This is Nick. This is Jack. And there’s drama on the high seas. Off the coast of Colombia is a 300-year-old Spanish shipwreck with an estimated $20B worth of sunken treasure. The American company is calling “finder’s keepers,” but the Colombian government is claiming “home turf.” This might need to be resolved in Jack Sparrow-style.

🇺🇲 To all the veterans: We want to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation on this Veterans Day. Thank you for your bravery and service. 

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1) Netflix Is Streaming At The Egyptian Theater

Netflix reopened one of the nation’s most famous movie theaters yesterday. It’s a great week for Hollywood…

1. Actor’s strike: It’s finally over. 118 days later… 

2. The Egyptian Theater: It’s alive again. But the story begins 101 years ago…

The Egyptian Theater in Hollywood is one of the most historically important in America — It’s the Yankee Stadium of screens:

• 🎬 Its 1st movie: Robin Hood premiered under the jeweled ceiling in 1922. 

• 🎬 More 1sts: It was first to roll out a red carpet for a movie premiere, giving actors a pedestal to pose for pictures. 

After earthquake damage in 1994, The Egyptian needed repair. But its nonprofit ownership didn't make $ easy to come by. So in 2020, Netflix saw an opportunity and bought it: $70M in restoration and 3 years later, the Egyptian is showing movies again. Here’s how Netflix is feeding 2 birds with 1 scone:

• On weekdays: Netflix will premier its original shows and movies like Murder Mystery in Netflix’s theater, giving the actors and producers the debut they crave. 

• And on weekends: The nonprofit shows the public classic films like My Fair Lady.

The Takeaway →

There’s corporate philanthropy and there’s corporate heroism. Corporations donating money to noble causes is great to see, but donations don't buy attention. This move makes Netflix look like a Hollywood superhero — it's getting a payout in PR. Restoring La La Land’s iconic theater gets major brownie points from customers, actors, and producers…conveniently some of the same people and institutions that may not have loved Netflix due to its streaming disruption.

2) Cruise Recalls All Robotaxis 

Cruise, the self-driving robotaxi startup, just pulled back its entire fleet after new developments from a horrific accident last month. 

Hitting reverse: In 2016 General Motors bought a majority stake in the self-driving San Francisco tech company for $1B. By 2021, its valuation had grown to $30B. FYI, we’ve taken rides in these robo-taxis in SF and, frankly, they’re a thrill (and always felt safe to us — they drive super cautiously).

Cruise-equipped robotaxis were driving 35 mph (max) until an accident on October 2nd. 

• The Details: A pedestrian was hit by a car on the streets of San Francisco — the human driver sped away in a hit-and-run crime. After being struck, the pedestrian flew into the path of a Cruise car, which stopped immediately.

• But then the car got confused… it was programmed to pull over, not knowing it was slowly dragging the woman 20 feet. The woman is alive and in the hospital, but the self-driving car’s moves likely made her injuries worse. 

• The Update: Cruise confirmed that the cars still need help: Every 4-5 miles, remote human operators are needed to intervene with the robotaxis in tricky traffic situations.

The Takeaway →

It’s not about the mistake, it’s about how you handle it. After the crash, Cruise shared video footage with the authorities… but only part of it, according to the Washington Post. They left out the part with the woman being dragged 20 feet. As the whole truth came out, it appeared that Cruise wasn’t being forthcoming, so it lost trust. And the penalty is heavy:

• 🛑 Regulators suspended Cruise’s permit to self-drive in California,

• 🛑 GM paused production of robotaxis,

• 🛑 And Cruise recalled all 950 of its self-driving cars.

Even if self-driving cars became 99% safer than human-driven ones, an accident was bound to happen. Cruise isn’t facing a crisis because of what the car did, but for how the people at the company handled it afterward.

On the pod today…

🧴 Gwyneth Paltrow and her startup Goop are making their riskiest bet yet — Goop products will now be sold at Target. To hear more about the “Aspiration-to-Accessibility Spectrum,” listen to today’s pod. 

🔻 The stock market’s 8-day winning streak is over. A 9th day would’ve been the longest winning streak since 2004. 

✈️ United Airlines just updated its loyalty program for frequent flyers. Just like Delta, they’re going to reward how much you spend, not how many miles you fly. 

👛 Bitcoin just hit $37K. Its price has more than doubled this year thanks to anticipation of approval for a Bitcoin ETF.

🍫 $250K worth of rare-flavored KitKats were stolen by freight hijackers. In Japan, sought-after flavors like melon, matcha latte, and daifuku mochi are collector’s items. 

🤝 President Xi is visiting the US next week to chat about the climate and nuclear weapons with tech execs in San Francisco. He’ll meet with President Biden, too. And the 3 pandas China had lent to our National Zoo in DC just arrived safely back in China. Awkward. 

👯 Dupe travel is trending now. Taipei is a dupe for Seoul (searches +2,786% globally) and Pattaya, Thailand is like an alt-milk to Bangkok (searches +249% globally).

And one more thing. Who’s the best pirate in the game?

—Nick & Jack