00:00All right, I want to start with Darden. This is the restaurant brand, owns a bunch of names,
00:05you know, Olive Garden, Longhorn. It's no Cracker Barrel. It is not, but it also has Ruth's Chris.
00:12So the stock is under pressure here, down more than 2 percent, ticker symbol DRI. First quarter
00:17sales climbed more than 5 percent, topping 3.2 billion. Here's the problem. Profits slipped,
00:23operating costs growing at a faster rate. CEO Rick Cardenas on the call said the quarter was solid.
00:31It was a solid start to the year. He said he noted that across their segments, they saw strength led
00:36by Longhorn Steakhouse brand, 6.2 percent jump in comparable sales there. But at the same time,
00:41total operating costs and expenses up six and a half percent, nearing three billion dollars,
00:46driven in part, they say, by higher costs for food and beverage, which we're all dealing with,
00:50as well as higher labor costs. Darden did reaffirm its full year outlook, but it's not
00:55helping the stock much. And the stock is up 16 percent year-to-date, so it's been doing well.
00:59Okay. Let's move over to Stitch Fix. Lots of folks know this company as, you know,
01:04it's a personal styling company. You pay them, it's all online, and they send you clothes that they
01:09believe are going to look good on you. It's been a tough year for Stitch Fix. It's down 46 percent
01:15this year. And now, this morning here in the pre-market, it's off 16 percent. Ticker symbol
01:21S-F-I-X. The company gave a weaker-than-expected outlook, says that this reflects a more challenging
01:29consumer environment. So I think it's tough to get people to spend not only on clothing,
01:33but clothing that's sort of online. They don't get an opportunity to try it on first. It has to come
01:38to the house, then you have to send it back. Do kids still do Rent the Runway?
01:41Because that was a thing back in the day. Yes, that's still a thing, too. This is all on that.
01:44Is it still going? What is it? Rent the Runway is still going.
01:47It's still going. Yeah. I've rented the runway. I'm going to say.
01:50Yeah. I know some of the young women around here. Do they do it at the Met Gala? Does Rent
01:53the Runway
01:54do the Met Gala? I have a feeling they don't. Oh, okay. Okay. But yeah. All right.
01:57All right. And then MGM Resorts falling here 10 percent. Ticker symbol MGM. Barry Diller,
02:04he owns People, media mogul, billionaire, withdrawing his bid to take MGM private.
02:10This was months in the making here. We thought a deal was going to happen, but then it didn't.
02:15Diller holds about a 27 percent stake in MGM. He offered to buy the remaining shares in a deal
02:20that would have valued the company at $12.4 billion. We don't know why it fell apart.
02:24Diller said he didn't feel the mix was coming together as he had hoped, but he says he's open
02:28to a strategic transaction. You know, earlier this year, we saw Caesars actually go private.
02:34So they were hoping that maybe MGM could do the same. Doesn't seem like that's going to happen.
02:39Okay. I mean, I followed Barry Diller for years. I was surprised. I am surprised that he's taken
02:43such a big stake in this company, but you know, you still got it. And not wanting to take it
02:47over
02:47100 percent, but we'll see. Okay. To me, Barry Diller, what's wonderful is what he's not done.
02:53Yeah. He hasn't done a lot of stupid things out there. No, I know. I think he's been one of
02:57the
02:57better sellers of assets over the last 30 years. And that's, and Rupert, I put Rupert Murdoch in that
03:04same category, strategic, timely sellers, not at the peak. Can I do an audible? Does LA want
03:12Paramount to merge? No, no, because it's, it will be job losses, but they've made some concessions
03:19that maybe that, you know, will try to be a little bit light touch in terms of that. So, but
03:24no,
03:24it's going to be job losses no matter. And everybody in Hollywood knows that it's just
03:27to what extent and over what time. Now they're not going to leave LA. They were saying, oh,
03:31we're going to leave. Which they never would. There's too much infrastructure in LA. Exactly.
03:35But the deal is going to get done. Uncertainty's.
