🔌 Hertz is going electric

Walt Disney’s convoluted flow chart of revenue streams is getting a new addition.

Earlier this month, Disney released the first batch of trading cards from its upcoming game, “Lorcana,” and they’re already fetching $2k+ on the resale market, per Polygon.

Lorcana was designed…

… in collaboration with board game maker Ravensburger, and is set for a fall 2023 release.

Few details have been released about actual gameplay, but some hints have been dropped about the characters and setting:

• Who: Disney representatives said the game will pull from Disney’s massive catalog of animated characters, but likely won’t dip into other owned properties (e.g., Marvel and Star Wars).
• Where: “Lorcana” is expected to take place in a magical world, and analysts believe “Disney Mirrorverse,” a mobile game the company released in June, could provide a glimpse.

Disney said it hopes to attract both Disney fans who are new to trading card games, and trading card vets looking for a new game.

But why trading cards?

The market, which saw a sharp resurgence during the pandemic, is estimated at $6B+ globally.

• Pokemon cards became so popular that Target stopped selling them over security concerns.
• “Magic: The Gathering,” an OG card game, pulls in ~$1B annually.

Combining its classic characters into one overarching storyline could allow Disney to create a new Marvel-like multiverse that they can repurpose across films and video games.

Picture “Super Smash Bros,” but with Mickey Mouse, Buzz Lightyear, and Cruella de Vil.

For all the talk about EVs, only ~1% of cars on the road in the US are fully electric.

But recent moves by Hertz Global Holdings might help change that, per The Wall Street Journal.

In an effort to electrify 25% of its fleet by 2024, the rental car company — dogged by bankruptcy and accusations of poor customer service in recent years — has struck deals with GM, Tesla, and Swedish automaker Polestar.

The deals…

… should offer Hertz a couple immediate advantages, including:

• Credibility from investors for supporting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives.
• Recognition as the go-to rental car company of the environmentally conscious until competitors catch up.

Hertz’s partners could see long-term benefits as well. Steve Carlisle, president of GM North America, said the deal will give renters a chance to “try before [they] buy,” which could stimulate EV sales.

1) A US judge overturned a policy barring Mexicans from crossing the border to sell plasma. The US accounts for 60% of global plasma collection, being the only country allowing donations up to 104x a year, and Mexican citizens account for 10% of it.

2) Death is a good business — in the US, ~19k funeral homes comprise the $23B industry. Increasingly, private equity firms are rolling up the homes and raising prices.

3) With winter, so come the holiday movies. This year, Hallmark is dropping 40 originals. Female leads can make up to $300k. Male leads, $200k.

4) Universities partnering with LinkedIn released findings from a five-year study on 20m users that expands on our understanding of how weak ties to others positively affect job mobility more than strong ties.

5) Belgium-based artist Dries Depoorter’s latest project, “The Follower,” with 10k+ likes on Twitter, uses AI and public livestreams to identify videos of Instagrammers posing for a photo they later post on social media.