Instacart gift card display in Costco store, Queens, New York (Lindsey Nicholson/Getty Images)

CART VS. GOLIATH

The economics of Instacart’s grocery delivery are pretty tight — AI might help, or hurt

AI proved to be a double-edged sword this week for Instacart, as the gains from a new ChatGPT integration were wiped out by an AI pricing allegation.

Claire Yubin Oh

12/12/25 6:27AM

This week was a roller-coaster ride for Instacart investors. Traders loved the announcement on Monday that the grocery delivery app will be embedded in ChatGPT, becoming the “first company to offer [a] new instant checkout app experience” on the leading AI chatbot.

But AI can also be a double-edged sword.

A separate report released Wednesday took some of the shine off, with the company’s AI-enabled experiments accused of charging consumers different prices for the same items — by as much as 23% in one case. The e-commerce platform lost its OpenAI-driven gains on the news, with its parent company dropping some 6% in Wednesday trading.

Thought for food

Instacart, like so much of Corporate America, has been doubling down on an AI-centered strategy — offering personalized recommendations to consumers and time-saving and performance-driving tools for advertisers and retailers while deepening its partnership with OpenAI — all in the hope of improving the economics of a grocery delivery business that runs on pretty tight margins.

The company took a whopping $9.17 billion in orders through its marketplace, most of which is obviously passed through to merchants, with Instacart taking a ~7% slice, worth some $670 million in Q3. After operating costs, that revenue alone would probably not be enough to keep the company in the black — but Instacart also made a cool $270 million from advertising and other fees, services that are much higher-margin — helping it eke out a total of $166 million in operating profit, or 1.8% of its gross transaction value.

How Instacart makes money — Sherwood News

But profit growth has slowed at Instacart, and the company has some increasingly scary competitors, most notably Amazon, which is pushing into the on-demand online grocery space. The e-commerce giant announced this week it would expand its same-day delivery service to over 2,300 cities and towns in the US, leveraging millions of potential customers with a Prime membership through its free-for-Prime service.

With Amazon bearing down, it’s no wonder Instacart is looking to AI as a tool to fight back — but some on Wall Street think it will be a losing battle, with Wedbush Securities analysts including Instacart as one of 12 stocks in its “AI losers” basket, noting how AI’s automations of functions will improve delivery routing and cost efficiency in ecosystems with already established customer relationships like Amazon, moving customers away from intermediaries like Instacart.

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.”