Morning Brew Daily - Trump Targets DEI Programs & Walmart Managers Make $600K?

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Episode 504: Neal and Toby recap Trump’s address in Davos at the World Economic Forum where he made strong comments about bringing oil costs and interest rates down. Then, Federal DEI programs are on their way out under the Trump administration. Also, Oscar nominations are out and this year’s Best Picture prize is up for grabs. Meanwhile, Walmart managers are the Stock of the Week and EA is the Dog of the Week. Finally, a roundup of the biggest headlines to close out your week.  Get your MBD hoody for the Winter! https://shop.morningbrew.com/products/morning-brew-daily-sweatshirt?variant=44491852316892 Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. Download the Yahoo! Finance App (on the Play and App store) for real-time alerts on news and insights tailored to your portfolio and stock watchlists. Listen to Morning Brew Daily Here: https://link.chtbl.com/MBD Watch Morning Brew Daily Here: https://www.youtube.com/@MorningBrewDailyShow 00:00 - Dental Debate 02:40 - DEI Policies in Corporate World  07:30 - Trump in Davos 12:15 - Oscar Nominations Released  17:40 - Stock of the Week  21:30 - Dog of the Week  24:00 - Headlines Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marketers, tell us if this sounds familiar. You invest in something that seems incredible like millions of views, but then don't see any revenue. Instead, invest in what looks good to your CFO. LinkedIn Ads generates the highest row ads of all major ad networks. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a $250 credit. Just go to LinkedIn.com slash MBD. That's LinkedIn.com slash MBD. Terms and conditions apply.

Good morning, Brew, Daily Show. I'm Neil Fryman. And I'm Toby Howell. Today, the Oscar nominations are out, but could an AI controversy derail a best picture contender? Then Trump's move to abolish DEI initiatives at the federal level is causing chaos in the corporate world. It's Friday, January 24th. Let's ride. Toby, there's been something bothering me for a few days now.

I went to the dentist earlier this week, and you always brazed for some gentle scolding by the hygienists, you should really floss more. And I was prepared mentally for that. This wasn't my first rodeo, of course. But in this instance, I went in. She cleaned my teeth. And when she was done, she was like, okay, you're good to go. See you in six months.

Absolutely no feedback, positive or negative. Kind of rattled me, I have to say. I mean, my teeth are solid, but are they at a zero feedback level? I thought the dream was to get no feedback. But when it was actually realized, I'm not so sure anymore. would you rather get a lot of dental feedback or none at all? What you just described to me is the ideal dental visit. This isn't a weekly one-on-one with your manager.

You're not looking for actual constructive criticism. The fewer words exchange, the better, in my opinion. If you were looking for words of affirmation, which I think you were, go to your significant other, go to a therapist. They can fill the cavities in your soul and your heart that you are looking for your dentist to fill there. But I am very curious to hear people's thoughts on this because that isn't probably the only dental experience that people have had where they haven't gotten any feedback whatsoever.

So clearly you're still thinking about it. I am still thinking about it. Now a quick word from our sponsor, Yahoo Finance. We are fans to Yahoo Finance over here at MBD because it sets us up to succeed on this show every morning. I can get into the weeds on a certain stock and see if it's a contender for stock of the week or dog of the week. or Dog of the Week. And I can dig into the headlines to find arguments

to support my contention that Challenger's was absolutely snubed at the Oscars this year. It's the perfect place for going deeper than the headlines too. You can get live quotes,

advanced charts, and expert research reports all in one place. So whether you are preparing for a business news show or you just want justice for Trent Resner's soundtrack. Check out Yahoofinance.com.

That's Yahoofinance.com. After years of embracing the... Not loving your AT&T T or T-R-T mobile bill. Yeah, we've been hearing that a lot. Good news. Bring your AT&T or T-R-T mobile bill to Verizon and we'll give you a better deal. So get away from that unfortunate phone bill and get to Verizon. Run, ride, canoe. Whatever it takes, we'll be here. Bring your AT&T or T-NT mobile bill to a Verizon and we'll give you a better deal on the best network on the best network on the best overall network. That's Verizon. Best Network based on root metrics, best overall mobile network performance U.S. Second Half 2025. All rights reserved. It must provide a recent consumer mobile bill in the name of the person, reading me the deal. Additional terms, conditions, and restrictions apply. equitable and inclusive workforce was beneficial, the business world is now grappling with the government's change of course on those issues. Donald Trump has issued multiple executive orders this past week relating to terminating illegal DEI mandates in the federal government. On Monday, he put those who worked in federal DEI offices on administrative leave. And a memo issued this Wednesday warned employees that they could face adverse consequences if they failed to report on anyone continuing to work in DEI for the government.

Some companies like MEDA and Walmart got ahead of the curve and already began to roll back their DEI programs leading up to the election, but others are fighting back against the shift. Speaking at Davos, J.P. Morgan CEO, Jamie Diamond told CNBC to, quote, bring them on when asked about activists pushing the bank to change their existing policies. Costco, Apple, Microsoft, and others have also held fast to their initiatives as well. So, Neil, there's clearly a lot of moves and counter moves going on right now as businesses try to position themselves amongst a shifting cultural and legal landscape when it comes to DEI. It absolutely is shifting. And I want to go back to even before Trump was inaugurated. So in 2020, we saw a boom in DEI. Glassdoor saw a 50% increase in job postings for DEI roles.

That came right after the murder of George Floyd and a lot of corporate America. decided that it was incumbent on them to establish more diversity inclusion initiatives. Fast forward to the first two weeks of this year, ZipRecruiter had 561 postings for DEI job programs. That was a 93% decline from the same period just a year before. So you can really see the boom and bust of this particular department in corporate America. As you mentioned, a lot of companies have been rolling back their DEI policies in recent years. A lot of that, you can draw a through line to the Supreme Court decision that banned affirmative action in higher ed. Now it's on his last legs and all these sweeping, comprehensive, really ambitious executive orders by Donald Trump hopes to deliver the knockout blow.

It does seem like Trump is testing to see whether that Supreme Court decision can actually be extended to private employers. It looks like we're setting up a court battle about if these DEI initiatives can be struck down through executive orders. One of the big tools that these anti-DEI activists are using are trying to bring shareholder proposals to companies to try to ensure that these DII policies are struck down. Their argument is a financial one saying that look at what the federal government is doing. They are changing these DIA policies. that leaves us as shareholders vulnerable to lawsuits against us, meaning like the company that they are shareholders in, if we continue to have these DIY practices in place.

The problem is that those shareholder votes are pretty routinely rejected. A lot have been filed against Apple, Walmart, Starbucks. They have all been handily defeated. They rarely get more than 2% of shareholder support. So even though you hear some noise, when it actually comes down to what shareholders want, They are not supporting these anti-D-EI efforts. And one just happened yesterday.

You mentioned the name before, Costco. Costco's shareholders defeated a proposal against their DEI policies. And Costco has sort of taken the mantle as one of these corporations that says, I know what everybody else is doing. Not everybody else, but a lot of these other companies are doing tractor supply, Harley Davidson, Walmart, McDonald's. We've talked about it on this show. A bunch of companies have rolled back.

But Costco said, no, this is really important to us. It enhances our capacity to attract and retain employees who will help our business succeed. So they rejected that proposal. And a number of other companies have come out and said, no, DIY is really important to us. You can, as Jamie Diamond said, like, come on with the lawsuits. Apple defended its GI policies. Microsoft did as well. Pinterest did as well. And the common thread with all of these companies, Costco Apple, who are trying to preserve their DEI policies is they didn't just start hiring for them in 2020. These policies go back to the 90s and the 2000s.

This has been ingrained in their culture for a long time. They've tried to promote DEI for decades now. So it wasn't these fly-by-night DEI departments that were sprung up post-George Floyd in 2020. The common thread through all of these companies that are the holdouts right now are that they've had these DEI initiatives in place since the 90s. Hope you're wearing Canada goose

and Kashmir because now we're headed on a trip to Davos, Switzerland, the ski town, where the World Economic Forum has been taking place. Top corporate brass, world leaders, and other PJ types have been yacking it up since Monday, but the main subject on everyone's minds, the newly inaugurated President Trump, has been absent. Until yesterday, that is, Trump delivered a virtual address to executives his first major speech since taking office. That was 45 minutes long and particularly newsy, so we'll break down the bits you need to know.

One major development, Trump called on OPEC, a cartel of oil-producing countries, to bring down the price of crude oil, which he linked to ending Russia's war in Ukraine. The thought being Russia funds its military campaign through oil revenues, and if the price dips, their resources dry up. Oil actually did fall 1% on that news. Trump also tried to assert his influence on the Federal Reserve, saying he would, quote, demand that interest rates drop immediately, and likewise, they should be dropping all over the world. world. During his first term, Trump frequently attempted to bully Fed share drone pall to lower rates to little success, but it looks like he's running it back. This pressure campaign worries the vast majority of economists, even conservative ones, because they see the Fed's independence from politics as a key factor in healthy markets. Toby, what stood out to you? Yeah, this was a long and meandering

speech, 45 minutes packed with a lot of stuff to break down. I think if you take it as a whole, though, it was kind of Trump laying out his proposal for almost a carrot and stick approach to how he's going to approach world economics in this next term. So he clearly wants to lower taxes in America to incentivize companies to set up businesses there. And he also wants to raise taxes, raise tariffs on companies outside of America to hopefully offset some of that revenue lost from lowering taxes in America. He definitely wants to produce more oil. Oil was obviously one of the big headline announcements that he has. He thinks it will lower it. energy costs, bring down inflation.

And then he also wants to lower interest rates, which again is something that is more of a want right now than anything else because, again, the Fed does have its independent. So he was trying to lay out this vision that he has to solve everything that is ailing the U.S. economy, bring down those higher prices, bring down those higher taxes, kind of restart manufacturing in the country, and jumpstart a world where the U.S. is the largest energy producer as well and also get those interest rates down. So part of it was, you know, actual vision. Part of it was just kind of hopeful. I'm going to tell Jerome Powell to lower interest rates, but it was quite newsy. It does set up a clash between Trump and Powell because he did frequently

bash Powell in his first term to bring down interest rates. Powell said, you know, I don't know if he even acknowledged Trump. He just said, I'm going to do what the Fed should do. And, you know, most people think that that's the way this should operate. You don't want. the Federal Reserve to have political interest in mind when it's raising and lowering interest rates because if, you know, if the Fed lowers interest rates too much now, that could lead to another bout of inflation, it has to have that long-term view. But it still feels like Trump is going to keep up the pressure on Powell because even after he gave this speech, he goes back to the Oval Office to sign some more executive orders. And he said, I think I know interest rates

much better than they do, they being the Federal Reserve. And then he took a very specific shot at Powell. I think I know them certainly much better than the one who's primarily in charge of making that decision, which is pal. If I disagree, I will let it be known. I just have to emphasize how rare this is and unusual for a president to be involved in interest rate decisions like this. And then finally, just to hammer home the point about Trump wanting to produce more energy, to produce more oil. The problem with this drill, baby drill approach is that demand around the world isn't very strong for oil right now. economies, big world economies, mainly China, are kind of struggling with some of the similar issues that the U.S. is, which is higher inflation, lower job growth. So the United States is producing more oil than any country at any time in history right now. So it's not exactly, oil companies aren't exactly clamoring to get new leases to build new drills. So that is why you saw the oil market kind of react negatively to Trump speaking on it because there just isn't

quite demand to match the supply that Trump wants to bring to the market. Saudi Arabia is quite reluctant to have lower oil prices because, as we've talked about, many times on the show, they've got some big ambitions to build out futuristic cities and diversifying to all these different industries and tech and AI and sports and entertainment. And the way they fund that is through oil revenue. And so they want a higher price so they can fill their coffers and fund those huge plans that they have. The Oscar nominations were released yesterday morning, and unlike the blockbusters that dominated last year's slate, Barbenheimer, this year's nominees are led by more under-the-radar cinema with progressive themes.

Amelia Perez, Netflix's musical about trans identity, scored the most nods of any movie with 13. It's the most nominated non-English language film in Oscars history and the most nominated film in Netflix's history. Another Sleeper Hit is The Brutalist, a low-budget indie epic about a Jewish immigrant in America, which scored 10 nods. The two I just mentioned were nominated for Best Picture, joined by Conclave, The Substance, Nickel Boys, and Nora, I'm Still Here, a complete unknown, and box office juggernauts, Dune Part 2, and Wicked. Of those movies, Wicked is up for the most awards with 10 tying the Brutalist. Unlike last year, when Oppenheimer mostly had Best Picture on Locke, it's a pretty wide open race for the title this time around. We'll find out who wins on March 2nd when the award ceremony is held in Los Angeles. Conan O'Brien is going to host, very pumped about that, but it's expected to be a more subdued event than in past years to reflect the wildfires that devastated parts of L.A. earlier this month.

Yeah, it is a different Oscars ceremony this year, not only because of the wildfires, but also because it is a much more wide open race. Brutalus and Nora Conclave, they all have the joint highest odds for taking home the best picture. It is also interesting because I was looking at the box office hall of the Bruteless so far in the United States. And I can't really even call it a hall because it's just about $8 million. It hasn't been widely released yet. So more people will see it. But it's a pretty low attended so far, Best Picture nominee. It also has some controversy tied to it as well.

The editors of the movie admitted to using AI to touch up and change part of the actor's voices in the movie. Brody has this Hungarian accent, Hungarian is a very difficult language to speak. It has a lot of nuances to it. And they said, listen, if we didn't use these tools, we would still be in post production right now. It was a very tight budget, only $10 million. But again, there is this kind of perception that AI is this replacement for workers, it's taking away workers from creatives, which is why you saw a little bit of controversy with its usage of AI. So certainly a little bit of a different feel from the Barbedenheimer epic of last year's Oscars, but a lot of good movies up for grabs. Many were quick to point out after the backlash to the brutalist using AI

to touch of actors' voices that this is nothing new. AI was used in so many movies in years past. We just weren't all kind of freaking out or knew about it. Get Back by Peter Jackson, that documentary about the Beatles. Without AI, that wouldn't have existed. The Irishman used AI to de age Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, Bohemian Rhapsody, that biopic about Freddie Mercury, Rami Mollick, when he sang those songs, that was actually an amalgamation of multiple different voices.

So if you just go back a little bit in cinema history, you find that using AI is nothing new. Using tech in post production is nothing new. So this brutalist brouhaha might have been a little bit of a nothing burger. And I do

just want to talk about a few snubs real quick before we go to break. My biggest snub was Denzel Washington and Gladiator 2. When Gladiator 2 came out, there was all this talk that he was going to win Best Supporting Actor. He absolutely dominated that movie, and I saw it, and it was not a good movie, but Denzel was fantastic in it.

Didn't even get nominated, which was sad. And then, of course, we talked about it at the top of the show, but Challenger's not getting nominated for Best Original Score is a travesty. Anyone who has seen that movie with Sendea and the tennis, they know that one of the main characters was the soundtrack of that movie. So the fact that it didn't get a nod is heartbreaking to me. Zendaya and the tennis is the most hilarious description of challenges I've ever heard. I'm not going to go into the details. Up next, it is Stock of the Week, dog of the week, dog of the week time. Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari.

In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot Machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a 1.6 million dollar dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club's Toronto members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29th. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. U.N. Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion. We're the Hartford, with decades of experience ensuring millions of unique small businesses when it comes to your small business insurance.

Thank you. One size, absolutely does not fit all. Get a quote. or find an agent today at thehartford.com slash small business. It's Friday, and you know what that means, stock of the week, dog of the week, the segment where Toby and I pick one stock that was inducted into the Hall of Fame like Ichero and another that is still waiting its turn. I won the pre-show, name all the prime numbers in order contest. 59 will get you every time, Toby. So I get to go first.

And my stock of the week is Walmart, but more specifically, the employees who oversee a bunch of Walmart stores. Under a new payment scheme, those regional managers could pull in more dough than your friend in investment banking. According to the Wall Street Journal, Walmart's top regional managers stand to make up to $620,000 per year as a result of higher bonus and stock awards, a 50K bump from their previous ceiling. Sorry, Dwight, assistance to the regional manager are not eligible. The pay bump, which is laden with performance incentives, shows how critical smooth store operations have become for the country's biggest retailer and how hard it is to find people who can do this well, because it is a really demanding job. These managers, known internally as market managers, oversee about a dozen stores apiece, and each store can have 300 employees. The market manager is a road warrior spending long hours driving to each location to ensure the Walmart machine is humming. and boy, it has been humming.

Shares were up more than 80% last year, pushing its market cap to nearly $800 billion. It is fascinating to see someone with the title manager getting this big pay bump, because if you look across corporate America, managers are not exactly popular words and popular positions because a lot of companies are trying to flatten themselves.

There's too many layers of bureaucracy. Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy, has said he wants to increase the ratio of workers to managers. Google CEO, Osunder Peach, I also said that they had cold about 10% of its managerial roles. So in big tech, there is this move to get rid of managers. Walmart, though, is prioritizing them because these are basically like companies in themselves that they're managing.

They're not just managing one store. They're managing a portfolio of the stores. They're going and checking in on each store manager. It is this job that requires management. Like, it is a pure management role. And you see that in just these massive salaries. Every time Walmart kind of publicizes these salaries, This story goes a little bit mini viral because the number is big.

$620,000 if you get full bonuses, that is a hefty chunk of change. The number is big, but when you go and read about the job description, the responsibilities that these people have, it all checks out because I'm looking at this. I'd be like, I am being terrible at this job. This looks so hard. These stores are massive. There's so many moving parts, so many people. And to drive to each one of them, check in, make sure everything's going okay.

Sounds like something I would be absolutely terrible. at and it's sound and you know from at least my perspective this 600k is even a low ball because each of those walmart stores is probably pulling in tens of millions of dollars each year my dog of the week is e a sports because no one is playing its soccer video games anymore it stock fell 16% yesterday after the video game maker reported slumping demand for its fc 25 video game now if you're thinking to yourself fc 25 what even is that well i'm right there with you fc 25 is the first franchise that used to be known as FIFA before the two parties couldn't come to a licensing agreement prompting a name change. But the game sold well last year so you can't pin it all on a

name. Mostly players complained about a lack of innovation as well as some weird in-game physics bugs, which gave the franchise less staying power than its predecessor. That is bad news for EA who relies on its soccer games to be a consistent revenue driver for the company. It is forecasting that its live service net bookings, which is all the money. it makes from micro transactions within the game is set to decline by mid single digits this year. EA shaved about half a billion dollars off its 2025 revenue forecast as well. So these problems are certainly affecting the bottom line. Yikes. I mean, and even the titles that it's trying to roll out to make up for that slump in, I'm just going to call it FIFA, sorry, has not been working out.

It released this new game called Dragon Age. That garnered 1.5 million players during the quarter. perform the company's expectations by nearly 50%. So half of all of people it's it expected to play this game didn't show up. So that is a huge problem. There's a lot of weakness in its soccer game and then everything else is trying to do is also not working out. So EA, that's 16% that's its worst day in many years. Meanwhile, the video game industry is not really thinking about EA. There's a bunch of other exciting things happening separately from this. You got the switch two coming out. You got grant theft. auto 6 coming out in November.

So it's kind of a backwater over there. In EA, yeah. Just something to illustrate that point. EA stock trades at about 17 times its forward earnings estimates. Take 2, which makes GTA. They're trading out about 27 times their forward earnings estimate. So there's clearly a lot more excited for that upcoming GTA franchise. But yeah, when you talk about basically people in the industry call FIFA or FC25, the Swiss

clock of media because it is just so consistent every year. Everyone loves playing FIFA, everyone loves playing FC24, but this year for some reason growth stagnated. People aren't buying as many packs in games when they're making their ultimate team. So that is a huge warning light for EA. If they can't have their day in, day out performer, if that starts to fall off the cliff, then it gets a little ugly for them because they need their, you know, kind of consistent Steph Curry to come out and give him 30 points a game. Right now, he's not playing very well. Now let's sprint to the finish with some headlines from the week's news you may have missed.

Up first, a long and winding chapter in the opioid crisis in America is finally coming to a close. The Sackler family and the company they control, Purdue Farmer, reached a $7.4 billion settlement with a coalition of 15 states over its role in fueling the opioid crisis. Under the agreement, the Sackler family will pay up to six and a half. billion dollars over 15 years, while Purdue Farmer will contribute nearly 900 million. The settlement is one of the biggest payouts to emerge from the U.S. opioid crisis that has led to over 600,000 deaths since 1999, according to the CDC. The money will fund opioid addiction treatment, prevention, and recovery programs

nationwide. It has taken a long time to get here. Remember, they already agreed to a settlement a few years ago where they would pay billions of dollars to fund those. programs and that was hailed as a major victory but the Supreme Court struck down that deal over some bankruptcy terms and that was left that left the claimant saying well okay well all that money is not is not going to to our coffers anymore now they've reached a new deal which is extremely unusual and creative basically it says that

states have to pay into a legal defense fund for the Sacklers the previous settlement said that the stacklers would be shielded from future liability. That was the main sticking point for that. That's why it was rejected. Now they are opening themselves up to liability, but they say that actually the claimants now have to fund a legal defense fund for them as they face future litigation because they are absolutely going to face future litigation. So it's this very weird thing to wrap your mind around where the claimants are paying into a fund to help the sacklers defend themselves against future claimants. Yeah, it is a weird structural.

The Sacklers are not given that automatic protection from liabilities that the previous deal did give them. But victims will also need to agree to not pursue further legal action against the Sacklers in order to receive a payout. So it is complicated. But the main story here is that the number that was agreed to go towards funding those opioid prevention and addiction and recovery programs is gone up. It used to be $6 billion. Now it's $7.5.7.4 billion. And it does seem like slowly this chapter is kind of winding to a close when it comes to the opioid crisis in America. Okay, when was the last time you watched news on cable TV?

Deffining silence, which is why CNN announced a major restructuring yesterday to revive itself in the digital age. Citing, quote, profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences consume news, CEO Mark Thompson said CNN would cut 200 jobs, about 6% of its workforce, in its traditional cable TV business and hire a similar amount in the digital arena. Thompson also said CNN would launch a streaming service for a fee later this year. Ratings have been abysmal for CNN's flagship TV channel, and there's no Trump bump in sight. Just 1.7 million households watch the inauguration midday on Monday, down from 10 million from the previous inauguration in 2021.

So this has become existential for CNN, adapt or die. And it's endemic to the entire cable news industry. I mean, you said deafening silence when asked if people are watching TV. And it's true because overall television viewership of the inauguration was the lowest in over a decade. Less than 25 million people tuned in to watch Trump take the oath to become president. That was down from 34 million who watched Biden, even down from the 31 million who watched Trump in 2017 as well. So it's not just CNN, even though CNN is feeling pressure from both the left, MSNBC, and the right of Fox News.

It's kind of squeezed in the middle somewhere. It is just something that is affecting the entire cable news industry. One of the most sought after modern rookie cards for an MLB player was found this week by an 11-year-old. And now he's deep in negotiations with a ball club who wants it. Collectors have been trying to track down a Pittsburgh Pirates Paul Skeen's autograph card ever since the Flamethrower made his MLB debut. The one-of-one card was pulled by an 11-year-old collector in Los Angeles, prompting the pirates to make him an offer that they think he can't refuse.

The package includes two season tickets behind home plate at Pirates games for 30 years. Also, the chance to host a softball game at the park for three decades and some other Skeen's merch and Meet and Greets. The collector community has pretty unanimously come out and said, no, no, no, that is not nearly enough. Do not take the deal because this card is likely to fetch $1 million or more at auction. Meanwhile, Skeen's girlfriend, Livy Dunn, is also putting up some negotiating options of her own. She said, you can come and watch a game with me.

So we'll see if this 11-year-old kid will take her up on that. But you're right. None of these offers match the monetary value of this card, which is possibly going to be in the six figures. Meanwhile, this kid lives in L.A., and he wants the pirates are asking him to come to Pittsburgh and go to Pittsburgh Pirates games? Like, I would say no to that. That's been the biggest reaction. It's like, what is this deal?

This kid's an 11-year-old. He's got school. Why would he ever want season tickets to a pirate's game? He's not even a Pirates fan, too. He lives in Los Angeles. So a lot of people were saying, absolutely do not take this deal. But good on the Pirates, I guess, for, you know, making news and at least trying to get their hands on this card. Finally, Moodang is so last year.

The Internet's latest obsession is a plant in Australia. Of course, this is no ordinary plant. It's known as a corpse flower. and when it blooms, it releases a horrific smell described as a combo of wet socks, hot cat food, or rotting possum flesh. This particular plant has been dubbed Putricia, a combo of Putrid and Patricia. Because the plants' blooms are so rare, Patricia hasn't flowered in 15 years. This foul event has become a hot ticket at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney, where tens of thousands of people have passed through in recent days to get a whiff of what my hockey bag smells like. But even non-Aossies have gotten in on the fun.

In less than a week, nearly one million people have joined a live stream of Patricia to make jokes, send memes, and riff on the newly created acronyms that have evolved around the blooming, such as WDNRNP. Did I say that right? WDNRP. We do not rush Patricia. WDNRP. It's a rallying cry around the world. The corpse flower is a celebrity whenever it blooms. There's a few around the world.

One in San Francisco. There's another one in San Diego that do become these big events. They make headlines whenever they bloom because they do not bloom very frequently. It takes a lot of energy. This is a big flower we're talking about here. It takes a lot of energy for it to emerge from underground and, you know, spread its smelly wings for the world and pollinators to see. Some presidents of zoos have told news outlets that this is basically like having a panda these days where, remember, pandas are very rare to be in zoo. So whenever one comes to, like, a zoo near you, a lot of people flock to see it.

The corpse flower is the panda of, you know, the fauna. Or the pygmy hippo. Or the pygmy hippo. Right, yeah, we do see these celebrities start to emerge. This one is definitely the smelliest, although maybe Moodyng is. Who knows? Never saw the big me. Don't say anything bad about her.

That is all the time we have. Thanks so much for starting your morning with us. Have a wonderful Friday and an even better weekend. For any questions, comments, or feedback. Send an email to Morning Brew Daily at Morning. Morningbrew.com. And if you're enjoying the show, don't be shy about it. Spread the word to your friends, family, and co-workers. For those of you who need an extra spark of inspiration, Toby's got you covered. I want you to share today's episode with someone who was a late bloomer,

not someone who smells bad, just someone who took a little while to emerge, but is now beautiful and maybe a little smelly. I want you to show the pod with them. Okay, we'll do that. Let's roll the credits. Emily Milliron is our executive producer. Raymond Loo, our producer. Olivia Graham is our associate producer. Yucenoa Ogu is our technical director. Garrett Peck is on audio. Hair and makeup is offering free hair and makeup services for life for the Paul Skeen's card. Devin Emery is our chief content officer, our shows of production of Morning Brew. And go birds.