What I Wrote Last Week
Business
Amazon and the “profitless business model” fallacy. Like Kobe Bryant once said, if you consistently wake up at 4am and put in hours of work for years, there is no way your competitors can catch up to you once they are behind. The same goes for Amazon. If the company keeps executing and investing billions of dollars in its business, it will be highly challenging, if not possible, for its rivals to catch up. Walmart is the only one that can topple the behemoth.
TSMC’s quarterly sales hit a record $30 billion — contract chipmaker plans over 15 new fabs to meet still-growing AI demand. The business of selling shovels in this gold rush called AI race continues to go from strength to strength.
Behind a Maine Coffee Company’s Decision to Raise Prices. Tariffs are, at the end of the day, an economic tool. Used right, it can serve a specific purpose. Used wrong, there are unintended consequences. For the past few months, I don’t think there is any effort to wield this tool properly. People and businesses get hurt. Sure, some will benefit, but they are the minority. Mom-and-pop shops like the coffee place in the profile have no resources to withstand tariffs or even the uncertainty caused by just months of tariff news on end. Eventually, they have to pass on additional costs to consumers; which totally goes against what is the public intention of these tariffs. Just madness. On a side note, I appreciate how the owner Rock City Coffee deals with this particular challenge.
How Starbucks’ CEO Plans to Tame the Rush-Hour Free-for-All. It is interesting to see what Starbucks is trying to turn the business around. There are plenty of things to test in order to squeeze sales out of every square foot of store locations, including more staff, better pastries, the return of the condiment bar, less sugar in matcha latte, more merchandises on shelfs and store renovations. Still, the road ahead is going to be challenging for Starbucks. Consumers are getting pinched by inflation. Job market is tough. Tariffs are an endless saga. And the competition is not standing still. It all depends on how much investors can trust Brian Nichols’ vision and ability to execute in the long run.
AI Market Clarity. There are market leaders more established than others in each market, but I still think there is a lot of uncertainty regarding AI, as the author admits: the more he reads and learns about AI, the more he thinks he still has to learn about it.
Other Stuff I Find Interesting
How China Built a Global Port Network. The Chinese has been playing the long game which seems to be ignored by the Europeans and the Americans.
Seaweed brought fishers, farmers, and scientists together. Trump tore them apart. It is really upsetting to read that a project that benefitted multiple parties and the planet was cancelled by the current administration which did it out of ideological differences. Love Grist.org for bringing to light this kind of wonderful projects.
The Olive Oil Crisis. Olive oil is crucial to the Greek culture and economy. It used to thrive in the region with little or no irrigation. Now, climate change is threatening the practice of growing and harvesting olives. On top of that, the labor shortage and theft make it even harder for farmers to stay afloat.
Preston Thorpe is a software engineer at a San Francisco startup — he’s also serving his 11th year in prison. What a wonderful idea and case study! People make mistakes and yes, if you are willing to do the crime, you have to do the time. But that doesn’t mean life has to come to an end screeching halt altogether. Inmates can and should learn skills and set up their life after prison. What is happening in Maine should be studied and replicated nationally.
Who Is Behind a $5 Billion Development in Atlanta? Yup, a Sports Team. “Investors in the 50-acre megaproject, estimated to be worth $5 billion, include Tony Ressler; Arthur Blank, the Falcons owner; and a number of other big names from Atlanta. The development will include more than 2,000 apartments, 1,800 hotel rooms, 900,000 square feet of retail space and a 5,300-seat music venue that Live Nation has committed to leasing when it opens in 2027. The number of real estate developments led by professional sports teams has accelerated in recent years as the price of teams has skyrocketed. By redeveloping underused land, sports owners can also enhance a team’s brand and generate good will.”
Stats
The Joe Budden Network is on track to generate $20 million in revenue this year
“Olive oil constitutes 25% of all Greek agriculture and 7% of the country’s gross domestic product”
AI Overviews has more than 2 billion monthly active users
Minh Quang Duong 
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