Good morning,
Are you riding the crypto rollercoaster?
A recent survey of CFOs by Fortune and NewtonX, a B2B market research company, found only 1% of respondents accept crypto as a form of payment, and just 2% will adopt it in 2021 or next year. At the end of a conversation I had with Chipotle CFO Jack Hartung about the company increasing its wages, I asked him if investing corporate cash into Bitcoin is a movement in the making. Hartung replied: “I would not do it.” It’s too volatile, he said. Paul Manning, managing director of software and technology at The Bowdoin Group, an executive search firm, told me in the spring that even though some companies (like Time) are searching for CFOs with crypto experience, “it’s not just about the resume—it’s someone that’s got a belief in the market.”
And that market is shaky.
“Just before 9 a.m. on June 22, Bitcoin’s price sank to $29,511, its lowest level since the early hours of January 2, and 55% off its all-time record of $64,863 achieved just 10 weeks ago,” writes my Fortune colleague Shawn Tully. It rebounded on June 23, rising above $30,000.
Tully gets into the arcane accounting that may end up saddling Tesla with a loss in the next quarter, even if Bitcoin rebounds. He writes: In its 10K released on February 8, Tesla disclosed for the first time that it had purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin. We know that Tesla bought all of its coins between January 1 and February 8, the date of its annual report. By my calculations, it purchased roughly 46,000 coins at an average of $32,600. It’s unlikely that Tesla acquired any of its holdings for less than the $29,511 reached on June 22, since Bitcoin hovered below that threshold for only a single day, January 1. On January 2, it surged to over $32,000, never to drop below $30,000 until its new tumble breaching 30k. Hence, all of the Bitcoin on Tesla’s balance sheet went at least briefly underwater on June 22.
To learn more about Tesla’s Bitcoin rollercoaster ride, you can read the story here.
See you tomorrow.
Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com
Big deal
CFOs are making digital investments a priority in fiscal year 2021, according to a new survey by Gartner. The majority of respondents (82%) said they intend to increase investment in digital capabilities. Gartner offers the following commendations for CFOs planning their next digital steps: maintain a balanced tech investment portfolio; select technologies based on the needs of finance instead of market trends; early involvement with cross-functional stakeholders.
Going deeper
Leaders are contemplating leaving their jobs due to burnout and stress, according to a new report by Qualtrics, an experience management provider. About 53% of managers and directors, and 51% of executives plan to look for a new job in the next year, based on a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. employees. The top reasons cited for leaving: 29% want more growth opportunities; 17% said their job has too much stress; and 15% have experienced burnout due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "As organizations compete for top talent, they’ll need to take time to understand what employees are thinking and feeling, then act on that feedback to design programs that fit best for their workforce," according to the report.
Leaderboard
Jack Barry was named CFO at Harmoni Towers, a portfolio company of Melody Investment Advisors LP, an alternative asset manager. Prior to joining Harmoni, Barry served for five years as CFO at Eco-Site.
Vishal Chhibbar was named CFO at Brillio, a digital technology consulting and solutions company. Prior to joining Brillio, Chhibbar served as president and CFO at EPIQ Global service and as the EVP and CFO at EXL.
Overheard
"I cannot open for lunchtime. Or even at Spago in Beverly Hills, you know, where people, waiters, make $120,000 a year. But I cannot find them."
—Two-Michelin starred chef Wolfgang Puck on the labor shortage in the restaurant industry, as told to Yahoo Finance Live.
