Meet Nuuly: Urban’s Rental Gem & Petco: An Old Dog Learns New Tricks

Summary

Brew Markets – November 26, 2025

Episode: Meet Nuuly: Urban’s Rental Gem & Petco: An Old Dog Learns New Tricks
Host: Ann Berry
Podcast: Brew Markets
Theme: Today’s episode dives into three standout market stories: Urban Outfitters’ thriving rental arm Nuuly, Petco’s struggle to reinvent itself, and updates from Dell’s earnings tying into the AI boom. Ann and co-host John Croteau break down earnings, business models, and the broader implications for each industry.

---

Main Theme Overview

Ann Berry delivers a rapid, insightful rundown of the day’s top stock market stories with a focus on what they reveal about broader consumer and investor trends. This episode centers on:

• Urban Outfitters’ Nuuly emerging as a winner in clothing rental
• Petco’s turnaround efforts in a tough pet retail market
• Dell’s surprising earnings, bolstered by AI and ongoing PC dominance
  Other topics include a viral Campbell’s controversy and the latest in autonomous vehicles via Uber.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

---

1. Nuuly: Urban Outfitters' Rental Gem

(Begins ~01:00)

• Urban Outfitters’ Quarterly Strength:
  Urban, bolstered by brands like Anthropologie and Free People, posts record sales of $1.5B ([01:05]).
• Nuuly’s Explosive Growth:
  Although under 10% of Urban’s business, Nuuly—their clothing rental division—outpaces Rent the Runway, boasting 400,000+ subscribers and 50% revenue growth for the quarter.
  Logistics operations have expanded to a 1 million sq ft facility in Kansas City ([01:25]).
• Rental’s Consumer Appeal:
  Ann highlights that rental appeals due to “the real desire for constant newness, cheaper options and a focus on sustainability” ([01:42]).
• Execution & Logistics:
  Nuuly’s operations are more streamlined compared to Rent the Runway, which has “burned cash” and watched its stock drop 99% over five years.
  • “Where Rent the Runway proved the concept… It has failed to execute over time.” —Ann Berry ([02:12])
• Revenue Quality:
  The $98/month subscription creates predictable, recurring revenue, with Nuuly alone adding 3.5 percentage points of revenue growth to total sales ([02:42]).
• Competitive Edge:
  “Part of its inventory conveniently sits inside the stores of Urban Outfitters brands already… which helps to boost its margins.” ([02:56]) Easy return options at Urban stores double down on convenience ([03:06]).
• Market Reception:
  Urban stock jumped 13% on earnings news, up 90% over 12 months. Ann cautions the stock looks “a little toppy” but acknowledges the current win ([03:19]).
• Industry Implications:
  “The most interesting thing here? We'll see if others follow Urban into the clothing rental space.” ([03:31])

---

2. Dell: The OG Tech Giant Evolving for AI

(Begins ~04:35)

• Dell’s Legacy:
  Founded 40 years ago by Michael Dell, now at a $90B market cap ([04:55]).
• Earnings Beat:
  Q3 revenue: $27B (up 11% YoY), earnings per share up 39%, $1.2B in operating cash flow. Stock up 6.5% on the day ([05:15]).
• AI Impact:
  Dell raises its full-year guidance, specifically citing higher AI shipment targets:
  “Dell did say its AI shipment guidance... should go up from 20B to 25B as the new target.” ([06:05])
• On-Premise vs. Cloud:
  Dell focuses on enterprise on-premise AI—servers and GPU-equipped solutions for businesses, responding to security and resilience concerns as many companies seek hybrid (cloud + physical) environments ([06:45]).
• PC Business:
  Still core: ~50% of revenue. Windows 10 support ending is driving PC refreshes and upgrades to Windows 11 ([08:02]).
  • Dell holds 15% of worldwide PC shipments ([08:02]).
  • Ann: “We do need to remember there is other hardware out there, trying to find its way as all this evolves.” ([08:11])
• Michael Dell’s Wealth:
  Michael Dell’s net worth recently hit $154B—“up $30 billion since the start of the year” ([08:48]).

---

3. Petco: Reinventing an Old Dog

(Begins ~11:00)

• Petco’s Woes:
  Once a darling of the pandemic pet boom, Petco’s stock has plunged 86% since its 2021 IPO. Market cap now around $1B ([11:07]).
• Earnings Highlights:
  Revenue: $1.5B (down 3.1% YoY); same-store sales down 2.2%.
  However, adjusted EBITDA rose 17% to ~$99M due to cost-cutting.
  Marketing spend held steady; overhead reductions drove improved margins ([11:59]).
• Guidance & Market Response:
  Despite the drop in sales, Petco raised full-year guidance; stock popped ~20% on the news—“to me that is all about that increase in profitability.” ([12:59])
• The Real Challenge:
  Pet humanization isn’t enough—where are people spending? Chewy and Amazon make pet-supply delivery easy.
  John: “If I’m buying shoes, I want to go to Foot Locker... but [for] dog food or a toy... that seems really easy to order from Amazon or subscription from Chewy.” ([13:47])
• Competitive Strategy:
  Petco aims to compete by enhancing physical retail experiences, events, and in-person services (hospital, grooming)
  • CEO Joel Anderson: “We believe in the universal truths of pet parenthood, the boundless boops, Petco missing slippers, late night zoomies…” ([14:20])
• Membership & Services Expansion:
  Testing a revamped loyalty/membership program for 2026 ([15:03]).
  Expanding “hospital and grooming appointments” as a competitive moat ([15:15]), leveraging data to blur the lines between retail and services—e.g., linking vet recommendations with purchases ([15:51]).
  • John’s take: “Maybe you should change to a more expensive dog food that we sell outside.” ([16:27])
• Merchandising for a Modern Customer:
  Petco expands into pet tech—cameras, remote feeders, etc. ([16:57])

---

4. Other Market Stories at a Glance

• Uber launches driverless robotaxis in Abu Dhabi:
  First deployment in the Middle East, in partnership with Chinese firm WeRide; reflects global push for AVs ([18:00]).
• Campbell’s Soup 3D Printed Chicken Rumor:
  Viral tapes catch an IT VP making disparaging claims about Campbell’s (“highly processed food for poor people”; 3D-printed chicken).
  Company swiftly denies any such practices:
  • “No, we do not use 3D printed chicken, lab grown chicken, or any form of artificial or bioengineered meat in our soups.” —Campbell’s statement ([20:35]) Ann contextualizes: Lab-grown meats are not science fiction, but not used by Campbell’s today ([22:16]).

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Ann Berry on Nuuly’s Business Model ([02:39]):
  “Nuuly’s $98 per month fee means that revenue is predictable and it’s recurring. So I’m not a skeptic about Nuuly. It’s likely, in my opinion, to keep eating Rent the Runway’s lunch and gaining share—and doing so profitably.”

• John on Petco’s Struggles ([13:47]):
  “If I’m buying shoes, I want to go to Foot Locker… but in terms of dog food or a toy, to me that seems really easy to order from Amazon or subscription from Chewy.”

• Petco's CEO via earnings release ([14:20]):
  “We believe in the universal truths of pet parenthood, the boundless boops… Petco missing slippers, late night zoomies, and everything in between.”

• Ann on Dell’s Resilience ([08:11]):
  “We do need to remember there is other hardware out there, trying to find its way as all this evolves, where shares for Dell are up 15% year to date. And after 40 years it does seem that Dell still evolving, still moving…”

• On Campbell’s Soup Rumors ([20:35]):
  “No, we do not use 3D printed chicken, lab grown chicken, or any form of artificial or bioengineered meat in our soups.” —Campbell’s statement

• Ann’s historical aside ([22:16]):
  “Even [Winston Churchill] was contemplating a possibility that one day, you know, a chicken breast could be grown in a petri dish in a lab. So this is happening… but Campbell’s is clarifying today. They don’t use 3D printed chicken.”

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Nuuly & Urban Outfitters Analysis: 01:00 – 04:30
• Dell’s Earnings & Legacy, AI Push: 04:35 – 10:25
• Petco’s Turnaround, Services, and Pet Retail Trends: 11:00 – 17:30
• Uber Driverless News: 18:00 – 19:37
• Campbell’s 3D Printed Chicken Controversy: 19:37 – 22:44

---

Tone and Style

• Direct, conversational, slightly irreverent
• Ann blends insider insight with accessible takes (“We’ll keep watching!”)
• John brings wry humor—playful skepticism, sharp questions, and clever wordplay (“I do detect a little cynicism…”)
• Occasional pop culture references and personal anecdotes

---

Summary Takeaways

• Urban’s Nuuly proves clothing rental can be both scalable and profitable, in contrast to original pioneer Rent the Runway.
• Petco’s survival may depend on reinventing the in-store experience and merging retail with services, much like big-box human retailers.
• Dell’s embracing of on-premise AI shows that legacy hardware players can still surprise, even four decades in.
• Even century-old brands like Campbell’s must now address viral rumors with direct consumer comms.
• Modern markets reward agility, recurring revenue, and a readiness to pivot or double-down on experience—whether in fashion, pets, or tech.

---

For listeners and investors alike, Brew Markets delivers distilled, actionable market analysis with a side of personality—perfect for keeping up with both big-picture shifts and quirky corporate news.

Transcript

[A]

Coca Cola for the big, for the small, the short and the tall. Peacemakers, risk takers for the optimists, pessimists for long distance love for introverts and extroverts, the thinkers and the doers for old friends and new Coca Cola for everyone. Pick up some Coca Cola at a store near you. Shares in Petco soar on earnings. Is the CEO teaching an old dog new tricks? Campbell's is accused of using 3D printed meat. We listen to what the soup maker has to say and newly the hidden gem inside Urban Outfitters is pushing Rent the Runway off the catwalk. We survey what the rental company is getting right for Wednesday, November 26th. It's blue markets Daily and I'm Ann Berry. More market details to come. But first, Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie Free People. These clothing brands are firing on all cylinders, driving their parent company Urban Ticker Urban to over one and a half billion dollars in record sales in the latest quarter reported just last night. And the hidden jewel in the crown of the $6.7 billion market cap company, well, it's Nuuly. Though it's just under 10% of the total Urban Outfitters business today, the clothes rental arm is soaring. This one division is now bigger than the whole company. Rent the Runway, the struggling clothes rental og. We'll come back to that in a moment. With over 400,000 subscribers, newly just reported around 50% revenue growth for yet another quarter and it's doing so well that it's been expanding its logistics oper operations in Kansas City to a million square feet. And here's why. Rental is solving for consumers real desire for constant newness, cheaper options and a focus on sustainability. Well, I always saw the value proposition the clothes rental and found it fascinating. But the key to making it work is execution. It's a pretty complex business when it comes to logistics and I've been skeptical on the space in general in that regard because where Rent the Runway proved the concept and admired it for doing so, it has failed to execute over time. Its stock is down 99% over the past five years. And while I've always loved the founder's story, this business burns cash, which has left me skeptical about its ability to survive despite a recent restructuring. And as for urban stock, though, it's benefiting from total strength across its portfolio, with Nuuly's contribution being meaningful. It added three and a half percentage points of revenue growth to total sales this quarter. And it didn't contribute just any old sales, but the kind the market loves which is subscription revenue. Nuuly's $98 per month fee means that revenue is predictable and it's recurring. So I'm not a skeptic about Nuuly. It's likely, in my opinion, to keep eating, rent the runways lunch and gaining share and doing so profitably. Which is the core to all of this, helped by the fact that part of its inventory conveniently sits inside the stores of Urban Outfitters brands already, which helps to boost its margins. That store footprint, by the way, also enabling Nuuly to double down on convenience recently, letting its customers return their monthly rental totes directly to Urban Outfitt Fit stores. Well, Urban stock has been bopping up over 13% over the course of this day as the market digested its earning results. But valuation is a little toppy. Stocks up nearly 90% over the past 12 months. For now though, a winner in apparel. And the most interesting thing here to me is we will see if others follow Urban Outfitters into the clothing rental space. We will keep on watching. Coming up, it's been a while since we heard dude, you're getting a Dell. We checked to see if the decades old PC company is still delivering, but First Brew Markets daily is sponsored by Public. And before the show today our producer John mentioned a feature he found on Public.

[B]

That's right. Of course you can build your own investment plan on Public, which consists of up to 20 assets, but you can also choose from their themes in the marketplace. I saw healthcare, cybersecurity and energy transformation. Really helpful ways to discover new investment ideas. And with either an investment plan you create yourself or one of their pre made ones, you can automatically contribute to those assets on a recurring basis.

[A]

Public combines a wide range of asset classes with the tools you need to build and manage your wealth, whether it's with options, stocks, bonds or crypto. So get started at public.com brewmarkets that's public.com BrewMarkets paid for by Public Investing.

[B]

Full Disclosures and Podcast Description well, this.

[A]

Earnings season basically the tail end now we've really enjoyed digging into the numbers and earnings calls for companies as they've been reporting. And today the market's reacting to two familiar names, Petco and Dell Technologies, two that we haven't touched on very much. So their earnings a good excuse to dig on in. John, let's kick off with Dell, see what's going on over there.

[B]

That's right. Well this is the company started for 40 years ago by Michael Dell and according to their website, founded on the simple concept of selling computer systems directly to customers and they've been successful doing that. You alluded to this, the dude, you're getting a. Dell ads were ubiquitous in the early 2000s. Well today they have a market cap of $90 billion.

[A]

Amazing. Imagine being Michael Dell and looking at your 40 year long baby in the making at $90 billion today. Well, today the company reported earnings that did surprise analysts, sending the stock up six and a half revenue $27 billion up 11% year over year. And this is a really impressive piece. Earnings per share up 39% year over year, handily beating estimates cash flow from operations for the business too, pretty strong at 1.2 billion. But here was the magic moment in this earnings. It wasn't just that the company beat estimates, it was the fact that Dell actually raised its full year revenue guidance up by an incremental 17%. And specifically because all eyes in the market right now on getting hard numbers around AI. Dell did say that its AI shipment guidance specifically should go up from 20 billion to $25 billion as the new target.

[B]

And it's interesting to talk about where Dell fits into the AI landscape because with AI we talk about chips and data centers building up the cloud, talking about companies like Oracle and Amazon. Well, Dell has been focusing on enterprise AI, specifically building out GPU equipped servers that run on site at a business. And so that's different than the cloud. And so here's an idea encapsulating that in the press release today. Dell is quote winning in AI because of our unique ability to engineer bespoke high performance solutions rapidly, deploy large complex clusters and provide global support. So they're going for each customer.

[A]

Yeah, it's interesting because this idea we haven't heard about on premise for a while. There's been this huge migration to the cloud. It's what's been driving Azure. It's been what? It's what's been driving Amazon Web Services. But there have been questions from some areas around cyber security, of course, and whether they want to have backup systems too. I mean we've seen, was it last week that we saw the Internet go down, for example? We've seen security systems go down often. These are cloud based. So we do have some companies raising their hand now saying we do actually want a hybrid of both cloud computing and local physical capacity. Well, let's talk also about why this quarter beat expectations. The price for some of the components of these servers like memory is rising and the market John was watching and waiting to see if the higher price of those inputs would be passed through and As a result would slow sales and take a bite out of Dell's margins as a result. But it wasn't the case. Demand did in fact remain high and margins still pretty healthy.

[B]

Right. And so that's the AI business. That's pretty sexy.

[A]

That's everyone's talk stuff.

[B]

But for 40 years, Dell is still banking on PC manufacturing. Roughly half of the revenue for the quarter came from PC sales. That's largely, largely commercial to companies, but nearly 2 billion came from consumer sales. And Dell computers are about 15% of all PCs shipped worldwide.

[A]

So meaningful.

[B]

Yeah. And this was brought up on the earnings call last month Microsoft ended Support for Windows 10. So there's a lot of new PC demand as people are refreshing to Windows 11.

[A]

You know, it's interesting because we do tend to forget about, you know, Dell. As you just said, 15% share of PC shipped worldwide. You've also got other brands like HP, right? You've got Lenovo. We talk about Apple so much, we're so fixated on the Mag 7 and Apple being such a large constituent of that. We do need to remember there is other hardware out there trying to find their way as all of this evolves, where shares for dell are up 15% year to date. And after 40 years it does seem that Dell still evolving, still moving, keeping its footing in PCs but also finding an avenue for AI that's effective. Right.

[B]

And I hadn't thought about Dell in a long time. I've worked at companies where there's just rows and rows of Dell computers not here. But frankly I saw Dell pop up again in the last week. Brew Markets made a post on Instagram listing the top 10 richest people in the world yesterday. And Google's recent success had moved co founder Larry Page into second place, which was the reason to post it. But there was a tenth position was Michael Dell apparently worth $154 billion, up 30 billion since the start of the year. So haven't thought about Michael, but he's up there amongst all those other folks that we hear a lot about.

[A]

Interesting. He actually has a very, very large family office that's evolved into of a powerhouse in private equity by the way. So I've come across him in my career and that firm, msd to your point, not so much as a public company and think about Dell, but looking at how his net worth has deployed in investing in private companies and earlier stage companies as well as in some private credit. So exciting stuff going on in that whole ecosystem. John, do you consider what you wear to be an investment? I suppose and like with any investment, you want to know it's a sound one, right?

[B]

Naturally.

[A]

Well, Vivrel happens to agree. That's why they let you borrow, wear and fall in love with designer bags, jewelry and watches from iconic brands like Omaze, Dior, YSL and more. Without return dates. Swap pieces monthly or keep your favorites for as long as you like. Plus, enjoy the option to buy it below retail prices when you find something you love. Right now, our listeners can get their first month free with code Morning Brew when they go to vivrelle.com that's V I V-R-E-L-L-E.com and use referral Morning Brew.

[B]

So good, so good, so good.

[A]

Give big, save big with Rack Friday deals at Nordstrom Rack. For a limited time, take an extra 40 off red tag clearance for a total Savings up to 75% off. Save on gifts for everyone on your list from brands like Vince Cole, Han, Sam Edelman and more. All sales final and restrictions apply. The best stuff goes fast. So bring your gift list and your wish list to your nearest Nordstrom rack today. Well, let's check in with Petco because we love to talk about the human humanization of pets. And it's Thanksgiving week and we're feeling mushy, so we thought we'd go there and talk about our pet.

[B]

Absolutely. And that company reported earnings yesterday after the bell ticker. Woof. Still one of my favorites.

[A]

Excellent. Excellent ticker.

[B]

And their new CEO, he came in last year, so he's new for about a year. He brought in back the where the pets go slogan, market cap nearing $1 billion, but they have 1500 store locations with 30,000 employees. So it's a still, it's a big operation, but the company's having a tough time. Shares are down 86% since its 2021 IPO.

[A]

Don't I know it. Because I bought some of these stocks actually because I really believed in the humanization of pets thesis. We saw this surge in pet ownership over the time. Didn't you buy this one and then sell out?

[B]

Yes, absolutely.

[A]

You sold out because you saw people going back to work, not being able to take care of their animals. And I thought people would just figure out a way to keep keep their animals. I was on the wrong side of the trade.

[B]

And at the same time, I saw Chewy.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so I think that is the point that we're going to get into here is of course, you can, you can humanize your pets and you can want to spend money on Them. But where are you SPE spending?

[A]

Yeah, exactly. Well, to your point, let's start with the high level numbers. Revenue one and a half billion dollars for the quarter down 3.1% year over year. So a little bit to the answer of where our pet parents spending their money less it seems at Petco than last year. Same store sales, that magic metric when it comes to retail, down 2.2%. However, however, adjusted EBITDA. That's the measure of profit, nearly $99 million, up 17% year over year. So despite revenue coming down, real focus over at on taking costs out of the business. The CFO Sabrina Simmons highlighted that expanding operating margin and as a result improve cash flow was a real focus for the business. Most importantly trying to reduce overhead in the company. So taking out G and A expenses marketing spend though they did keep flat year over year. So clearly they're making sure that they're not taking away the ability to drive any opportunity for more revenue if they possibly can. Now the company did raise full year guidance which is a plus. So despite this quarter being down year over year, full year guidance up stock up nearly 20% this morning. And I got to tell you John, to me that is all about that increase in profitability.

[B]

Yes, exactly. And that's what they were trying to do. Get the headline out there that we have, we are profitable but in terms of a long term solution. I was thinking about this today. Yesterday we talked about Dicks and Footlocker and where people choose to spend their money. I don't know if I'm, if I'm buying shoes, I want to go to Foot Locker, try them on or if I go to Dick's, hold the baseball bat in my hat in my hand maybe. But in terms of dog food or a toy from, for a cat, to me that seems really easy to order from Amazon or subscription from Chewy. And so I think that is the challenge that the CEO is trying to address is how are we going to get people in the store?

[A]

Well, it feels like they have to do what Dick's Sporting Goods did, right? Which is go deep into experiences. They need to hold events. They've got to have that experiential element of it really come to life. I actually did pop into the Petco here in New York and I was surprised. I thought it would be this kind of dank, smelly place. And actually the merchandising looked good. It was presented well. Lots of ads everywhere for sort of bring your pet to the store day. So I did see that culture is the Way in which Joel Anderson, the CEO, wrapped it up saying that there's experience and culture, there's a cultural element that comes to shopping. At Petco, the earnings press release said, quote, we believe in the universal truths of pet parenthood, the boundless boops, good alliteration, Petco missing slippers, late night zoomies. I don't know what that is. And everything in between. What's the late night?

[B]

I've heard that that's when an animal will start running around as if it's shocked or getting a full moon effect. I don't know.

[A]

I get that. Then I get late nights. Sure, yeah, totally.

[B]

And missing slippers. So obviously they're trying to make you feel part of a community or a cult maybe with that universal truth part. I thought that was unusual. So Anderson pointed out that they're testing a revamped membership program to get customer retention up that's going to go wide in 2026.

[A]

We do love a good loyalty program. Yes, we love a good loyalty. And there's also the services rights side, not just retail taking to me, you know, a leaf out of the Walmart book. Right, because you can go to Walmart now, you can order online, you can purchase in store, but you can also go get your eyes tested. You've got a pharmacy seeing Petco repeating that playbook. The company aiming to boost, quote, hospital and grooming appointments by increasing staff in those particular areas. And again, Joel Anderson, the CEO, saying it's quote, our competitive mode given its in person nature, high barriers to entry and difficulty to replicate. I, I buy that actually, I buy that as a strategy, but there's also some data here. Right, let's talk about the CEO on the call talking about the way in which they're trying to double down on using data more intelligently.

[B]

Right, exactly. Previously he had said that the vet, the vets inside the stores didn't have access to sales data. But now looking forward in 2026, they're give the vets sales data to see purchase history, informed diet, recommendations on overall pet health and specific needs. So Ann, I'm just imagining what that means. I think it might mean that you take your dog into the vet, the vet sees the dog's condition and says, oh, maybe you should change to a more expensive dog food that we sell outside. Or maybe the dog is a little overweight and needs to go on more walks. We have leashes by the door.

[A]

All the things that I do detect a little cynicism, John Croteau, in the way you just described some of that, but I do think it will work. Work. I do think upselling with using services. Ulta, by the way, to go back to humans for a moment, they've done this. They went from being merchandise in the stores to making sure that sampling was an important part of it. You can get services, you can get your hair done, you can get your makeup done. So this is something that is, is pretty widespread, whether it's for human retail or for pet retail. There's also other lines of pet merchandise, John, that you spotted on the website.

[B]

Yeah, I went on to their website today and I hadn't even considered this. I don't currently have a pet, but they have a lot of tech featured on the website. Cameras to watch your pet while you're away at work, perhaps remote feeders, things like that. I thought that was interesting. And then of course I saw that they're having a 20% site wide sale for Black Friday. And Ann, we've heard that you growing up in England, you haven't had, you didn't have grow up with proms or homecoming dances. Was there something like Black Friday in England? A commercial shopping holiday?

[A]

So when I was growing up, there wasn't. There's still no Thanksgiving really, but there is a Black Friday. This is one of those American things that has migrated across the Atlantic. So even though this wasn't the case when I was growing up, but subsequently when I've gone to visit, the UK does now have Black Friday sales, even though no one really knows what that's, what that's referencing. So it just goes to show the ubiquity of American holidays. We're going to wrap up with a couple of headlines from some other stories that caught our eye today. And we're going to start with Uber rolling out driverless robo taxis in Abu Dhabi. So here's the reason this caught our eye, because there's lots of conversation at the moment, John, about Waymo, lots of conversation around how this is going to move into rideshare. We've seen Lyft trying to figure this out. We've seen Uber trying to figure this out. And so if we look at what's been going on in the United States, Uber does already offer Robotaxi services, but not in many markets, important ones, but not many. In Austin, in Phoenix and Atlanta, through Waymo, which of course is owned by Alphabet, going on an absolute tear. Where the news today is that Uber has launched the first ever robo taxi rides in the Middle east. And that's an Abu Dhabi. And this time they've done that in partnership with We Ride, which is a Chinese based company. So going a slightly different route there and riders and Abu Dhabi can book a wee ride Robotaxi when they're requesting either an Uber X or an Uber comfort ride. This partnership kicked off in September of 2024. It's been over a year in the making. But the fact it's now going all in in Abu Dhabi is interesting. The United Arab Emirates really pushing hard on autonomous vehicles and an AI and that's a very clear sign that they are serious about getting this rolled on out. Just one other thing I would say here. We did interview the interim CEO of Lucid, Mark Winterhoff, after a six year Robotaxi deal had between Lucid and Uber. So again, just lots more companies we're following that are trying to figure out how to crack that market. Let's talk about something very different though. Let's talk about a different kind of use of technology that's very unexpectedly cropped up in the news.

[B]

Or not.

[A]

Why not? Let's talk about Campbell's Seat. This was just mind boggling to me.

[B]

Yes, today there was a follow up to that bizarre story that we've been hearing about all week. You may have seen there was an executive at Campbell's that was caught on tape maligning the company and its products, saying that Campbell's makes highly processed food for poor people and that he didn't want to eat chicken that came from a 3D printer.

[A]

Can I just say, good use of maligning. What a great word. Was that you? Yeah, that was me, John. By let everyone just. I found out yesterday that John studied electrical engineering for a year in college and then pivoted to music and English. So when we hear all these fancy words, we know that it's John Couteau chucking a little maligning in here or there. Extraordinary. So this executive, I think was the vice president in the IT function.

[B]

Yes, exactly.

[A]

And was caught on tape. But there was some profanity in there too. It came up as part of a lawsuit. I think that's how this was unveiled, in which an employee had filed a complaint about this individual and some comments he'd made on a number of fronts that were offensive to the employees. And, and this came out this, this executive saying that, yes, as you said, Campbell's quote makes highly processed food for, quote, poor people. That's what he claimed.

[B]

And to start, Campbell's pointed out that like you said, this person was in the IT division not or anything close to the food and on their website today, Campbell's posted a Q and A. Is Campbell's Chicken 3D printed? That was the question. The answer. No, we do not use 3D printed chicken, lab grown chicken, or any form of artificial or bioengineered meat in our soups. And this type of corporate response, Ann, made me think of Jensen Huang earlier in the week, feeling like he had to address Michael Burr, saying to Michael and everyone, Nvidia is not Enron.

[A]

Nvidia is. Can you imagine, can you imagine your Jensen Huang? You had the Titan in AI being reduced to having sent out a memo that says Nvidia is not Enron.

[B]

And here is Campbell's, a century old company, being reduced to setting the record straight. No, we don't 3D print our chicken, but I still have a year to perfect my golden brown 18 pound 3D printed turkey with stuffing.

[A]

You do? Can we, can we just stick with chicken for a minute though? I know that we sort of want to leave it, but I do have a sort of a nug it pun intended to share with you that was totally on the fly, by the way. I, I've been following lab grown meat for a while and it's really, really picking up steam and it's very interesting. I read this biography of Winston Churchill and all those decades and decades ago, even he was contemplating a possibility that one day, you know, a chicken breast could be grown in a petri dish in a lab. So this is happening and I, I have actually visited with some of these companies that are doing lab grown chicken, lab grown meat, salmon. So Campbell's is clarifying today. They don't use 3D printed chicken, which is sort of absurd, or lab grown chicken or any other form of artificial or bioengineered meat. And it soups. But I think the day may come, I mean, not right this minute, but I just is not as ludicrous or far away or sci fi as it may sound. These, these technologies do exist and he.

[B]

Worked in information technology.

[A]

I know that is definitely the wrong inference. That is not where Campbell wanted us to go. Well, the markets are closed tomorrow and we are taking a break break for the Thanksgiving holiday, including on Friday, by the way. So there's going to be no new brew market shows for the rest of this week. But we're going to be back on Monday with a special guest and a look at the current state of residential real estate. You won't want to miss it. So make sure to come back on Monday. That's it for today's brew markets daily. Happy Thanksgiving Brew Markets Daily is hosted.

[B]

By Anne Barry and produced by John Crateau, Tarka, Bella Teef and Emily Miller. Our technical director is Denise Rivera and the president of Morning Brew, Inc. Is Devin Emerson. We'd love to hear from you. If you have a question for Ann, a company you'd like us to cover or want to share your million dollar cranberry recipe, send an email or voice memo to brewmarketshoworningbrew.com I was gonna say graduate school.

[A]

I was nicknamed Cranberry. It was meant to be a clever pun, so I bring that up. I didn't like it then. I won't enjoy it now. Don't email me on it, but have a great holiday and we'll see you back here on Monday. Same time, same place.

[B]

Limu Emu and Doug. Here we have the Limu Emu in its natural habitat, helping people customize their.

[A]

Car insurance and save hundreds with Liberty Mutual.

[B]

Fascinating.

[A]

It's accompanied by his natural ally, Doug. Uh, Limu is that guy with the binoculars watching us? Cut the camera. They see us.

[B]

Only pay for what you [e-mail] Liberty, Liberty.

[A]

Liberty.

[B]

Liberty Savings vary underwritten by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and affiliates.

[A]

Excludes Massachusetts.