♟ We have a winner

Hello, Players!

First things first, I owe Justin Mikolay and Andy Toizer apologies.

Number one, because I spelled Justin’s last name incorrectly when giving him a shout out for his button guess. And secondly, because Andy actually recorded the closest guess last week.

Sorry gentleman, won’t happen again.

As for this week’s results, you know the drill. Scroll to the bottom to find out if you won The Button.

WINNER

Feeling like you’re 18 again

Before you scroll down, picture this person I’m about to describe in your mind:

Bryan Johnson is a tech CEO and multi-millionaire who is 45-years-old but spends $2 million-a-year trying to reverse the aging process within his own body.

Got an idea? Great, now look at the tweet below.

Bet you nailed it. Johnson sold Braintree (which bought Venmo in 2012) to eBay for $800 million and has since plowed most of his fortune into unlocking the secret to aging. A Bloomberg report this week went deep into his routine which includes green drinks in the morning, a 1,977-calorie vegan diet, and of course, good sleep and exercise.

Johnson claims that test results suggest that he now has the heart of a 37-year-old, the skin of a 28-year-old, and the lung capacity of an 18-year-old.

Devastating to hear that a good diet and regular exercise are the keys to good health.

LOSER

Getting on Hindenburg’s bad side

One of Wall Street’s most famous short sellers, Hindenburg Research, is taking on Asia’s richest man.

And right now, the short sellers are winning. If the name Hindenburg sounds familiar, you probably heard of them when they published a now infamous report exposing electric truck maker Nikola.

But Adani Group is a much bigger fish than Nikola. It’s an Indian conglomerate that owns everything from ports to energy and has propelled its founder Gautam Adani into the top 5 richest people in the world.

Over the past three years, its seven core businesses have seen an average price rise of 819%, performance that Hindenburg credits to widespread stock manipulation and fraud.

Adani Group has denied the claims, but as of Thursday the conglomerate has lost $10.8 billion in valuation which shows that the market is taking the report relatively seriously.

Given Adani Group’s deep involvement with the Indian economy, Hindenburg’s report represents one of the more high stakes pieces of corporate research to ever come out.

WINNER

Tommy Paul, American hero

While you’ve been sleeping, American men’s tennis has been having a renaissance at the Australian Open.

After producing no real contenders since Andy Roddick won the US Open in 2003, there are a slew of young American’s knocking on the door of a major title.

The one knocking the loudest right now is Tommy Paul, a 25-year-old who came out of absolutely nowhere to make to the Australian Open semis.

Unfortunately, Paul’s opponent was the big bad Novak Djokovic, winner of 9 Australian Open titles. The two played down under starting at 3:30 am ET last night so you’ll likely know the results of the match by the time you read this. Here’s to hoping Tommy did the impossible.

Regardless of the outcome, it’s been good to see American men finally stepping up their game.

P.S. Highly recommend checking out Break Point, tennis’ version of Drive to Survive, which just came out on Netflix.

LOSER

Freeloading

After 25 years of blissful password sharing, Netflix announced on Thursday that armageddon is coming for everyone piggybacking on their parents’ account.

That’s right Netflix plans to ban users from sharing passwords for free by the end of this upcoming March. Netflix said on its earnings call that over 100 million households are currently engaged in account sharing which is great for your ex-girlfriends’ sister who never signed out of your aunt’s account, but not so great for the streaming service.

Netflix dropping the hammer we can deal with…but if phone companies tell us we have to get off our parent’s plans anytime soon then kiss the economy good-bye.

WINNER

Making her laugh

Yes, that is super model Emily Ratajkowski and comedian Eric Andre. 

Fellas, it looks like a tight 5-minute routine is the way to a woman’s heart.

STATS TO IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS

Stat #1: When Coinbase’s Chief Product Officer leaves the company this February 3, Surojit Chatterjee will have made a whopping $105 million from stock sales. Not bad for 3 years of work.

Stat #2: Disney’s ironic Splash Mountain officially shut down this past Sunday, but instead of mourning Disney fanatics set about profiteering. Fans who waited for hours to ride the log flumes one last time have begun selling baggies and bottles of “Splash Mountain water” on eBay. Prices range from $20-$1,000.

Stat #3: A British vlogger is getting roasted for paying $1.5 million for a Tennessee mansion that went viral after pictures promoting the property showed a fire engulfing the home. Yes, a man payed over a million dollars for a house that was irreparably burned by flames. This housing market, man.

NYC MEETUP

If you are based in NYC and work in the tech or media world, I’m sure you’ve been to more networking events than you can count.

But milling about with a drink in your hand isn’t always the easiest or most fun way to meet new people.

So, I’m throwing a different type of networking event—a Game Night.

If you’re interested in meeting new people and playing some board games, fill out the form here.

THE BUTTON

WE HAVE A WINNER

In the third week of The Button, one brilliant Player absolutely smashed his guess.

And the winner is…

*drum roll please*

Yusuf Cattaneo

With a guess of 138 he threaded the needle to perfection. Congrats, Yusuf. Check your email sometime this afternoon for instruction on how to claim your prize.

As for the rest of you, worry not.

The Button lives on!

For any new readers joining us, the rules of The Button are simple.

Reply to this email with a guess of how many times the button below will be clicked.

Whoever guesses the correct number of clicks wins the money in the prize pool. If no one guesses the correct number, the prize pool doubles and the game continues.

CURRENT PRIZE POOL: $10

Here is some additional information for your Round 2 guesses:

• Newsletter open rate: 71%

• Total subscribers: 784

Taking all that into account, make sure you get your guesses in before next Thursday at 11:59 PM ET.

Without further ado, The Button.

Good luck, Players. See you next week.

P.S. If you think a friend would enjoy The Game, forward them this email so they can sign up and play here.