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Blue Chip

Want to look like Ellen DeGeneres? Get to Walmart.

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Walmart is partnering with… you guessed it – none other than Ellen DeGeneres. Ellen’s clothing line will be called ‘EV1’ and will debut online and at 2,300 locations. The collection will have around 60 items, which includes jeans, t-shirts, and sneakers. Even better, each item will cost just $30 or less (it’s Walmart, what did you expect?).

 

It’s all about the brand… and this brand is inspired by inclusiveness which is what Walmart aims to project. Well, inclusiveness and a better fashion sense. As a result, this partnership with a celebrity like Ellen should help Walmart attract younger and more diverse shoppers because the company now has even more to offer.

 

You would never consider Walmart… for clothing. However, the company has acquired Shoebuy, Bonobos, ModCloth, and Moosejaw. These acquisitions give Walmart (and you) premium clothing options as well as the good old store brand. It seems to be working, too – Walmart saw its fastest growth in a decade last quarter. And they looked good while doing it.

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Start-up

How this startup went from BILLIONS to BROKE

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That’s all she wrote… for Theranos, a biotech startup out of Silicon Valley once valued at $9 billion in its heyday. The blood-testing company promised a cheaper, more efficient alternative to medical tests.

 

Now, no one wants it… and the investment bank working with Theranos contacted over 80 potential buyers – and nothing. The downfall began after Wall Street investigative reporter John Carreyrou exposed the company’s technology and caused Theranos to void two years’ worth of blood tests. I don’t know anything about blood testing, but I do know that is two years down the drain.

 

99 problems… and regardless of what they are, that is a lot of problems. Last June, former CEO Elizabeth Holmes was indicted on federal wire fraud charges. Additionally, Holmes and former COO Ramesh Balwani allegedly schemed to defraud investors, doctors, and patients out of millions. You can see why these guys collapsed. The company still owes at least $60 million to creditors – I wonder if anyone will accept Schrute Bucks?

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Miscellaneous

Whether you win or lose, the NFL wins every time

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The real winner is… the National Football League. According to a study by Nielsen for the American Gaming Association, the league stands to gain about $2.3 billion in revenue from legalized sports gambling. Somewhere around $1.4 billion will come from increased rights fees, and the rest will be made up of ticket sales, advertising, sponsorships, and deals from gambling services.

 

This isn’t chump change… because the NFL brought in $8.2 billion last season. You do the math – that’s an increase of over 25% from sports betting alone. The theory is that more people will watch the games that they put money on. Now that sports betting is legal, we can expect more people will be betting and more games watched, as a result.

 

Here is where it’s legal… New Jersey, Delaware, Mississippi, and West Virginia – that’s it for now. However, other states are likely to follow suit before the year-end. Within two to three years the majority of states will loosen up and allow some form of sports gambling. So if it comes to your state, be sure to play responsibly – and never bet on the Browns (no matter how “sick” they look this year).

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Blue Chip

Here’s what Trump REALLY thinks about Nike

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Okay, his reaction wasn’t that bad… here’s what the president had to say, “I think it’s a terrible message and a message that shouldn’t be sent. There’s no reason for it.” However, Trump also acknowledged that it was Nike’s choice to make. Speaking of free choice, Nike also chooses to be a tenant at Trump properties.

 

A far cry from his former opposition… where Donald Trump suggested that NFL players lose their job for taking a knee during the national anthem. Trump went on to acknowledge, “In another way, it is what this country is all about, you have certain freedoms to do things that other people think you shouldn’t do, but I personally am on a different side of it.”

 

Ready for controversy… is Nike, which became very apparent once news broke of the company backing Kaepernick. Apart from Trump, the hashtag ‘#NikeBoycott’ was trending on Twitter and, predictably, some customers even destroyed their Nike products. Nike shares are up close to 30% this year even after the Kaepernick backlash. And hopefully, we can put this story to be now…

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