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After an insane ride, Carvana is finally back on top. Now, Amazon is muscling further into its territory

Whatever industry you’re in, whether it’s beauty or electronics, toys or groceries, there’s one phrase you never want to hear: Amazon is getting into your line of business.

So, on Wednesday, when car rental company Hertz announced that it will be selling its cars through Amazon’s automotive retail platform Amazon Autos in selected cities, it’s no surprise that investors touched the brakes on online used car retailer Carvana, which dipped ~2% the day after the news broke.

For Hertz, which changes some 80% of its core rental fleet in the US within a year, the deal is a way to find extra buyers for its 500,000-plus fleet of used vehicles. Now, sites like Carvana will have to compete against the Amazon network for Hertz’s supply.

Speed bumps

Known for its car vending machines, Carvana has more than a few scars from its time as a public company. Technically, anyone who backed Carvana since its IPO has been rewarded handsomely — but the journey’s been anything but smooth.

From a pandemic boom — when everyone wanted to invest in the “Amazon of cars” — to nearly going bankrupt, to raking in a better-than-expected record $4.8 billion in revenue in the latest quarter, Carvana is keeping the roller-coaster stock analogy alive. After an ill-timed, debt-heavy acquisition in 2022, the company nearly buckled under the pressure of higher interest rates, as sales started to go backward and costs mounted.

Since then, CVNA has rebounded a whopping 9,000% as it trimmed costs and slowly returned to growth, finally clawing its way to a fresh stock market high... Enter Amazon.

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Cracker Barrel sinks after unveiling new logo, which some people — including Donald Trump Jr. — really hate

On Wednesday, Southern-themed restaurant chain Cracker Barrel revealed a new, stripped-back logo, as the company presses on with its biggest branding overhaul since it shook things up in 1977. So far, people online have reacted as well as they did to British carmaker Jaguar’s rebrand late last year — that is, not very.

The new, minimalist design leaves the brand name on a plain orange background, chopping out the cartoon barrel that previously sat there, the man leaning against it, and the “Old Country Store” written beneath them.

Though a press release from the restaurant says the new logo roots it “even more closely to the iconic barrel shape and wordmark that started it all,” critics aren’t convinced. One X user lamented, “Noooooo they private equity’d Cracker Barrel,” and the US Graphics Company responded, “Each sunrise, farther from God.” Others have taken issue politically as well as aesthetically — Donald Trump Jr. is not a fan.

The market’s view was similarly dim, with CBRL trading down 12% on Thursday.

The logo refresh builds on revamped restaurant and store interiors announced last year, in addition to a new fall menu and free side promotion this weekend. It also comes amid a bit of a moment for the casual dining industry more widely, with Americans increasingly viewing casual chains as the value option — though how well positioned Cracker Barrel is to make the most of that appetite is another question.

Though annual revenues reached a record $3.47 billion last year, sales haven’t grown quite so healthily as they had for the company serving up “Hashbrown Casserole Shepherd’s Pies” and “Uncle Herschel’s Favorites.” From 1994 to 2004, Cracker Barrel’s revenues grew more than 270%; in the 20 years since then, they’re up just 46%. Will a new logo reinvigorate sales? So far, it’s not looking good.

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One to watch: The trailblazing trajectory of tokenization 

Not only has it catapulted from $0 to a $25 billion market in four years, but suddenly some of the biggest players in finance are talking about it.

One of the biggest stories today is tokenization: the idea of moving stocks, bonds, and other real-world assets over blockchains instead of traditional networks. 

Stocks are a $117 trillion market. Bonds are a $140 trillion market. That’s $257 trillion up for grabs in the tokenization wars.

Think about that for a second.

This is one chart you’ll want to keep your eye on.

For this and more of the biggest stories moving crypto markets, check out the Bitwise Crypto Market Review — 60+ charts and tables created by the specialists at Bitwise.¹ 

Walmart is still king of Retail America as Target sales continue to slide

It’s been a big week for retail, with the effects of tariffs fully setting in for some of America’s best-known store chains as they report results for the second quarter.

On Thursday, Walmart shares fell more than 4% after the company posted its first quarterly profit miss since May 2022, with adjusted earnings per share falling below expectations — despite US same-store sales growing almost 5%, topping forecasts and bringing in more than $177 billion in revenue.

While there were aspects of Walmart’s results that investors were less than enthusiastic about, including hints at further price hikes, there was also plenty to like: the company cited its massive supply chain and dominant market position as reasons it can keep its price rises below the national average. However, in the face of tariffs and slumping consumer spending, not all retailers are faring so well.

Wide of the mart

Just a day before, Target, one of Walmart’s biggest competitors, reported pretty much the exact opposite situation. Though earnings came in above expectations, same-store sales fell 1.9% and profit dropped by almost 20% — marking the retailer’s 11th consecutive quarter of flat or falling sales. Target stock sank ~6% in Wednesday trading, seeing its market cap get dragged even further behind its rival.

With Target’s model reliant on international goods — it imports roughly half of its merchandise, compared with ~33% at Walmart, per CNN — the retailer needs to raise prices even further to mitigate the impact of tariffs. But even before that, Target was struggling to draw customers from discount chains and e-commerce giants like Amazon.

Now, Target is hoping that a leadership shake-up might help to get sales out of the red. Around its quarterly results, the company announced that CEO Brian Cornell will step down in February after more than a decade, with current Chief Operating Officer Michael Fiddelke, who’s been at the company for 22 years, set to take the helm.

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From Circle’s IPO to the GENIUS Act, it’s been a stablecoin summer. Stay crypto-current on stablecoins, tokenization, and other stories with the Bitwise Crypto Market Review, which has 60+ charts and tables created by the experts at Bitwise.¹ 

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Off the charts: Searches for which platform, whose owner just received a record $701 million in dividends ahead of a potential sale, were no match for “fans” during the last heatwave in the UK? [Answer below]. 

Answer here.

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