President Trump announced that a different Coke ingredient will soon make kids go berserk at sleepovers. Earlier this week, he claimed that Coca-Cola Co. agreed to make its flagship soda in the US with cane sugar—just like it does in Mexico and other countries—instead of with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Coca-Cola issued a statement that did not confirm Trump’s announcement but said that “more details on new innovative offerings” are coming soon. That didn’t stop corn syrup investors from ducking like an adulterous CEO appearing on the jumbotron at a Coldplay concert:

• Major suppliers of the sweetener, ADM and Ingredion, saw their shares dip 6% and 7%, respectively, in premarket trading yesterday, before rebounding but still closing slightly down.
• Predictably, it was a sweet day for raw sugar futures, which rose over 1%.

Coca-Cola is among the biggest purchasers of the sweetener made from corn starch, which it’s been using to enhance its fizzy nectar in the US since 1980.

Cane vs. corn

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his “MAHA” allies deride the corn-derived sweetener as a driver of obesity. Most health researchers agree that HFCS is about as likely to cause obesity as other sweeteners, though conclusions from some animal studies challenge that consensus.

Coca-Cola posted on X defending HFCS, saying, “It’s safe; it has about the same number of calories per serving as table sugar and is metabolized in a similar way by your body.” Meanwhile, the CEO of Coke competitor PepsiCo, Ramon Laguarta, told CNBC that the government should focus on making US-grown sugar cheaper.

The biggest opponent of bringing back old-school cola is the Corn Refiners Association, which said yesterday that moving away from the corn sweetener would cost thousands of jobs.

America already has cane-sugar Coke…imported from Mexico and sold in glass bottles at a premium, with a cult following.—SK

Uber inks $300+ million deals for new robotaxi service. The global ride-hailing leader is getting serious about autonomous vehicles. Uber announced it’s investing $300 million in EV-maker Lucid and a similar amount in tech startup Nuro to launch a new robotaxi program that could compete with Waymo. The goal is to deploy 20,000 autonomous EVs over the next six years, starting in 2026 in a “major US city.” The deals with Lucid and Nuro underscore Uber’s strategy to outsource its robotaxi technology rather than develop it in-house as it seeks to become the go-to service for autonomous rides. Uber’s stock was mostly unchanged following the news, but Lucid’s soared nearly 40%.

New details in the Air India crash investigation. According to dialogue of the plane’s two pilots recorded by its black box, the captain, Sumeet Sabharwal, turned off fuel switches to the engines after it took off, the Wall Street Journal reported. The first officer reportedly questioned the captain’s actions before he “expressed surprise and then panicked,” while the captain remained “calm.” The investigation has not yet determined whether or not the switches were shut off on purpose. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff last month, killing all but one of its 242 passengers and crew.

Netflix can’t stop winning. If Wall Street has expectations, Netflix is probably going to beat them. The streaming giant reported its Q2 financials yesterday, posting $11.1 billion in revenue (up 16% from the same period last year and ahead of estimates) while adjusting its full-year forecast up to as high as $45.2 billion. Netflix stopped divulging its subscriber figures earlier this year in order to emphasize revenue and profits...which appear to be impressing investors as much as intended. Its stock is up nearly 44% so far this year as the company has increased prices and continued to promote its ad-supported option. Netflix also debuted the trailer for the final season of Stranger Things, set to come out in three parts starting on Nov. 26.—AE

A bill that would cut federal funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which, along with viewers like you, funds NPR and PBS, advanced through Congress this week and is headed to the president’s desk just ahead of today’s deadline for the funds to be released.

The spending cuts package slashed a total of $9 billion, mostly from foreign aid, but it contains $1.1 billion worth of cuts to the CPB:

• NPR and PBS only receive about 1% of their total funding from the government, so they’ll be able to carry on.
• But local public broadcast stations that focus on programming like the state high-school wrestling finals or quirky midafternoon talk shows could see over 50% of their budgets cut. Losing federal funds is likely to be especially devastating to rural news stations.

Republican lawmakers and presidents have attempted to reduce funding to the CPB for decades, but this marks the first time since 1967 that the federal funding hose will be turned off. One reason that many Republicans, including President Trump, have cited for defunding the CPB is what they see as the organization’s liberal bias. But the bill was controversial, even among some in the GOP, because it clawed back money Congress had previously approved for distribution.

Big picture: The $9 billion cuts make up about one-10th of 1% of the nearly $7 trillion federal Budget.—MM

If Odysseus bought a ticket to Christopher Nolan’s next epic, he could still make it in time if he left Calypso’s island right now. Imax tickets for Nolan’s The Odyssey went on sale yesterday, exactly one year before the movie’s release date in a seemingly first-of-its-kind box office strategy.

Early tickets were posted for 26 Imax-equipped theaters. Most are already sold out, and showings at some theaters, including the Lincoln Square AMC in New York City, filled up within minutes.

Imax is on a tear. Nolan’s adaptation of the book you lied about reading in high school is one of a growing number of productions all cozied up to the large-screen movie company:

• The Odyssey is the first Hollywood movie to be filmed completely on Imax cameras, which Nolan finally had the clout to do after the smash success of Oppenheimer.
• Imax recently struck a deal with Netflix to exclusively screen its 2026 Narnia adaptation for two weeks before it hits streaming.
• Apple’s F1—which was partially filmed in Imax—also screened in Imax theaters last month (nonexclusively).

It’s rubbing traditional theaters the wrong way. US theater giants including Cinemark and Regal (but not AMC) are in early talks to collaborate on a big-screen competitor to Imax, which could save them money on licensing fees, Bloomberg reported this week.

Zoom out: Imax represents only ~1% of worldwide movie screens, but regularly accounts for 10%–20% of box office revenue. Its CEO projects a 33% jump in sales this year.—ML

If you work for a Fortune 100 company, get ready to learn cubicle, buddy.

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, more than half of Fortune 100 companies require full-time attendance in the office as of Q2 2025, Bloomberg reported, citing a report from the real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle.

Here’s how much things have changed among top companies in just two years:

• 2023: 5% require full-time attendance, 78% offer hybrid schedules
• 2025: 54% require full-time attendance, 41% offer hybrid schedules

The 10 biggest Fortune 100 companies, which include Amazon and Apple, all mandate at least four days in the office, while three of them are back to the five-day grind.

What is bad for couch potatoes is a major boon for the commercial real estate market. Trophy buildings in NYC and SF are now commanding all-time high rents.—AE

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