Ozempic influencers… WeightWatchers got backlash last week after hosting its first “GLP-1 hype house,” a social-media marketing event for its new obesity drug prescription service. WW, which has long promoted lifestyle changes like dieting for weight loss, bought telehealth biz Sequence for $106M last year to tap into the Ozempic frenzy. WW is desperate to pivot as drugs threaten its biz: Zepbound maker Eli Lilly rolled out its own weight-loss prescription service last month. Shares of WW (which reports Wednesday) are down over 60% this year.
Tension at the block party… Americans are pushing back against Big Tech moving into town. Residents of a Texas county are trying to kick out crypto-mining giant Marathon Digital, which owns a local bitcoin mining facility with 80K computers that neighbors say run nonstop at the volume of a motorcycle. Across the US, folks living near mines have filed complaints about their noise pollution and power-grid usage. Amazon and other ecomm cos are facing similar pushback as communities reject proposals for new warehouses in their backyards.