🕶️ Meta’s eye-goggling figures 🕶️

At last week's Meta Connect conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced new Ray-Ban Meta Display glasses with the "Meta Neural Band" (that you wear on your wrist), wraparound Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses, and the second iteration of Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

(Luke Kawa (L) and Scott Findlay (R), pictured at the Independent Investor Summit in New York City on September 12, 2025) Hey Snackers, Feeling lonely? Thinking about getting a pet but don't want to be responsible for a real-life animal? Well boy, has Casio (yes, the watchmaker) got a solution for you: "Moflin," a furry, squeaking, AI pet reminiscent of a "Star Trek" Tribble that costs $429. OK, it's a lot more money than a goldfish, but you can't bring a goldfish to your picnic or snuggle with it as you fall asleep, two actual scenarios shown in its super bizarre ad.  The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ended last week with fresh record closing highs, rising 0.5% and 0.7%, respectively. There was no trifecta of records this time around, though, as the Russell 2000 gave back some of Thursday's mammoth gains with a 0.8% decline. Record week aside, now we're looking ahead with a bit of trepidation: this week is historically the worst week of the year for US stocks. 🧠 Trivia time… See how well you do on our Snacks Seven Quiz. Here's a sample question: Which restaurant is launching a "French onion soup burger"?Check your answer. EYE-GOGGLING FIGURES Are Ray-Ban Meta glasses really a hit? At last week's Meta Connect conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced new Ray-Ban Meta Display glasses with the "Meta Neural Band" (that you wear on your wrist), wraparound Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses, and the second iteration of Ray-Ban Meta glasses. "This is now our third year shipping AI glasses with our great partner, EssilorLuxottica," he said, "and the sales trajectory that we've seen is similar to some of the most popular consumer electronics of all time." Really? Meta hasn't released hard numbers for the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, but in January The Verge reported that Zuckerberg told Meta employees that over 1 million Ray-Ban Meta glasses were sold in 2024. Apple's iPod dominated consumer electronics for a decade, heralding the transition to digital music. The company sold an estimated 450 million of the devices during its more than 20-year lifespan, but the first soap-bar-sized product took more than a year and a half to move a million units. It took the iPad 28 days to sell 1 million units, the iPhone 74 days, and the Apple Watch just one day. By all accounts, Zuckerberg seems extremely dedicated to the success of Reality Labs' virtual/augmented/mixed reality glasses and headsets. After all, he did rename the company in an audacious bet that its future would be defined by the "metaverse" (but now is also all in on "superintelligence.") Still, the losses that Reality Labs has posted are staggering. Since Q4 2020, when the company first disclosed such numbers, the R&D-heavy division has racked up nearly $70 billion in losses.  THE TAKEAWAY Early reviews of Meta's new Ray-Ban Meta Display glasses were largely positive, despite the awkward launch event. It remains to be seen whether Reality Labs products like Ray-Ban Meta glasses are on a slow burn to success like Apple's iPod, but until millions more consumers start putting Meta's products on their faces, the losses will keep piling up. Read more ZOOM OUT Stories we're obsessed with Who is winning the GLP-1 race? For investors, massive sales of blockbuster drugs like Ozempic aren't enough; they're thinking about what's coming next. A stock rally or dip is now more likely to be triggered by trial results for the new GLP-1 drugs in their pipeline than strong sales numbers. So we charted the many GLP-1 drugs in trial phases, including where they are in the process and how the weight loss compares with the drugs on the market. People are rushing to buy Apple's iPhone 17, but it's probably not because of the iPhone 17 After Apple's iPhone 17 event, more people went to Apple's website than have in years. But people don't buy new iPhones because of new features or incremental hardware improvements. Instead, the main driver of iPhone upgrades is because someone's old phone is obsolete or broken or its battery just doesn't last as long as it used to. Read about how the "supercycle" dictates iPhone demand.  THE BEST THING WE READ TODAY Meet the "$OPEN ARMY" behind Opendoor's meteoric rise Retail traders have been the force behind the revival in Opendoor's stock price, its ability to retain new management, and millions in free marketing. We talked to the retail traders who have been powering Opendoor's more than 500% year-to-date bull run, including an ex-Marine who owns more shares than the combined positions of three of its board members and a former NFL player.  What they think the new management team needs to do What else we're Snackin' We're liking airports more: this year's North America Airport Satisfaction Study showed that passenger satisfaction scores were up 10 points from last year. Check out the list of the top 15 airports in North America  Private equity giant Apollo is weighing a sale of AOL for ~$1.5 billion. The 40-year-old company actually still has millions of users, more than these popular sites  According to Mark Zuckerberg, "misspending a couple of hundred billion dollars" is worth it for Meta to achieve superintelligence Last week, retail traders' favorite stocks had a record winning streak Microsoft is raising Xbox prices again  A small town in Illinois survived the Rust Belt's manufacturing decline with a pumpkin-based economy  Snack Fact of the Day ChatGPT has 700 million weekly users. This Week Tuesday: August existing home sales. Earnings expected from Micron Technology and AutoZone  Wednesday: August new home sales. Earnings expected from KB Home and Worthington Steel  Thursday: August durable orders, Q2 GDP (third estimate). Earnings expected from Costco, Accenture, CarMax, and BlackBerry  Friday: August PCE (the Fed's preferred inflation gauge). University of Michigan final September consumer sentiment Was this email forwarded to you? 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