Feldman's Faves: January 6, 2025

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I hope all of you took some time  to be with your loved ones and recharge your batteries and are coming into 2025 with enthusiasm and excitement for what the year ahead has to offer. I look forward to catching up with everyone at our New Year’s Breakfast.

As a die hard football fan, I love this time of year.  Some (but not all) of the Bowl Games have been epic. The NFL playoff story is about to be written, which I find more interesting then any book or podcast. I just love the drama.  Interestingly, over the holidays my daughters who have ZERO interest in football have become VIKINGS fans as a result of their unique game day celebrations (and clearly not last night’s on the field performance), and in particular their performance of We’re All in this Together from High School Musical. As has been noted, it is clear that the NFL now belongs to the Millennials, which I think is great.

This week also launches rotation #3 of this year’s Articles – so please join me in (i) thanking Matt and Mikaela for all the great work they did last rotation, and (ii) welcoming Gurratan and Joeley to our section for this rotation. Please do all you can to get Gurratan and Joeley involved in your files as soon and as often as you are able.

Finally, please join me in wishing our fearless leader Alex a very happy birthday (which is tomorrow).

PS - Did you know that Gracie Abrams is JJ Abrams’ daughter. I didn’t before but I do now (in case anyone cares).  I am sure Max has already memorized the bridge to That’s So True.

No theme this week – just topics of interest.

PLAYGROUND By: Richard Powers – I am huge fan of Pulitzer Prize winning author Richard Powers.  He won the award for The Overstory, which is an epic tale of multiple characters over multiple generations with a focus on trees and their importance to our planet.  In Playground, Powers goes back to his process of telling a vast story involving multiple characters that are linked together through the ocean and its beauty, connectivity and importance to our planet.  This story has everything – a love triangle, a focus on complex gaming and AI, vivid descriptions of the undersea world, the ravages of dementia and the constant struggle of balancing development and the protection of the environment.  As one reviewer notes, “A story of friendship, technology, oceans, and a small island. Powers juggled nine lead characters in The Overstory (2018), his Pulitzer Prize–winning novel. Here he wrangles just four, but the result is almost as complicated. Two nerdish boys, Rafi Young and Todd Keane, bond in high school over chess and Go. In college, Rafi falls in love with Ina Aroita, a Hawaii-born Navy brat whose mother is Tahitian. The men fall out shortly after brainstorming over Todd’s idea for a computer game called Playground. This strand of the novel is told in retrospect by Todd at age 57, addressing an unidentified “you,” after he receives a diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies; he’s an unreliable narrator in more than one way. Interspersed are scenes in later years on the French Polynesian island of Makatea, scarred by phosphate mining and down to a population of 82, including Rafi and Ina and the novel’s fourth lead, an elderly Canadian scuba diver named Evelyne Beaulieu. Her lifelong love of the diversity and preciousness of aquatic life provides the book’s other narrative strand and its environmental theme. Through Todd, Powers sketches the computer and social media revolutions, from early coding to gaming to AI. The counterpoint to this high-tech history is Makatea, a paradise lost to industrial mining that decades later must decide whether to accept a consortium’s lucrative proposal to use the island to build floating autonomous cities. This is a challenging novel, fragmented but compelling, with fine writing on friendship and its loss and on the awe and delight the ocean inspires. Along with its environmental warnings, the book carries an intriguing look at the ways people and animals play, as in the boys’ competitive chess, the antics of manta rays, the allure of computer games, and what a meta-minded author might do with his readers. An engaging, eloquent message for this fragile planet.”  Powers is master story teller with a very engaging style. I think you will like this book. Here’s a good review from The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/sep/29/playground-richard-powers-review-ai-ocean

Acquired - Mars Inc. (the chocolate story) – In the immortal words of Mario Lemieux, “nothing satisfies me like a Snickers Bar”.  Mario is not alone – Snickers is the world’s most popular chocolate bar and MARS’ top candy product. The story of the MARS family is long and fascinating. They own Snickers, MARS Bar (duh…) Milky Way, Three Musketeers and M&M’s and of course Wrigley as well as a HUGE pet food and pet care empire and also brands like Kind Bar and Uncle Ben’s rice. That is a conglomerate for sure and they are continuing to grow by acquisition in a major way (e.g., with the pending $36B Kellanova deal) . What is shocking to me is that many experts say that MARS is really a pet food/care company that masquerades as a candy company. MARS is privately owned making the MARS family one of the richest in America by far. But like many of these stories there is a very humble beginning and a lot of drama (both inside and outside the family) on the way to success. Once again, the folks from Acquired go super in depth (i.e., this is really long) to tell the fascinating history of this incredible business. Here is an excerpt from the PODCAST itself, “M&M’s, Snickers, Milky Way, Double Mint, Ben’s Rice, Pedigree, Whiskas, VCA, Banfield… all the brands you know, owned by the company you know nothing about: Mars, Incorporated. And Mars itself is 100% owned and deeply intertwined with the Mars family, who are currently the second wealthiest (and perhaps first most secretive!) family in the United States. Tune in for one of the 20th century’s most incredible entrepreneurial stories across candy and pet care, and one that’s all the more incredible because it’s so little-known! Sponsors: Many thanks to our fantastic Fall ‘24 Season partners: J.P. Morgan PaymentsCrusoeStatsig Links: Hershey’s M&M response: Hershey-etsOur past episodes on Berkshire Hathaway, LVMH, and Novo NordiskWorldly Partners Multi-Decade Mars StudyEpisode sources Carve Outs: Dandelion Chocolate and the Dandelion Advent CalendarTesla Model Y + repair serviceSiloHome Alone More Acquired: Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodesJoin the SlackSubscribe to ACQ2Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store! ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.” https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/acquired/id1050462261?i=1000680482245

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon