The Peak Daily

Spotify gained two million new paying subscribers over Q1 and its total monthly average of paid and unpaid users rose to 422 million, representing a net gain of 16 million in the period—but the news wasn’t enough to stop the stock from hitting an all time low. Canada’s Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development released five new reports and taking the Canadian government to task on its climate initiatives. And the most damning finding was that carbon emissions fell just 1.1% between 2005 and 2019, and since 2015 emissions have actually risen. Boston-based Fidelity Investments is planning to let investors put a Bitcoin account in their 401(k)s, the first major retirement-plan provider to do so Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Elections Canada is undergoing a digital makeover that includes virtual offices and modernizing record-keeping. The EU has issued a warning to Elon Musk over Twitter’s (still feels weird saying that), making it clear that, free speech plans aside, Twitter must comply with the EU’s new digital regulations or risk being fined up to 6% of their total revenue or even banned outright in the Eurozone. Canada is caught between two calls: to boost oil and gas production to help with the global energy crisis while simultaneously meeting its ambitious climate targets and achieve net-zero by 2050. And RBC says Canada can do both but it won’t be easy or cheap. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

As China continues to keep much of Shanghai in lockdown as it combats a mass Covid outbreak, Chinese stocks have fallen to their lowest levels in over two years with two main stock indexes falling 5% Monday. Beekeepers across Canada are buzzing with concerns over alarmingly high bee mortality rates owing to damages from the (menacingly named) Varroa destructor mite, with some keepers in Manitoba and Ontario seeing losses of up to 90%, much higher than typical mortality rates of 20-30%. Twitter has accepted Elon Musk’s bid to take over the company for $45.5 billion, closing out days of discussions between Musk and the company’s board after the billionaire presented a “best and final” offer days ago. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Lululemon is launching two membership plans later this year in a bid to drive customer brand loyalty and help reach its ambitious goal of doubling sales to US$12.5 billion by 2026. Angus Reid **released a new survey that found 51% of Canadians favour abolishing the monarchy in Canada A Twitter Canada executive has reportedly likened the federal government’s plan to regulate the internet to the approach of authoritarian countries like North Korea and Iran, per The Globe and Mail. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Telsa CEO Elon Musk confirmed that, between his own considerable wealth and loans from banks led by Morgan Stanley, he has lined up the financing to buy Twitter, which is something you can do when you’re the richest person in the world As companies continue to raise prices to offset inflation, wage hikes and product shortages, sales numbers from Nestle and P&G (the world’s largest CPG companies by revenue) indicate that shoppers are still spending like it’s 2019 Last year Shopify said it was “arming the rebels” against Amazon, and now Amazon is striking back through a “Buy With Prime” service that will allow businesses to offer Prime shopping features—like free shipping and next-day delivery—for products sold through their own websites. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Rogers announced a double dose of good corporate news yesterday, posting a 7% quarterly year-over-year revenue increase for wireless services and confirming the company is on track to close its $26 billion acquisition of Shaw by the end of June. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is urging lawmakers to terminate the self-governing privileges that Disney World holds in the state Inflation rose 6.7% from the prior year in March, a full percentage point higher than February’s 5.7% pace and the highest rate since the GST took effect in 1991 Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

The Canadian Real Estate Association and the Toronto and Vancouver real estate boards are gearing up to fight a proposed ban on ‘blind bidding’ for houses—which keeps potential homebuyers in the dark about the other bids on a property. Netflix has reported that its earnings dropped last quarter, but it’s hardly the only video streaming service struggling to attract new subscribers and some are even considering adding an advertising tier for the first time. Coachella the music festival (dubbed the SuperBowl of fashion) for the who’s who of influencing returned this past weekend, giving fashion brands a boost after two years of stay-at-home chic (sweatpants). Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

A new report from PitchBook found that venture capital investment in Canadian startups surpassed $13.6 billion in 2021, crushing the previous record of $5.8 billion in 2019—and the good times are rolling on, with investment set to match that pace this year. Here’s an obstacle Tesla may not have seen coming: a crackdown by US regulators on its self-driving technology that could make consumers think twice about the promise of autonomous vehicles and threaten the company’s sky-high valuation. Quebec became the first jurisdiction in the world to ban oil and gas extraction and exploration last week, with all current drill sites shutting down within the next three years. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

The federal government is writing off $20 million paid to Ottawa-based Spartan Bioscience for COVID tests that didn’t work. OpenAI’s widely hyped DALL-E AI image generator can now edit pictures, too. Zoom, the omnipresent conference call platform is venturing into sales automation software (SAS), a space that could grow to a $7.3 billion industry by 2028. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.

Last month, Ontario became the first province to create a law that protects everyday investors from unqualified financial professionals, per The Globe and Mail. “All that and a bag of chips” isn't the compliment it once was, as bags of chips contain fewer salty morsels than ever thanks to “shrinkflation.” The Bank of Canada (BoC) is set to hike interest rates further today, with experts agreeing it will likely be the first “oversized” hike in over two decades—going up half a percentage point instead of the typical quarter percentage point. Celebrating something? Let us know for a shoutout here: https://thepeak.typeform.com/to/GuHjLDoa The Peak Daily is produced by 306 Media Productions. Hosted by Brett Chang and Jay Rosenthal.