🚀 Build-A-Bear thriving despite retail's general decline

Market Overview
Read time 1.4 minutes

Year To Date Performances:

1. While many retailers struggle with tariffs and declining mall traffic, Build-A-Bear Workshop has emerged as a rare bright spot, posting record revenue of $252.6 million in the first half of 2025 and raising its outlook after deftly managing supply chain challenges. CEO Sharon Price John credits years of scenario-planning and a focus on nostalgia, diversification, and adult customers for the company’s success, which has pushed its stock up nearly 60% this year and close to a $1 billion market cap. With over 600 stores in 32 countries and new products like “Mini Beans,” the brand is leaning into the “kidulting” trend and a strong emotional connection that keeps customers coming back. Analysts say Build-A-Bear’s ability to raise prices, expand internationally discreetly, and market across demographics has given it momentum at a time when much of retail is treading water.

2. Pfizer is betting big on the booming obesity drug market with a $7.3 billion deal to acquire Metsera, a developer of next-generation weight-loss therapies. The move comes after Pfizer’s own obesity pill setbacks, including safety issues with danuglipron, and positions the drugmaker to better compete with market leaders Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Metsera’s treatments aim to go beyond GLP-1 drugs by targeting other hormones and preserving muscle mass during weight loss, potentially offering a differentiated edge. Pfizer will pay $47.50 per share in cash, a 43% premium, plus up to $22.50 more tied to performance milestones, sending Metsera stock soaring nearly 60% in premarket trading. Analysts say the acquisition could meaningfully strengthen Pfizer’s obesity pipeline as the global market heads toward an estimated $150 billion by the early 2030s.

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4. Trump’s shock move to slap a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visas has set off a global race for top talent. The U.K., Europe, the Middle East and Asia are eyeing the chance to lure skilled workers away from the U.S. While Big Tech giants like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Apple and Google, all heavy users of H-1Bs, can likely absorb the costs, experts warn the U.S. risks losing its innovation edge as other countries roll out friendlier policies. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is reportedly weighing dropping visa charges for elite professionals, and British startups say they’ve already been flooded with interest from U.S.-based engineers. Some American firms, meanwhile, are trying to spin the disruption into a recruiting edge, though many admit the six-figure fee is little more than a “rounding error” compared to the value skilled hires create.

   Headlines

   1. T-Mobile has named Srini Gopalan as its new CEO.

   2. Oracle has named Clary Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia as co-CEOs.

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