Good morning, Quartz readers!
What to watch for today
Tencent rides the Chinese internet boom. China’s biggest publicly traded company is expected to post a 45% increase in revenue, to $6.7 billion, thanks to gaming hits like Honor of Kings. The internet giant is also diversifying into advertising and Hollywood movies, along with recent investments in Tesla and Flipkart.
Google puts on a show. The company’s annual developers’ conference in Silicon Valley is likely to focus on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Its Google Assistant service is expected to get center stage, including a possible launch on iPhones.
EU and US officials meet to discuss an expanded carry-on laptop ban. The Brussels meeting will be overshadowed by US president Donald Trump’s disclosure of sensitive intel related to the ban in a meeting with Russia. The EU has asked the US to refrain from making a unilateral decision.
While you were sleeping
UK inflation surged, and investors loved it. Buoyed by rising air fares and clothing costs, the UK inflation rate rose to 2.7% in April—its highest level since September 2013. While the Bank of England warned that rising prices and falling wages would make 2017 a “challenging time” for households, the dip in the pound caused the UK stock market to hit a record high.
Trump met with Erdoğan. The meeting between the US and Turkish presidents comes amid strained relations between the two countries over US aid to a Kurdish militia in Syria that Turkey considers a terrorist group. At a joint press conference, Trump said it was a “great honor” to meet Erdoğan, but repeatedly mispronounced his name.
Thailand appeared to back down from a threat to shut down Facebook. The government issued an ultimatum for Facebook to remove embarrassing photos of the country’s new king, or risk being blocked. Thailand later said the company had agreed, but at least some of the photos remained online.
The intel Trump leaked to Russia reportedly came from Israel. The New York Times reported that information about a possible Islamic State terrorist attack included at least some details from America’s primary Middle East ally, raising fears that it could interfere with future intelligence sharing. Trump said that sharing the information was his “absolute right,” but US lawmakers demanded an explanation.
Quartz obsession interlude
Eshe Nelson on investors who love to follow the herd. “Snap reported a staggering quarterly loss [and] plummeted by more than 20%. Two days later, Snap’s share price jumped by 8%. What made investors forget about that multibillion-dollar loss so quickly? This is what—a bunch of regulatory filings came out showing hedge funds and other asset managers had bought Snap shares in the first quarter.” Read more here.
Markets haiku
Analysts never / Say sell. Except for Twitter. / Twitter you should sell.
Matters of debate
An art degree may save you from automation. VC Kai-Fu Lee says that “art and beauty are very hard to replicate with AI.”
Murphy’s Law is totally misunderstood. “Everything that can go wrong will” is not pessimism, but a call to excel.
Pixar has lost its way. After years of unmatched creative excellence, derivative sequels have taken over.
Surprising discoveries
A Nigerian-American comedian is a surprise star in Japan. Ike Nwala got a job with Goldman Sachs in Tokyo to pursue his dream.
Apple’s new $5 billion campus has a 100,000-square-foot gym, but no daycare. No wonder Silicon Valley struggles to attract and retain women.
Korean companies are forcing employees to use English nicknames. It’s a way of breaking down rigid hierarchies and court foreign business partners.
CEOs are actually getting fired for ethical lapses. The numbers are still relatively small, but they’re on the rise.
Avocados are delicious but dangerous. Doctors are warning of a surge in “avocado hand” wounds.
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