A Quick Update for Wells $treet Readers

I enjoy writing this newsletter immensely, and I appreciate those of you who read it. Substack has been wonderful about letting many of us who wrote for Meta’s Bulletin to seamlessly transition here to publish.

Meta was hoping to make money off Bulletin, and it paid me well, but when interest rates started rising, Big Tech had to make big cuts, and Bulletin didn’t survive. It wasn’t clear the newsletter idea would ever be profitable for the company.

Substack may or may not be profitable, though it’s had a few huge hits, like Bari Weiss’ The Free Press. Substack doesn’t pay me anything, but it also doesn’t charge me anything. The company does all of the behind-the-scenes work — like sending out Wells $treet via email to subscribers — and its self-publishing tool is easy. I encourage any of you interested in writing to check it out.

I know that Substack hopes I’ll eventually put up a paywall so it can take 10% of the money and grow the company. But I don’t have to put up a paywall, and I don’t see any reason to, at least not while I’m still earning income from other sources. Charging you, dear reader, would change our relationship. I’d feel obligated to write, and who’d pay for a business news column that doesn’t have stock tips? (Don’t answer that.)

Over the past week, Substack pointed out that a lot of my email “subscribers” have never opened a single email, or their email addresses bounced back. So I decided to purge my list of those addresses. (I may have also mistakenly purged brand new subscribers who haven’t yet received an email to open… because I’m an idiot.)

The remaining list is made up of a small but loyal band of nearly 5,000 readers, and I’m humbled that you find time in your busy schedules to occasionally peruse my missives. Many of you contribute ideas, especially for Dumb & Dumber, and that tickles me to no end. You also forgive the occasional typo that slips through despite my reading and re-reading Wells $treet columns, like, 10 times before hitting “publish.” #EditorsCostMoney

So please keep opening these emails and letting me know what resonates. And please share Wells $treet with like-minded snarkers who question everything, see the humor in (almost) anything, and understand that when somebody says “It’s not about the money,” it’s 100% about the money.