Good morning. In today’s edition:

• 🏬 IKEA is betting that it can save the mall
• 🇸🇪 Sweden is clear to join NATO
• ⚾ Pro baseball has a uniform issue

… and more.

🚀⏰ Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be about a 4.93-minute read.

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“The sweetest pleasure arises from difficulties overcome.”

–Publius Syrus (85 BC – 43 BC)

Ingka Group, the operator of most IKEA stores worldwide, is making a big push to buy malls, betting it can rejuvenate them with its unique format and approach. Or in other words – a future trip to IKEA could also involve an Auntie Anne’s cinnamon pretzel😋.

The strategy: Ingka opened its first mall, or “meeting place” as it calls them, in 1973 in Sundsvall, Sweden, together with an IKEA store. This set the blueprint for expansion; Ingka now has 38 malls in 15 countries, including one in San Francisco that opened last year. It plans to buy more US locations in the coming years.

The strategy underpinning Ingka’s strategy is simple: provide people with a fun space to gather, as well as many reasons to come there in the first place.

• The company anchors each mall location it buys with an IKEA store – but one store can’t support a mall single-handed. For this reason, Ingka looks for malls with strong existing retail tenants and development potential.
• The company in November bought a mall in Brighton, England, for ~$184 million. Brands already operating in the mall included the likes of Apple and Zara, while an empty ex-department store in the same property offered a good location for a new IKEA, according to the WSJ.

This approach is working. Ingka says the visitor numbers at its malls are increasing. For example, the Brighton-located mall saw its traffic nearly double from the year before.

And, since Ingka operates on the Field of Dreams approach (build it and they will come), traffic numbers could keep increasing. The company recently invested ~$65 million to develop new concepts to attract consumers and retailers to its properties, and will eventually roll them out globally.

Big picture: Malls rn are about as popular as positive reviews for Madame Web. Foot traffic to US malls was down 4% on average in 2023 from the prior year, and about 12% lower than 2019 levels, according to Green Street, a real-estate data provider. Plus, many debt-laden mall properties are also dropping in value, stuck in a so-called “death spiral.”

👀 Looking ahead… Could Swedish meatballs and customer-assembled furniture revive American malls? Only time will tell.

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🇸🇪🇭🇺 Sweden’s NATO membership bid was approved by Hungary, removing its final barrier to entry. In a 188-6 vote, Hungary’s parliament ratified Sweden’s accession as the 32nd member of the NATO military alliance yesterday. The government of Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán initially submitted the protocols for Sweden’s NATO entry in July 2022, but the process stalled after criticism of Hungary’s democracy by Swedish politicians soured relations between the two countries. Sweden will formally join NATO in the coming days after submitting accession documents to the US government.

🇵🇸 The Palestinian Authority’s prime minister submitted his government’s resignation. The resignation of PM Mohammed Shtayyeh and his government comes as the Palestinian Authority, which has long been seen as corrupt by both US officials and Palestinians, is under international pressure to reform and improve its governance in the West Bank. Yesterday’s resignations fall short of changes pushed for by Western and Arab governments, which include replacing longtime Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, whom 90+% of Palestinians in the West Bank want to resign.

🇮🇷☢️ Iran unexpectedly reduced its near weapons-grade nuclear stockpile. The UN’s atomic watchdog found Iran reduced its levels of 60% highly-enriched uranium by 5% since November, compared to a 5% increase in the previous quarter. It marks the first time UN officials have reported a quarterly drop in Iran’s highly-enriched uranium stockpile since the country started producing 60% material in 2021, though Iran still has enough near weapons-grade uranium to create almost three nuclear weapons (if enriched to a level of 90+%).

As spring training kicks into gear, many MLB players are voicing concerns over the league’s new uniforms for the upcoming season – including some feedback that hits below the belt.

The MLB Players Association said it’s talking with the league about a range of issues concerning the new attire, with an emphasis on complaints that the new pants are see-through and reveal players’ undergarments.

Let’s break it down: MLB officials say the new uniforms, which are designed by Nike and manufactured by Fanatics, improve players’ mobility by providing 25% more stretch. The league also notes that the lettering, sleeve emblems, and numbering are less bulky than previous editions in an attempt to make the jerseys more breathable and comfortable.

And while a handful of players say they like the lighter feel of the new jerseys, many others are complaining that the uniforms look and feel cheaper than the candy displayed by checkout at the dollar store due to a combination of flimsy fabric, off-center lettering, and a lack of logos being stitched directly onto the jersey.

• A growing number of MLB players are also staging their own silent protests against the new see-through pants by wearing last year’s uniform bottoms during spring training.

👀 Looking ahead… The MLB Players Association said it hopes to resolve the new uniform issue with the league prior to Opening Day on March 28.

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💬 Quoted… “We allege that Mr. Loudon took advantage of his remote working conditions and his wife’s trust to profit from information he knew was confidential.”

• Many wives complain that their husbands don’t listen enough – but the opposite was true in a case filed late last week by federal prosecutors. A Houston man pleaded guilty to eavesdropping on his work-from-home spouse – a mergers and acquisitions manager at BP – then using the info he overheard to make $1.8 million in an insider trading scheme. The alleged illegal trading was eventually uncovered by BP, after which the wife was terminated from the company (she also later filed for divorce). The husband, who faces a sentence of up to five years in federal prison, agreed to forfeit all illegal proceeds as part of his plea agreement.

🎓🆓 Stat of the Day: The Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City will be tuition-free for all students starting this fall, thanks to a new $1 billion donation from Dr. Ruth Gottesman, who spent 55 years as the chair of the school’s board. The donation, which comes from the fortune made by Gottesman’s late husband Sandy (an early investor in Berkshire Hathaway), marks the largest single gift to any medical school in US history.

🤔 Did You Know?... There are over twice as many Mongols living in China than in the entire country of Mongolia (6.3 million vs. 3.0 million).

📰 Worth a Read: The Spy War: How the C.I.A. Secretly Helps Ukraine Fight Putin → (NY Times)

• ☝️ The inaugural Florida Man Games were held in St. Augustine this past weekend; jort-clad men competed in a wide range of events including a mullet contest, wrestling while holding pitchers of beer, and an “evading arrest” obstacle course.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

in partnership with Incogni

• 💰 US markets closed down across the board. (S&P: -0.4%; Dow: -0.2%; Nasdaq: -0.1%). | 🔀 Walmart’s 3-for-1 stock split took effect yesterday.
• 🚫🛒 The FTC sued to block Kroger and Albertsons planned $25 billion merger, aka the biggest supermarket deal in history, saying it would result in higher prices for grocery shoppers and lower wages for workers.
• 🛢️ Chevron’s $53 billion acquisition of Hess is also in jeopardy; the development comes due to a potentially incoming offer from Exxon Mobil for Hess’ stake in an oil project off Guyana, from which most of the deal’s value was derived. (Read more)

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SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏆🍿 Oppenheimer won top prize at both the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Producers Guild Awards this past weekend.
• 🎶🃏 Beyoncé’s “Texas Hold ‘Em” took the top spot in the Billboard Hot 100 songs in its first full tracking week. | ⚖️ Sean “Diddy” Combs was sued in federal court by a music producer on his most recent album, who’s accusing Combs of sexually harassing, drugging, and threatening him.
• 🏈💰 The NFL's 2024 salary cap will rise a record 13.6% from last year to reach $255 million per team, the league announced. | 📰 Longtime NFL columnist Peter King announced his retirement after 44 years as an award-winning sports writer.

SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

in partnership with The Cold Life

• 💍 Samsung unveiled a wearable “smart ring” with health-tracking features like heart rate and sleep monitoring; it marks the tech giant’s first entrance into the product category.
• 🔥📲 Security experts recently demonstrated a novel type of cyberattack that causes smartphones to catch on fire while wirelessly charging.
• 🌕 Japan’s “Moon Sniper” mission, which landed at the lunar south pole last month but went dormant soon after, has unexpectedly woken up and sent new images to Earth. | 📸 Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lunar lander sent back the first pictures from last week’s historic Moon landing; the craft will shut down this morning, a few days earlier than expected, due to landing on its side.

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MISCELLANEOUS

• 🏛️ A US Air Force member who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in D.C. on Sunday evening has passed away; the man reportedly said “Free Palestine” and appeared to livestream the protest on Twitch.
• 🇷🇺 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navanly died in prison shortly after Russia received a proposal to trade him and two unnamed US citizens held by Moscow in exchange for a Russian hit man imprisoned in Germany, according to Navalny’s foundation (which didn’t provide any evidence).
• ⚖️ Former President Trump is appealing the New York civil verdict ordering him to pay more than $450 million in fines and interest for his fraudulent business practices. (From the Left | From the Center | From the Right) | 🗳️ Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, announced plans to step down from her role on March 8 “to allow our [presidential] nominee to select a Chair of their choosing.”

CLICKBAIT

• 🗣️ Isolated for six months, scientists began to develop a unique Antarctic accent.

Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

• ⛺ The number of homeless Americans rose by 12% last year, which is 4x higher than any other annual increase on record. (Read more)
• 🏢 Around 89% of all new apartment units built in the US between 2020 and 2022 are considered high-end or luxury, per RentCafe. (Read more)
• 💰📈 Chipmaker Nvidia crossed the $2 trillion market cap threshold on Friday, less than nine months after it first reached a valuation of $1 trillion. (Read more)
• 💳 60% of all payments in the US are made with debit or credit cards, per Federal Reserve data. (Read more)
• 😰🍽️ 86% of Gen Z Americans experience “menu anxiety,” compared to 67% of the general population. (Read more)

Yesterday, we covered a pair of Supreme Court cases that are expected to produce a ​​major constitutional ruling on the First Amendment free speech rights of large social media companies.

❓ Our question to you: In your opinion, should social media companies be regulated like newspapers and publish what they want, or should they be regulated like phone companies and transmit everyone’s speech with minimal restrictions?

• 👍 Like newspapers : 48%
• 👎 Like phone companies: 35%
• 🤷 Unsure/other: 17%

Click here to read some of the best longform responses.

+Note on sample size: We received 4,362 votes and 371 longform responses.

Bill Parton works full-time at the sawmill business he founded 42 years ago while in his 50s. The 96-year-old may very well be Britain's oldest person still in the workforce full-time, clocking in a regular 40 hours/week. 

💪 Chase your dreams... Bill has already watched his company move through three generations, and has no plans of retiring any time soon. 

• “You’ve got to keep your mind moving," he shared of his ability to work at his age. "The trick is to not stop. You can’t sit back, you’ve got to keep doing something.”

❓ Trivia: What was Disney's first feature-length animated film?

🪐 True or False?... Triton is one of Saturn’s moons.

🤔 Riddle Me This… All numbers between one and ten have this in common – with the sole exception of seven. What is it?

(keep scrolling for the answers)

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❓ Trivia: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)

🪐 T/F: False, it’s one of Neptune's moons

🤔 Riddle: They're all one-syllable words, except for seven