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“Snacks Mix”: Zuck and Musk play nice, quantum goes to the moon, and our hot takes for 2025

Nia Warfield and Jack Raines run through this week’s market maze.

12/20/24 11:59AM

What we’re talking about this week on the podcast: Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk teaming up against OpenAI, Databricks raising a massive Series J, and Google’s quantum-computing breakthrough sending some sketchy stocks to the moon. Plus, Jack and Nia make their predictions for 2025.

We’ll be back in two weeks with a new episode — see you in 2025! Want to get in touch? Let us know what you think of the show and what we should cover next at podcasts@sherwood.news.

The following is an excerpt from this week’s “Snacks Mix” podcast. To listen to the full episode, click play in the soundbar above.

Nia Warfield: This week, Meta sent a letter to California’s attorney general supporting Elon Musk and his effort to block OpenAI from becoming a for-profit company. Musk first filed a lawsuit against OpenAI back in August, arguing that the company’s transition to a for-profit model would undermine its mission to advanced AI for the public. Good. Sounds a little dystopian, but, Jack, beyond the obvious goal of becoming profitable, why would Sam Altman and OpenAI try to make this shift now, and what are the general concerns?

Jack Raines: I wrote a piece on this a couple months ago. OpenAI raised $6.6 billion at a $157 billion valuation about a month ago, and that fundraise was contingent on it becoming a full for-profit entity. Previously, OpenAI was a capped profit entity where investors could only make like a 100x return on their investment.

Another weird thing about OpenAI is that it didn’t issue regular equity to investors and employees. When you buy stock in a company, you’re just buying the stock. OpenAI was issuing profit-sharing units that were effectively promissory notes on a share of future profits.

Thrive Capital, Microsoft, all these investors who poured in on the latest round were like: “We’ll invest $6 billion, but you need to be a normal for-profit company. Let’s quit all the weird stuff.”

OpenAI was going to adjust its structure accordingly, but now, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are saying, “No, you can’t change your structure.” They both have their own reasons for it. For example, Musk was a cofounder of OpenAI when it was a nonprofit. And then, Meta raised an interesting point with the attorney general: if OpenAI is allowed to switch from a nonprofit to a for-profit, why wouldn’t every startup just form as a nonprofit until they’re making money and then switch? There are tax benefits involved with starting as a nonprofit. If you’re an investor and you invest in a nonprofit, you have tax write-off benefits compared to investing in a normal, for-profit startup. However, the obvious reason for opposing this move by OpenAI is that Meta and Musk’s xAI are competitors, and they stand to benefit from OpenAI having issues.

Nia Warfield: One thing that’s interesting is that OpenAI, or rather Sam Altman, called Musk’s initial allegations false, claiming that there was no legal basis for the blocking. OpenAI then proceeded to publish a blog showing emails and text messages that appeared to show that Musk was initially in support of a for-profit model, but he ditched his support when OpenAI didn’t agree to giving him a majority equity stake in the company.

I don’t know if it’s true or not, but that was Altman’s reply. It got a little catty.

Jack Raines: It’s funny, right? If Musk was running OpenAI, he’d probably love for it to be for-profit because he’d stand to make money from it. He’d be the one making the money from it. Anyway, something interesting that Musk highlighted in the preliminary injunction that he filed against OpenAI two weeks ago is a claim that Microsoft and OpenAI violated antitrust laws because they asked investors that were investing in this funding round not to invest in other AI startups.

Musk argued that wasn’t fair because they restricted capital from flowing into competing firms. He made a good argument, but my favorite aspect of this whole ordeal is seeing Musk and Zuckerberg on the same side of an issue. Eighteen months ago, we thought they were going to fight in a cage match. (Zuckerberg would’ve crushed Elon Musk even though he is half his size, in my opinion.) However, capitalism is king, and they both have something to gain from OpenAI falling behind. In the AI wars, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Or at least my legal ally.

This was a preview of this week’s “Snacks Mix” podcast. To listen to the rest of the episode, where we discuss Elon Musk’s company town and Waymo pulling ahead in the self-driving race, check out “Snacks Mix” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or iHeartRadio.

If you want even more content from the Sherwood team, subscribe to the Snacks newsletter now for your daily dose of financial news! “Snacks Mix” is a production of Sherwood News, made in collaboration with Roulette Productions. Jody Avirgan and Claire Bidigare-Curtis are the producers.

Sherwood Media’s “Snacks Mix” podcast is for informational purposes only, and is not a recommendation, solicitation, or research report relating to any investment strategy, security, or digital asset.

Views presented on this podcast are those of the speakers (hosts and guests). There is no guarantee that any statements or opinions provided herein will prove to be correct. The speakers’ opinions belong to them and may differ from opinions of Sherwood Media and its affiliates.

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Tom Jones6/24/26

Prime Day is here again and Amazon’s subscription service has never been more popular

Well, it’s that time of year again: many have made their wish lists, people are scraping together the money they’ve saved to pick out a perfect gift, some are presumably leaving out refreshments for the weary delivery drivers and, more and more, drones.

It’s Amazon Prime Day — meaning that it’s the second day of the four-day promotional event that Amazon still calls Prime Day — of course, and it’s even come early this year, with the company bringing the period into late June from July, when it’s been traditionally held for the last five years.

The Prime Age

Alongside the eyes and endless clicks that the arbitrary stream of listicles on “The Best Prime Day Deals” that almost every media outlet pours into, Amazon will also be cheering the fact that there’s now more Prime users than ever before to devour the retailer and its sellers’ sometimes-contested “discounts.” Indeed, according to the latest annual estimates from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), there were just over 200 million American shoppers using Amazon’s massive subscription service at the end of 2025.

Max Knoblauch6/15/26

Electronic Arts launches a platform to put more ads in its games

Video game publishing giant EA launched a new platform on Monday designed to make the process of selling immersive ad space in its popular games easier.

The company says the platform, called EA Advertising, allows brands to “integrate directly into gameplay through dynamic, real-time placements, from stadium signage to custom in-game content.”

More so than other studios, EA has incorporated advertising into its most popular titles. As Kotaku points out, the company’s ad efforts stretch as far back as 2006. Several of its sports franchises already feature partnerships with brands like Visa, Lowe’s, Red Bull, and PepsiCo.

In-game advertising hasn’t exactly been embraced by fans, but industry experts expect it to ramp up as companies seek more revenue to offset higher games budgets and surging memory costs. EA rival Take-Two has taken a different approach, with CEO Strauss Zelnick recently saying the company was “not at risk of doing brand partnerships” in the forthcoming “Grand Theft Auto VI,” and that ads in full-price games seems “unfair.”

The $55 billion deal to take EA private, led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, is set to close at the end of this month. Being the largest leveraged buyout in history, EA will likely look for more ways to boost revenue to cover interest payments.

Electronic Arts Makes Push for Ad Dollars Tied to Sports

Millie Giles6/11/26

JM Smucker says it sold $1 billion worth of Uncrustables in FY2026

After years of booming sandwich sales, JM Smucker has finally earned a billion-dollar crust.

On Tuesday, the company reported results for fiscal year 2026, highlighting better-than-expected profits driven by higher prices for coffee and sweet baked goods. However, at another point on the earnings call, CEO Mark Smucker pointed to one particularly jammy figure: in line with previous forecasts, the company sold $1 billion worth of its (almost always) crustless sandwiches, Uncrustables, in the last year alone.

Max Knoblauch6/8/26

Paramount reportedly offers concessions to resolve multistate antitrust investigation

Paramount has reportedly offered up some concessions in an effort to prevent an antitrust lawsuit by California and about 10 other states, according to Bloomberg reporting on Monday.

Reuters first reported on the potential suit from a group of unnamed states last week, which could throw a wrench in Paramount’s plans to buy rival Warner Bros. Discovery in a Hollywood megamerger.

The list of concessions is unknown, though Bloomberg previously reported that Paramount is open to divesting some of its kids TV assets to appease EU regulators.

Late last month, reports said US regulators appeared likely to approve the $110 billion merger, following a meeting between Paramount CEO David Ellison and DOJ antitrust staffers.

Paramount Offers Concessions to Head Off State Antitrust Lawsuit

The list of concessions is unknown, though Bloomberg previously reported that Paramount is open to divesting some of its kids TV assets to appease EU regulators.

Late last month, reports said US regulators appeared likely to approve the $110 billion merger, following a meeting between Paramount CEO David Ellison and DOJ antitrust staffers.

$98B ⛽

Max Knoblauch6/8/26

The IATA released its latest financial outlook for the airline industry over the weekend, forecasting a $98 billion jump in the sector’s collective fuel bill. The world’s largest trade group representing airlines expects the oil spike to halve profits by 49% from last year to $23 billion.

The group also expects profit margins to halve year over year, falling from 2025’s 4.2% to 2%. Still, revenue is expected to climb to $1.17 trillion from $1.07 trillion.

A surge in the cost of jet fuel has rocked US and global airlines this year, leading Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, and others to raise fares and ancillary charges like bag fees. Low-cost carriers, which operate on smaller margins, have been squeezed the hardest, resulting in Spirit’s shutdown.

“It’s a tough year for all airlines, especially those whose balance sheets had not yet recovered from COVID. And, of course, for those operating in the Gulf,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh, who added that demand is holding up and about half of passengers expect to spend more on travel this year. “That bodes well for a strong northern summer peak season. The big unknown is how long travelers and shippers can tolerate the higher costs of connectivity.”