In today’s newsletter I discuss why gas prices won't come down as quickly as they went up, McDonalds partners with Red Bull on new energy drink, Coachella is for Influencers this year, Amazon acquires Globalstar for $11.6 billion dollars, Coinbase is becoming a bank, Apple is coming out with AI glasses, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” crushed it at the box office, and The Masters had the most private jets use of any other event this year.

Let’s get into it!

If you were hoping that gas prices would start immediately dropping when the war in Iran is over, I’ve got bad news for you. Historically, gas prices spike when there’s a conflict in a part of the world that is rich in oil, like in this case the Middle East.

When the fighting finally stops in Iran, the world will breathe a collective sigh of relief. The price of a barrel of oil will drop overnight, financial markets around the globe will rally, and the price you pay at the pump for a gallon of gas won’t change….at least not very quickly.

Why is that?

It turns out the world’s energy supply chain is complicated, and right now it’s a bit broken. The signing of a peace treaty will be great for the world and those affected by the violence of war, but the price of gas doesn’t care about a peace treaty or flowery speeches by politicians. All the price of gas cares about is good old supply-and-demand, but sadly economics alone can’t explain away all the reasons gas prices won’t drop very quickly when the war in Iran is over.

Broken pipes and oil infrastructure in the Middle East will take time to repair and bring back online in order to begin processing oil into gasoline, that can then be exported to markets in Asia which are some of the largest importers of the oil and gasoline that is exported via the Strait of Hormuz. It’s estimated that the global economy is losing $2 billion dollars every day because of the loss of millions of barrels of oil from the world’s supply, and that shock to the world’s economy could take years to fix.

Energy facilities, like natural gas ports in Qatar that turn natural gas into liquified natural gas for export to Asia, will cost an estimated $45 billion dollars to repair and months to restart. None of that can even begin to start until the daily drone attacks end, and it’s safe for workers to return to the plants and begin repairs.

Did you know that traffic jams on the high seas are a real thing? Right now in the Strait of Hormuz there’s a massive backlog of an estimated 426 oil tankers, and another 400 cargo ships, for a combined 826 ships all waiting for when it's safe to leave. A typical oil tanker or cargo ship has a crew of around 25 members. That means around 20,000 people are currently stuck waiting on ships in the Strait of Hormuz. And sitting around ain’t cheap. Right now thanks to the war in Iran it’s costing up to $500,000 a day for your typical oil tanker or cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. That cost alone comes out to an estimated $413 million dollars a day! And don’t forget about insurance. You see, accidents happen, and shipping companies pay a premium to insure their cargo. Thanks again to the war in Iran the price of insurance on an oil tanker or cargo ship has skyrocketed to as much as $1 million dollars per trip. With those 826 ships stuck in the Strait of Hormuz the world’s shipping companies are looking at a bill of as much as $826 million dollars to keep those ships insured.

All those expenses and uncertainty have spooked traders on Wall Street. Like I’ve said before, if there’s one thing markets hate most it’s uncertainty.

Right now there’s also fear in the marketplace that any truce or treaty might not be worth the paper it’s written on, and any peace might not last very long. That’s contributing to what oil analysts call a war premium, and it’s added around $20 dollars to every barrel of oil coming out of the Middle East.

Here in the U.S. a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) is selling for around $98 dollars per barrel. Part of that price includes a premium of $40 dollars per barrel that can be attributed to oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico. Before the price of gas can come down those oil refineries that convert oil into gasoline have to work though their inventory of expensive oil that they’ve been buying for $98 dollars per barrel before they can pass on lower costs to consumers who are sick of paying an average of $4.13 here in Upstate New York, while people in California are paying on average $5.89 per gallon of gas, which is insane to me!

So all that is my way of explaining why the price you pay at the pump for a gallon of gas isn’t going to come down anytime soon, and when it does start to drop it’ll be as slow as molasses. And my guess is we may never see a gallon of gas as cheap as $3.50 at the pumps here in Upstate New York ever again. The thing about rising prices, like we all just went through with Covid, is that prices never seem to go all the way back down to where they were before. This is my roundabout way of saying we should probably all get used to paying more at the pump, and not be too surprised when a year from now prices haven’t sunk back down to where they were before the war in Iran.

McDonalds is launching a new line of fruity refreshers, Red Bull energy drinks, and dirty sodas in order to capture a portion of the $100 billion dollars specialty beverage market while upping their competition with Starbucks. The new menu drinks will target younger customers who already spend an estimated $2 billion dollars every year on cold beverages at other brand name coffee shops, you know….like Starbucks. Some of the new drinks McDonalds is launching include the Mango Pineapple Refresher, the Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer (who they’re partnering with), as well new custom dirty soda flavors like the Dirty Dr Pepper.

Yea, that’s a hard pass for me on any kind of dirty soda, but sign me up to give that Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer a try.

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, as it’s officially known, began as a counter-culture, anti-establishment ethos back in 1999 (during the greatest decade ever, according to every Gen Xer like me). Now Coachella is transforming into a massive monetization machine for digital creators and influencers who treat the desert festival as a high stakes business venue. And big brands have noticed.

Brands are pouring more than $100 million dollars into influencer partnerships and pop up events during this year’s Coachella festival. This shift is part of the broader $250 billion dollars creator economy where social media influencers can earn as much as $50,000 dollars for a single sponsored post while attending the festival. Brands are asking themselves why they’d spend money on a single traditional commercial when they can spend $500,000 dollars on exclusive Coachella concert activations that reach millions of traditionally had to reach viewers through live streams from the festival. The Coachella music festival generates more than $115 million dollars in ticket revenue each year, and injects over $700 million dollars into local businesses in the community.

So what are some of the brands jockeying for attention at this year’s Coachella festival? As you might guess there are a LOT of celebrity brands in attendance. Kendall Jenner’s 818 Tequila and Kylie Jenner’s Sprinter spirits brands are both there, as well as some of the more traditional brands you’d expect like Red Bull, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Starbucks, Poppi, and Red Bull. Food brands like Magnum Ice Cream and Raising Cane's are also heavily involved in creator-led marketing.

And you just know a music festival has gone mainstream when Gap shows up as the festival's exclusive apparel sponsor and opens their own "Hoodie House" on the festival grounds. Whatever that means. I’m not even upset. I love Gap! In fact I’m wearing a Gap shirt right now. Although, I am feeling a little jealous. Now I want to go to Coachella!

Amazon is spending $11.6 billion dollars to buy Globalstar, a satellite telecommunications company that provides mobile voice, data, and IoT services that even powers Apple's emergency SOS feature. The deal will enable Amazon to rapidly grow their satellite internet business. Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, is leading this move to strengthen the satellite network now called Amazon Leo to better compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink. The acquisition of Globalstar will give Amazon the essential wireless spectrum they need to connect millions of people to high speed satellite internet. Globalstar reported record revenue in 2025 of approximately $273 million dollars, which was a 9% increase over 2024 revenue.

Apple is racing to try and dominate the AI wearables market with a new pair of display-free smart glasses. These new glasses, which also come in a version style after Apple CEO Tim Cook’s own black framed glasses, features a deep integration of the glasses’ camera and microphone with Apple Intelligence. The global smart glasses industry is projected to grow to $14 billion dollars by 2033. Apple spent $18.4 billion dollars on research and development in just one recent quarter in order to bring these new AI glasses to market as a part of Apple’s massive $500 billion dollar commitment to investing in American technology. By skipping a heavy and expensive screen, and instead focusing on voice driven Siri, Apple hopes to capture a massive share of the consumer market for AI wearables. As with everything Apple, I’m expecting these new glasses to be expensive, and to instantly be popular.

Coinbase is one step closer to being approved as a bank after clearing a major regulatory hurdle with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Brian Armstrong, the co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, is pushing for a national trust charter in order to help the $46 billion dollar company compete with traditional bank lenders. This move allows Coinbase to offer digital payment services and stablecoin products under federal rules and regulations. This approval is a massive win for Coinbase as it competes for a share of the $18 trillion dollars in domestic deposits in the U.S. Stablecoin operations are a core part of Coinbase’s plan to bring in a target of $1.3 billion dollars in venue in 2026. This victory gives Coinbase the approval it needs to stay ahead of rivals like Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.

“The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” just shattered records with a massive $629 million dollars in global ticket sales during its opening weekend. This is a huge win for Nintendo, and another big box office haul for Illumination, as fans are flocking to see the new “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” sequel. The original “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” came out in 2023, and brought in more than $1.36 billion dollars at the worldwide box office.

Universal Pictures is smiling from ear to ear as the movie brought in $310 million dollars at the domestic boxoffice. The performance of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” is helping Nintendo grow its film division, and is becoming a key part of the $12 billion dollars the company brings in annually. While 2026 has pretty much been a dumpster fire so far, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” proves that there’s still demand for family friendly movies that the whole family can enjoy, so at least we have that.

I’m not a fan of golf. There! I said it! But I am a fan of airplanes, or more accurately private jets, although admittedly I’m far too middle class to ever afford to fly private. You know who does love to fly private jets? Fans of golf! Last week at The Masters in Augusta, Georgia there were an estimated 4,000 private jet flights to the golf extravaganza (that’s what they call it right? Told you I’m not into golf).

There was a who’s who of celebrities, sports stars, and CEO who all flew in on private jets for The Masters. Bill Gates and Warren Buffett were both there, but apparently they haven’t talked in years ever since it came out that Bill Gates was close with Jeffrey Epstein. The CEO of Delta, Ed Bastian, flew in on a private jet, which is a little ironic, but oh well. Athletes turned social media podcast stars Jason and Travis Kelce flew in, as well as Kevin Hart and Shaquille O'Neal. Dave Grohl,  singer and guitarist of the Foo Fighters and former drummer for Nirvana, was there and performed at a private concert for guests who arrived by luxury jet.

This surge in private jet traffic makes the week of The Masters the busiest of the year for companies like NetJets, Wheels Up, Vista Global, and Magellan Jets as they manage a constant stream of high net worth individuals who want to be part of the most exclusive sporting event in the world.

The financial impact of flying private to an event like The Masters is staggering! Those flying in from as far away as London were paying as much as $98,000 dollars for a one-way trip. Travelers flying from Miami were paying at least $15,000 dollars, while celebrities coming from Los Angeles were paying $40,000 dollars just to land in Augusta, Georgia. And those private jets weren’t just dropping off their passengers. Many high net worth individuals were staying for the week, and that ain’t cheap. The Augusta Regional Airport is where the majority of private jets land, and they charge parking fees of up to $4,000 dollars per aircraft. And when it’s time to gas up before leaving those private jets were paying around $7.90 per gallon for jet fuel. You think you and I have sticker shock when we’re paying around $4 a gallon to full up our cars? Try charging jet fuel to your credit card and tell me how that feels! Oh to be able to afford to fly private!

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The Business Behind The News is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.