From Budget Blow to Boom: Palantir Rockets Back

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Happy Sunday Caffeinated World! The new week kicks off, and we’re tracking the headlines driving business, AI, and digital disruption:

• Threads Hits 350M Users — But Engagement Still Lags: Despite impressive sign-ups, actual traffic trails far behind rivals like Bluesky and X.

• Visa and Mastercard Bet Big on AI: The card giants are turning to AI-powered assistants to shape the future of online shopping.

• Meta’s AI Budget Jumps to $72B: Rising tariffs and chip demand drive up Meta’s infrastructure spending forecast for 2025.

• Palantir Rallies on Defense Spending Buzz: A shift in budget expectations revives optimism for America’s top-performing stock of the year.

• Jensen Huang’s $344M Payday: Nvidia’s CEO gets a raise—and a record-breaking stock haul to match last year’s monster rally.

Threads Hits 350M Users, But Who’s Actually Using It?

Meta says Threads now has over 350 million monthly active users, gaining 30 million since last quarter. Despite the milestone, website traffic and user engagement data tell a different story, with Threads.net seeing just 28 million site visits in March 🧟 — far behind Bluesky (73M) and X (979M). Analysts suspect many Threads users are lightly active or only signed up through Instagram. Meta is now working to drive deeper engagement and recently opened ad placements for global advertisers, aiming to make Threads a true rival to X.

Card Giants Want AI to Be Your Personal Shopper

Visa and Mastercard have both unveiled AI-powered shopping assistant tools — “Agent Pay” and “Visa Intelligence Commerce” — aiming to stay dominant in a shifting e-commerce landscape 💳 🤖. These tools will rely on existing AI models from tech leaders like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic to offer personalized online shopping experiences. Despite new competition and regulatory scrutiny, the two card giants still process the majority of global card transactions and are now turning to AI to maintain their grip on digital commerce.

Meta’s AI Expansion Budget Soars, and Tariffs Are Part of the Bill

Meta has raised its 2025 capital expenditure forecast to $64–72 billion to support growing AI infrastructure needs and to account for rising hardware costs, some of which are driven by tariffs and global trade uncertainty. 🚧💰The company cited both expansion and higher supplier costs as factors, with many components sourced from countries like China. While CFO Susan Li noted efforts to mitigate cost pressures via supply chain optimization, she acknowledged that tariffs are a key reason for the broader and higher spending range. Investors reacted positively to Meta’s earnings and capex outlook, driving shares higher.

From Cuts to Cash: Palantir Rebounds as Defense Budget Expectations Shift

Palantir shares surged nearly 7% on Friday, nearing record highs and solidifying its position as the best-performing S&P 500 stock this year.📉 🚀 The rally follows reports that the White House is pushing for record defense spending in upcoming budget talks—an optimistic reversal from February’s fears of major Pentagon cuts that had previously dragged down defense stocks like Palantir.

Jensen Huang Gets First Raise in 10 Years—and $344M in Total Pay

After leading Nvidia to a 171% stock surge in 2024, CEO Jensen Huang received his first salary raise in a decade—boosting his official compensation to $49.9 million. But using the SEC’s “compensation actually paid” metric, which includes gains from stock awards, Huang earned a staggering $344.2 million last fiscal year—more than the annual revenue of over 700 small-cap companies in the Russell 2000. 💸 💸

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