Michaels Stages a Crafty Comeback & Americans Don’t Read Anymore

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
The board recommends approving...

**Neal Freyman** (0:01)
Regarding that seat on the committee, we're promoting......to boost quarterly earnings...

**SPEAKER_1** (0:04)
Every day, shareholders meet to discuss important matters about the companies you invest in. Now you can easily make your voice heard. Vanguard Investor Choice gives you a say in the companies you invest in. With just a few taps, you can set your proxy voting preference for your index funds. Visit vanguard.com/investorchoice to learn more. Vanguard Investors own shares of our index funds, which own shares of the companies they invest in. Available for Vanguard index funds that participate in Investor Choice, Vanguard Marketing Corporation Distributor.

**Neal Freyman** (0:31)
Good Morning Brew Daily Show. I'm Neal Freyman.

**Toby Howell** (0:34)
And I'm Toby Howell.

**Neal Freyman** (0:35)
Today, did private equity save Michaels?

**Toby Howell** (0:38)
Then is America entering its post-literate age? It's Friday, July 10th. Let's ride.

**Neal Freyman** (0:54)
If you're like me and obsessed with memorizing airport codes, I've got an important update to share. Yesterday, Palm Beach Airport officially changed its name to President Donald J. Trump International, which makes it the first airport to be named after a sitting US president. And therefore, the airport code will change from PBI to DJT.
And this sent me down a rabbit hole of other airports named after presidents. There are at least eight, according to a Sporkle quiz I did this morning. You've got the big ones, Kennedy in New York, Bush in Houston, Reagan in DC., but also Gerald Ford in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Eisenhower in Wichita, Abraham Lincoln in Springfield, Illinois, and Theodore Roosevelt Regional Airport in Dickinson, North Dakota. Think I got five out of eight?

**Toby Howell** (1:40)
That was the most Neal scene ever this morning. I walk in and you're knee deep in a Sporkle naming airports after presidents. Yes, speaking of airports, Neal and I are gonna be heading to one today after the show. From there, we're hopping across the pond to Scotland with some friends on a trip to visit St. Andrews. Some golf will be played. Some haggis and Cullen skink will be consumed. And the trip extends until Wednesday of next week, meaning both myself and Neal will be out at the same time. But fear not, the show will go on. You'll be in the capable hands of some of our colleagues, including Six Man of the Year, Kyle Hagge, who will bring you your daily dose of news.
Now a word from our sponsor, Ultra Running. Hey Neal, do you own anything foot shaped?

**Neal Freyman** (2:22)
I mean nothing human foot shaped.

**Toby Howell** (2:25)
Wow, what a terrifying answer that warns zero follow up questions. If you'd like to add something human foot shaped to your collection, Ultra Running makes shoes shaped like feet.

**Neal Freyman** (2:34)
Most running shoes are narrow at the toe, but Ultra has more room for your toes so they can spread out and your feet can stay in a natural position. The Ultra Fit is designed to give you room for your toes for comfort, balance and strength.

**Toby Howell** (2:45)
Use promo code MorningBrew10 for 10% off your first pair of Ultra Running shoes at ultrarunning.com/morningbrew. That's altrarunning.com/morningbrew.

**Neal Freyman** (2:57)
Earlier this year, SpaceX went public in the biggest IPO of all time. Today, number two arrives. It's a lot less familiar to Americans, but it's at the center of the AI boom that's taking over the economy. Meet SK Hynix, a South Korean memory chip maker that's going public on the NASDAQ today. It raised $26.5 billion, beating out Alibaba as the largest foreign listing in US history. You've heard us talk about memory a lot recently, and for good reason, there's a massive shortage that's driving up prices for everything from Nintendo switches to Apple laptops. AI giants have been gobbling up all the memory chips to run their models, driving memory costs to record highs and starving the rest of the industry of much needed hardware. It's been an absolute windfall for anyone who makes memory, and there aren't that many. Just three companies produce the kind of high bandwidth memory that's so trendy in AI. SK Hynix, South Korean rival Samsung and Idaho's Micron. Each of these companies has hit a $1 trillion valuation this year thanks to surging demand for their chips. SK Hynix's financials are certainly enviable. Annual revenue nearly tripled between 2023 and 2025 Then this year alone, it's expected to triple again to $235 billion.
On the South Korean stock market, its shares have gone up 700% over the past year.
After a breathtaking run, SK Hynix looks to continue the momentum under the bright lights of Wall Street.