TOGETHER WITH

Hey there weekday warrior,

The only thing I can think about is “How much did Michael Saylor pay for strategy.com?”

Enjoy the next 4 minutes and 13 seconds of blue-chip news and commentary.

Keep on snapping necks and cashing checks,

– tyler

Bold Strategy, Cotton

MicroStrategy now identifies as the world’s first and largest Bitcoin Treasury Company.

And don’t even think about calling Michael Saylor’s “software company” MicroStrategy anymore. In a press release that read like an investor update from Prestige Worldwide, MicroStrategy dropped the Micro and would like to be called Strategy from here on out.

The move is giving major “Just Facebook” vibes…

And what would a rebrand be without a major facelift?

Strategy also unveiled a new brand color (spoiler: Bitcoin orange) and a fresh addition to its logo. Shocker, it’s the Bitcoin symbol. And to answer your next question, yes, it looks like a Filipino Designer from Fiverr re-imagined MicroStrategy’s identity in an afternoon.

So, does that mean there’s a new, uh, strategy?

No.

Saylor’s firm will stay the course. And by that I mean it will continue to raise money via equity and debt offerings to YOLO into Bitcoin.

It will attempt to capitalize on its rebrand by slinging merch, which is great because now you’ll be able to ID people you don’t want to chat with at a party.

For old time's sake

Of course, the Bitcoin HODLing company had one last quarter to report as MicroStrategy.

The company missed on the top line ($120M) and posted a girthy net loss ($670M)... which shouldn't come as a shock considering it bought an additional 218k Bitcoin. It now holds 471k Bitcoin, making it the biggest corporate holder of sh*tcoins in the world.

MicroStrategy also said it's already deployed about $20B of the $42B it plans to use to buy Bitcoin over the next three years.

Elon Dreams and Mode Mobile Delivers

*See full disclosures below

+ “Alexa, tell me a joke” 

Alexa: “My revenue”

Amazon’s (-2.4%) Alexa team is set to unveil some long-awaited updates at an event on February 26, and it’s about d*mn time. The last time we got an update on a supposedly souped-up Alexa was back in 2023. Details are vague on what we’ll get, but it’s probably got something to do with more advanced AI capabilities… that OpenAI has been doing for like 2 years now. Did I mention that the new Alexa is expected to be a subscription model?

Amazon’s SVP of devices Panos Panay is giving big Nelson Bighetti Nucleus energy: a lot of ideas, not a lot of action. Amazon hasn’t exactly been winning big with Alexa-enabled devices. They’ve reportedly lost tens of billions on their devices business with their cheap-hardware-first model that’s intended to make users buy more Amazon products. Imagine finding a way to lose billions of dollars while having a straight-up wiretap in every American home…

+ If there’s one thing Nissan leadership knows, it’s the importance of a good exit strategy (just ask Carlos Ghosn)…

Nissan (+0.6%) and Honda (+4.2%) are walking away from a $60B merger that would have made them the world’s 3rd largest automaker. The deal was initially framed as a “merger of equals,” until Honda realized it was way out of Nissan’s league (its $51.9B market cap is literally 5x Nissan’s). As the deal started looking more like an acquisition that would have made Nissan a subsidiary of Honda, things started unraveling faster than a Kendall Roy takeover bid.

Honda shares jumped on the news of the split, with investors breathing a collective sigh of relief. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Stock Exchange had to temporarily halt trading on Nissan shares after the nosedive sent share price spiraling.

+ Google (-7.2%) just released Gemini 2.0 because better late than never, right?

The new model includes a suite of tools for developers to build cheaper AI agents to compete with OpenAI’s “Operator” and Anthropic’s “Claude.” CEO Sundar Pichai hit us with some wisdom that would make Ricky Bobby come at him like a spider monkey: “In history, you don’t always need to be first, but you have to execute well and really be the best in class as a product.”

Wait, did Sundar just give an acceptance speech for a participation trophy? It is so over for Google.

+ “It’s always the kids who pay…” Mattel (+15.3%) is considering raising prices to offset tariff costs on its Chinese-made products, and shareholders are stoked.

+ SoftBank (-0.1%) is in talks to acquire chip designer Ampere Computing. Because nothing makes SoftBank get HardBank quite like mainlining money into AI projects.

+ Disney (-2.4%) reported an earnings beat but warned that Disney+ subscribers are dropping.

+ Shots fired at UnitedHealth (-2.5%) courtesy of Bill Ackman. Too soon? Ackman wants the SEC to investigate UNH, claiming its profitability is “massively overstated.”

+ How Much Do You Know About Alternative Investments? Take Our Quiz and See. It’s like a BuzzFeed quiz, but for people who know what EBITDA stands for.

+ Get away with 75k bonus points from arguably the greatest travel rewards card of all time. It’s time to make your credit card rewards your entire personality.

🔥 I’ve studied over 200 kids—the highly successful ones have parents who did 9 things early on. Give them a small $1M loan.

FYI, TWC might be compensated if you click on the links above. So, what are you waiting for? Start clicking.

+ US stocks “end higher as investors digest earnings.” (Reuters)

+ The 10-year yield “dropped to its lowest level since mid-December, helping boost market sentiment, with sectors like real estate gaining.” (Yahoo! Finance)

+ Oil “prices fell more than 2% on Wednesday as a large build in U.S. crude and gasoline stockpiles signaled weaker demand, while worries about a new China-U.S. trade war fueled fears of softer economic growth.” (Reuters)

+ Bitcoin “extended declines on Wednesday, failing to sustain gains above the key $100,000 level, as escalating U.S.-China trade tensions kept investor sentiment cautious.” (Investing.com)

+ The three most talked about stocks on WallStreetBets in the past 24 hours were: 1) Advanced Micro Devices -6.2% 2) Nvidia +5.2% 3) MicroStrategy -3.3%

⏪ Yesterday, Toyota, T Rowe Price, Fiserv, Emerson, Boston Scientific, Michael Kors, GSK, Stanley Black & Decker, and Illinois Tool Works reported before the bell.

And Qualcomm, Arm, MicroStrategy, Ford, Symbiotic, Viking Therapeutics, Blue Bird, Skyworks Solutions, Aflac, American Superconductor, and O'Reilly Automotive reported after-hours.

⏩ Today we’re keeping an eye on…

+ Eli Lilly, Roblox, The Hershey Company, Peloton, Honeywell, Under Armour, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Philip Morris, AstraZeneca, Hilton, Kellanova, Yum China, Air Products & Chemicals, and ConocoPhillips report in the AM

+ Amazon, Cloudflare, Fortinet, Pinterest, e.l.f. Beauty, Affirm, Cleanspark, Powell Industries, Take-Two, Microchip Technology, and Bill drop earnings after the bell

Yesterday, I asked, “Does Waffle House live up to the hype?”

No (and I'm not from the South) won with 34.9% of the votes. For the folks not from the South, it was a toss-up. Meanwhile, “Yes” won in a landslide amongst the Southern set.

Here’s what some of you guys had to say…

• No (and I'm not from the South): “The toast is a hamburger bun damn it!”

• Yes (and I’m from the South): “Not all are equal but, a good, clean, well run Waffle House definitely lives up to the hype.”

• No (and I’m from the South): “It's for drunk college kids and alcoholics to eat after midnight. Here in Atlanta, it's unusual to go to one and a fight doesn't break out. And literally everything in the restaurant is sticky.”

• Yes (and I’m not from the South): “Judging based on obesity rates, not personal experience”

And here’s today’s question…

entrepreneurialogy

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+ The REAL reason millennials aren’t buying diamonds

🔥 This financial advice will change your life!

Oh, and one more thing…

Does this look like the face of a guy you should take financial advice from?

No, it’s the face of an individual who is financially irresponsible/dumb enough to be talked into spending money on a family photo shoot that he could have just done with his iPhone. So, act accordingly...

This is not financial advice. Nothing in this newsletter is an investment recommendation. All content is created for entertainment, educational, or informational purposes only. Do your own research, or do yourself a favor and hire a professional.

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2. The rankings are based on submitted applications and public company database research, with winners selected based on their fiscal-year revenue growth percentage over three years.

3. A minimum investment of $1,950 is required to receive bonus shares. 100% bonus shares are offered on investments of $9,950+.