Saint Laurent & A $50 billion round💰
This Week in Review☕: McDonalds doubles down on marketing after E.Coli outbreak | Luxury faces worst year since Great Recession | Beware of organic carrots | Musk raises funding for AI company | Food
Quick Bites:
Health 🍔 : McDonald's is spending $100 million to help its restaurants recover from last month's E.coli outbreak, Bloomberg reports.
The company has set aside $35 million for marketing and ads, along with $65 million to support locations in the hardest-hit states.
The outbreak, which was linked to slivered onions in their popular "Quarter Pounder" burger, killed one person and poisoned 104 others.
PS. We're a simple startup. All we want is universal healthcare, student loan forgiveness and a McGriddle Bacon & Egg Breakfast sandwich without dying
The E. coli "O157:H7" strain that was found is said to be a "very serious disease."
This is especially the case for the elderly and children.In many cases, it leads to immediate kidney failure.
However, federal officials say it’s no longer a safety risk, and the chain's sales are slowly recovering after dropping nearly 12% at one point in October, Bloomberg.
Our Thoughts💡: McDonalds marketing:
Off work late? Hungry but too tired to cook?
Try the $5 meal deal from McDonalds. You will certainly not regret eating a McDouble Quarter Pounder, a McChicken with cheese, a medium fries, a small coke and a 8 pcs Chicken nuggets for $3.99
Artificial Intelligence: Elon Musk's AI company raises $6 billion in new funding, CNBC reports.
The new round has pumped up xAI's valuation at $50 billion.
Elon casually raising $6 billion cash and building another $24 billion company on top of Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink & X.
Umm how's the remainder of your 2024 going?
Things Elon Musk's success has taught us:
-Keep the President in your pocket
-A degree doesn’t guarantee success
-Nothing beats a good night sleep
-Make your coffee at home
-Food is expensive
-Furniture is expensive
-Read the fine print
-Don't trust humans
-Trust bots
-Buy the DIP
Key Highlights, reported by CNBC:
💡The money is a combination of $5 billion from sovereign funds in the Middle East and $1 billion from other investors
💡The funding, set to close next week, will go toward buying 100,000 Nvidia chips that will be used for "Colossus", xAI's new supercomuter in Tennessee
💡Powering Colossus is key to Tesla's Self-Driving cars
💡It is also instrumental to make its chatbot, "Grok", better to compete with ChatGPT, Google and Anthropic
💡Musk’s AI startup, which he announced in July 2023, seeks to “understand the true nature of the universe,” according to its website.
💡Now that Donald Trump is president-elect, Musk is beginning to actively work with the new administration on its approach to AI
Our Thoughts💡:
We hate to say it BUT..
Its kinda crazy that artificial intelligence needs bajillions to develop and the entire energy output of a nuclear reactor, but REAL brainpower can run on red bull and cocaine, for example 🫢
Food 🫒 : The world's largest olive oil producer breathes a sigh of relief, CNBC reports.
Spanish company "Deoleo" says one of the most challenging moments in the industry’s history appears to be ending, with “liquid gold” prices finally coming down.
Olive oil prices are expected to nearly halve from an all-time high over the coming months.
The obsession with olive oil has been real- so much so that: global chain Starbucks launched a new line of beverages made with extra virgin olive oil last year.
CEO Howard Schultz said the new line called 'Oleato' would be a "market-maker" as he himself takes a spoonful of olive oil each day as part of his daily ritual.
PS. Initially we thought this new 'Oleato' line sounded increasingly like something Kourtney Kardashian would sell us via Poosh on the condition that it'll open our spiritual chakras
Like ALL we really wanted was plant-based milk that didn't cost an extra 75 cents @Starbucks 👋 .. Having said that, we actually tasted it and it's actually pretty good!
Key Highlights, reported by CNBC:
💡A prolonged period of extreme weather and drought in Europe has severely impacted olive harvests in recent years
💡This led to a very massive price rally that shocked both manufacturers and consumers
💡The shortage of olive oil, a superfood staple of the Mediterranean diet, pushed the industry into crisis mode, stoked food insecurity fears and even led to a lot of crime in Spanish supermarkets
💡Prices have since cooled, however, due to recently improved harvests in the 2024-2025 season.
💡This is particularly in key producing countries such as Spain, Greece and Tunisia
Retail 👛: Luxury faces worst year since The Great Recession.
With the exception of COVID, brands like Dior and Burberry are facing their slowest year since '09.
Infact, around 50 million people have stopped buying their products due to 'broken promises' to customers, Fortune reports.
What do "broken promises mean"?
“Since 2019, there’s been a high price increase across luxury without a corresponding increase in innovation, service, quality, or appeal that a luxury brand should provide.. This year, that really hit consumers, and we felt the full impact.”
-Marie Driscoll, an analyst focused on luxury retail, tells Fortune
In addition, prices of luxury goods have skyrocketed without an increase in salaries for the younger generation.
“A fabulous ice cream sundae is boring by the time you have it the fifth time”
“Get back to books, make products more inspirational, make the shopping experience marvellous [..] You need to constantly meet consumers at a new angle and surprise and delight them.”
This explains why luxury powerhouses, including LVMH (which owns Dior and Louis Vuitton) and Kering (owner of YSL and Gucci), missed revenue targets this year.
In fact, LVMH was dethroned as Europe’s most valuable company in September 2023 by Novo Nordisk, he maker of Ozempic, Fortune reports.
Food 🥕 : E.coli now linked to organic carrots.
The CDC is investigating an E. coli outbreak in at least 18 states linked to organic carrots, which has led 15 hospitalisations and atleast one death, CNN reports.
We KNOW y'all not pulling this stunt in the middle of pot roast season!!! 😡😡
Key Highlights, reported by CNN:
💡Many packaged organic carrots were recalled by brands such as the popular California-based "Grimmway Farms", which describes itself as one of the world’s largest carrot producers
💡The carrots were sold under the store brands for Kroger, Publix, Target, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Wegmans and Whole Foods, among others globally
💡Most people infected with 'Shiga toxin-producing E. coli', the strain linked to the recalled carrots, start experiencing symptoms about 3- 4 days after consuming the bacteria
💡Some severe symptoms including diarrhea, fever, vomiting and dizziness
Our Thoughts💡: Good thing we always buy them but then just let them rot in our fridge
PS. Always wash the fruits and veggies with vinegar and baking soda powder guys! EVERYTHING has pesticides in them- organic or not!
Quicker Bites:
Ukraine has launched its first American-supplied nuclear misssile strike against Putin’s forces, according to Moscow.
Russia vows ‘tangible’ response if the US gets involved.
DOJ will push Google to sell off Chrome to break monopoly.
Jake Paul beats Mike Tyson in highly anticipated bout.
GM cuts around 1,000 jobs.
Spirit Airlines files for bankruptcy.
Bhutan is making it easier to visit to revive its economy.