Elon Musk Won't be Buying McDonald's - He Can't Afford It

At least he wouldn't be able to take McDonald's private as with Twitter.

Twitter's market cap (# shares X share price) hovers just under $40 billion.

Musk's net worth is said to be around $250 billion. Of course, that's not all liquid but one can see how he has the muscle to take on a relativity small company.

McDonald's current market cap (averaged over the last three quarters) is $188 billion. So, he would need to liquidate 75% of his net worth to gain complete control of McDonald's. That's why he put up that Tweet as a joke.

By the way, a few other market caps: Walmart $431 billion, Exxon $372 billion,  Coke $286 billion, Microsoft $2 trillion. 

Pretty soon you're talking about real money.

 

Inflation Hurting Chipotle Margins

Chipotle raised prices another four % but can't outrun inflation

McDonald's + Beyond Meat? Oh, Never Mind...

Today some lost out reacting to rumors about MCD and BYND Meat. At one point the BYND price was up more than 25% of its open. The folks who rushed in and bought at $47 saw the price drop to $38. This illustrates how important MCD is to BYND.

BYND Skyrocketed only to come back down to earth

Fake Meat Flop

"Clearly, the “save your body, save the animals, save the planet” movement has not made a dent in actual eating habits"

"Of course, the ban-the-beef movement is part of the ban-anything-that-tastes-good mindset that holds sway in woker-than-thou circles."

Americans eat more beef than ever, despite vegan trend - NY Post

Do you really want these people in your restaurants?

PETA activists glue themselves to Starbucks counter

CEOs Acting Goofy

I rarely post articles from the Wall Street Journal because their subscription is pretty costly. It can run $400 plus a year. If one spends a lot of time on their site, it's worth every penny. But I rarely link to them because I don't want to promote costly websites if they are rarely accessed.

But this article on Disney is worth a read and at least the video preceding the article is a freebee, I think.

I say "I think" because I'm a subscriber so my devices are loaded up with their cookies and I can't tell exactly what your system will allow.

But here's a few pull-quotes:

"That’s the latest chapter in this tale of a CEO who followed his woke staff like a lemming off the cliff of cultural politics. Disney employees demanded that Mickey Mouse oppose Florida’s misdescribed “don’t say gay” bill. Now state lawmakers are reacting by putting down a few glue traps."

"Soon Mr. Chapek (Disney CEO) was groveling to his underlings and calling Florida’s bill a “challenge to basic human rights.”

"There’s a warning here to other companies, especially Big Tech and Wall Street, which are mainly based in liberal states but conduct business everywhere. If they try to impose their cultural values, they risk losing Republican allies on the policy issues that matter most to their bottom lines, such as regulation, trade, taxation, antitrust and labor law." 

Revolt in Disney's Kingdom - WSJ

The Government's Here to Help

"Owners were furious,” wrote one former McDonald’s executive familiar with the negotiations in an email. “They couldn’t believe the world’s largest restaurant company couldn’t give them some support … when you read about all the other smaller restaurant chains doing it every week.”

The company ultimately deferred — but did not forgive — the collection of $490 million in rental income, plus nearly half a billion dollars in royalty payments. The company’s business filings later revealed it recouped more than 80 percent of deferrals by the end of 2020 and was on track to collect the rest in 2021. Despite pandemic-related instability, McDonald’s collected $6.8 billion in rent payments in 2020."

McDonald's Owner/Operators paid millions$ in PPP to corporate?

Some Advice to Republicans

"This is how you deal with big corporations that try to throw around their weight and force woke policies on voters and families. You punish them, not just because they deserve it, but also, as Voltaire famously put it, pour encourager les autres" (as an example to others).

Governor DeSantis is right to attack Disney

Cooking McPlant's Books

Peta bought McPlants to create imaginary sales during the "test"

68% Less Likely to do Business with Disney

"As was the case last year with CRT, this is no “freakout.” It’s parents exercising their fundamental rights — indeed, their fundamental responsibilities — as mothers and fathers."

Yes, this link is to a conservative opinion piece but the numbers are shocking. Other brands doing business with Disney should tread carefully, or not at all.

"The Left has once again snuggled up to a dog with fleas"

Will woke Disney go broke? - Patriot Post

Source: https://www.thetrafalgargroup.org/news/nat-issues-disney-business-0410/

I'm Sorry Dave, I'm Afraid I Can't Do That

Robotics, coming to a restaurant near you - QSR mag

Former McDonald's USA CEO Spouts Off

Rensi has always been a talented orator and Cavuto loves having him on.

"The tipping point is when customers quit buying products"

Ed Rensi on inflation and the labor shortage

Former McDonald's Regional VP Lands at Zaxby's

Sharlene Smith Joins Zaxby's as Chief Operating Officer

Here's her LinkedIn page

Revenue Management Solutions on Menu Prices

As reported by QSR Magazine

Are higher prices catching up with restaurants?

Limited Service Prices Rose 7.2%

"That “recessionary mindset” could cause consumers to cut back on the number of times they eat out."

Menu price inflation hit a new 40-year high in March - Maze

Interest in Plant Based Foods? Not So Much

A little too much celebrity gossip here but apparently even the high-end guys can't make fake meat work.

Veganism ruining NYC chef's career - NY Post

A little too much about Chick-fil-A here but check out the last paragraph. According to a large survey (7K) of teens, the age group is losing interest in plant-based meats.

Your teen probably wants to go to Chick-fil-A 

"My Pleasure" at Chick-fil-A

"It dawned on me that this could be a service signature for us, almost like two pickles on a sandwich," Dan Cathy said.

Starbucks Union Campaign Continues Momentum

Labor board - "union election filings were up more than 50 percent during the previous six months versus the same period one year earlier."

Sixteen wins for unions - One for Starbucks

Hopefully, McDonald's Will Learn from Disney's Trauma

Ray Keating is a prolific writer and podcaster on the Walt Disney Company

MCD Responsible for Diversity @ Franchisees and Suppliers?

McDonald’s Investors to Vote This Spring on Racial Audit, SEC Says

 

Listen to Laura

 The Mouse and the Apple versus America - Fox News Video

Caution - Politics Ahead

This is an eight-minute video of Jesse Waters discussing politics and Disney but he throws out some interesting survey results that will surprise a lot of people. When business owners decide how to spend their precious advertising dollars they should keep in mind that data and statistics provided by their various agencies and word of mouth are likely slanted or just inaccurate. 

Jesse Watters Primetime - Fox News

The Mouse House is No Fantasyland

The damage at Disney just keeps getting worse - Florida TV

Is time running out on Disney CEO? - Motley Fool

Can there be any dumber management move than to let a militant group of employees determine a company's political positions and activities?

We don't discuss investments here but this uproar has got to make DIS shareholders pretty nervous. Who else should be nervous? ... Unrelated brands who co-promote and do tie-ins with Disney.