TOP STORY
👨‍⚖️ Sam Bankman-Fried Found Guilty on All Accounts, Faces 110 Years in Prison

After nearly a year since the collapse of FTX, the long-awaited verdict has arrived. Sam Bankman-Fried, the man in charge of losing (aka defrauding) nearly $9B in customer funds, has been found guilty on all 7 accounts including wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering, and more.

Sam now faces a maximum potential sentence of 110 years, although it’s most likely he will serve only decades behind bars.

Over the course of the trial, the prosecution presented damning evidence including testimonies from all the members of Sam’s inner circle, painting a compelling story that Sam Bankman-Fried knowingly perpetrated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.

When Sam took the stand, he was evasive, ‘could not remember’ the most basic details about his own company, and put together a convenient story that excluded him from the fraud.

Sam maintains his innocence and will continue to “vigorously fight the charges against him”, but it looks like the once king of crypto will have to start preparing for decades behind bars.

I (Max) have been obsessed with following this story and really enjoyed Tiffany Fong’s coverage of the trial. In my opinion she had the best recap of the closing arguments if you want to dive deeper.

APPLE’S AT IT AGAIN
🍎 Apple Releases Earnings and New Products at “Scary Fast” Event

Apple had a great week, with the stock closing up 4.46% after reporting its Q4 earnings, beating analyst expectations for sales and earnings-per-share.

• ✅ Revenue: $89.5 billion (vs. $89.28 billion expected)

• ✅ Earnings: $1.46 per share (vs. $1.39 expected)

• 🟰 iPhone Revenue: $43.81 billion ($43.81 billion expected)

• ❌ Mac Revenue: $7.61 billion (vs. $8.63 billion expected)

• ✅ iPad Revenue: $6.44 billion (vs. $6.07 billion expected)

• ❌ Wearables Revenue: $9.32 billion (vs. $9.43 billion expected)

• ✅ Services Revenue: $22.31 billion (vs. $21.35 billion expected)

• ✅ Gross Margin: 45.2% (vs. 44.5% expected)

Apple's forward-looking statements signal caution, with next quarter’s revenues expected to remain flat YoY compared to analyst expectations of 5% growth.

Earlier in the week, in a Halloween-themed event, Apple launched an array of products including the much-anticipated new MacBook Pro, a refreshed iMac, and the innovative M3 chips.

• 👀 What's new with the chips? Apple's new M3 series includes the standard M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max, each promising significant speed and performance improvements over their M1, with the M3 chip reportedly delivering 2.5x the graphics performance.
   

• 🌈 A color splash for iMacs. The new M3 iMac retains its 24-inch size but introduces more vibrant colors and a 4.5K retina display, starting at $1,299 for the base model.
   

• 😅 End of an era? The new MacBook Pro lineup said farewell to the controversial Touch Bar, marking an end to an Apple feature that had mixed reviews since its inception.
   

• 🌌 A space black comeback. The latest MacBook Pros come in a new Space Black color, reminiscent of the 2006 MacBook, starting at $1,599 for the 14-inch model.

🤯 The most surprising announcement was at the end of the event, where Apple revealed that the entire "Scary Fast" event was filmed using an iPhone and edited on Mac.

To offer a behind-the-scenes look, Apple released a separate video detailing the production process of the event, providing viewers with insight into how the iPhone and Mac were utilized to create the final presentation.

NEW NEWSLETTER ALERT
🚨 The Beavi Have Rebranded and Launched ‘The Pulse’ Newsletter

The dynamic duo Brandon and Marc Beavis have been up to some big things! First, they’ve rebranded their channel from Brandon Beavis Investing to Beavis Wealth, with an extremely heartwarming story for the change that is a must-watch.

Second, they recently launched The Pulse newsletter where Marc, who worked 25 years as a financial advisor and portfolio manager, will bring you the top stories of the week! If you like the Weekly Buzz, definitely add the Pulse to your list as well 😎

EARNINGS
🤯 Shopify, Roku, Square, SoFi, Palantir, AMD, and More… Up BIG on Earnings

This week, the markets saw an extraordinary rally, with several popular mid-cap companies soaring over 15% following strong earnings reports.

This wave of impressive gains fueled a significant uptick in the broader market, propelling the S&P 500 up by 5.85% and the Nasdaq up 6.61%, marking the best week for both indices since November 2022.

Here’s a recap of some of the most notable gains:

Shopify ($SHOP)

✅ Revenue: $1.71 billion (vs. $1.67 billion expected)
✅ Earnings: $0.24 per share (vs. $0.14 expected)

Roku (ROKU)

✅ Revenue: $912 million (vs. $855.2 billion expected)
❌ Earnings: -$2.33 per share (vs. -$2.12 expected)

Square ($SQ)

✅ Revenue: $5.62 billion (vs. $5.44 billion expected)
✅ Earnings: $0.55 per share (vs. $0.47 expected)

Advanced Micro Devices ($AMD)

✅ Revenue: $5.8 billion (vs. $5.7 billion expected)
✅ Earnings: $0.7 per share (vs. $0.68 expected)

Palantir ($PLTR)

✅ Revenue: $558 million (vs. $556.1 million expected)
✅ Earnings: $0.07 per share (vs. $0.06 expected)

Coinbase ($COIN)

✅ Revenue: $675.15 million (vs. $654.28 million expected)
❌ Earnings: -$0.57 per share (vs. -$0.54 expected)

DraftKings ($DKNG)

✅ Revenue: $789.96 million (vs. $699.71 million expected)
✅ Earnings: -$0.35 per share (vs. -$0.60 expected)

Pinterest ($PINS)

✅ Revenue: $763.2 million (vs. $743.5 million expected)
✅ Earnings: $0.28 per share (vs. $0.2 expected)

REAL-ESTATE
📉 WeWork Shares Drop 60%+ Amid Bankruptcy Speculation

Shares of WeWork plunged to a historic low, dropping over 66% this week following reports suggesting that the co-working space giant may be on the brink of bankruptcy. The Blossom team wonders how long we have left in our Burnaby WeWork office 😅

SoftBank, WeWork's chief investor, witnessed its once golden asset's fall apart after it’s IPO back in 2019, and the problems have only compounded since. Despite SoftBank’s multi-billion dollar investments to keep WeWork afloat, the company has blown through the money and failed to ever achieve profitability.

💡 Here’s what went wrong according to an ex-Head of Product Strategy at WeWork:

Earlier this week, WeWork chose to defer an interest payment due on its senior notes, intensifying bankruptcy concerns signaled as early as August.

The ripple effect of WeWork's potential collapse is expected to be substantial, with senior portfolio manager Jason Benowitz of CI Roosevelt Private Wealth highlighting the company’s extensive lease commitments.

This could send shockwaves across major urban office markets, further destabilizing already shaky industry foundations.

 FROM THE BLOSSOM COMMUNITY

🎙 Top Discussions This Week

MORE EARNINGS

✅ ✅ 📈 Expedia ($EXPE): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares were up 18.93% this week.

✅ ✅ 📈 Cloudflare ($NET): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares were up 14.04% this week.

✅ ✅ 📈 Starbucks ($SBUX): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares were up 10.19% this week.

✅ ✅ 📈 PayPal ($PYPL): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares were up 10.11% this week.

❌ ✅ 📈 Telus ($T): Missed on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares were up 9.38% this week.

✅ ✅ 📈 Enbridge ($ENB): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares were up 5.66% this week.

✅ ✅ 📈 Canadian Natural Resources ($CNQ): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares were up 5.32% this week.

❌ ✅ 📈 Etsy ($ETSY): Missed on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares were up 3.41% this week.

✅ ✅ 📈 Booking.com ($BKNG): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares were up 3.28% this week.

✅ ✅ 📈 McDonalds ($MCD): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares were up 2.93% this week.

❌ ✅ 📈 Restaurant Brands International ($QSR): Beat on revenue and earnings-per-share, shares were up 0.99% this week.

🗞️ What else you might’ve missed:

• Toyota ($TM) is investing an additional $8 billion in its North Carolina battery plant.

• Canadian Tire ($CDNAF) bought back a 20% stake in its financial-services business from Scotiabank ($BNS).

• Blackberry’s ($BB) CEO is set to leave this week, ending his 10-year tenure with the company.

• The Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) is experiencing a dry spell, with only 1 IPO completing an IPO this year.

• Electric vehicle sales in California reached 21.5% through Q3 2023, with Tesla’s ($TSLA) Model Y and 3 leading.