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Microsoft stock just suffered its biggest single day drop since 2020. Meanwhile, Meta stock popped by 10%. Both tech giants are spending billions on AI talent and infrastructure, but investors clearly feel skittish about Microsoft at the start of 2026 and bullish on Metas tale of near-term upside. For a company that famously whiffed on the metaverse, Meta is looking more reasonable these days. The company is still poised to invest eye-popping sums into artificial intelligence in the coming years, but so are all of its peers, Microsoft included. In an era of AI hype and sky-high expectations, Meta is following the crowdnot leading itfor better or worse. In 2026, the company is building a grounded narrative around its strong revenue growth. Meta is an advertising company through and through and in 2026 its emphasizing that core competency while pointing to strong revenue growth backing up the story. Meta reported $59.89 billion in revenue in the last quarter, beating Wall Streets by over $1 billion. The company said more people are using its wide family of social apps, with 7% daily active user growth year over year across its products. Mark Zuckerberg still took some time in Wednesdays earnings call to declare that he cant imagine a world where most glasses that people wear aren’t AI glasses within the next few years, but at least he didnt lead with the companys latest cash-burning consumer hardware bet. Metas AI spending green light The Menlo Park tech giants investment in AI is only growing. In 2026, Meta expects to splash out between $115 billion and $135 billion in capital expenditures, way up from the $72.22 billion it spent across 2025. Meta says that increase will largely be driven by upped investment into Meta Superintelligence Labs, its AI division. Were in this interesting period where weve been rebuilding our AI effort, and were six months into that, and Im happy with how its going, Zuckerberg said. Meta is bullish on its near future revenue too. The company is expecting to bring in between $53.5 to $56.5 billion in its next quarter. On its earnings call, executives highlighted how weaving AI into its existing products is explicitly boosting its ad business. There are several major business opportunities that were focused on one is just going to be improving the core products and accelerating the current business, Zuckerberg said, noting that Metas products are already benefitting from AI integration into their recommendation engines. The company says that advertisers are responding to ad performance improvements already and those successes are driving conversion growth and revenue. Investors took note, the stock popped and the companys narrative about where all that AI spend will go seems to make sense to the market, at least for now. Microsofts story is complicated Investors seem to appreciate that Meta is eating its vegetables and bolstering its ad business these days, but Microsoft is a different story. Microsoft, once the boring PC company, is on the cutting edge of the AI boom. The company handily beat expectations in its own earnings report this week, notching $81.3 billion in quarterly revenue a 16% year over year increase. Its net income bested expectations too. So what went wrong? If investors are worried about being over indexed on Microsoft, Microsoft may be worried about being in too deep with OpenAI. The tech stalwarts AI bets are complex due to being bound up with OpenAI, which the larger company has invested more than $11 billion into to date. Microsofts latest earnings were buoyed by OpenAIs transformation into a more traditional for-profit company, which Microsoft will own a 27% stake in, valued at $135 billion. That investment delivered Microsoft $7.6 billion in net income in the last quarter. Microsoft increasingly competes with its longtime partner, but remains worryingly dependent on it at the same time. The company is holding onto an astronomical $625 billion backlog in pent up demand for its cloud computing business, but just disclosed that OpenAI accounts for 45% of those outstanding cloud contracts. If OpenAI stumbles, Microsoft does too. Microsoft may be powering the AI revolution, but, until solved, its capacity woes put an awkward cap on the revenue that business can bring in. To fix the problem, the company is feeding its voracious appetite for cloud computing capacity but all of that spending may start to rattle investors. Microsoft shelled out $37.5 billion in capital expenditures in the last quarter, a figure that includes AI infrastructure investment like data centers. Meanwhile, its Azure cloud business grew 39% in the quarter, beating expectations but staying flat from last quarters growth. In the companys earnings report, CEO Satya Nadella argued that Microsoft is well-positioned in the beginning phases of AI adoption. We are pushing the frontier across our entire AI stack to drive new value for our customers and partners, Nadella said. AIs major players are set to sink more cash than ever into the technology this year. But after a few years of AI-driven sugar highs, the industry may finally be tempered by investors eager for an endgame.
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E-Commerce
Sunday’s Grammys mark a return to normalcy after the 2025 show was altered to focus on Los Angeles-area wildfire relief efforts. I think we will see some history-making moments, Recording Academy CEO and President Harvey Mason jr. told The Associated Press. With artists being nominated in categories they haven’t been previously nominated in, and a new crop of talent coming through the system this year I think we’re going to see some really exciting results. Heres what you need to know about the 2026 Grammys, including how to stream and where you can see musics biggest stars walking the red carpet. How do I watch the Grammys? The main show will air live from LA’s Crypto.com Arena on CBS beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. Paramount+ premium plan subscribers will be able to stream the telecast live, too. (Paramount+ essential subscribers will have on-demand access the next day.) The Grammys can also be watched through live TV streaming services that include CBS in their lineup, like Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, and FuboTV. The Premiere Ceremony will take place ahead of the Grammys telecast, at 3:30 p.m. Eastern from the Peacock Theater. It can be streamed at the Recording Academys YouTube channel and on live.GRAMMY.com. Who is performing at the Grammys? The show will feature a special segment in which all eight of this year’s best new artist nominees will perform. That means Leon Thomas, Olivia Dean, global girl group Katseye, The Marías, Addison Rae, sombr, Alex Warren, and Lola Young will all share the stage before going head-to-head for one of the night’s biggest prizes. Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, Clipse, and Pharrell Williams will also perform. Reba McEntire, Brandy Clark and Lukas Nelson will take the stage for the in memoriam. Ms. Lauryn Hill will pay tribute to DAngelo and Roberta Flack. Post Malone, Andrew Watt, Chad Smith, Duff McKagan and Slash will honor Ozzy Osbourne. Who is presenting at the Grammys? Doechii and Harry Styles are the first confirmed presenters. Who is hosting the Grammys? Comedian Trevor Noah will host the show for the sixth consecutive time and it will be his last. I am beyond thrilled to welcome Trevor Noah back to host the Grammys for his sixth, and sadly, final time, Grammys’ executive producer Ben Winston said in a statement. Hes been the most phenomenal host of the show. Hes so smart, so funny, and such a true fan of the artists and music. His impact on the show has been truly spectacular, and we cant wait to do it together one last time. The only other people to host six or more Grammy telecasts were musical artists: Andy Williams hosted seven shows, followed by John Denver with six. Noah previously tied LL Cool J, with five. Noah himself is a four-time Grammy nominee and is up this year in the audio book, narration, and storytelling recording category for Into The Uncut Grass, a childrens story. He’s a special host. He really finds the right balance between being funny and smart and knowledgeable but also being a fan of music. And I love that. Its so hard to find that combination, Mason jr. said. As for his departure? Every person at some point in their career, they decide they want to do something else, Mason jr. said. And were so appreciative of the years that we got from Trevor. Hes really helped define the show and make the show what its become over the last six years. How can I watch the red carpet? The Associated Press will stream a four-hour red carpet show with interviews and fashion footage. It will be streamed on YouTube and APNews.com. Who is nominated for the Grammys? Kendrick Lamar leads the nominations with nine total. He’s up for record, song and album of the year marking the third time hes had simultaneous nominations in those big categories as well as pop duo/group performance, melodic rap performance, rap song and rap album. Hes also nominated twice in the rap performance category. Lady Gaga, Jack Antonoff and Canadian record producer/songwriter Cirkut follow Lamar with seven nominations each. Thomas, Bad Bunny, Serban Ghenea and the aforementioned Carpenter all boast six nominations. Andrew Watt, Clipse, Doechii, Sounwave, SZA, Turnstile and Tyler, the Creator have five each. There are a number of first-time nominees as well this year, including Tate McRae, Zara Larsson, PinkPantheress, JID and Timothée Chalamet. You read that correctly. ___ For more coverage of this years Grammy Awards, visit: www.apnews.com/hub/grammy-awards Maria Sherman, AP music writer
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E-Commerce
The legendary $4.99 rotisserie chickens from Costco are under fire this week as a proposed class action lawsuit claims the big box retailer has been misleading customers. Two California shoppers noticed something that might seem obvious in retrospect: To sell an entire, slow-roasted chicken in a plastic bag, Costco added two preservatives. Problem is, the Issaquah, Washington-based company had promised on the packaging, in-store displays, and online that the chicken contained no preservatives. The lawsuit filed last week with the Southern District claims that Costcos promise that its rotisserie chickens contain no preservatives signals to reasonable consumerslike the two women who are plaintiffs in the casethat nothing was added to preserve the taste, flavor, texture, or shelflife of the product. But two preservativessodium phosphate and carrageenanare listed on the ingredient list. Costco Wholesale Corporation has systemically cheated customers out of tensif not hundredsof millions of dollars by falsely advertising its Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken as containing no preservatives, the lawsuit reads, in part. Consumers reasonably rely on clear, prominent claims like No Preservatives, especially when deciding what they and their families will eat, Wesley M. Griffith, the California managing partner with Almeida Law Group, which represents the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, said in a statement. Costcos own ingredient list contradicts its marketing. Thats unlawful, and its unfair. INGREDIENTS IN FOCUS Costco has already taken steps to address the main concern of the lawsuit. To maintain consistency among the labeling on our rotisserie chickens and the signs in our warehouses/online presentations, we have removed statements concerning preservatives, a company representative said in a statement to KTLA 5 News. We use carrageenan and sodium phosphate to support moisture retention, texture, and product consistency during cooking. Both ingredients are approved by food safety authorities. These ingredients have landed other big companies in hot water in the past: In late 2024, a judge ruled that Kraft Heinz must face a proposed nationwide class action lawsuit that similarly focused on the companys use of sodium phosphate in its macaroni and cheese products. And the addition of carrageenan in products labeled as natural or organic has been the subject of several lawsuits in recent years. Whats more, Costco has faced criticism of its use of carrageenan in the past. The Cornucopia Institute, an organic food watchdog group, sent a letter to Costco in 2023 urging it to remove carrageenan from organic products. And the ingredient is one of many targeted by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. SUIT SEEKS MONETARY DAMAGES In the latest lawsuit filed against Costco, the plaintiffs are seeking unspecified monetary damages, and if a judge approves a class action lawsuit, that might mean the retailer has to pay out anyone else who bought the chicken during a specified time period. Interestingly, the plaintiffs said they might have still opted to purchase the rotisserie chicken had they known about the two ingredients, but would have paid significantly less for it. It might be hard for some people to imagine paying even less, as Costcos rotisserie chicken is considered a loss leader, meaning the company realizes very little or no profit selling it. Costco shares fell nearly 1% in mid-day trading on Thursday, extending a selloff of more than 3% in the past week.
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E-Commerce
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