Scroll-worthy... Facebook stashed aside $3B to prep for a big government penalty, but shares still hit 9-month highs — 500M people use Facebook Stories daily (aka Facebook's copy of Instagram Stories, which was copied from Snap). And Twitter enjoyed its 6th straight profitable quarter in a row — Its user base isn't growing, but more people are using it every day.
Loyalty programs get VIP treatment... Starbucks rose on word membership in its Rewards topped 17M, and it powers 40% of all transactions. Domino's sales rose 4% as its caloric commitment club passed 20M members. And Chipotle boasted that its 1-month-old loyalty program already has 3M burrito faithful (but then the chain was subpoenaed over 2018 food illness issues).
The cloud is making it rain... Amazon's profits doubled even though its old school ecommerce sales slowed (so it's working to cut free Prime delivery down to one day). It's thanks to Amazon Web Services, which now powers 2/3 of total company profits. Microsoft joined the $1T valuation club as cloud services now make up 1/3 of its revenues (plus, Windows software sales shockingly rose 9%).
Set an intention... Like Lululemon's new 5-year plan to evolve into a full-on lifestyle brand. It's releasing sneakers, more deodorant, and fresh shampoo this year, and expanding travel/work khaki pants to double its men's biz. Then it goes experiential, with a 25K-square-foot Chicago store featuring meditation rooms, juice bars, and karma.