The Yahoo Finance Live team breaks down the top trending stories of the day, including Tesla's reputation ranking on the 2023 Axios Harris Poll, Peloton offering new membership options, and worker satisfaction.
Video Transcript
SEANA SMITH: Stocks ending the day lower as some worry over the debt ceiling negotiations. But let's take a look at some of the top trending stories of the day. Tesla shareholders, they've been a bit concerned about Elon Musk's commitment to the company since taking over Twitter last year. Well, there's a new Axios poll out, the 2023 poll ranking the reputations of the top 100 companies on Americans and mine.
So Tesla took a massive hit in this. They ranked 62nd this year out of 100 companies. Last year, they ranked 11th. Now, according to Axios' ranking here, Tesla has a quote, "good reputation, but not very good or excellent." And when you take a look at some of the other or some of the brands that did place in the top five, excellent reputation.
You're looking at Patagonia, number one spot. Costco, Deere, Trader Joe's, and Chick-fil-A rounding out that top five. Pras, so let's focus on Tesla. The fact that we saw such a dramatic drop here with the company's reputation, not a huge surprise given what's played out over the last several months.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah, a lot going here. I want to-- one quick thing about the list, FTX was 99 and the Trump Org was 100. So just noting that that was part of the running of the list. But yeah, Tesla fell 50 spots-ish around that from, like you said, 11th to 62nd.
Musk's outspokenness on all things like labor, race, politics, George Soros even, right? This really making customers feel that they don't necessarily want to be connected with him as a brand, with Tesla as a brand. What does it say about you? Investment doesn't talk.
Driving a Tesla is like wearing red MAGA hat. That's the feeling that-- I'm not saying that's how it is, but people feel that way. But look at Twitter also, too. Twitter down nearly 40 spots to 97th place on the list.
ALLIE CANAL: Yeah. And to me, what stuck out was that social media, as a whole, has seen their reputations plummet. And it's not just the fact that Elon Musk took over Twitter. It dates all the way back to the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, according to this poll. I also think of all the Capitol Hill testimonies that we've had, how there's been a lot of data leaks, privacy concerns surrounding companies like TikTok and Meta.
So that was an interesting group that stuck out to me, especially as we have Meta developing their own Twitter competitor. We have new entrants like BeReal, which my friends and I have dabbled in. So you wonder if these legacy social media companies could be on the outs as these trust concerns weigh heavy on the minds of the users.
JOSH SCHAFER: And TikTok down there hanging out with Bitcoin, too.
ALLIE CANAL: Yeah, that's not really good.
JOSH SCHAFER: It's an interesting risk-- when you get to the bottom, Bitcoin, Family Dollar, or Dollar Tree, it seems like people are almost mad about the economy, in some ways, and the way that they're answering this with trust. Because then when you go all the way up, you're seeing classic staple companies like a Costco or Trader Joe's, where things are still kind of cheap.
SEANA SMITH: That's true. I was going to say, it actually surprises me that you said Dollar Tree was at the bottom of that list?
JOSH SCHAFER: Dollar Tree and Dollar General.
SEANA SMITH: You would think that might be thing--
JOSH SCHAFER: Or Family Dollar, sorry.
SEANA SMITH: --something that people have a stronger brand value, and especially at a downturn. But hey, who knows? All right, guys, let's move on to the next story here that we're tracking, and that's Peloton. They're trying to backpedal a little bit, prove that they are more than just selling bikes and treadmills.
The retailer out with a new pricing system for their membership options. Three new tiers for the app memberships. There's a free one, which doesn't cost you anything, app one, which is $12.99 a month, and then there's also app+, $24 a month.
Peloton certainly has been struggling now for some time. Josh, there's been a big focus on services under Barry McCarthy, the process of turning around Peloton since it did peak. This could be a step in the right direction.
JOSH SCHAFER: It could be a step in the right direction. Remember, when you think about Peloton specifically for this quarter, they were projecting the first quarterly membership drop ever. And so that's-- membership is what people on the street are focused on right now as Peloton just hit an all-time low about a week ago now.
So that's a direct response to maybe re-spark membership. I know we have a couple of Peloton users at the desk. So I'm just-- what attracts you guys as far as that goes as paying product, free product?
SEANA SMITH: I think the free product, though, is pretty smart because they're trying to attract more users. They're not going to make any money off it obviously from the free app. But they're looking to get people into their system, get people hooked, and then hopefully they're going to upgrade.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah, the free stuff-- I mean, look, Netflix has proven that people want free goods. And I don't know how they're going to--
SEANA SMITH: Who doesn't?
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: --how they're going to monetize the free app. Maybe there's some sort of advertising. Who knows? But why not? Why not try to skim those users that are at the bottom of your profit triangle that don't want to actually pay for anything?
I mean, look, I'm on my sister-in-law's account. So I'm not paying, but I use it a lot. So I would check it out. And I think that those mid-tier and upper tier options are good for people that want-- they want a bit more.
They want to have the bike. They want to be connected to it. So I think it's a good idea and smart. I mean, look, Peloton a couple of years ago, they wanted to get into the manufacturing business. They wanted to build their own bikes.
That's a horrible idea. No one does that. Apple doesn't even do that, they have Foxconn do it. So this is a better way to focus the company on. What matters? High margin software stuff.
ALLIE CANAL: Yeah. And it's not lost on me that Barry McCarthy, he was the CFO at Netflix and Spotify. And in media right now, we're seeing all these various pricing tiers. So I think it's smart. My friends love the Peloton app.
They use it frequently. And at $24 a month for that high-end tier-- I'm going in a SoulCycle class in New York City and just dropping $40 on a 45-minute class that starts late, ends early. I'm like a clown for doing this.
JOSH SCHAFER: $40 per class, too, right?
ALLIE CANAL: $40 per class never even goes the full 45 minutes.
JOSH SCHAFER: $24 per month--
ALLIE CANAL: That's like huge.
JOSH SCHAFER: --in the scheme of fitness actually isn't that expensive.
SEANA SMITH: Yeah, but I also think a lot of people maybe that are subscribing to this app also belong to a gym. So it could be [INAUDIBLE]
JOSH SCHAFER: Well, that's a personal finance problem for them.
SEANA SMITH: Exactly. All right, guys, let's move on here. There's a recent poll out really showing us what Americans care about when it comes to work. It's from the Washington Post and Ipsos. Now, workers care much more about pay than they do about remote work.
45% saying that pay is the most important aspect of a job versus a 7% who say the ability to work from home or remote is most important. And you could see more of the rankings here. 14% of workers say good boss or manager is extremely or the most important to them.
8% talking about the health care benefits. Guys, my big takeaway was, on a positive note from this survey, the amount of people who are satisfied with their jobs, 80% say that they are very satisfied with their jobs. Nearly 2/3 say that they have a good work-life balance. That surprised me, given the fact that we talk so much about the high burnout rate given the pandemic.
JOSH SCHAFER: And the thing that stuck out to me that I was looking at with that was Gen Z and where they answered here, because I am a high-end part of Gen Z, but I'm always curious where that falls. And I thought it was interesting to see that they said that they-- 52% said they don't work enough or they don't work enough and excel enough to advance their jobs.
That was lower than what you saw from ages 35 to 49 and lower than what you saw from ages 50 to 64. So I thought it was interesting to see Gen Z basically admitting, and I hear this anecdotally all the time, they do strive for work-life balance. And that's what you're seeing with the younger generation of work right now, that you know what?
Maybe they don't want to work at 12-hour a day, they'd rather work at 8 to 9-hour day, and then admitting maybe that means they're not going to get a promotion. And maybe that's why they're happy, though. Maybe that's why 80% of people are satisfied with their jobs and some sort of balance.
ALLIE CANAL: Yeah. It is interesting to me. And going back to your point, Seana, with higher pay is good for workers, managers, having a great manager, that's important for workers. That's all very obvious to me. But one thing that struck out was the workplace bestie, people that have friends at the office.
55% of workers say they have close friendships at work, 45% said they do not. And that was even evident with remote workers. Now, about half of remote workers said that they have close work friendships compared to 60% of hybrid and in-office workers.
But I consider you guys all my friends. And I do think that helps with the satisfaction you have at the office. Showing up to work, liking the people that you work with, even if they're not your direct boss or managers.
SEANA SMITH: Yeah, it plays a lot into the culture of the place.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: I think-- following on what you said about the 80% people were happy, it was very surprising.
SEANA SMITH: We're stuck on that point.
[LAUGHTER]
JOSH SCHAFER: Well, I just can't believe 80% of people are happy in general.
SEANA SMITH: We weren't surveyed in this group.
PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: But I did see that only 22% of people were actually fully at work. Most people are hybrid. And that's down from 60% pre-pandemic. So I guess what's happening is that there's more choice, so maybe you're happier that way. Maybe you're still burnt out, but you're overall maybe happy about that.
Another thing is that, of course, what's the most important thing? Cash, pay. Don't care about pizza parties, don't care about free treats. People want to get paid, and that's what makes them happy. So maybe give them choice where they work, give them some cash, they got to work force.
JOSH SCHAFER: People want to feel empowered. And I think people like being able to have that choice. Even if they come in four days a week and they're choosing what four days they come in, people just like having a little bit of choice. And yeah, money is always going to win.
SEANA SMITH: People do like having a lot of choice. But pay, a mentor-- a mentor, I'm a big proponent of that. I almost think that it's arguably the most important, especially early in your career.
