Aerospace

Some not so bad news about Boeing (finally)

Boeing has finally found success in its recent sea of failures. After a series of costly delays, Boeing was able to launch its Starliner spacecraft on Thursday, marking the company’s first successful launch into outer space.

The historic launch has been in the works for a decade, and Starliner has become the sixth unique manned spacecraft in US history to make it to space. However, (in typical Boeing fashion) only after a sequence of mechanical and software issues, which cost $1.4 billion to resolve, was it able to do so.

Who’s onboard?

Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, two longtime NASA astronauts, were the only crew on Starliner. After arriving on Thursday, they started their 8-day mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and will return to Earth on June 14th.

• Wilmore and Williams, joining seven others on the station, carried a replacement pump to fix the urine processor on the ISS.

  • NASA's water recovery system, which allows the station to recycle 98% of its water, heavily depends on the processor.

The journey wasn’t without error: Helium leaks were discovered throughout the flight, with one before liftoff and three known while the astronauts capsule was already in orbit. It’s the same issue that caused Boeing to abort the two previous launches.

Business

Nvidia is putting up numbers

Nvidia is now one of the world’s most valuable companies after a historic market run. Nvidia passed $3 trillion in market cap last week, adding $2 trillion to its valuation since the start of the year. As investors see the potential for Nvidia chips amid the AI boom, the self-proclaimed “engine of AI” is taking off.

For the first time in history Nvidia passed $3 trillion, surpassing Apple as the second-most valuable publicly traded company in the US, but later falling below them a few days after. Seeing the increasingly considerable demand for GPUs and AI tech, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them rise to the number one spot before long.

Big demand, bigger valuations

Nvidia had previously mainly developed GPUs, a business which saw skyrocketing demand with the arrival of AI and cloud computing. Now, the company has shifted its priorities, focusing on machine learning and training large language models.

Since they made the switch, the tech behemoth has grown so quick its worrying some investors:

• Nvidia, in the last 10 years, has seen its market cap grow by roughly 28,000%.

  • A figure that is all the more impressive when compared to the top two most valuable companies: Microsoft’s market cap has risen by 825% while Apple’s has by 440%.

• The company was trading at $1,208.88 on Friday’s close.

As integral as semiconductor chips are to tech infrastructure, Nvidia will likely see more growth as demand only soars for the technology.

Hit the splits: The software company executed a 10-for-1 stock split on Friday, meaning every individual share gets split into ten. This pushes down the share price, which is now $121.79 (as of writing), making it more accessible for investors.

Tech

Enticing Gen Z is Facebook’s new mission

Facebook wants a rebrand since most young people know it as the place where their uncle posts political views. Most of Gen Z uses TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat much more than the ole’ Facebook. Apparently not satisfied with its boomer audience, the social media platform recently released its plan to bring in more of Gen Z.

According to Pew Research Center, only 33% of those below the age of 18 reported they use Facebook, compared to 59% for Instagram and 63% for TikTok.

It’s a stark contrast to 2014-2015, when Facebook was used by almost two thirds of people in the same age group. It wants them back.

Switching where you swipe

While Meta owns Instagram and Facebook, it claims young people should come to the app because it’s fun and practical:

• Meta thinks Facebook Marketplace, Dating, and Groups will be attractive to those in college and up, rolling much of what they want into one digital platform.

  • Marketplace itself is already a hit among young people, as 25% of 18 to 29 year-olds who use the platform consistently utilize the feature (I can attest to that).

Sharing is also another huge feature Gen Z is enamored with; Facebook itself saw an 80% increase in shares within a year and decided to make DMing your friends videos easier as a result.

It has made some progress: Though it only makes up about one-fifth of its user base in North America, Facebook estimates that it has 40 million daily active users in the US and Canada between the ages of 18 and 29, which is its most in three years.

Grab Bag

Say goodbye to down payments?

Well, sort of. You’ll see what I mean. One of the biggest mortgage lenders in America, United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), is now providing zero-down mortgages, which will open the doors to those wanting to buy a home. However, the practice isn’t perfect.

How does it work?

If you’re a first-time homebuyer that makes 80% of your area’s median income or less, you can take out a mortgage for 97% of the value of the house you buy. Although, the remaining 3%, up to $15,000, becomes a second mortgage that doesn’t accrue interest.

All in all: A ton of young people still want to have a place to themselves, but don’t have the thousands in their accounts necessary to buy one. In Q1 of this year, the average buyer threw down $26,000, which is a steep price for many looking for a new home.

Saudi Arabia is betting it all on sports

Looking to strip itself of its self-proclaimed “oil addiction”, Saudi Arabia wants to diversify. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been trying to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy for years, and now the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is buying anything it can that has to do with sports.

• Oil makes for 40% of Saudi Arabia’s GDP.

Besides diversifying, the country desperately wants to improve its global image, as human rights concerns and climate violations have tarnished its reputation. Sports provide an avenue to do so, and bring in 150 million tourists in a year by 2030, per the NYT.

Big betters

With over $700 billion in the PIF, there’s a lot of funding to throw around and MBS has been adamant in throwing it down the field, spending over $6 billion across multiple sports in the last three years.

It’s comprehensive sports portfolio has grown substantially recently:

The country has also made massive investments in the WWE, tennis, horse racing, cricket, and others. Plus, this doesn’t include the sponsorships by the PIF and organisations involved with the state.

• Play The Game has counted 323 examples of Saudi state-linked sponsorship over a gigantic range of sports.

If they continue to invest in sports at the magnitude they have been, Saudi Arabia might just be able to distract the world enough from its dreadful human rights image, and make some money while doing it.

Fast Facts

Lonely Lovers: Japan's government is debuting its own dating app after finding 70% of its citizens who want to get married aren’t taking any steps to find a significant other. The country had double the amount of deaths than births last year.

Freaky Flu: A man in Mexico died from a type of bird flu that had never been seen in humans before.

Name Numbers: Here’s the most popular last names in every country. 

Godly Ghosts: The Vatican issued new comprehensive guidelines for how the Catholic Church will evaluate faith-based claims of supernatural phenomena, replacing rules set in 1978.

Casino Closing: The Mirage casino in Las Vegas will close in July after 34 years on the Strip, before undergoing renovations to become the Hard Rock Las Vegas in 2027.