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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 9h

🫡 (Delta Reserve and CSP here, thinking about adding a reg Gold for dining and grocery points accrual)

Reposted by Amanda Mull

Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 22h

For Businessweek’s November issue, I have a feature about the high-fee premium credit card war being waged by American Express and Chase for the hearts, minds, and swipes of America’s affluent supershoppers. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Inside the Credit Card Battle to Win America’s Richest Shoppers

The fierce fight between Amex and Chase is playing out over higher fees, extravagant events and every perk imaginable.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Amanda Mull

Ann Monster Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social · 14h

it's also a private market story. openai and anthropic are private companies, they have a lot of investors- including indirect retail investors, who invest through funding vehicles- but they don't have to make disclosures and if the bubble bursts, those investors will have a lot more trouble suing

Dave Karpf @davekarpf.bsky.social · 16h

Everyone agrees that we're currently in a dotcom era-like AI bubble. People disagree what sort of bubble it is.

There are 3 stories one can tell about the dotcom crash: a startup story, a telecom story, and an accounting fraud story.

My take: it's giving Enron
open.substack.com/pub/davekarp...

It's Giving Enron

On the AI bubble, and the various echoes of the dotcom crash

open.substack.com

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 16h

It’s very important for points sickos to find a community of points sickos who accept them as they are

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 17h

Yeah even within the banks we mentioned, there are vast ecosystems of cobrand premium cards that could be a story all their own. And it’s funny how little BoA says or does with its prem card—no one I spoke to thought of it as a serious player in the space!

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 17h

Thank you!!

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Reposted by Amanda Mull

Q McCallum @qethanm.bsky.social · 18h

Interesting look at the premium credit card space.

It's a special flavor of the self-reinforcing feedback loop of loyalty programs, with a splash of signaling mechanisms on both sides.

Net result: stronger relationships --> stronger revenue.

Excerpt from the linked article. The highlighted section reads:

>> [...] credit card companies are also doubling down on the wealthy, who use credit cards for more of their transactions than any other group and who have made premium cards the fastest-growing sector of the card industry. What issuers don't make in interest from these households, which tend to pay their bills on time, they earn in transaction fees from the sheer immensity of their spending.

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 18h

I’m glad you enjoyed it!

Reposted by Amanda Mull

paris martineau @paris.nyc · 19h

my latest investigation for @consumerreports.org is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements

we found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day (🧵)

www.consumerreports.org/lead/protein...

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 19h

Thank you!

Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 19h

Thank you for reading!

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 19h

It’s a bizarre and fascinating sector

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 19h

Thank you!!

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 20h

It’s important to send a reporter who will recognize Jason Isbell

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 20h

Oh wow that’s some real Psychology happening there

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Reposted by Amanda Mull

Henry Grabar @henrygrabar.bsky.social · 20h

amazing graph from @amandamull.bsky.social's latest that explains everything from lift pass pricing to vehicle design www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

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Reposted by Amanda Mull

candy corn's last defender @johnperich.com · 21h

"High-earning Zoomers and millennials are richer than their Generation X and boomer counterparts were at the same age."

Another plank for my theory that we're shifting from Two Consumer Markets (one for HHI and one for everyone else) to One Consumer Market (HHI; the proles can fend for scraps).

Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 22h

For Businessweek’s November issue, I have a feature about the high-fee premium credit card war being waged by American Express and Chase for the hearts, minds, and swipes of America’s affluent supershoppers. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Inside the Credit Card Battle to Win America’s Richest Shoppers

The fierce fight between Amex and Chase is playing out over higher fees, extravagant events and every perk imaginable.

www.bloomberg.com

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Reposted by Amanda Mull

Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 21h

This is fascinating, I learned a ton, the detail about the percentage of U.S. GDP charged *specifically to AmEx Delta cards* is going to be rattling around in my head for the rest of the day

Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 22h

For Businessweek’s November issue, I have a feature about the high-fee premium credit card war being waged by American Express and Chase for the hearts, minds, and swipes of America’s affluent supershoppers. Gift link: www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Inside the Credit Card Battle to Win America’s Richest Shoppers

The fierce fight between Amex and Chase is playing out over higher fees, extravagant events and every perk imaginable.

www.bloomberg.com

1 11 58

Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 21h

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

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Reposted by Amanda Mull

Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 22h

If you’ve ever wondered What’s The Deal with the high fees ($795 and $895!), free hotel rooms, event ticket presales, airport lounges, and dinner reservations that these cards promise to users and what the underlying business actually is, I have answers. 🎁 www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Inside the Credit Card Battle to Win America’s Richest Shoppers

The fierce fight between Amex and Chase is playing out over higher fees, extravagant events and every perk imaginable.

www.bloomberg.com

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 21h

Just the main line platinum! Other co-brand cards are subject to their own fee structure. (Delta Platinum, for example, is not their highest-level Delta card!)

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 21h

Thank you!! And yeah, the role of internet points subculture in all of this was something we had to limit for word count (print story!) but it could easily be its own section in a longer piece

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 21h

Genuinely I think someone should write a book about it because even within the somewhat narrow scope of this story there could have been 2k-3k more words easily if we’d had mag pages for it.

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Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 22h

Thank you!

Reposted by Amanda Mull

Josh Campbell @campbelljd.bsky.social · 22h

Key stat from @amandamull.bsky.social article "The richest 10% of US households—those making roughly $250,000 or more—now account for almost half the country’s consumer purchases, according to Moody’s Analytics"
www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

Inside the Credit Card Battle to Win America’s Richest Shoppers

The fierce fight between Amex and Chase is playing out over higher fees, extravagant events and every perk imaginable.

www.bloomberg.com

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