In today’s newsletter we discuss Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas 30th Anniversary rerelease, WeWork does what everyone knew they would and files for bankruptcy, China is building a humanoid army to take over the world (sorta, but I’m probably not wrong), OpenSea lays of 50% of their staff (harsh), and if you’re ever facing a midlife crisis I suggest following Matt Rogatz, lean into it, and buy a hotel, a bed & breakfast in, and a marina in a small town in Wisconsin.

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Taylor Swift is an Economic Force of Nature

Business

I wish there was a way someone could have predicted this?!?! Oh yea, EVERYONE saw it coming. The rumors were true; WeWork has filed for bankruptcy. Their stock was halted the other day, and it was just a matter of time before they filed the official paperwork.

We wrote in our Friday, November 3 issue about how bad things had gotten for WeWork with debt of $2.9 billion as of June end and more than $13 billion in long-term leases” against $844 million in revenue for their June 2023 quarter with a loss of $397 million.

So what happens next? Well, it’s not the end of WeWork. At its core I think the concept behind WeWork, that is co-working spaces, is a great idea (I would say that, seeing as how I started a co-working space in Saratoga Springs, NY in 2016, but that’s a whole other story). I think the problem with WeWork was they expended too fast, and the business economics never made financial sense. Then Covid didn’t help things, and now we’re facing a Commercial Real Estate nightmare with cities like NYC, LA, and SF getting clobbered as more companies embrace fully distributed teams. So next I’m guessing they’ll go through Chapter 11, reorganize, shed most of their debt, and then if I had to guess they’ll get bought out. By who, well that’s for another video.

America loves a good underdog story, so I doubt this is the last we’ll hear of WeWork.

WeWork files for bankruptcy: How the company tumbled after a valuation of $47B in 2019

Tech

File this next story under “What could possibly go wrong?”. China is claiming they have a plan to mass produce humanoid robots that can 'reshape the world' within the next two years. So yea, it’s time to start being nice to your Roomba and stop telling Alexa to “self destruct” (that’s a fun trick my kids like to play at their Grandma’s house).

“The Chinese startup Fourier Intelligence, for example, said it would start mass-producing its GR-1 humanoid robot by the end of this year, South China Morning Post reported. The company, which has a base in Shanghai, told the publication it aspired to deliver thousands of robots in 2024 that could move at 5 kilometers an hour and carry 50 kilograms.”

So at least in the beginning it sounds like we’ll still be able to outrun them.

China boldly claims it has a plan to mass produce humanoid robots that can 'reshape the world' within two years

Crypto

Oh OpenSea, if only you could have held out until this Crypto Winter was over, but alas it wasn’t meant to be. On Friday, November 3, 2023 the company confirmed they would be laying off 50% of their staff. 50%?!?! Wow! I mean, how did it get to the point where they had to lay off 50% of their people? Why didn’t they layoff off 10% or 20% months ago? I mean, it’s not like things just went bad for them? It’s been almost a year since Crypto Winter set in, and even though there has been a rise in the value of the NFT market in the last month that doesn’t mean things are turning around anytime soon.

So join me in pouring out a glass for OpenSea. A good NFT exchange that will soon be a shell of its former self.

OpenSea Slashes NFT Marketplace Staff by 50%

Entertainment

In my house every year we watch ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ for both Halloween and Christmas (just like the true believers out there who will agree with me that ‘Die Hard’ is in fact a Christmas movie).

And to think that when ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ was first released Disney was worried it might scare little boys and girls, so even though they made the film they released it under their Touchstone Pictures movie company. Fast forward to today and Disney has had a change of heart not unlike the Pumpkin King himself. Now Disney has proudly embraced the movie, reissued it a couple of times, and incorporated the characters into their Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland in California.

Tim Burton’s ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ went on to make $101.2 million in total box office gross from its theatrical release, and it’s rumored that Disney has made over $1 billion dollars in merchandise sales since the release of the film.

There’s a funny story told by the film’s stop-motion director Henry Selick, that in the final scene of the movie he actually had included a puppet version of Tim Burton, but ultimately decided to cut that scene because he didn’t want to upset Tim Burton. Turns out it would have been hysterical, and Tim would have probably loved it!

Here’s the backstory:

“There’s a shot — and I really regret replacing it — at the very end of the film when Jack comes back and then Sandy Claws flies overhead and there’s snow and Christmas comes to Halloween Town. We show a lot of Halloween Towners enjoying winter sports and snow, and you see the vampires playing hockey and they hit the puck right at the camera — and originally it was Tim Burton’s head,” says Selick. “And it was really funny. And Denise Di Novi or one of the Hollywood producers told me, ‘I don’t think Tim’s going to like that.’ And I feel so stupid for not just asking him. But that’s one of the shots that we reshot and we put in a pumpkin instead. I don’t know if that shot still exists, but I’d love to replace the one in there and I’m sure Tim would love it.”

How ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ went from cult classic to beloved Disney property

‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ Director on the Tim Burton Joke He Had to Cut

Real Estate

I have a running joke with my wife that someday when we retire to a tropical island in the Caribbean we’re going to buy a cute Bed & Breakfast on the beach and run it ourselves. Now, there’s no possible way my wife is EVER going to do that, and I’m practically allergic to the idea of cleaning, but it’s fun to get a rise out of her. It turns out one man had a similar idea, but he actually went through with it.

Matt Rogatz hit a wall in his career after closing over 400 real estate transactions totaling more than $750 million, and he was facing a midlife crisis…so he decided to buy a hotel, because I mean what else can you do in that situation?

With no experience in the hotel industry, but knowing a thing or two about real estate, he found an old hotel that was in good shape but a bit dated, so he began fixing it up and reopened just after Covid. I don’t want to ruin the story, but things took off from there. He ended up buying a couple more properties, because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about midlife crisis its that you should always lean in and embrace them! LOL

Some people buy a car during a midlife crisis. This man bought a hotel instead

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

— Chris