In short
The episode is mainly about Meta’s settlement of a U.S. social media case brought by 29 states, with Meta agreeing to pay up to $16.7 billion (described as up to $18 billion) and implement long-term behavioral restrictions for teens.
Guest
Matthew Shettenhelm, Bloomberg Intelligence media litigation analyst, discusses whether the remedies imply fault and why the changes matter beyond the immediate revenue impact.
Key claims
Meta agreed to operational changes such as a two-hour daily usage limit, nighttime lockouts/school-hours restrictions, disabling push notifications, mandatory breaks, and age checks; these could reduce teen engagement and long-term “hooking” effects as teens age into adults.
Notable examples
the settlement is expected to end the Oakland trial and likely avoid Mark Zuckerberg testifying; other suits continue, including 1,200+ school district lawsuits and individual personal injury cases.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOMeta's Settlement Overview
0:15 to 0:50
Discussion on Meta's agreement to pay $16.7 billion in a social media lawsuit.
“Some people treat ChatGPT like some kind of smart search engine, and some use it to get work done.”
Meta's Settlement Overview
1:40 to 2:14
Discussion on Meta's agreement to pay $16.7 billion in a social media lawsuit.
“Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App.”
Impact of Usage Changes
2:14 to 4:09
Analysis of the behavioral changes Meta will implement and their implications.
“He's our media litigation analyst on this settlement.”
Long-Term Effects on Revenue
4:09 to 6:05
Exploration of how changes could affect Meta's long-term revenue from younger users.
“I mean, these are significant behavioral changes, I would think.”
Other Ongoing Legal Issues
6:05 to 6:52
Insight into additional lawsuits against Meta despite the settlement.
“I find it interesting that we had heard that Mark Zuckerberg was going to be testifying.”
Zuckerberg's Testimony Implications
6:52 to 7:13
Speculation on Mark Zuckerberg's potential testimony following the settlement.
“All of that continues and doesn't seem to be displaced by this agreement.”
Zuckerberg's Testimony Implications
8:30 to 8:58
Speculation on Mark Zuckerberg's potential testimony following the settlement.
“While the landscape shifts, one thing remains the same, the thrill of closing a deal.”
Retail Sector Analysis
9:03 to 14:00
Discussion on Abercrombie & Fitch's strong quarter and overall retail trends.
“Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App.”
Kohl's Business Analysis
14:00 to 16:10
Learn about Kohl's performance and turnaround efforts amidst consumer challenges.
“So here was a business that initially was showing strength.”
Kohl's Business Analysis
16:18 to 17:45
Learn about Kohl's performance and turnaround efforts amidst consumer challenges.
“While the landscape shifts, one thing remains the same, the thrill of closing a deal.”
Show all 18 chapters
Consumer Trends in Retail
17:45 to 20:36
Examine the contrasting performance of Bath & Body Works and Williams-Sonoma.
“You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast.”
K-Shaped Economy Insights
20:36 to 23:09
Understand the implications of the K-shaped economy on consumer behavior.
“They are selective, but they are still spending.”
Holiday and Back to School Trends
23:09 to 24:54
Investigate how back-to-school sales may influence holiday shopping patterns.
“have been minimal so far, but not a lot of indication of strong momentum for that holiday season.”
Smucker's Performance Overview
26:29 to 28:03
Analyze Smucker's surprising volume growth and its market implications.
“You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast.”
Consumer Staples and Pricing Strategies
28:03 to 29:29
Explore how consumer staples companies are adapting their pricing strategies and brand equity.
“In the past few years, these companies have tried to compensate with, you know, innovation, premiumization of their products.”
Impact of GLP-1 Products
29:30 to 30:27
Discuss the rising penetration of GLP-1 products and their effects on food companies.
“penetration for GLP One products have been increasing significantly, I would say, in the past year.”
Marketing Trends in Food Industry
30:28 to 31:39
Analyze the shift in marketing strategies towards social media and digital platforms.
“And that seems to increase demand for their products as well.”
Stock Performance of Key Brands
31:40 to 33:11
Examine the stock performance and interest in brands like Smucker, Hershey, and Campbell.
“I mean, Smucker's is doing great, but how about everybody else?”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Looking for more investing options? Meet SIBO, the exchange that pioneered options trading. With exclusive trading products like VIX and SPX options, SIBO can help you trade in any market environment. There are risks associated with SIBO company products. Review the disclosures and disclaimers at SIBO.com slash US underscore disclaimers.
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1:36Scarlet Fu:You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10 a.m. Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. Paul, the big story of the morning, of the day, certainly in Silicon Valley, is Meta agreeing to pay up to$16.7 billion to settle the social media case brought on by 29 states. Yeah, that number is big, but I'm reading some notes from our next guest. There's some serious usage changes coming. Exactly. All right, let's bring in Matthew Shettenhelm. He's our media litigation analyst on this settlement.
2:17Scarlet Fu:And Matt, Paul just mentioned all these usage changes that Meta will or has agreed to implement. Does that mean that it can't deny that it was at fault? I mean, you know how most settlements end with not admitting any kind of, not guilt, what's the word? Just, you know, responsibility. Responsibility, I guess, you know, saying not admitting to any kind of concessions really when it comes to guilt for what happened. Is that the case here or the fact that it's agreed to use such changes means that it's agreed that it was at fault? This is certainly giving the states a part of what they asked for.
2:55Now, I want to be careful because this is a very detailed settlement agreement, and I haven't read in depth exactly what the company is admitting to or not, and I suspect it's still not admitting fault in any sort of formal way. But in an informal way, you're absolutely right. This is actual changes to how the service operates for teams, and it risks, at least at the edges, discouraging them from using it quite as often. And so we're talking about two-hour time limits on usage and other related terms, mandating that they take breaks from time to time in sort of an effective way. It was discussed in trial.
3:39Hey, no one actually uses that feature and most kids just ignore it. This is kind of making those things work a little more aggressively and more effectively. And in theory, down the road, that could have an impact on how many how many eyeballs are seeing ads on the service. I mean, some of these behavioral remedies are major in my mind. Two hour daily limit, as you mentioned, nighttime lockout, school hours, push notifications will be disabled. Most of them mandatory breaks, age checks. I mean, these are significant behavioral changes, I would think. What's the company? I would think this would have a materially impact kind of the company's operations.
4:22I think it's a it's a longer term impact because, you know, one thing that was looked at in the case is how much what percentage of the company's revenue actually comes from these teens and even younger than teens under under 13. It was a relatively small amount in terms of right now, how much revenue are we getting from them? Where this starts to impact is longer term because those young users become your adults that are hooked on the service. And these changes risk denting that if when you're 17, you're not using your social media as much, you're probably not using it as much when you're 17 to 35.
5:07Scarlet Fu:No, that's a really important point. I think about my son who's 20 and is always scrolling on these social media services. And, you know, he's not going to have to be subject to any of these restrictions, but, you know, he's hooked in there like completely. So, Matt, question. The changes that Meta agreed to make are good for 10 years. Why is there this time limit? Yeah, I think this was a negotiated settlement. And there's a lot of, you know, details in this agreement that we need to work through. I think some of these conditions are contingent upon other industry players also adopting them. So, you know, you're right to point out the time limit, but there's also some of the strictest versions of this may not apply if TikTok or other peers don't adopt them.
5:55So there's a lot of close reading we need to do on exactly how this works. And all this, of course, is in addition to the monetary terms and the broader litigation. This is just one piece of a multilayered piece of litigation facing the company.
6:10Scarlet Fu:I find it interesting that we had heard that Mark Zuckerberg was going to be testifying. Lawyers had said that they would call him to testify. So I'm guessing that this settlement means Mark Zuckerberg would not need to testify? That's what I would expect. So the parties filed this consent judgment before the court this morning. I don't expect her to stand in the way of them reaching into this agreement. So that trial that's been going on in Oakland should end with this development. What it won't stop is other cases brought by school districts. There's over 1 ,200 school districts across the United States that are suing Metta on that basis.
6:51There are personal injury lawsuits, individuals who say they're harmed and they're suing the company. All of that continues and doesn't seem to be displaced by this agreement. But that's a little bit down the road. that's not this trial that's ongoing in Oakland right now. That one should come to an end. So Zuckerberg should be off the hook, at least in the near term.
7:12Scarlet Fu:Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this. When your options are limited, so are your opportunities. At SIBO, the global exchange that pioneered options trading, we offer more ways to move with the market. From VIX and SPX options to global market data solutions, SIBO helps investors diversify, manage risk, and stay ahead of whatever the market does next. SIBO. Life is better with options. Your investments could be too. There are risks associated with SIBO company products. Review the disclosures and disclaimers at SIBO.com slash US underscore disclaimers. Some people treat ChatGPT like some kind of smart search engine, and some use it to get work done.
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9:02Scarlet Fu:You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10 a.m. Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. Apple Company and Fitch, a good quarter. I would say a really good quarter. The stock's up 38 % year to date. I'm sorry, just today. That brings it to a positive gain for the year. It was trading down on the year prior to today. So a big, big turnaround there. Let's break that down, plus some other retailers reporting numbers. We do that with Mary Ross Gilbert, senior equity analyst.
9:38She covers all the retail stuff for Bloomberg Intelligence. She's based out there in L.A. So, Mary, I mean, again, the stock up 38 % today. That doesn't happen very often. What did Abercrombie & Fitch report? Well, Paul, Abercrombie & Fitch reported a comparable sales increase at its namesake brand. It was up 4%. And you could say, well, look, they cycled at 11 % decline last year in the second quarter. But if you look at the three-year stacked figure, that was up 32%, 32.5 % to be precise, is the three-year stacked increase, and they still delivered a 4 % increase. So that was really encouraging.
10:20And when you look at the total sales, because, of course, they're expanding, and with some wholesale opportunities, their total sales were up 8 % for the brand. Hollister, this is their Gen Z brand, that was down 4 % in the quarter, and analysts were looking for sales to be down less than 1%, but they were cycling a 19 % comp increase a year ago. And so really what kind of overrode that is the fact that the name brand, the namesake brand did really well, and the fact that we're seeing improving trends in the third quarter so far, starting off strong for both brands. So we could see the Hollister brand also return to positive comps.
11:08But their overall sales for Hollister were up 2%.
11:11Scarlet Fu:It's kind of remarkable when you go into an Abercrombie and Fitch now how different it is from its heyday in the 90s. I mean, for one thing, the music is not like so loud that you can't hear anything. And it's a lot brighter. And it's catered to women a lot more than it ever used to be. And, of course, that might reflect the sensibilities and the strategic decisions of the CEO, Fran Horowitz, as opposed to Mike Jeffries, who was, you know, really put his stamp on the company. But Mary, just talk to us a little bit about the dependence on young women, or maybe not even young women, millennial women, as the key audience for the close now.
11:51Yeah. So, Scarlett, you really hit on it. And that is that, you know, going back to the 90s when it was really more of a high school, college student. Now it's really we're talking about millennials. So those are, think about customers in their 30s and 40s. That's really where Abercrombie & Fitch is going after. And it resonates. And not only is it that consumer in terms of the age demographic, but from an income demographic perspective, they tend to be higher earning. So that's in the$100 ,000 to$200 ,000 household income range. So that's really how that brand has shifted, just to your point.
12:33And also, they're really looking to have more of a balanced business, like half and half men versus women. And you'll see that in the stores. It's divided straight in half, men on one side, women on the other side in terms of assortments. Promotions. How promotional were they in the quarter? And kind of what are you hearing from some of the other retailers? Yes, Paul, so you're bringing up a good point. They were actually able to do more full-price business in the quarter. So that helped them on the margin side. within the Abercrombie brand. This is distinct and different from the story that we're talking about here with Abercrombie.
13:10If you talk about Kohl's, Kohl's delivered another comp sales decline, and this follows three-year stacked sales declines in the double digits. So Kohl's is still struggling to make a comeback. We did see some encouraging signs when we walked the stores more recently. We're seeing much better merchandising. The store is starting to look more cohesive. But we also saw that it's a lot more promotional right now. That should benefit them in the third quarter, and they might be able to inch closer to break even. But nonetheless, it just goes to show you that off price, I think, is really making a dent in that business and why you're continuing to see declines there, despite the improvements that they're seeking to make.
13:58And if you look at SoFora, you know, which has been about a$2 billion business, their comp sales were down 4%. So here was a business that initially was showing strength. And that's a business that draws repeat customers. Right. But, again, still seeing weakness there as they try to, you know, improve the assortments there, bringing in a lot more newness. Sure. It just goes to show you there's still a lot more to go there at Kohl's. And of course, they're catering to a lower to middle income consumer, talking about a
14:32Scarlet Fu:K-shaped difference there. So when it comes to Kohl's, it feels like it's been in turnaround mode for a long time. I can't remember when we weren't talking about it being in turnaround mode. And you mentioned Sephora and how that was a bright light for the company. Outside of Sephora, what other growth drivers does Kohl's have? And very quickly here. Yeah. So Scarlet, Keypoint, it's really the private brands. and that's where you're seeing strength. So we noticed in the stores that their private brands, you know, it's always been around that sort of 33, 34 % of sales. It looked like it was higher in the stores.
15:06They were much deeper. And again, all promotional. The whole store felt like it was on promotion and probably 20 to 25 % of the store on clearance. But the juniors business was up 10%. So they are seeing some, you know, bright spots there. Their core credit card customer up 1 % after being down, you know, previously. So continuing to see improvement there.
15:29Scarlet Fu:Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this. Some people treat ChatGPT like some kind of smart search engine, and some use it to get work done. ChatGPT Work is a new way of working in ChatGPT that can take action across your apps and files, stay with a project for hours if needed, and turn a goal into finished work. It's designed to help you move from a chaotic starting point to a reviewable first version. So all the source materials, briefs, and scattered information that you have to grind through to turn into something useful can just become something useful. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects.
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17:50Scarlet Fu:You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10 a.m. Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. It is still earnings season and the retail companies are busy reporting their results. And we've got to read on two different parts of the consumer retail economy. Bath & Body Works, sales sliding, and that is having an effect on the share price, certainly, this morning. And then you have Williams-Sonoma, whose sales momentum has extended. Bath & Body Works, for the moment, up 3.5%.
18:31Scarlet Fu:Williams-Sonoma down 2.5%. Lindsay Dutch is with us right now. She is our consumer hardline senior analyst. And, Lindsay, if we just take a step back, first of all, and look at the headlines, look at the numbers out of Williams-Sonoma and Bath & Body Works, What kind of story does it tell about consumer spending and the willingness of consumers to spend on little treats and bigger, more expensive investments like cookware? Thanks, Charlotte, for having me. Yes, I think that there's two different stories happening here. You know, I think the Bath and Body Works, the stock is up, sort of results better than feared.
19:06Scarlet Fu:But as you mentioned, they're seeing sales decline and sort of pressure on profit if you take out any tariff refunds from the result. That company is going through a little bit of a transformation. They're kind of cutting their skews. So some of that decline is sort of a contraction in the assortment that they have going on with this strategy to revive growth. But the other piece is, you know, they generally cater towards, you know, like a broader, like the average U.S. consumer. And you can see, you know, there is some pressure there. Those consumers need big discounts to come and spend even on a lower price item that you'd find at a bath and body.
19:45Scarlet Fu:And by contrast, if we jump to Williams-Sonoma, you know, they had very strong results. Sales growth of almost 7 % in the quarter, super strong across all of their brands. And I think the bar, you know, for investors for this company is just very, very high. and their guidance raised just didn't meet that high bar. So what are these companies just across your coverage? What's the general feel about the consumer here? Because we talk about the K-shaped economy and some folks are saying maybe that's changing a little bit. What are your companies kind of suggesting? I think the results so far still sort of indicate the strong divide in the K-shaped economy, sort of lower to middle, pulling back a little bit more, getting a little bit more selective, going after the value.
20:35Scarlet Fu:And then we have higher income. They are selective, but they are still spending. So Williams-Sonoma does cater to a higher income consumer. They said home furnishings industry was about flat in the quarter. But again, as I mentioned, 7 % sales growth for that company. and they saw growth across furniture and non-furniture categories. So that higher income consumer is still spending, especially if the product is new or if it really speaks to them in terms of a collaboration. So does this increasing divide between higher income consumers and, frankly, everyone else, mean that more merchants, more retailers are actively choosing to chase the higher income consumer and cater to that group of consumers rather than sell to the mass consumer?
21:24Scarlet Fu:I think that's a really hard pivot to make. So if you think of a Bath & Body Works, for example, they did just earlier this week announce a new collection that kind of sounds like what you're describing, going after more of a higher-end consumer. It included home decor and higher-price items. And I guess that maybe is some effort from a mainstream retail are trying to get that advantage. But I think executing on that and really pulling in that higher income consumer out of nowhere is very difficult to do. I think a company like Williams Sonoma, they have brands that already cater to that consumer.
22:03Scarlet Fu:The consumer already knows to search for them online. And so I think executing on that pivot would be extremely hard. Lindsay, I'm reluctant to ask this question because it suggests that summer is almost over, but holiday shopping, what are the trends? Really, Paul, you're going there? I'm going there. I'm going there. What do you hear from your companies? Right. So I think excluding Williams-Sonoma, the broad trend is very cautious, sort of a cautious look into second half. Most guidance changes sort of indicate more of a potential slowing in sales growth, continued margin pressure and just sort of very much uncertain or needing to use a lot of discounts to draw that shopper.
22:50Scarlet Fu:I think Williams-Sonoma would be the exception. You know they raised their guide that they based on the midpoint should get at least 4 % growth in that back half and they kind of chopped off sort of what they were thinking might be the worst case for the year. So broadly I think there's a lot of caution going into holiday. Back to school comments have been minimal so far, but not a lot of indication of strong momentum for that holiday season. That's exactly where I wanted to go. I mean, now is the time to look at back to school, not the holidays, not yet, at least, Paul. So when it comes to back to school, does that tend to be a leading indicator for how holiday sales will shape up, or is there not really much of a correlation?
23:32Scarlet Fu:It can be. So William Sonoma talked about it slightly. They had acquired Dormify, and they relaunched that. They saw success with, you know, back to college students and their Pottery Barn Kids brand did well this quarter. Not a lot of detail, but again, you know, a lot of their benefit is coming from that higher income shopper. When I think back to yesterday, Dick's results, you know, they didn't really comment on back to school, kind of gives you the indication that perhaps the performance from Foot Locker was not as good as they were expecting. And again, I think that is reflecting pressure on a lower income consumer for that.
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24:13Scarlet Fu:Stay with us. More from Bloomberg Intelligence coming up after this. Some people treat ChatGPT like some kind of smart search engine, and some use it to get work done. ChatGPT Work is a new way of working in ChatGPT that can take action across your apps and files, stay with a project for hours if needed, and turn a goal into finished work. It's designed to help you move from a chaotic starting point to a reviewable first version. So all the source materials, briefs, and scattered information that you have to grind through to turn into something useful can just become something useful. Put ChatGPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects.
24:54Scarlet Fu:Get started at chatgpt.com by selecting work mode, available on plus and pro plans. Everyone's talking about how AI is transforming work, especially in sales. While the landscape shifts, one thing remains the same, the thrill of closing a deal. Whether it's a gong or a confetti machine, every team has its celebration rituals. Adio is designed for that moment. It's the agentic CRM that turns customer signals into actionable insights, helping you close deals faster with revenue agents and automations working around the clock. You'll have everything you need to scale your go-to market efforts. Elevate your wins with Adio.
25:28Start your free trial at adio.com slash iHeart.
25:58Scarlet Fu:premium. If you like YouTube, you'll love YouTube premium. Hi, I'm Sean Evans from hot ones. And I want to tell you about YouTube premium. It has offline downloads so you can watch without wifi background play so you can lock your phone and it still plays baby. Oh, and it is completely ad free. Yes, I said it ad free. Try YouTube premium for two months free at youtube.com slash premium. Trial eligibility varies. Terms apply. Cancel any time. You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10 a.m. Eastern on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business App.
26:42Scarlet Fu:Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts or watch us live on YouTube. Earnings continue to come in. And we heard from jm smuck our good friends out there and i think it's orville ohio they raised a four year outlook for sales and profit that's a good thing let's break that down a little bit deanna rosetta peña consumer staples analyst for bloomberg intelligence she joins us live here in studio what do we hear from our friends at smuckers yeah so the biggest surprise was volume um at the beginning of the year uh management entered the year as a i would say conservative mode um you know, they still expect, you know, volumes to remain relatively flat for the year compared to the 1 % decline that they expected previously.
27:29So, you know, it wasn't just one product, it was an over, you know, gains all over the board, like uncrossables, coffee, you know, meow mix, all were contributors to the volume growth. So what do they say about their kind of longer-term top-line growth? Is this a GDP-type story? Is it one of those companies? You look at consumer products and staples and things like that. Is that kind of where the market is? So, yeah, that is the benchmark, I would say. In the past few years, these companies have tried to compensate with, you know, innovation, premiumization of their products. So they have an argument for more better, you know, pricing compared to, you know, what you will normally follow through GDP.
28:21So, you know, I would say brand equity has been playing a big part of, you know, sales growth, not only for Smucker, but for all of these companies. It seems that while, you know, americans are complaining about basket pricing they're still going after their favorite brands the stock is up three and a half percent today it's up 33 year to date a 52-week high i haven't looked at the graph probably close to an all-time high why it really it's it seems that um it's not an ai story is it no i mean they do some type of ai for their products and stuff so for marketing and stuff like that, but it's definitely not that.
29:05It seems that they have been trimming some portfolio and getting rid of the least performing brands, and that seems to be working in their favor. So what's the industry saying now that we've got several years of evidence of the GLP-1s? Can we look back and say it has had an impact on these consumer staples companies, these food companies, or not so much? What do we know? I would say so. penetration for GLP One products have been increasing significantly, I would say, in the past year. People seem to be a little bit more inclined to try them. PepsiCo actually said that they were going to, you know, not pay for GLP One products or like through their insurance.
29:52That was a thing that we saw yesterday, but yeah, especially from PepsiCo. So that was That's a little on the nose, but definitely they have been some headwinds, you know, and obviously with everything, everything that these companies have gone through, it seems that they try to position themselves in terms of like permissible indulgence. So you see more, you know, calorie dense products having a smaller packet or, you know, some formulation or some marketing straight up. what are these food companies doing with their marketing are they going just all digital all social or are they still buying a 30 second spot on you know a network tv show yeah i would say a little bit of of everything um they seem to be a little bit more inclined with social particularly for example for um cafe bustelo and you know going back to smoker they seem to be uh going through the TikTok audience by formulations of your iced coffee.
30:57And that seems to increase demand for their products as well. So it's more of like a show and tell. And they actually rely a lot on social media for that. Interesting. Yes. So I guess gone to the days of just relying on magazines, newspapers, you got to go where the influences are. When you talk to your clients, What's the stock they're most interested in these days? Well, I would say Smucker. It seems to be a really interesting story, as well as Hershey and Campbell seem to be among the most asked. Those are some diehard, diehard brands, for sure. American brands that have been around forever.
31:42How are they all trading this year? I mean, Smucker's is doing great, but how about everybody else? Well, I would say that there seems to be, you know, within range, you know, for I would say for Smoker, that seems to be an outperformer compared to the others. Yeah. And it is, again, because of that premiumization, that kind of volume growth that seems to be the driver for most of the, you know, metrics for these companies. Your ability to show volume. That's that's the play.
32:13Scarlet Fu:This is the Bloomberg Intelligence Podcast, available on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Listen live each weekday, 10 a.m. to noon Eastern on Bloomberg.com, the iHeartRadio app, TuneIn, and the Bloomberg Business app. You can also watch us live every weekday on YouTube and always on the Bloomberg Terminal.
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From the publisher
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Bloomberg Intelligence hosted by Paul Sweeney and Scarlet Fu
-Matthew Schettenhelm, Bloomberg Intelligence Media Litigation Analyst, discusses breaking news on Meta. Meta Platforms Inc. agreed to pay up to $18 billion in landmark settlements to resolve allegations that the company deliberately designed Facebook and Instagram to encourage compulsive use among young users. The agreement requires Meta to put new guardrails on its platforms, including restricting how much time youths can scroll and preventing them from switching off certain safety settings without parental consent. The settlement includes payments to resolve a variety of claims across multiple lawsuits, with some payments contingent upon other social media companies adopting similar platform changes and making their own payouts.
-Mary Ross Gilbert, Bloomberg Intelligence, Senior Equity Analyst, Covering Retail, discusses earnings from Kohl’s and Abercrombie & Fitch. Kohl’s turnaround attempt showed some progress after the retailer raised its annual earnings outlook, but it still doesn’t see sales growth this year. Abercrombie & Fitch namesake brand is expected to post net sales growth of 4.7% in the second quarter, a reversal from a 5.3% decline in the same period a year earlier.
-Lindsay Dutch, Bloomberg Intelligence Consumer Hardlines Senior Analyst, discusses earnings from Bath & Body Works and Williams-Sonoma. Bath & Body Works shares fell after the company forecast year-over-year net sales declines for the third quarter. Williams-Sonoma shares drop as much as 5.7%, the most intraday since February 23, even after the home furnishing retailer reported a beat-and-raise quarter.
-- Diana Rosero Pena, Bloomberg Intelligence Consumer Staples Analyst, discusses earnings from J M Smucker. JM Smucker Co. raised its full-year outlook for sales and profit, bolstered by growth in its Uncrustables sandwiches and coffee brands. Smucker is riding the growth of its hit products to offset broader weakness in the packaged-food segment as consumers become increasingly selective in their spending.
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