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Okay, so Apple wasn’t our first… trillion dollar company ever – just the first US publicly traded trillion dollar company. The true “first” company to hit this milestone was PetroChina, and that took place in China…obviously. The company hit the trillion dollar mark over ten years ago in 2007, but I am guessing you have never heard of PetroChina.

The outcome was awful… I won’t keep you in suspense. PetroChina was an oil company listed in Shanghai and Hong Kong and had a market cap of $1.1 trillion following its debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. However, that was about the only good thing that happened to this company.

It didn’t last long… and by the end of 2008, the stock dropped to under $260 billion. Given the initially high valuation, this loss in value was the most significant destruction of shareholder wealth in world history – not to be dramatic or anything. And we can blame it on the financial crisis and collapse in oil prices. PetroChina is still around, but they are a former shell of what they once were. Will Apple suffer the same fate? Spoiler: no…no they will not.

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We never hear about them… and by ‘them’ I mean Macy’s. Not only has the retail giant managed to avoid getting crushed by Amazon, but they are also the second-best retailer this year. That’s right – the department store is up over 50% this year and is the 10^th best performer in the S&P 500.

Unlike many retailers… Macy’s realized the importance of “going digital” as more people turned to their phones, tablets, and computers to shop. The company has done so well that digital sales have been growing by the double-digits over the last few quarters. They have also shut down underperforming stores and sold off some real estate holdings.

Will the success continue… we’re not sure about that because Macy’s has made some changes, but what now? The company has managed to keep up with Amazon, but they need to continue to grow. Overall sales are expected to remain around the same this year and next which isn’t a recipe for success. But hey – they have done all the right things thus far, so give them some credit.

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I will tell you where they aren’t going… and that is Pizza Hut. Yum Brands, Pizza Hut’s parent company, announced that the pizza maker’s earnings were down in its earnings report on Thursday. Thankfully, Yum Brands can count on KFC and Taco Bell to carry the team as both companies continue to perform rather well.

What’s wrong with Pizza Hut… well, people believe they have low-quality food, they don’t utilize technology, and Domino’s is way better. Seriously though, all of Pizza Hut’s and Papa John’s customers are going to Dominos (go look at their stock). However, the company did manage to speed up delivery times and improve customer satisfaction last quarter – but that did not benefit sales in a meaningful way.

Here’s how Pizza Hut will turn it around… that is a little too positive – here is how they *might* turn it around. First, enhancing digital operations should help the company win over younger customers that demand crazy things like convenience. The pizza chain will also focus advertising on showing customers how affordable they are – kind of like Dominos. And speaking of marketing (and Papa John’s), Pizza Hut has taken over as the official pizza sponsor of the NFL so it should be easy to get their message across. If none of that works, maybe they can become a ‘Hut’ for some other food because it will become evident that pizza isn’t their thing.

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On Thursday… Apple hit the $1 trillion mark and become the first company ever to do so. With 4,829,926,000 shares outstanding and a stock price of $207.05 the company officially reach the record market capitalization.

It took decades… of blood, sweat, and tears to develop the iPhones, software, and services that most of us use on a daily basis. This type of success is a testament to the vision of co-founder Steve Jobs and CEO Tim Cook to ensure that Apple became more than just a hardware company. With software and services revenue posting $9.55 billion in revenue for the June quarter that has become very apparent.

Still a bargain… even at a $1 trillion valuation, according to the so-called “dean of valuation.” Amazon is also coming on strong, having surpassed the $900 billion mark last month as the company continues to consume the entire world. Hopefully, we won’t be around to see a company move to the next milestone – because what is that number even called?

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It was Friday night… and all of Elva Carri’s friends were busy. Rather than giving up and staying home as any normal person would do, she downloaded Tinder, changed her gender [in the app], and explained that she was looking for platonic female friends. In 24 hours, Elva had over 100 matches with other women, and she chose one to go out with the following day. They had a great time, and that sparked a new idea…

And GirlCrew was born… the app is basically Tinder for finding friends. But more specifically, it is for women to develop new friendships with one another. The app is free to join and use, allows members to join events and create their own, and there is a premium version for $12 a month. The app has raised nearly $1 million in funding, which includes investment from LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner.

Who uses the app… well, mostly women in their mid-20s and 30s, but some retirees even use the service. So whether you have no friends, flaky friends, or just plain lame friends – you don’t need them because there are 40,000 friends in 35 different cities waiting for you!

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People are done with cable… or many people are, at least. Consumers ditching cable and paid television channels has become such a trend, in fact, that we even have a particular name for such people – “cord cutters.” However, these people have not vowed to do better things with their lives rather than watch television, but instead, they have moved on to other media companies like Netflix and Hulu.

Last year… for the reason above, Apple stated their intention to spend $1 billion to acquire ten TV shows. The company has inked deals with the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Television, and Sesame Workshop. They have also hired “two highly-respected television executives” who are working on a special project that Apple won’t let us in on.

A wise move… because Apple TV units and revenue grew by double-digits in the second quarter. Tim Cook sees this trend as one that is picking up speed much more rapidly than many initially thought. With competitors like Netflix spending $8 billion, and Amazon spending $4.5 billion on content this year, they seem to share the same sentiment. So prepare for the future of television – and choose your shows wisely.

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They expected Tesla to lose money… but not as much as they did. Tesla reported worse-than-expected earnings on Wednesday but backed its projections for profitable third and fourth quarters. With this promise, along with an apology from CEO Elon Musk for his poor manners, shares were up 11% in after-hours trading.

Going on a fiscal fast… and Tesla had $2.2B in cash on-hand and is planning for cash reserves to grow this year. The company also plans to spend less than $2.5B in capital expenditures in 2018, which is nearly $1B less compared to 2017. Musk also stated his intention to pay down debt and improve the overall financial health of the company.

And as for production… Tesla produced 53,339 vehicles and delivered 22,319 Model S and Model X vehicles and 18,449 Model 3s. They were able to build 5,000 Model 3’s a week in July (yes, they were finally able to do that). And although these numbers sound impressive, the company is behind in production and has been using makeshift assembly lines in “temporary tent structures.” So yeah – a lot is going on at Tesla.

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Now it costs $14.95… to subscribe to a standard plan and that change will take effect by the beginning of September. Also, certain major releases will have “limited availability” for the first two weeks of their release. However, MoviePass may create special promotions to make the most popular movies available to users.

Do you remember AMC… and the company’s bid to replicate what MoviePass had already been doing? The theater chain charges $20 per month to see three movies per week at any of their locations. And it is going well – 175,000 users are enrolled, and 1 million are expected to be enrolled within two years. MoviePass has over 3 million users, but that isn’t going as well.

If you invested… I am sorry to hear that. Less than a year ago, MoviePass had a market cap of $8.8B – today they are sitting under a million dollars. The company is also “cost-cutting” to keep spending under control. Not sure what that entails, but for a company of their size that spends $20M-$40M each month, that seems like something they should definitely be doing.

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Chipotle is also making investors sick… because the company closed down their Powell, OH location after a small army of customers fell ill after dining there. Chipotle reported two customers getting sick, but that number is looking more like two-hundred, according to www.iwaspoisoned.com (yes that is a real website). Shares were down as much as 7% yesterday after the market reacted to the news.

The good news… McDonald’s recently screwed up by serving salads at over 3,000 locations that were tainted by the cyclospora parasites, which are transmitted in fecal matter. As disgusting as that is, shares of the fast-food giant barely flinched – but who goes to McDonald’s for the salad, anyway?

The bad news… Chipotle seems to make all of their customers sick, all of the time. However, the company is under new management with CEO Brian Niccol, and it’s up to him to fix this. And hopefully, he can come up with something more tactful than the ‘Buy One, Get One’ coupons handed out by his predecessors after they made everyone sick. Yeah – no thanks.

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