Hi! One small step for Netflix, one giant leap for rocket fanatics… NASA will start livestreaming its launches on the world's biggest streaming service this summer. Today we're exploring: |
- Drawing interest: Design startup Figma just filed for an IPO.
- Last legging: Lululemon is going after alleged dupes from Costco.
- Pandemic patios: As America's DIY boom comes to an end, Home Depot is doubling down on contractors.
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Figma just filed for IPO, revealing its financials for the first time |
Silicon Valley likes the enigmatic founder who does things differently, so when Dylan Field wrote "chocolate is repulsive" in an essay for his Thiel Fellowship application back in 2012, he was already fitting into the tech founder archetype. In the years since, Field went on to cofound Figma — a design software company that eschewed the collective wisdom that you couldn't build a powerful, collaborative design tool on the open web. Now, with the stock market climbing a wall of worry to reach new heights, Figma has finally filed for an IPO. So, is this the classic cash-incinerating, disruptive startup, with a bunch of super-founder shares, tapping the public markets for an enormous payday for early employees and investors? Sort of. CEO Field does indeed have a vice-like grip on the company, controlling ~75% of the voting rights pre-IPO, and many employees will no doubt become paper millionaires once the stock starts trading... but the company's financials are remarkably mature. In its latest quarter, Figma racked up $228 million in revenue (up 46% year on year), with typically tasty software gross margins and an operating profit margin of more than 17%. |
What's particularly interesting is just how well Figma has infiltrated the design teams of America's largest companies. According to the S-1 filing, a whopping "95% of the Fortune 500 and 78% of the Forbes Global 2000 used Figma in March 2025" — and those companies are spending big for the privilege to Draw, Design, and FigJam. Over the past two years, Figma has more than doubled the number of customers that pay more than $100,000 annually for the service to over 1,000. No wonder Adobe tried to drop $20 billion to acquire the company a few years ago, despite the deal falling flat due to regulatory concerns. Now, Figma will now be the IPO guinea pig for a swath of still-private startups — and none will be watching the Figma offering more closely than Canva, another hot design company that's rumored to be looking at a public offering of its own, having recently been valued at $49 billion. |
Lululemon accuses Costco of selling bargain dupes of its luxury athleisure |
Weeks after the stock's worst day in over five years, Lululemon shares are still looking exhausted, down more than 36% year to date. But now, the Canadian athletic apparel retailer is trying to gain back strength by exercising control over "unauthorized" versions of its renowned yoga pants, hoodies, and jackets. As reported by CNN, Lululemon has filed a lawsuit against Costco, accusing the wholesale giant of infringing on its intellectual property by "unlawfully" selling knockoff versions of its products. |
When life gives you lemons... |
The 49-page lawsuit details alleged similarities in design, as well as price differences in products — including Lululemon's Scuba hoodie, which retails at $118, compared with the version from Costco that's priced at ~$8. Having notched incredible sales growth after launching its first store in 2000, with revenue growing by 34% on average per year for the last 20 years, the company's sales growth has stagnated in North America — its biggest market, accounting for ~75% of revenue — since the end of 2022. |
While headline revenue growth for the US and Canada was still just about in the green (up 3%) in Lululemon's first-quarter results, comparable sales decreased by 2%, with executives citing "cautious" consumers and tariff impacts during the earnings call. Though LULU has pushed on with price hikes and layoffs to mitigate tariffs squeezing margins, mounting competition in the athleisure space from rivals like Alo and Vuori was already threatening its position as America's go-to for quality workout gear… let alone replicas available for ~7% of the original's price tag. |
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America's DIY boom is over — and Home Depot is moving on with a $4.3 billion pivot |
As homeowners scale back renovations, America's largest home improvement retailer is betting big on who's still spending. On Monday, Home Depot announced it will acquire GMS, a major building-products distributor, for $4.3 billion. The deal would bring GMS under Home Depot's SRS Distribution — a supplier to roofing and landscaping contractors, which the company bought last year in its largest acquisition to date. The move comes as Home Depot pivots harder toward "Pro" customers like contractors and other home professionals, with the average homeowner pulling back on their DIY ambitions. |
The great American home makeover |
During the pandemic, record-low mortgage rates and stay-at-home life sparked a nationwide renovation spree. Consumers started upgrading everything — from patios and decks to living rooms and kitchen islands — pushing total home improvement spending to a record $515 billion by late 2022, according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. But that momentum didn't last. |
In a similar way to how e-commerce sales exploded during the pandemic, then reverted to their trend growth in the years after, homeowners have pulled away from large-scale renovations, with rising borrowing costs and slower home sales leading to fewer projects. Spending on home improvement shrank for eight straight quarters before a modest rebound in early 2025 — and retailers have already felt the slowdown. In 2023 and 2024, both Home Depot and Lowe's reported declines in comparable sales. |
Unlike DIY-ers, however, contractors and tradespeople are more insulated from the housing market cycle: they purchase regularly, in bulk, for jobs that happen year-round — not just when rates are low, which is why both retailers are leaning hard into this group. Pro customers already account for about half of Home Depot's sales, while Lowe's, where Pro makes up around 30% of sales, is working to expand that share. |
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- Shares of Modelo-maker Constellation Brands fell after the company missed earnings estimates on Tuesday.
- Pull some strings: The CEO of a small guitar-pedal manufacturing business in Oklahoma paid off an unexpected $11,000 tariff bill — using 1.83 million American Express reward points.
- Dating app Tinder is trialing a "Face Check" feature in the US to crack down on fake accounts, just weeks after revamping a "Double Date" feature.
- Casino stocks popped yesterday after the Macau regulator reported that gaming revenue spiked 19% in June to $2.6 billion.
- Paramount has agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit with President Trump over a "60 Minutes" interview with former VP Kamala Harris.
- The latest extravagant popcorn bucket — and the most expensive yet at $80 apiece — is hitting movie theaters for the release of Marvel's new "Fantastic Four" movie.
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| Off the charts: Which rapidly expanding coffee chain that's been outpacing Starbucks in China for years opened its first two locations in the US on Monday? [Answer below]. |
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