Snacks Daily

A report revealed that Apple wants to jump deeper into podcasts by signing exclusive deals with podcast creators sent Spotify shares down. Domino’s fell 9% after its earnings revealed it may be facing pressure from ”3rd party delivery aggregators.” And Big Bank Week continued with earnings from JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs — and we noticed how expensive Goldman’s pivot from Wall Street to Main Street is getting.

Chobani whipped up a new line of nut butter Greek yogurts — The Greek yogurt industry is struggling, but Chobani is using Coca-Cola’s spinoff strategy. Marriott has been charging “resort fees” for years, but now the DC Attorney General has a problem with it. And publicly-traded private equity firm Blackstone just made an acquisition of the mobile ad optimizing startup that’s taking on Google and Facebook’s ad game.

Earth’s biggest brew-glomerate, Budweiser-owner AB InBev, was planning the biggest IPO of the year by spinning off its Asia unit — that was suddenly canceled before the weekend. France unveiled a “tech tax,” but it really looks like a tariff on Silicon Valley. And scooter icon Bird is our “dramatic unicorn of the day” for a debate raging on its profitability problems.

Fed Chairman Jerry Powell was visiting Congress — So he shared his thoughts on Facebook’s planned cryptocurrency (that may have caused Bitcoin to drop). Lululemon whipped up a 20,000-square-foot mega-store/club/studio, a sweatlife store format it wants to take nationwide. And healthcare stocks jumped this week on multiple headlines, so we jump into the factors that drive the unique industry.

Conference call icon Zoom made your webcam vulnerable to snooping, and the flaw got discovered in a dramatic way. SunTrust bank decided to stop funding private prison companies, so we decided to look into private prison company stocks. And Snapchat’s venture capital arm, Yellow, announced its 2nd class of early-stage startups, which we explored  to notice the trends of tomorrow.

Pepsi’s earnings report seemed normal, until we noticed its CEO’s passion for the future of its sparkling water strategy. AT&T announced HBO Max with a unique angle attacking Netflix’s awkward Achilles heel. And Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic wants to become the first publicly listed human-spaceflight company.

So far in 2019, Snap’s stock is up 160% — we’re looking at the 2 biceps of tech powering that silent comeback. WeWork wants to IPO, but first, it’s taking on some debt. A lot of it. And it’s the same strategy as a college athlete going pro. And the Congressional Budget Office’s minimum wage report reveals some key insights on the nation’s paycheck policy if everyone made $15/hour.

Canopy Growth is the world’s largest cannabis company and it suddenly fired its co-CEO — but it looks like Corona owner Constellation Brands was all over this one. A Recode report revealed major drama within Walmart as its ecommerce arm led by Marc Lore clashes with classic brick-and-mortar Walmartians. And our “Icon of the Week” Lee Iacocca changed the auto industry forever, so we’re looking at his legacy as he passed away.

Tesla didn’t report earnings – it reported its car deliveries, and the record numbers boosted the stock 7%. Meditation app Calm just raised more money as a $1B+ valued company, so we dive into the sleep pivot that powered its growth. And happy 10th birthday to the longest economic expansion since WWII.

Stubhub is treating customers who spend $10k to VIP tailgates, VIP perks, and VIP customer service. The women’s national team soccer jersey is Nike’s top-selling soccer jersey ever, showing the potential to boost womens’ sales. And Deutsche Bank’s reportedly mulling laying off 20k workers as it still hasn’t recovered from the financial crisis. 

With beer sales falling, Budweiser’s parent company AB InBev acquires the maker of Babe canned rosé and White Girl Rosé as its summer makeover. The RealReal is leading the re-commerce industry by pulling an Airbnb on thrift stores — and it just surged 45% on its IPO. And Velodyne is our “Pre-IPO of the Day,” using an anti-Tesla technology to make self-driving happen for a bunch of key carmakers (and tech giants).

While Bitcoin is rising, we looked at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which is the “shovel” to Bitcoin’s “mining.” A crazy stat about Amazon reveals how it’s become a shipping company. And Superhuman just raised $33M for its mission to make email a luxury thing.

We noticed WeWork is on an acquisition tear, and it just strategically added Waltz to its list. General Mills shares fell 4% because its snack biz is underperforming, while its fancy pet foods are winning. And Shopify powers your go-to boutique ecommerce options, and its new Apple iMessage feature is a new level for customer service.

Coffee stocks Starbucks and Dunkin’ are up to record highs this year because they’re both pursuing 4 specific strategies. BMW unveiled its new lineup of Tesla-battling electric cars and even an electric bike. And Google sister company Sidewalk Labs revealed details of its $1B future city plan to takeover a Toronto waterfront.

McDonald’s Quarter Pounder was launched with fresh beef a year ago — and that just propelled McD’s to its first gain in burger market share in 5 years. Caesars merged with Eldorado to create the biggest casino in the US, but activist investor Carl Icahn is the real story. And what’s being called the “Viagra for women” just snagged FDA approval, so we look into why the pharmaceutical company’s stock fell.