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Sprinkles Cupcakes, the company known for its sweet treats and iconic cupcake ATMs, is no more. Candace Nelson, the company’s founder, ended 2025 by confirming that all Sprinkles locations were shutting down as of December 31. In a video shared to Instagram and TikTok, Nelson said, This isnt how I thought the story would go. I thought Sprinkles would keep going and be around forever. I thought it was going to be my legacy. Sprinkles has yet to make a formal announcement, but its Instagram profile appears to be gone and the store locator tab on its website now produces an error message. Fast Company reached out to the brand’s PR contact for additional details. Nelson started Sprinkles in 2005, but has held no stake in the company since selling it to private equity in 2012. KarpReilly LLC announced an investment in Sprinkles shortly after. That decision over a decade ago has led many social media users to question exactly how Nelson thought Sprinkles would live on and prosper under private equity ownership. While Nelson asked people to share their special Sprinkles memory or story with her, many of the comments under her post instead take a vehemently anti-private equity stanceand blame her for the demise. Below is just a sample of the types of comments Nelson has received: Selling to private equity was the beginning of the end. What did you expect? Private equity has literally NEVER made things better for customers only for board members’ and investors’ pockets. You sold it to PE and expected it to not close?? What planet are you living on? I dont begrudge you for selling as thats entirely your choice but to think any PE firm cares about a company in the slightest is insanity. Legacies cant be abandoned before theyre legacies. PE fingerprints on many retail bankruptcies In recent years, private equity deals have appeared to play a role in the dismantling of a number of legacy retail brands, including restaurants Red Lobster and TGI Fridays, and fabrics chain Joann Inc. Private equity firms have a reputation for stripping down companies parts and leaving them saddled with debt, sometimes leading to bankruptcy. Fast Company has reached out to KarpReilly for comment and will update this post if we hear back. Individuals in the comment sections also claim that Sprinkles employees were blindsided with only one day’s notice and no severance. In response to one such claim on Nelsons TikTok post, a purported former employee wrote, Some of us don’t have backup plans we loved sprinkles and planned to be here forever. Nelson responded to the above comment, Im so sorry this is heartbreaking.
Category:
E-Commerce
The year 2025 was scary good for investors.It was scary because the U.S. stock market plunged to several historic drops on worries about everything from President Donald Trump’s tariffs to interest rates to a possible bubble in artificial-intelligence technology. In the end, though, it was a good year for anyone with the stomach to stick through the swings.S&P 500 index funds, which sit at the heart of many savers’ 401(k) accounts, returned nearly 18% in 2025 and set a record high on Dec. 24. It was their third straight year of big returns.Here’s a look at some of the surprises that shaped financial markets along the way: Tariff tremors Trump dropped the biggest surprise on “Liberation Day” in April, when he announced a sweeping set of tariffs that were more severe than investors expected.It immediately triggered worries about a possible recession and spiking inflation. The S&P 500 plunged nearly 5% on April 3 for its worst day since the 2020 COVID crash. The very next day, it dropped 6% after China’s response raised fears of a tit-for-tat trade war.The tariffs’ impact went beyond the stock market. The value of the U.S. dollar fell, and fear even shook the U.S. Treasury market, which is seen as perhaps the safest in existence.Trump eventually put his tariffs on pause on April 9 after seeing the U.S. bond market get “queasy,” as he put it, which sent relief through Wall Street. Since then, Trump has negotiated agreements with countries to lower his proposed tariff rates on their imports, helping calm investors’ nerves.Wall Street motored higher through a remarkably calm summer thanks to euphoria around artificial-intelligence technology and strong profit reports from companies. The market also got a boost from three cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve.Trade worries can still cause havoc in markets, and Trump sent stocks spiraling as recently as October with threats of higher tariffs on China. Trump and the Fed Another surprise was how hard, and how personally, Trump lobbied to get the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.The Fed has traditionally operated separately from the rest of Washington, making its decisions on interest rates without having to bend to political whims. Such independence, the thinking goes, gives it freedom to make unpopular moves that are necessary for the economy’s long-term health.Keeping interest rates high, for example, could slow the economy and frustrate politicians looking to please voters. But it could also be the medicine needed to get high inflation under control.As inflation stubbornly remained above the Fed’s 2% target, the central bank kept rates steady through August. This drew Trump’s ire even though it was his own trade policies that were driving fears about inflation higher.Trump continuously picked on Fed Chair Jerome Powell, even giving him the nickname “Too Late.” Their tense relationship reached a head in July when Trump, in front of cameras, accused Powell of mismanaging the costs of a renovation of the Fed’s headquarters. Powell, in turn, shook his head.Even though Wall Street loves lower rates, the personal attacks caused some queasiness in financial markets because of the possibility of a less independent Fed. Powell’s turn as Fed chair is set to expire in May, and the wide expectation is that Trump will choose a replacement more likely to cut rates. Good but not first “America first” didn’t extend to global markets. Even as U.S. stocks soared to another double-digit gain, many foreign markets fared even better.The technology frenzy that helped fuel gains for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite drove Korea’s KOSPI higher in 2025, enjoying its biggest gain in more than two decades. South Korea is a technology hub and companies including Samsung and SK Hynix surged amid the focus on artificial intelligence investments and advancements.Japan’s Nikkei 225 had a double-digit gain for a third straight year. Besides the focus on AI and the technology sector, the gains were boosted in October and November following national elections and plans for a $135 billion stimulus package.European markets also had a strong year. Germany’s DAX got a boost as the government announced plans to ramp up spending on infrastructure and defense, which could fuel economic growth in Europe’s largest economy.The European Central Bank spent the first half of the year cutting interest rates, which helped give financial markets across Europe a boost. France’s CAC 40 was a laggard, but still gained more than 10%. Crypto’s ups and downs Even with a reputation for volatility, cryptocurrencies still managed to surprise market watchers.Bitcoin dropped along with most other assets early in the year as Trump’s trade policies scared investors away from riskier investments.The most widely used cryptocurrency roared back as the White House and Congress threw their support behind digital assets and the Trump family launched a number of crypto ventures. Retail investors joined in by pouring money into bitcoin ETFs, stock-like investments that allowed them to benefit from the run-up in price without having to actually store bitcoin in digital wallets. Some companies, notably Strategy Inc., made buying and holding crypto the crux of their business and their stocks jumped.Bitcoin hit a high around $125,000 in early October. But, almost as quickly, digital assets tanked as investors worried the prices for shining stars such as tech stocks and crypto had jumped too high. As of Wednesday afternoon, bitcoin traded around $87,700, down roughly 30% from the peak and 6% below where it started the year. What’s ahead? Many professional investors think more gains could be ahead in 2026.That’s because most expect the economy to plod ahead and avoid a recession. That should help U.S. companies grow their profits, which stock prices tend to track over the long term. For companies in the S&P 500, analysts are expecting earnings per share to rise 14.5% in 2026, according to FactSet. That would be an acceleration from the 12.1% growth estimated for 2025.But some of last year’s concerns will linger. Chief among them is the worry that all the investment in artificial-intelligence technology may not produce enough profits and productivity to make it worth it. That could keep the pressure on AI stocks like Nvidia and Broadcom, which were responsible for so much of the market’s gains last year.And it’s not just AI stocks that critics say are too pricey. Stocks across the market still look expensive after their prices climbed faster than profits.That has strategists at Vanguard estimating U.S. stocks may return only about 3.5% to 5.5% in annualized returns over the next 10 ears. Only twice in the last 10 years has the S&P 500 failed to meet that bar.At Bank of America, strategist Savita Subramanian says the S& P 500 could rise by less than half as much as profits do in 2026. She said that could be a result of companies reducing stock buybacks, as well as global central banks implementing fewer rate cuts.__Reporter Damian Troise contributed. Stan Choe, AP Business Writer
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E-Commerce
The past year was a landmark for AI proliferation, with sweeping implications for virtually every area of business and life. But with progress came peril. We saw cyberattacks explode in number and sophistication, outmaneuvering legacy security defenses to create record damage. These trends will only accelerate from here, and its not enough for teams to simply brace for impact. Instead, organizations must anticipate whats ahead and reimagine their security stacks, thinking about how to preempt attacks and optimizing their workflows. Thinking about cybersecurity in the new year, its critical to have a clear vision and get to work fast to meet the moment. Here are three trends to watch. 1. Eyes on the evolving threat landscape In 2026, the mass personalization of cyberattacks will disrupt the classical kill chain model, which relies on observing and then reacting to stop threats. Attackers will leverage AI to understand business’s unique vulnerabilities and craft personalized, novel software for each enterprise. This means every organization will see a massive rise in sophisticated, tailored attacks that are not known to the majority of their current security tools, pitting them in a race against time to spot the attack and respond before sustaining widespread damage. Adding AI to reactive tools will help, but will be woefully insufficient to counter this new onslaught. Instead, this shift will require security teams to develop wholly new approaches to preemptively mitigate and avoid these highly personalized threats. AI will also lead to the development of malware that can adapt and evade defensive measures, posing a significant threat to cybersecurity teams. These make it less likely that the novel attacks mentioned above will be detected before they can do large scale damage. AI-powered, autonomous malware will be capable of changing code and behavior to avoid detection, making it harder for security systems to identify and neutralize it. The emergence of autonomous malware will mark a new era in cyberthreats, where AI-driven attacks become increasingly sophisticated and resilient and put further stress on existing security solutions that rely on a detect and respond model to be effective. Compounding these threats, the problem of deepfakes will significantly worsen. The proliferation of deepfakes will increase misinformation and social engineering, leading to major breaches and higher success rates for scams and theft. As AI technology advances, the creation of realistic deepfakes will become easier and more widespread. This will result in a proliferation of fake videos and audio recordings that can be used to deceive individuals and organizations, undermining trust and security. This will coincide and often be combined with a new generation of AI-driven email, text and social media-based attacks. These attacks are tailored to individuals and nearly indistinguishable from legitimate communication, enabling highly personalized, real-time social-engineering campaigns. Relying on humans as a last line of defense has long been a tenuous approach. Against threats this advanced, that approach collapses. Modern security demands automated, adaptive defenses that remove the burden from individuals. 2. Protect an expanding attack surface IoT and IT devices (networking and security infrastructure) will become a bigger target for attacks due to the ease of creating and deploying attacks against them. The proliferation of smart devices in businesses and homes presents an opportunity for attackers to get persistent footholds from which they can pivot and launch attacks or wreak havoc and create disruption of operations. Bespoke and out of date networking and security infrastructure likewise will be exploited as AI can readily adapt attackers for different operating systems and software levels. With AI, it will be much more attractive for cybercriminals to develop and execute attacks on these devices, leading to an increase in security incidents. AI itself is becoming one of the most attractive parts of the attack surface to exploit. Attacks on AI will increase dramatically, leading to significant data leaks and business process disruption. As AI gains ever wider adoption and is interwoven into all aspects of enterprise software, AI’s autonomous nature will be co-opted to enable the AI to function much like a human insider threat, where the internal AI models elevated access rights will be leveraged in large scale breaches. Robust security measures are needed to protect the rapidly expanding AI attack surface. 3. Cybercrime-as-a-service hits its stride The era when a cybercriminals reach was constrained by their technical skill is long gone. Today, an AI-driven underground economy is reshaping the threat landscape, empowering financially motivated actors with unprecedented capabilities. These adversaries no longer need deep expertise; they can tap into a growing ecosystem of ready-made services, ranging from exploit kits and ransomware-as-a-service platforms to stolen credential marketplaces and initial access brokers. Looking ahead to 2026, this cybercrime-as-a-service model is expected to reach new heights of sophistication. AI tools will enable even inexperienced attackers to execute complex, multi-stage campaigns with alarming precision. As a result, the traditional line between opportunistic hackers and highly organized cybercrime syndicates will continue to blur, driving both the scale and complexity of financially motivated attacks to levels weve never seen before. Its time to reimagine cybersecurity considering the changes well continue to see in 2026. The world’s pre-AI reactive model of security will not work in an AI-first attacker world. Simply adding AI to these legacy tools will give a false since of comfort in the face of the onslaught that is coming. This is an illusion of improved security that will be painfully exposed in 2026. Enterprises need to think differently in a post-AI world about cybersecurity, transforming from a reactive posture into a preemptive strategy that anticipates rather than reacts to attackers. Scott Harrell is CEO of Infoblox.
Category:
E-Commerce
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