"Taco Bell materially overstates the amount of beef... contained in its advertisements for the Overstated Menu Items by at least double the amount." This is an excerpt from a lawsuit that a New York man filed against Taco Bell this week. He claims T-Bell is lying about the amount of beef on its Mexican Pizza and other menu items. Please nobody show him a Red Bull Gives You Wings ad…

In today's edition:

• Nuclear is so back in the USA

• X forced to tear down new X sign

• Mbappé in the Desert

 🔑 Key Stories

Georgia’s New Reactor

A nuclear reactor in Georgia began commercial energy production on Monday, making it the US’ first nuclear reactor built from scratch in decades

• Before Monday, the US had 92 reactors across 54 nuclear power plants (NPPs) that produced 19% of the US’ energy. The average reactor age was ~40 years

• In 2012, the US approved the construction of two new reactors at the Vogtle NPP in Georgia. That marked the first time in 30+ years the US granted such approval

• After years of delays and going billions over budget, the first new reactor went online on Monday. The second is expected to do so next March

Dig Deeper

• Per Georgia law, consumers are liable to cover some of the reactors’ construction costs, and one nonprofit estimates the new ones have already cost Georgia utility customers up to $900 in additional fees. The state's energy bills are expected to rise a further $3.78 – 3% – now that the new reactor is live

Iranian Sex Tape

An Iranian official in charge of promoting Islamic values was suspended after a viral video appeared to show him having sex with another man

• Iran’s legal system is based on Islamic law. Same-sex relations are punishable by death in the country and women are required to wear headscarves

• In recent weeks, a video has gone viral that appears to show an Iranian official having sex with another man. That official is the head of culture and Islamic guidance in a northern Iranian province

• Iran’s government acknowledged the video and launched an investigation. The official has been suspended

Dig Deeper

• The authenticity of the video could not be independently verified

• The editor of the popular, anti-establishment Telegram channel that initially released the viral video said they would continue to expose “corruption among [Iranian] officials”

Travis Scott Concert Report

Houston police released a report summarizing their investigation into Travis Scott’s deadly 2021 concert

• Ten died and hundreds other were injured at the November 2021 concert due to a crowd crunch. Last June, a jury decided not to charge Scott for it

• Per the report, event staff told police they tried to stop the event. One texted, “Someone’s going to end up dead” just before Scott came on stage; another told event organizers that “people are getting hurt” 48 minutes before the show ended

• The report was released the same day as Scott’s 4th studio album, “Utopia”

Dig Deeper

• Houston police said the overlap of the release of the report and the rapper’s new album was a “coincidence”; Scott’s lawyers claimed it was intentional

• Scott’s new album, “Utopia,” became 2023’s most-streamed Spotify album on its first day

Yellow Feeling Mellow

Yellow – one of the US’ largest trucking companies – shut down on Sunday after 99 years in business

• Yellow is the US’ third-largest LTL – “less than truckload” – trucking company. LTL refers to shipping several customers’ goods at the same time

• For years, Yellow has struggled to be profitable and has been saddled with large amounts of debt. During the pandemic it received a $700M government loan

• It has since struggled to institute reforms and fought with a union that represents most of its employees. On Friday, it announced it would end operations on Sunday and soon seek bankruptcy

Dig Deeper

• Yellow’s collapse is not expected to greatly affect shipping, although it is expected to put 30,000 employees out of work. The Teamsters’ president called the news “not surprising,” adding, “Yellow has historically proven that it could not manage itself”

• The US government, which owns 30% of Yellow’s stock, will likely take a loss

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Dig Deeper

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🍿 Popcorn

ICYMI

• RIPee-wee: Comic actor Paul Reubens, famous for portraying “Pee-wee Herman,” died at 70 after a private battle with cancer

• …And RIP, Angus Cloud: Actor Angus Cloud, who starred on HBO’s “Euphoria,” died at 25. Cloud’s father passed away last week, and his family said Cloud “intensely struggled with this loss”

• Scorch of July: Environmental scientists have calculated that July 2023 will be the hottest month on record. Global average temperatures in July’s first 23 days were 62.51°F

Wildcard

• Can you take the Heat? For $699, Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler is offering fans the chance to play him one-on-one at his basketball and cheerleading camp later this month

• X marks the dispute: Workers removed the large glowing “X” sign atop the company’s San Francisco headquarters. The Twitter-rebranded company failed to get a permit

• City that skips: Starting Monday, NYC’s “Skip the Stuff” law prohibits city establishments from giving plastic utensils, condiment packets, and napkins on takeout orders without customer requests

👇 What do you think?

Today's Question:

Is Travis Scott responsible for the Astroworld incident?

Reply to this email with your answers!

See yesterday's results below the Wrap! 

🌯 Roca Wrap

On March 3, 1938, an American-owned oil well began drilling into the Saudi Arabian desert.

Oil was first discovered in the region 30 years earlier, by a British millionaire in Iran. As oil demand boomed during World War I and in the following decades, oil exploration spread through the Middle East.

Amid this, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia – Ibn Saud – opened his land up for limited oil exploration. He did so more aggressively when the Great Depression caused fewer pilgrims to come to Mecca, leading to a sharp fall in government revenue.

In 1933, Saud’s government partnered with an American oil company to make up for lost revenue. The Americans would pay to lease and explore land, then pay more if they found oil.

On March 3, 1938, the US-Saudi company – California-Arabian Standard Oil (CASOC) – struck Saudi oil for the first time. Six years later, the company rebranded to the Arabian American Oil Co. (ARAMCO).

By 1958, ARAMCO was producing 1M barrels of oil daily. In 1976, it became the first company to produce 3B barrels in a year.

The money flooded ARAMCO, and in 1971, the Saudi government launched the Public Investment Fund (PIF) to invest the oil dollars. The Saudi government also bought portions of ARAMCO until 1980, when it owned the whole company and therefore claimed all its profits.

PIF was a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) – a government-owned investment division often financed through natural resource revenues. PIF grew in the decades after its creation but remained a relatively small player globally. It was invested mainly in Saudi companies and had far fewer employees and assets than other large SWFs.

Around that time, PIF had 50 employees and $150B in assets, mostly Saudi companies. By contrast, Norway’s SWF – the world’s largest – managed $819B in assets around the world and was one of the largest owners of everything from American Eagle to Spirit Airlines and Amazon.

In 2015, though, Mohammad Bin Salman’s (MBS) father became king.

MBS quickly attained power, becoming Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and effective leader. He sought to transform the country and use PIF to do so. MBS gave PIF a new board in 2015 and made himself the chairman. Declaring his intent to make it the world’s largest SWF, PIF began investing internationally – starting with a $3.5B investment in Uber in 2016.

That year, MBS declared his vision of transforming Saudi’s economy and image, making it a “global investment powerhouse” with world-class tourism, leisure, and business. By 2030, he wanted Saudi to be seen as a hub of innovation and progress – and PIF to be a tool for achieving this.

In 2017, PIF partnered with Japanese tech company SoftBank to create the largest tech investment fund in history. In 2019, it became the full owner of Neom, a planned futuristic city. It bought large stakes in Live Nation, Facebook, Boeing, and dozens of other prominent companies.

In 2021, PIF closed a deal to buy English Premier League club Newcastle United. It then launched LIV Golf, which offered the largest golf prizes in history and used them to poach top players from the PGA Tour, which dominates professional golf.

Even those who criticized Saudi joined the league: Phil Mickelson called the Saudis "scary motherf–kers to be involved with” and said, "We know they killed [journalist Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights," then signed a $200M contract to join LIV, calling it "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Mickelson wasn’t alone in criticizing Saudi’s increasing role in global sports. PIF’s purchase of Newcastle was almost blocked and the other English clubs criticized it. Human rights groups accused Saudi of “sportswashing,” or using sports to clean its public image.

But PIF continued to invest aggressively in sports, including soccer.

This January, a Saudi club signed Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to a $75M/year contract. The Saudi league proceeded to sign huge deals with a dozen other European stars, including Karim Benzema, the current world soccer player of the year.

PIF largely financed these offers – including an effort to sign Lionel Messi – by investing huge sums in the Saudi Premier League and its teams. Messi denied the Saudi offer and signed with FC Miami instead.

The Saudis then set their sights on another superstar last week: Kylian Mbappé. Mbappé, 24, is a French superstar who plays for Paris club PSG. Mbappé has indicated he won’t stay with PSG after next year, and last week, the club began soliciting offers to offload him now.

PIF-owned Al-Hilal immediately came in with an eye-popping deal: A record-breaking $332M payment to PSG, and for Mbappé, a $221M base salary and 100% of the rights to his image, which is worth hundreds of millions. The offer may have made Mbappé the highest-paid athlete in history. To seal the deal, a Saudi delegation flew to Paris last week to meet him.

But last Thursday, Mbappé declined the invitation and rejected the offer. He now reportedly plans to take a contract with Real Madrid instead, which will likely pay him less but still hundreds of millions.

The PIF can buy a lot, but it couldn’t buy Messi or Mbappé.

If you have thoughts, let us know at [email protected]!

 🌊 Roca Clubhouse

Yesterday's Poll:

Better movie:
Barbie: 9%
Dr. Phil: 13%
Haven’t seen either: 78%

Yesterday's Question:

What is the most useless invention of all time?

Jazmin from New York City: "BUBBLE GUM Here, in NYC, it litters the streets with black dots from the humanity stepping on it….so disgusting…"

Ann: "Social media! Haha, I know it isn't evil incarnate, but it is generally counter-productive. It claims to be a "social" thing, but mostly provides a way for people to feign connection without ever going anywhere or speaking to people face to face, thus eliminating actual connection. And when we are with our friends, sometimes we are all on social media, making it worse than useless. Social media is certainly not a need, at least. If we learned anything from the COVID shutdowns, it's that physical connections are hugely impactful, especially in a nation with a mental health crisis and growing anonymity. Beware the algorithm...lol.”

Chris: "The most useless invention might be those ridiculous car lashes”

Vicki from Romania: “Politicians”

Shawn from Bedford, Indiana: “I don’t know if you’d call it an invention but recognizing daylight savings time is one of the dumbest things this country does. When the sun comes up you go to work. When it goes down you go to sleep. It’s called circadian rhythm. Daylight savings time is why people are drinking caffeine to stay awake and taking a sedative to fall asleep.”

🧠 Final Thoughts

Happy August, all. It's hard to believe seven months are already behind us this year. We hope that even if you aren't being offered an Mbappé-levl $221M-a-year salary, your next five are great!

—Max and Max