Morning Brew Daily
Wells Fargo Can Grow Again & Google Sounds Alarm on Salesforce Hackers
Thu, 05 Jun 2025
Episode 598: Neal and Toby discuss Wells Fargo’s asset cap being lifted after it spent years overhauling its regulatory policies due to abusive tactics against customers. Then, automakers are scrambling to find workaround after China halts rare earth magnets essential to car production. Plus, a Google report finds hackers posing as IT workers have gained access to Salesforce data for extortion purposes. Meanwhile, Neal shares his favorite numbers on Scottsdale, AZ, cannabis among the elderly, and the loneliest paint of 2025. Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. LinkedIn will even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign so you can try it yourself. Go to LinkedIn.com/MBD Terms and conditions apply. Only on LinkedIn Ads. 00:00 - Nintendo Switch Release 03:00 - Wells Fargo Cap Lifted 07:45 - Cars and Rare Earth Minerals 11:50 - Hacking Warning from Google 16:15 - Neal’s Numbers 24:00 - Headlines Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the Wells Fargo asset cap and why was it lifted?
Then hackers have been using a sophisticated voice phishing operation to steal customer data from retail companies. It's Thursday, June 5th. Let's ride.
Happy Switch 2 release day. Nintendo's highly anticipated follow-up to its best-selling Switch console hit websites and stores around the world at midnight. And if you do not have one in your hands right now, you might be out of luck. Walmart, GameStop, and BJ's have apparently sold out of their inventory, at least online, but they and Target say they'll have limited stock in physical stores.
Over in Japan, the frenzy is even bigger. About 2.2 million people in that country alone entered a lottery system to secure a pre-order, and that was after imposing rules like you needed to log 50 hours of gameplay on the Switch to even participate. Toby, find someone who looks like you the way Nintendo fans look at the Switch, too.
They are coming out in droves for this thing. A Verge writer who lives in a town with a population of just 65,000 people documented his experience waiting in line to get his Switch. Nintendo Switch, and he said his local Best Buy had a line 400 people deep before the Switch even came out. That is some crazy demand.
Nintendo expects to sell 15 million units in one year, but you might want to take the over on that. It's great news for electronics retailers, too, like BJ's, like Walmart, like Best Buy. It's their Super Bowl. They're having all these people come out in droves if the Every eight years. And now a word from our sponsor, LinkedIn ads. All right, Neil, quiz time.
What's the difference between an ad that gets ignored and one that drives results? Better creative. That's part of it. But the other part is who the audience is. You can have the best creative in the world, but if you're barking up the wrong tree, you're not going to see any conversions.
That is where LinkedIn comes in. With 130 million decision makers and 10 million C-level execs, all part of LinkedIn's one billion member network, you have a lot of trees to bark up.
And since you can filter by job, title, company, industry, and even seniority, you can slice and dice your audience to make sure you're finding the trees that you want.
It strips down guesswork so you can get higher return on ad spend and cut out annoying advertising waste. Save those vocal cords.
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Chapter 2: How are automakers responding to the rare earth minerals shortage?
Chapter 3: What recent hacking threats have been reported by Google?
It strips down guesswork so you can get higher return on ad spend and cut out annoying advertising waste. Save those vocal cords.
Don't bark up the wrong tree. And go to LinkedIn.com slash MBD to learn more. That's LinkedIn.com slash MBD. After more than seven years on the Federal Reserve's naughty list, Wells Fargo is finally free.
Starting this week, the Fed lifted its asset restrictions on the bank, ending a rare and long-running penalty that had stunted its ability to expand and cost the bank an estimated $39 billion in profits. This saga dates back to 2015 when Wells Fargo was the belle of the banking world.
Its rise to become the country's most viable bank was fueled by a high-pressure sales culture where compensation was tied to revenue goals. But aggressive sales targets ultimately incentivized employees to open around 3.5 million fake or unauthorized customer accounts from 2009 to 2016.
What followed was an unprecedented tidal wave of regulatory crackdowns, the harshest being the Fed-imposed asset cap that barred the bank from growing its balance sheet beyond $2 trillion dollars, until it was able to clean up its act. It took a while, but Wells Fargo has gotten its act together under a new CEO, Charlie Scharf, earning the Fed's blessing to get back to business as usual.
That means the now fourth largest bank in the country can freely take deposits, make more loans, and look into acquiring companies once more. Neil, this has been a long comeback for Wells Fargo. that has involved rebuilding its tarnished reputation and fixing deep-rooted cultural issues at the bank.
Now we'll see if it has any gas left in the tank after years of being stuck in neutral because it sure has a lot of ground to make up.
I mean, observers say this was the harshest penalty ever doled out on Wall Street, capping your growth. And it really did cap Wells Fargo's growth because over the years when it was under this penalty, banks grew immensely. Average annual deposits at U.S. banks grew by more than a third from 2019 through 2024.
Meanwhile, Wells' average annual deposits, because it couldn't grow them, were just up 5% over that same timeframe. Remember, this was when the Fed issued unprecedented amount of stimulus. We'll be right back. were about the same as what JP Morgan earned from those same businesses in just the fourth quarter alone.
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Chapter 4: How are retailers affected by cyber attacks?
Chapter 5: What are the implications of the Salesforce hacking incident?
It strips down guesswork so you can get higher return on ad spend and cut out annoying advertising waste. Save those vocal cords.
Don't bark up the wrong tree. And go to LinkedIn.com slash MBD to learn more. That's LinkedIn.com slash MBD. After more than seven years on the Federal Reserve's naughty list, Wells Fargo is finally free.
Starting this week, the Fed lifted its asset restrictions on the bank, ending a rare and long-running penalty that had stunted its ability to expand and cost the bank an estimated $39 billion in profits. This saga dates back to 2015 when Wells Fargo was the belle of the banking world.
Its rise to become the country's most viable bank was fueled by a high-pressure sales culture where compensation was tied to revenue goals. But aggressive sales targets ultimately incentivized employees to open around 3.5 million fake or unauthorized customer accounts from 2009 to 2016.
What followed was an unprecedented tidal wave of regulatory crackdowns, the harshest being the Fed-imposed asset cap that barred the bank from growing its balance sheet beyond $2 trillion dollars, until it was able to clean up its act. It took a while, but Wells Fargo has gotten its act together under a new CEO, Charlie Scharf, earning the Fed's blessing to get back to business as usual.
Want to see the complete chapter?
Sign in to access all 5 segments of this chapter and more.
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Chapter 6: What numbers did Neal share about cannabis among the elderly?
Chapter 7: What challenges does Wells Fargo face in regaining its reputation?
Good morning, Brew Daily Show. I'm Neil Freiman. And I'm Toby Howell. Today, after seven years of sleeping in the garage, Wells Fargo gets invited back into the house.
Then hackers have been using a sophisticated voice phishing operation to steal customer data from retail companies. It's Thursday, June 5th. Let's ride.
Happy Switch 2 release day. Nintendo's highly anticipated follow-up to its best-selling Switch console hit websites and stores around the world at midnight. And if you do not have one in your hands right now, you might be out of luck. Walmart, GameStop, and BJ's have apparently sold out of their inventory, at least online, but they and Target say they'll have limited stock in physical stores.
Over in Japan, the frenzy is even bigger. About 2.2 million people in that country alone entered a lottery system to secure a pre-order, and that was after imposing rules like you needed to log 50 hours of gameplay on the Switch to even participate. Toby, find someone who looks like you the way Nintendo fans look at the Switch, too.
They are coming out in droves for this thing. A Verge writer who lives in a town with a population of just 65,000 people documented his experience waiting in line to get his Switch. Nintendo Switch, and he said his local Best Buy had a line 400 people deep before the Switch even came out. That is some crazy demand.
Nintendo expects to sell 15 million units in one year, but you might want to take the over on that. It's great news for electronics retailers, too, like BJ's, like Walmart, like Best Buy. It's their Super Bowl. They're having all these people come out in droves if the Every eight years. And now a word from our sponsor, LinkedIn ads. All right, Neil, quiz time.
What's the difference between an ad that gets ignored and one that drives results? Better creative. That's part of it. But the other part is who the audience is. You can have the best creative in the world, but if you're barking up the wrong tree, you're not going to see any conversions.
That is where LinkedIn comes in. With 130 million decision makers and 10 million C-level execs, all part of LinkedIn's one billion member network, you have a lot of trees to bark up.
And since you can filter by job, title, company, industry, and even seniority, you can slice and dice your audience to make sure you're finding the trees that you want.
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Chapter 8: What might be the future of manufacturing in the auto industry?
Try it out for yourself. LinkedIn will even give you a $100 credit to help you get started. Just go to linkedin.com slash mbd. That's linkedin.com slash mbd. This message is a paid partnership with Apple Card. I'm a person who really appreciates simplicity. And when it comes to credit card rewards, the simpler, the better. That's one of the many reasons I have an Apple Card.
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Welcome to Neil's Numbers, the segment where I share three stats from the week's news that will have you going, well, actually, to your friends all weekend. My first number is the fastest growing millionaire hub in the country. Think you know what city it is? Scottsdale, Arizona.
According to a new report by Henley and Partners, the bachelor party capital of the United States is also home to the fastest growing millionaire population of any American city, with its population of high net worth individuals growing by 125%. between 2014 and 2024.
The desert city near Phoenix has gained thousands of new millionaires thanks in part to the growth of the tech industry in the region. GoDaddy and Carvana are headquartered in the area, and Intel and TSMC have growing presences. Scottsdale also has leisure amenities loved by wealthy retirees like sunny weather, an infinite number of places to get plastered, resorts, and elite golf courses.
But perhaps just as interesting as Scottsdale topping the list is noting which city was replaced, Austin, Texas. Last year, Austin was named the fastest growing millionaire hub in the country. However, it's not even in the top five this year.
Texas' capital boomed during the pandemic as a number of tech companies opened up offices there, but it's lost some of its luster due to the tech slowdown and more competition from places like Scottsdale and Tampa. You can see this playing out in the luxury home market.
During the time period studied in the report, about one in four homes in Austin was listed for $1 million or more compared to the more than 50% of properties listed Listed for $1 million or more in Scottsdale, Toby, a Phoenix suburb is rising.
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