Netflix Reveals Staggering Spend On Original Content; Wall Street's NACHO Trade; eBay Rejects GameStop Offer; And AP & Swatch Royal Pop Collaboration
- Dipo Owolabi
- May 13
- 5 min read
Updated: May 20
The worlds of entertainment, trading, and tech speculation are colliding in dramatic fashion. Netflix has revealed it spent a staggering $135 billion building its streaming empire over the last decade. On Wall Street, a new AI-fueled investing craze known as the “NACHO Trade” is concentrating enormous amounts of capital into a handful of mega-cap tech giants, raising both excitement and fears of market fragility. Meanwhile, GameStop stunned markets with an ambitious $56 billion bid for eBay, only to be swiftly rejected as unrealistic and financially unconvincing. At the same time, AP & Swatch Released First Look Of New $400 Royal Pop Collaboration Read It And Eat! |
Markets as of 12th May 2026.. Cells in RED mean that the value is down, cells in Green mean the value is up.
MAJOR HEADLINES
Netflix Spent $135 Billion On Films And TV Over The Past Decade
Netflix has spent an enormous $135 billion on films and television content over the past 10 years, according to Bloomberg, underscoring the scale of the company’s transformation from a DVD rental business into the dominant global streaming platform. The spending includes blockbuster films, original series, international productions, sports programming, documentaries, and licensing agreements that helped fuel Netflix’s rise to more than 300 million global subscribers.
The massive content spending spree also highlights the economics behind the global streaming wars that have consumed the media industry for much of the past decade. Competitors including Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros. Discovery, Amazon, and Apple collectively poured hundreds of billions into competing streaming platforms in an effort to catch Netflix. While many rivals struggled with profitability, Netflix managed to maintain strong subscriber growth, expand advertising offerings, and steadily increase prices, helping investors justify its extraordinary content budget.
Bloomberg notes that Netflix’s spending now increasingly reflects a shift toward scale, global franchises, live programming, and AI-assisted production efficiencies as the company matures. Investors are closely watching whether the streaming giant can continue generating returns from such enormous investment levels, especially as growth slows in some mature markets and competition intensifies globally. Still, Netflix’s decade-long $135 billion content machine has fundamentally altered the entertainment business and cemented streaming as the center of modern media consumption. Bloomberg
The ‘NACHO Trade’ Is Taking Shape On Wall Street
You’ve heard of the TACO trade. Now there’s a new Wall Street acronym borrowed from the pages of a Tex-Mex menu; NACHO, or “Not A Chance Hormuz Opens.” The idea is that the all-important shipping route for global energy supplies will remain effectively shut until the economic costs of its closure, including higher oil prices and accelerating inflation, start piling up.
The term is a nod to the “TACO” trade that’s made the rounds in markets over the past year. Bets that “Trump Always Chickens Out” first emerged last spring, when President Trump walked back some of his market-rattling tariffs and sparked a sharp rebound. “I never bought into the TACO meme,” Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman wrote in a recent post that helped popularize the term. “But NACHO looks right. Hormuz won’t open until the economic damage from its closure becomes much more severe.” Signs of a so-called NACHO trade were evident Monday, after U.S.-Iran diplomacy yielded little progress over the weekend and Trump said the cease-fire between the two countries was on “massive life support.”
U.S. oil prices climbed 2.8% to settle at roughly $98 a barrel, while benchmark 10-year Treasury yields rose to 4.411%, according to Tradeweb, from 4.364% the prior session. Traders now see a less than 5% chance that the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates by the end of the year, according to CME FedWatch. Still, stocks nudged to new records, with rising energy shares and reinvigorated enthusiasm for the artificial-intelligence trade boosting major indexes. Chip-maker stocks extended their blistering rally: Shares of Micron Technology jumped 6.5%, while Qualcomm stock rose 8.4%.The S&P advanced 0.2% to a new all-time high. The Nasdaq composite also notched a new record, edging 0.1% higher, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.2%, or around 95 points. Wall Street Journal
eBay has rejected a $56 billion takeover proposal from GameStop, calling the offer “neither credible nor attractive,” according to CNBC. The proposed deal would have marked one of the most surprising takeover attempts in recent corporate history, pairing the struggling video game retailer with one of the world’s largest online marketplaces. eBay’s board reportedly dismissed the proposal quickly, questioning both the financial structure of the bid and GameStop’s ability to execute such a massive acquisition.
The rejection highlights the increasingly aggressive strategic moves being explored by companies attempting to reinvent themselves amid rapidly changing consumer behavior and intensifying competition in e-commerce. GameStop has spent years trying to reposition itself beyond physical video game retailing after becoming one of the defining “meme stocks” of the pandemic-era retail trading boom. The company has explored ventures tied to digital assets, collectibles, and online commerce, though many investors remain skeptical about its long-term strategy and growth prospects.
CNBC reports that eBay executives viewed the proposal as unrealistic given GameStop’s financial position and the enormous complexity of integrating two very different businesses. Investors appeared to agree, with analysts questioning how GameStop could finance a transaction of that size without taking on massive debt or issuing substantial equity. The failed bid also underscores how speculative enthusiasm surrounding meme stocks continues influencing parts of the market, even as traditional corporate boards remain focused on profitability, scale, and operational credibility. CNBC |
AP And Swatch Released First Look Of New $400 Royal Pop Collaboration
Audemars Piguet and Swatch have officially unveiled the first look at their highly anticipated “Royal Pop” collaboration, a bold new collection of colorful pocket watches priced from roughly $400, according to WatchTime and multiple watch publications. The collection blends the iconic octagonal design language of Audemars Piguet’s legendary Royal Oak with Swatch’s playful 1980s-era POP watch concept, creating eight vibrant limited-edition designs aimed at younger collectors and fashion-focused buyers.
The Royal Pop collection is powered by Swatch’s reworked SISTEM51 mechanical movement and features several recognizable Royal Oak design elements, including exposed bezel screws and textured “Petite Tapisserie” dials. The watches are expected to retail between $400 and $420 depending on the variant, a dramatic contrast to traditional Audemars Piguet timepieces that often cost tens of thousands of dollars. The launch has already generated massive hype online, with collectors camping outside select stores ahead of the official release and resale listings quickly appearing across secondary marketplaces.
The collaboration marks the latest attempt by Swatch to democratize luxury watch culture following the massive success of its previous partnerships with Omega and Blancpain. Analysts say the Royal Pop release could further blur the lines between high-end luxury branding and mass-market collectibles, especially as younger consumers increasingly gravitate toward hype-driven collaborations, streetwear culture, and accessible luxury products. Despite mixed reactions from traditional watch enthusiasts, the release is already shaping up to become one of the biggest watch launches of the year. WatchTime
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