RAT MONEY
RadioAustinTexas.com
02/25/2025
Insiring, uninspiring, and down right messed up financial news of the day. RAT date 02.25/2025
The media on this page is taken largely from a financial newsletter now published by Sherwood Media. They enfolded the company Robinhood, which is an online stock trading company and financial company. Its CEO has done some really wild things in the stock trading game, and is one of the most impressive people known.
Around a year ago, he led the stampeded of investors at Robinhood in the GameStop market takeover, which made them billions, and cost many billionares and large hedgefunds billions, and made them the laughing stock of Wall Street. He named his company well.
However, I am referring to Robinhood’s previous CEO. Now it is Bulgarian born Vladamir Tevin, 36 years old.
Robinhood Financial
Birkenstocks are not works of art, at least legally speaking, according to Germany’s top court. The ruling culminates a long legal battle, as Birkenstock first attempted to gain copyright protections back in May 2023 to prevent copycat brands from selling similar products. Still, the court said the shoes exhibited “pure craftsmanship using formal design elements” — and last week’s glowing quarterly earnings report suggests that a growing number of sandalheads agree.
On Friday, stocks reversed last week’s record gains as investors lost their appetite for risk amid economic concerns. Consumer sentiment soured over inflation fears.
After years of stability, the auto industry is getting volatile
After years of post-recession stability in the auto industry, marked by broad shifts in product mix like a gradual pivot toward electric vehicles and the faltering hegemony of pickup trucks, the past several weeks have comparatively been absolute chaos. From the potential impacts of threatened tariffs to major swings in the tenuous alliances that define the business, carmakers have been especially volatile bets for investors.
Just in the past few weeks, auto tariffs in the neighborhood of 25% coming as soon as April 2 were floated by the president; merger negotiations between Nissan and Honda that would’ve created one of the largest automakers in the world collapsed; a hydrogen-powered vehicle company once worth more than Ford filed for bankruptcy; and Rivian managed to make a gross profit.
Not to mention that many gradual trends that investors have been monitoring have begun to hit key inflection points.
Chinese automaker BYD has been on a tear when it comes to exports, and last week said its EVs are about three to five years ahead of rivals.
EV sales hit a monthly record in the US in January, accounting for 9.1% of new vehicle sales in the month, even if the future of the EV tax credit is uncertain.
GM, assessing the potential effects of tariffs, said it would have to weigh plant relocations and revealed that it’s already moving inventory across borders to try to get ahead of them. Ford’s CEO also said the tariffs would “blow a hole” in the US auto industry.
None of that is even touching the stainless steel elephant in the room. With CEO Elon Musk morphing into the right-hand man of the American president, Tesla has been a key beneficiary of that power but also a major subject of volatility, especially over the past 60 days. Sure, full self-driving is facing hurdles in China and sales are dropping around the world, but does that matter if the new administration can greenlight buying $400 million worth of armored Teslas with the stroke of a pen?
No wonder a Japanese group plans to pitch to Tesla that it should invest in Nissan, fresh on the rebound from the breakup of its Honda situationship, in exchange for American factories.
Presented by Pacaso
Top investors are buying this unlisted stock
When the co-founder who helped grow Zillow into an industry leader starts a new company, investors take note.
After all, growing a company to $8.9B in size doesn’t happen by accident. That’s why top firms like SoftBank have already invested in Pacaso.
Taking the industry by storm all over again, Pacaso’s streamlined co-ownership platform completely revamps a $1.3T market.1 And by handing keys to 1,500+ happy homeowners, Pacaso earned $100M+ in adjusted gross profits in four years.2
Now, they’re focused on international expansion. With record-breaking sales in Paris, 7 homes in Cabo, and their most expensive European property yet recently acquired in London, it’s happening fast.
No wonder Pacaso’s share price is changing soon. Invest at $2.70/share by 2/27.3
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Stories we’re watching
Game(Stop CEO) respects game: Ryan Cohen, head honcho at GameStop, has reportedly increased his personal stake in Alibaba to about $1 billion. The Chinese e-commerce and cloud giant has had everything go right in 2025 — the release of strong Q4 results, the success of its AI models, its AI partnership with Apple, the preservation (for now) of the “de minimis” shipping exemption, and a vote of confidence from another billionaire investor, David Tepper, who also doubled down on the stock heading into this year. All this has helped propel Alibaba up 60% year-to-date. In the S&P 500, only Super Micro Computer has enjoyed a larger gain so far this year.
ESPN and MLB’s fallout could open up another bidding war: Disney’s ESPN and Major League Baseball are parting ways, ending a 35-year media rights relationship after the 2025 season. The MLB, which enjoyed a ratings and live attendance resurgence last year, is likely hoping to replicate some of the streaming bidding wars that have boosted other sports leagues’ deals. This will likely make the sports streaming landscape, which is already the Wild West and infuriating for fans, even more complex.
THE BEST THING WE READ TODAY
Travel companies blew earnings out of the water this quarter. Booking Holdings took it a step further.
Booking is the only major travel platform outperforming the S&P 500 since Airbnb’s December 2020 IPO. Check out our chart to see how other travel platforms compare.
What else we’re Snackin’
The SEC said it has created a new team, known as the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit, to focus on rooting out fraud committed in the emerging technologies space, including crypto
The Cheesecake Factory’s ever-expanding menu is matched only by its ever-expanding revenues
Celsius spiked last week after announcing its plan to buy Gen Z-focused competitor Alani Nu
On Friday, Coinbase said the SEC had dropped its lawsuit against the company
Live Nation’s blockbuster year ended with a bang as the company forecast an even better year for concerts
Last updated 02/25/2025