Travis Kelce is about to make the same amount of money filling the airwaves with tales of his dating life as he does from taking hits on the field. The Chiefs tight end and his brother, former Philadelphia Eagles legend Jason Kelce, just scored a $100+ million deal with Amazon’s Wondery for their podcast, New Heights.

Here’s what we know about the deal:

• Wondery has exclusive distribution rights for the podcast and its back catalog, as well as the first-look option for any new consumer products or podcasts the brothers want to develop.
• The show will remain available across Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. For the six people with a Wondery+ subscription, episodes will be available early and ad-free.

With only 98 episodes—significantly less than similarly valued podcasts—Amazon is likely banking on the show’s early popularity and Travis’s pop-star girlfriend, Taylor Swift, to change the narrative from the cycle of doom that’s defined podcast culture in recent years.

The winds are a-changin’

Not too long ago, it seemed like any celebrity with a microphone could pull a multimillion-dollar podcast deal. Now, platforms are spending more selectively on shows and increasingly looking to bring in a big hit rather than grow a new one. This year alone:

• SiriusXM closed two deals worth over $100 million each, one for Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy and the other for SmartLess with Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes.
• Spotify renewed its deal with Joe Rogan for $250 million.
• Wondery paid $80 million to nab Dax Shepard’s podcast, Armchair Expert.

Still, the biggest sign of changing tides is Spotify’s strategy shift: The company has been pulling back over the past two years as its $1 billion bet on podcasting failed to go boom, forcing it to lay off staff, cut programming, and abandon exclusivity contracts.

Zoom out: Those Kelce boys are booked and busy. Jason went straight from retired NFL player to ESPN analyst, while Travis may yet trade Kansas City for Hollywood. He’s set to host an upcoming Amazon Prime show and is in talks to star in an action comedy from Lionsgate. He’ll also appear in Ryan Murphy’s latest series for FX.—CC

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Zuck said Meta was “pressured” by the White House on Covid. In a letter to the House Judiciary Committee, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg alleged that the Biden administration pressured the social media giant in 2021 to censor certain Covid-19 content, which he said was “wrong.” Meta ultimately removed more than 20 million posts related to Covid for violating its content rules, but Zuck said that was not due to government pressure. The White House acknowledged in a statement that it had encouraged “responsible actions to protect public health and safety.” President Biden and White House officials publicly criticized tech giants like Meta for allowing Covid misinformation on their platforms.

US consumer confidence hit a six-month high. The decline in inflation and the expectation of an imminent interest rate cut have Americans feeling better about the economy than they have in a while, according to the latest update of the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index. On the other hand, consumers are worried about the softening labor market. While the unemployment rate remains below historical standards at 4.3%, it has increased for four straight months—likely enough to convince the Fed to cut rates in September.

Lowe’s became the latest employer to scrap DEI policies. The home improvement retailer told employees it will no longer participate in LGBTQ advocacy surveys or pride parades, NBC News reported, following similar announcements from Best Buy, John Deere, Jack Daniel’s, and other companies this year. Right-wing personalities like Robby Starbuck have called on corporate America to end its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, which they argue are “woke.” The backlash started in earnest when conservatives boycotted Bud Light last year after the popular beer brand partnered with trans social media star Dylan Mulvaney.

Zepbound, Eli Lilly’s injectable weight loss drugs, is now available for about half price in a new way. Zepbound injection pens cost $1,060/month without insurance or discounts, but patients with a prescription can get single-dose vials at either a 2.5- or 5-milligram dosage for $399 and $549 per month, respectively.

The move alleviates several pain points for Lilly:

• The new offering sticks it to compounding pharmacies, which have been allowed to make copycats of the popular drugs to address the weight loss drug shortage. Those have only been sold in vials for around the prices Lilly is introducing.
• Lower prices mean the drug will be more accessible to patients paying out of pocket.
• While injectable pens make taking a weekly dose as simple as pressing a button, the manufacturing process is more time-consuming and expensive, which contributed to the shortages.

Critics point out that the costs are still out of reach for many people who would benefit from the drug. But patient advocates hope this will not only motivate rival manufacturer Novo Nordisk to roll out a cheaper offering of competitor Wegovy, but also help bring down the cost of weight loss drugs in general.—HVL

8% dividend yield opportunity: Monogram (Nasdaq: MGRM), known for their autonomous robotic surgical systems, completed a crowdfunded public offering and Nasdaq listing last year. What’s next? They just filed for FDA approval to commercialize their patented tech. Monogram’s currently offering preferred stock with an 8% dividend (in cash or kind) at $2.25/share. Their common shares recently closed as high at $3.40. Monogram currently plans to close the Series D Preferred offering on September 12, 2024.

Heightened appetites for sausages might signal that the US consumer is in a pickle.

Sales of dinner sausage increased for one manufacturer surveyed by the Dallas Fed, which the meat purveyor said tends to go hand-in-hand with a weaker economy. Why? Sausages are a cheaper substitute for higher-priced proteins that people can buy to stretch their budgets.

The meaty observation published this week aligns with more mundane reports from retailers that consumers are increasingly bargain-hunting amid economic shakiness.

Quirky warning signs

While it may seem unusual for the Fed to consider the feeling in its kishkes for an economic vibe check, it’s hardly the only (potentially dubious) indicator people have noted over the years. Aside from the famous Big Mac and lipstick indexes, economists have found:

• Declining men’s underwear sales could spell economic trouble as many men apparently opt to wear tattered boxers to save.
• In the past, the level of grittiness in Marine Corps ads has increased along with economic challenges, since recruitment is easier in tough times.
• A rise in unclaimed corpses in morgues might indicate a morbidly bad economy in which people seek to avoid a costly funeral for their loved ones.

But…a rise in unorthodox indicators could indicate desperation among analysts, since more traditional economic red flags like unemployment upticks (Sahm rule), government bond prices (inverted yield curve), and even GDP declines have pointed to a recession that hasn’t materialized.—SK

AI might take your job, but at least companies are…being honest about it? Klarna, which has already cut its workforce from 5,000 to 3,800, reportedly plans to slice it nearly in half again by using AI to replace marketing and customer service roles, the Financial Times reported. As a result of the AI-driven cost-cutting measures, the Swedish buy now, pay later company said it increased the average annual revenue per employee from $400k last year to $700k today. “Not only can we do more with less, but we can do much more with less,” CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told the FT. “I’m very happy about seeing that this is paying off.”