Starbucks is partnering with Ariana Grande on its latest coffee offering. The coffee chain and singer both posted twin cloud emoji tweets on Monday. Grande tagged @Starbucks, leading fans online to piece together that she was teasing the new "Cloud Macchiato," which Starbucks ($SBUX) officially launched this week. She followed those up with a pair of new tweets Tuesday morning showing the singer decked out in a Starbucks apron sipping on one of the new bevvies.
Internal documents showed that Grande was helping the company launch the new beverage, according to Business Insider.
Grande might already be considered an unofficial brand ambassador given how many times she's been snapped holding a Starbucks drink. Starbucks has not confirmed that it has a partnership with the "Thank U, Next" singer, though BI reported that as part of the promotion some stores will also feature Grande-approved playlists and songs.
The Cloud Macchiato is a twist on an Italian coffee staple. The "macchiato," literally translated to "stained" is a shot of espresso with a bit (stain) of frothed milk. Starbucks gained success bastardizing that and other Italian cafe classics with iced versions, caramel drizzles, and mocha. The Cloud version will come in cinnamon or caramel versions with a dollop of whipped cold milk foam, according to the press release.
Pax Labs, a leading electronic vaporizer company, plans to release its very first cannabis pod venture, of which different strands of cannabis will be available. COO Steven Jung spoke with Cheddar’s Chloe Aiello to talk about the release of the companies own line of 100 percent cannabis pods for use with its vaporizers. "I think this is the direction that most products are going," Jung noted. "If you look at the data, it would actually show you that most consumers are in fact looking for this kind of delivery mechanism in the product itself."
The gaming industry has seen multiple large scales deals this month alone, including Microsoft's megadeal for Activision Blizzard. And, seemingly in response, rival Sony, picked up Bungie for $3.6 billion, a studio once owned by both Microsoft and Activision. The sector is reportedly on track to spend $150 billion on mergers and acquisitions just this year alone, a record-breaking total, according to investment firm Drake Star Partners. Michael Metzger, a partner at the firm specializing in technology, media, and communications, joined Cheddar to discuss the flurry of deals in the gaming space and what might be behind the hot M&A activity.
Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs and TRM Labs, joins Cheddar News to discuss why Facebook is ditching its crypto project and what that means for the space.
Natalie Fertig, federal cannabis policy reporter at Politico Pro, joins Cheddar News to discuss a new YouGov poll that looks at how Americans feel about marijuana and politics.
After classic rocker Neil Young demanded removal of his music from Spotify over vaccine misinformation coming from The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, the platform made the decision to take down Young's songs and continue supporting Rogan with whom they have an exclusive contract. The move touched off a firestorm of controversy, leading to responses from both the streaming service and the podcasting host. Evan Nierman, CEO of Red Banyan Crisis PR, joined Cheddar to break down the latest on the fracas. "I think when [Spotify] initially said, we're not going to be commenting on that, that was a silly move because guess what? They did end up commenting about it, and nine times out of 10, when an organization says they're not going to be issuing a comment, they ultimately do," Nierman noted.
Tesla reported record profits for an electric fourth quarter, but investors still have plenty of questions. The EV giant will not be releasing any new vehicles this year and provided no updates on its Cybertruck. Cheddar News was joined by Ed Butowsky, Chapwood Investments Managing Partner to go over Tesla's quarter and analyze its concerns going forward.
Julius De Kempenaer, Senior Technical Analyst at Stockcharts.com, joined Cheddar News to break down what led to Apple's massive quarter, and what the future may hold for the tech giant as competition with Microsoft ramps up.
