Good morning. Officials announced on Wednesday that the US has seized two sanctioned Venezuela-linked oil tankers, including the Russia-flagged Marinera, in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean. Today we're exploring: |
- Galaxy-brained: Lego wants to bring Star Wars to life with microcomputer bricks.
- AI-ronic: Stack Overflow's Q&A forum is dead, but the company is still limping along.
- Bee-yond borders: Jollibee is planning a US listing as its international footprint grows rapidly.
|
Have feedback for us? Just hit reply - we'd love to hear from you! |
Lego taps Star Wars for the launch of its new high-tech Smart Brick |
One of the biggest building manufacturers on the planet just unveiled a "ground-breaking" microcomputer, featuring a custom-made chip and built-in sensors. Plus, it'll come with a little plastic Luke Skywalker. On Monday, Lego announced the "Smart Brick"— a classic 2x4 block that's embedded with a tiny computer. Naturally, the first "Smart Play" sets will be based on one of Lego's longest-running, most lucrative, and tech-themed partnerships: Star Wars. |
In the press release, the Danish toy giant described the Smart Brick as "one of the most significant evolutions [...] since the introduction of the LEGO Minifigure in 1978." Per the company, the sensor-driven tech will use NFC-equipped smart tags to make sets "come to life" with responsive light and sound effects. For younger Lego enthusiasts, the platform will unlock a whole new way to play, while for many time-honored Star Wars fans, it means no longer having to make lightsaber noises themselves. Back in 1999, the media franchise was the basis for Lego's first ever official licensed product line; now, according to Brickset.com, there have been more than 1,000 individual Lego Star Wars sets released to date. |
Lego sales have gone from strength to strength in the last few years, reporting record revenues of DKK 34.6 billion (~$5.4 billion) and soaring profits in H1 2025, owing largely to the success of its themed sets. Indeed, Lego's partnerships with iconic brands like Marvel, Harry Potter, and, more recently, Fortnite and Ikea have seen it become a hit with kids and adults alike, securing cultural relevance outside of the play chest. However, Lego might need to keep tapping buzzy licensing deals to garner Smart Brick sales that outweigh the company's already soaring costs... and avoid a repeat of another time the world's biggest toymaker tried to keep up with the world's tech obsession. |
Stack Overflow's forum is dead thanks to AI, but the company's still kicking... thanks to AI |
When Elon Musk described Stack Overflow's plight as "death by LLM" in July 2023, he wasn't exaggerating. Long the go-to resource for developers looking for technical help, the popular Q&A forum neared the peak of its powers during the pandemic. But following a wave of code-writing AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot, traffic has plummeted, recording just 6,866 questions last month — roughly equal to the typical volume when the site first launched back in 2008. |
While Stack Overflow the Q&A forum looks dead, Stack Overflow the company looks to be limping along. Indeed, the business's annual revenue has roughly doubled to $115 million, even with engagement falling off a cliff since ChatGPT's 2022 debut, with losses slimming from $84 million in FY2023 to $22 million in the last fiscal year, too. Stack Overflow now primarily makes money from its enterprise solutions like "Stack Internal," which provides a generative AI add-on powered by the millions of questions and answers in its archive. It also licenses data to AI companies, using a Reddit-like model — a platform that made more than $200 million from licensing user-generated content in 2024. LLMs want data about coding problems and how to solve them. Stack Overflow has a big digital warehouse full of that, but it's increasingly aging, as queries move towards chatbots... which need huge chunks of data to work. Stack Overflow has become a fascinating canary in tech's new circular coal mine. |
|
|
Futures let you take your trades further |
Actively trading the S&P 500? Futures offer unique capital efficiencies that give traders the opportunity to enter positions with 5-10% of the position size.1 |
Unlike ETFs, futures give you the opportunity to go short as easily as you go long,2 without the restrictions of locate requirements and borrow costs. For traders looking to learn about futures and practice in a risk-free environment, CME Group is hosting a trading challenge from January 11th through January 16. Throughout the challenge, professional traders will host live education sessions and talk through best practices and market movements that have been taking place during the competition. 1 Margin comes with increased risks. Losses as well as gains will be magnified with the greater amount borrowed. 2 Shorting increases the risk of investing. With short sales, the potential for loss is unlimited. |
|
|
Jollibee is muscling in on McDonald's' and Starbucks' territory — starting with a US listing |
For years, America has exported its restaurant chains to Asia. Now, those countries are returning the favor, with Chinese giants like Luckin Coffee and Mixue making small footholds in the birthplace of fast food. One brand that's been here a while, however, is Jollibee, which has grown beyond a cult favorite for homesick Filipinos craving its sweet spaghetti and fried chicken — even beating Popeyes and KFC to be named USA Today's best fast-food fried chicken for two years running. Now, its parent group is making a real bid to sell that growth story to Wall Street. According to its Tuesday filing, Jollibee Foods Corp., the Philippines-based food giant behind its namesake chain and global brands like Smashburger and Tim Ho Wan, plans to spin off its international business and list it on a US exchange by late 2027. The move follows a decade-long push that has transformed the group into a global operator. Roughly seven in ten JFC stores are now located outside the Philippines, up from about two in ten around a decade ago, while international operations now account for over 40% of group revenue, rising from less than a quarter in 2014. |
One driver has been a string of caffeinated acquisitions: the group bought The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in 2019 and added South Korea's Compose Coffee in 2024, together lifting JFC's coffee network to more than 5,000 stores worldwide. Meanwhile, its flagship Jollibee brand — still responsible for around half of total sales — is growing faster abroad than at home, with same-store sales growth in North America, EMEA, and China all surpassing the Philippines in 2024. But while JFC is aiming to become "one of the top five restaurant companies in the world," it still has a long climb ahead. The group's 10,304 stores amount to roughly a quarter of the footprint of McDonald's or Starbucks — and although its expansion has been substantial, adding ~8 stores per day in 2024, it looks glacial next to Mixue, which opened ~21 per day over the same period. |
|
| - Rare earth stocks popped this morning after the White House confirmed the US is mulling options, including military utilization, to acquire Greenland, a region rich in critical minerals.
- Uber unveiled a new robotaxi built on Lucid's vehicle and powered by Nvidia's computer, with a commercial launch planned for the Bay Area later this year.
- No needles: Novo Nordisk's first Wegovy weight-loss pill hit US pharmacy shelves this week, priced significantly lower than injectable rivals at ~$149 a month.
- American teens now spend an average of 70 minutes on their phones during school hours, mostly on social media, according to new research published by JAMA.
- Season 2 of Beast Games, the reality series from the world's top YouTuber that got 50 million viewers in its first 25 days, premieres today on Prime Video.
|
|
|
Trading the S&P 500 and ready to learn futures? Get started with CME Group's January Trading Challenge, a series of live, interactive education sessions hosted by professional traders. Register here before it starts on January 11. |
|
|
- Meme streak: How a new CEO pay package has affected GameStop's stock.
- This interactive visual from Giving What We Can uses global human development data to simulate a birth lottery.
|
Off the charts: The Information's prediction that OpenAI could buy which social media site this year reportedly caused a stir with fans of the platform? [Answer below]. |
Not a subscriber? Sign up for free below. |
Advertiser's disclosures: Futures and futures options trading involves substantial risk and is not suitable for all investors. Risks include the loss of principal. As with all investments, you must make your own determination whether an investment is consistent with your investment objectives, risk tolerance, financial situation, and evaluation of the investment. Please review the CME disclaimers. |
Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more |
|
|
SHERWOOD MEDIA, LLC, 85 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 |
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment