Good morning. It’s February 21, and the weekend is waving at us from the finish line. On this day in 1995, American businessman and adventurer Steve Fossett became the first person to fly solo across the Pacific in a balloon. Yes, a balloon. Just some fabric, hot air, and sheer audacity. He took off from South Korea and casually landed in Canada. And because that wasn’t wild enough, in 2002, he decided to one-up himself and became the first person to fly solo around the world. Some people can’t even make it through a road trip without a meltdown, and this guy just lapped the planet. 

It was a solid week. Maybe you crushed it. Maybe you just showed up and nodded in meetings. Either way, you made it. Now, please enjoy the news.

Today’s stories:

• Microsoft’s quantum breakthrough edges closer to reality

• NikeSkims launches as Nike struggles to recover

• Musk’s Grok 3: smarter, scarier, still Grok

• iPhone 16e: SE gets a modern makeover

• Hims & Hers brings at-home blood tests

• Meta builds a 50,000-km internet cable

• Trump kills NYC congestion pricing plan

• Forever 21 files for bankruptcy, again

  and more…

Wall Street hit the brakes Thursday after two days of record highs, all thanks to Walmart killing the vibe. The retail giant’s underwhelming forecast made investors question whether the economy is actually as solid as everyone pretends. The Dow tumbled 486 points (1.1%), while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq slid 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively. But the real drama? Walmart tanked over 6% after admitting its sales growth might only crawl at 3-4% next year. And its earnings forecast? Let’s just say analysts weren’t impressed. Even a solid fourth-quarter report couldn’t save it—because apparently, no one cares about what you did, only what you might do next.

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Nike Is Struggling, So It Called Kim K

Nike’s sales are sinking, its stock has lost a quarter of its value, and its new CEO needs a miracle. Enter Kim Kardashian. The company just announced NikeSkims, a shapewear-meets-activewear line that will supposedly disrupt the industry. No prices, no photos, just big promises. The collection launches this spring in the U.S., with a global release in 2026.

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Fidelity hits $5.9 trillion. Fidelity just added $1 trillion to its empire, hitting $5.9 trillion in assets while raking in a record $32.7 billion in revenue. Markets went up, interest rates helped, and investors kept throwing money at its funds. Unlike BlackRock and Vanguard, which are sweating industry shifts, Fidelity’s side gigs in brokerage and 401(k) management keep the cash flowing. With $15.1 trillion now under administration, it’s less of an investment firm and more of a money vacuum.

Forever 21 might not be forever after all. Forever 21 is filing for bankruptcy—again—and plans to shut down at least 200 more stores because, let’s be real, who even shops there anymore? If no buyer steps in, the entire 350-store chain could vanish. At its peak, Forever 21 had 800 stores worldwide, but now it’s just avoiding rent payments and pretending it’s still relevant. 

Musk’s DOGE dividend: free money or just another meme? Elon Musk is entertaining the idea of $5,000 "DOGE Dividend" stimulus checks, because of course he is. The proposal, cooked up by investment CEO and DOGE fan James Fishback, suggests taking 20% of DOGE’s projected $2 trillion in savings and handing it out to taxpayers. We sincerely hope Musk-backed financial plans don’t run on vibes exclusively.

Apple’s “Budget” iPhone 16e

Apple just dropped the iPhone 16e, basically a rebranded iPhone SE with a glow-up. It ditches the ancient iPhone 8 look for an iPhone 14-style design, throws in Face ID, Apple Intelligence, and—finally—USB-C instead of that outdated Lightning port. No one knows what the "e" actually stands for (Essential? Economy? Extra confusing?), but it’s Apple’s way of making a budget-friendly iPhone that still looks modern.

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Musk’s Grok 3: bigger, smarter, and still named Grok. Elon Musk’s xAI just dropped Grok 3, calling it “scary smart” and 10… or maybe 15 times more powerful than Grok 2 (math seems optional). It was trained on 200,000 Nvidia GPUs, took 92 days to build a supercomputer just to handle it, and learned from sources like X posts and court documents—because that’s definitely how you build a genius. But don’t get too comfy—Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic are all dropping their next AI models in 2025. So enjoy Grok 3 while it’s still the scariest… at least until the next one.

Meta’s 50,000-kilometer internet cable. Meta is building Project Waterworth, a 50,000-kilometer undersea cable to stretch across five continents and lock down even more control over the internet. Officially, it's about boosting connectivity. Unofficially, it's about making sure Meta’s AI empire runs on its own infrastructure. Since 95% of intercontinental internet traffic already depends on undersea cables, Meta is throwing billions at making the biggest one ever, with landing points in India, the U.S., Brazil, and South Africa. The company calls it a “digital highway for AI innovation.”

Hims & Hers: now taking your blood. Hims & Hers just bought Trybe Labs so you can now get your blood drawn at home like a true modern human who refuses to leave the house. No more sad trips to Labcorp—just let the mailman handle your bodily fluids. Fresh off peddling weight loss drugs and dragging Big Pharma in a Super Bowl ad, the company is now adding tests for cholesterol, testosterone, and menopause markers. Wall Street ate it up—stock jumped 20%—because apparently, the future of healthcare is pricking yourself between Netflix episodes.

Microsoft’s quantum leap: sci-fi becomes reality (soon-ish). Microsoft says it cracked a new quantum processor using a fancy state of matter, promising a real quantum computer in years, not decades. While Google and IBM are busy fixing errors in their existing tech, Microsoft is skipping ahead, making quantum computing more accurate from the start. Chetan Nayak, a Microsoft quantum bigwig, called it the “transistor for the quantum age,” just like transistors replaced vacuum tubes in early computing. And if that wasn’t enough, the U.S. military’s DARPA just tapped Microsoft to build a next-level quantum prototype. 

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You're Basically Royalty (Minus the Crown)

Turns out, we’re all living better than past royals, and we don’t even notice. Hot showers, instant food, and the ability to summon anything to our doorstep. Medieval elites wish they had it this good. But sure, keep complaining about slow Wi-Fi. This article explores just how much we take for granted.

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Trump kills NYC’s congestion pricing. Trump took to Truth Social to declare “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD” and New York “saved” after his administration scrapped Biden’s approval of the plan. Oh, and he also threw in “LONG LIVE THE KING!” because subtlety has never been his thing. The now-dead plan would’ve charged drivers $9 to enter parts of Manhattan, aiming to cut traffic and pollution. Opponents, including Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, slammed it as unfair to commuters and small businesses, saying NYC shouldn’t be a playground for the rich. The “king” comment landed right after protesters across the country spent Presidents Day rebranding it as "No Kings Day." White House officials even played along, leaning into the whole Trump-as-monarch imagery. 

Back Market tries to make old tech cool in NYC. Back Market is trying to make old tech cool by slapping ads all over NYC’s subway, telling Americans to buy refurbished instead of chasing the latest iPhone. Julia Fox even joined in, flexing a flip phone and CD player like it’s 2003. Europe is already on board, but Americans still treat second-hand like a disease. If this NYC stunt works, Chicago is next. The company is throwing in free shipping, insurance, and exclusive phone plans to sweeten the deal. 

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TikTok of the day: watch here