Notes from https://www.wsj.com/business/7-eleven-acquisition-japan-high-quality-food-437e1534?st=7g5io9&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink - Talk of a 7-Eleven Takeover Has Japan Worried About the Rice Balls

• 7-Eleven convenience stores in Japan
  • its parent is called Seven & i Holdings (7 & i)
  • Chief Executive Ryuichi Isaka
  • 21,000 stores in Japan
  • FamilyMart and Lawson are its main competitors in Japan
  • Much of the food and drinks in 7-Eleven stores in Japan is made exclusively for 7-Eleven at 172 factories across Japan and delivered up to three times daily

• Alimentation Couche
  • based in Quebec
  • owner of Circle K convenience stores in the U.S.

• bid
  • Alimentation Couche wants to by 7-Eleven convenience stores for \$47 billion

• French retailer Carrefour
• baumkuchen, a cake of German origin that is popular in Japan
• children like the rice balls at 7-Eleven because the rice is fluffy
• the varietal blend that fits best for rice balls
• the tastiest part of the potato is right under the skin
• Meatpacker NH Foods

• the more delicious it is, the more you get tired of it

• the U.S. and many countries require rice balls to be kept cool for food-safety reasons, but in Japan 7-Eleven can keep them at 68 degrees Fahrenheit from the factory to the store shelves to ensure the rice doesn’t harden and lose its taste.

Notes from https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/microsoft-cfo-amy-hood-ai-f0bfde36?st=1YuKZQ&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink - The Budget Hawk Atop a Tech Giant’s $64 Billion Spending Spree

• Mustafa Suleyman
  • a big name in AI
  • was hired by Microsoft in early 2024

• Amy Hood
  • Microsoft’s CFO of 11 years
  • from a small town in Kentucky
  • age: 53
  • earned a degree in economics from Duke University

• Microsoft
  • capital expenditures in the last four quarters = \$64.5 billion, up from \$36.5 billion in the period a year earlier
  • Chief Technology Officer - Kevin Scott
  • Microsoft was in a bidding war with Salesforce to acquire LinkedIn. It bought the company for \$26.2 billion.
  • acquired github for \$7.5 billion in 2018
  • acquired Activision Blizzard last year for \$69 billion

• the “Finding Mastery” podcast
• the Seattle Sounders, the city’s Major League Soccer team
• fire-and-brimstone strict
• rapper Cardi B
• Panos Panay was a chief product officer at Microsoft