The Cleveland home featured in A Christmas Story (1983) is for sale, but the buyer must agree to preserve the owner’s immersive experience.
In today’s email:
Tech layoffs: How they impact H-1B workers.
Chart: Wrestling vs. the S&P 500.
Weekend reads to pair with a Dirty Snowman.
Around the web: A spooky game, a surprising cake, Champagne tips, and more cool internet finds.
🎧 On the go? Listen to today’s 10-minute podcast to hear Zack and Juliet discuss the devastating impact of tech winter on US visa holders, bee news, tough rent, and more.
The big idea
Tech winter is dire for immigrant visa holders
As tech layoffs continue, workers are struggling to find new jobs during the holiday season — arguably the worst time to do so.
For H-1B immigrants, it’s even worse.
What’s an H-1B?
A renewable three-year work visa that US companies — especially tech — use to hire skilled workers. In 2021, 68.8% of the ~407k H-1B beneficiaries worked in computer-related fields.
But because H-1Bs are tied to employment, workers who lose their jobs have 60 days to find another or leave the US, perNPR.
What about citizenship?
That’d be great, but there’s a huge backlog.
Congress caps how many employer-sponsored green cards the US issues annually, and how many can be issued per birth country — including dependents.
There are 1.4m people waiting for an employment-based green card.
About 74% of H-1B beneficiaries are from India, meaning for many, it’s a ~90-year wait.
So, what can be done?
Well, Congress’ efforts to reduce the green card backlog have mostly stalled, perForbes.
For now, an immigration attorney toldBuzzFeed that workers could try to secure another kind of visa (not always easy) or become a partner’s dependent (which might not allow them to work).
Others are suggesting Canada as an option, where immigration is easier.
Impacted workers can also get on this database, which is shared with hiring managers across the US.
Trending
Thirteen strangerswent viral for driving 10+ hours in a rented van from Orlando, Florida, to Knoxville, Tennessee, after their flight was canceled.
SNIPPETS
The Federal Trade Commission is moving to block Microsoft’s $69B acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Amazon is TikTokifying its app with Inspire, a new tab that displays a vertical reel of shoppable photos and videos.
Cameo is expanding with personalized animated videos of kids’ favorite characters from “CoComelon,” “Thomas & Friends,” and more.
Manhattan’s median November rent was $4,033. The average rent, skewed by luxury sales, hit $5,249 — up 19% YoY.
BeeHero, a startup that uses AI to help beekeepers boost their yields, raised $42m. Plus, in what may be the best news of 2022, “murder hornets” haven’t been seen in Washington state this year.
Sunny Balwani, Theranos’ ex-COO and founder Elizabeth Holmes’ ex, was sentenced to 13 years for defrauding investors.
Disney+ finally launched its ad-supported tier for $7.99/mo in the US. That’s $1 more than Netflix’s, but allows users to stream on up to four devices at a time.
Layoffs: Low code platform Airtable laid off 20% of its staff, and meal delivery service Blue Apron laid off 10%.
Twitter Blue will reportedly cost Apple users $11/mo., up from $8, to offset App Store fees.
Royal matchmaker? Prince Harry admitted he asked to be introduced to his now-wife, Meghan Markle, after seeing her on Instagram… with a puppy filter.
Self-storage’s hotter cousin: Now more than ever, handymen, contractors, and ecommerce outfits need small bay warehouses. Access the Trends report on the lucrative real estate trend.
SPREAD THE WORD
Our boss Brad has decided to try positive reinforcement: For every person you share The Hustle with, we get to see a picture of a cute kitten.
The market’s getting absolutely bodied by pro wrestling
While 2022’s been a year of crimson red for much of the market, World Wrestling Entertainment has been flexing its muscles.
What’s happening?
Because the company’s revenue primarily comes from long-term media rights deals and live events, it isn’t particularly impacted by the advertising slump now hurting many other media companies.
With its devoted global fanbase, investors are eyeing WWE as a hot acquisition target at a time when niche sports are on the rise, per Axios. (Think Formula One, for instance.)
With TV rights deals with Fox and Comcast set to expire in 2024, and an exclusive streaming deal with Peacock ending in 2026, expect there to be a media wrestling match for the next home of WWE content.
Fun fact: WWE has more followers on TikTok (19.9m) than the NFL (9.5m), NBA (17.2m), and MLB (5.7m).
Free Resource
How American consumers are moving in 2022
Talking big picture for a moment: The times are a-changin’.
Expeditiously. As are the ways we connect, peruse, and purchase.
So, we surveyed 1k+ people to learn how consumers are wired these days. Check the 2022 US Consumer Trends Report by Brandwatch and HubSpot for insights broken down by generation for eight key categories:
Purchasing habits
Social media
Online communities
Data privacy
Corporate responsibility
Workplace trends
Crypto and NFTs
The Metaverse
The data says 29% of respondents kinda want to leave their jobs, 28% called crypto “the future of currency,” and every generation thinks “Buy Now, Pay Later” sucks. There’s more.
Now’s a good time to whip up that chocolatey Dirty Snowman. In case you missed ’em, here was our week’s best…
Tweet: An experience that anyone who uses Zoom in corporate America can relate to.
Story: Michael reported on the quiet disappearance of the safe deposit box.
Chart: A look at Duolingo’s growth, and some surprising competition.
Video: This “Hustlenomics” clip on the economics of the $2B Christmas tree industry.
Conversation: The Marketing Against the Grain pod discussed differentiating a commoditized product like Coke.
From our blog
Did you know we have a blog that highlights startups doing cool shit? Check out our latest breakdown of Dream Studio Course, a company transforming creators’ home video setups into Hollywood-ready studios.
AROUND THE WEB
🐭 On this day: In 1968, Douglas Engelbart demoed the computer mouse to ~1k tech pros.
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