤔 What’s next for OpenAI with Altman back in charge
• 👀 A brief look at Mark Zuckerberg’s morning routine

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.84-minute read.

P.S. First time reading? Subscribe here for free.

P.P.S. We had some team members call in sick, so we’ll be publishing a Dose of Discussion on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of this week instead of our customary M/W/F.

“All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

Welcome to Cyber Monday – the biggest online shopping day of the year, with ~$12 billion expected to change hands over the 24-hour period. And it comes on the heels of two other online shopping record days.

• Thanksgiving: US shoppers spent $5.6 billion online, a record for the day and a 5.5% increase year over year, according to Adobe Analytics.
• Black Friday: US shoppers spent a record $9.8 billion, per Adobe, up 7.5% from last year.

The biggest winner so far: Mobile shopping, which is expected to overtake desktop buying this holiday season for the first time, according to Adobe Analytics. Smartphones accounted for $5.3 billion of all online sales on Black Friday, up 10.4% year over year. Plus, a record 79% of all shopping traffic on the day – both browsing and buying – was carried out on mobile handsets.

The lay of the land: Data shows the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday is when many shoppers manifest Santa and get their holiday gift shopping done. Four in 10 consumers plan to fill up their sleighs and complete all of their seasonal shopping from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, according to a survey by Deloitte. And data from the National Retail Federation indicates that 182 million people are expected to shop between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday this year, marking the highest turnout of holiday shoppers since 2017.

However – these holiday sales projections and record spending over the past few days directly contrast weak guidance from retailers. Over the past few weeks, many retailers, including Walmart, Nordstrom, and Target have said shoppers have made fewer store trips, postponed big purchases, or held out for better deals. Lowe’s, Best Buy, and Kohl’s have all cut sales forecasts. And even some retailers that raised their outlooks, such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, referred to dynamics outside of their control that could dampen spending.

• Bank of America found that out of 43 retailers that issued earnings forecasts, 37 (or 86%) came in lighter than expected.

👀 Looking ahead… The National Retail Federation, an industry trade group, estimates that overall holiday sales in November and December of this year will reach between $957 billion and $967 billion. That’s a 3%–4% increase from last year, which is in line with pre-pandemic levels but not as high as the past two years. Holiday sales rose 5.3% in 2022 and 12.7% in 2021.

P.S. In the shopping mood today? Here are 175 Cyber Monday deals.

⌛ TIme’s almost up… to invest in RYSE, the tech that turns regular shades into SmartShades for a fraction of the price in just minutes.

They’ve already hit $7M in revenue with 40,000+ units sold and are launching in 100+ BestBuys this month. Early shareholders have seen the value of their shares increase 15X, with tons of upside remaining as they begin scaling into retail and B2B channels. They’re poised to follow suit of Nest and Ring, the Smart Home companies acquired for $3.2B and $1.2B respectively.

📈 With over 1000 investors including multiple high-profile ones, they also received two offers on Dragon’s Den, the Canadian version of Shark Tank. Venture Capitalists know how difficult it is to spot a strong early investment opportunity, and the sharks think they’ve spotted one in RYSE.

BestBuy has made a huge bet on RYSE, and the good news is that you can too - but time is running out to invest in their company at $1.25/share.

LAST CHANCE – learn how to invest in RYSE here.

💥 Israel-Hamas war update: Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary cease-fire for at least four days starting this past Friday, in a deal that calls for the release of ~50 Israeli women and children who’ve been held hostage since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. In exchange for the hostages’ safe return, Israel agreed to release ~150 Palestinian women and children held in its prisons, and to allow 300 trucks of aid per day to enter the Gaza Strip via Egypt. Israel also agreed to extend the ongoing ceasefire by an extra day for every 10 additional hostages released by Hamas.

🇷🇺​​🇺🇦 ​​​​Russia launched its largest drone strike against Ukraine since the Kremlin’s initial invasion. Ukraine downed 74 out of 75 drones during the six-hour attack on Saturday, which injured five Ukrainians and left ~200 buildings without power. Ukraine’s military said Russia launched a record number of Iranian-made Shahed drones primarily targeting Kyiv, which officials fear is the start of a winter campaign aimed at destroying Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. On Sunday, the Kremlin said it foiled 20+ Ukrainian drone attacks over Russian territory in the past day.

​​🇯🇵🇬🇧 Nissan is investing $1.4 billion to make EV versions of its best-selling cars. The Japanese automaker will produce electric successors to its Qashqai (known as the Rogue Sport in the US) and Juke vehicles, which are two of its top-selling crossovers worldwide. Nissan’s plan also includes opening a third battery plant in the UK, which is aimed at helping the auto giant fulfill its pledge to only sell fully-electric cars in Europe by 2030.

OpenAI reinstated Sam Altman as its CEO late Tuesday, concluding both his Steve Jobs moment and a tumultuous few days for the ChatGPT-maker.

The backstory: Five days prior, OpenAI’s board had abruptly fired Altman without communicating its decision to anyone beforehand – not even Microsoft, which invested $13 billion into the startup. The board was vague in public about its reasons, citing a breakdown in communications and its need to defend OpenAI's mission to develop AI that benefits humanity.

• While it's unclear whether/how much this played a role in Altman’s removal, several OpenAI researchers reportedly wrote a letter to the board ahead of Altman’s firing that alerted them to an internal project called Q*, a powerful AI discovery the researchers said could threaten humanity.

🤔 What’s next?... OpenAI – which prior to rehiring Altman was potentially looking at ~95% of its workforce leaving – will retain all of its employees. But while the rank-and-file operation of the company remains the same, its governance is getting what’s done to a messy Etch-a-Sketch – a shakeup.

Nearly all of the company’s original board members have been replaced, with only Adam D'Angelo, the CEO of Quora, remaining. The other two board slots have been taken by Bret Taylor, the former co-CEO of Salesforce, and Larry Summers, an American economist who served as Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 – and multiple reports indicate the board will be expanded (potentially to nine members), with the additional seats including both Microsoft and Altman (pending the results of an internal investigation into his firing).

🐶 Known for their no-nonsense ingredients and vet-backed formulas, Floof is bringing tail-wagging cheer this holiday season with big savings on their Holiday Care Set. Perfect for pampering your pup, this set is packed with everything you need to keep your fur baby looking and feeling great.

Each kit contains:

• Nourishing Shampoo + Conditioner duo
• Renewing Wipes for on-the-go cleanups (x3 packs)
• Soothing Cream for dry, cracked paws (x2 tubes)
• Double-Sided Daily Brush
• Exclusive Crossbody Tote Bag

🎁 Struggling to find the perfect gift for the dog person in your life? With Floof’s Holiday Care Set, you can give them a gift you know they’ll love (their furry friend will, too!).

This sale ends soon! Save 30% on Floof’s Holiday Care Set until the end of the month.

💬 Quoted… “I know I’m going to get expelled when this expulsion resolution goes to the floor. I’ve done the math over and over, and it doesn’t look really good.”

• In a conversation on X Spaces this past Friday, the ever-trustworthy Rep. George Santos (R-NY) said he expects to be expelled from Congress within the next several days. These comments come after a House Ethics Committee report found substantial evidence he broke multiple laws, such as using campaign funds to pay for OnlyFans subscriptions and personal purchases at luxury retailers.

🚗 Stat of the Day: The biggest pot of new customers for Tesla comes from Toyota, according to Strategic Vision, a market research firm that surveys new buyers. Nationwide, 8% of Tesla’s buyers came from Toyota vehicles.

🤔 Did You Know?... The first thing Mark Zuckerberg does each morning when he wakes up is check social media. Billionaire tech CEOs with Hawaiian mansions and a hydrofoil habit – they’re just like us!

📰 Worth a Read: A City on Mars: Reality kills space settlement dreams → (ArsTechnica)

• 👆 The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City drew a record-high 28.5 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, making it the highest-rated entertainment program on linear TV this year.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with moomoo

• 💰 US markets closed mixed across the board on Friday (S&P: +0.1%; Dow: +0.3%; Nasdaq: -0.1%).
• 🪙 Binance founder Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty to violating US money laundering laws in a deal with the DOJ forcing Zhao to step down as CEO; Binance also agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines and restitution to the US government.
• ⚖️📱 Meta is not only aware that children under the age of 13 use its platforms, but has “coveted and pursued” this demographic for years on Instagram, per a newly-unsealed complaint from a lawsuit filed by 33 state attorneys general against Meta. (Background)

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• Scoreboard: 🏈 CFB: No. 3 Michigan beat No. 2 Ohio State, while unranked Kentucky upset No. 9 Louisville; see a full Week 13 recap (link) | 🏈 NFL: See a full Week 12 recap.
• 🎤🍿 Beyoncé’s new concert film held its premiere on Saturday; the film opens worldwide this upcoming Friday.
• 📚 Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song was named the winner of the annual Booker Prize for fiction last night; the novel depicts a dystopian vision of Ireland in the grips of totalitarianism.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with Meowtel

• 🧊 The world’s largest iceberg, which is ~3x larger than New York City and weighs ~1 trillion metric tons, has started moving for the first time in more than three decades. | 🪐🧂 Mercury contains salt glaciers deep underground that could provide the right conditions for life to form, per a new peer-reviewed study partially funded by NASA.
• 🦇 A certain species of bat is the first known mammal to have sex without penetration, with the male’s penis measuring ~7x larger and wider than the female genital tract, per a new study published in Current Biology.
• ✈️ Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the Concorde supersonic jet’s final flight.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• ️👮 Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, was stabbed and seriously injured in prison on Friday; officials say Chauvin is in stable condition and expected to survive.
• 🔵 Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who is running against President Biden for the 2024 Democratic nomination, said he won’t run for reelection to Congress.
• 🌨️ Nearly 14 million Americans were under winter weather alerts yesterday. | 🌊 Hawaii experienced waves as high as 50 feet over the weekend due to the ongoing El Niño weather event.

CLICKBAIT

• 🏡 Gen Z and millennials are ‘house hacking’ to become homeowners – here’s how the strategy can help.

Disclosure: *Terms & conditions apply. See bit.ly/46qkwiU.

Monday: Cyber Monday

Tuesday: Giving Tuesday

Wednesday: The Artful Dodger, an eight-episode sequel to Oliver Twist, hits Disney+ and Hulu

Thursday: The UN Climate Change Conference (aka COP28) kicks off in Dubai; Tesla will begin deliveries of its Cybertruck.

Friday: World AIDS Day

 Geoffrey Holt lived in a trailer park in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, up until his passing in early June. According to his best friend, Geoffrey was a humble guy – his trailer was simple as can be, with handmade plywood chairs lining his table. 

So when Geoffrey donated $3.4 million to the city of Hinsdale after his death, everyone around town was shocked. 

💸❤️ Be kind... Geoffrey made his millions from a trust fund he opened in 2001. The town has multiple options as to where to spend the generous gift, including an electronic voting machine and recreational programs for residents. 

• A spokesperson for the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation said Geoffrey's generosity "has the potential to be transformational for a small community like Hinsdale.”

Guess the definitions of the following Greek/Latin root words:

1. Bronch
2. Cac
3. Cosm
4. Fel
5. Heur

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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Start referring.👇

1. Bronch = Windpipe (e.g., bronchitis)
2. Cac = Bad (cacophony)
3. Cosm = Universe (cosmic)
4. Fel = Cat (feline)
5. Heur = Find (heuristic)