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- 🌊 The World's First $5T Company
🌊 The World's First $5T Company
Plus: AI job cuts, interest rate cuts, & the last samurai
Insane stat from a piece we’re working on…
We’re writing a piece on the mind-boggling salaries of top athletes — particularly NBA players — and have to share this finding. If you were to combine the list of highest-paid athletes with highest-paid CEOs, eight of the top 10 would be athletes. Eight of the top 10! Counting endorsement money, five US athletes made over $100M last year: Steph Curry, Dak Prescott, Lionel Messi, LeBron James, and Juan Soto. The whole “eat the rich” crowd doesn’t seem to mind the rich if they can hit an Aroldis Chapman fastball over the right-field wall. Anyways — as someone cut from my middle school basketball team in Latrobe, PA (no personal animus involved whatsoever) — I had to share that with you.
😎 The world's first $5T company
🤖 The AI job cuts
🗡️ The last Samurai
–Max and Max
KEY STORY
Nvidia Becomes First $5T Company
Nvidia reached a $5T market valuation on Wednesday, becoming the first company in history to cross that milestone
The milestone came after CEO Jensen Huang revealed plans to build seven supercomputers for the US government and that the company had secured $500B in orders for AI chips over the next five quarters
In recent months, Nvidia has announced major partnerships that have driven its stock higher, including a planned $100B investment in OpenAI and a $5B investment in Intel. On Tuesday, Nvidia announced a $1B investment in Nokia, making the chip giant one of Nokia's largest shareholders. Nokia will use Nvidia's technology to upgrade its wireless networks with AI capabilities
Just three years ago, before OpenAI's ChatGPT launched, Nvidia was valued at approximately $400B
Dig Deeper
The flurry of deals has raised concerns among some investors and analysts about an AI bubble, particularly as technology companies pour hundreds of billions into data centers and chips while current revenue remains relatively small
However, critics worry that if AI spending slows, Nvidia could be hurt through both lower sales and declining value of its investments in other AI companies. One analyst warned, "The moment investors start demanding cash-flow returns instead of capacity announcements, some of these flywheels could seize"
KEY STORY
Companies Cite AI as Reason for Job Cuts
Major employers announced tens of thousands of job cuts this week, with companies citing artificial intelligence (AI) as a key factor
For years, discussions about AI replacing jobs focused on the future, but recent layoffs suggested the technology was already eliminating white-collar positions. Jobs requiring bachelor's degrees and higher pay were particularly vulnerable to AI
On Tuesday, Amazon announced it would eliminate approximately 14,000 corporate roles. Also on Tuesday, UPS announced it had reduced its workforce by 48,000 positions over the past year. On Monday, Chegg said it would cut 388 jobs, about 45% of its workforce, as it pivoted to an AI model
Data showed that AI ranked third among the reasons for corporate job cuts in September
Dig Deeper
A study from career site Indeed found that roughly one-quarter of technology industry workers said they had experienced layoffs or role eliminations due to AI adoption during the past two years
Amazon's CEO had said in June that the increased use of AI tools would likely lead to further job cuts, particularly through automating repetitive and routine tasks
A Microsoft study found that office and administrative support, business and financial operations, management, and sales-related jobs were among the occupations most at risk of being replaced by AI
KEY STORY
Sudan Massacre Visible From Space
Satellite imagery revealed bloodstains so large they could be seen from space following the capture of El Fasher, Sudan, by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group
Sudan's civil war began in April 2023 when the RSF and the country's military turned on each other. El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, had been the last remaining government-controlled city in the region and held out against an RSF siege for over 500 days before falling over the weekend
Videos that emerged from the city showed RSF fighters shooting civilians at close range. One RSF brigadier general boasted in a video that he may have killed more than 2,000 people
The World Health Organization reported that 460 patients and their companions were killed at Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher
Dig Deeper
Aid workers reported that men and teenage boys were being separated from their families and beaten, tortured, or killed. The UN Human Rights Office said it received "multiple, alarming reports" that RSF forces were "carrying out atrocities, including summary executions"
US diplomats met with officials from both the RSF and Sudan's military on Thursday and Friday to persuade them to agree to a three-month ceasefire, but both sides rejected the ceasefire
The RSF has received weapons and support from the United Arab Emirates, while the Sudanese military has received weapons from Iran and Turkey
KEY STORY
Fed Cuts Interest Rates
The Federal Reserve reduced interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, lowering its benchmark rate to a range of 3.75% to 4%
The Fed cut rates by 1 percentage point across three meetings in late 2024 before pausing in January to assess the impact of President Trump's trade and immigration policies
The rate cut came almost one month into the federal government shutdown, which has left the Fed without key economic data it normally relies on to make decisions. The shutdown has forced the Fed to rely more heavily on private-sector data and reports from regional Fed banks
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in his press conference that officials were deeply divided on what to do next: "A further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a foregone conclusion. Far from it"
Dig Deeper
The rate cut passed with a split vote, with Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid wanting to keep rates unchanged and the newly appointed Fed Governor Stephen Miran pushing for a larger half-point cut
Trump has called on the Fed to cut rates faster, repeatedly attacking Powell publicly. Trump also installed Miran, his own economic adviser, as a Fed governor and has attempted to fire Lisa Cook, a Biden appointee, marking unprecedented presidential interference with the traditionally independent central bank
The central bank announced it would stop shrinking its bond holdings starting December 1, which will keep more money flowing through the financial system that can help lower borrowing costs and support economic activity
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Coming to Japan was like taking LSD for the first time. Everything shifts. You can't unsee what you've seen. It fundamentally changes your perspective on the world.
RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office
📉 The US and South Korea finalized a trade agreement that reduces reciprocal tariffs from 25% to 15%. A South Korean military band welcomed Trump with a “YMCA” cover as troops fired guns in salute.
🏛️ President Trump fired all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA), which was set to review his controversial White House ballroom project.
📊 The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported that the federal government shutdown will cost the US economy between $7B and $14B.
🧑🏭 GM announced plans to lay off over 3,300 hourly workers at plants in Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee starting in January, with more than 1,700 facing indefinite layoffs.
👮 Over 100 people were killed in Rio de Janeiro after a police raid against the Comando Vermelho drug cartel became the city's deadliest operation in history.
What does Roca Nation think?
🇺🇸 Yesterday’s Question: A new poll showed that only 36% of Democrats feel “extremely” or “very” proud to be an American, compared to 92% for Republicans. Why the large gap?
I think the largest contributing factor is that Democrats have not been able to put forth a leader that unites them and they are proud to rally around since Obama. That and their tendency to point to all of the great things about other nations without appreciating the negative parts of those societies. The other side of that coin is that republicans tend to be blindly patriotic and believe that we are the best country in the world despite evidence that there are plenty of areas where we can improve.
I’m sure you’ll get responses ranging from “they’re snowflakes” to “it’s being run into the ground by an orange man” but I think it’s a lot more nuanced than that. I think there’s a lot of factors so i’ll just give my top 3.
1. Algorithms. The social media being fed to each side is COMPLETELY at odds with what the other is seeing. Especially in a Republican administration, dems will engage with and in return be fed only negative stories about the doom of the admin while republicans are likely being fed stories justifying actions the admin is taking. As Roca (and spending time in a local community) shows, neither side is getting the full picture.
2. The lack of tolerance for conversation. One of my favorite things about Roca is seeing other perspectives (even when I disagree) without it devolving into meaningless insults on both sides. My biggest issue with the left is the lack of willingness to have open debate. I can understand some reasoning, but it makes zero progress and is a big thing holding the party back. Look up Daryl Davis and how he used conversation to get people out of the KKK for example (Roca pls do a deep dive on this guy).
3. Republicans view of “if you don’t like it here then leave”. This saying discourages the right from having more criticism of American policies, even those where policy change would benefit them. Often the left is more critical and vocal about large change, which inherently (I think) is Pro-American to want America to be the best it can be, but it’s often taught that criticism = Anti-America on both sides, leading the left to feel discouraged and not prideful.
Sorry for the lengthy response and interested to see other POVs here.
I think its hard to be very proud of america when you know its past. dozens of governments (many democraticly elected) overthrown for economic gain in south america, asia, and most recently the middle east (look up Smedley Butler). Our laws against interracial marriages and second class citizenship of the indians were studied and used by the nazis along with our forced migrations and concentration camp. legalized slavery through the 13th amendment. spending 8 trillion dollars to kill a million people in a nebulous war on terror that we can still see the effects of today. those are just the things i could remember
most republicans would probably say those things are in the past and have no bearing on us but you can’t build a country on top of a indian burial ground and not expect to be haunted, it seeps into our collective consciousness. that being said there are things to be proud of.
🇺🇸 Today’s Question: The last time America was this polarized, a Civil War broke out. Is it possible to break out of this cycle without a civil war?
POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour
📨 Return to Sender: Two messages in a bottle were discovered over a century later on a remote Western Australian beach, written by Australian soldiers sailing to WWI battlefields in France in 1916.
🚶♀️ Trail Blazer: An 80-year-old retired Michigan teacher completed the entire 2,197-mile Appalachian Trail, becoming the oldest woman ever to thru-hike it.
🔞 Character Limit: Character.ai became the first major AI company to ban users under 18 from chatting with its chatbots, citing insufficient understanding of long-term AI usage effects on young people.
🙈 Gone Bananas: A truck carrying 21 research monkeys overturned on a Mississippi interstate, leaving three rhesus macaque monkeys on the loose, as authorities struggled to determine who owns or was transporting the animals.
🏄♀️ Wave Goodbye to the Record: An Austrian surfer spent over eight hours continuously riding a man-made wave to break the Guinness World Record for the longest time surfing a single wave.
ROCA WRAP
The Last Samurai
Saigō Takamori
This military leader helped overthrow Japan's shogunate, then died leading a rebellion against the government he created.
Born into a low-ranking samurai family in Kagoshima in 1828, Saigō Takamori grew up in poverty with sixteen relatives to support. A sword injury at thirteen pushed him toward scholarship over combat. At sixteen, he began collecting taxes, witnessing how government levies devastated peasant families.
In 1854, Saigō was unexpectedly promoted to serve as a secret messenger for the progressive lord Shimazu Nariakira. When his patron died in 1858 and opponents seized power, Saigō attempted suicide by drowning. He survived while his companion monk drowned. Authorities exiled him to a remote island where he married locally and had two children. Recalled after three years, he was exiled again to an even harsher island, where he spent six months in an outdoor cage, composing poetry and developing a philosophy centered on duty and virtuous action even unto death.
Pardoned in 1864, Saigō helped forge a secret alliance between rival clans and led forces that defeated the shogun's army in 1868. He negotiated the bloodless surrender of the shogun's castle, preventing urban devastation and establishing the new Meiji government with the emperor restored to power.
Saigō commanded the Imperial Guard but grew uncomfortable with rapid Westernization. In 1873, he resigned after colleagues rejected his proposal to provoke war with Korea. Back home, he established military schools that became centers for disaffected samurai. When the government attempted to seize weapons and reports of assassination plots emerged in 1877, his students seized the arsenal. Though appalled, Saigō felt compelled to lead them.
His 12,000-man rebel army marched north but was crushed by superior government forces. On September 24, shot and unable to continue, he reportedly faced the Imperial Palace and was beheaded by his companion. Though he died a rebel, the government pardoned him in 1889, transforming him into a symbol of samurai virtue.
For a man who survived two exiles and overthrew a regime only to die fighting the government he created, becoming a legend was the strangest outcome of all.
EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts
A reader wrote to us regarding yesterday’s intro:
“Guys - we all have biases and you have yours. People didn’t unsubscribe from the WaPo because they didn’t endorse Kamala. They unsubscribed because they chose as an editorial board to endorse her and Bezos et al wouldn’t allow it. That is not the same thing. I’m quite certain you know this.”
The reader is correct in that Bezos’ intervention prompted the mass exodus, but it’s not too different from what we’re saying. The WaPo hired the moderate Will Lewis in late 2023 to move the paper to the center, and the reader/writer revolt at the WaPo began around then. The endorsement pullback was just the final blow for many. And we stand by our claim that outlets should not endorse presidential candidates.
–Max and Max