Business
business
Claire Yubin Oh

Starbucks was America’s fastest growing fast food chain last year, while Subway keeps shedding stores

QSR Magazine's annual ranking of America’s 50 largest fast food chains is out, and Starbucks has once again topped the list of fastest-growing chains, adding a whopping 589 stores in the US in the last year — more than any other restaurant in the top 50.

Those stores might not be as busy as they would have been in the past, with the coffee house reporting last week that same-store sales and foot traffic fell once again despite its ambitious turnaround plans to continue expanding while also dramatically improving the customer experience.

Starbucks just keeps expanding
Sherwood News

On the other end of the spectrum, Subway lost another 631 units this year, continuing the years-long drop in store count which began in 2016 and has seen the sandwich chain trim 7,600 locations in the US. Some of that ground is being made up internationally, where the sandwich-maker remains in growth mode, signing 25 master franchise agreements in the past three and a half years.

Wingin’ it

A close runner-up in the rankings was the relatively unknown fried chicken chain Krispy Krunchy Chicken, which has added 325 units since the last report, with another chicken outlet, Wingstop, not far behind.

Considering how much competition there is in the space — with heavyweights like KFC and Chick-fil-A, as well as a flood of hot names like Raising Cane’s, Dave’s Hot Chicken, Church’s Chicken, and others — to be growing that quickly is testament not only to their food and operations, but to just how insatiable America’s appetite for chicken is right now.

Indeed, no chain is more efficient than the chicken giant Chick-fil-A, which racked up average sales per store of $7.5 million in 2024, ahead of another bird-based wonder, Raising Cane’s, where average sales were $6.6 million. Subway’s per store average? Just $495,000.

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Max Knoblauch
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Spotify expands its anti-AI verified badges to podcasts

Spotify introduced verified badges for musician profiles in late April.

Spotify Hosts a "Now Playing" Creator Day at its Los Angeles Campus
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Tom Jones

Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

business
Max Knoblauch

Jury rules against Musk in lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman

Jurors in Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and OpenAI found the defendants not liable on all claims on Monday.

In a unanimous verdict reached after less than two hours of deliberation, the Oakland jury found that Musk had waited too long to bring his case forward, exceeding the statute of limitations.

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

Jury tosses Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman

Jury tosses Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

Millie Giles
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Swatch’s collaboration with Audemars Piguet could help bring hype back to its bottom line

The rival watchmakers have teamed up on a buzzy new collection that’s sparking a global consumer frenzy.

Swatch x Audemars Piguet "Royal Pop" watches
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5/15/26
Spotify wants us all to join its 20th anniversary celebrations

Looking at its finances, no wonder the streamer’s in a festive mood.

Spotify 20th Anniversary

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