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- 🌊 Jeffrey Who? What List?
🌊 Jeffrey Who? What List?
Plus: China's Starbucks comes to the US, Bumble's CEO tells employees to "be adults", & F1 has blockbuster week!
The day we invented sliced bread.
On this day in 1928, sliced bread was sold for the first time in recorded history. Yes, humans had developed the wheel, internal combustion engine, and the airplane before we dreamed up the culinary breakthrough that is the dissected loaf. Our question is what was the best thing before sliced bread. It was cocaine in soda, wasn’t it?
🤔 No Epstein list?
☕️ China's new Starbucks rival!
🎥 Apple's biggest movie yet
–Max and Max
KEY STORY
China’s Starbucks Comes to US
Luckin Coffee, China's largest coffee chain, opened its first two US locations in New York City last Monday, directly challenging Starbucks on its home turf
Luckin expanded rapidly in China before facing delisting from Nasdaq in 2020 due to an accounting scandal. After a leadership change, the company rebounded and overtook Starbucks to become China's biggest coffee retailer in 2023
Starbucks, meanwhile, has struggled with declining US sales and lost market share in China to lower-priced local competitors
Last week, Luckin opened its first two US stores, indicating a coffee battle between the two giants
Dig Deeper
Luckin's business model mirrors Starbucks’ with mobile ordering, in-store pickup, and a rewards system that includes points for discounts and chances to win free coffee for a year. While the company used an aggressive pricing strategy to dominate in China, its prices in New York are comparable to Starbucks’: A 16 oz cold brew sells for $4.95, versus $4.75 at Starbucks
Luckin’s expansion comes as Starbucks faces challenges on multiple fronts: The company is working to bring foot traffic back into its stores, increase US staffing to improve service speeds, and defend its position in China, among other goals
KEY STORY
Bumble CEO: Calm Down
Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd told staff to “be adults” after laying off 30% of the company’s staff
Bumble’s market value is down 95%+ since the company’s 2021 IPO, from $13B to $700M. Its falling revenues have prompted speculation that it may be going out of business, something Herd said she is “worried” about
Last week she announced 240 layoffs, prompting staff to react with negative emojis
“I see a lot of freaking-out emojis, y’all need to calm down…This is being taken out of context. I like London and I think everyone is overreacting to this,” she said. “Everyone’s going to have to be adults in dealing with this”
Dig Deeper
Herd added that “dating apps are feeling like a thing of the past”
The statement comes with the valuation of Match Group – which owns dozens of dating services, including Tinder, Hinge, and Match.com – down 83% as its revenue and user numbers stall
KEY STORY
Gaza Relocation Planning
A Financial Times report found that the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and ex-UK PM Tony Blair’s institute have been advising on a plan to relocate Gazans from the Gaza Strip
Per the FT, BCG – one of the world’s top consulting firms – created financial models for Gaza’s postwar reconstruction. Among various components, BCG forecasted that if Gazans were given “relocation packages” worth $9,000 per person, 500,000+ would leave
The FT also reported that staffers at the Tony Blair Institute drafted a document that proposed making a “Gaza Riviera” with Dubai-esque artificial islands, blockchain-based trade initiatives, a deep water port, and low-tax “special economic zones”
Dig Deeper
The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) did not author or endorse the final slide deck, the FT reported, but at least two staff members at TBI advised on the project, writing that the Gaza war had “created a once-in-a-century opportunity to rebuild Gaza…as a secure, modern prosperous society”
The news comes after it emerged that BCG had helped establish the new US-Israel backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which has taken over aid delivery in the strip and been blamed by rights groups for causing hundreds of deaths. BCG has said a partner took on the work – which netted the company $4M – without company permission: “The lead partner was categorically told no, and he violated this directive. We disavow this work,” the company said
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Compromise is a virtue to be cultivated, not a weakness to be despised
KEY STORY
Tariff Week Begins
President Trump’s 90-day Liberation Day tariff pause is set to end on Wednesday, triggering last-minute negotiations
Trump imposed baseline 10% tariffs on trading partners in April, with higher reciprocal rates paused for 90 days to allow negotiations. The pause expires this Wednesday, though, with all but three countries – the UK, China, and Vietnam – having failed to reach deals
On Sunday, Trump said he would start sending letters Monday at noon to notify countries of their new tariff rates. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent added that the letters would warn trading partners to reach deals or face returning to April tariff levels by August 1
Dig Deeper
"President Trump is going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners saying that if you don't move things along, then on August 1st, you will boomerang back to your April 2nd tariff level," Bessent told CNN
Trump has said that tariff rates would range from 10% to 70%, although on Sunday, he threatened an additional 10% tariff on countries aligning with BRICS nations' "anti-American policies" following the bloc’s weekend summit in Brazil. Those countries include Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, among others
RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office
⚖️ The Justice Department (DOJ) and FBI announced that their investigation has concluded that Jeffrey Epstein was not murdered, did not blackmail powerful figures, and did not keep a "client list"
🏎️ "F1: The Movie" has become Apple's highest-grossing theatrical release ever, reaching $293M globally and surpassing "Napoleon's" $221M record
📱 Twitter founder and Block CEO Jack Dorsey unveiled Bitchat, a decentralized messaging app that works entirely over Bluetooth networks without internet, servers, or phone numbers
📉 Tesla shares fell 6.8% Monday after CEO Elon Musk announced plans to form a new political party, escalating his feud with President Trump
🌊 The death toll in the Texas July 4 floods was confirmed to have reached 100+, while an unknown number of people remain missing
What does Roca Nation think?
🇺🇸 Yesterday’s Question: Tell us the highlight of your Fourth!
A fire department ambulance (no lights) pulled into my parents' cul-de-sac during the neighbors' fireworks show, and the paramedics walked towards all of us. Some of the dads went to talk to them, and the paramedics said, "Yeah, fireworks are illegal here, but we're not the police. We just like fireworks. You guys aren't finished, are you?" They joined us for the end of the show!
PS this is in Wisconsin, where everybody sets off fireworks.
My family traveled to the Blue Ridge Mountains for the 4th of July and we were fortunate to spot several black bears near our cabin! We captured a really cute video of one of the bears standing on its hind legs, scratching its back against a tree trunk. Thankfully we were careful to remove all of our food from our car and lock it as soon as we arrived. Such a cool experience!
I work with international students as part of a Christian nonprofit, helping facilitate a club on my local college campus to help students feel welcomed and find community. With the way international students are under fire these days, there's never been a time when my job has felt more important. We kept up our annual 4th of July tradition of having a backyard barbecue at my house with the students, and then taking them to the nearby regional park for a big fireworks show. Everyone had a great time. Somehow, with everything going on in the world, celebrating the 4th of July with international students just felt especially right this year.
🤨 Today’s Question: What's something that's “not a cult” but feels like a cult?
ROCA WRAP
The Rise and Fall of Roman Starovoyt
On Monday morning, Roman Vladimirovich Starovoyt woke up as Russia's transport minister. By evening, he was dead – found in his Tesla Model X in a Moscow suburb with a gunshot wound, in what investigators ruled an apparent suicide. The 53-year-old's death came just hours after President Vladimir Putin dismissed him from his post without explanation.
Born in Kursk, a Russian region on the Ukraine border, on January 20, 1972, Starovoyt grew up the son of a father who worked at nuclear power plants. After graduating from a prestigious university in 1995, though, Starovoyt chose business over nuclear engineering, becoming executive director of a regional investment agency at just 23. Starovoyt spent the 1990s navigating post-Soviet privatization, running an asset management company before moving into construction.
His break came through St. Petersburg's government investment committee, where he worked from 2005 to 2010. This role – in Putin's hometown and a crucial political and business networking hub – gave him visibility with federal officials seeking loyal technocrats. In 2010, Moscow recruited him as deputy director of the country’s industry ministry. By 2012, he headed the Federal Road Agency, managing Russia's massive highway budget and demonstrating the large-scale project management skills highly valued in Putin's infrastructure-focused government.
In October 2018, Starovoyt became governor of his native Kursk Oblast. As governor of this Ukrainian border region, he oversaw massive fortification projects following Russia's 2022 invasion. He was given 19B rubles (around $241M USD) to complete his main task: Building fierce border defenses that would symbolize Russia's determination to create an impenetrable border.
On August 6, 2024, those defenses faced their ultimate test when Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion into Kursk Oblast. Ukrainian troops rapidly captured 1,000 square kilometers and 28 settlements, exposing fatal flaws in Russia's border security. Military analysts later reported that poorly maintained barriers actually slowed Russian counterattacks rather than stopping the Ukrainian advance.
The strategic disaster prompted Putin to transfer Starovoyt to the transport ministry in May 2024 – presented as a promotion but understood as a face-saving move away from his border role. As transport minister, Starovoyt faced new challenges as Ukrainian drone campaigns increasingly disrupted Russian aviation. The weekend before his dismissal, 485 flights were canceled and 1,900 delayed due to drone attacks, showcasing Russia's vulnerability and the transport sector's wartime struggles.
Meanwhile, prosecutors were building a corruption case around the Kursk fortifications. In April 2025, his successor as governor, Alexei Smirnov, was arrested for embezzling over one billion rubles from border defense funds. Russian media reported that key witnesses had implicated Starovoyt in the original contract violations, expanding the investigation beyond his successor.
On Monday morning, Putin issued a decree dismissing Starovoyt without explanation. The Moscow Times subsequently quoted a prominent political analyst as saying, “The Kursk region situation has caught up with him." Hours later, Starovoyt's body was discovered dead in his car in a Moscow suburb.
Whether actually a suicide or the result of nefarious actions, Starovoyt’s demise appears to have resulted from his downfall at Kursk.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts
To shorten this newsletter — especially with so many of you getting our We The 66 original reporting newsletter now — we are getting rid of the Happy Hour news section and turning the Wrap into a “Person of the Day” story.
If you have any suggestions for that, let us know! It could be someone famous or someone you know personally.
–Max and Max