Waymo's incursion into the U.S. rideshare narrative reminds us of the Kool-Aid commercials from our childhood. The Kool-Aid man kicks down walls, causes havoc, screams 'oh yeah,' and runs off into the next scene. In the case of Waymo, they're kicking down the walls of an entrenched industry, wreaking terror on the multiples, and then running off to the next city announcement.
Digital wallets now account for more than a third of global consumer spending and are on course to reach roughly a $28 trillion value by 2030. Even now, Apple already handles 9.5 trillion transactions for more than 800 million customers, generating an estimated $2.7 billion in 2024, according to Capital One Shopping Research.
Caplan, who has 30 years of industry experience, has funded more than $1 billion in home loans and spent the past 12 years as growth president at Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group, where he helped the company expand across the Southeast. Before that, Caplan was a branch manager for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, per his LinkedIn account. I have admired Movement Mortgage's culture for many years, and I am absolutely thrilled to become part of the team, he said.
Samsung made its foray into the premium extended reality (XR) headset market last month with the launch of the Galaxy XR, initially available only in South Korea and the US. A new leak suggests that Samsung plans to expand the headset's availability to additional markets in 2026. The Galaxy XR is powered by the Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2 chipset and runs on Google's Android XR operating system.
A California-based brokerage, FirstTeam closed 5,831 transaction sides for $6.03 billion in sales volume in 2024. This earned it the No. 70 and No. 30 nationwide rankings for transaction sides and volume, respectively, according to the 2025 RealTrend Verified Best Brokerage Rankings. From my very first conversations with FirstTeam's leadership, I was struck by the company's unwavering agent-first philosophy and its commitment to giving every individual a personalized path to success values that mirror my own, Dori Glass said in a statement.
Lightyear announces a $23 million Series B investment round to enhance retail investing in the UK and unveils new AI-driven market intelligence tools.
High-end international restaurants and fast-food brands are entering the Irish market even as domestic restaurants struggle with a slowdown due to the cost-of-living crisis.
Lucid Group is set to launch two mass-market vehicles under $50,000 by late 2026 to compete with Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y. With a projected 72% growth in sales by 2025 and 97% by 2026, the Gravity SUV's debut is expected to significantly boost revenue, signifying Lucid's ambitious plans for market expansion.
