A king's feast
Dinner delivered at Doordash
Good morning, discerning diners. This is your Stock Market Rundown for June 27th, 2024. Thanks for joining me today. Let’s bite in:
TODAY’S TOP STORY: EDIBLE EMPIRE
A century ago, only a king could summon a courier to deliver a delectable meal. In 2024, we’re all kings, thanks to food delivery apps. We were promised flying cars… we got a guy on a bicycle delivering Kung Pao Chicken.
The biggest of the food delivery apps—with a market share of more than 50%—is Doordash. Now a $45 billion public company, Doordash was founded in 2013 in Palo Alto, California, by Stanford University student Tony Xu and three of his buddies.
As research, Xu and his cofounders got part-time jobs at Domino’s Pizza and FedEx to learn how to run a delivery operation. And in the early days of Doordash, the founders delivered the chicken pad thai and avocado toast themselves. But soon, thanks to explosive growth, they started hiring drivers, which they called “Dashers”.
Recently, Doordash has been in the headlines due to rumors that they were in talks to acquire Deliveroo, a UK-based food delivery app. It won’t be the last potential deal: Xu has aspirations to expand Doordash’s delivery empire worldwide. (It already operates in Australia, Germany, and a handful of other countries.)
Xu also says the company aims to eventually use robots and drones to deliver your turkey club sandwich. And Doordash is diversifying beyond burritos and burgers, into everything from groceries to booze.
Just one thing is still missing from the menu: profit. Doordash is cash flow positive, but has never reported positive net earnings. Delivery app losing money every quarter? Just think of it as the shareholders subsidizing your late-night beef bibimbap.
SO WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON?
You’re not the only one thinking about booking that bucket-list trip to Tokyo. Global airlines are raising 2024 profit forecasts due to record global travel demand.
Microsoft is pausing the rollout of an AI feature that tracks users’ computer usage, after users were creeped out. Big corporations truly think we want nothing more than them peering over our shoulder 24/7.
US homeowners have seen their equity go up nearly 10% year-over-year. Home ownership is awesome, until your furnace gives out and your roof starts leaking.
Bath & Body Works’ stock took a hit as management guided for a drop in annual sales on weak demand. I guess it’s no longer trendy to smell like Autumn Cinnamon Latte.
Clocking out for today, comrades; see you bright and early tomorrow. Yours in capitalism, The Axe
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