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With his tariff policies potentially under threat from the Supreme Court, President Trump over the weekend took to Truth Social to float the idea of doling out a $2,000 “dividend” to every person in America who is not high income. Although experts have expressed doubt about the fiscal feasibility of such a proposaland Trump’s own treasury secretary conceded that he knew of no such plan to send out checksTrump’s post is likely to spark a fresh wave of unsourced news stories designed to induce clicks and raise false hopes among millions of Americans who could actually use a stimulus boost. Here’s what to know: What did Trump propose? In a Truth Social post on Sunday that began with the sentence, “People that are against Tariffs are FOOLS!,” Trump suggested that the government might distribute some tariff revenue directly to Americans. “Record Investment in the USA, plants and factories going up all over the place. A dividend of at least $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone,” Trump posted. However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent downplayed the idea when he made the rounds on Sunday talk shows. On ABCs This Week, after conceding that he hadn’t spoken to Trump about the issue, he speculated that the dividend could come in the form of “tax decreases.” Fast Company reached out to the White House and Treasury Department for additional details. We’ll update this post if we hear back. Are $2,000 tariff dividend checks feasible? Not likely. As Bloomberg pointed out, such a plan could cost anywhere from $300 billion to $500 billion. Even on the lower end, that’s more than 10 times more than the government has been generating in monthly customs receipts. John Arnold, cochair of Arnold Ventures, posted on X that sending checks that size to every non-wealthy person would still cost more than the Tax Foundation’s projected tariff revenue for all of 2026. Why does this sound familiar? It’s not the first time that Trump has publicly entertained the idea of sending out large checks to Americans. Recall that when his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was slashing government jobs earlier this year, the president appeared to endorse an idea first proposed on social media to distribute $5,000 checks to taxpaying households. Although no such plan ever materialized, it didn’t stop news websites from posting updates about the supposed forthcoming payments for months after the fact What happens next? Expect a deluge of articles over the next days and weeks (and possibly months) about the tariff dividend checks, purportedly explaining who qualifies for them, speculating about possible timelines, and just generally flooding the zone. During the COVID-19 pandemic five years ago, website owners discovered that stories about stimulus checks could generate massive web traffic. Except at that time, there was lots of legitimate news to report: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) distributed three such payments during the early pandemic years, and in many cases did so in a glitch-prone way that caused confusion among would-be recipients. Although the IRS distributed the final stimulus checks (aka Economic Impact Payments) for the 2021 tax year, in a way, the news cycle never stopped. Rumors of a fourth stimulus check persisted for months after that, followed by the emergence of increasingly sketchy content farms that seemed to exist solely for the purpose of spreading false details about nonexistent government stimulus plans, gaming Google’s trending searches, and generating clicks in bad faith. As Fast Company reported last year, Google has sometimes moved to remove these sites from search results when made aware of them, but it’s a bit like a game of whack-a-mole. The websites tend to operate overseas, and they sometimes repurpose dormant URLs that have already built up a search history and reputation.
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E-Commerce
I dont know the last time I flew somewhere to visit a mall. But Im here in King of Prussia, Pennsylvainaa Philadelphia suburbwalking around a vast shopping complex thats seemingly frozen in the 90s. Despite it being 11 a.m. on a Friday, cars whizz by to fill the endless parking lots, perhaps to peruse the Nordstrom or grab lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. A few years ago, Id be looking up at a two-story Lord & Taylor. But instead, that big box retailer has been transformed into the next big bet in the experience economy: the inaugural Netflix House. Netflix has been experimenting with expanding its digital footprint into IRL since 2020welcoming millions of people for live events like Bridgertons Victorian ball. But Netflix House is the company’s first permanent physical location. Its spent the past two years working with the global architecture firm Gensler and a handful of other companies to imagine what Netflix could be as a venue. I was invited as one of a handful of journalists to peek inside before it opens to the public this week. As I walk through the front doora door cheekily framed by a classic red Netflix DVD mailera large atrium welcomes me. Im ushered forward by a long, painted red carpet that leads straight up the stairs in an entrance that ironically feels more Hollywood than Hollywood. On the walls, youll see every Netflix thing you knowa 10-foot Thing hand from Wednesday, a spooky mansion from Stranger Things, an upside down, floating chess set from Queens Gambit. But what is Netflix House? My tl;dr version is that it feels like a cineplex for the modern era, but theres only one theater insideand that theater is actually free to attend. Instead, most of the 100,000+ square-foot footprint has been dedicated to amalgamating a millennial fever dream: a space thats part arcade, part store, part mini golf, part restaurant, andmostlya love letter to experimental, immersive theater. However, after two hours of working my way through Netflix Houses spaces and attractions, I realized that Netflix isnt trying to reinvent the “outdated” movie theater for the streaming age. Instead, Netflix wants to take over experiential retail the same way it took over video streaming. [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] Why build Netflix House Say what you will about the streaming wars, but Netflix is still the juggernaut of the global market of its own creation. Its 301.6 million global subscribers approach the population of the United States (the last figure Netflix reported before it stopped sharing subscriber numbers at the end of 2024). When the companys subscriptions began to plateau in 2022, the company finally dropped the ace up its sleeve, and cracked down on subscription sharing. Despite complaints, they added 70 million subscribers since. Its a testament to the power of the Netflix brand, and its IP. But despite the fact that Netflix owns cultural mindshare (how many Rumi costumes did you see on Halloween), Netflix continues to draw 95% of its revenue from subscriptions. It lacks a truly diversified business model. Over multiple interviews, Netflix shied away from outlining its own plans for how Netflix Houses might drive the companys bottom line. The company has committed to building three locations through 2027, and assures me that Netflix House is an idea that it intends to scale. I would love to see this in every major city, says Marian Lee, CMO of Netflix. It would be silly for Netflix to not try. The global entertainment market (including broadcast and events) is a $3 trillion business globally according to PwC. Live experiences, ranging from concerts to podcast recordings to installations like 29 Rooms, are a growing phenomenon within that. The U.S. experiences market has been growing 21% a year since 2019, according to the research firm Habo. In-person, experiential entertainment has been a big business for decades. Disneys theme parks represent 37% of its $90 billion in revenue, while Universal Studios and Super Nintendo World drive about 20% of NBCUniversals $39 billion business. (Its why the companies recently announced theme park investments of $60 billion and $7 billion, respectively.) These figures dwarf Netflixs $3 billion marketing budget from which Netflix Houses seem to have been developed thus far. However, Netflixs approach isnt to build a single global destination that will require families take out a second mortgage to visit; its to craft a duplicatable model. To build a sort of Netflixland inside large scale, oft-abandoned big box retail spaces that dot the U.S.and perhaps nostalgic American malls in particular. It’s designed to be a cross between the classic cineplex and experimental theater, with enough new things to check out to keep up with Netflixs relentless release cadence. We want it to be a place that’s not just like a special occasion destination, says Lee. We want you to come back over and over again. [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] Modular by design Interactive experiences are the big attractions at Netflix House. The company has been honing this idea for a while, having launched 40 experiences for brands like Stranger Things and Bridgerton globally. Theyve entertained 10 million people to date, at 450 openings in 300 cities around the worldlearning whats worked and what hasnt. Every time we do it, it’s like, Oh, that game’s not working as intended. Let’s change that, says Lee. And so we are sitting on a mountain of information that allows us to put something into a permanent space, but we are still able to be flexible. Indeed, Netflix House is built to reshape itself to embrace its latest viral hit. Even its stunning atrium is decorated in swappable set pieces, some of which were updated in the last minute before opening. [Photo: courtesy of the author] The level of detail in the designI really pushed this team to the brink, says Lee, who notes that as K-Pop Demon Hunters was a surprise hit, Netflix needed to figure out how to get the IP integrated at the eleventh houradding the cat Derpy onto a mural outside, and commissioning a big sculpture that will sit outside the space. They hustled and got it done. But we know that for fans who are walking through the mall and see Netflix, they know that that’s really [our] number one film in 2025. And so if we didn’t deliver for them, that wouldn’t be great. As Aaron Birney, Genslers principal of retail and consumer experience, explains, Netflix usually spun up events ad hoc in unique locations. That meant Netflix commandeered big box stores locally, like a closed Best Buy, and transformed them into a proper theater. Similarly, Netflix House is architected to be a barebones frame that recedes behind the content. But its been designed with the acoustics, expansive rooms, and technical framework to enable anything Netflix might want to build inside. [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] Trying Netflixs experiences At Netflix House, two 15,000 square foot sound stages represent a third of the overall footprint, each of which has been transformed into a different IP wonderland offering a different flavor of experiencecomplete with live actors who improv, and will even pull you aside, to round out the immersion. To book these experiences, you can simply scan a QR code and choose your time slot of choice. [Video: courtesy of the author] The One Piece experience, for instance, begins with a member of the Navy locking your group up into a pirate prison cell. And what follows is a long series of escape roomseach with a different puzzle or game. (I found myself running my hands over walls to push symbols at the same time, or turning cranks and switchesone challenge even forces your crew to band together their arms to stretch an electric current from one wall to the other). To manage capacity, two concurrent escape room tracks run at the same time, and doors open on a timer even if you suck. Its a linear experience with one clear story. [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] Wednesdays exhibit is more freeform for you to explore as you like. It kicks off with a truly jaw dropping reveal as you step right into her bedrooma transportive, picture perfect recreation of the show. Her bubbly roommate, Enit, appears with her in silhouette behind the large window to kick off the story. It opens to reveal a maudlin carnival (complete with a laser crossbow shooting range and spinning wheel that will reveal how you will die). Instead of escaping, youre there to play. But you can also follow along with a mystery on your phonewhich will draw you deeper into Wednesdays built world, from the carnival, through a forest, into more striking Wednesday sets like the headmasters office where you can hunt for clues. [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] Netflix is coordinating with show runners so that the mini stories in these experiences feel like they are actually part of the world. And in some cases, the company is installing actual props from these showsas with the lockers installed in a Stranger Things experience coming to the Dallas Netflix House when it opens later this month. That installation gives everyone a large, dark space to explore with a specially programmed flashlight (that, yes, will go out at the worst of times). Dallas will also host real life Squid Games, which Netflix toured with, for fans to compete to win (death punishments not included). Each of these experiences are ticketed separately, starting at $39/head, and theyll actually be moved between Netflix Houses for regional variety. The company is insisting, however, that it doesnt want to take a rinse and repeat approach. Netflix says it wont simply reskin the existing spaces with different IP. Instead, the company is partnering with local artists and several technical experts so that each installation features a different experiential mechanism at its core. Truth be told, its the sets that I found so appealing. To actually step inside a show is a powerful sensation. Its more than just an Instagram opp (of which, yes, the House has many). Youre actually living a piece of entertainment IRL. [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] A theater that doesnt charge Perhaps the biggest twist inside Netflix House is its movie theater, which doesnt charge for tickets. Instead, its a free programming space, where Netflix imagines people meeting up for Monday Night RAW viewing parties, or where actors might tour to promote a show. [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] Its a coy bit of marketing, sure. (And you wont forget its Netflix. Even the walls inside the theater are lined with red, glowing columns that mirror the Netflix slate preceding each show.) But perhaps Netflix also knows that its another way to get people into the House. Some attractions are sponsored (which shouldn’t be a surprise)I noted Mastercard logo adorning the wall near a Bridgerton photo oppand theres plenty of other stuff to spend money on when the show is over, too. Because a considerable amount of the footprint goes to a retail store and a restaurant. Not that its a competition, per se, but the store outperforms some retail Ive seen at Disney World and Universal. I particularly enjoyed a sculpture where One Pieces own Luffy spirals his rubber arm out of a barrel of tangerines to grab his hat. Its hard to resist the endless array of merch, which includes regionalized “NetPHLix” sweatshirts and totes. Who wouldn’t want to binge Love is Blind while chugging Josh out of its official steel wine glasses? [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] The restaurant called Netflix Bites, meanwhile, juggles a vibe between high touch entertainment and mall food court. Greg Lombardo, VP and head of live experiences at Netflix, says hes after an elevated diner concept. The menu is amusing. It offers fan service items like Red Bite, Green Bite chicken referencing Squid Game, and a 2lb pretzel that celebrates how every Netflix story has a big twist. [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] But its the custom neon signs and lovingly created sculptures (the Emily in Paris croissant dress is more exquisite than it has any excuse to be) that make you remember that youre sitting inside a Netflix restaurant. These sculptures were designed by Netflixs own experiences team, and fabricated by F&D. Regarding the menu, I cant help but wonder if they could push the idea of limited time specials further. I want to try a devil fruit of the month, or eat the exact olde English dish from the Bridgerton season finale. I desire more literality here across the board: I want to touch and taste the things that I see on the screen, not just have dishes inspired by Netflix shows. When Lombardo suggests we might see prix fix meals from Chefs Table restaurateurs, I realize thats just what I crave more of. Feed me the feed! [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] At night, a centrally positioned bar is sure to spill over into the attached Top Nine mini golf course, where the goal is to get a high score rather than low. Each hole represents a different show, and RFID balls mean your strokes are tracked automatically. A WWE hole urges you to bounce the ball off the ropes. An Is it Cake hole shows you a clip and makes you properly guess, is it cake? to get the highest score route opened. A One Piece hole actually places two putters against one other, head-to-head, each putting as fast as they can to fire cannonballs in a Skeeball-style arrangement to sink the other ship first. [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] When I mentioned to Lombardo that I had my reservations about minigolf (seriously, minigolf?!?) at Netflix House, he counters that its actually been amongst the most successful pre-booked experiences. Indeed, even the actors being filmed for a promo do seem like theyve having fun between takes. It only costs $15 to play a game, while the largescale experiences run $40 a head (or $160 for a family of four). These prices are within market rate for sure, but its notable that Netflix House has so many tiers of pricing for a visit: Free, $15, or rates that edge into day-at-a-theme-park territory when you mix live experiences with the price of dinner. Finally, Netflix House features a roomscale VR setup created alongside Sandbox VR. Its the one thing I didnt really try, and the one bit of architecture that verged more toward looser scifi framing than Netflix IP (if you didnt put the VR helmet on that is). Inside the VR world, youll be shooting the Demogorgon from Stranger Things. [Photo: Kat Kendon/2025 Netflix Attractions, LLC] The future of Netflix House I have little doubt that Netflix Houses opening in Philadelphia and Dallas this year, and Vegas (2027), will do well in the short term. Research shows that people will travel for live experiencesa recent report found nearly 50% of people would travel up to two hours for an immersive experience, and another quarter would travel up to three. Netflix is one of the most impactful entertainment companies of the modern era. And it doesn’t just have the Netflix brand to stand upon. Its power comes from leveraging its ongoing cadence of viral IP into big box entertainment thats designed to support the next big thing rapidly and fluidly. Yet theres no doubt that Netflix is dipping its toe into the water before completely jumping in. Lombardo tells me he feels pretty confident about the overall structure theyve built, and their balance of entertainment options. But they do intend to keep learning and honing. When we spoke just days before the opening, he said his biggest unknown was actually around customer service. He wanted to ensure that, even in a space where you book tickets via QR code, every touchpoint with a Netflix House employee brought a fan deeper into the brand. I think its reassuring that Netflix, a company known for digitization and scale, is focused on the human componentright down to the actors its hiring and training for its live experiences. I think about the ill fated end of Disney Questa 2000s-era attempt by Disney to reimagine the future of entertainment with arcade gaming but no live theateras something Netflix must have learned from when modeling its own thesis. I found myself framng Netflix House as an AMC for the streaming age, or maybe Planet Hollywood with less crappy food and more actual stuff to do. Maybe even a third space for bored teens, minus the matcha. Ultimately, the market will decide if Netflix House is a worthy idea or not. But I left the space feeling positively nostalgic, remembering the weekends I used to spend staring at a big screen in the dark with my feet sticking to the floor, or recalling the liminal interactions I had with actors in immersive theater shows like Sleep No More. Netflix is embracing some of the most exciting trends in theater while mixing in some of the most popular IP of the era, all within a middle American friendly wrapper of a classic cineplex. If Netflix is a master of anything, its creating a spectacleand making it as easy to experience as possible.
Category:
E-Commerce
Wall Street pointed toward strong gains before markets opened Monday as a bipartisan deal to end the federal government shutdown gained traction in the Senate, though it lacked any clear resolution to expiring health care subsidies that Democrats have been fighting for.Rising hopes for an end to the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history pushed futures for the S&P 500 0.9% higher, while Dow Jones futures gained 0.4%. Nasdaq futures climbed 1.5% on the strength of the technology sector.Health insurers were among the losers early Monday as lack of clarity on health care subsidies clouded their futures.Sunday’s test vote began a series of procedural maneuvers to move toward passing compromise legislation to fund the federal government, though final passage could be several days away. The Senate may hold a vote by mid-December on extending expiring health care tax credits, the key sticking point.President Donald Trump suggested in a social media post over the weekend with few details that the subsidies being sent to the “money sucking” insurance companies should instead be sent directly to people so they can buy their own health insurance.Cigna, UnitedHealth Group and Humana all fell between 1% and 2% in premarket, while some smaller health care companies saw drops of up to 9%.Monday’s gains were led by a rebound in technology shares as investors’ alarm over the run-up in stock prices related to the craze for artificial intelligence appeared to calm.U.S. chipmaker Micron jumped more than 5% before the opening bell, while Seagate Technology and Super Micro Computer each rose about 4.5%.Wall Street remains focused on the latest quarterly reports and forecasts from U.S. companies.More than 90% of companies within the S&P 500 have reported earnings for their latest quarter. Most companies have reported growth beyond Wall Street expectations and the influential tech sector has the strongest growth, according to data from FactSet.Corporate profits and forecasts were already being scrutinized by Wall Street as investors try to gauge whether the market’s overall high value is justified. The results have taken on more significance amid a lack of other data about the economy because of the U.S. government shutdown, which is now the longest on record.The shutdown is responsible for delays in key economic data on inflation and employment that traders and the Federal Reserve rely on in making decisions about investments and policy. The lack of data on employment is especially troubling because the job market has been weakening.The Fed has signaled a more cautious approach on interest rate cuts that Wall Street has been expecting to help stimulate the economy by reducing the cost of borrowing.The Fed has already cut its benchmark rate twice this year as it tries to counter the impact that a weakening employment market could have on economic growth. However, cutting rates could worsen inflation at a time when levels are stubbornly higher than the central bank’s 2% target.Wall Street is still mostly betting that the Fed will cut interest rates at its December meeting.Elsewhere, in Europe at midday Germany’s DAX gained 1.7% and the CAC 40 in Paris jumped 1.3%. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1%.South Korea’s Kospi added 3% to 4,073.24. Computer chipmaker SK Hynix, which is cooperating with Nvidia on artificial intelligence, surged 4.5%. Its bigger rival, Samsung Electronics, was up 2.8%.Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 1.3% to 50,911.76, lifted by big gains for AI related shares such as chipmaker Tokyo Electron, which surged 4.3%.The Hang Seng in Hong Kong rose 1.6% to 26,649.06 and the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.5% to 4,018.60.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.8% to 8,835.90.Taiwan’s Taiex jumped 0.8%, while the Sensex in India gained 0.3%. Elaine Kurtenbach and Matt Ott, AP Business Writers
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