- This post originally appeared in the Insider Today newsletter.
Welcome back! New York's dining elite have returned, and they're heading to restaurants and private clubs that promise extravagance and caviar over everything.
Let's dive into this week's biggest stories.
On the agenda:
Who are the HENRYs?
This is what EV shoppers actually want.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton says he got it wrong.
Take a tour of Y Combinator's college-esque HQ.
But first: The house of Mickey Mouse bested the smiling crocodile. Here's a 60-second recap.
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This week's dispatch
A Mouse House trounce
Disney boss Bob Iger last week won the long proxy battle against Nelson Peltz, the activist investor known as the smiling crocodile. But his work is far from over.
Disney's shareholders voted to stick with the existing board by a "substantial margin." Iger said the company would now focus on shareholder returns and "creative excellence." Peltz pointed to Disney's 50% stock surge since he started his campaign as a sign of victory in defeat.
The win follows a few months full of action. Disney made bets on Hulu, gaming, and Taylor Swift. It announced a new sports streaming platform. It settled its legal dispute with Florida. Iger walked back from "woke" Disney.
But the repeat CEO still has two looming challenges.
First, he needs to find his successor. Iger, who has a history of flubbing this test, stressed after the proxy victory that finding the next CEO is a priority.
Then there's Disney's bigger challenge: How to reinvent a 100-year-old company for a new era.
The cable bundle is broken. Movie attendance has crashed. Gen Zers are tuning out streamers. YouTube could be worth as much as Disney and Comcast combined. They're the kinds of hurdles that will keep Iger and his successor up at night for years to come.
Meet the HENRYs
To identify America's HENRYs — an acronym for high earners, not rich yet — BI used the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances to analyze Americans who earned $200,000 or more a year but had net worths under $1 million.
We found, on average, HENRYs are white Gen Xers. An overwhelming majority of them are married. And a fair share have debt.
Give the people what they want
When the EV frenzy started, Detroit automakers pushed to deliver what they do best: pickup trucks.
But demand for electric pickups has dried up, and consumers are no longer interested in six-figure behemoths like the GMC Hummer EV and the Ford F-150 Lightning. Instead, they're turning toward smaller, cheaper cars.
Why nobody wants big, expensive EVs.
Also read:
Angus Deaton is reexamining his views
The 78-year-old Nobel Memorial Prize-winning economist is rethinking his views on major topics like unions, immigration, and global trade.
Deaton told BI he no longer sees unions as a "nuisance," he's grown skeptical of free trade, and he's realized immigration has long-term impacts on inequality.
Everything else that Deaton's rethinking.
Also read:
Y Combinator's new digs
The AI gold rush is bringing tech workers back to San Francisco, and Y Combinator is prepared. Last year, it moved its headquarters from Mountain View to Pier 70.
In January, the startup accelerator tripled its square footage by expanding into the building next door, bringing it to 60,000 square feet. Its new headquarters is meant to be more like a campus than a coworking space.
Check out the sprawling new HQ.
This week's quote:
"'Artificial intelligence' isn't 'the future' — it's just a marketing term for a slightly updated version of the automation that has been ruling our lives for years."
Ed Zitron, on the AI apocalypse that's already upon us.
More of this week's top reads:
Top tricks from someone who saved $100,000 by 25.
Apollo's Leon Black says he is so wealthy he didn't know he'd paid Jeffrey Epstein $158 million.
About a third of hiring managers don't want to hire Gen Zers — or older workers.
Wall Street's biggest wealth managers could face an avalanche of lawsuits thanks to one judge's ruling.
A rundown of the hedge fund industry's annual best pitch conference.
Microsoft warns China will use AI to try to influence US elections.
How Apple uses consumer psychology to make the iPhone feel like the "cool" brand.
Wall Street is obsessed with the growing Salesforce rival HubSpot.
The Insider Today team: Matt Turner, deputy editor-in-chief, in New York. Jordan Parker Erb, editor, in New York. Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Lisa Ryan, executive editor, in New York.