👙 Barbie’s dream weekend

…and streaming ends its generosity era   Come on, Barbie, let’s go franchise (Lia Toby/Getty Images)   Yesterday’s Market Moves   Dow Jones 35,411 (+0.52%) S&P 500 4,555 (+0.40%) Nasdaq 14,059 (+0.19%) Bitcoin $29,167 (-3.04%) Dow Jones 35,411 (+0.52%) S&P 500 4,555 (+0.40%) Nasdaq 14,059 (+0.19%) Bitcoin $29,167 (-3.04%) Hey Snackers, In case greasy fingers haven’t already left their mark on your joystick, [Microsoft]( [introduced]( a pizza-scented Xbox controller. All the cheesy fragrance, none of the oily crumbs. US stocks ticked up yesterday, led by the energy sector, and the Dow notched its 11th day in the green (its longest win streak in six years). The Fed’s two-day meeting kicks off today, and the central bank is widely expected to hike rates tomorrow. Pinktastic “Barbie” becomes a box-office bombshell as brands cash in on the franchise flywheel Barbie’s dream weekend… Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie'' made a plastic, fantastic splash over the weekend. The super-pink flick raked in $[162M]( domestically, surpassing "Super Mario Bros." as this year's top-grossing opening-weekend movie and the highest-earning debut weekend for a female director. - Hi, Barbie: Shares of Barbie parent [Mattel]( jumped 2% yesterday (and are up 20%+ this year) on hopes the film would glam up sales for the toy maker. - FYI: Barbie makes up a third of Mattel’s revenue and has been the best-selling fashion doll for the past four years. Pink is the new black… From Balmain’s $2K leggings to Mattel’s “I Am Kenough” hoodies and [Crocs]( hot-pink clogs, Barbie merch has been all the buzz this summer. Over 100 [brands]( including [Bloomingdale’s]( [Gap]( [Kohl’s]( and Xbox have dropped Barbie-fied products in hopes that consumers will spend on the trend (#barbiecore). Mattel has revamped Barbie’s look in recent years, introducing dolls with more diverse skin tones, hair styles, and body types. The brand could use the lift: Barbie revenue dipped 41% in the first quarter of this year. THE TAKEAWAY It’s the franchise flywheel… Mattel doesn’t want to be a toy company: it wants to be an IP company by spinning its top franchises into multi-revenue machines (toys → movie deals → merch → repeat). The “Barbie” halo effect is expected to boost doll sales by 16% over the next three years, and upcoming Mattel-inspired features include a Hot Wheels movie (and possibly Uno). Rival toy maker [Hasbro]( has already made billions from its “Transformers” franchise. Billing Streamers including Spotify jump on the price-hiking bandwagon, ending the discount era A rising bill lifts all streamers… [Spotify]( is [hiking]( the cost of its paid subscription plan in the US for the first time since it rolled out back in 2011. The Swedish company, which reports earnings today, is now charging $11/month for its premium tier (up from $10). While a $1 bump may sound small, the new price could yield $2.5B in extra revenue a year as Spotify has 210M premium subs. - Spotify joins other major music streamers in upping prices. [Apple]( Music bumped prices last fall, while [Amazon]( Tidal, and [YouTube]( Music matched pitch this year. - Video streaming said ditto: [Netflix]( is the only major streamer that hasn’t pumped its prices in the past year, and that’s because it made the change in spring ’22. Just last week, [NBCUniversal]( Peacock announced plans to jack up its costs for the first time. Your free trial is over… After battling for market share with lengthy free trials and extra-low prices, streamers appear to have ended their era of generosity. Feeling the burn of costly new investments in content (like live sports), companies are looking for ways to curb widening losses: [Paramount]( loss rose to $511M last quarter and Peacock’s is expected to total $3B this year. Profit-chasing streamers have turned to staff cuts, price hikes, and a broad content slowdown: this year’s 14% global content spend increase lags behind the 45% growth rate last year. THE TAKEAWAY A well-trodden path is safer to follow… Despite being mostly unprofitable, streamers across industries have been hesitant to risk growth by raising prices — until now. After streaming leader Netflix passed costs on to users without significant consequences, more of its rivals have jumped on the cost-hiking bandwagon. When everyone else is hiking prices, it’s easier to follow suit. BLINK Eyeball-scanning Worldcoin launches as AI hype converges with crypto Pondering my orb… Worldcoin, a crypto project designed to solve AI-induced identity problems, officially [launched]( yesterday. Cofounded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Worldcoin says it establishes users’ “proof of personhood” (read: proof of being human) by scanning their irises with a metallic orb and associating the resulting data with a unique ID. When someone accuses a Worldcoin user of being ChatGPT, they could flash their World ID to show they're not a bot. Think: captcha 2.0. Coins for me… not for thee. Newly verified #realhumans are paid 25 WLD crypto tokens to sign up, and WLD briefly popped to over $3 yesterday after it was listed on crypto exchanges like Binance and OKX (before falling to about $2). But not everyone’s all in on WLD. Vitalik Buterin, the creator of [ethereum]( said Worldcoin’s design presents security, privacy, and centralization concerns. FYI: a fourth of WLD tokens have been earmarked for project insiders THE TAKEAWAY Playing both sides makes it easier to win… Sam Altman’s Worldcoin offers a possible solution to a [problem]( made worse by his ChatGPT: AI spam and scams. But tech solutions aren’t always a fix for human problems. Worldcoin has reportedly already spawned an illegal market for iris scans. What else we're Snackin' - [Xciting]( Twitter is now “X.” Elon’s site has rebranded as ad revenue falls and competition rises. [Meta]( Threads topped 100M users within days of launch, and TikTok just added text posts. - [Za]( Low supply-chain costs (cheaper cheese) helped [Domino’s]( beat quarterly earnings expectations. Revenue missed, but its new [Uber]( Eats partnership could make its dough rise back up. - [Charged]( [Chevron]( considering producing lithium (the metal used in EV batteries) while [Exxon]( planning a US lithium facility. Demand’s high for Li as the electric shift continues, and oil giants want in. - [FrontRow:]( [AMC]( nixed its plan to charge extra for its best seats (imagine: $2 more to sit center-mid). The theater chain’s revenue is up this year, and the industry’s hopeful for a postpandemic comeback. - [Ciao]( US travelers may have to pay $8 to fill out a visa application to get into the EU starting in January. Tourists might struggle to adjust to the new process, which is meant to improve security. 🍪 Thanks for Snacking with us! Want to share the Snacks? Invite your friends to sign up [here](. Snack Fact Of the Day Americans’ personal savings have plunged by $5.5T since April 2020 [Read more]( Tuesday - Fed’s two-day meeting starts - Earnings expected from Microsoft, Alphabet, Snap, Cal-Maine Foods, Albertsons, 3M, Visa, Verizon, GM, GE, Spotify, and Raytheon  Authors of this Snacks own ethereum and shares of: Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Comcast, Exxon, GM, Mattel, Microsoft, Uber, and Snap 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 Terms and Conditions]( • [Our Editorial Principles]( • [Contact Us](mailto:hellosnacks@sherwoodmedia.com) • [Privacy Policy]( • [Advertise with us](mailto:advertising@sherwoodmedia.com) [Unsubscribe](