✈️ Supersonic business boom
Hey Snackers,
Fall's just around the corner, and that means pumpkin spice… Goldfish? The cracker maker’s teamed up with Dunkin' for a limited-edition fish that'll feel right at home swimming in your spiced latte.
The Dow closed higher for the fifth day in a row after strong earnings from Walmart and Home Depot, which posted record sales, even after inflation price hikes.
American Airlines agreed to buy 20 ultrafast jets from Boom Supersonic, but the supersonic industry's still up in the air
Cruisin’ at 60,000… faster than the speed of sound. American Airlines dropped a nonrefundable deposit to buy 20 superfast jets from Boom Supersonic. The deal makes American Boom’s biggest customer. But not so fast: while the Colorado plane co is accepting orders for its speedy aircraft — dubbed: Overture — the reportedly $200M plane is still being developed. The goal:
- Seat: Boom says its jet will seat up to 80 passengers.
- Speed: Overture should fly 2x as fast as commercial planes (think: Miami to London in five hours, LA to Honolulu in three).
- Smoke: Boom says Overture will be carbon-neutral and run on sustainable fuel.
Tray tables and orders… are up. So far Boom's received 35 total Overture orders — plus 130 preorders and options — from some of the largest airlines. Virgin optioned 10 jets for $2B in 2016, Japan Airlines invested $10M and preordered 20 jets in 2017, and United committed to 15 in 2021. And though not supersonic, Boom is moving: test flights are planned for 2026, with passenger flights by 2029.
Supersonics aren't ready for takeoff yet… but they're no pipe dream. While experts say Overture’s engine still needs work before it can break the sound barrier, the airline industry's offered supersonic flights before. The British and French developed Concorde — the first supersonic passenger-carrying commercial plane — which flew for decades. The prob? It burned fuel so quickly that round-trip tickets cost $12,000 (talk about a niche customer base). Now Boom hopes modern materials and sustainability will finally make supersonic flights blast off.
What else we’re Snackin’
- $mart: Walmart's second-quarter #s beat expectations. One factor: #flation. High prices drew more deep-pocketed customers looking for deals. Today's Target earnings might show that to be an industry trend — or a one-off.
- Brokechain: Crypto's crash hit more than retail: the three largest public bitcoin miners lost $1B as the coin's price cratered. The upshot: miners are selling more BTC than they're mining, which could affect prices.
- Mo'vi: Chains AMC, Regal, and Cinemark are bringing past faves like "Avatar" and "Spider-Man" back to theaters. 30% fewer big-screen films (compared to 2019) may be a driver, as theaters look to fill seats.
- DebTT: The Dept of Edu's canceling nearly $4B in student-loan debt for 208K former ITT Technical Institute students — a small but meaningful $$ drop in the jaw-dropping $1.6T bucket of US federal student debt.
- Hopenaut: Crypto lender Hodlnaut's seeking creditor protection after pausing withdrawals last week. The company — the latest DeFi player hit by crypto winter's freeze — said that as of February it had $100M in customer funds.
Wednesday
- Earnings expected from Cisco, Lowe’s, TJX, and Target
Authors of this Snacks own: bitcoin and shares of Walmart
ID: 2384178