Hello! The Big (Tech) Short: Michael Burry, famed for predicting the 2008 housing crash, recently disclosed a nearly $1.1 billion bet against two of Wall Street’s dearest AI darlings, Nvidia and Palantir. Today we’re exploring: |
- Cut the Hut: Yum! Brands is exploring a sale of its pizza chain.
- Curveball: Last Saturday’s World Series finale was the most-watched series match since 2017.
- Older folks’ homes: The median age of America’s first-time homebuyers just hit a record high.
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Yum! Brands is considering selling off struggling chain Pizza Hut |
In recent years, 67-year-old chain Pizza Hut has fallen behind rival Domino’s in the ’za-making stakes. But now, it looks like the Hut might no longer even have a place in its parent company’s portfolio. As Yum! Brands reported strong third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, with revenue and net income beating expectations, the company also announced that it will be exploring a “range of strategic options” for Pizza Hut to help the brand “realize its full value.” In corporate breakup speak, that could well mean a potential sale. |
Even after unveiling a new logo just weeks ago (which was certainly better received than some other rebrands of late), Pizza Hut has continued to cool off, with system sales stagnating in the most recent quarter — brought down, crucially, by a 7% decline in the US — and operating profit falling 8%. Boasting almost 20,000 stores globally, Pizza Hut’s per-unit sales worked out at ~$160,000 in Q3. However, when it comes to supersized margins, one brand in the Yum! family reigns supreme. |
Despite having roughly half as many stores as Pizza Hut worldwide, and about a quarter of KFC’s restaurant tally, Taco Bell pulled in over 3x the amount of operating profit as the Hut in Q3, and a little more than two-thirds of what KFC hauled, too — a clear reflection of how reliable an engine the Mexican-inspired chain has become for Yum! Brands. |
While KFC remains the group’s largest brand — with the finger lickin’ chicken chain reporting growing sales as its “comeback era” sees it contend with rivals in the competitive poultry space — Taco Bell is winning over inflation-squeezed consumers with cheap offerings and drive-thru prowess. Even so, Pizza Hut’s problems might not be easily solved with a new logo and value options. Indeed, America may be feeling “pizza fatigue” more broadly, as pandemic-era demand drops off and delivery apps like DoorDash broaden options. Meanwhile, private equity firm Apollo Global withdrew its take-private offer for competitor Papa John’s on Tuesday ahead of earnings later this week. |
This year’s dramatic World Series finish drew baseball’s largest audience in years |
The business of baseball just got a much-needed boost, as 27.3 million Americans tuned in to see the LA Dodgers’ nail-biting victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday, according to data from Fox. That measure only includes Fox’s broadcast of the match in the US — but add to that the swaths of Canadian and Japanese fans eager to see their favorite team or star players, and the total live audience will have easily topped 40 million people watching baseball’s biggest game across the world. Canadians in particular tuned in en masse, with nearly half of the country watching the game. The dramatic finale is the cherry on top of what has been a great year for America’s favorite pastime. Major League Baseball has seen double-digit viewership growth across all its national TV partners, and even in-person attendance for the league has been strong, sliding up to 29,000 fans per game after a pandemic dip. |
Though per-game attendance in the league is below its 2007 peak, and the sport’s grip on America is nowhere near its golden age in the 1950s, the MLB has been working hard to stay relevant in the attention-span-challenged age. The league has rewritten rules, added pitch clocks, made bases bigger, and spent millions on technology (like the upcoming automated ball-strike challenge system) in a bid to make the game as fast, and umpiring as accurate, as possible. Those measures are working. Last year, the average length of a nine-inning MLB game dropped to 2 hours, 36 minutes — the lowest since 1984. Marathon battles are less likely, too, with just 3 games coming in over the 3.5-hour mark in this year’s regular season, compared with a whopping 391 in 2021. Of course, the rise of superstars like Shohei Ohtani and series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto haven’t hurt either — adding to the sport’s buzz just as the MLB finalizes its new multiyear rights deal, with its 35-year partnership with ESPN drawing to a close. |
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Looking to simplify bitcoin exposure? Consider IBIT. |
In their first year, spot bitcoin ETPs drew unprecedented demand, accumulating over $105 billion in assets under management (AUM) across various issuers.1 IBIT is the largest bitcoin fund in the US by AUM. In August 2025, IBIT became the fastest ever Exchange Traded Product (ETP) to reach $90 billion in assets.2 It is a cost-effective and convenient way to gain exposure to bitcoin. IBIT seeks to reflect the performance of the price of bitcoin and helps reduce the operational, tax, and custody complexities of holding bitcoin directly. | The next largest by AUM crypto ETPs are: ETHA, FBTC, and GBTC. They range from $15B-$22B in AUM (as of 10/20/25) and had inception dates in 2024. IBIT’s current AUM (as of 10/20/25) is $89B.3 |
The AUM of IBIT shows that ETP investors may be interested in bitcoin exposure through their traditional brokerage account. And while we’re still in the early stages of bitcoin exposure, anyone has the opportunity to consider the crypto asset class. IBIT, the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, is a way investors are choosing to get bitcoin exposure. |
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The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF is not an investment company registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, and therefore is not subject to the same regulatory requirements as mutual funds or ETFs registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
The median age of a first-time homebuyer in America just hit 40 years old |
It’s the “my parents at 29 vs. me at 29” meme in a chart about buying property, basically. New data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR) provided some particularly bleak reading yesterday for younger people looking to get a foot on a rung of the increasingly elusive property ladder, with the median age of a first-time homebuyer in the US rising to a record high of 40 years old. Meanwhile, the share of homes being bought by first-timers sank to a record low of 21%. |
In the NAR release, Jessica Lautz, the association’s deputy chief economist and research VP, said the historic rock-bottom share “underscores the real-world consequences of a housing market starved for affordable inventory.” But just how far delayed has a key element of the American dream become for younger US citizens looking to escape “generation rent” — and just how fast has the shift happened? |
In the mid-1980s, the median age of a first-time homebuyer in the US was 29 years old. As recently as 2010, even, the figure sat at 30, as younger Americans capitalized on almost historically low mortgage rates to make their first property purchases. Elevated interest rates coupled with higher home prices more broadly, as well as toppy down payments for first-time buyers — which now match the highest level on NAR’s records since 1989 — have all seen prospective buyers forced to wait longer than ever to finally get into the market. At the same time, as Lautz told Bloomberg, wealthier (often older) Americans are able to stump up for those higher down payments on second or third properties, or even pay in full, leading to a joint-record 26% share of all-cash buyers. |
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- Gotta snatch ‘em all: Pokémon card thefts are on the rise in the US, with new rare cards already trading for over $1,000 and some having seen returns of up to 3,000% earlier this year.
- Uber said in its earnings call that its markets with autonomous vehicles — including Phoenix, Austin, and Atlanta — are growing more than twice as fast as other regions.
- Amazon has sent a cease-and-desist to Perplexity for letting its AI agent make purchases on the retailer’s site on behalf of users without disclosures.
- Elon Musk said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” that Tesla is close to unveiling its long-delayed Roadster — hinting that a flying car could feature in its “unforgettable” demo before year’s end.
- Gen Alpha? Close, but no cigar… The Maldives just enacted the world’s first generational smoking ban, making it illegal for anyone born after 2007 to smoke, buy, or sell tobacco.
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- A look at how American men and women spend 24 hours on average weekdays and weekends.
- Is vaping less harmful than cigarettes? Our World in Data breaks down the science behind the habits.
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Off the charts: Which movie genre do nearly one in three Americans consider overrated by critics, per YouGov? [Answer below]. |
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Advertiser’s disclosures: 1 ETP groupings are determined by BlackRock using BlackRock data since the inception of spot bitcoin ETPs on Jan 11, 2024 through Sept 30, 2025. 2 The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) became the fastest ETP to reach $10 billion in AUM 50 days after launch; to reach $50 billion in December 2024; and to reach $90 billion in August 2025. Source: BlackRock Global Intelligence, as of October 12, 2025. 3 Source: https://etfdb.com/ This information must be accompanied or preceded by a current iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF prospectus, which may be obtained by clicking here. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF is not a commodity pool for purposes of the Commodity Exchange Act. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully consider the risk factors and other information included in the prospectus. Investing involves a high degree of risk, including possible loss of principal. An investment in the Trust is not suitable for all investors, may be deemed speculative and is not intended as a complete investment program. An investment in Shares should be considered only by persons who can bear the risk of total loss associated with an investment in the Trust. Investing in digital assets involves significant risks due to their extreme price volatility and the potential for loss, theft, or compromise of private keys. The value of the shares is closely tied to acceptance, industry developments, and governance changes, making them susceptible to market sentiment. Digital assets represent a new and rapidly evolving industry, and the value of the Shares depends on their acceptance. Changes in the governance of a digital asset network may not receive sufficient support from users and miners, which may negatively affect that digital asset network’s ability to grow and respond to challenges Investing in the Trust comes with risks that could impact the Trust's share value, including large-scale sales by major investors, security threats like breaches and hacking, negative sentiment among speculators, and competition from central bank digital currencies and financial initiatives using blockchain technology. A disruption of the internet or a digital asset network would affect the ability to transfer digital assets and, consequently, would impact their value. There can be no assurance that security procedures designed to protect the Trust’s assets will actually work as designed or prove to be successful in safeguarding the Trust’s assets against all possible sources of theft, loss or damage. This information should not be relied upon as research, investment advice, or a recommendation regarding any products, strategies, or any security in particular. This material is strictly for illustrative, educational, or informational purposes and is subject to change. Shares of the Trust are not deposits or other obligations of or guaranteed by BlackRock, Inc., and its affiliates, and are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or any other governmental agency. The sponsor of the Trust is iShares Delaware Trust Sponsor LLC (the “Sponsor”). BlackRock Investments, LLC ("BRIL"), assists in the promotion of the Trust. The Sponsor and BRIL are affiliates of BlackRock, Inc. BlackRock is not affiliated with Sherwood. BLACKROCK and iSHARES are trademarks of BlackRock, Inc. or its affiliates. All other trademarks are those of their respective owners. iCRMH1125U/S-4948822 |
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