In today’s issue we discuss how Taylor Swift is now a Billionaire, Tesla’s chargers are crushing it, Google is bringing AI to their Maps, a chunk of the moon that has been orbiting the Earth, and King Charles is done with Llwynywermod.

Business

Tesla’s chargers have been crushing it these last few months. To date car manufacturers including Gm, Ford, Rivian, and recently Toyota have all stated they will adopt Tesla’s chargers. Now news that BP has bought $100 million worth of Tesla chargers. “This marks the first time Tesla has ever sold chargers to another company, according to an announcement from BP.”

So what’s behind this move? BP is rebranding them with a “BP Pulse” logo and will be used as part of BP’s own charging network. Smart move. “BP Pulse, BP’s EV charging business, operates 27,000 charging points currently and has announced plans for rapid expansion.”

Why is Tesla doing this deal? Well for one, they probably marked up the cost of the chargers to include a healthy profit margin. And since they’ve never sold their chargers to anyone else, this could open the door to a new market and revenue stream.

BP buys $100 million worth of Tesla chargers

Tech

Google is bringing AI to their Maps product, and they’ve included a bunch of novel new features. The company announced "Immersive View" for route planning, deeper Lens integration for local navigation and more accurate real-time information.

Two of my favorite updates include “Buildings along your route will be more accurately depicted within the app to help you better orient yourself in unfamiliar cities, lane details along tricky highway interchanges will be more clearly defined in-app as well.”

How big is Google Map market per year you might be asking yourself? Great question. According to a report by Gitnux, Google has around 1 billion active users every month, 40% of users open Google Maps at least once a week, and more than 65% of everyone who uses map apps prefers Google Maps over the competition.

Google updates Maps with a flurry of AI features including 'Immersive View for routes'

Space

Stop me if you’ve seen this movie before. Apparently there’s a chunk of the moon that has been orbiting the Earth, and scientists think it was blasted into space by a meteorite striking the Moon.

How big is this chunk you might ask? The rock is between 120 and 300 feet wide, and orbits the Earth (not the Moon). It doesn’t pose a risk to the planet, and may have been separated from the Moon millions of years ago (so you can cross that off your list of things to worry about).

Still worried, and convinced the end is near? The prepper industry in the U.S. is a $11 billion dollar a year industry. So yea, you’re not alone if you worry about these sorts of things.

A mysterious rock orbiting Earth appears to be a chunk of the moon that was blasted away by a meteorite

Entertainment

Oh ya, he’s going to talk about Taylor Swift again. Damn right I am. The woman is an economic superhero by this point! And I’m not the only one who thinks so. According to Bloomberg, Taylor Swift just became a Billionaire thanks to music sales, streaming songs, her Eras Tour, and most recently her Eras Tour movie.

They peg her network at “$1.1 billion, thanks to a record-breaking Eras tour that helped boost the US economy this summer.” And here’s the thing - this was just the first leg of her worldwide tour beginning with the U.S.. She kicks off the European and Asia Pacific leg of her tour in February 2024.

When all is said and done I estimate that her tour bringing in over $5 billion from worldwide ticket sales.

Taylor Swift is now a billionaire, Bloomberg says

Real Estate

We don’t get a lot of stories about real estate overseas, but today there’s news that King Charles III will not be renewing his lease on Llwynywermod, which he called his home in the countryside in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It’s complicated, but when Charles assumed the crown, then everything that was his went to Prince William (because that’s how the crown works in the United Kingdom). It turns out Prince William isn’t interested in Llwynywermod, so even though their own organization Duchy of Cornwall purchased and now owns the property Charles was paying to rent it. It’s so all British and confusing to us over here in the States, because it’s not like President Biden rents Camp David when he goes there on vacation.

Any-who, King Charles is done with Llwynywermod, and Prince William isn’t having it either. So I guess it’s available to anyone interested in renting it.

King Charles III Will Give Up Home in Wales Because Prince William Has Decided Not to Use It

So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris