00:00Let's start with the dollar store chains, and both of them are providing kind of a different takeaway in the
00:05state of the retail sector that, of course, is facing some economic challenges, we'll say.
00:11At Dollar Tree, the company mostly meeting Wall Street expectations, they left the sales growth outlook for the year unchanged.
00:18Dollar General lifting its view on revenue for this year after a quarterly sales beat.
00:24Shares at Dollar Tree, they were falling in pre-market trading.
00:27Dollar General's gain, they hit a high, they were up almost to 11%.
00:31Now, the earnings of these chains are offering an important view into shopping habits.
00:36They often benefit when consumers are cutting back and seeking out lower prices.
00:41But you know what? Dollar General and Dollar Tree have both had pretty good success expanding beyond lower-income shoppers.
00:48Some of the stores have actually gotten a little fancy.
00:50Of course, the one by me, I mean, guys, invest in a broom, would you?
00:56Meta platforms, I was doing the affiliate reports yesterday.
00:59Everybody had the same question.
01:01Why is the stock up if they're going to pay $16.7 billion, or close to $18 billion?
01:09Meta ended Wednesday's session up over 1%.
01:12Investors are kind of relieved that the company's only going to pay as much as $18 billion.
01:17If they had lost a trial in this landmark case, they would have faced over a trillion, with a T,
01:24dollars in penalties.
01:26And now, of course, we're learning that the changes to Instagram and Facebook will apply only to U.S. users
01:33for now.
01:35Did you see who's really going to make out here?
01:37We were talking about it yesterday, John.
01:40They set aside $10 billion in the third quarter for legal expense charges.
01:47And you know what?
01:48Every kid I know has or is working on a workaround.
01:53Yes.
01:54The minute these things came out, these guardrails came out, they went, how can I get out of it?
01:58Yeah, I'm sure all the little chat groups, they're all figuring out ways.
02:00All the little chat groups.
02:03But the U.S. settlement does represent something of a bellwether for the rest of the world because the U
02:09.K., they've announced plans to ban kids under the age of 16 from using these apps.
02:14Australia, too, has very tough restrictions.
02:16Already in place, and it's been in place for a little while, but the results of that are kind of
02:23mixed.
02:23So we'll see.
02:25Yeah, and finally, I've got to do Wendy's.
02:29They're getting a frosty.
02:31They have been on the turnaround path.
02:33Now, this morning, we're hearing that Tryon Fund Management and Nelson Peltz, they have new plans to make a bid
02:40at this time to take Wendy's private.
02:43This is according to Reuters.
02:45You remember earlier in August, those shares got a pop on a report that Tryon was preparing an offer with
02:51other investors.
02:52The burger chain did withdraw its 2026 outlook earlier this month.
02:56They cut its dividend.
02:58The new CEO there, Bob Wright, is drawing up turnaround plans for the company.
03:03Wendy's has reported six straight quarters of declining comparable sales.
03:07An analyst poll by Bloomberg expect the trend to continue.
03:10In the recent earnings call, Wright said the company's quality had slipped, its value offerings weren't resonating, and service has
03:19become inconsistent.
03:21And you know what, Burger King is capitalizing on that, because we were just talking about recently how now they're
03:25the number two burger chain.
03:27So they're making a comeback.
03:28And just because, as a public service, I did look this up on Google AI, you can make a copycat
03:35Wendy's.
03:36And I'm going to say, we're just going to make a copycat Wendy's.
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