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đ Meta Is Stacking Billions
1) Nvidia Revenue By Geo 2) Starbucks Sales Keep Falling 3) Tesla Loses Steam and more!
Happy Sunday!
This past week felt like a decade packed into a few days.
On Wednesday, in a widely expected move, the Fed left the Federal Funds Rate unchanged at 4.25%-4.5%.
The Fed acknowledged a solid labor market but noted that inflation remains elevated.
Notably, they removed language from their previous statement that suggested progress toward their 2% inflation goal.
When asked if he had communicated with Trump, Powell said he has not.
Meanwhile, Trump took to Truth Social to blame the Fed for inflation and outlined his own plans to address it.
And last night, Trump officially signed orders imposing new tariffsâ25% on all goods from Canada and Mexico and 10% on Chinese goods.
Some key data bites from this week that you should know:
Apple crossed 1B subscriptions and nearly $100B in services revenue in 2024.
Trump Media is launching Truth.Fi and plans to invest up to $250M into ETFs and crypto.
T-Mobile plans to add 6M new customers in 2025.
US Q4 GDP increased 2.3% annualized, below 2.6% expected.
American investors and MrBeast have raised more than $20B to bid for TikTok.
Boeingâs Commercial Airplanes have not turned a profit in 6 years.
Average price of a dozen eggs increased 14% to $4.15 in December.
Walgreens is suspending its quarterly dividend after 92 consecutive years of payments.
Intel lost $18.8B in 2024.
Norwayâs Sovereign Wealth Fund reported an annual profit of $222B in 2024.
IBM surged after they reported $5B in bookings for its generative AI segment.
UPS tanked after projecting 2025 revenue of $89B, far below $95B estimate.
In todayâs newsletter:
đ Biggest Drop In One Day
đ Nvidia Revenue By Geo
âïž Starbucks Sales Keep Falling
đ° Meta Is Stacking Billions
âïž Microsoft Misses On Cloud
đ Tesla Loses Steam
Letâs jump right in.
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On Monday, Nvidia came face-to-face with the boogeyman, plunging 17% on fears surrounding DeepSeek.
For those unfamiliar, DeepSeek is a Chinese startup whose free AI model recently skyrocketed to the top of the U.S. App Store.
The model has performed on par with top AI competitors while being remarkably cheaperâits API pricing is 20-40x lower than OpenAIâs.
Even more shocking, DeepSeek claims it trained the V3 model for just $5.6M, raising concerns over how this could impact demand for Nvidiaâs chips.
The market panicked as a result.
The worldâs 500 richest people lost a combined $108B in the sell-off, while Nvidia short bets raked in over $6B in profits.
The shockwave extended beyond Nvidia, sparking concerns across Big Tech, which has collectively poured billions into AI infrastructure via CapEx spending.
According to Reuters, analysts estimate that major U.S. cloud companies will spend $250B on AI infrastructure this year alone.
As the dust settled, two camps emerged.
Some, like Black Swan author Nassim Taleb, warned that an even larger drawdown, 2 or 3-times bigger, was possible.
But fear eased as tech heavyweights like Elon Musk and Scale AI CEO Alexander Wang suggested DeepSeek was likely using more expensive Nvidia chips than reported and underestimating its total training costs.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella also weighed in, citing Jevons' paradoxâthe idea that efficiency gains can actually drive up total demand.
Meanwhile, Nvidia put out a statement, per Axios, praising DeepSeek as an AI breakthrough but reaffirming that large-scale AI training still requires massive numbers of Nvidia GPUs and high-performance computing.
Then, on Wednesday, Chinese tech giant Alibaba dropped its own bombshellâlaunching the Qwen 2.5 AI model, which it claims outperforms DeepSeek.
Despite the chaos, Nvidia clawed back most of its losses, ending the week down just under 4%.

Speculation remains over whether DeepSeek's training costs were truly as low as reportedâor if the startup somehow accessed Nvidiaâs H100 chips despite U.S. export controls on China.
This has raised serious questions.
In fact, the U.S. has launched a probe into Nvidiaâs chip sales. Why?
Singapore now accounts for 22% of Nvidiaâs revenue as of last quarter and is its fastest-growing geographic segment, with revenue compounding at a staggering 280% CAGR since Q3 2022.
But hereâs the catchâNvidiaâs financials reflect the billing location, not the chipsâ final destination.
In other words, a significant portion of those sales may be heading elsewhere.
The big question: Where are these chips really going?
Adding to the intrigue, research from SemiAnalysis estimates that DeepSeekâs total hardware spend has likely exceeded $500M.
Meanwhile, OpenAI and Microsoft are also investigating whether data output was collected in an unauthorized manner by a group linked to DeepSeek, per Bloomberg.
That all being said, in a statement to Investopedia, Nvidia insists its customers comply with regulations, noting that many operate through Singapore for Western markets and that revenue linked to Singapore doesnât imply diversion to China
With all the chaos going on, Sam Altman used the moment to pitch U.S. policymakers on the need for further investment in AI infrastructure.
Additionally, DeepSeek hasnât slowed OpenAIâs ability to raise capital.
SoftBank is reportedly in talks to invest up to $25B in OpenAI, valuing the company at $340B.
And to cap off a wild week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with President Trump at the White House for the first time on Friday to discuss DeepSeek and tightening AI chip exports.

Is Starbucks finally turning things around?
The company reported earnings on Tuesday in its first full quarter under the Back to Starbucks strategyâa plan aimed at reviving the brand.
Hereâs how the numbers stacked up:
đą EPS: $0.69 vs. $0.67 Est.
đą Revenue: $9.4B vs. $9.31B Est.
đą Global Comparable Same-Store Sales: (4%) vs. (5.5%) Est.
Starbucks beat expectations across earnings, revenue, and same-store sales, showing early signs of progress.
However, global same-store sales are still declining, driven by a 6% drop in store visits.
On the flip side, the average ticket price increased 3%.
Margins remain under pressure, with operating margin falling 390 basis points to 11.9% due to deleverage and investments in its turnaround plan.
To regain customer loyalty, Starbucks has rolled out several changes.
They are adjusting its free refill policy, bringing back condiment bars, and limiting in-store workspaces for non-paying customers.
The company also plans to slash 30% of its menu to simplify operations.
Meanwhile, its new CEO Brian Niccol, recruited from Chipotle, has already racked up a staggering $96M in compensationâfor just four months on the job.

Mark Zuckerberg is ready for 2025.
âWe continue to make good progress on AI, glasses, and the future of social media,â said Zuckerberg. âI'm excited to see these efforts scale further in 2025.â
Meta is already off to a strong start, up 15% this year. Shares briefly crossed $700 before pulling back after releasing Q4 earnings.
Hereâs how the numbers stacked up:
đą EPS: $8.02 vs. $6.77 Est.
đą Revenue: $48.39B vs. $47.04B Est.
đŽ Q1 Revenue Forecast (Midpoint): $40.65B vs. $41.73B Est.
Revenue climbed 21%, while net income surged 49% during the quarter.
Family daily active peopleâusers who engage with at least one of Metaâs appsâhit 3.35B, a 5% YoY increase.
That means roughly 41% of the worldâs 8.2B population now uses a Meta application.
Ad impressions grew 6%, while the average price per ad jumped 14%.
Many investors were watching to see if Meta would adjust its CapEx plans following DeepSeekâs V3 release.
However, the company reaffirmed its full-year 2025 CapEx forecast of $60-65B to continue scaling its generative AI efforts.
Zuckerberg also announced that Meta's Mesa Data Center is now fully operational.
Beyond AI, Zuckerberg is also making waves on the policy front.
During the earnings call, he stated, âWe now have a U.S. administration that is proud of our leading companies, prioritizes American technology winning, and that will defend our values and interests abroad.â
Reports suggest Zuckerberg is expanding his ties with Trump, hoping to advise on AI, and recently settled their dispute over his previous Facebook and Instagram ban.
Meta is also rumored to be considering relocating its headquarters to Texas.

While some Magnificent 7 members, like Meta, are thriving, others are struggling.
Microsoft is a prime example. Shares fell 6% after its Q2 FY25 earnings and are up just 3% over the past yearâfar underperforming the S&P 500.
Hereâs how the numbers stacked up:
đą EPS: $3.23 vs. $3.11 Est.
đą Revenue: $69.63B vs. $68.78B Est.
đŽ Intelligent Cloud Revenue: $25.54B vs. $25.83B Est.
đŽ Q3 Revenue Forecast (Midpoint): $68.2B vs. $69.8B Est.
Despite beating on both the top and bottom line, a miss on Intelligent Cloud revenue and softer-than-expected guidance weighed on the stock.
Microsoft also projected Azure growth of 31.5% (midpoint) for next quarter, falling short of the 33.4% analysts had expected.
On a positive note, Productivity and Business Processes and More Personal Computing both exceeded estimates.
During the earnings call, Microsoft stated that CapEx will remain steady for the next two quarters before declining in FY26.

Tesla was one of the most closely watched names this week, having surged 114% over the past year, partly fueled by Elon Muskâs close ties to President Trump.
But the stock lost some steam after earnings, dipping before gradually rebounding.
Hereâs how the numbers stacked up:
đŽ EPS: $0.73 vs. $0.76 Est.
đŽ Revenue: $25.71B vs. $27.26B Est.
Tesla missed expectations on both earnings and revenue.
Its largest segment, automotive revenue, fell 8%, largely due to a decline in vehicle average selling price.
However, energy generation and storage surged 113%, while services and other revenue climbed 31%.
Operating margin fell 204 basis points to 6.2%, reflecting pricing pressure and ongoing investments.
At the same time, Tesla achieved its lowest cost of goods sold per vehicle at <$35,000, marking a key efficiency milestone.
Looking ahead, Tesla expects FSD to surpass human-level safety, paving the way for an unsupervised FSD option and the launch of its Robotaxi business, slated for launch later this year.
One other notable callout?
Tesla gained a $600M boost from its Bitcoin holdings, thanks to new accounting rules for digital assets.
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đ€ Billionaire Wishes. What Americaâs tech billionaires may want from Trump - BB
đïž Policy Peak. Billionaire Steve Cohen expects the markets to top over the next few months due to Trumpâs policies - RT
đ¶ Streaming Royalty. Spotify and Universal Music Group inked a new multi-year distribution agreement - SPOT
đ Sanctioned Stake. Billionaire Russian Oligarch Suleyman Kerimov held a take in SpaceX through a trust while he was sanctioned - BB
đȘ Oracle Orbit. Oracle is partnering with Starlink to provide connectivity to the Oracle Enterprise Communications Platform - ORCL
đĄ Celestial Signal. Appleâs iPhones are eligible to start testing Starlinkâs direct-to-cell capability that provides coverage from space - RT
𧳠Pardon Pursuit. Sam Bankman-Friedâs parents are exploring ways to secure a pardon for their son from Trump - BB
đž X Money. X has partnered with Visa to allow peer-to-peer payments - X
đą Office Exodus. The Trump administration is offering buyouts to federal employees who prefer not to return to office - HRD

Courtesy of our paid partner, EarningsHub.
Notable Companies Reporting Earnings Week of February 3rd, 2025:
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