SBD Technologies & Emobi Announce Strategic Partnership to Accelerate EV Fleet Adoption
PORTLAND, Maine and SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 29, 2025 /CNW/ -- SBD Technologies, a Maine-based AI startup dedicated to advancing the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in municipal and commercial fleets, today announced a strategic partnership with Emobi, North America's leading EV charging digital infrastructure. This partnership will integrate Emobi's expansive network of over 120,000 public EV charging locations across 26+ networks into SBD Technologies' innovative FleetCharge solution to streamline and simplify the EV charging experience for fleet managers and drivers.
Emobi's Hub technology provides a single point of integration for a vast ecosystem of charging stations and e-mobility partners, leveraging advanced AI and data refinement models. Through these proprietary models, Emobi fosters collaboration by enriching contextual information of chargers and improving data reliability. Emobi's technology will enable SBD Technologies fleet managers and drivers to digest the most accurate and user-friendly EV charger data enriched, refined, and transformed by AI/ML models. The data helps stakeholders make informed decisions when choosing reliable chargers, enhancing operational efficiency, and creating better customer experiences. Similarly, SBD Technologies' FleetCharge product is designed to address critical challenges, such as range anxiety. FleetCharge consolidates all charging data and payments into a single, user-friendly platform, providing comprehensive reporting on energy usage and costs across home, depot, and public charging locations. By partnering with Emobi, FleetCharge users will gain seamless access to one of the most comprehensive charging networks available.
'This partnership marks a significant milestone in our mission to remove barriers to EV adoption,' said Kamal Ayad, President and Founder of SBD Technologies. 'By integrating Emobi's advanced infrastructure into our FleetCharge solution, we're empowering fleet operators with the tools they need to manage their EVs with confidence, efficiency, and ease.'
'This collaboration with SBD Technologies represents a powerful step forward in our mission to make EV charging accessible, seamless, and reliable for fleets,' said Lin Sun Fa, CEO, Emobi. 'By integrating our expansive charging network with their FleetCharge solution, we're not only simplifying fleet operations but also enabling fleet managers to adopt sustainable practices with greater confidence and ease. Together, we're driving the transition to a smarter, more sustainable future for EV fleet operations.'
The collaboration underscores the shared commitment of SBD Technologies and Emobi to accelerate the transition to electric mobility by addressing key pain points for fleet operators. The combined solution is set to revolutionize the way fleet managers plan, execute, and optimize their EV charging strategies, further contributing to a cleaner and greener transportation landscape.
About SBD Technologies, Inc.
SBD Technologies is a CleanTech, SaaS company harnessing the transformative power of AI to accelerate the global fleet transition to sustainable energy. Our customers and partners trust SBD Technologies to deliver a comprehensive EV fleet charging and eMobility platform. Our products allow drivers to charge at home (eliminating operational overhead and increasing accuracy while giving fleet managers complete oversight and control), charge on the road (eliminating driver range anxiety while providing fleet customers a single app and reporting platform), and AI assistance with everything from reporting to account management. For more information about SBD Technologies and FleetCharge, please visit www.sbdtechnologies.com.
About Emobi
Emobi is the leading EV charging digital infrastructure that delivers a single point of integration to a vast network of charging stations and e-mobility partners through its advanced AI and data refinement models. As the largest roaming ecosystem in North America, the company also enables traditional and streamlined (JustPlug) Plug & Charge technology, facilitating automatic charging identification between EVs and chargers. Emobi is trusted by EV manufacturers, startups, utilities, and U.S. government agencies, including the Department of Energy (DoE) and the Department of Transportation (DoT), and is backed by leading investors around the globe, including Y Combinator. To learn more, visit www.emobi.ai.
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Business Insider
40 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Burrito bowl blues
In 2017, Jacob Schneider, then 16, landed his first job at a Chipotle in Lawrence, Kansas. It offered "decent" pay for a person his age, he says, above minimum wage, as well as robust training. "I learned how to do my job really fast," he tells me. "I didn't notice a lot of bad things at first," he says. But eventually, he felt, training quality started to decline. Breaks got shorter. Equipment would break and not get fixed; a cooler was out of operation for about a year, Schneider says. "A lot of corners were being cut over time." The deterioration took its toll. "The morale of the whole store was basically terrible," he says. When he started, people rarely talked about leaving. By last year, the most common topic he and his coworkers discussed was how much they wished they could quit. "It was just getting worse and worse and worse." Schneider was witnessing Chipotle making a sharp U-turn. Founded in 1993 by Steve Ells, a former sous chef at a San Francisco fine dining pioneer, Chipotle became an elevated fast food juggernaut with more than 3,700 locations around the world, going public in 2006. But the company suffered a series of food-borne illness outbreaks starting in 2015, when 60 people were sickened across nearly a dozen states. All restaurants closed for half a day in February 2016 to deal with food safety. Then another norovirus outbreak hit in 2017. Ells stepped down as CEO a few months later, and he was replaced by Brian Niccol, who had just served as CEO of Taco Bell. Niccol led a dramatic turnaround. The efficiency-focused changes he put in place — including order screens, delivery, and "Chipotlanes" drive-throughs — helped the company's annual revenue surge from $4.9 billion in 2018 to $11.3 billion in 2024. Its stock jumped tenfold, from $6 a share in early 2018 to more than $60 when Niccol left in mid-2024 while its market cap grew from $9 billion to more than $80 billion. As happy as these changes made shareholders, the change in culture has been much more than a vibe shift for the company's 130,000 employees. Current and former employees say that Chipotle was once a special place to work — a cut above in fast casual dining — that has since been consumed by a fast food ethos that, for its workers, has made its restaurants barely distinguishable from a Burger King or Domino's. In the past few years, evidence of a downgrade for staff has been popping up around the country. In 2022, Chipotle agreed to a $20 million settlement with New York City over claims of 599,693 violations of the city's scheduling and paid leave laws, more than any company has paid in a worker protection settlement in the city's history. In 2024, the company appeared in the second-place spot, behind Amazon, on the New York City Comptroller's "Employer Wall of Shame," where it still appears. Chipotle also agreed last year to pay $2.9 million to Seattle-based employees in a settlement over allegations of failing to give extra pay for schedule changes and retaliating against employees who didn't take shifts they hadn't been scheduled for — the largest settlement the city had reached since its scheduling law took effect. That same year, a study of Glassdoor reviews from more than 550 of America's largest employers found that Chipotle had the second-highest rate of employee burnout (behind Progressive insurance). In a statement to Business Insider, Chipotle's chief corporate affairs officer Laurie Schalow writes, "Our employees are our greatest priority, and we are committed to providing a best-in-class work experience that includes robust training and development programs." Business Insider spoke with eight current and former Chipotle employees in four states whose tenures span from 2012 to the present; four of them have been involved in union organization efforts. Each told the same story, resonant with the broader allegations and superlatives: Many of the qualities that made Chipotle stand out as an employer — offering a stellar working experience where they were well-trained and valued and able to offer customers a high-quality experience — have precipitously declined. For a fast food brand, Chipotle has lofty values. "Our purpose is to cultivate a better world," its website states. It has long prided itself on offering only fresh food — it doesn't have freezers at its restaurants, a rarity in an industry where the majority of ingredients are frozen. It also makes promises to its employees. "Being real means treating our people right," reads the company's mission statement. "Chipotle brands themselves as the cool fast food place to work," says Quinlan Muller, who started working at the Lawrence, Kansas, location with Schneider in 2018. It pays better than many of its competitors: According to survey data from the Shift Project, a research venture from Harvard's Kennedy School and UC San Francisco that tracks low-wage workers over time, Chipotle employees report earning $16 an hour on average nationwide, while Burger King and Domino's pay $14. Arrow Smith took a job at the Augusta, Maine, franchise a few years ago because a previous job at Dollar General"wasn't paying me enough to survive," and they could make a dollar or two more per hour at Chipotle, plus tips. Anna started out at minimum wage at a location in Ohio in 2012, but quickly was making over $60,000 a year between raises and regular bonuses for exceeding sales metrics. She says she also got "excellent" health and dental benefits. She made more, in fact, than she does now in a marketing job. (She asked Business Insider to use a pseudonym because her husband still works at Chipotle.) With the higher pay came higher expectations. "You had to be near perfect on everything," Anna says. If she prepped produce that wasn't cut to the right size, it would get thrown out, and she would start over. "I never worked for a fast casual or fast food restaurant that had such a high level of standards," she says. "It was a great environment." Those standards, the people Business Insider spoke with say, were upheld by a rigorous training program that looked more like those at the Culinary Institute of America, Ells' alma mater, than what is typical in the fast food industry. Muller came into her job at Chipotle fresh off a short stint at another fast food company where the training barely existed. At Chipotle, she was able to get trained in lots of different positions. "It felt more fulfilling," she says. The training had a built-in progression to help people move from crew to managers and above. "They wanted to grow people and bring them up," McNease says. A new hire started out by watching training videos for each position and looking through booklets that broke down every minute aspect of the job. Then workers would watch other people do the tasks before doing the tasks themselves with a trainer to offer feedback. "It was a really in-depth process," says Brandi McNease, who started as a crew member at a location in Augusta, Maine in 2016. Workers were trained for multiple positions, from manning the tortilla press to grilling the food in the back. The training also had a built-in progression to help people move from crew to managers and above. "They wanted to grow people and bring them up," McNease says. Smiling Estrella, who started working at a New York City Chipotle in 2016, was promoted from crew to kitchen leader within three years. Brian Niccol espoused a fast-food mindset that Chipotle had previously eschewed. "His experience and worldview is processed, profitable, and not very organic foods," says Michael W. Morris, a professor at Columbia Business School. "He's an MBA quantitative marketing kind of guy, good at cutting costs in supply chains." Niccol brought in executives from Bloomin' Brands, which owns fast casuals Outback and Carrabba's, and Panda Restaurant Group, the owner of Panda Express. Niccol left Chipotle last summer to become CEO of Starbucks. Chipotle's new CEO is cut from the same cloth: Scott Boatwright, who joined in 2017, had spent the previous 18 years at Arby's. With Ells' exit came a change in internal culture. "You can't have an organizational culture of a fast food restaurant and maintain a brand image of an organic, sustainable place," Morris says. It "doesn't allow for the craft feeling or for the people who are passionate about food to be displaying that passion." Chipotle says it still conducts intensive "real culinary training." In a video on its recruitment site, a worker named Ryan says that when he started there, "they had so many step-by-step processes on how to learn everything." Schalow says in her statement, "We have always had new worker training, and we continuously re-assess our training program and revise it as we deem appropriate." Each of the workers Business Insider spoke to say that the company's training quality has dropped off. By the time Leslie (who asked that Business Insider use a pseudonym; she still works at Chipotle) started working at a New York City location in 2019, she didn't get to watch a video or receive any hands-on guidance before she was put to work, she says. For each task, she says, "they would explain it maybe once and that's it." She didn't know how to wrap burritos for four months and figured it out by asking people to help her and watching videos during her off hours, she says. At the Augusta store, McNease says, "It was pretty clear that what I had stepped into was a transition period that was not going in the right direction." New hires started to be put on the floor with no training, she says. "It got to the point where you were lucky if you got to watch videos." The same was happening in Kansas, as new hires wouldn't know how to do important tasks, Muller says. Thomas started working at the same Chipotle in 2022 (he also asked that I use a pseudonym). By the time he left in late 2023, he says he consistently had to correct employees on food safety procedures. In her statement, Schalow says the company's current training program "includes food safety training, workplace and employment-related training, and a range of operational training for various roles." When Schneider first started, there was a strict rule enforced that no one under 18 could use a knife; later on, kids as young as 16 were doing that prep work, he says. Schalow says the company has "policies and procedures that comply with state laws for the employment of 16- and 17-year-olds." Thomas says the focus switched from creating high-quality food to drilling down on portions — not giving customers too much. Managers "really started hammering that into us," he says. Employee scheduling has also been tumultuous. According to Shift Project data, three-quarters of Chipotle employees it surveyed say they get their schedules less than two weeks in advance. More than a third get their schedules with less than a week's notice. Shifts also move frequently: Three-quarters of Chipotle employees report having received a shift timing change in the previous month; 22% had a canceled shift. When it comes to employee scheduling, "Chipotle is really at the bottom of the heap" of comparable restaurants, says Daniel Schneider, a principal investigator at The Shift Project. Kristen Harknett, another principal investigator, says that canceled shifts are "extremely disruptive," particularly for workers who show up to a shift only to be sent home without receiving any pay. In Kansas, managers put up a printed schedule once a week on Saturday night or Sunday, say Schneider and Muller. There was no way to access it online; if someone didn't work that day, they might not know they were supposed to show up the following one. At the Maine store, workers sometimes wouldn't have their schedules by Sunday and would be told to show up to whatever shifts they had been scheduled for the previous Monday, says McNease. All the workers Business Insider spoke to also say that staff was so lean that employees on any given shift weren't able to handle the crush of customers, and that many shifts were chaotic. At the Augusta Chipotle, Smith says, "It went from awesome and well-staffed to a skeleton crew in like a month." McNease says managers told workers to work more hours and take over more positions without extra pay. Prep tasks like chopping food with sharp knives were done by two people instead of six, she adds, leading to injuries. One coworker cut his fingers seven or eight times trying to cut meat fast enough to keep up with the line of customers, Smith says. "Every day felt like a new set of small catastrophes. We were begging for more staffing, more help, and they just wouldn't send us anybody." McNease also says that food would get left out too long and dirty dishes piled up. At the Lawrence Chipotle, says Muller, there were shifts with one person working on the line in the front and a shift manager in the back cooking food. Sometimes the store would get so busy that no one would be able to properly wash dishes and bowls between uses. During the company's earnings call in April 2025, Boatwright noted that internal research had found that some restaurants were unclean during peak hours. Employees blame the hecticness, in part, on climbing turnover rates. In 2016, the rate was 130%, according to the company. By 2021 it had swelled to 194%, meaning nearly twice as many people left as were employed there that year. Rates have fallen since then, clocking in at 145% in 2023 and 131% last year. "We firmly believe in consistent and predictable scheduling and providing our employees with sufficient advanced notice of their schedule," says Schalow. "Our staffing levels are the best they have been in recent years, and we continue to see record low turnover rates in our restaurants." The issues have trickled down to customers, who workers say have had to wait in longer lines or forgo ingredients that couldn't be cooked and prepped in time. Last year, after a chorus of customers accused the company of skimping on portions on TikTok, a Wells Fargo restaurant analyst ordered and weighed 75 iterations of the same item at eight locations across New York City — and found a lot of variation. Niccol denied there was any directive to offer smaller portions, and announced training to ensure consistent amounts across locations — although not before a shareholder lawsuit over the matter. "We have not changed our portion sizes, and we have reinforced proper portioning with our employees," says Schalow. "If we did not deliver on our value, we want our guests to reach out so we can make it right." More and more often, customers get nasty with employees. "We'd get yelled at, screamed at," Anna says. "It got so much worse as the years went on." In response to the portion-skimping allegations, customers have taken to filming workers as they make their burritos. It made employees "really uncomfortable to have cameras in our faces while we were working," Thomas says. "People were very rude about it." Schalow at Chipotle says, "We do not condone guests who mistreat our teams and fail to give them the respect they deserve." "A lot of people would lash out," says Smith. "It got really dehumanizing." Anna, who had at one time loved her job so much she planned to stay as long as she could, says that the job became so disorganized and overwhelming that she quit after eight years with the company. In April's earnings call, Boatwright also noted that employees were "not as friendly as we probably should be in restaurant." His solution: Urging them to greet customers with a friendly smile. "The fact is," he said, "smiles down the line don't slow us down." In recent years, a number of Chipotle workers around the country have decided to organize. In New York, Leslie was approached by SEIU 32BJ, a union that organizes primarily low-wage workers like cleaners and food service workers. She had previously been in a union while working at a nursing home, and she liked the idea of having one at Chipotle, too. Chipotle did not agree, she says. "I'll tell you one thing, Chipotle hates the union," says Smiling Estrella. After he was on the news for attending a protest in New York, Chipotle accused him of forcing someone to work during his unpaid break and making employees clock out before working to close up the store. He denies it, calling the accusations "lies." In early 2023, he was fired. "That was really freaking hard," he says. "I went through a deep depression." He nearly lost his apartment as he struggled to make rent, and his phone service was cut off twice. In 2023, Chipotle was hit by seven unfair labor practice charges in New York City, the most of any employer. There are four open charges against the company sitting with the federal National Labor Relations Board for alleged behavior such as unfairly disciplining and threatening workers. Workers at a Michigan location prevailed in forming a union. In 2022, employees at a Chipotle in Lansing overwhelmingly voted to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to address what they said were similar issues of understaffing and inconsistent schedules. The workers say they were barraged by captive-audience meetings and anti-union messaging; the NLRB found the company had violated labor law by trying to deny raises to the unionized workers. They are, to date, the only unionized location. More than two years later they don't have a contract. No other union campaign has succeeded. In March 2022, the "wheels started to fall off" at the Augusta location, McNease says. She had been trying to do training "correctly," but struggled, particularly as people kept quitting. A gas leak in the restaurant started making people sick, and it took the company weeks to send someone out to fix it, she says. That's when she got in touch with someone she knew who was in a union to find out more about the process. The first step, she was advised, was to talk to coworkers about forming a union. "It immediately just took off," she says. Employees were primed for it. "We were just tired of corporate not listening to us. We were literally begging for help," Smith says. On June 15, McNease sent an email on behalf of her coworkers to the restaurant's team director, laying out their demands. It said that, since the previous December, the store had gone without training for new or existing employees, that two workers had been "routinely expected" to complete the prep tasks usually done by six, and that three or four people had to open the store, work that required seven people. These issues put not just employees but customers at risk, with food safety "compromised," McNease wrote. If the company didn't schedule a "full crew" to open the store by the following morning, the letter said, they wouldn't show up to work until they had enough staff and training. That kicked off a two-day walkout. Six days later, the workers became the first Chipotle location in the country to file for a union election with the NLRB. "Management descended on us immediately," McNease says. Employees were called into mandatory meetings that were filled with anti-union rhetoric. The company made new hires that diluted the organizing unit, McNease says; managers screamed at people and overloaded supporters with tasks. People were sent home for slight uniform infractions and fired for "stupid reasons," Smith says. Then, on the same morning that the workers had an NLRB hearing to set an election date, Chipotle sent employees notice that it was shutting the store down permanently. "It was like the rug had been pulled out from under us," McNease says. Workers settled with the company, receiving a total of $240,000 in back pay. "We fought so hard," McNease says, "and in the end, they were able to just walk away." "We respect our employees' rights to organize under the National Labor Relations Act and are committed to ensuring a fair, just and humane work environment that provides opportunities to all," says Schalow. "We closed our Augusta, Maine restaurant because of location-specific staffing challenges of this fairly remote location and other issues, not because of any union activities of the employees there." Muller started talking to her coworkers about unionizing around the time McNease's campaign faltered. She drew up a petition for the NLRB and quickly got most of her coworkers to sign. After management found out in October 2022, the company deployed similar tactics as those in Maine, she says. Higher-ups workers had never seen before showed up, employees say, pulling them into lengthy one-on-one meetings with anti-union talking points; employees felt they were disciplined or even fired for small things that had never previously raised alarm bells. That December, one of Muller's friends came in for a burrito bowl and some chips in the evening, and Muller offered her the chips for free before they got thrown out for the day, a practice accepted by other managers, she says. Her manager wrote her up, and she was fired for stealing. It happened just days before a deadline to have Chipotle reimburse her tuition for the semester, costing her $2,600. She was unemployed for six months. It was also emotionally difficult to lose her job. "It was kind of a part of my identity," she says. Muller filed complaints with the NLRB, which later found that the restaurant had punished workers who were involved in unionizing and had tried to discourage the effort, leading to a settlement that required Chipotle to post a notice about workers' rights to organize. No one was reinstated or given back pay. The union campaign fizzled. "Everyone was scared," Schneider says. Nearly a year into Boatwright's tenure as CEO, Chipotle keeps expanding — it plans to open more than 300 locations this year — though there are signs of trouble. The company's same-store sales have declined for two consecutive quarters in 2025, the first two quarterly drops since the COVID-19 pandemic. Chipotle's stock sits at $41.44, down 37% from a high of $66.16 last December. After more than seven years at Chipotle, Schneider left last year after he graduated from college. He even took a pay cut to take his new job as a graphic designer. But now he feels respected and valued as a member of a team, and the person above him treats him "like a person." "I've never been happier, honestly," he says.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Will the NFL Bring the Magic Back to Disney Stock?
In this podcast, Motley Fool contributors Travis Hoium, Lou Whiteman, and Rachel Warren discuss: The NFL and Disney. Rivian's lost EV credits. Shopify's great quarter. Upstart's explosive growth. To catch full episodes of all The Motley Fool's free podcasts, check out our podcast center. When you're ready to invest, check out this top 10 list of stocks to buy. A full transcript is below. Do the experts think Walt Disney is a buy right now? The Motley Fool's expert analyst team, drawing on years of investing experience and deep analysis of thousands of stocks, leverages our proprietary Moneyball AI investing database to uncover top opportunities. They've just revealed their to buy now — did Walt Disney make the list? When our Stock Advisor analyst team has a stock recommendation, it can pay to listen. After all, Stock Advisor's total average return is up 1,047% vs. just 181% for the S&P — that is beating the market by 865.68%!* Imagine if you were a Stock Advisor member when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,563!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,108,033!* The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 4, 2025 This podcast was recorded on August 06, 2025. Travis Hoium: Disney pulled off a coup locking up the NFL as not just a partner but a part owner of ESPN. Motley Fool Money starts now. Today we're going to get to some of the recent earnings from Rivian, Shopify, and Upstart. But let's start with Disney and the NFL. Disney reported results this morning as we're recording, and they were fine, revenue was up 3% to $23.7 billion. There was a 15% drop in linear TV, so cord cutting is still a huge problem. But the big news is ESPN officially announcing a deal to acquire the NFL network. They get RedZone distribution, NFL's fantasy football business, and more this coincides with ESPN streaming app launching August 21st. You're going to be able to access all of these things all through the streaming app. ESPN also gets six additional NFL games going from 22-28 on that platform. Lou, if you take out political programming over the past year, the NFL accounts for about 98 out of the top 100 shows each year. This seems like a huge get for ESPN. Lou Whiteman: It's definitely a logical fit. It's hard to screw up if your goal is to, I'm going to try and make money off the NFL. That's what history tells us. I'm not really an NFL guy, to be honest. But look, it is the most important live content out there, at least sports content. Adding NFL games and content ahead of launching a streaming service, a no brainer. But Travis, if I had any pushback, I'd say, I think ESPN streaming is going to be a success either way. I'm not sure if I'm Disney how much I'd want to give up to secure this. I think it's a nice to have, not a need. The biggest impact might be outside of ESPN. Fox is launching a similar service. Discovery, Comcast, Paramount, they all have streaming services. They're all scrambling to add live sports. For me, the biggest benefit to Disney having the NFL is that all of these guys won't have the NFL, and the deal makes it a lot harder for all of those competitors. Rachel Warren: This is a landmark deal. There's no doubt about that. That could also be really beneficial for both parties. Bear in mind, you've still got some regulatory hurdles that could be ahead. The agreements also subject to the negotiation of definitive agreements and approval by NFL team owners. But, for example, merging NFL fantasy with ESPN fantasy football, creates a combined official NFL fantasy football experience. That could potentially dominate a large and lucrative market. We've also seen that ESPN will license an additional three NFL games per season to air on the acquired NFL network, which ESPN will now own and operate. That allows Disney to integrate NFL content across its platforms. That could potentially include, merchandising opportunities, theme park experiences, ways of capitalizing on the broader Disney ecosystem. This also, I think, very much aligns with the NFL's interest, as well as they seek to really further monetize their media assets. NFL has previously stated their ambition to reach 25 billion in annual revenue by 2027. But I think if you're looking at this as a Disney shareholder, this is great news for ESPN. Travis Hoium: The story isn't just about ESPN. This is really a Disney streaming story. Every streamer has essentially two challenges. How do you acquire customers and how do you prevent them from churning? This was something that came up a bunch of times during their conference call. The NFL should help with both, especially when you think about bundling them with Disney Plus and Hulu that's going to launch at $30 a month. That sounds expensive, but that's a lot of content for that. We know that Netflix is a Number 1 streaming company with over 300 million subscribers, but Disney Plus has 128 million, 56 million for Hulu, another 24 million for ESPN. Could the bundle that Disney is building position them to be at least Number 2 and potentially challenge Netflix on a different vector with sports and this family entertainment that they have with Disney properties as their competitive advantage. Rachel, what do you think? Rachel Warren: I do think this is a game changer for Disney. I do think it could give it a leg up as it continues to really battle it out for streaming domination against the likes of Netflix. Although these two businesses aren't necessarily one to one. As traditional cable subscriptions decline, though, this deal does allow ESPN to better adapt to the changing media consumption. Habits of fans. Netflix is also investing in live sports, but I do think this ESPN NFL deal really positions Disney to offer a much more robust and specialized sports experience. That could be a key differentiator in the competitive streaming market. They could even leverage the deal to boost advertising revenue through more targeted advertising enabled by that massive sports ecosystem. ESPN is building a comprehensive sports platform. It's creating this one stop shop approach that can appeal both to casual as well as hardcore sports fans. While other streaming services like Netflix are investing in live sports, I think that there is this reality where the combination of ESPN's established brand, the NFL's popularity, and just the underlying financial strength of Disney, it does give ESPN a unique advantage. I do think that it's fair to say that few other platforms can offer such a complete and compelling sports experience. Lou Whiteman: My only real pushback is, I think Disney was pretty well set up even prior to this deal. I think all the moves they've made, Hulu, everything they've done, they are well on their way to being a strong Number 2. In that regard, I'm not sure this is a game changer, but look, my household, we pay for YouTube each month. We subscribe to ESPN Plus. We don't watch a lot of other channels. I'm a soccer geek, so I'm going to hang on to Paramount and Peacock, but I know that's not the majority. I could see a world where Netflix and Disney are all most families really need, and for investors, I don't think it matters who's one and who's two. Travis Hoium: You touched on, Lou. The interesting thing coming up is going to be how much gravity does the NFL hold when it comes to sports rights for other leagues? If this is the place to go for sports, and if you're a sports fan, you have to have ESPN and essentially the Disney bundle. What does that mean for other content? We saw a deal with the WWE and their premium live events announced also this morning. That's going to start in 2026, last for five years. That company is actually owned by TKO who also runs the UFC. They're negotiating a rights deal that ESPN currently has, and they're playing all the streamers off of each other. There's different ways that these companies can go. One would be the MLS route, which went with Apple TV hasn't seemed to be a big success. Is this going to create a gravity for more sports content to end up on the ESPN platform? Lou Whiteman: I think it will. MLS talks growth, and they love to talk about growth. But look, I'm a soccer fan and I don't have Apple TV, and I think a lot of that growth, you better look at the denominator because you're talking about small numbers overall. I'm not the first person to say this, but it does feel like we're going back to the past. We're going back to we pay one or two large sums to an aggregator or a couple of aggregators instead of just a dozen $9 a month subscriptions. I'm not sure that's good news for the consumer. It's maybe just whatever news. But if you're a Disney shareholder, and Disney is transferring all of that value that used to go to the Comcast at the world, and they are now the aggregator, and they're getting that value, I think it's certainly good news for Disney shareholders. Rachel Warren: I do think you're right, Lou. I do think this recent development as well could really bring other players in this space into the fold. The funny thing about MLS commissioner Don Garber had recently said that the season pass available on Apple TV, it's leveraging about 120,000 unique viewers a match. That's a 50% increase from a year ago, but it's considerably lower than the average viewership that MLS games achieved on ESPN. I think it really underscores the importance of that ecosystem. For what it's worth, Disney, ESPN, this is very much a dynamic of going all in on live sports as a core part of the streaming strategy. That recent WWE deal really reinforces this commitment, and UFC remains a high, valuable property for them. It's generated record revenues for the business. It looks like they're still working on renewing their relationship with UFC, who is reportedly seeking a significantly higher yield than they have in the past. But I think that WWE deal could be an indicator of a potential path forward for UFC and NFL deal could create an environment where other players could fear getting left out in the cold if they don't ink a deal soon. Travis Hoium: Now, ESPN is trying to integrate everything together, not only all these sports rights, but also as Rachel mentioned, fantasy sports and sports betting. Now, this is going to be a interesting thread for [inaudible] team to try to work their way through because only a small percentage of people are actually betting on sports, but it sounds they're going to be integrating this quite a bit. Do you think that they're going to be able to pull this off correctly, Lou? Because if I'm seeing all betting information on the ESPN app, that could be a turn off for me as excited as I am to see something like fantasy sports there. Lou Whiteman: I think Pandora's box is open, and I think it'll be fine. Disney, look, they have the history of trying to be more thoughtful about this stuff than others. I definitely think it's something you have to worry about, but I don't think this derails them. I think they figured this out, because I think we're all getting used to betting a lot quicker than we thought we would, whether we do it or not. Travis Hoium: Let's end this segment with a bowl prediction. I have a bowl prediction for you too that I want your thoughts on Disney's streaming revenue with Disney Plus and Hulu is currently on a $24.7 billion run rate that does not include ESPN Plus. Netflix has a $44.3 billion run rate as of the most recent quarter. ESPN is going to be going over the top with $30 per month. Is Disney's streaming business going to be bigger than Netflix in 2026? I think it is. But what are your thoughts Rachel? Rachel Warren: I do think that that's absolutely the case that they could in fact be the bigger streaming company than Netflix by 2026. One analyst report that I saw had estimated that Disney Plus could reach something like 294 million subscribers by next year, and that would exceed the projections for Netflix of around 286 million. Ultimately, these are two fantastic businesses. They do cater to different types of streaming needs as well. I think Disney can be a winner and continue to be so really regardless of whether or not it actually exceeds Netflix's subscriber figures. But bowl prediction, I think it's possible. Lou Whiteman: I think probably is the answer, but like Rachel said, I don't think we should obsess on this, and I don't think as investors, it really matters. I don't think Disney's really competing with Netflix. I think they are competing to make sure it is them and Netflix, and they are the big other thing here. Look, Disney and Netflix have much different economics inside streaming, much different total businesses. Just Disney has all things going on. As an investor, I don't want to read too much into comparison. I'm ready to call Disney a winner. I'm not ready to call them Netflix in terms of profitability and stuff. That's how I view it as an investor. Travis Hoium: Their experiences business hit $2.5 billion in quarterly operating income. That's a business that Netflix doesn't have, so they are playing a different game. Next up, we're going to check in on EVs and shopping trends. You're listening to Motley Fool Money. Lou Whiteman: Wish you could lock in rates without locking out liquidity? Meet LDDR a LifeX treasury bond ladder ETF built to simplify your cash flow plan for the next 10 years. With LDDR, you can lock in today's interest rates for a decade. It's built to deliver predictable monthly cash flow that boosts interest income by including tax free return of principle. That means the potential for higher, more stable cash flow without worrying about rate cuts, reinvestment risk or market swings. 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Investing in the LifeX ETFs involve risk. Principal laws is possible. The LifeX income ETFs are distributed by Foresight Financial Services, LLC. Travis Hoium: The EV space has struggled in 2025, and it looks like things are going to get worse before they get better, the elimination of the EV tax credit and restrictions on states' ability to create emissions restrictions, which ends up being regulatory credits for companies like Rivian and Tesla are hitting companies hard. Rivian said last night that they're going to generate $140 million less in revenue than they thought from those credit sales. This seems like a huge hit for EV companies. But is this going to be a boon for Detroit Lou? Lou Whiteman: Change is inherently risky for the incumbents. That's the whole point. The simple fact, and I think we have enough data to call it fact that things are going slower than planned, and we're losing some of these subsidies. Yes, that is indeed a boon for the incumbents. It could be bad news from the newcomers. I think Rivian is probably fine. I respect what they do, but look, Travis, it cracks me up to see it, the number of words and the number of calisthenics they use to get to the word profit in their profitability timeline, that's never a great sign. Meanwhile, Detroit's legacy business provides cash flows that Rivian and Teslas can't match. I think it's a pretty good time to be the incumbents. One word of caution, though, is, I don't necessarily want to call, especially all of the legacy automakers winners because of this. I think the future is going to be messy and uncertain. I think it'll involve consolidation. It'll involve reshuffling. I would really honestly be surprised if any of these stocks outperform the market over the next five years. But if nothing else, the idea that Detroit is toast and these newcomers are just going to inherit the world, I think that's done and dusted. The future likely involves Tesla, GM, Toyota, Ford, and maybe even Rivian, at least in brands, but it's going to be messy from here. Rachel Warren: Regulatory credits are earned by producing vehicles with low or zero emissions. That was a crucial revenue stream for EV manufacturers like Rivian and Tesla. While those regulatory credit changes do negatively impact EV makers, they could absolutely be a positive development for more traditional automakers. But I think the long term impact on EV adoption really remains to be seen. Some analysts have anticipated something like a short term surge in sales at least as consumers are trying to really take advantage of the expiring federal EV tax credit, but I still think there's tremendous potential in this space. The short term look ahead could be challenging, though. Travis Hoium: Shopify is the big winner in trading today after they came out with earnings. This is a hidden gems recommendation going all the way back to 2018. It's been recommended multiple times, starting at $14.05, so well over a 10 bagger since then. Rachel, what did we learn from Shopify about the quarter? Rachel Warren: This was a great quarter for Shopify. They beat on essentially all key metrics of note. They reported revenue of 2.7 billion. That was a beat from what analysts were projecting. They beat on the bottom line. GMV rose 31% year over year. That was also a beat. But importantly, and this is something that investors were really wanting to hear, what is the impact of tariffs? At least for now, Shopify leadership has indicated that while they had anticipated some impact from tariffs, those effects really did not materialize as strongly as they expected in Q2. For example, CFO Jeff Hoffmeister stated that they hadn't observed a slowdown in US demand in transactions. Even though they saw merchants raising prices in some cases, this seemingly wasn't due to significant tariff related cost increases. They also noted that Shopify hadn't seen any meaningful changes in cross border activity or buyer behavior, despite the existing trade tensions. Importantly, only 4% of Shopify's global gross merchandise volume is shipped under de minimis exemptions. This suggests that the impact of removing that exemption is having a limited effect on the company's overall business. This was a really great quarter, and certainly the market responded positively to those developments. Lou Whiteman: I think the tariff commentary is what's juicing the stock. I think a lot of us were confident that tariffs wouldn't ruin Shopify's business, but it was still really interesting to hear them talk about how little of an impact it has had. Here's the thing, though. I don't think the tariff story has played out yet. I do think the impact on mainstream will creep higher in the quarters to come, and it will inevitably to some extent, impact consumer spending. Just as before, I don't for a second, think this is going to ruin Shopify, but investors who might have been overly worried yesterday should not be totally dismissive today. I'm a happy holder of Shopify, but I'm personally zero interested in buying into this rally. Travis Hoium: I want to get to Upstart quickly. They reported over 100% revenue growth, but the stock is down today. Rachel, quickly, what did we learn from Upstart? Rachel Warren: They had their first GAAP profitable quarter since Q2 of 2022. As you noted, revenue surged 102% year over year. They also originated 159% more loans than one year ago. More than 90% of its loans processed through its AI driven underwriting platform are completely automated without human intervention. They're continuing to build really strong relationships with their funding partners, seeing the success from their newer home equity line of credit product. Over 50% of funding is coming from committed partnership agreements. It's adding a lot more stability to its business model. It was pretty great results for Upstart. Lou Whiteman: I'm a happy shareholder here, too, but if we're honest, the risk reward here remains high. We had another quarter where evidence that the partners like the platform. They're doing a good job, filling the demand that's there. But to me, the COVID recession, with all the stimulus, that doesn't really count as a true downturn. With Fintex, there are always a lot of unknowns until a company has proven its model works through a real sustained downturn. My big takeaway from Upstart is they did nothing to diminish the build bull case, but there's still just so much we won't know for a while. Travis Hoium: As always, people on the program may have interests in the stocks they talk about, and the Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against. Don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows Motley Fool editorial standards and is not approved by advertisers. Advertisers are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only to see our full advertising disclosure. Please check out our show notes. For Lou Whiteman, Rachel Warren, and Dan Boyd behind the glass, and the entire Motley Fool team, I'm Travis Hoium. We'll see you tomorrow. Lou Whiteman has positions in Shopify and Upstart. Rachel Warren has positions in Apple and Shopify. Travis Hoium has positions in Shopify and Walt Disney and has the following options: long December 2027 $5 puts on Rivian Automotive. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Netflix, Shopify, Tesla, Upstart, and Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Comcast, General Motors, and TKO Group Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Will the NFL Bring the Magic Back to Disney Stock? was originally published by The Motley Fool
Entrepreneur
4 hours ago
- Entrepreneur
Battery Visionary
At the core of Exponent's offering is a seamlessly integrated ecosystem: the e^pack (battery), e^pump (charger), and e^plug (connector), all designed to work together. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. You're reading Entrepreneur India, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media. When Arun Vinayak co-founded Exponent Energy back in 2020, he wasn't just launching a new business—he was setting out to solve what he believed was the biggest hurdle in India's electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem: energy. "As the EV market evolved, it became obvious that the driving experience had finally caught up with traditional petrol and diesel cars," Arun shared. "But we were still facing issues like long charging times, poor battery life, and a lack of infrastructure. These weren't isolated problems—they were symptoms of a broken energy system." This insight inspired Arun and his team to create a solution from the ground up. At the core of Exponent's offering is a seamlessly integrated ecosystem: the e^pack (battery), e^pump (charger), and e^plug (connector), all designed to work together. The outcome is a standard lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery that can fully charge in just 15 minutes and lasts for an impressive 3,000 cycles. "What sets us apart," Arun noted, "is our ability to provide ultra-fast charging without sacrificing affordability or battery life." One of Exponent's standout innovations is its heat management system. Rather than using bulky and costly onboard cooling systems, Exponent has cleverly integrated the thermal system into the charging station itself. "Our off-board cooling circulates refrigerated coolant through the connector, cooling each cell individually," he explained. "This keeps the battery at its optimal temperature—even in India's extreme weather—without adding extra cost or weight to the vehicle." Even with its current success, Exponent's path hasn't been without its bumps. "India hasn't historically excelled in hardware innovation," Arun admitted. "Finding the right talent and fostering a strong engineering culture was essential." Convincing manufacturers to embrace their technology was another challenge. Arun addressed this by engaging directly with end-users. "Once we demonstrated the value to customers, it became much easier for OEMs to place their trust in us." Today, Exponent powers over 1,700 vehicles across five Indian cities (Delhi NCR, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, and Hyderabad) and has completed more than 350,000 charging sessions."We've just rolled out India's first and the world's third 1 megawatt fast-charging technology for heavy electric vehicles," Arun shared. Looking to the future, he envisions tremendous growth. "We've demonstrated that the technology is effective and scalable. Now, it's all about branching out into different vehicle types and cities," he explained. "The EV battery market is just beginning, and we're thrilled to be at the forefront." Arun's goal is straightforward: "Our mission has always been to make energy simpler and electrify transportation. That's a commitment that remains unchanged—and it always will." Facts:
