/

January 26th, 2022

It's January 26th, 2022

Dear readers,

Happy Wednesday! We're almost done with the first month of the year.

If you're investing in the stock market or cryptos, it can be hard to feel optimistic, but I'm a contrarian, and I've never been more optimistic.

It's the year of the sweater, and we are deeeeeep in building some really cool new things, including a new version of the New Yak Times.

More on the new and improved NYT in my update.

This week's top stories include:

• What's Happening to The Markets?
• Canada Takes on Putin
• Sarah Palin Vs. The NYT
• RIP Meat Loaf
• Oliver Charles Update

Talking Points:

• The markets are off to the worst start to a year since 2016. Since the start of 2022, stocks are down more than 10%. Bitcoin and Ethereum, two of the largest crypto holdings, are down more than 50% from all-time highs (at the time of writing).
• According to JPMorgan, retail investors offloaded a net $1.36 billion worth of stock by noon on Monday this week, most of it in the first hour.
• Meme coins or "shit" coins have been hit just as hard. DogeCoin has lost 80% of its value since it peaked in May, just before Elon Musk hosted SNL.

Talking Points:

• Tensions are red hot on the Ukrainian border, and it seems as though war might be inevitable. Biden has put 8,500 US troops on high alert, NATO is building forces in surrounding member countries, and embassies in Kyiv are reducing their workforces.
• No one seems to know what Putin is thinking. Since Putin is the only person in charge, it’s hard for anyone to get a read on what might come next.
• What is clear is that Putin has put Russia in the center of the world stage on his terms, and NATO and the US don’t have much diplomatic leverage.

Talking Points:

• Sarah Palin is suing the NYT (not the good one) for defamation. Now, Sarah has been out of the limelight for some time, but this case is a big deal for freedom of the press.
• The super basic premise of the suit: it asks whether or not the media can be prosecuted for being wrong. So naturally, both sides of the aisle are invested.
• The case revolves around an article that falsely linked a 2017 shooting to ads run by Sarah Palin's Super PAC.

Talking Points:

• Known as Meat Loaf but born as Marvin Lee Aday, the recently passed musician sold millions of albums, won a Grammy, and acted in films including "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and "Fight Club."
• Why do we call him Meat Loaf? He took the name from his childhood nickname and just ran with it. It was in reference to his girth.
• He's most well known for the album, Bat Out of Hell, which still to this day ranks as the 3rd most sold album of all time.

Oliver Charles update

It’s been a little less than a year since I joined Oliver Charles to write the New Yak Times.

Since we started, it’s been pretty successful. We have 1000s of subscribers and consistently high open rates.

In its current form, it gets the job done, but growth only comes from change.

So starting next month, I’m going to try something a little different. Instead of recapping the news, I’m going to start recapping the internal ongoings of Oliver Charles.

Don’t worry, I’m gonna keep the memes and cartoons. Just instead of the biggest news stories, it’ll be the biggest Oliver Charles stories.

Think of it as building in public but more contrarian.

My hope is that you’ll find it a bit more interesting, you’ll learn about the ups and downs of a startup, and you’ll have a good laugh or two along the way.

You might be thinking, Tobias, are you just making this newsletter about yourself? Yes. But in a humble way... it's going to be the best newsletter available.

I can’t wait to see what you think, and I hope you’ll let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading, please share. Seriously.

If you found this email funny, we'd appreciate it if you forwarded it to a friend or colleague. If you did not find it funny, we'd appreciate it if you forwarded it to an enemy or colleague.

Meme credit is due to the following accounts. If I missed someone, let me know!

@oliver.charles.clothing
@vcbrags

Finally, please send us memes!

Subscribe below for weekly updates on the absurdity of the business and financial world. We spend all day on social media so you don't have to.