A famous scene in The Social Network depicts Sean Parker telling Mark Zuckerberg to “Drop the ‘The.’ Just ‘Facebook’. It’s cleaner.”

Now, Zuckerberg’s cutting the “Meta” out of Meta Platforms.

Bloomberg reported today that the company plans to reduce the budget for its metaverse unit by up to 30% next year, a business segment that includes teams working on Quest virtual reality headsets and the social platform Horizon Worlds. Shares rose 3.43% on the news.

What’s in a name?

Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta Platforms in October 2021, back when the metaverse was all the rage. In the years since, the new focus has proven to be an expensive folly.

The company’s metaverse team is part of its Reality Labs division, a unit dedicated to projects that may not be profitable in the near future but will pay out over the long term. But it’s not easy for investors to stomach those expensive bets: Reality Labs lost $4.4 billion in Meta Platforms’ most-recent quarter, offset by sales of just $470 million. In fact, Bloomberg estimates that the division has lost over $70 billion since the beginning of 2021.

Investors pushed shares higher today in the hopes that cutting the metaverse team’s budget will mean lower losses in the coming quarters, and that the money will instead go toward winning the AI race.

A new, new direction

Despite the losses, Zuckerberg was still touting the metaverse’s potential as recently as January.

“This is also going to be a pivotal year for the metaverse,” he said on Meta’s fiscal Q4 earnings call. “This is a year when a number of long-term investments that we've been working on that will make the metaverse more visually stunning and inspiring will really start to land.”

Things clearly haven’t worked out the way Zuckerberg wanted when he bought into the hype and turned his company’s attention toward a new, largely unproven technology. Now, his focus is squarely on AI—a new, largely unproven technology.

Here’s hoping history doesn’t repeat itself.—MR

I salute Meta’s move. It’s incredibly hard for public companies to pivot, especially when they are massive (reminder: Meta’s market cap is nearly $1.7 trillion). CEOs often don’t like to admit something isn’t working, but the ability to call it is a critical one. And the willingness to experiment is key to understanding the success of another tech power player: Amazon.

Amazon has a laundry list of misfires, including acquisitions and in-house ventures. But the company is fine with failing quickly, and management’s agile mentality has helped power the stock to new all-time highs just last month.

Tune in to today’s episode to learn more about Amazon’s long list of high-profile failures, and its latest $4 billion bet.—AB

🟢 What’s up

• AST SpaceMobile popped 18.25% after announcing that its upgraded BlueBird 6 satellite, featuring an antenna array more than three times larger than earlier models, will be launched Dec. 15.
• Salesforce rose 3.66% after reporting 9% year-over-year revenue growth.
• UiPath jumped 24.36% as the automation software company posted a third-quarter profit, swinging from a loss a year ago.
• Science Applications International gained 16.29% after beating Q3 EPS estimates by 26% and raising earnings guidance for 2026 and 2027.
• Hormel Foods edged up 3.82% following mixed quarterly results but a strong outlook for 2026.
• Blockchain lending company Figure Technology climbed 10.29% after unveiling a new consortium focused on real-world asset tokenization.

What’s down

• Kroger slipped 4.62% after reporting a $1.5 billion operating loss in Q3 and missing sales expectations.
• Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein parent PVH Corp fell 11.87% despite an earnings beat as margins tightened under tariff pressure.
• Data storage company Snowflake fell 11.41% as investors focused on product revenue growing 29%, slower than last quarter’s 32% pace.
• Genesco plunged 30.86% after its adjusted earnings came in below expectations and the footwear company cut its full-year profit outlook.
• E-commerce company Pattern Group sank 13.03% following a cautious report from Bear Cave’s Edwin Dorsey.
• Symbotic tumbled 17.4% after announcing a share offering yesterday, adding pressure just a week after the warehouse automation company delivered a mixed fourth-quarter report.

Billionaires may belong to an exclusive club of the financial elite, but that club grew quite a bit this year.

UBS dropped its 11th annual Billionaire Ambitions Report today, a survey of the world’s wealthiest people. According to UBS, as of April 4 there are now 2,919 billionaires around the world—more than at any time in history. There were 287 new billionaires minted last year, the second-highest for a given year since 2021, and collectively the world’s richest now control $15.8 trillion.

So, where are they putting all that money? A year ago, 80% of billionaires believed that North America was the best bet for strong returns, but that figure fell to just 63% this year thanks in part to political uncertainty and rising inflation. Now, billionaires are looking abroad: 40% think Western Europe has one of the greatest opportunities for returns (up from 18% last year), followed by Greater China at 34% (up from 11%) and the Asia-Pacific region at 33% (up from 25%).

“I do not see North America as the top investment destination, even though its markets remain deep and innovative,” one European billionaire was quoted as saying. “For us, geographic concentration creates risk, and the better opportunity lies in diversification. We prefer to shift focus toward real assets, which offer more tangible value and protection in volatile or inflationary environments.”

Keep that in mind if you want to make this list next year.—MR

Turns out, selling cheap stuff is still a great business model.

Dollar General delivered a strong third quarter earnings report, highlighted by same-store sales rising 2.5%, the retailer’s eighth straight quarter of comp growth. Shares climbed 13.94% today.

The company gained market share across both consumable and non-consumable categories, while executives also highlighted Dollar General’s shift from a growth-focused model to a more mature, profitability-oriented one. And the company raised its full-year fiscal guidance. All in all, a pretty impressive quarter.

Beneath the numbers

Dollar General’s upbeat results follow Dollar Tree’s great report yesterday. Dollar Tree rallied 3.7% on Wednesday, and shares rose another 2.61% today. But while both companies operate in the same space, the drivers behind their growth look very different.

Foot traffic at Dollar General rose 2.5% while average transaction size remained unchanged, a pattern consistent with its core low-income shoppers who visit frequently but spend less per trip. Dollar Tree’s same-store sales grew 4.2%, powered by a 4.5% jump in average ticket that more than offset a 0.3% decline in traffic—meaning fewer shoppers came in, but each spent more.

That dynamic reflects Dollar Tree’s unusual customer base: roughly 60% of its customers make over $100,000 a year, and only 10% earn below $60,000. With tariffs and inflation pushing even affluent households toward buying bargains, more higher-income shoppers are trading down.

But CEO Mike Creedon pushed back on the idea that wealthy customers are driving the gains. He said higher-income households actually spend less per visit, and that the real engine of growth is Dollar Tree’s loyal, lower-income core customer. Over time, he expects the newer, higher-income segment to deepen their baskets too, providing an additional tailwind for comps.

The upside of the downturn

In a low consumer confidence environment amplified by a weakening job market, dollar stores may be one of the few retail categories positioned to outperform in a potential downturn.

Layoff announcements have reached 1.1 million this year, the highest since the early pandemic era, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Just yesterday, ADP released data that showed private employers cut 32,000 workers last month. And consumer confidence remains down in the dumps.

Shoppers are getting more cautious, and value retailers tend to thrive when wallets tighten. For Dollar General, that backdrop only adds to management’s optimism: the company plans more than 4,700 real estate projects next year, including 450 new US stores and 2,000 full remodels.

Dollar General is up 65.14% this year, and Dollar Tree has climbed 54.62% YTD. In this economy, dollar store investors are truly getting their money’s worth.—SY

• The Elon Musk—Sam Altman rivalry continues to heat up, with reports that Altman has explored building a competitor to Musk’s SpaceX.
• Paramount is challenging the fairness of Warner Bros. Discovery’s sale process, setting the stage for a shareholder battle.
• Amazon pays the USPS $6 billion per year to help deliver packages, but the e-commerce titan is reportedly considering expanding its own delivery network.
• Americans are on track to spend a record $20 billion using buy-now-pay-later this holiday season, raising concerns they’re borrowing their way into financial trouble.
• Spotify Wrapped drew over 200 million users yesterday, its biggest launch ever.
• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wants Fed regional presidents to actually live in their districts.
• Calling all millennials: Your favorite retailers from when you were a teenager are suddenly the hottest stocks on the market.

The weekend is nearly here, but there’s one more challenge investors must surpass before they get to kick back and relax: the September PCE report.

The delayed report will be the Fed’s final look at inflation before central bankers begin their two-day meeting on Tuesday, making the report a pivotal reading that can make or break the rest of the stock market’s year.

As for earnings, the only company worth keeping an eye on tomorrow is Victoria’s Secret.