Hi! Carlos Alcaraz beat Jannik Sinner to take the US Open title in what’s becoming quite a regular fixture — the pair have faced off in five finals this season, with Alcaraz saying “I’m seeing you more than my family” after his victory yesterday. Today we’re exploring: |
- Breaking up: How 2025 became the year of the corporate spinoff.
- Tattoo trends: Our inking tastes have changed in the last two decades.
- Downward dog: What’s eating Lululemon?
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Corporate breakups and spinoffs are back on Wall Street — but are investors up for the ride? |
Bankers love to put companies together, pitching acquisitions all day long to corporate executives in the pursuit of scale, synergies, and seriously huge banking fees. But they also don’t mind doing the opposite. Indeed, corporate America’s hottest new trend in dealmaking is breaking up. |
So far this year, plenty of household names have opted to split themselves apart: industrial giant Honeywell is dividing into three, while Warner Bros. Discovery said in June it would separate its TV networks from streaming and studios; Keurig Dr Pepper plans to separate its soda and coffee businesses after completing its $18 billion acquisition of JDE Peet’s; and Kraft Heinz will spin off its grocery arm, shedding Kraft-branded staples like boxed mac and cheese and frozen meals. What’s fueling this uncoupling, with some of companies even undoing past megamergers? According to the WSJ, a big driver is activists pushing back against bloated empires. Their argument? Fast-growing divisions get dragged down by sluggish ones, and those much-hyped “synergies” from megamergers hardly show up. |
Amid shareholders’ growing push for simplification, spinoffs have been growing in the US. As of early September, there have been 11 announced spinoffs from S&P 500 companies — the most since 2016. But whether these corporate divorces actually pay off is another story. Since its 2015 launch, the S&P US Spin-Off Index — which tracks $1 billion+ S&P 500 companies that have been spun off in the last four years — has lagged behind the main S&P 500 Index. On the flip side, other research suggests the parent companies might fare better. A recent report from EY and Goldman Sachs found that the share prices of parent companies tended to outperform their relevant indexes by 2.1% on the day of the announcement, and by “6% over the respective sector indexes for the period of two years post-close of transaction.” Cynically, though, the bankers pitching the corporate breakups usually don't care much what happens afterwards — they make fees on the transaction either way. |
Fine line, small, and simple: the latest tattoo trend |
In recent decades, tattoos have evolved from something you’d hide from your boss (or, more pressingly, your mom), to something you might get casually on-the-go — with tattoo parlors popping up everywhere from food events to coffee shops. However, at the same time that body art has become increasingly normalized in Western culture — with a 2023 Pew survey finding that 80% of Americans said that society has become more accepting of tattoos — there’s been a shift in the designs people are choosing. | While it’s been suggested that tattoos are going out of fashion, alongside the rise of “clean” aesthetics and notoriously inked-up celebrities removing their tats, it seems many are just downsizing to smaller motifs. As noted by Business Insider over the weekend, “tiny tattoos” are soaring in popularity, with Google searches for daintier designs peaking in recent months and the #finelinetattoo tag on TikTok reaching almost 469,000 posts — the latest in a long list of modern tattoo trends. |
Indeed, BI argues that minimal tattoos have become something of a status symbol of late, writing that they're “just pricey enough to show a person has [...] disposable income.” Meanwhile, searches for complex styles like geometric patterns and tribal tattoos have fallen significantly (though the latter may be less popular for separate reasons). But the rise of tiny tattoos could also be to do with a pool of people that wouldn’t previously have considered getting inked that are now opting to, including women and older demographics. So, even among those hesitant to “put a bumper sticker on a Bentley,” in the words of Kim Kardashian, some might still be tempted by a little mascot for the dashboard. |
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The U.S. stock market has performed very well overall in the past five years. But nearly 41% of individual stocks are down in the same timeframe.1 |
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Lululemon sales are being squeezed — but it’s hoping sports sponsorships will save its skin |
For almost two decades, Lululemon was the first and last word in luxury athleisure. Now, it’s the very last name in the S&P 500: LULU stock sank more than 18% on Friday, confirming it as the worst performer in the entire index in 2025 so far, down 56%. Indeed, having notched just 1% sales growth in the US & Canada in its second quarter, as well as slashing its full-year guidance, the apparel maker appears to have hit a wall in its primary market. |
Although the company cited tariffs as one reason why its margins have been under pressure — and noted that the official ending of the de minimis exemption on August 29 is likely to hurt its Canada-to-US supply chain even more — Lululemon has a more fundamental issue: falling out of fashion, just as its competition hits its stride. In future, that might mean spending a lot more on marketing. As noted by The Economist, the company currently only spends ~5% of revenues on marketing, while competitors Alo Yoga, Vuori, and On have been shelling out for big-name celebrities. |
Perhaps recognizing the threat, Lululemon has been turning to sports influencer advertising as part of a larger marketing shift, announcing partnerships with F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, tennis player Frances Tiafoe, and golfer Max Homa this year. While female sports stars such as Leylah Fernandez have been signed as Lulu ambassadors in years past, 2025’s roster is comprised solely of male athletes. This could suggest an intentional effort to continue growing its menswear category — which notched total sales of $625 million in the second quarter (+6% YoY) — as the brand attempts to stretch its reputation further away from $100+ yoga pants. |
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- OpenAI is backing “Critterz” — a $30 million ChatGPT-powered animated film set to debut at Cannes in 2026 — just as Altman’s co. said it’ll burn a staggering $115 billion through 2029.
- The Catholic Church has its first millennial saint, after the pope yesterday canonized Carlo Acutis, a 15-year-old who died in 2006 and used the internet to promote the religion.
- BYD now has 13 different models for sale in Europe, more than double the offering they had there just two years ago, as they accelerate their already impressive efforts in the region.
- I find your lack of funds disturbing… Darth Vader’s lightsaber, used in two “Star Wars” films in the ‘80s, fetched over $3.6 million at auction last week.
- Like some of the more profiteering users on its platform, ticket reselling giant StubHub has set a steep price point for its upcoming IPO, eyeing a valuation of up to $9.2 billion.
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- Yesterday’s total lunar eclipse in pictures, including the blood moon seen by over 7 billion people across Australia, Asia, and parts of Europe.
- Our World in Data charts how Britain became one of the safest places in the world for drivers.
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Off the charts: Which critical sector is forecast to see jobs boom the most over the next decade, according to new figures from the BLS? [Answer below]. |
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