This Week in Review: Starbucks just sold 60% of its business | Two of Techs Biggest players just signed a mega deal | Young people aren’t finding jobs | Bitcoin volatility shakes markets as investors
Sponsored By:
Quick Bites:
Big Tech: The $38 Billion Deal That Just Broke the Internet (and Possibly the Cloud)
Two of tech’s biggest power players just signed one of the largest AI infrastructure deals ever.
Amazon x OpenAI = $38 billion worth of storage, chips, and cloud capacity- aka the digital equivalent of buying half the sky.
🧠 The Basics (before your brain freezes like an Overheated GPU):
-OpenAI will now run a massive chunk of its operations on Amazon Web Services (AWS)
-In the first phase, it’ll use existing AWS data centers. But down the line, Amazon plans to build out new infrastructure exclusively for OpenAI.
-Right now, the deal runs on Nvidia chips. But there’s “potential” for Amazon’s in-house chips to join later- meaning Bezos wants a piece of the silicon pie too.
🚀 The Market Reaction
Amazon shares closed at an all-time high after the news. Investors heard “AI” and immediately blacked out= probably before asking what AWS even stands for.
Meanwhile, OpenAI just guaranteed that ChatGPT will never crash mid-sentence again. (Hopefully.)
🏛️ What It Really Means
In plain English: OpenAI just booked a long-term stay at the Aman New York of data centers.
Exclusive. Expensive. UN f**king TOUCHABLE.
The kind of deal where there’s no “cancel subscription” button.
It also signals something bigger: the AI arms race is getting territorial. Everyone’s building their own version of it and Amazon’s just leased a big piece of digital real estate to the world’s most famous chatbot.
Coffee x Business ☕: Starbucks Just Sold 60% of Its China Business.
Starbucks just brewed up a massive deal in China- selling up to 60% of its China business to Boyu Capital in a $4 billion caffeine-fueled transaction.
The goal? To go from 8,000 stores to 20,000.
Yep, you read that right. 20,000 Starbucks in one country. At this rate, there’ll be one between your apartment and your kitchen.
Under this new structure, Starbucks will retain 40% ownership and license its brand to the new joint venture.
It’s a classic “let’s share the rent but keep the name on the lease” situation.
Background:
-China is Starbucks’ second-largest market(after the US), but the coffee landscape there has gotten spicy.
-Homegrown rivals like Luckin Coffee have been on a tear- dropping new drinks faster than Starbucks can say “Venti oat milk Macchiato.”
-Luckin’s secret? Aggressive pricing and flavors that actually taste local. Think coconut lattes, osmanthus cold brews, and drinks you can’t pronounce but suddenly crave.
Meanwhile, Starbucks everywhere else in the world has been trying to sell us bacon cheddar sandwiches and $8 pumpkin spice lattes in a market that lives on convenience and discount codes.
Our Thoughts:
Speaking of Starbucks.. we just have to ask.. WHO are you?
Newbie– Matcha Latte
Fearless– Iced Blonde Latte
Chatty– Dragon Drink
Hot GURL- Caramel Nonfat Latte (IYKYK)
1980s baby– Iced Caramel Macchiato
Reputation– Nitro Cold Brew
Lover– Pink Drink
Folk music– Chai Tea Latte
Evermore– London Fog Tea Latte
Midnight girl– Chocolate Cream Cold Brew
The Tortured Poets Department– Espresso (and make it a double )
Crypto💀: Bitcoin Just Broke $100K.
Tuesday was not a good day for the “I’m in it for the technology” crowd.
Bitcoin slipped below $100,000 for the first time since June- falling as much as 6.5% to $99,963before staging a tiny rebound that fooled absolutely no one. That’s a 20% drop from its all-time high last month.
Ether tumbled almost 10% in solidarity.
Basically:
- AI bros are nervous.
- Crypto bros are crying.
- And somewhere, a finance bro is tweeting “buy the dip” from his parents’ basement.
🧠 The Bigger Picture:
Markets are jittery over high valuations, interest rate uncertainties, and the realization that maybe- just maybe- we all overdid the “AI will solve everything” narrative.
Bitcoin’s fall below $100K isn’t catastrophic (unless you bought it at $120K), but it’s a reminder that volatility is the only constant in crypto.
Work: The job market continues to slow down.
A chill has settled over the job market this winter, as those already unemployed find themselves wondering if they’ll rejoin the labor force.
While overall unemployment isn’t spiking, the number of people who’ve been jobless for 27 weeks or more has quietly climbed to 1.8 million- the highest it’s been (non-pandemic) since 2017.
Umm to put that in context, 27 weeks is not just a “between jobs” time- that’s a “I updated my résumé three times and even added a Canva infographic” kind of situation.
Young people are stuck in career limbo, and the “Find Jobs” tab is starting to feel like a mood board of rejection.
Why the freeze?
Businesses are stalling on hiring, due to two major factors
- AI (“Why hire someone when ChatGPT can write the report and bring me coffee and my banana nut muffin?”)
- Rising import tariffs are making businesses extra cautious with costs- nobody wants to commit to new salaries in such a volatile conomy
The Real Damage: It’s Not Just About Paychecks
Long-term unemployment has lasting effects- it chips away at your future income, shrinks your retirement savings, and delays key life goals:
- Fewer raises in future jobs
- Pushing back home buying
- Smaller retirement cushion
- Ghosted by LinkedIn and life
Job Market 2019: “You get a job! You get a job!”
Job Market 2025: “No one’s hiring, Karen. Start a podcast.”
Quicker Bites:
- US tech stocks led a broader market slide,dragging the S&P 500 and Nasdaw away from record highs as major AI-related companies stumbled
- North Pacific Ocean temperatures have surged to nearly 2.5 °C above pre-industrial averages.
- The mayor of Mexico was fatally shot during Day of the Dead festivities while publicly challenging cartel influence in the region.
- Two suspects have been arrested and charged in connection with an intentional explosion at the Harvard Medical School campus, which could have caused major casualties had the building been occupied.
- In a lighter move amid heavy news: Jonathan Bailey was named People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” for 2025, becoming the first openly gay man to receive the title.
- In Hollywood legal drama: Justin Baldoni’s US $400 milliom lawsuit against Blake Lively was officially dismissed after failing to meet court filing deadlines.
- Meanwhile in US politics: Donald Trump drew criticism after suggesting food-aid benefits for millions may be withheld until the government shutdown ends, despite a legal order for payments to continue
Business Eye 
Leave a comment