“Gucci will wachsen” - Netflix fällt, Pepsi, Tesla x SpaceX x Alphabet, Schoki, Veolia

The episode opens with a sponsorship note from Scalable Capital, celebrating their MSCI All Country World UCITS ETF reaching 500 million euros in pre-volume just one year after listing. The ETF uses a hybrid replication strategy combining physical and synthetic methods, offering tax benefits and better access to illiquid markets.

On Netflix: Co-founder Reed Hastings announced he would step back from the board after nearly 30 years with the company. Despite solid quarterly results — 16% sales growth and strong profit partly boosted by a $3 billion payment from Warner Brothers for a cancelled acquisition deal — the stock dropped 10% after hours. The hosts attribute this to Hastings' departure, the absence of a raised full-year forecast, and a weaker-than-expected outlook for the next quarter. They note the stock trades at 34 times expected profit, setting a high bar for positive surprises. Additionally, Madison Air Solutions debuted on the stock market, gaining 20% to reach a $15 billion valuation, driven by demand for its ventilation systems for AI data centers.

On Kering/Gucci: After a prolonged downturn in the luxury sector, Kering appointed Luca Di Meo — a turnaround specialist previously known as CEO of Renault — as its new CEO. Di Meo's unconventional background is seen as intentional, bringing fresh questions and ideas to the luxury space. His 2030 strategy targets doubling the operating margin to 22%, implying around 3 billion euros in operating profit on current sales of roughly 15 billion euros, against a market cap of 30 billion euros. Key measures include reducing store count by 100 to around 1,600, cutting product lines (already down 20% at Gucci), and differentiating brand positioning more clearly. Saint Laurent is targeted for doubling men's fashion sales, while Balenciaga is focused on developing iconic leather goods for stable long-term revenue. New strategic priority regions include Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria, and India. China remains a focus despite difficulties, with Di Meo acknowledging past neglect and a minority stake acquisition in Chinese luxury holding ICCF to gain market expertise. Despite the plans sounding reasonable, the stock fell about 3% on the announcement day.

On Veolia: French environmental services giant Veolia, with roughly 45 billion euros in annual revenue, is highlighted as a beneficiary of the AI boom. CEO Estelle Brachlianov, an engineer who rose through the company since 2005, is focused on data center services — providing water cooling, electricity, and the disposal of highly toxic chemicals used in chip manufacturing. Current data center revenues of 550 million euros are targeted to reach 1 billion by 2030. Veolia also holds a patented technology called DROP, which destroys PFAS 'forever chemicals' at over 900 degrees Celsius — a growing regulatory priority in both the EU and USA. A $3 billion acquisition of Clean Earth, one of the largest special waste handlers in the US, expands their North American footprint. The stock trades at 15 times expected profit, slightly below its 10-year average, with a 4% dividend yield and net debt of around 20 billion euros. A US competitor, Waste Management, trades at 27 times expected profit but carries less debt.