growing

Mercadona is growing more than ever and still has the capacity to grow more. The game is played in the north

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He who leads always leads, even if he does not always lead the same way. It sounds like a tacky tongue twister, I know; but that phrase sums up well the place that Mercadona occupies in the national distribution sector. We have been repeating for years that the Valencian chain is the one that takes largest portion of the “pie” of the sector, with a business quota 27% at the state level, but that reality is not equally forceful throughout Spain. For example, in Levante its footprint skyrockets to almost 34% while in the northwest it remains at 18.2%, only three points above its most direct competitor in that region, Eroski. What does that mean? That there is a part of Spain in which the company has ample room for growth. And in a way the Duero marks it. The general photo. Whether or not you are satisfied with your commercial offer or corporate strategythere is something that cannot be denied: Mercadona has known how to play its cards well. The company led by Juan Roig has managed to gain a share in its sector that is close to 30%. And that the distribution is not un simple business in Spain, where the super regional and ultra low-cost. NielsenIQ estimates that by the end of 2025 that footprint was 29.5%0.3% more than in 2024. Worldpanel by Numerator lowers it slightly until it is in 27%. In any case, the reading is the same: the Valencian company clearly dominates, comfortably ahead of its most direct competitors, Carrefour and Lidl. It has even made a more than respectable place for itself in the portuguese marketwhere it has carved out a 7% distribution share in just a decade. Paying attention to the map. The above will surprise few. What is striking is that just revealed Expansion based on data from Worldpanel by Numerator: Mercadona may be the sector leader in value share, but that dominance is not equally solid throughout Spain. Its great fiefdom is in what the consultancy calls ‘Levante’, an area made up of the Valencian Community, Murcia and Albacete. There its share reaches 33.6%. Not only is it the highest percentage in the entire Spanish geography and it is seven percentage points above the chain’s national share. It also doubles the mark of its main competitor, Consum, which remains at 16.8%. The ‘photo’ It is completed by Carrefour, with 7.9% of the pie, Lidl (5.2%) and Family Cash (2.9%). Are there more cases? Of course. The other region in which Mercadona has gained the largest share in value is the Canary Islands, with 31.9%, ten points above the next chain on the list, Dinosol (21.1%). In the ‘South’ territory (Andalusia and Badajoz) the firm’s footprint also exceeds 30% (31.5%). The results of Mercadona are equally strong in the ‘Central’ region (Madrid, Cáceres and part of Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León and Aragón), where it reaches 27.5%, and ‘Northwest’ (Catalonia and the rest of Aragón), with 26.2%. In all cases the same photograph is repeated, replicated in the areas of Madrid and Barcelona: Mercadona far surpasses its main territorial rival. The northern redoubt. The really interesting thing is, however, in the northern Atlantic and Cantabrian seas. The Worldpanel data by Numerator They show that Mercadona is still a leader there, but in a much less emphatic way. First because its quota is much lower than that held in Levante or the Canary Islands. Second, because it does not maintain much of an advantage over its competitors. The most revealing case is the ‘North-Central’ (Cantabria, Navarra, Palencia, Burgos, La Rioja and the Basque Country), a territory in which Mercadona’s footprint is 19.1%. It is enough to be dominant, but it is only one percentage point behind Eroski (18.1%). In third place is Carrefour (9.8%). It is a scenario similar to what we find in Galicia, Asturias and León, what the consultancy calls ‘Northwest’. Mercadona registers its lowest share in that region, 18.22%. Second place is once again occupied by Eroski (15.1%), followed by Gadisa (10.1%), Carrefour (6.8%) and Alimerka (5.8%). Click on the image to go to the tweet. Why is it important? Beyond the fact that these percentages help us better understand how the company is distributed and how it has managed to dominate the market at a national level, the regional results from Worldpanel by Numerator leave an interesting reading about Mercadona: its future largely passes through the north of the peninsula, where it has greater room for growth. When we decide where to make the purchase, we not only evaluate the prices and variety of the assortment, we also take into account factors such as proximity or more subjective values ​​such as taste or loyalty to a brand. Together they form a ‘barrier’ that determines how far a company’s share can go. At the moment Mercadona has managed to extend its footprint nationwide to 27%. It is not unreasonable to think that even has not hit the ceilingbut the fact that in the northwest area it is only 18.2% and in the Cantabrian Sea it is around 19% suggests that in those territories the margin for growth is much broader and clearer. Not everything is advantages. No, of course. The data published by Expansion They also reveal that the leadership of the Valencian chain is much weaker in the northwest and the area made up of the Basque Country, Navarra, La Rioja and the north of Castilla y León, where it is only one point ahead of its regional rival, Eroski. This makes it easier for them to be overtaken and to see their position threatened. After all, Mercadona has not been established throughout the country for the same amount of time. In Vigo, without going any further, I only had two stores in mid-2013. And that is a city of almost 300,000 inhabitants, the largest in the entire northwest of the peninsula. If it wants to establish itself, Roig’s company will have to erode the share of … Read more

TVs have not stopped growing. LG now has a range that reaches 115 inches, although the key lies elsewhere

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If anyone had doubts about where the television market is moving, just look at the size of the models that are gaining ground in stores and in catalogs. We have been seeing inches rise relentlessly for years, and the data reinforces that impression. The size of TVs in Europe has been growing at an average rate of 1.2 inches per year. Therefore, when a brand like LG now shows a 115-inch TVwhat we see is not an isolated extravagance, but the most recent expression of a very clear trend. The South Korean brand has presented its new QNED evo Mini LED 2026 range in Europe, a family with which it wants to reinforce its presence in the high-end LCD/LED televisions. We are not talking about a single eye-catching model, but rather a line designed to cover different sizes and uses within the home. So we see a movement that does not seem to be limited to a market trend, but rather to turn it into a broader product proposition. Not everything in this range revolves around size If the size is the first thing that catches your attention, the technical sheet is what really supports the discourse of this range. According to LG, the new QNED evo Mini LED 2026 are based on Dynamic QNED Color Proin Precision Dimming Ultra technology and in the Alpha 8 Gen 3 processor to elevate color, brightness and contrast, especially on large diagonals. The underlying idea is clear: that the image does not lose strength as the panel grows. The company also adds features such as AI Super Upscaling, AI Picture Pro and Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro, while the sound is in the hands of AI Sound Pro, which promises a virtual 11.1.2 channel experience from the integrated speakers. All this technical deployment is not fully understood until we bring it down to real use. LG presents this range as a proposal designed for those who want to set up a more versatile system at home, whether to watch movies, follow sports or play games. This includes features such as VRR support up to 165 Hz on the 115-inch model, AMD FreeSync Premium, ALLM and a Motion Booster that, according to the brand, can reach 330 Hz on compatible models. On paper, these are serious credentials for anyone looking for fluidity and quick response, although the final experience will depend, as always, on how these televisions perform outside of the release. LG presents this range as a proposal designed for those who want to set up a more versatile system at home, whether to watch movies, follow sports or play games. But if we have learned anything in recent years, it is that a TV no longer plays everything on the panel. It also matters, and quite a bit, what happens when we start moving through its menus, its recommendations and its day-to-day functions. This is where webOS 26 comes in, the platform with which LG accompanies this new range and on which it mounts tools such as Voice ID to recognize profiles, AI Concierge to launch contextual suggestions and functions such as Sports Portal or Sports Alert to follow matches, schedules and results without leaving the ecosystem. Add to that multi-AI capabilities powered by Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot. It is also convenient to place this family in its context, because here we are not facing the highest proposal in the entire catalog of the house. Within LG, the QNED evo Mini LED 2026 line is placed in the high range of LCD/LED televisions, just one step below OLED, which continues to be its great premium showcase. That nuance matters because it helps understand what the brand is trying to do with this renewal: offer an ambitious alternative for those who want large screens, advanced functions and a clearly premium profile without necessarily entering the OLED field. Furthermore, the range is not reduced to a single format, but is deployed in various models and diagonals to adapt to different living rooms. However, there is an important part of this story that remains open. LG has said that Spanish users will be able to access this range in the coming months, but for now the new QNED evo Mini LED 2026 line It does not yet appear in the LG Spain catalog. This means that we still have no official prices and no more specific commercial date for our market. What this announcement does make clear is the direction that the South Korean firm wants to take: accompany the growth of inches with a proposal loaded with technical arguments. The rest, including their real reception, will begin to be measured when these televisions can be truly purchased. Images | LG In Xataka | Blue was the problem: how PHOLED technology can end burn-in on OLED screens

The Seville Fair is growing so much that it is no longer just the great macro event in Andalusia: it is the ‘Coachella castiza’

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The Seville Fair wants to grow. And it is understandable. A year ago, when he announced his plans to tug to the fairgrounds, the mayor of Seville already warned that although right now the quote adds up to around a thousand booths There are many other applications waiting. Added to this enormous demand is the tourist success of the event, its ability to attract thousands and thousands of visitors and its economic potential, which translates into a trickle of million euros. There is, however, an even greater merit than Seville can boast: its fair is emerging as the largest macro event of Andalusia, a sort of traditional Coachella that grows while other fairs in the region stagnate or even decay. A ‘pure Coachella’? Yeah. The expression may seem shocking, but saving the obvious distances between the Californian event and the one in Seville, the truth is that both events share some parallels. The first and most obvious are the dates. The second. that both one and the other have become macro events referential, capable of attracting thousands of visitorsgenerate a millionaire business and above all overshadow other quotes of a similar nature. In a way, it also confirms a trend that has been taking shape in a more or less diffuse way in recent years: the festival calendar is polarizing between massive events, such as the April Fair in Seville, capable of attracting crowds and, above all, being promoted thanks to the tourismand others micro events with a much more modest, specialized and local approach. Between both categories there is an increasingly eclipsed dating ‘middle class’. Question of fairs and magnetism. Andalusia leaves a good example of the above. Although many more fairs are held in the region, such as Our Lady of Health in Córdoba (May), the Sherry horse (May), the Corpus Christi of Granada (June), the Malaga fair (August) or Saint Luke of Jaén (October), the one in Seville is probably the one that has achieved the greatest impact. And that is something that can be measured in two ways: through social networks, where it has become an viral phenomenonand in figures of both attendance and business generated. To confirm the first comes with taking a walk through Instagram or TikTok, where the fair has been gaining weight converted into a unifying and touristic event. Beyond the party, for Sevillians it is an opportunity to show their national pride. For those who live far from their cultural code, especially for visitors, it is an exotic event. Question of figures. Regarding the second, the figures are overwhelming. Last year the Seville City Council estimated in 2 billion of euros the economic impact of the fair, a figure largely justified by the high hotel occupancy (and the average price of accommodation) that Seville reaches on those days. Some sources slide This calculation also includes Holy Week, which is celebrated shortly before, but even so the figure is more than considerable. Regarding the volume of visitors, in the last few years The influx at Real de Los Remedios, the place where the fair is held, has been estimated at three million of people. As a reference, in Malaga they calculate that the shows at their fair attracted around 966,000 visitors. The event is in fact so attractive that in Madrid they have already promoted an initiative to organize its own April Fair, a macro event which aims to attract around 800,000 visitors. Fairs that grow… and fall. Aside from the visitor balances, hotel occupancy or business estimates, there is an interesting fact to understand the thrust of the Sevillian fair. Last year the City Council confirmed his plans to give it a ‘growth spurt’, providing the Real de la Feria with new streets and 220 extra booths. The reason? “Currently there are almost a thousand booths and there are another thousand applications from people waiting,” explained the first mayor, José Luis Sanz. The Seville City Council is so determined to undertake the expansion that the project has even caused a little crisis with the Government, owner of the land. The scenario contrasts with that experienced, for example, by the Córdoba Fair, which this year will feature 82 booths. This is relevant information because, as remember theDiaryare four less than in 2025 and mark a historical minimum for the event. New proof that the calendar is increasingly divided between celebrations supported by tourism and others with a more local focus. Images | Laura Liñán Jaén (Flickr) 1 and 2 In Xataka | Recording drunk people at the April Fair has become a tradition. The fines for doing so are not so fun.

Shopping centers seemed condemned to agony. The reality is that they do not stop growing with million-dollar investments

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The outlook looked bad. Very badly. The competition from online commerce, the change in consumer habits, the pressure that platforms such as Netflix or Amazon Prime were beginning to exert on cinemas and (as a cherry on top) the blow that the pandemic dealt to crowded spaces led some analysts back in 2020 to announce the “apocalypse of the “retail”. The ‘shopping center’ model, so prosperous in its day, seemed exhausted. After all… Who would want to go shopping with Amazon or pay for a movie with Netflix at home? Time has shown that those predictions were wrong. Apocalypse of retail? Today it may sound strange, but there was a time (not so long ago) when could be read frequently about the “apocalypse of the retail” in the press. Not all analysts saw it clearly and there were even who warned that the formula, imported from the United States, was not transferable to a market like the Spanish one, much less dense than the American one, but the logic seemed overwhelming: with the ecommerce growing and platforms like HBO or Amazon stomping in leisure, weren’t shopping centers doomed? The answer is no. On the contrary. A magnet for large investors. In 2025, the sector already showed signs of its good health by starting the year with five purchase and sale operations or transfers underway that amounted, in total, to about 1 billion euros. That was the first proof that shopping centers still awaken investor appetite, but that attraction appears to have strengthened. elEconomista.es publishes today a chronicle in which he slips that, a priori (and at the expense of what occurs at a macroeconomic level) the sector is aiming for a year of record investments. To be more precise, the newspaper speaks of operations worth about 3 billion of euros, an estimate that comes from the Colliers company. Beyond the forecasts and predictions, the data already closed for 2025 confirm that large commercial areas are experiencing a moment that has little to do with an economic “apocalypse.” In 2025 they will monopolize 59.5% of all the investment directed at retail, which translates into 1,484 million euros out of a total of 2,494 million. Not only is this a high figure, it far exceeds the capital allocated to other popular commercial formats, such as retail parks (352 million euros), small stores (524 million) or supermarkets (135 million). Is it the only sign? No. There is more. And they confirm that investors seem increasingly willing to bet on commercial areas in search of profitability. Its investment flow has been chaining increases for several years, which has allowed it to go from 406 million which it managed in 2022 to 1,484 million in 2025. Furthermore, the map of large stores continues to expand throughout the country. a few days ago The Newspaper revealed that, if nothing goes wrong, by 2028 Spain will add 28 new commercial parks with a total gross leasable area (GLA) of around 626,079 square meters. To these are added eight planned shopping centers that will reinforce the commercial park with 308,500 m2. Going down to detail. The list includes projects as ambitious as Valdebebas Shopping (Madrid), Infinity (Valencia), Breogán Park (A Coruña), Sur Córdoba Shopping (Cordova), Promenade Lleida (Lleida) or Metropolitan (Madrid), among others. “The majority of the spaces planned for the next three years are 20,000 m2 or less, that is, small or medium-sized, so their promotion and development is easier,” explains Eduardo Ceballos, from the Spanish Association of Shopping Centers and Parks (AECC). Greater than what was invested in new facilities are the funds dedicated to renovations. A percentage: 6%. That capital flows to shopping centers is no coincidence. According to shared data by the AECC in February, the sector closed 2025 with growth in both visits and billing. Specifically, the association estimates the increase in footfall in shopping centers and parks at 2.4% and a 6% increase in sales. Translated into hard and fast figures, that means 1,995 million consumers and just over 58,500 million in sales. The increase was largely possible thanks to restaurants (+10.8%), followed by the sale of clothing and accessories (+6.9%). Pre-pandemic levels. In AECC internal code assures having registered 32 purchase and sale operations of shopping centers and parks for a total of 2,000 million euros, which places the industry at 2018 levels, prior to the pandemic. The operations carried out by Bonaire, Parque Corredor, Intu Xanadú, Espacio Mediterráneo and Ballonti stand out above all. According to calculations by the sector’s employers’ association, right now in Spain there are around 592 shopping centers totaling 16.9 million m2 of GLA, a figure that is explained by the creation in 2025 of 132,000 m2 thanks to five new projects. Why this interest? The big question. If the factors that not so long ago made analysts fear an “apocalypse of the retail“have not disappeared (on the contrary, the ecommerce keeps growing), why are new shopping centers still opening? Why in 2025 have we visited them more often and spent more money on them? Why the hell do they attract million-dollar investments? For Ceballos One of the keys is the format’s demonstrated ability to adapt to local markets. At the end of the day, large stores continue to play with the trick of combining commerce, hospitality and leisure, also adapting to each market, which explains why the centers hold out while other more rigid surfaces (in the case of hypermarkets) they are in the doldrums. In full reinvention. Another key is that commercial centers and parks have not stood idly by. Maybe the context has changed, but they they have also done itespecially in the most disputed markets, where it is not unusual to find areas that have pivoted towards a clear commitment to luxury, big brands, the outlet concept or the leisure and restaurant offering. Increasingly, shopping centers are becoming less “commercial” and more “experiential.” What they seek is to guarantee experiences, to show themselves as spaces to be lived, marking distances with … Read more

There is a lot of criticism of Cruzcampo in half of Spain, but it is one of the few breweries that are growing right now

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Heineken has announced an epoch-making global adjustment: up to 6,000 jobs will disappear amid a series of drastic cuts and a simplification of the structure around the world. All over the world? No, a village populated by irreducible Sevillians still and always resists the crisis in the sector. Despite the alcohol crisis and the general joke, Cruzcampo endures. The question is why. A market in recession. The beer market he is not living his best moment in Spain: per capita consumption fell from 55.5 liters to 52.8 in 2024. And, in fact, if it holds up it is thanks to the 90 million tourists who visit us every year. This is very clear when we see what is happening in the mass consumption sector: the sum of inflation and the boom of private labels (or distributor) has meant that, for the first time, commercial brands do not reach 70%. Faced with this, Heineken Spain is going like a shot. Cruzcampo (and the rest of the group’s brands) have managed to fight very well on several fronts: they have been leaders in share gain in the food channel (a growth of 0.8 in 2024), but they have also managed to position themselves in the premium sector (under the idea that they do not sell beer, but moments). Furthermore, we must not forget that Spain is one of the markets where the sin and 0’0 have the greatest power with up to 14% of total consumption. And, in that context, Cruzcampo is one of the greats: the first beer with lemon (one without for all intents and purposes) was the shandy of the brand and it came out, pay attention to the fact, in 1986. And not only that: Cruzcampo has become international. In the United Kingdom the figures are clear: Sevillian beer managed to find its way into one of every four bars and nine of every 10 supermarkets (always according to Heineken itself). It is not the only one, of course: Mahou or Estrella Galicia are in the same play. And the results are clear: imports of Spanish beer into the UK have grown by 155% in ten years. He who laughs last laughs best. Because we already know that Cruzcampo has become a meme and there is half of Spain that prides itself on rejecting it on an identity level. And yet, at the brand level Cruzcampo already appeared as the only Spanish one that rose slightly in value in a Brand Finance ranking. Something is happening under the radar: it is the spearhead of a group that is gaining momentum because it is growing right where it needs to grow. Image | Adam Jones In Xataka | A German abbey had been producing one of the oldest beers in the world since 1050. Now it has had to be sold

Something dark keeps growing in the Greenland ice. And it’s melting the frozen mass at an unexpected speed

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Greenland was for centuries synonymous with immobility, a territory that seemed oblivious to the passage of time, protected by an ice sheet so vast that even polar explorers could see it. like something eternal. From the first Inuit settlements to the European expeditions of the 19th century, the island was more a symbol of resistance than change, a place where the landscape imposed its own rules. Precisely for that reason, any alteration On its surface today it has a historical weight that goes far beyond what appears at first glance. A dark spot on the ice. Something seemingly insignificant is growing on the immense Greenland ice sheet, but with a disproportionate effect: microscopic algae that dye the snow green, red or grayish brown and reduce its ability to reflect solar radiation. In a warming Arctic up to four times more faster than the rest of the planet, this so-called “dark zone” accelerates the loss of hundreds of billions of tons of ice each year, directly contributing to sea level rise and adding a new layer of complexity to an already destabilized climate system. Dust, nutrients and a cycle. counted the new york times last week that much of the latest research shows that the wind blows phosphorus-rich dust from the rocky fringes discovered on the margins of Greenland into the ice, fueling algal blooms. Here’s the crux of it all, because as the ice melts, also releases trapped nutrients for decades or centuries in its deep layers, creating a kind of vicious cycle: one where more melting releases more food, algae proliferate, the ice darkens and melts even faster. This mechanism, time and time again, turns warming into a self-accelerating process that is difficult to stop once it has started. The measurable impact of a microscopic phenomenon. In southwest Greenland, one of the fastest melting regions, algae already explain about 13% of runoff water generated by summer thaw. In fact, studies published in journals such as Environmental Science and Technology and Nature Communications have shown that even minute amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen, released from the ice or transported through the air, are enough to sustain these biological communities, suggesting that the phenomenon could extend to areas much wider of the cap. A climate problem. Plus: ice darkening does not occur in a political or economic vacuum. The retreat of sea ice around Greenland is opening new sea routes and facilitating access to mineral, oil and gas resources, increasing the strategic interest for the region. Any additional industrial activity could release, for example, soot and particles that further aggravate the darkening of the ice, accelerating a process that, in the worst case scenario, could contribute to a global rise in sea level of up to seven meters if the ice sheet completely disappeared. What is known… and what is not yet. The scientists match in which algae are not the cause of global warming, but rather a consequence which amplifies its effects, while underlining that the root of the problem continues to be the burning of fossil fuels on the planet. However, it is still unknown precisely to what extent this “dark spot” can expand and how to integrate your impact in sea level rise models. Meanwhile, Greenland seems to offer us a most ominous warning (another one): that even the smallest changes, those invisible to the naked eye, can tip the balance of one of the largest and most fragile systems on the planet. Image | Jenine McCutcheon/University of Waterloo In Xataka | Why we find 50,000 meteorites in Antarctica if they fall the same all over the planet: ice has the answer In Xataka | Antarctica launches its “Doomsday Vault”: a sanctuary at -50 °C to save the memory of the glaciers

TCL is growing wildly in TVs while Samsung falls. The surprise that no one saw coming is about to happen

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The global television market fell 1% year-on-year in November 2025, but behind that decline is the sign of a change in hierarchy: Samsung continues to be the leader with a 17% share, but TCL has boosted its sales by 20% compared to the previous year and is already close to first place. What seemed impossible two years ago (a Chinese brand that used to be seen as ‘cheap’ taking the throne from Samsung) is now a very real possibility. The data comes out of latest monthly report sales report published by the market analysis firm Counterpoint Research. The figures. Samsung has gone from 18% to 17% market share in one year, with a 3% decline in units sold. TCL, on the other hand, has climbed from 13% to 16% and continues to rise. Hisense, the third manufacturer, has fallen 13%, dragged down by the collapse of the Chinese market (-24%), where it is stronger than in the West. LG has grown by 7% and stands at 9%, while Walmart has strongly entered the top 5 after completing the purchase of Vizio in December 2024. Between the lines. TCL’s rise is neither coincidental nor ephemeral. The company has stopped being seen as a manufacturer of cheap TVs to position itself in premium technologies such as MiniLEDwhich sells at more competitive prices than Samsung. That combo has been lethal in emerging markets such as Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where demand for quality is growing but price remains decisive. And there is another key factor: TCL hardly depends on the Chinese market, which is in free fall. Hisense has collapsed due to its exposure to its country of origin (it accumulates almost a third of its sales there), but TCL has diversified its sales and is now reaping those fruits. The master stroke. TCL just signed a historic agreement with Sony to manufacture its televisions under a joint venture in which the Chinese will control 51% and the Japanese 49%. It is a move that changes everything: TCL gains instant credibility in the premium sector by associating with a brand synonymous with image quality, and also manages to penetrate Japan, a protectionist market where Chinese brands have a very difficult time. For Sony it is a way to survive in an increasingly competitive market where it does not manufacture its own panels and its premium prices leave it out of the game. For TCL it is the definitive boost: it stops being the cheap-Chinese manufacturer and starts managing one of the most respected brands in the sector. The joint venture will start in 2027, so the immediate effects will be less than anecdotal. But in the medium term, history may change. Yes, but. Samsung is not going to let itself be dethroned without going down into the mud. Although its share has fallen, it still has great financial muscle, a global distribution network full of alliances forged after many years of relationships with distributors, and an advantage in premium segments such as OLED and QD-OLED. Besides, Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio It marks the entry of a third major contender in North America that could make life difficult for both Samsung and TCL. What is clear is that 2026 will be the definitive year: TCL, Hisense and Xiaomi are going to continue putting pressure on MiniLED and medium-large screens, just where demand grows the most. And if Samsung does not react as it should, the surprise It may be a matter of quarters. He 2026 World Cup can alter all forecasts. It is one of the great incentives for millions of homes to renew their TVs, and whoever best positions themselves in price and technology will win the jackpot. And now what. The battle to lead TV sales is no longer just a technological issue, it is also a question of pricing strategy and geographical expansion. TCL has shown that it can grow with a lot of commercial aggressiveness without giving up the best technologies. Samsung is going to have to decide whether to lower its prices or take refuge in the most premium segment. The third option (staying still) does not seem viable for anyone’s sake. In Xataka | I also plugged the HDMI cables into the first port I found: I was wasting half my TV Featured image | TCL

Their fortunes set a new record, growing by 2.2 billion dollars

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While millions of workers suffered massive layoffs, budget cuts and uncertain tariffs of the Trump administration, the 500 largest fortunes on the planet added a new record, adding 2.2 trillion dollars to their combined wealth, which already rises to 11.9 trillion dollars. However, even in this bullish context, there are figures in which this growth has been especially striking. The most notable, of course, the growth of the fortune of the richest person in the world. His assets have increased by no less than $358 billion in just 12 months. Record growth. He Bloomberg Millionaires Index recorded the largest annual increase in wealth in history for the 500 largest fortunes in the world. No less than 2.2 trillion dollars in 2025. If we look for someone responsible for this meteoric growth, we find some important clues in the profitability of the S&P 500 index, which has reached 17% thanks to the behavior of the 7 Magnificentas well as in the gold revaluation and other raw materials. Precisely the good stock market performance of the Big Tech It is responsible for the fact that 23% of those profits were concentrated in only eight individuals who, (oh, coincidence) are its founders or main directors. As and how they point from Bloombergthe total assets of those 500 largest fortunes in the world reached $11.9 trillion in 2025, surpassing any previous record. Millionaires among millionaires. But when it comes to naming names, Elon Musk is one of the most notable. The CEO of Tesla far led the level of profits, surpassing for the first time the ceiling of 600 billion dollars thanks to SpaceX valuation before its IPO. His fortune went from 421.2 billion in January up to the 788.1 billion dollars that are currently attributed to it. That implies an increase of 87.1% in his assets in just one year. On the other hand, Larry Ellison added 57.7 billion to his fortune for the role of Oracle in the development of AI, leaving its founder with a fortune of $231 billion. For its part, the evolution of other regular millionaires in the Top 10 with the highest fortunes, such as Jeff Bezos, Larry Page and Mark Zuckerberg, linked their increase in wealth to the performance of their companies on the stock market. Larry Page and his founding partner of Google, Sergei Brin, they escalated quickly in the heat of the last Gemini trading moveswhile Amazon and Goal suffered to stay in the mix.​ Impact on billionaires. Beyond the increase in assets of the ultra-rich participants in the race for AI, the wealth boom among billionaires has been a global phenomenon, registering growth of more than 16% in 2025, three times the average of the last five years, as noted the report from Oxfam Intermón. This jump, quantified at about 2.5 trillion dollars, is equivalent to the assets of 4.1 billion people, the poorest half of the planet. On the other hand, the report focuses on the increase in the number of billionaires, that is, those people with assets greater than 1,000 million dollars. For the first time, there were more than 3,000 billionaires in the world, which is further proof of the trend towards the concentration of resources in a few hands. Wealth in Spain. 2025 was also a year of growth for millionaires in Spain. In fact, for the first time there is 32 billionaires in Spainmostly men and with an average of age over 80 years. In 2024, this select club only had 27 members. Their combined wealth is estimated at 197.5 billion euros, the maximum recorded. This record represents an increase of 28.3 billion compared to 2024, which implies a real growth of 13.6%, more than four times the forecast for the national economy of 2.9%.​ However, there is one figure that accounts for a good part of that total amount: Amancio Ortegawith a fortune estimated at more than $142.6 billion. “This means that Spanish billionaires earned on average more than 77 million euros a day,” indicate the authors of the report from Oxfam Intermón. In Xataka | The emir of Qatar travels in a private jet so big it helped upgrade Sardinia airport Image | Flickr (Oracle, Gage Skidmore), GTRES

Spain is stopping making its potato tortillas at home. And that is why the Mercadona supplier is growing by 20%

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After decades of debate Spain hasn’t decided yet Whether or not the tortilla should contain onion, what thousands and thousands of Spaniards do seem to be clear about is that the ideal is for someone else to cook it. More and more people prefer to go from peeling potatoes, heating oil and making their own tortillas to buying them directly at the supermarket. And so is making gold to one of Mercadona’s allied companies, a Navarrese firm which in 2025 increased its turnover by 20% to reach almost 200 million euros and this year it hopes to make another growth spurt to reach 230. It is the financial data of a company in the food sector, but it also tells us a lot about the market and our consumer habits. Sincebollists V.S. concebollistas. It is not easy to classify the Spanish population into tight compartments, but there is something that does not fail: the majority of 49.4 million of people who live in this country can be defined as sincebollists either concebollistas depending on whether you prefer the potato omelette (one of the great emblems of the native cuisine) with or without onion. The curious thing is that both seem to increasingly opt to abandon the stove and buy ready-made tortillas. At least that’s what they suggest. the latest data from Grupo Elaborados Naturales, Mercadona supplier and one of the largest tortilla manufacturers in the country. One figure: 197 million. The company presume that since its founding in 2006, it has managed to achieve “a dizzying pace” of growth of between 15 and 40% annually. 2025 has not been an exception. His last balance shows that last year it had a turnover of 197 million, 20% more than the previous year. This year it hopes to maintain that pace with another growth of 16.7% that will allow it to reach a turnover of around 230 million. As? Basically with your offer of refrigerated and frozen tortillas, although in the HORECA channel (the professional hospitality industry) also works with processed potatoes and vegetables. 2026, big. To achieve this growth, the company has redoubled its industrial muscle. The firm has dedicated approximately 40 million euros to strengthening its facilities, expanding its factory in Funes (Navarra) by 20,000 square meters and equipping itself with 12 new lines which will allow it to double the production capacity in that plant: from 300,000 units per day to 600,000. The company assures that it will also generate hundreds of jobs. In total, the company has three factories: Funes, dedicated to the production of tortillas; that of Corella (Navarra), which combines the manufacture of tortillas with prepared refrigerated potato-based dishes; and Aguilar del Río Alhama (La Rioja), where 150 people work dedicated to cooking migas and ‘fifth range’ foods (ready to eat) with vegetables. Apart from the national market, the company exports to a dozen and a half countries. The (long) shadow of Mercadona. Beyond its production capacity, there is one fact about the company that draws attention: its weight in the sector. Elaborados Naturales has reached a market share in the ‘potato tortillas’ category of 56% in large national distribution. This enormous footprint is better understood when knowing a key fact about the Navarrese company: its alliance with Mercadona. The firm is a supplier to the Juan Roig chain, which has in turn expanded throughout the sector until it has gained a market share of between 25 and 30%a percentage that has been reinforced thanks to its good rhythm of growth. More than just a business balance sheet. The balance sheet of Elaborados Naturales is nothing more than that: the balance sheet of a company in the food industry. If it is interesting to read beyond the company’s offices, it is because it connects with other underlying trends that are clearly identifiable in both the industry and Spanish society. For example, the growing demand of prepared foods. The latest data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MITECO) they talk to us of an increase in the consumption of prepared dishes of around 6% while that of fish, fruits and vegetables declines. Much of it Of that demand is also satisfied in supermarkets. Rain of millions. A good example is Mercadona, which has seen how its line of ready-to-eat dishes has been taking over a growing gap in that business niche. Its success (also supported by white label) is in turn boosting its extensive ecosystem of suppliers, including Elaborados. In fact, the tortilla manufacturer is just one of the many companies that have seen their turnover grow by close to 20% in recent years driven largely by the commercial expansion of the Valencian chain. Images | Kent Wang (Flickr) and Natural Prepared In Xataka | Years ago Mercadona decided to conquer the market with its white brands. And that is making gold for some companies

The last barrier against AI is good taste. The problem is that an entire generation is growing up without developing it

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The new normal in three acts: You open X and find a clearly AI-generated image trying to look legitimate. But it’s not bad, it complies. You go to LinkedIn and find a piece that reeks of ChatGPT, but you get the idea that its author wanted to convey. In GitHub You find code that works, but that no sensible programmer would write like that. You let it go. welcome to the era of “good enough”. Generative AI has made it easy, fast, and free to produce “acceptable” things, and that has moved the collective bar for quality. Not upward but towards “functional”. The worrying thing is not that AI produces mediocrity, but that it is accustoming us to accepting it. Before, if we needed an image for the article, we had to look for it or – for those who had ID – order it. There was friction or there was cost. Now we generate it in fifteen seconds (wink), and since it “serves”, it stays there (wink, wink, nudge). Even if it is generic or has that artificial veneer that we all recognize but no one talks about anymore. The problem is that when something acceptable costs nothing to produce, we stop asking ourselves if it is worth doing. We’re just wondering if it meets the minimum. AND meeting the minimum is not the same as doing something good. In development this is also very noticeable. An experienced and talented programmer instantly recognizes whether a code has been written by an AI. Even if it works (we already take that for granted), you can tell by the verbiage, because it is redundant, because it is not very elegant. It does what it has to do, but no senior He would be proud to have it bearing his signature. What is going to happen to a generation that is going to learn to program using AI from day one? If you’ve never written bad code and then understood what makes it good, how are you going to develop judgment? Good taste does not come standard. It is built by seeing many bad things, many good things, making mistakes. AI saves you that path by giving you something that works from the first try. But without going down that path, you never develop the eye to distinguish. Therein lies the risk. AI has raised the floor (anyone can produce something decent), but the ceiling is still just as high. At least for the majority. Creating something exceptional requires the same things as always: talent, effort, judgment. Only now it is buried under tons of slop and mediocre but functional content. And since creating it is free, we produce it non-stop. Human value remains in taste. Knowing how to look at something and say “okay, it’s good, but it’s not good”. But that criterion is only formed with practice. If an entire generation grows up consuming and producing what “just delivers,” how are they going to learn what is excellent? If you have never seen the difference, that difference does not exist for you. We are heading towards a world where it will be normalized that “good enough” is the only standard because we forget how to recognize when something will be done well. In Xataka | There is a generation working for free as a documentarian of their own life: they are not influencers but they act as if they were. Featured image | Xataka with Nano Banana

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