🎬 Netflix Rewrites Its Script + Moderna Faces Its Toughest Test

Hey Nut fam 🌰 — Netflix is suddenly cosplaying as old-school Hollywood 🎬, Moderna’s fighting for its life 💉, and Amazon is quietly building the sky 🛰️. Let’s crack into it.

🏭 Business Nuts

🎬 Pure Streaming Isn’t Enough — Netflix Is Rewriting Its Own Script

The disruptor is starting to look awfully… traditional.

Netflix ($NFLX), once the industry rebel yelling “Blockbuster is dead!”, is now borrowing pages from the same studios it used to dunk on. Shares are down 14% over six months, and the company is shifting into survival mode:

• Merchandising deals with Jazwares, Hasbro ($HAS), and Mattel ($MAT)

• Immersive attractions like the new Netflix House in Philadelphia

• Theatrical releases and external licensing (something it swore it would never do)

Wedbush analyst Alicia Reese called it a “turning point,” noting Netflix finally has the depth of IP needed to build real fandom — something Disney ($DIS) mastered a century ago.

🎥 The Studio Temptation

Netflix’s boldest move yet?
It’s circling Warner Bros. Discovery ($WBD) assets like a kid eyeing the world’s biggest lunch tray.

If that deal lands, Netflix would gain:

• DC Comics

• Harry Potter–adjacent assets

• Friends, Looney Tunes, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones

• …and thousands of studio employees

Talk about a culture shock — from scrappy tech startup to legacy entertainment giant overnight.

Co-CEO Greg Peters admits the risk:

🧩 Why the Pivot

The old growth engines are slowing:

• Password crackdowns have plateaued

• Ads are growing, but not fast enough

• Gaming hasn’t moved the needle

Chief Marketing Officer Marian Lee put it bluntly: Netflix now needs real IP to build the next era.

🟢 Bottom Line: Netflix isn’t dying — it’s evolving. But the question is whether it can become a studio without becoming stuck like one.

💉 Market Medicine

🧨 Short Sellers Pile In as Moderna Faces Its Hardest Reality Check Yet

From pandemic rocket ship to Wall Street punching bag.

Moderna ($MRNA) went from biotech hero to the most shorted stock in the S&P 500 — down 95% from its 2021 peak.

The COVID wave crashed, and revenue followed:

• Sales down 80%+ since 2021

• No longer profitable

• U.S. shot demand down 24% YoY

Add vaccine fatigue, shipping delays, and RFK Jr.’s anti-vax megaphone, and the headwinds are brutal.

🔬 The Make-or-Break Plan

Moderna is betting everything on a 2026–2028 turnaround:

• New launches in Australia, Canada, and the UK (possible 10% sales lift)

• Pfizer’s ($PFE) EU contract expires in 2027 — opening a massive door

• The moonshot: mRNA cancer therapies

CFO Jamey Mock says breakeven by 2028 is the target — but Wall Street isn’t convinced.

Lobbying spend is at record highs. This could be the comeback chapter… or the credits rolling.

🟡 Bottom Line: Moderna is no longer priced like a miracle — it’s priced like a question mark.

A new place to read your newsletters

We’re trying out a free app for reading newsletters called Khaki. The interface is clean, distraction-free, and only shows the newsletters I’m subscribed to, no noise of everything else in my usual inbox.

📰 Other News — Quick Bites

• 🛰️ Amazon preps major satellite tests + fresh AI spending — signaling a 2026 infrastructure boom across both space and cloud.

• 🦇 Michael Burry is launching a Substack — the housing-crash legend now charging $379/year to write long emails instead of breaking markets.

• 📺 Trump slams TV network expansion — targeting ABC and NBC, as WBD entertains takeover bids from Netflix, Paramount, and Comcast.

• 🪙 Crypto pullback freezes retail dip-buying — Bitcoin heads for its worst month since 2022 as fear indexes spike and trading volume dries up.

• 🛍️ Northeast leads holiday spending — despite a 5% national drop, shoppers in the region plan to splurge more than any other demographic.

• 🏬 Kohl’s names Michael Bender CEO — its third leader in three years, as the retailer battles declining sales ahead of Tuesday earnings.

• 🚗 Tesla stumbles in China — hitting a three-year sales low while NIO, Li Auto, and Xiaomi chew up EV market share.

🌰 That’s a Wrap

Netflix is trying on a whole new identity, Moderna is fighting gravity, and Amazon is quietly building the future (again).

Thanks for cracking open Cash Nut today — where the markets stay crunchy and the takes stay fresh 🌰

Catch you tomorrow,
Team Cash Nut 💰

Unlock Cash App’s highest savings interest offer of up to 3.5%

Customers can qualify for Cash App Green by spending $500 in Qualifying Purchases using your Cash App Card or Cash App Pay per month, or by depositing $300 of Qualifying Deposits per month. Eligibility restrictions apply to some benefits. See Terms and Conditions (https://cash.app/legal/us/en-us/tos) for more information.

To earn the highest interest rate on your Cash App savings balance, you need to (a) have a Cash App Card, or sponsor one or more sponsored accounts, and qualify for Cash App Green or (b) have a sponsored account with sponsor approval. Customers can qualify for Cash App Green by spending $500 in Qualifying Purchases using your Cash App Card or Cash App Pay per month, or by depositing $300 in Qualifying Deposits per month. See terms and conditions for more information on how to qualify.

If you are signed up to earn interest, Cash App will pass through a portion of the interest paid on your savings balance held in an account for the benefit of Cash App customers at Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., Member FDIC. Exceptions may apply. Savings yield rate is subject to change.