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by The Business Model Analyst
Hello, Biz Enthusiasts!
Southwest now charges for bags and 60% of its flyers pay for extras, which is a remarkable turn for an airline that spent decades advertising the opposite. Berkshire picked up Bending Spoons stock about 38% cheaper than the price you would have paid. Fewer than 5% of laundromat buyers actually get the passive income the premium was supposed to buy. And cocoa fell by half while your Halloween candy stayed exactly where it was. Meanwhile Mark Zuckerberg pulled a face at his Guinness and then finished the whole pint anyway, which is either excellent manners or the most committed earned-media buy in brewing history. Let's get into it.
Hot Takes 🚀
1. Southwest Charges for Bags, and 60% Pay for Extras 🧳🛫 Southwest now sells assigned seats and bag fees, and 60% of its flyers are buying something extra on top of the fare. For an airline whose entire brand was free checked bags and a seat you picked yourself, that number is the strategy shift in one line. The fare is now the opening bid.
👉 The bags were the brand, now they are revenue
2. Rerunning GPT-1 Now Costs Less Than ChatGPT Plus 🤖💸 Retraining GPT-1 from scratch today would cost less than ChatGPT Plus, which says more about the shelf life of a training run than it does about GPT-1. Every frontier model is a depreciating asset with a very short write-down period. The expensive part was never the math.
👉 Yesterday's frontier model is this month's subscription fee
3. KFC Swaps Pepsi for Coke, and Baja Blast Survives 🍗🥤 KFC is moving its fountain account from Pepsi to Coca-Cola, and Pepsi keeps the part of the relationship that actually sells drinks. Baja Blast is not going anywhere, because the chain pouring it is not the chain that left. Fountain contracts are the quietest moats in fast food.
👉 Pepsi lost the chicken and kept the slushie
4. Laundromat Buyers Pay for Passive. Under 5% Get It 🧺💤 Buyers pay a premium for laundromats on the promise of passive income, and fewer than 5% end up with anything that deserves the word. The premium is priced off a story about owner hours that most owners never get. Somebody is working those machines, and it is usually the person who paid extra not to.
👉 The premium buys the story, not the hours
5. Berkshire Bought Bending Spoons 38% Below Your Price 🏦🔖 Berkshire took Bending Spoons stock through a private placement at about 38% less than the price available to everyone else. Same company, two very different entry points. Size is its own asset class.
👉 Same stock, different line at the counter
Yes, that Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He has a newsletter on beehiiv. So do Codie Sanchez, Jay Shetty, David Begnaud, Colin & Samir, and Joanna Stern.
They could publish just about anywhere. They chose beehiiv to build a direct connection with the people who want to hear from them most. And you can do the same, whether you’re world-famous or just at the start of your plan for world domination.
Quick Hits 📰
Zuckerberg Grimaced at His Guinness, Then Finished It 🍺😬: Mark Zuckerberg pulled a face at his Guinness and finished the pint anyway. Diageo could not have bought that moment at any price.
👉 A wince is worth more than a sponsorshipApple's Home Cameras Skip the Subscription 📹💳: Apple's new home cameras arrive with no camera subscription, and the storage they fill lands on your iCloud bill instead. The subscription did not disappear, it changed names.
👉 The fee moved house, it did not leaveYour Free iPhone 18 Pro Is a 36-Month Plan 📱🔗: The free iPhone 18 Pro arrives as trade-in credits spread across 36 months, which is three years of staying exactly where you are. Carriers have rediscovered the contract without using the word.
👉 Thirty-six months is not a gift, it is a termAmazon's $11.99 Plan Wants You Out of Apps 🐝💵: Amazon is pushing ambient AI devices on an $11.99 plan built to replace the apps you currently open. The screen is the competitor here.
👉 Eleven ninety-nine to stop tapping glassTesla's Roadster Clears China, Your $30,000 EV Cannot 🚗🧱: Tesla's flying Roadster escapes the China cost gap that keeps a $30,000 EV out of reach, because halo cars and volume cars sit on different price ladders. One of them has to make money.
👉 Halo cars fly, the price ladder stays groundedNetflix Puts Movies in Theaters Before Your Plan 🎬🍿: Netflix is sending films to cinemas first and your subscription gets them afterwards. The company that built its brand on skipping the theater now reports per-screen averages.
👉 Windowing was the enemy until it was the planHoliday Flights Cost 31% More This Year 🛬⛽: Holiday airfares are running 31% higher, and the main cabin is carrying the fuel bill for the whole aircraft. Premium seats are not paying that share.
👉 Coach bought the kerosene, business got the loungeUnilever Is Selling Your Bandages, Not Your Gummies 🩹🍬: Unilever is offloading Welly bandages to Forward Consumer Partners while holding on to the gummy vitamins. One of those categories apparently fits the portfolio and one does not.
👉 Guess which aisle survived the portfolio reviewNike Shoppers in India Check Out on Nykaa 👟🏢: Nike's Indian customers are buying through Nykaa while Nike builds its own campus in the country. The offices are going up around a checkout Nike does not own.
👉 Building offices above somebody else's cash registerCocoa Fell by Half, Halloween Candy Did Not 🍫🎃: Cocoa prices dropped roughly by half and the candy aisle held its pricing straight into Halloween. Input costs fall faster than shelf prices do.
👉 Cocoa crashed, your trick-or-treat budget did not
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In business, I look for economic castles protected by unbreachable moats.
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