☕️ The Staggering Economics of Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

USD120,000 Bitcoin price by the end of 2024 - a prediction by Standard Chartered. Easy to make such calls when the market is moving in the same direction. We didn’t see such optimistic calls when Bitcoin was trading at its low of about USD16,000 not too long ago.

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

Today in Swiftonomics - staggering numbers

USD13 mil (RM60.71 mil) - average ticket sales per night of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour performance. Most of this will go towards the cost of production, which does not include millions of dollars more in merchandise sales that the tour will generate. There will be nearly 100 dates of her concert in total.

USD1 bil - the tour is estimated to gross a record-breaking cool billion dollars, a threshold no artiste has ever hit. Through 22 dates, the tour has grossed USD300 mil (USD13.6 mil on average per date) and is estimated to top USD1.3 bil.

USD253.6 (RM1.18k) - the average price of a ticket for The Eras Tour, Swift’s biggest tour ever and first since 2018. Compared to her last Reputation Tour in 2018, the average ticket price shot up significantly by 112.5% from USD119.4. During her Speak Now Tour in 2011, the average ticket price was just USD83.5. There’s a saying - nothing is certain except death and taxes. Let’s add inflation to it. 

>2 mil - the number of people queueing virtually in the first hour during the general sale of the Singapore leg of the tour. Swift will be performing 6 nights in Singapore - March 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9 in 2024. Majulah Singapura!

+45% - the rise in the average daily credit card applications in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam from 21 - 27 June compared to earlier weeks, UOB said. In the same period, debit cards application in Singapore and Vietnam increased by more than 2x, up nearly 130%.

USD740 mil - 33-year-old Taylor Swift’s net worth in 2023, estimated by Forbes. The Eras Tour could well push her into the billionaire club. This makes her the second-richest self-made woman in music, but far from #1, which goes to Rihanna with a net worth of USD1.4 bil.

RM11,350 - amount lost in a concert ticket scam by an engineer in Kuching trying to buy the tickets on Carousell. Probably the first known Swiftie concert ticket scam victim in this region.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Viral videos then, legal action now (warning - graphic) 

• The ‘lawan arah’ rider on the highway — Mudzyadaha Mohammad, the individual that was riding against the flow of traffic at the Sungai Besi Ulu Kelang Highway (SUKE), which led to a Ducati Panigale rider Ahmad Fadzil Omar Azzadin being thrown off the highway after attempting to avoid the motorcyclist, pleaded insanity in court. Mudsyadaha’s lawyer stated that the defendant holds an OKU card and has a mental disability. He was instructed to go to Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta in Perak for a mental evaluation.

• The trio that beat a dog to death — Penang police have arrested the unlikely trio of a cargo agent, a fisherman and a bus driver for allegedly torturing a dog to death. The trio is facing a fine of up to RM100,000 each or a maximum jail term of 3 years under Section 29 (1) of the Animal Welfare Act 2015 for cruelty. The beating was heartless AF.

• The machete-wielding argument in Gurun, Kedah — Kuala Muda, Kedah district police chief ACP Zaidy Che Hassan has arrested a lorry driver that allegedly wielded his machete during a heated argument with a Ford Ranger driver that honked at him on the North-South Expressway. The lorry driver stated that he brought out his ‘parang’ to protect himself after the other man threatened him.

BNM is carrying out a ‘quasi-tightening’ of interbank liquidityAlthough on the surface, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) seems to pause its monetary tightening efforts, behind the scenes, the story may be otherwise. According to Maybank Research, the central bank is tightening interbank liquidity by increasing the issuance of Bank Negara Interbank Bills (BNIB) and lowering the reverse repo.

So, let’s start the ECON101 class, brought to you by The Coffee Break.TLDR: To tighten liquidity, BNM sells assets (takes money from banks). To increase liquidity, BNM buys assets (returns money to banks).

In Malaysia, BNIB and reverse repo are among the few tools at BNM’s disposal in order to control the movement of money between banks, or what we call as interbank liquidity. BNIBs are short-term securities issued by BNM at a discount to their face value. Only available and tradable between licensed banks, BNIBs are issued to enhance liquidity intermediation in the interbank money market. More BNIBs issued equate to less liquidity in the market.

Reverse repo, on the other hand, is where BNM buys eligible securities from banks while committing to resell the equivalent securities on a specified date at a specified price, providing liquidity to the banking system. The lower the reverse repo, the less fluid the interbank market. Basically, if banks hold more securities than cash/money, there is less liquidity.

Penang Bishop among Pope-chosen CardinalsPope Francis announced that 21 new Cardinals will be created at a consistory to be held in the Vatican at the end of September. The 21 new cardinals also include our own Bishop Sebastian Francis of Penang, which reflects the universality of the Church by promoting clerics outside of Europe. To make things a bit interesting, Malaysian Bishop Sebastian Francis will be eligible to participate in a papal conclave to elect a new Pope as he is under the age of 80. How is a new Pope chosen?Following a vacancy in the papacy, the cardinals hold a series of meetings at the Vatican called general congregations, which included the papal election, called a conclave. During the conclave, the cardinals will vote by secret ballot and four rounds of balloting are taken every day until a candidate receives two-thirds of the vote. If no one receives the necessary two-thirds of the votes, the ballots are burned on a stove near the chapel with a mixture of chemicals to produce black smoke. When a cardinal receives the necessary two-thirds vote, the ballots of the final round are burned with chemicals producing white smoke to signal to the world the election of a new pope. You may remember the white and black smoke scenes from the Angel and Demons movie starring Tom Hanks.

Business news

• Capital A Bhd CEO Tony Fernandes has sold his entire stake in QPR Holdings Ltd, the parent company of Queens Park Rangers Football Club (QPR), to focus on its airline business, including finalising the regularisation plan to uplift Capital A from the Practice Note 17 (PN17) status. Tony bought F1 mogul Bernie Ecclestone’s 66% stake in the club for around GBP35 mil (RM210 mil) in 2011.

• MITI Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz announced that Chinese automobile manufacturer Chery has chosen Malaysia as its regional hub for its right-hand drive (RHD) vehicles in its Southeast Asia and Oceania markets. Chery will make an initial investment of RM170 mil that will create 4,000 high-paying, high-skilled jobs for Malaysians over the next five years.

• Axiata Group Bhd plans to reduce ownership in some of its businesses and lists its technology units in order to reduce the group’s overseas debts. Axiata’s overseas debts skyrocketed from RM25.7 bil in December 2019 to RM36.7 bil by the end of March 2023 due to its purchase of telecom towers in the Philippines and a broadband and cable TV provider in Indonesia. Edotco Group Bhd is one of the business units poised for a planned stake sale, rumoured to be as much as RM3.5 bil.

• Property developer SkyWorld Development Bhd’s initial public offering (IPO) fell flat after it closed just 7.5% below its IPO price of 80sen. At 74 sen, the company’s market capitalisation stood at RM740 mil. All in all, SkyWorld has raised RM320 mil - RM166.4 mil from the issuance of new shares, where 60% of the proceeds will go towards the acquisition of land for development and the remaining RM153.6 mil becomes payday for its two co-founders.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

The world is officially ‘free’ of chemical weaponsThe US has officially destroyed its stockpile of chemical weapons, becoming the last of 8 countries to destroy its declared stocks of chemical weapons under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty signed by nearly 200 nations that ban the possession, production and use of the weapons on the battlefield. This milestone was achieved last Friday when the US drained a final rocket of sarin nerve agent and it was declared that “100% of the world’s declared chemical weapons have now been destroyed”.

Chemical weapons are still covertly used. Syria being the most notable, deployed chlorine and nerve against in its civil war with horrible effects. Russia used such chemicals for targeted assassination attempts. Kim Jong Un of North Korea famously used nerve agents to kill his half-brother, of all places, in our KLIA in 2017.

On another note, a NATO summit will convene for 2 days today in Lithuania - expect Russia to be triggered. Turkey said it would back Sweden’s NATO candidacy if the European Union resumes the long-stalled discussion on Turkey’s membership to join the EU. Read: 10 things you need to know about NATO*

*NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, though some have criticised it, calling it No Action Talk Only. 

In Holland: One man retreats, another (former) man rises

• Dutch PM Mark Rutte said he will quit politics after his coalition government collapsed on Friday over asylum policies. He will remain as the caretaker PM until fresh elections in November. Rutte is one of Europe’s longest-serving leaders, having been in power for four terms over nearly 13 years. Rutte and his party, the VVD party, had been trying to limit the flow of asylum seekers, which was opposed by junior coalition partners. 

• On Saturday, 22-year-old Rikkie Valerie Koll became the first transgender woman to be crowned Miss Netherlands 2023 and will be representing the Netherlands at the Miss Universe pageant in El Salvador later this year. Kolle isn’t the first trans woman to compete for the Miss Universe crown, as the first trans contestant was Miss Spain in 2018. The 71-year-old competition started allowing transgender contestants in 2012. Fun fact: The Miss Universe Organization was acquired for USD20 mil in late 2022 by Jakkapong Jakrajutatip, a Thai businesswoman and transgender.

China kindergarten stabbing attack - 6 dead6 people, including 3 children, were killed in a kindergarten stabbing attack in Lianjiang, Guandong province. A 25-year-old man has been arrested and police have called this case an “intentional assault”, though they did not elaborate on the possible motive. Though shocking, there’s a disturbing rising trend in stabbing attacks in China. The BBC counted at least 17 knife attacks in schools, colleges and universities since 2010, of which 10 of them happened between 2018 and 2023. 

The perpetrators, in most cases, were male and expressed a grudge against society. China has a term for mass knife attacks and mass outrages - social revenge. Possible factors contributing to this disturbing trend: pandemic-induced stress caused by the toughest lockdowns anywhere in the world, high expectations on young men in Chinese society, low social status. 

Stabbing incidents in China, however, is nowhere as severe as gun violence in the US in terms of frequency. July 4, a day of celebration of the founding of the US, was overshadowed by 16 mass shootings in which 15 people were killed and nearly 100 injured. A mass shooting is defined as an incident at least 4 or more people, excluding the shooter, are killed or injured by firearms. According to the Gun Violence Archive, an authoritative database on gun violence in America, 350 mass shooting incidents have been identified this year so far, putting the US on track for one of the worst years of mass shootings. 

The Capitalists of Japan: Diaper-to-EV pivot, Unicorn breeder

• Nippon Shokubai is the world’s leading manufacturer of superabsorbent polymers (SAP), which are materials used in disposable diapers that soak up and retain fluid. With growing competition, the company has shifted its focus to its trademarked electrolyte salt called Ionel, which is used in lithium-ion batteries to stabilise battery performance in extreme temperatures, as LI batteries lose capacity if exposed to very high or very low temperatures. To this end, it has bought into a Chinese EV battery electrolytes manufacturer and collaborated with a French company to roll out Ionel in the market.

• Japanese banking giant Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) is launching a USD210 mil fund to help startups develop into unicorns (fast-growth, unlisted companies valued at least USD1 bil). The fund will be launched in partnership with Global Brain, a prominent Japanese venture capital specialist that has USD1.67 bil assets under management, 300+ active portfolios, 29 IPOs and 64 M&As under its belt. 

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

The science of sound - noise-cancelling and music identification

1. How noise-cancelling works

2. Shazam identifies 23,000 songs every minute. Even with background noise, it could still identify songs. Here’s its interesting magic.