Good morning. Today is Lego Group's 90th birthday, and to celebrate the milestone we've sprinkled in several bricks-worth of Lego content throughout this newsletter. Let's kick off the party with a few Lego facts: - Lego manufactures more tires than any other company. In 2012, it said that nearly half of its sets include a wheel of some sort.
- Lego bricks are universal. A brick you buy now will interlock with one you have laying around from 1958.
- Six 2x4 Lego bricks can be combined in 915,103,765 different ways. If you ever get bored…
—Neal Freyman, Jamie Wilde, Max Knoblauch | | | |  | Nasdaq | 12,493.93 | | | | | S&P | 4,122.47 | | | | | Dow | 32,774.41 | | |  | 10-Year | 2.786% | | | | | Bitcoin | $23,085.10 | | | | | Novavax | $40.28 | | | | *Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 9:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean. | - Markets: The Nasdaq sank for a third straight day as downbeat reports from chipmakers continue to drag down the tech-heavy index. The even bigger loser, though, was Novavax, which on Monday cut its revenue guidance because no one wants to get its Covid vaccine this year.
- Economy: It's CPI Day. This morning, the government will drop the consumer price index report and maybe, just maybe, it'll show that price growth has finally started its descent.
| | | | Clive Brunskill/Getty Images US Open tickets are not gonna be cheap this year. Serena Williams, the predominant figure in women's tennis for the past several decades, suggested yesterday that she'd step away from playing the sport after the US Open in a few weeks. That means Williams will finish her spectacular career where it all began: Flushing Meadows, where she won her first of 23 Grand Slam singles championships as a 17-year-old in 1999. Serena's achievements, by the numbers (warning—they're big numbers): - Her 23 Grand Slam singles titles are the most of any tennis player in the Open Era.
- She's earned $94.6 million in career prize money in women's tennis, more than double the second-place player—her sister, Venus.
- Factoring in $350+ million in endorsements, she's the top-earning woman athlete of all time.
So why hang up the racket? In a cover story for Vogue magazine, Williams said that as a woman and a mother, she feels like she has to choose between tennis and growing her family. "Maybe I'd be more of a Tom Brady," if she didn't have to bear her family responsibilities, she said. Serena isn't alone: 54% of working mothers said they need to cut back on their time spent working to care for family, compared to 44% of fathers, according to a 2019 Pew study. But don't call it "retirement" Serena said she's "evolving away from tennis" to other things she's interested in, like growing her burgeoning business empire. In 2014, she started Serena Ventures, a venture capital firm with a focus on founders from historically underrepresented groups. 78% of companies in the firm's portfolio were started by women or people of color, Williams explained in Vogue, while 16 companies are valued at at least $1 billion. A few startups that got a check from Serena Ventures: MasterClass, Impossible Foods, Noom, and Tonal. We'll let Williams have the last word: "I always say that I'm a sponge: At night I go to bed and I squeeze myself out so that the next day I can take up as much new information as I can."—NF | | | Give your morning routine the extra kick it needs, starting with one delicious sip. organifi's Green Juice has the perfect mix of ashwagandha, spirulina, moringa, and other superfoods, giving you the vitamins and minerals you need to lower your cortisol and stress levels. Green Juice comes in 2 super-yummy flavors—Original Mint and Crisp Apple—both of which pack the perfect punch of flavor and nutrition. Reset your body every morning and start your day off calmer, clearer, and more energized. Get 25% off + 14 free Red Juice travel packs with code BREW. | | Tom Williams/Getty Images  Biden unleashes the chips. President Biden signed the Chips Act yesterday, kicking into gear one of the federal government's largest investments in American industrial capacity. The bipartisan law will provide $52 billion in subsidies to chipmakers in the hopes they'll build their massive foundries in the States rather than overseas, as well as pour more funding into R&D of high-tech industries. Right on cue, Micron said it'll spend $40 billion on chipmaking factories in the US by 2030.
🛻 Ford jacks up the price of its F-150 Lightning. The automaker said that new orders of its highly anticipated EV pickup truck will cost $6,000–$8,500 more due to higher material costs and "other factors." That means the base model will now start at nearly $47,000. The cost of raw materials for making EVs has more than doubled during Covid, forcing companies including GM, Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid to raise prices on their vehicles recently.  Ex-Twitter employee convicted of spying for Saudi Arabia. Ahmad Abouammo, a former media partnership manager for Twitter, was found guilty of accessing the personal information of users who critiqued the Saudi Arabian government and handing it over to a top advisor for the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In exchange, Abouammo received $300,000 in wire transfers and a luxury watch, prosecutors said. He faces 10–20 years in prison.
| | Photo Illustration: Dianna "Mick" McDougall, Sources: Getty Images Video games are cool, but have you ever…gone outside? Yesterday, Roblox became the latest gaming company to report weaker-than-expected earnings for the second quarter. Not only did the gaming platform not have as many daily active users as analysts predicted, but its users didn't buy as much of Roblox's in-game currency and main source of revenue, Robux. It seems gaming companies' buttons got stuck this summer: Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, and more reported slowdowns compared to last year. What's going on? Gaming companies were zooming along Rainbow Road during the pandemic, but now they're slowing down. For one, people are out touching grass again instead of just Animal Crossing weeds. "The world is on vacation," Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson said during an earnings call last week. And Sony reported players are spending 15% less time on their PlayStations than they were a year ago. Less time = less sales: People are spending 13% less on video games than they were a year ago, per NPD Group and Sensor Tower. Plus, semiconductor shortages and supply chain snags restricted console sales. Finally, 2022 is in a video game drought. Because developers struggled to churn out Triple-A titles from home in 2020 and 2021, the release dates for a laundry list of major games got pushed back. *Cries in Hylian*.—JW | | Francis Scialabba Set the pizza tracker to "End of An Era," folks—the last 29 Domino's branches in Italy have officially closed. Domino's began operations in pizza's motherland in 2015, but it was unable to deliver on its plan to eventually open 880 restaurants there. While bringing an American fast-food pizza chain to a country known specifically for its pizza feels a bit like trying to sell graphic Snoopy tees inside a Rag & Bone, the company did have a strategy for the region. Domino's made an effort to use locally sourced Italian ingredients, and hoped to set itself apart from local competition by offering the then-extremely rare service of home delivery. Sadly, it appears Italians just didn't care to have their crust stuffed with authentic, beautifully marbled gorgonzola. Also a problem: The pandemic opened up stiff competition in the delivery space, offering locals better, less Domino's-y pizza at home and leading the company's Italian franchise partner, ePizza SpA, to file for bankruptcy in April. Other American chains doing "Italian but worse" haven't fared so poorly in the country, though. Starbucks has plans to open 26 more stores in the boot by the end of 2023, and last week, CEO Howard Schultz said the chain was flourishing there.—MK | | NurPhoto/Getty Images Stat: The pay gap between men and women starts to form very early in professional careers—just three years after graduation, according to a new WSJ analysis of data from 2015 and 2016 graduates. In nearly 75% of undergrad and graduate programs across 2,000 universities, the median pay for men topped that of women three years post-graduation. Men's median earnings exceeded women's by at least 10% in nearly half of the programs. Quote: "People are just dropping weekly here." Moe Nouhaili, a UPS driver in Las Vegas, spoke with the Guardian about the grueling conditions he and other company drivers have been facing due to the extreme heat. A viral Twitter post last week from the Teamsters union showed a collage of brutally high temperature readings from inside UPS vehicles—one indicating 121.4 degrees Fahrenheit on the thermometer. The Teamsters are demanding that UPS reveal the steps it's taking to protect workers from the heat. Watch: Why does the IRS need $80 billion? Just look at its cafeteria. (Washington Post) | | Nerd out on Lego: Big announcement: To make sure that everyone can attend our Emerging Tech Brew Summit, we've moved it online and made it free. We're also adding Mark Cuban and Rose Loughlin from Moderna to our speaker lineup. RSVP today. America's fave tubing mascara, with over 20k 5-star reviews: This bestseller mimics the look of lash extensions—sans the salon pricing—and lasts all day without flaking. Right now, Brew readers get 15% off their entire order.* 50% off fitness coaching: Use the Future app to partner with a fitness pro for personalized daily coaching and a custom workout plan. Get 50% off your first 3 months.* *This is sponsored advertising content. | | - Police detained and charged a 51-year-old man from Afghanistan with the murder of two Muslim men in Albuquerque, NM, and consider him a suspect in the killings of two other Muslim men in the city.
- Coinbase reported a dramatic slowdown in trading volumes last quarter—$217 billion vs. $462 billion the year before.
- House Democrats are entitled to review former President Trump's tax records from 2015 to 2020, a federal appeals court panel ruled. Trump has a week to appeal.
- Walmart has reportedly held talks with Paramount, Disney, and Comcast about including streaming in its membership service, Walmart+. Everyone knows you can't have a + without streaming.
| | Word Search: Try your luck with today's casino-themed word search. Play it here. Lego trivia In honor of Lego's 90th birthday, we'll give you an excerpt from Lego's official description of one of its sets, and you have to guess the set. - "And (you won't believe this), it can do the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs!"
- "A mere two millennia after the original was built…this incredible model is packed with fascinating details worthy of the most iconic amphitheater in history."
- "It contains 5,923 pieces and stands at over 16 in. (43cm) tall thanks to the stunningly rendered central dome. Who said mausoleums had to be depressing…?"
- "Packed with authentic details, inside and out, the set honors the original ship featuring a grand staircase, a boiler room, different cabins, lifeboats. and even the first-class dining room."
| | On Imposters, Bonobos founder Andy Dunn speaks about the lessons he's learned running a business while coping with the highs and lows of bipolar disorder. Listen or watch here. Check out more from the Brew:  Before making an investment, you should evaluate the risk. Why should it be different when it comes to dating? Check out Money Where Your Mouth Is, Morning Brew's dating show where singles try to find their perfect financial match. Watch here.
 Hiring is one of the most important things you'll do as a manager. Good thing our Leadership Accelerator has all the tips and tools you'll need to make the right hire.
| | - Millennium Falcon
- Colosseum
- Taj Mahal
- Titanic
| | | Written by Neal Freyman, Jamie Wilde, and Max Knoblauch Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here. WANT MORE BREW? Industry news, with a sense of humor → Tips for smarter living → - Money Scoop: your personal finance upgrade
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