Investment Firm Sends Analyst to Strait of Hormuz & Bars Are Banning Phones

Summary

Morning Brew Daily — April 7, 2026

Hosts: Neal Freyman & Toby Howell

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Neal and Toby unpack an eclectic mix of trending stories in business, tech, and culture: a gonzo investment analyst’s journey to the tense Strait of Hormuz, OpenAI’s sweeping policy proposals, shifting sands for businesses in New York, an emerging wave of phone-free bars and restaurants, and a corporate retreat disaster for the ages. With their usual wit and bite, they provide context, numbers, and sharp banter for each topic.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Artemis 2 Breaks Spaceflight Record

(00:23–02:30)

• Main Theme: The Artemis 2 crew set a new human distance record from Earth, surpassing Apollo 13 after their lunar flyby at over 252,000 miles away.
• Notable Moments:
  • Astronaut Christina Koch’s comment on feeling isolated and then hearing from Earth again.
  • Personal touch: Neal recalls his dad’s car odometer as a quirky way to remember the distance to the moon.
  • Emotional highlight as the astronauts ask to name a lunar crater after Carol Wiseman, the late wife of Commander Reid Wiseman.

Quote:

"It is so great to hear from Earth again."
— Astronaut Christina Koch, relayed by Toby Howell (00:53)

Quote:

"You cannot watch that video and not cry. I mean, I don't cry... but I did cry watching this video."
— Neal Freyman (02:14)

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2. Investment Firm Sends Analyst to the Strait of Hormuz

(03:11–07:36)

• Premise: Citrine Research dispatched "Analyst #3" with $15,000 and a smartphone to directly observe conditions at the Strait, a vital oil chokepoint, amid rising Middle East tensions.
• Key Findings from "Analyst #3":
  • More ships are passing than transponder data suggests; vessels are switching off tracking to avoid detection.
  • US troop presence is higher than media reports; potential for a prolonged conflict.
  • The analyst's exploits, with beer, cigars, and “gonzo journalism” vibes, became a viral moment.
  • Inspired by David Foster Wallace–style on-the-ground reporting.
  • Analyst challenges the prevailing idea that the Strait is closed: observed up to 15 ships passing daily.
  • Reports of frequent missile attacks and signs the Strait isn’t mined as rumored.

Quote:

"What if I just went to the Strait of Hormuz?... And so he did."
— Toby Howell (04:41)

Quote:

"It's very three dimensional."
— (on the moon's Oriental Basin, by Artemis 2 crew)

• Market Impact:
  • Backdoor diplomatic deals are suggested as French and Japanese ships recently made it through.
  • Approaching ceasefire deadline adds to the global market’s volatility.

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3. OpenAI’s New Policies for the AI Age

(07:36–10:45)

• OpenAI’s Report:
  “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age: Ideas to keep people first” proposes:

  • A potential four-day workweek
  • Major tax code shift: focus on corporate income and capital gains, away from labor taxes
  • Creation of a public wealth fund and enhanced social safety net
  • Automatic cash payments when job displacement hits certain thresholds

• Sam Altman’s Intent:
  To launch serious national debate and “cushion the blow” of AI-caused economic changes.

Quote:

"We want to put these things into the conversation. Some will be good, some will be bad, but we do feel a sense of urgency."
— Sam Altman, quoted by Neal Freyman (08:35)

• Discussion:

  • Toby notes the New Deal-sized proposals and radical departure in tax ideas.
  • Neal points out OpenAI wants to steer the regulatory discussion and public perception as AI apprehension rises.

• Controversy:

  • The New Yorker profile claims “even people who work with Sam Altman... don’t trust him” (09:57).
  • Rival Anthropic reported to have surged past OpenAI in annual revenue.

Quote:

"One OpenAI board member said he's unconstrained by the truth."
— Toby Howell on Sam Altman (10:45)

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4. Jamie Dimon Warns of a New York Business Exodus

(11:14–13:52)

• Context:

  • JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s annual letter claims NYC’s high taxes and red tape are driving businesses away, citing rising headcount in Texas and shrinking NYC staff.
  • Directed criticism at Mayor Zoran Mamdani’s push for higher taxes (though not by name).

• Contrary Data:

  • Neal highlights that NYC commercial real estate stats remain robust post-election: higher leasing volume, lower vacancies, new commitments by companies like Amex and Bank of America, and record-setting leases by AI firms.

Quote:

"No city or company or country has a divine right to success."
— Jamie Dimon, quoted by Neal Freyman (11:48)

• Fun Fact:
  The most expensive office rent just signed by an AI company at $320/ft².

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5. Toby’s Trends: Bars and Restaurants Ban Phones

(16:19–19:44)

• Growing Movement:
  Increasing numbers of venues—now across at least 11 states—explicitly ban or restrict cellphone use to restore genuine social interaction.

• Statistics:

  • US consumers check their phones 144 times per day, for 4.5 hours total.
  • 87% of mealtime phone usage is for social or messaging.

• Creative Implementations:

  • London’s Spy Bar uses stickers to cover phone cameras.
  • Some US Chick-fil-A locations now offer free ice cream to families who put away their phones.

Quote:

“When you go to a concert or nightclub, how often has that experience been ruined by phones?... You wouldn't take your phone to an orgy.”
— Chef Michael Z (@SymmetryBreakfast), quoted by Toby Howell (17:37)

• Hosts’ Takes:
  • Neal observes the trend mirrors other industries like comedy, music, and nightlife.
  • Toby and Neal debate if this will stick, weighing the marketing risk for restaurants vs. word-of-mouth buzz about "unplugged" experiences.

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6. Quick Headlines & Memorable Moments

(20:08–25:21)

• Kanye West Controversy (20:08–20:58):

  • Major sponsors drop out of the UK’s Wireless Festival due to his booking, given Kanye’s history of offensive comments; UK government may bar his entry. Despite this, he’s selling out stadium shows, and his new album is a hit globally.

• College Basketball Championship (21:33–22:45):

  • Michigan Wolverines win men’s NCAA title for first time in 37 years.
  • Toby shares “March Madness Market Theory”—historical S&P 500 performance by champion’s conference.

Quote:

"It is causation, not correlation by any means."
— Toby Howell, tongue-in-cheek stock market superstition (22:10)

• The Wildest Corporate Retreat in Tech History (23:02–25:21):
  • Oral history of Plex’s Survivor-style retreat in Honduras—GM and chef quit, CEO got E. coli, sand flea infestations, disastrously unfit employees, eating dead scorpions/tarantulas.
  • Despite chaos, many employees are still with the company; hosts joke about a Morning Brew Survivor retreat.

Quote:

“Trauma bonding is a real thing and that is why so many of the employees are still there today.”
— Toby Howell (24:21)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Going Gonzo in the Strait of Hormuz:
  "There will be an analyst number three at your Halloween party this year... I'm thinking bucket hat, Hawaiian shirt, and a bunch of Zins and a beer and some cigars."
  — Neal Freyman (04:49)

• On Phone-Free Dining:
  "You wouldn't take your phone to an orgy."
  — Chef Michael Z, quoted by Toby Howell (17:37)

• On Sam Altman:
  "He's unconstrained by the truth."
  — Toby Howell (10:45)

• On NYC’s ‘Divine Right’:
  "No city or company or country has a divine right to success."
  — Jamie Dimon, quoted by Neal Freyman (11:48)

• On Surviving Disaster Retreats:
  "If someone wanted to run a more buttoned-up survival style corporate retreat, that would be a wonderful business right there because everyone thinks they can win Survivor."
  — Toby Howell (25:03)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:23] Artemis 2 sets new human distance record; emotional crater-naming story.
• [03:11] Analyst #3 hired for boots-on-the-ground Strait of Hormuz reporting.
• [07:36] OpenAI’s industrial policy proposals for the AI age.
• [11:14] Jamie Dimon warns of a NYC business exodus.
• [16:19] Toby’s Trends: The rise of phone-free restaurants and bars.
• [20:08] Kanye West and the UK festival controversy.
• [21:33] Michigan’s NCAA win & “March Madness Market Theory.”
• [23:02] Epic Survivor-style corporate retreat disaster story.

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Tone and Language

The episode is lively and engaging, balancing serious analysis with banter and occasional sarcasm. Neal and Toby riff off each other, mixing hard news (Middle East tensions, AI societal impact) with lighter narratives (phone-free restaurants, disastrous team-building exercises), always looping in data, trends, and cultural context.

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This summary covers the episode’s main ideas, memorable quotes, and key moments, with timestamps for quick reference—perfect for anyone who missed the episode but wants to stay current.

Transcript

[Toby Howell]

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[Neal Freyman]

Good morning, Brew Daily Show. I'm Neal Freyman.

[Toby Howell]

And I'm Toby Howell.

[Neal Freyman]

Today, more restaurants are going phone free.

[Toby Howell]

Then if you want to know what's going on in the Strait of Hormuz, you gotta go to the Strait of hormuzzi. It's Tuesday, April 7th. Let's ride. Good morning and happy Tuesday. 252,760 miles from Earth, four humans sat in a tiny lunar module and ventured further into space than any human has before. The Artemis 2 crew set the space flight record yesterday as they completed their lunar fly by around 7pm passing the old mark held by Apollo 13, traveling more than a quarter million miles away from home and and basking in 40 minutes of solitude as they circled the far side of the moon. It is so great to hear from Earth again. Astronaut Christina Koch said when the craft finished its orbit. Jeremy Hansen, the Canadian member of the crew, decided to use the historic record as a chance to fire up future generations. We most importantly choose this moment to challenge this generation and the next. To make sure this record is not long lived on the moon itself. They described it as made of cheese. No, just kidding. They did see five small meteors hit the surface in their time observing it and loved the giant oriental basin, the 600 mile wide crater that is considered the moon's Grand Canyon. Weisman, the commander of Artemis 2, said, it's very three dimensional. Neil Artemis 2 begins the long journey home on target to splash down by Friday. But I am fully moon pilled after all of this.

[Neal Freyman]

That's far, but it's not as far as my dad's old car. I remember he used to look, show me the odometer and say it's more than 250,000 miles. Neil I have driven this car to the moon, so I'll never forget how far the moon is because of that old car. Another poignant moment was that these astronauts called down to mission control because there was this unnamed crater that they wanted to name after Carol Wiseman, who is Reid's late wife. She died of cancer in 2020. And you cannot watch that video and not cry. I mean, I don't cry. I didn't, I didn't cry after watching the first 10 minutes of up, but I did cry watching this video. They all hug at the end in silence. Just a very emotional and very cool moment.

[Toby Howell]

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[Neal Freyman]

Why would I do that?

[Toby Howell]

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[Neal Freyman]

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[Toby Howell]

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[Neal Freyman]

Just head to taxact.com/business-returns to get started. That's taxact.com/business-survors the Strait of Hormuz, a

[Toby Howell]

21 mile maritime channel sandwiched between Iran and oman through which 20% of the world's oil passes, has become the most important waterway in the world since the war in the Middle east broke out. The state of the Strait is the most critical factor affecting markets today, where the goings on can affect trillions of dollars in the markets. So a stock picking substractor shipped off one of their analysts armed with a smartphone and $15,000 in cash to figure out what's actually going on. Citrine Research, which publishes market recommendations to their thousands of subscribers, sent an analyst to the northern tip of the UAE to see with his own eyes what we can only read about the the journeys of analyst number three, as Citrini calls him, have since gone viral, with one photo showing him cruising the strait with a beer in hand and a waterproof pelican case full of Zinn and cigars in tow. You might remember Citrini from earlier this year for causing a $200 billion market meltdown after publishing a research note describing a dystopian post AI future. This boots on the ground research operation is capturing the attention of the investing world in a similar way, prompting lots of jokes about the sheer audacity of analyst number three, but also some real alpha two According to Analyst three, a lot more ships are transiting than commonly believed, contradicting what transponder data is showing. In more bearish news, the analyst reports that there is a larger US Troop presence in the region than what's being reported, warning that a months long conflict could be unfolding. Neil this is part marketing stunt to sell substack subscriptions, but but also part common sense. As the analyst report starts off, what if I just went to the Strait of Hormuz and so he did.

[Neal Freyman]

There will be an analyst number three at your Halloween party this year. And if you want it to be you, I'm thinking bucket hat, Hawaiian shirt. Yes. You need a bunch of Zins and a beer and some cigars. And also maybe you want to carry a copy of Infinite Jest. Because they cited David, David Foster Wallace as the inspiration for this type of gonzo on the ground fact finding. But yes, it was actually really important to information as well because it does challenge the dominant narrative that the strait is effectively shut. Because he said, actually these ships are going through. We're seeing actually up to 15 ships a day. We all thought it was essentially closed, but there are ships going through. The thing is, they're turning off their transponders, their IAS systems, which is a beacon to the rest of the world, to let them know where the ship, where ships are. So there was actually some interesting information that challenges the dominant narrative.

[Toby Howell]

Yeah, because there has been a lot of fog of war sort of increasing around the region. The US Government has actually asked certain satellite imagery providers to delay some of the imagery that they are relaying out of the conflict zone. They're saying that we don't want much information emerging from that because it is an active, you know, war zone. So how do you get any information out of the region? It really was, it sounds like a thing that you say to your friend at like 2am like, what if we just went to the Strait of Hormuz? But they did so because they're like, someone needs to figure out what's actually going on. A few other anecdotes that they surface was that missile attacks are a lot more common than people know. They also saw more ships transiting, as I've mentioned, which led them to conclude that the Strait isn't mined, as has sort of been floated around by Iran. So some bullish news, some bearish news, but in general it looked like there was a little bit more activity in the region than previously expected.

[Neal Freyman]

It looks like Iran. We know, we know that Iran has set up a central toll booth at the Strait of Hormuz. And it looks like they're making either one off deals, doing some diplomatic back channeling things because the shipping traffic has been picking up in recent days even after this guy got back from this strait. Last yesterday it was reported that a French container ship and a Japanese owned tanker both exited the Strait of Hormuz, which is the first such instances since the war began. So there is a steady trickle, I don't think any US linked ships or any Israeli linked ships are going to go through the strait anytime soon. But it looks like there is some back channel discussions going on to get a Western. It's very notable that a western ship like a French container ship got through the strait.

[Toby Howell]

Meanwhile, the deadline for a cease fire is approaching. Remember, Donald Trump over the weekend extended the deadline for his threats on Iran to Tuesday. S&P 500 futures are a little bit in the green as of this morning. Remember, Axios has reported that the US And Iran and other mediators are are trying to come to terms on a potential 45 day cease fire. That's going to kind of be the dominant headline today.

[Neal Freyman]

OpenAI released its first big paper on how the government should respond to super intelligence and it kind of sounds a little like it came from the office of Bernie Sanders. In the report called Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age, Ideas to keep people first, OpenAI predicts immense disruption from AI technology that will soon become smarter than humans. To cushion the blow, the company proposed a number of policies it compared to the New Deal, including a four day workweek, a shift in the tax code to prioritize corporate income and capital gains, a public wealth fund, and a social safety net like cash payments when AI displacement hits certain thresholds. CEO Sam Altman said that these ideas were just a starting point to kick off a discussion he feels is extremely critical. He told Axios, quote, we want to put these things into the conversation. Some will be good, some will be bad, but we do feel a sense of urgency and we want to see the debate of these issues really start to happen with seriousness. As the Wall Street Journal notes, the ideas presented in OpenAI's report would represent trillions of dollars of new government programs and fundamentally reshape America's economy. But as lawmakers consider regulating AI and public hostility to AI remains very high, OpenAI wants to steer the conversation in a way where it benefits Toby. Sam Altman said the idea of this report was to spark discussion. So let's have one, a brief one. We can't go up there.

[Toby Howell]

Not a lot of tech CEOs do something. Not a lot of industries sort of put out a detailed blueprint for how the government should tax and regulate itself. It is kind of a uniquely AI aged thing that is happening right now. There are some very interesting parts of this proposal. I think this shift to the tax system is maybe the most, I don't know, the most radical change, moving away from taxing labor and income and payroll taxes. You know, the way our current tax base is mostly set up in shifting that more towards corporate income and capital gains. One, it does sound exactly out of the playbook of Bernie Sanders and that sort of wing of the government. But it is something that Sam Altman says, hey, as AI, you know, becomes more productive, as humans are not necessarily involved in so much of the labor force, we need to have a tax base that supports a lot of these social systems, these safety nets. Think about Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, stuff like that. All of those programs still need to be funded. But if people aren't making as much money, you have to find that money somewhere. Let's tax corporations instead.

[Neal Freyman]

It kind of is a recognition that there's going to be major job losses due to AI. Meanwhile, Open. I had a day yesterday. So they released this paper and then all of a sudden things took a huge downward turn. First of all, the New Yorker released a very long profile about Sam Altman. They interviewed more than 100 people. And the main conclusion of this was that even the people who work with Sam Alt and currently and in the past don't trust him as a leader. And then later in the night, Anthropic revealed. Anthropic is their biggest rival. Revealed that they hit $30 billion in annual recurring revenue, which is reportedly more than Open Air, up from just $1 billion 16 months ago and $9 billion to start the year. So Anthropic seems like it's zooming ahead of OpenAI. Even as all these controversies swirl around OpenAI.

[Toby Howell]

My favorite cool quote from that New Yorker piece is not that people don't trust Sam Altman. One OpenAI board member said he's unconstrained by the truth. That's the new way of saying that someone lies is no, they don't lie. They're unconstrained by the truth. But you're absolutely right. Some people read between the lines and said, maybe this proposal coming out on the same day a giant New Yorker profile came out, it's just a way to regain control of the narrative. Say, hey, we are a safety focused AI company. Maybe there's a PR angle to this whole thing.

[Neal Freyman]

Moving on. Jamie Dimon contains multitudes. A few months ago, he opened a gleaming $3 billion, 60 story headquarters for his company, JP Morgan in New York City. Yesterday, he warned that companies are fleeing the Big Apple. In his annual letter to shareholders, the Queens native argued that high taxes and red tape were causing a large exodus of businesses out of New York City. Cities like individuals, companies and countries need to compete, he wrote, adding, the truth is that while New York City has much going for it, particularly for financial companies, because of extraordinary local talent. It also has the highest city and state corporate taxes and the highest individual income in state taxes. No city or company or country has a divine right to success. The warning comes about a week after a report that mega investment firm Apollo Global Management was looking for a second headquarters, not in New York, but in Southern states like Texas and Florida. Fears of a corporate exodus have risen following the election of Mayor Zoran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who is trying to raise taxes on companies and the wealthy to fill a $5.4 billion budget hole. In his letter, Dimon didn't mention Zoran by name, but it was pretty clear who his barbs were directed at. Toby, is this business exodus real? Are we going to start recording these podcasts from South Beach?

[Toby Howell]

Yeah. Look at Jamie Dimon's own company. Their headcount in New York City has shrunk from 30,000 employees a decade ago to 24,000 today. In. In the meantime, their headcount in Texas has increased from 26,000 in 2015 to 32,000 today. Back in the napkin math there. There are more workers in Dallas offices for J.P. morgan than there are in New York City. So as j. As Jamie Dimon is saying, like, hey, it's not. There is no divine mandate that says that the finance capital of the world has to be New York City. There are policies, there are taxes that feed into this. And just look at his very own company as sort of the poster child for the migration to warmer climes.

[Neal Freyman]

But yet the data doesn't bear this out, because if you look at commercial real estate in New York City for Q1, which is when Zoran Mandani was. Has been in office, it's. Things could not be healthier. Leasing volume is up to 8.5 million square feet. Vacancies have dropped 2.2 percentage points to 13.5%. This is all analysis from JLL. Rents were up 3.5% year, year over year. So Ren's commercial office space in New York City is very healthy. There's been two huge leases, which was American Express announcing in February that it will build a new headquarters in Lower Manhattan. Bank of America signed a 20 year commitment to its New York City office space in March. And I need to remind everyone that JP Morgan just opened a $3 billion office tower in Midtown.

[Toby Howell]

One record that I feel that I need to mention is the most expensive rent ever recorded was recently signed by an AI company in Cub 1 that is N Scale Global Holdings. They signed a lease at 1 Vanderbilt at $320 per square foot. Little trivia fact for you. First time an AI company has ever earned the distinction of signing the most expensive LINK lease in the entirety of New York City. All right, we're going to take a quick break and come back with Toby's Trends right after this.

[Neal Freyman]

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[Toby Howell]

Yeah, that and sneaking up on a miniature horse.

[Neal Freyman]

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[Toby Howell]

Find a better way to [e-mail] that's NM.com the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company.

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[Toby Howell]

Neil how do you feel about regulations?

[Neal Freyman]

Love them. Even my shoelaces are regulation length and tightness.

[Toby Howell]

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[Neal Freyman]

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[Toby Howell]

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[Neal Freyman]

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[Toby Howell]

brew phone eats first is a motto that has unfortunately become all too common at restaurants around the world. Before you dive into a scru sumptuous meal, the phone comes out, the flash turns on, and an Instagram able pic is snapped before any calories are consumed. But a Newtonian level pushback is simmering with the equal and opposite reaction to Phone Eats first. Being a growing cohort of eateries banning phones altogether and I want to talk about it on today's edition of Toby's Trends. According to axios, at least 11 states now have restaurants or bars with explicit phone restrictions. Hush harbor is a bar in D.C. where cell phones are not allowed. People say it's like stepping into a time warp where going out means mingling with strangers and actually talking to other people, which doesn't happen very often these days. A Consumer Report survey from earlier this year found that we're checking our phones 144 times per day with an average of 4 hours and 30 minutes spent looking at our screens, and it's replacing normal interactions while eating. 87% of mealtime phone use involves social media and messaging, per the Financial Times. Restaurants around the world are taking notice, risking the ire of influencers to try and create a better experience for all diners. The Spy Bar in London passes out a for your eyes only sticker to put over your phone lens to add an air of mystique to the whole experience. But chef Michael Z, who goes by Symmetry Breakfast on social media, said it best. When you go to a concert or nightclub, how often has that experience been ruined by phones? You wouldn't take your phone to an orgy, z said. Neil, what are we supposed to do at dinner? Talk to each other?

[Neal Freyman]

I can't even imagine that. No, it's very interesting that the restaurant is borrowing this trend from other industries because if you go into certain comedy shows, you have to put your phone away. If you go to club nightclubs, which I haven't in a while, but I know from that culture is you can't have your phone out. Other music festivals are asking you to put your phone in a baggie before you go in. So it looks like the restaurant industry is just another one of these things where it's trying to promote social interaction at a time when we all want to be on our off our phones more, but we just can't because we're so addicted.

[Toby Howell]

The issue is that the restaurant industry thrives on phone usage, though they I said risking the ire of influencers and that is a big deal because how do you get discovered as a restaurant? These days it's helpful to have people come in, film your food, talk about the experience. Experience. You need your phone for that. So they are constricting a major marketing channel for the self by doing this. Although it does feel like the pendulum is absolutely swinging in this direction. So the fact that word of mouth can now say, hey, this is a place where no phones exist, maybe you just film the outside of the establishment. I do think that there's two sides of this coin here. I wonder if enough momentum is building on the no phone front to, you know, allow these places to survive in the age of social media.

[Neal Freyman]

It might be that the upper tier places don't need phones because demand for them and the marketing is all around the mystique and you don't really know what's inside. So maybe it just plays into their advantage. But it also is trickling downstream to more mainstream establishments like Chick Fil? A. Chick Fil? A in Maryland went viral last week for becoming for offering a ice cream treat for families who come in and put their phones away. You can, if you go in, there's a table, there's a sign on the table that says we'll give you ice cream if you don't use your phone. So this is going from Chick Fil? A all the way up to the nicest eateries in the country.

[Toby Howell]

Listen, Chick Fil? A is top of the line for me. That is top of the stream. I don't know what's above that, but you are right. I mean, I do. Just think about going to a comedy show recently and having no phone. It's just the best experience. Everyone's laughing, everyone's participating. At the same time, that does have like a shared focal point though. If you're just at a bar, there's no comedian up there. You do have to just go and talk to people. Got to start doing more no phone outings though.

[Neal Freyman]

Let's bring to the finish with some final headlines. Big name sponsors are pulling out of a British music festival after Kanye west, now known as Yay. Was chosen as its headliner. Now the UK government is weighing whether to even let him in the country. Pepsi, liquor giant Diageo AB, InBev, Rockstar Energy and PayPal have cut ties with the Wireless Festival, a three night music event in North London in July. For the past several years, Kanye has made a series of anti Semitic comments and glorified Nazis, including releasing a song last year called Heil Hitler. Kanye has since apologized and tried to rehab his image, blaming manic episodes brought on by his bipolar disorder. But Jewish groups and UK politicians all the way up to Prime Minister Keir Starmer have blasted the festival's decision to book Kanye and called on Hit to drop him from the lineup. The festival's managing director is standing firm, said that west has recognized his past abhorrent comments and he deserved another chance.

[Toby Howell]

Yeah, Kanye is having himself a week as well because he just came off of two sold out shows at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles that earned $33 million total. His Friday show alone, according to Bloomberg, earned more than $18 million in ticket sales, which is one of the highest grossing single shows in live music history. At the same time, he just had his new album come out Bully. It is on Spotify playlists. It is number two right now in the world, just behind BTS's new album. So clearly there is an upswing in in Kanye content right now. We'll see if he does make it to this UK festival.

[Neal Freyman]

Next up, congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines, who took down UConn 69 to 63 to win their first men's college basketball title in 37 years. It was a dominant tournament performance for a team that everyone kind of knew was the best in college hoops all the way back in Thanksgiving. It's also been a long time coming for the Big Ten Conference. Michigan became the first Big Ten team to win the men's title since 2000.

[Toby Howell]

So I have some bad news when it comes to that front. So Michigan State won it in 2000 and stocks went down three years in a row. I do have some data from Ryan Dietrich around this. How does the S&P 500 do by conference of the champion of the NCAA March Madness tournament acc the S&P 500 jumps 10.9% Big East 14.1% so we should have been rooting for UConn SEC 13% increase Big Ten 9% so we might be in for a rough one right now. That's it's just behind the Big 12 which is minus 8.7%. So I don't know if the two are tied. It's definitely causation, not correlation by any means. So that is something to keep in the back of.

[Neal Freyman]

That's bad news because the Big Ten is like 25 teams now, so the odds are that they're going to win going forward.

[Toby Howell]

And I do have to give a shout out to the March Madness pool winner, Nick D. Bellow. He got 22,000 places overall out of 26 million brackets. He picked Michigan as the winner. Toby ended up in 13th place, so we almost got there in the end, but shout out to the Wolverines.

[Neal Freyman]

Respectable showing from you Toby. Finally, you've got to hear about the most disastrous corporate retreat ever held. The Wall Street Journal published an oral history of six people who took a trip to Honduras for the tech company plex back in 2017 and the story has gone viral since. Everything that could go wrong did Go wrong. Here was the concept. The CEO of Flex, Keith Valerie, is a huge Survivor fan. So he brought his 120 fully remote staffers to a remote island to compete in a series of Survivor style challenges with the goal of bonding as a company. It was an epic disaster. The GM of their hotel resigned three weeks before they arrived. Once they do arrive, the CEO immediately gets E. Coli, starts violently throwing up. The resort needed to be fumigated every day to get rid of sand fleas. They hired a Navy SEAL to run the team through drills, but it flopped because he said he's never seen such an unfit group. It goes on. And the wildest part to me was that many people who went on the retreat still work at the company.

[Toby Howell]

I love this idea. That's the issue underlining this entire corporate retreat is that going on a survival style, 100 person corporate retreat on a remote island that is up my alley. So his heart was in the right place. Even though the logistics were a disaster, a lot of the issues were around the food. The hotel's head chef quit three days after the GM left and everyone was like, whatever you do, don't eat the vegetables as soon as they arrive. The CEO has a salad, gets E. Coli, is like tethered to an iv. It is brutal and you feel for it. But I do think trauma bonding is a real thing and that is why so many of the employees are still there today. Plexio, Keith. Valerie says you get really close bonds on these trips. It's like the life sustaining force of the company. So morning brew. Higher ups hear me now. Like, let's go ship off. I think we would do well at a Survivor.

[Neal Freyman]

Well, they did challenge. I think they didn't do the challenges quite right because one of them involved eating a scorpion and a tarantula. Is that something you would put on our program?

[Toby Howell]

No, no. They were dead, though. Like we do have.

[Neal Freyman]

They were dead, but still.

[Toby Howell]

It is crazy. But I think it's a good idea. If someone wanted to run, you know, a more buttoned up survival style corporate retreat, that would be a wonderful business right there because everyone thinks they can win survival.

[Neal Freyman]

And we'd love to hear any crazy corporate retreat stories you have. If you went on one and things went really badly. I mean, it's always a good story.

[Toby Howell]

All we've done is a field day at Central park, which I did not win, by the way.

[Neal Freyman]

Okay. That is all the time we have. Thanks for starting your morning with us and have a wonderful start to the week. Also, happy birthday to my mom. A big MBD listener and a whole lot more. If you'd like to reach us, send an email to Morning Broadaily at Morning Broadcom or DM us on Instagram at me. Daily show let's roll the credits. Emily Milian is our supervising producer. Raymond Lu is our senior producer. Our producer is Olivia Graham, and our associate producer is Olivia Lake. We've sent hair and makeup to the Strait of Hormuz to see what's going on. Devin Emery is our president, and our show is a production of Morning Brew.

[Toby Howell]

Great show today, Neil. Let's run it back tomorrow. Sam.