Big Banks Pushback Against Credit Card Cap & Beyond Meat Launches Protein Drink

0:00Neal Freyman:Score more with the college branded Venmo debit card and earn up to 5 % cash back with Venmo Stash. Got paid back? With the Venmo debit card you can instantly access your balance and spend on what you want. Like game day snacks, gear, tickets and more. The more you do, the more cash back you can earn. Plus there's no monthly fee or minimum balance. Sign up now at Venmo.com slash college card. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank N.A. Select schools available. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stashterms. Max$100 cash back per month. Good morning Brew Daily Show.

0:33I'm Neil Freiman. And I'm Toby Howell. Today, Ben Affleck goes from robbing Fenway Park to disrupting Hollywood.

0:40Neal Freyman:Then Beyond Meat is launching its first non-meat product ever, a drink. It's Friday, January 16th. Let's ride.

0:52Good morning and happy Friday. The year may be 2026, but at least on social media, it's 2016. You've probably seen this on your own feeds or participated in it yourself. A viral trend has users posting pictures and memories from 10 years ago when Hamilton was huge, Beyonce released Lemonade, and everyone was doing the Mannequin Challenge. Apparently, people are nostalgic for the summer of Pokemon Go. Toby, what were you doing in 2016?

1:20Neal Freyman:Well, that was my first year of college, and I hate to say it. I had a full-on man bun during that time, but I also went back through the year and found some things to reminisce on. On social media, in addition to the mannequin challenge, we saw the rise of the evil Kermit the Frog meme where he's wearing the hood, and also Arthur's Fist. Feels like those have been around internet lore forever, but no, they emerged in 2016. 2016 is when Instagram stories were first introduced, which is wild to think about. I do remember Pokemon Go, too. I was running down a road looking for blast toys. My mom was visiting me at college.

1:57Neal Freyman:It was not my finest moment ever, but hey, you know, that was a fun time. 2016 is when Stranger Things was released. That is insane to me. We're still watching Stranger Things to this day, and also AirPods were released. This is a dangerous game, though, because I could go on all day. The year you enter college is one of the last years I feel like you really, really remember, so I'm going to stop there. Are you going to post on social media? Are you going to join this trend? I don't know. You really don't want to see me with that man, but it was not a good look. He was a little ratty. And now a word from our sponsor, Indeed.

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3:57Neal Freyman:After a years-long run where it looked like they could do no wrong, Wall Street is looking like it's emerging from a four-martini lunch a little shaky. Bank earnings this past week fell short of expectations across the board as Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo all saw their shares wilt under a variety of different pressures. It wasn't one issue per se, but a range of problems from JP Morgan reporting a slowdown in money-making mergers to Citibank struggling to keep costs down due to a hiring spree. However, one bank was able to emerge unscathed thanks to a focus on the 1%. Goldman Sachs had a particularly strong quarter on the back of record fees from its wealth management business, plus a gangbusters trading quarter that saw its traders bring in$4.3 billion, the biggest haul on Wall Street.

4:46Neal Freyman:And though the halo around the banking industry was dimmed somewhat, it's still coming off a pretty dang good year. The six biggest banks in the country paid out more than$140 billion in dividends and buybacks in 2025, surpassing a record set in Trump's first term, according to Bloomberg. Yet Trump has started putting banks in his own political burn book of late. His administration's attack on Fed independence has put him at odds with some of the industry's most vocal leaders, including Jamie Dimon. while Trump's proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10 % has sent banks into a tizzy. Neil, the sky is not falling by any means, but things have been a bit bumpier in the industry of late.

5:25One thing that every single big bank is trying to do is just pay people less or pay fewer people. And they are making inroads there. The biggest U.S. banks, those six that you mentioned, they've cut their combined headcount by the most in almost a decade in 2026. They have about 1.1 million combined employees at the end of December, which is down more than 10 ,000 from a year earlier. Now it's at the lowest level since 2021. Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf, one of the things he loves to do in these earnings calls and goes up and says, here's how many fewer employees we have. And he's actually been very successful in that regard.

6:01Wells Fargo has 22 consecutive quarter of headcount reductions. And Bank of America actually had their stock go down this week because the CEO got up there and said, actually, guys, He told the analysts, you know, we actually have the same amount of employees as the quarter before. I'm just trying to get these employees down through attrition. And the analysts had some pretty tough questions about that. But it's all about the year of efficiency for banks. And, you know, their headcount has been cut by the most since 2016.

6:29Neal Freyman:Why do we keep focusing on bank earnings? Obviously, they're very big companies. But also, they kind of offer us a barometer for the broader economy. How is the financial health of ordinary consumers? And on that front, things are actually looking pretty OK. Again, we go back to Charlie Scharf from Wells Fargo. He says they observed no meaningful changes in checking account flows, direct deposit amounts, overdraft activity, payments, a.k.a. the stuff that you and me and normal people are doing with their banks on a daily basis. So in terms of how the canary in the coal mine is looking for the economy, bank earnings did not raise any red flags.

7:07And each of these CEOs was asked about the elephant in the room, which is President Trump's proposal to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent. And to a T, they said, yeah, that would not be good for us because in 2024, the industry, the banking industry brought in one hundred and sixty billion dollars from interest fees. That was up 50 percent from the one hundred and five billion dollars they made in 2022. So this is a huge profit center for them. And here's just a few quote quotables from from these earnings calls. Jeremy Barnum, who's JP Morgan CFO, said it would obviously be bad for us.

7:44Citigroup CFO said in its straight cap is not something that we would or could support. Frankly, it would restrict access to credit to those who need it most and would have a deleterious good word impact on the economy. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, if you bring the caps down, you're going to get restricted credit, meaning less people will get credit cards. So to a T, these bank CEOs and executives are saying if we put the cap on, then fewer people are going to have access to credit. And also at the same time, we're going to make a lot less money.

8:11Neal Freyman:I think the broader overall view, though, is the sky is not falling when it comes to breaks. Because one thing we didn't really touch on is trading deaths absolutely ripped in this past quarter because the markets did very well. There was a lot of volatility and banks kind of cashed in and did very well. Also, deal making tailwinds are here, even though JP Morgan missed on that front. The$100 billion bidding war between Netflix, Paramount, Warner Bros., Discovery, that is boon times for investment banks. So the big picture here is that even after this slight stumble, things are looking up over the past 12 months.

8:44Final note, I think one of the most interesting that came out of these earnings calls was what Goldman Sachs' David Solomon said about prediction markets. He said that prediction markets are, quote, super interesting. He said he met with the two big prediction companies and their leadership in the last two weeks. You have to think that's Kalshi and Polymark. And he said it's something that Goldman Sachs might get into. This is, you know, maybe the fastest growing aspect of finance. I don't even know if you call it finance or trading or anything like that. Some would call it gambling. Some would call it gambling, but it seems like traditional finance is looking into that market and seeing whether it would make sense for their businesses.

9:16Moving on, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are releasing a new movie today, The Rip on Netflix, but it's the behind the scenes business deal they inked with the streamer that's more intriguing than what's happening on the screen. Affleck, Damon, and their production company, Artists' Equity, convinced Netflix to do something it has never done before, allow the entire cast and crew to collect a bonus should the movie perform well. That's typically how pay's been doled out by traditional Hollywood studios. You get some cash up front just for making the movie, but if it does really well at the box office, bonuses are handed out to certain people who worked on it.

9:49Netflix, ever the disruptor, scrapped that compensation model. According to the New York Times, virtually all Netflix TV and movies pay cast and crew a bigger set fee up front, but with no potential upside on the back end. The company says it's a system that's worked well for creators and Netflix. Chief content officer Bella Bajaria told The Times, a lot of talent likes that a company takes the financial risk and supports their vision and makes a movie. That's why we're not changing our model. And yet they did change their model for Affleck and Damon because who could say no to those guys? The big question is, will other studios follow the Boston Bros and begin pushing for the back-end bonus system that proponents say better aligns incentives and will generate higher quality productions.

10:29Time will tell whether a bigger shift is underway, but for now, I'm sure of one thing, these guys should probably run the Red Sox front office.

10:36Neal Freyman:I saw the trailer for the movie too. It looks okay. You know, it's kind of this crime thriller where there's a lot of money at stake, but I do think that the question is, is Netflix doing this just because it is Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, or if it is the shift of a broader industry trend here? Ben Affleck has a core belief in that he's pushing for this model, saying that, hey, you can do all these rah-rah speeches on set. You can motivate people with words. But you know what really motivates people? Financial alignment. So why is streaming the one industry that is bucking the trend of allowing people to participate in the upside of what they create?

11:10Neal Freyman:If you go outside of Hollywood, it's a very normal thing. If you join a tech company, you get equity in the business. why suddenly in this corner of Hollywood of entertainment should they not participate in the upside equity. That being said, streaming works a little differently from box office because box office receipts, you bring in money based off how many people buy tickets. Streaming, it's like streaming hours. They all have different metrics. So figuring out the tranches of how to reward people based off performance has been an interesting part of Netflix's deal with these two guys. Apparently there are benchmarks in the top tier, what Affleck calls a grand slam, as if they reach K-pop Demon Hunter's level of streaming views, which has 325 million views as of August.

11:56Neal Freyman:So that's one of the biggest movies of all time. He's not thinking that they're going to get to that far, but figuring out where you reward people is an interesting part of this deal. It's also interesting that, so 1 ,200 people worked on this movie and all of them would get a bonus if this movie performs well. Even in this traditional, what Hollywood has been doing, if you get in this bonus system, just a few people collect that bonus at the end, but all 1 ,200 cast and crew members would get it. So that's another thing that Affleck and Damon secured in this deal with Netflix. That was also pretty fascinating what Affleck said about Ted Sarandos, who's Netflix's co-CEO.

12:30Now, the broader content creator community, movie community is very nervous about Ted Sarandos because he wants to buy Warner Brothers Discovery and he'll take control of the Warner Brothers movie studio. And he's been pretty anti theatrical releases. So everyone's very nervous about him. But Affleck said that Affleck said he's met Sarandos and said actually had a lot of praise for him that he was open to this model. Affleck said, I thought this is clearly somebody who cares about the business, wants it to work, is doing very well and understands the value of filmmakers. and performers and artists.

13:03So maybe Affleck's the only one in the entire industry who has some good things to say about Sarandos right now.

13:07Neal Freyman:I hope this movie is good, by the way, because we just gave a lot of airtime to it. I'm a little dubious, but I'm going to put my trust in Damon and Affleck. All right, moving on. It is Stock of the Week, Dog of the Week time, where Neil and I pick one stock that is only getting better with age and one stock that peaked back in 2016. I won the pre-show game of Disc Golf, so I'm up first. My Stock of the Week is Beyond Me. because it's moving beyond meat. Yesterday, it announced it's expanding into a new product category, drinks, dubbed Beyond Immerse. The new beverage comes in a 12-ounce can and offers two versions, one with 10 grams of protein and the other with 20.

13:46Neal Freyman:And of course, this being Beyond Meat, that protein comes from veggies, mostly yellow peas. So yes, you're drinking yellow pea. But it's pea juice that CEO Ethan Brown thinks represents a noticeable breakthrough in recovery. In addition to the 20 grams of protein crammed into the drink, it also contains as much fiber as three cups of spinach, zero grams of fat in a package that all comes in under 100 calories. For comparison, the popular dairy-based Core Power drinks have 50 % more calories and three more grams of fat. While the protein is meant to make you strong, the launch is coming at a time of grave weakness for the business.

14:26Neal Freyman:Sales fell 5 % in 2024 and another 14 % last year. Its stock has had an even rougher go. After peaking at$230 a share in 2019, Beyond Meat has traded as a penny stock for much of the last few years, down 99%, though it did see a 10 % jump on the announcement yesterday. Neil, the last gasp of a dying company or the beginning of something beautiful? Toby, that was a joke I was going to laugh at in 2016. It's a joke I'm going to laugh at in 2026. So according to the market research firm, Sturcana, nearly half of Americans are trying to increase their protein intake. And where are they trying to get protein?

15:04It's not the center of the plate, which is this industry term for the most expensive item, you know, the main protein as part of your meal, the meat, poultry, seafood. It's outside the center of the plate. It's things like drinks. And that's what Beyond Meat is looking at. protein beverages grew 122 % between 2020 and 2024. And companies as disparate as Starbucks, Dunkin', Propel are all getting into the protein trend. And Beyond Meats thinks that it can use the pea protein that it made its main products on. That can transfer pretty easily into the drink realm.

15:41Neal Freyman:But I would actually argue that protein isn't even the star of the show here. The fiber that is included in this drink is something that I do think, one, is a growing food trend. People are paying more attention to their fiber intake, but also they think that the tapioca fiber derived from Casva that they crammed into this drink has a lot of functional effects. It can benefit gut bacteria. It can regulate blood sugar, and it also triggers satiety hormones, the same ones that are triggered by GLP-1 drugs, essentially. So they think that not only are you getting this protein, but they have this fiber at a time where people want to increase their intake and also hopefully allow them to eat less.

16:19Neal Freyman:So they think the fiber portion is kind of the ace in the hole here. Beyond Meat is just really growing upstream here because the food pyramid, according to the government, has essentially been flipped on its head and it just completely fell on what Beyond Meat was doing with its plant-based burgers because demand for animal proteins, actual meat, is absolutely surging. JBS, which is a meat giant, just posted record revenue. Cargill, another massive meat company, had a 44 % profit increase. What is at the top of the food pyramid now, according to RFK Jr.? Red meat, whole milk, things that are just actually come from animals.

16:54So maybe this is Beyond Meat saying, actually, our main business that we've been trying to do for 10 years is dead in the water right now. We're just going against all of the trends. Why don't we hop on a trend and actually go with the current right now? And we'll see whether consumers will be amenable to that. One thing that is smart that I think they're doing is they're throwing this up on their D2C website. It's kind of a separate thing from their main homepage. And it's just a limited run test to see how it does. If people seem to respond to it, they'll ramp up production. If not, I guess they'll just have to pivot again.

17:24Neal Freyman:All right, we're going to take a quick break and come back with Neil's dog of the week. We all have that dream trip we've been wishing we could go on. But too often, life, or usually price, gets in the way. That's why Priceline is here to help you turn your dream trip into reality. With up to 60 % off hotels and up to 50 % off flights, you can book everything you need for your next adventure. Don't just dream about that next trip. Book it with Priceline. Download the Priceline app or visit Priceline.com and book your next trip today. Go to your happy price. Priceline. Spring starts at The Home Depot, and we are bringing the heat to your backyard this season.

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18:55Neal Freyman:Great brands, great prices. That's why you Rack. My dog of the week is Vail, because no snow equals big problems when you're the largest ski company in the world. And there's been very little powder this winter out west where Vail operates several big time resorts like Park City, Beaver Creek, and Breckenridge. Yesterday, the company reported a major shortfall in skiers this season, primarily due to the lack of snowfall in the Rockies. Season to date skier visits had plummeted 20 % through January 4th compared to a year earlier, sending revenue from lift tickets, ski school, and dining all lower.

19:31Rob Katz, CEO of Vail, blamed the worst early season snowfalls in the West in over three decades. He said snow at the company's Western US resorts for November and December was about 50 % below the historical 30-year average, allowing only 11 % of terrain to be open in December. Vale's stock didn't totally get hammered from the reveal since the slump was already priced in by investors. But over the last year, shares are down nearly 25 % as Vale looks for ways to improve from a pizza corporation

19:58Neal Freyman:to french fries i do just want to dig into the snow even further because this was a wonky year of weather there was two things that combined to make it not snow out west and essentially there was the polar vortex remember that came down from the arctic that really descended on the east coast that combined with la niña ended up dumping record amounts of snow on the east coast which is not where you know vale operates most of its mountains it's mostly in the rockies and so if you're looking at historical 30-year averages over there it is gross on tuesday veil reported its worst snowpack since it started keeping records dating back to 1978 with just 4.4 inches only 11 of its terrain in the rocky mountains was open last month so again you talk about that it was already priced in but those are really really ugly numbers if you are a ski company and no one can ski and you know it's doing great the northeast there's a lot of snow put some respect on the green mountains name in Vermont.