Daily Brew // Morning Brew // Update

June 17, 2026

Greetings. McDonald’s announced it’s bringing back fried apple pie next week for the first time in more than 30 years to honor America’s 250th birthday.

That sound you just heard is the 134 members of the “Bring back the original McDonald's Fried Apple Pie” Facebook group popping bottles. You did it, guys. You did it.

—Matty Merritt, Dave Lozo, Sam Klebanov, Adam Epstein

In today’s newsletter, we’ll get into:

SpaceX already topping Amazon and Microsoft in value
Pizza Hut getting sold to private equity
The froyo renaissance

MARKETS

Nasdaq

26,376.34

-1.15%

S&P

7,511.35

-0.57%

Dow

51,999.67

+0.64%

10-Year

4.428%

-4.0 bps

Bitcoin

$65,693.36

-1.19%

Intel

$117.05

-8.46%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 5:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: Stocks ticked down yesterday amid growing doubts about the US’ tentative deal with Iran. Meanwhile, Intel fell more than 8% as investors rotated out of tech (except SpaceX—more on that below).

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HOUSTON, WE HAVE NO PROBLEMS

SpaceX is already worth more than Amazon

Timothy A. Clary/Getty Images

Like the owners of a so-called teacup pig, Wall Street is looking at SpaceX and asking, “Is this thing ever going to stop growing?”

On its first full trading day as a public company on Monday, the company’s stock jumped 20%, before rising another 12% yesterday, surpassing Amazon and briefly leapfrogging Microsoft to become the fourth-largest company by valuation at $2.94 trillion. It ended up rising just under 5% Tuesday, ending at $2.65 trillion, slightly ahead of Amazon but behind Microsoft.

SpaceX’s heavily hyped stock has grown nearly 49% from its $135 IPO price last week as retail investors pour in despite warnings by some analysts that the company is overvalued. (SpaceX is the only one among the top seven most valuable companies that lost money last year.)

On Monday, SpaceX made up almost 75% of all single stock purchases for retail traders, according to Vanda Research.
Retail investors have bought more SpaceX stock since its IPO than they’ve bought all other stocks combined.

Big bet

Elon Musk, who became the world’s first trillionaire following SpaceX’s IPO, said Sunday on X that he sees the company making $1 trillion in revenue by 2030…which would be a long way from the $18.7 billion it brought in last year. SpaceX makes most of its money from its connectivity unit (aka its Starlink satellite internet provider), which made $1.19 billion in Q1. Its space unit lost $619 million, while its AI unit lost $2.5 billion.

Big picture: SpaceX, like everyone else, is trying to win the AI arms race by shoveling more billions into the technology. The company announced yesterday that it officially agreed to acquire AI coding startup Cursor in a $60 billion all stock deal. Cursor, headed by 25-year-old CEO Michael Truell, will be tasked with helping SpaceX’s flailing xAI catch up to Anthropic and OpenAI’s stranglehold on enterprise clients.—MM

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WORLD

Tour de headlines

Mandel Ngan/Getty Images

World leaders meet for the G7 summit in France. Leaders of the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan descended on Évian-les-Bains, a small town on the shore of Lake Geneva, to discuss the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, artificial intelligence, and other issues. With the US and Iran having tentatively agreed to halt hostilities, attendees hoped they would be able to refocus President Trump’s attention on Ukraine’s defense against Russia. Leaders, including Trump, signaled they could reimpose sanctions on Russian oil, though the president otherwise sent mixed signals about the US’ involvement in aiding Ukraine. Trump said, “I’m going to do whatever I can,” but also said the US has “nothing to do” with the conflict.

Robinhood cuts 10% of its workforce. “Robinhood’s ‌business has never been stronger,” CEO Vlad ⁠Tenev said in a note to employees yesterday as the company laid off about 290 roles, or 10% of its workforce. The popular stock trading app said it needed to flatten its structure and become leaner in order to “achieve the massive scale of our mission.” Its stock is down about 16% this year as a downturn in crypto and market volatility have shied retail investors away from making trades.

Snap launches $2,195 smart glasses. The Snapchat parent company unveiled new, lightweight AR glasses yesterday that can overlay countless apps and bits of information on your field of vision. Here’s the catch: They cost over $2k and look like the goggles Vin Diesel wears in The Chronicles of Riddick. “Almost 20 years since the launch of the iPhone, people are ready to think about computing differently,” Snap CEO Evan Spiegel told CNBC, arguing that consumers are tired of looking at smartphones all the time. In comes SPECS, which the company said has more capabilities than existing AI glasses but is not as cumbersome as more powerful headsets. Snap joins Meta, Apple, Microsoft, and others in trying to sell computers for your face.—AE

PUTTING THE ‘PE’ IN PEPPERONI

Pizza Hut is being delivered to private equity

Getty Images

Parent company Yum Brands announced yesterday that it is selling Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion in two transactions: Private equity firm LongRange Capital is acquiring operations outside of mainland China for $1.5 billion, while the rest will go to Yum China for $1.2 billion.

It’s the latest domino (sorry) to fall in the decline of the chain that was the pinnacle of sit-down pizza consumption when MTV started airing music videos. Pizza Hut’s share of Yum revenue has dwindled annually since 2019, per Bloomberg. Meanwhile, rival Domino’s has flourished, and delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash have cut into the Hut’s market share.

LongRange Managing Partner Bob Berlin said it’s acquiring an internationally known brand with a loyal customer base. Other companies in LongRange’s portfolio include 24 Hour Fitness and funeral casket company Batesville, two businesses you may need if you eat too much pizza.

By selling Pizza Hut after months of exploring its options, Yum is shedding an anchor tied around its bottom line and focusing on its KFC and Taco Bell properties, proving there are always two standouts destined to wind up together in a throuple.

Pizza party: Yum Brands’ stock jumped after the news broke and finished up 2% yesterday.—DL

Not your older sibling’s froyo

At the vanguard of the froyo resurgence is New York City, where a crop of premium shops is drawing crowds with quality ingredients and unorthodox toppings:

Two locations of Australian-style frozen yogurt store Mimi’s that opened in the past year use locally sourced milk and mangos from India.
A New York Times writer recently waited behind 74 people at a Manhattan location of Myka Greek Frozen Yogurt, which offers Mediterranean toppings like olive oil and crumbled baklava.

Plus…the old school chain known as the go-to for high school dates, 16 Handles, is also experiencing rising sales.—SK

READER POLL

When was the last time you ate frozen yogurt?

This week
Sometime this year
Can’t remember
Never

SAM’S STOCK OF THE WEEK

Report of Netflix interest has this stock soaring

Lionsgate

On Wednesdays, the Brew’s Sam Klebanov highlights a fascinating stock, commodity, or other asset that’s worth your attention.

Hollywood moviemaker Lionsgate Studios jumped 14% yesterday after Semafor reported that Netflix is considering buying it. The streaming giant is reportedly not giving up on its hunt for acquisitions after a recent failed bid to snag Warner Bros. Discovery.

Just like a cinephile who collects DVDs, Netflix knows that owning content is better than licensing it. If the acquisition were to happen, Netflix would gain Lionsgate’s catalog of franchises like The Hunger Games, John Wick, and Twilight.

Lionsgate added another blockbuster to its collection this year—the hit Michael Jackson biopic that moonwalked into theaters in April:

Michael surpassed Bohemian Rhapsody this weekend to become the highest-grossing musical biopic of all time, bringing in $934 million so far.
The studio says it's already working on a sequel.

Even before Michael…the stock had been on a tear, more than doubling since December thanks to box office wins like The Housemaid.—SK

Food trivia

What is the most stolen food in the world?

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ANSWER

Cheese. In 2011, a UK study of retailers found that 4% of cheese was robbed from shelves.

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: vanguard, meaning “the forefront of an action or movement.” Thanks to Ben from Massachusetts for the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

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