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Some Angelenos are getting their food served bot to go. Serve's googly-eyed robots (oddly cute) are taking over sidewalks to make Uber Eats deliveries. That's one way to ease tip fatigue. Stocks rose for the third straight week, with the S&P 500 notching a fresh record on Thursday. On Friday the Fed's fave inflation gauge showed cooling price growth. Meantime, bitcoin has popped 10% this month, marking one of its best Septembers ever. 🎙️ Meet "Snacks Mix": We launched a weekly pod so you can get your Snacks to go. Follow us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to make sure you don't miss the first episode (psst: dropping Thursday). 🎃 Quiz or treat: Flex your brain power before the spooky month begins by not ghosting our Snacks Seven quiz. Here's the first q: |
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Less open AI… OpenAI is said to be changing up its corporate status to for-profit. A few hours before Reuters reported the switcheroo on Thursday, CTO Mira Murati — who played a key role in launching ChatGPT and Dall-E — said she was leaving the company. (The announcement surprised employees, who apparently responded on Slack with "WTF" emojis.) On the same day, OpenAI's chief research officer, Bob McGrew, also stepped down, adding to a year of high-level departures. Altman said there was no link between the staff shake-up and restructuring reports. |
- From AI to B: OpenAI will become a for-profit benefit corporation, sources said, meaning a profit-chasing company that meets certain ESG criteria. Rivals Anthropic and Elon Musk's xAI operate similarly.
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Hey ChatGPT, make a budget… AI supercomputers are super expensive to run, and OpenAI's only recently started revving up revenue with subscriptions and licensing deals. CGPT reportedly has 200M weekly users, and an unknown # pay $20/month for the pro version it intro'd last year. This month, OpenAI said its corporate CGPT subscription hit 1M paid users. The company's said to be raking in $3B in annual sales but — *dramatic pause* — is spending $7B. It's said to have spent $540M last year on developing GPT-4, with Altman calling the cost of running the model "eye-watering." |
- Even if OpenAI goes for-profit, Microsoft will get 75% of its earnings until Altman's startup earns back the Big Tech co's $13B investment (it was a term in their deal).
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The goal matters… OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 with a mission to build AI that "benefits all of humanity." Then it switched to a "capped profit" structure overseen by a nonprofit board. Now it may go fully for-profit. Critics worry that could lead to the irresponsible development of AI. Adding to concerns, OpenAI this year dissolved the team it had dedicated to analyzing AI's long-term risks. |
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Final Week to Get In on This Unlisted Stock Backed By GM |
For General Motors to succeed in meeting its EV transition target by 2035, they'll need 414,469 tons of lithium per year. That's why the automaking behemoth led a $50M investment round for lithium extraction startup EnergyX. Their patented tech extracts lithium 300% more efficiently than conventional methods — and where it typically takes 12+ months, EnergyX needs just two days. Now, EnergyX has acquired 100,000+ acres of lithium-rich Chilean land and a $5M DOE grant toward a recently announced US lithium plant. It's not just cars that need batteries, either. The whole energy storage market could reach $546B by 20351 – and it's powered by lithium. EnergyX's plan to produce 65,000 tons per year will help them lead the charge. ⏳ Invest before EnergyX's offering closes on Thursday.2 |
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Final Week to Get In on This Unlisted Stock Backed By GM |
For General Motors to succeed in meeting its EV transition target by 2035, they'll need 414,469 tons of lithium per year. That's why the automaking behemoth led a $50M investment round for lithium extraction startup EnergyX. Their patented tech extracts lithium 300% more efficiently than conventional methods — and where it typically takes 12+ months, EnergyX needs just two days. Now, EnergyX has acquired 100,000+ acres of lithium-rich Chilean land and a $5M DOE grant toward a recently announced US lithium plant. It's not just cars that need batteries, either. The whole energy storage market could reach $546B by 20351 – and it's powered by lithium. EnergyX's plan to produce 65,000 tons per year will help them lead the charge. ⏳ Invest before EnergyX's offering closes on Thursday.2 |
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Ridin' the wave… Carnival kicks off cruise earnings today. In June, the world's biggest cruise operator posted record Q2 revenue of $5.8B and raised its annual profit forecast. Demand has sailed to new heights: last year, global cruise passengers more than doubled from 2019. To meet the surge, Carnival ordered three new ships, which will be the largest in its fleet. The cruise line said it has record bookings for next year, even as it raises cabin prices. Wall Street thinks the sea-tourism swell could help Carnival keep its win streak afloat. |
Trainin' for a comeback… Nike's set to report tomorrow as it struggles to regain its cool factor. The swoosh icon had been criticized for walking back its shelf space in retailers like Foot Locker and Macy's in a pivot to direct-to-consumer sales. That strategy flopped, Nike started cost-slashing, and now it's again turning to wholesale (think: department stores). This month, after a sales and share-price slump, the sneaker seller swapped out its CEO and the stock surged. But analysts still expect it to unbox falling sales. |
Shanghai-five… Chinese stocks surged last week after the second-largest economy unveiled a sweeping stimulus push to revive its sluggish GDP growth. As part of a Hail Mary push to meet its 5% annual-growth target, China slashed mortgage rates and made it easier for banks to make loans, among other stimulus measures (including cash handouts to the poor). China's economy has struggled to recover from the government's zero-Covid policy, and some say the stimulus may be coming too late to meet its GDP growth target. Levelin' up… SAG-AFTRA's strike against video-game titans including Take-Two, EA, and Epic is in its ninth week. And the 160K-member performers' union just increased the difficulty. The strike expanded to cover voice and motion performers for "League of Legends," which had been exempt from the stoppage because it began production years ago. But as a live-service game (regularly dropping new content), it's in perpetual production. Targeting live service is a major escalation as it accounts for a huge chunk of gaming $$ (85% of EA's revenue last quarter). |
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It's OK to hate money, says financial therapist Amanda Clayman, who recommends setting a timer for 20 minutes to "do money" and not get overwhelmed. Read more. |
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- Consumer sentiment hit a five-month high as shoppers began to expect cheaper borrowing costs after the Fed cut rates.
- US consumers are forecast to spend a record $18.5B using buy now, pay later services (like Klarna, Afterpay) to holiday shop this year.
- Fidelity slashed mobile deposit limits to $1K from $100K for some of its customers as the asset manager cracks down on check fraud.
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- Monday: Chicago Business Barometer. US fiscal year ends. Earnings expected from Carnival
- Tuesday: US vice presidential debate. Construction spending. Job openings. Earnings expected from Paychex, Acuity, McCormick, United Natural Foods, Nike, and Cal-Maine Foods
- Wednesday: ADP private-payroll figures. Earnings expected from Conagra, RPM International, and Levi Strauss
- Thursday: Weekly jobless claims. Durable-goods orders. Earnings expected from Constellation Brands
- Friday: Employment report. NHL season begins
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Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin and shares of: Carnival and Microsoft |
Advertiser's disclosures:
1 "Global battery energy storage market could grow to $546B, says analyst," Renewable Energy World, 2020. 2 Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Start-up investments are speculative and involve a high degree of risk. Those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest in start-ups. Companies seeking startup investment tend to be in earlier stages of development and their business model, products and services may not yet be fully developed, operational or tested in the public marketplace. There is no guarantee that the stated valuation and other terms are accurate or in agreement with the market or industry valuations. Further, investors may receive illiquid and/or restricted stock that may be subject to holding period requirements and/or liquidity concerns. This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX's Regulation A+ Offering. Please read the offering circular and related risks at invest.energyx.com DealMaker Securities LLC, a registered broker-dealer, and member of FINRA | SIPC, located at 105 Maxess Road, Suite 124, Melville, NY 11747, is the Intermediary for this offering and is not an affiliate of or connected with the Issuer. Please check our background on FINRA's BrokerCheck. |
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