market

TCL has entered the television market by doing what seemed impossible: democratizing the Mini-LED

by

TCL has become one of the big revelations of 2025 in the television market thanks to its commitment to screens Mini-LED in the mid-range segment. This commitment to bringing high-end technology to the mid-range has caused the Chinese brand’s sales to skyrocket and has made it one of the main rivals to beat for manufacturers such as Samsung or LG, which have seen how his quota was reduced of sales among mid-range televisions. Good proof of this is that our readers have chosen the TCL C6K Premium QD-MiniLED as the best entry and mid-range television in the Xataka NordVPN Awards 2025. What is TCL’s recipe for success? The keys to TCL’s takeoff For years, TCL was seen as a secondary Chinese brand in the smartphone segment. cheap televisions in Spain. However, its real position is far from that perception: it is one of the three largest television manufacturers in the world, only behind Samsung and very close to LG in annual shipment volume. According to Omdia data and Counterpointboth TCL and Hisense have surpassed LG in the number of shipments in key segments such as advanced televisions (Mini-LED, large diagonals and higher ranges). In this segment, TCL already has a 19% global share and its revenue share has increased from 13% in 2024 to 16% in 2025, illustrating its growth in the mid-range television market and the increase in its sales volume. He starting point of TCL expansion we find it in the local Chinese market, encouraged for government subsidieswhich served as a launching platform to finance the expansion of the brand to the rest of the world’s markets. Premium TV (mini-LED) shipping data from 2023-2024 Source: Counterpoint As pointed out the analysis from Omdia, the great turning point for TCL comes when the local Chinese market, until then its main driving force, slows its growth. In 2025, domestic sales fell 12.2% year-on-year, partly due to the end of the incentive and subsidy programs that boosted demand. This slowdown catches TCL with its homework done in the international market, so, with China slowing downTCL has had no choice but to turn to other markets. And that is where its change of scale begins. Europe, North America and Latin America have become its new growth scenario. In a global context where global shipments of televisions fell 0.6% In the third quarter of 2025, TCL managed to grow 2%, and not because of a stroke of luck, but because of a very fine-tuned strategy that mixes price, technology and brand visibility. Year-on-year growth in the different global markets Source: Omdia Spain has become a strategic commercial laboratory for TCL, where it offers a powerful mid-range, marketing highly focused on sports in general and soccer in particular (with sponsorships for the Spanish team) and an aggressive presence in stores. The result is that TCL already competes in practice with brands that traditionally dominated the mid-range offering such as Samsung, LG and Xiaomi. Especially on the annual sales podium in several large format categories with models from 77″ onwards. The secret of TCL’s success The explanation for TCL’s growth in the mid-range television market in Spain does not have a single person responsible, but it has a common thread: TCL understood before anyone else what the European consumer was looking for after the pandemic. One of those keys is offered Mini-LED panels. Until two years ago, Mini-LED was an almost exclusive territory of the high ranges of Samsung, Sony or LG. But TCL (just like Hisense), has taken it to the mid-range. This has been possible because its costs were reduced and it became an affordable option. Suddenly, a television with spectacular brightness, good contrast and more dimming zones than traditional LEDs stopped costing thousands of euros. That has given TCL the ability to build a catalog that no longer only competes on price, but also does it in terms of quality and, most importantly, without the size limitations imposed by OLED technology. TCL is one of the few manufacturers that, for example, has 98 and 115 inch screens and They are leaders in that segment. This variety of diagonals allows it to reach both those who want a television with more inches for less money, and those looking for a better image quality without paying the extra cost of OLEDs. Maintaining low prices for a technology such as Mini-LED, which provides a very noticeable leap in terms of image quality, is essential in TCL’s trajectory. While brands like Samsung, LG or Sony differentiate themselves through their own processors and algorithms, TCL has opted for another way: controlling everything from the factory, but focusing on the hardware (panels) which is what it really controls. For this reason, TCL televisions do not have image processing or algorithms as refined as those of Samsung, LG or Sony, which have dedicated their efforts to developing them. For now, that is not your battlefield. Their focus is on the mid-range and volume, where good “high enough” quality outsells any AI algorithm. This strategy eliminates intermediaries and significantly reduces the cost of each panel. Their production of Mini-LED screens increased in 2024 and 2025, which has allowed them to amortize the technology faster by applying very tight margins and making it cheaper even when the competition still reserves it for its premium models. TCL sponsorship of the Spanish team TCL’s strategy regarding its prices is very reminiscent of Xiaomi’s in mobile phones from a few years ago. That strategy consisted of selling units with almost no margin until they gained market share, consolidated the brand and, from there, went up a notch towards more profitable premium products with investments in their own R&D. In that sense, TCL would already be on the second step: consolidating the market. All this happens just before the 2026 World Cup, an event that historically boosts sales of large televisions. And there TCL has an ideal product: Large format mini-LED at prices well below the competition and with a brand image close to … Read more

The housing market is so broken that it has found an unexpected channel for express purchases: Telegram

by

The housing market is overheated. It comes with taking a look at your price curvehe residential deficit calculated by the sector, the accelerated tempos of the agencies or simply the conditions (increasingly draconian) that real estate agencies require from tenants looking for an apartment to confirm it. There is another place however where that fever is clearly perceivedone that has little to do with agencies, portals like Idealista or the offices of the promoters: Telegram. There it is increasingly easier to find apartment purchases that are closed in minutes with a clear investment focus. Seen and unseen. The news I advanced it a few days ago The Country. If there were doubts about the imbalance between supply and demand in the Spanish real estate market or to what extent housing is awakening the appetite of investors comes with taking a look at Telegram. In the same messaging app that many of us use to talk to our families or friends, there are groups with thousands of subscribers that have become real real estate showcases. Of course, with certain peculiarities: speed prevails in the channels, the ‘seen and unseen’, with a clearly investor focus. It is not unusual for sales to be settled in a matter of minutes, sometimes by buyers who do not even get to visit the home they are purchasing in person. At the end of the day, you are not looking for a home. Generally, those who buy do so attracted by the promise of high returns. And one of the most popular ways is the rental market. How do they work? The mechanism is quite simple. The channels are run by specialized companies that are previously in charge of tracking the market in search of assets with potential, apartments in locations with rising markets, at reasonable prices and in which it is possible to charge tenants monthly payments that, over time, will translate into profitability of the 6%, 8%, 9% or even 13%, far above than other more conventional investments offer. Once the company ‘hunts’ that real estate asset, it offers it on its Telegram channel with a series of key data: area, location, age, sale price, estimated rent and profitability forecasts. Potential buyers send emails showing their interest and then the company chooses among the candidates, either by lottery or following the order in which they have written. It is not unusual for the buyer to never see the property or even live in another city. At the end of the day, what counts is the promise of economic return. How frequent is it? Last year the General Council of Notaries registered almost 716,200 home sales in Spain. Among this enormous volume of operations, those closed expressly through Telegram could have represented a small part (there is no official data), but even so the phenomenon is interesting enough that it has followers. The Country speaks from several companies that launch offers every week through groups in which they reach 3,000, 10,500 or even 15,000 subscribers. Specifically, he cites three companies in the sector: Winteromics, Nexiaprop and Buy 1 apartmentalthough not all of them are the same nor do they use Telegram with the same frequency. More than just speed. That the formula is arousing interest is explained by the characteristics of the real estate market. In cities with very stressed markets, such as Madrid, Barcelona either Valenciarents rise, but so do (and not a little) the price of properties, so its real estate stock loses interest for local investors in search of available homes to direct them to the rental market. Solution? Look beyond the metropolises, in other locations, if possible in municipalities where prices are still reasonable, where population is gaining or an increase in demand is expected in the near future, for example due to the arrival of a multinational. Hence, buyers are interested in homes that may be hundreds or thousands of kilometers from where they live. Mediation companies not only promise huge financial returns. Sometimes, if the expected returns are not achieved, they undertake to cover the difference or even offer their services as intermediaries to take care of the renovations or rental management. That is, even if the investor has in mind becoming a landlord, he or she will not even have to act as such. The company itself takes care of it… after payment (of course) of a commission. Looking for strategic areas. The focus is usually on homes located in working-class areas, without conflicts, with sales prices that usually do not reach or range around 100,000 euros. Companies also manage to ensure that these properties are not even offered on the open market, thus becoming the first to hunt for ‘bargains’ for investors. The companies they allege who with their work increase the rental supply and unlock properties that have been empty for some time. Of course, it’s not all advantages. As in any investment, the sector also recognizes that there are “risks”, especially for buyers who purchase apartments without first seeing them in situ. Images | Ivan Radic (Flickr) and Kaspar Upmanis (Unsplash) In Xataka | For years, motorhomes were a luxury. Now they are something else: the last stronghold against the housing crisis

Oracle signed a 300 billion agreement with OpenAI. Two months later it has lost 315,000 million in the stock market

by

Since Oracle announced its $300 billion deal with OpenAI On September 10, its shares have lost $315 billion in market capitalization, as they have stated since Financial Times. The technology company He has bet everything on a single card: Become the premier infrastructure provider for the world’s most valuable AI lab. Investors are not convinced. The most expensive bet in its history. Oracle has tied its future to OpenAI in an unprecedented way in the technology industry. According to estimates At Jefferies, 58% of its future order book comes from a single customer: OpenAI. To put it in perspective, Microsoft has just 39% concentration with its largest customer, and Amazon 16%. Oracle has gotten into a mess and its business diversification has become a critical dependency on OpenAI. The plan is ambitious but risky. Oracle’s strategy is to reach $166 billion in cloud computing revenue by 2030, according to counted the company last month. To achieve this, its investment budget in the current fiscal year ending in May amounts to $35 billion. The analysts wait that this annual expenditure will stabilize around 80,000 million in 2029. But here’s the problem: Starting in 2027, most of that revenue would come from OpenAI, according to the calculations from RBC Capital Markets. That is, Oracle is not just building massive infrastructure, it is building massive infrastructure for a single tenant that has yet to prove its long-term commercial viability. The numbers don’t add up yet. Oracle’s net debt already stands at 2.5 times its ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), more than double what it was in 2021, and is expected to almost double again by 2030. Its free cash flow is also expected to remain negative for five consecutive years, according to the forecasts collected by Bloomberg. The company is financing with debt a gigantic server farm with the hope that OpenAI will generate enough revenue to justify the investment. Meanwhile, as has shared Financial Times, investors are so restless that the cost of insuring against a potential Oracle default is at a three-year high. The contagion effect of OpenAI. Oracle is not the only company that has suffered after announcing agreements with OpenAI. Broadcom and Amazon too have seen their shares fallwhile NVIDIA has barely moved since its investment agreement in September. A few months ago, any type of association with OpenAI caused prices to rise, considering himself the King Midas of AI. The most notable case was AMD’s in Octoberwhen its shares rose 24% after announcing a chip deal that included company warrants. That halo effect seems to have completely faded. Between the lines. The initial theory was that OpenAI was in a frantic race to catch up. general artificial intelligence (AGI) and that Oracle was the only company capable of scaling the necessary computing capacity at the required speed. Oracle promised the lowest upfront costs and the fastest path to revenue generation because it acted as a data center tenant, not an owner. Now investors are sending the signal that partnering with OpenAI is no longer a guarantee of success. The alternative reality is less rosy: Oracle doesn’t have as much operating profit as its competitors to burn on R&D, so it’s betting everything to keep its only big customer in exchange for a promissory note. Amazon, Microsoft and Meta can afford to spend between 70,000 and 130,000 million a year in infrastructure. Oracle is juggling financials to keep pace. And now what. Oracle has until mid-2026 to prove that your Abilene data center in Texas, with capacity for more than 400,000 GPUs and 1.4 gigawatts of power, can generate the promised returns. Meanwhile, the market has spoken and is awaiting evidence that this partnership will bear the promised fruits. Cover image | Oracle and OpenAI In Xataka | As if there weren’t enough AI companies, Jeff Bezos has just returned from the shadows to build another one, according to the NYT

Temu and AliExpress are selling the cheapest V-16 beacons on the market. And it’s very easy to know if it’s a scam.

by

There are 44 days left until the connected V-16 beacon becomes mandatory in our country. There are, in fact, 43 days left if you are reading this on November 18, 2025. And I don’t want to burden anyone but there is obviously less room for maneuver with each passing day. We already know about the “evil of many…” but I will tell you a secret: if you are about to buy the beacon, you are by no means the only one in that position. Obviously, this has caused sales of the device to skyrocket. And with it have come the offers and, of course, the doubts about whether we are buying a valid product or not. Neither the DGT nor the consumer associations have helped with the doubts. And, on the market, there are V-16 beacons but not all of them are valid. Despite everything, you can find specific offers and bargains by finding this product, even below 10 euros. Therefore, we are going to explain how we can check whether or not we are facing a scam. Is it a scam? To understand why so much confusion must be taken into account that the approval of having to mount a V-16 beacon on the car It closed in 2021. Then the DGT decided that this device would replace the emergency lights and V-16 beacons began to arrive on the market. In 2022, however, it was confirmed that only V-16 beacons that could be used would be valid. contact DGT 3.0. They are called “V-16 connected beacons”, those that have a SIM card inside and that must guarantee connectivity for 12 years. That is, all V-16 beacons without connectivity (mainly sold before 2022) are not valid. This regulatory change is what has led consumer associations like the OCU to affirm that a connected V-16 beacon, the only valid one, “rarely goes below 40 euros.” But this is not entirely true. First, because it is very easy to find approved V-16 beacons for about 30 euros. Second, because there are real bargains that allow us to buy this device for less than even 10 euros. With that price it is logical to think that we could be facing a scam. Or, simply, that we are buying a V-16 beacon without realizing that they lack that connectivity that is essential for approval. The doubts multiply because Temu either AliExpress They offer beacons well below the 40 euros floor price recommended by the OCU. Pages specialized in discounts, such as Chollometer also offers aggressive discounts on some V-16 beacons. Do you want one for 9.99 euros? Yes. And it’s not a scam. Not, at least, in all cases. It’s all in the certificate number With a month and a half left before the new regulations come into force, there is not a day on pages like Aliexpress, Temu or Chollómetro in which a V-16 beacon is not offered at ridiculous prices. We give you some examples: V-16 beacon offered on Aliexpress V-16 beacon offered on Aliexpress The two previous beacons are sold on AliExpress at an almost absurd price. Of course, the fact that they can be purchased for just over two and four euros should make us suspicious. And indeed, none of the above options are valid. In fact, in the product rating of one of them, there is a comment specifying that they do not have connectivity. However, let’s look at another case. Beacon offer at 9.98 euros at Chollometro Redirection to Temu where it is shown that the beacon can be purchased for 9.99 euros The above case explains well how we can find a connected and completely valid V-16 beacon at a very low price. The connected V-16 beacon shown above is an offer that we have found on Chollometro, a website from which it is redirected to Temu where it is noted that the price of the beacon is 59.99 euros but that it is on sale for 29.98 euros. As if that were not enough, it is possible to buy it (red box) for 9.99 euros. The price should make us suspicious. But we go to the product description where it is mentioned that it has IP54 water resistance, it is promised that it is connected to DGT 3.0, which meets all the approvals… and its certificate is shown: IDIADA PC25060196. The latter is especially important because it is the data that certifies whether or not the connected V-16 beacon that we are purchasing is fake or meets the required requirements or not. To check it, let’s go to the DGT page. In this linkTraffic lists each and every one of the approved devices. We can filter the list by the date of approval, by the name of the manufacturer, the name of the product… and very importantly, the certificate number of all the products that we can even download is shown. In addition, it has a search engine, as we see in the following image. DGT list with all approved connected V-16 beacons It is enough to enter the certificate number, it is not even necessary to specify IDIADA or LCOE (the two laboratories that approve this product in Spain), to confirm that the V-16 beacon that we want to buy has all the technical requirements, including its manufacturer, the name of the exact model and when and where the approval was certified. In the case of the previous connected V-16 beacon, we are talking about a product certified, indeed, by IDIADA. It was homologated on June 30, 2025, the exact model name is V16 Beacon Light IoT CH-020L, sold under the Raykong brand and homologation requested by Limburg Technology Limited. Below we leave you the image in which this information is shown and the certificate that the DGT attaches with this data. Search for the beacon purchased in Temu Certificate of the connected V-16 beacon sold in Temu As we have seen, before purchasing the V-16 beacon it is easy to check whether we … Read more

There are so few mechanics on the market that Ford is taking radical measures, like paying them $120,000

by

In the United States, and in general in the main Western economies, the manufacturing industry faces a serious problem: there is no specialized labor to fill the vacancies that are leaving who retire. Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, has stressed in an interview for the podcast Office Hours: Business Edition that his company has “5,000 mechanic vacancies. A workshop with an elevator and tools, and no one to work in it. They charge 120,000 a year, but it takes five years to learn how to do it.” This lack of training is the weakest link in the chain for Ford and the majority of the industrial sector. Global talent crisis. One of Trump’s slogans when he came to power is to reindustrialize the country. However, for many billion dollar investment that I get for build huge factorieswill fall on deaf ears if there are no well-trained employees to produce. This problem can be extrapolated to any country in the world. During his podcast appearance, Farley lamented: “We have over a million vacancies in critical jobs: emergency services, trucking, factory workers, plumbers, electricians and technical trades. It’s very serious.” The situation is not exclusive to Ford. According what was published by NPRwith data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the US there were almost 500,000 unfilled jobs in the manufacturing sector, even with a rising unemployment rate that stood at 4.3%. This is an indication that, although there are people who are unemployed, companies cannot hire them because they simply do not have the training to do the jobs they need. In Spain, the problem is also significant. The BBVA Foundation estimated that the manufacturing industry had lost a quarter of its employment since the beginning of the century, and there are an estimated 100,000 vacant jobs in the industry, in a country with 2,613,200 unemployed, according to data of the EPA’s third quarter of 2025. Again, this mismatch is due to the gap between the training of the workforce and the needs of companies. Importance of Vocational Training. Farley insists that the current reality demands a serious commitment to professional training, since “to learn how to disassemble a diesel engine from a Ford Super Duty truck requires at least five years.” For this reason, the CEO points out that without a determined effort to strengthen technical training schools and offer competitive wages, the American industrial economy—and that of any country that aspires to industrialization—is doomed to failure. The lack of investment in this type of training is one of the main causes of the crisis. Farley mentioned that “we don’t have trade schools. We are not investing in educating a new generation like my grandfather, who started with nothing and built a middle-class life for his family (working on the assembly line of a Ford factory).” The Spanish FP is a success story. In Spain, Vocational Training has experienced a big change thanks to investment policies, greater training offers and the involvement of companies in the training of those who will later become their employees. In fact, according to the report ‘Infoempleo Adecco 2024‘, in 46.96% of the job offers published during the last year, candidates were asked have a vocational training degree. The FP student report of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports reveals that, in the 2022-2023 academic year, 1,085,259 students were enrolled in Vocational Training degrees. That represents an increase of 32.6% compared to the last five years. The demographic factor is going to make it worse. A key factor in the number of vacancies is the template aging: Many workers with decades of experience are retiring and there are not enough young people trained to take their places. This is a problem that not only affects the industrial sector, but also affects the entire labor market, both in the public sector as private. Seeing that young people are showing greater interest in Vocational Training invites us to think that the number of vacancies in sectors with vacancies due to lack of trained labor at present will not increase, but the big question is whether this generational change will arrive on time and to the areas that are needed. As and as highlighted Jensen Huang, the new millionaires will not be engineers or AI experts, but electricians, carpenters, bricklayers or bus drivers. Incentives: “Pay them more”. Never have three words held as much truth as those spoken by Joe Biden when someone asked him how to end the labor shortage: “Pay them more.” Pay them more. In his attempts to attract qualified labor to his assembly lines, Ford’s CEO adopted a strategy that the company’s founder, Henry Ford, implemented in 1914: raise salaries. That’s why Farley boasted of paying $120,000 to his mechanics. Just as he told in an interview with Walter Isaacson, Farley came to that conclusion when during labor agreement negotiations, some of his workers approached him and commented: “Young people don’t want to work here. Jim, you pay $17 an hour and they’re very stressed.” To combat this, Ford approved a 25% pay increase for its workers over four years, ensuring everyone has a fair wage and a viable career future. have a professional opportunity with a good salary and job stability is the best incentive for young people to spend five years of their lives training for a profession. In Xataka | 47% of the unemployed in Spain are over 50 years old. The problem is that many will not return to work until they retire. Image | ford

The Steam Machine’s key to eating the market will be the price. And there Valve has an ace up its sleeve

by

The video game world is revolutionized. It’s not every day that a new “PC-console” is announced, but even rarer is that the device comes from Valve. They have just presented the Steam Machinea console-shaped PC that has been posed as a direct threat to Xbox and PS5but also for the Windows PC itself. Much has changed since Steam Machines from a decade ago and, with the new model, Valve will not take timid steps. Steam Deck has shown them that they have a lot to say in the field of hardware, but as always, success will depend on the price of the Steam Machine. It has to be attractive to gain a foothold. And Valve has a wild card called 30%. The price of the Steam Machine and the 30% wildcard A decade ago, Valve already took a hit with the first Steam Machines. He said that they were a timid bet because Valve developed the system, but between the fact that there were not so many games available for it (based on Linux) and that the machines were not designed by Valve, but rather delegated to companies like Asus and AlienWare (which set prices that were not competitive), well the thing ended… badly. The situation has changed a lot by three factors: In the shadows they continued to develop the Steam OS systemmaking it compatible with both Linux and Windows games. They launched a Steam Deck with which they have shown that they know how to make competitive hardware. Although threats such as Amazon and Epic Games have appeared, their platform remains the undisputed queen when we talk about PC gaming. The Steam Machine will arrive (accompanied by a new controller and a virtual reality viewer named Steam Frame) at the beginning of 2026. We do not know the specific date, nor the price. And, of course, once the initial excitement of the announcement had passed, the conversation turned to theorizing about the price of the Steam Machine. Here I want to be cautious because whenever hypotheses are launched about the price of hardware there are a lot of factors that come into play. We can take the components as a reference and say “To build a PC like this is about 700 euros”but then there are the design costs (it is very small and that increases the price), development, logistics… The last time the price of a console was theorized was with nintendo switch 2and their 470 euros They ended up surprising (although the 90 of some of their games were more surprising). Therefore, I don’t want to venture to say whether the Steam Machine will cost more or less. There are some clues. The Verge is one of the media outlets that has had the machine nearby and claims that Valve plans a price “similar to a PC with similar features.” From the middle they point about $800, but that’s only in components (without the system and other costs, for example), but the components are customized and look like versions of laptop CPUs and GPUs, not the ones we can buy for a desktop. From the technical media Digital Foundry take for granted that the range will be between 500 and 600 euros, but again: it is difficult to estimate because there is not much to scratch. Now, my reflection is that, if the objective of Steam is to punch the table and wants to take part of the pie from both the consoles Like the PC itself, the Steam Machine will be sold at a loss. Because? Because if there is a company that can afford it, it is Valve. For starters, it’s a private company. Gabe Newel, Valve’s boss, owns 51% of the shares. This implies that they do not have to give explanations to shareholders. This is why we do not have public figures for Steam profits or Steam Deck sales (although it is esteem which dominates the -small- consolidated PC market). But the reason why Valve can sell a console at a loss, or not care so much about not making money per machine sold, is because all the ones they sell have Steam as launcher and store, and the company keeps a significant percentage per game sold on the platform. That percentage is around 30%which implies that if a million copies of a game are sold, Valve’s share of the pie is considerable. And, although not all games sell millions, thousands of video games are released every month. that “solely” for setting up the servers and hosting the games developed by other companies. Besides, there is the matter of the stickersa market in which Steam also keeps a good percentage of each transaction. AND It is something that moves dizzying figures. On the Steam Machine, as on the Steam Deck, you can run games from platforms such as GOG, Epic or Rockstar, but in the end The PC marketplace par excellence is Steam. It is the mainstream platform and each of those Steam Machines will be a window to a store that has offers every now and then and that is very well positioned at a time when console games are more and more expensive. The consoles themselves are much more expensive than when they were launched five years ago. Therefore, although it is impossible to guess a price for the Steam Machine, as I said, If there is someone who can sell their machine at a loss because it will recover the difference with the software, that is Valve. And if they launch an affordable machine, with the market as it is, they can deal a tremendous blow to their direct competitors: consoles. But also to the PC itself. In Xataka | There are more and more physical video games that are paperweights. It is a tremendous problem for video games as art.

Duolingo was the fun, brave company we loved that taught us languages. Today it is sinking in the stock market

by

Most people never manage to turn their ideas into business successes. Luis von Ahn (Guatemala City, 1978) has achieved it twice. The first, when he created reCAPTCHA and sold it to Google in 2009 for a small fortune. The second, years later, started from a much simpler concept. Learning languages ​​was a painso von Ahn wanted to turn that into just the opposite: something fun. This is how it was born Duolingoa company that taught how to speak languages ​​with a strong component of gamification. You already had to go to an academy or spend long periods of time in online courses: you could learn words, phrases and pronunciation through small tests when you were on the bus or waiting in a queue. Duolingo achieved the most difficult thing: making us like each other (and fall in love) Learning with Duolingo was fun and comforting. The small rewards worked and turned it almost into a video game that little by little more people became fond of. The snowball got bigger and bigger and Duolingo became one of those companies that already seemed likeable at first. It seemed that everything it did was done well, and little by little the company took important steps to become the giant it is today. The certifications arrived who wanted to rival the famous TOEFL exams, their platform for schools, and more and more languages. Some, like japanesewere a challenge. Others, like the Klingon or the high valyriumwere above all a diversion that consolidated the fun and cool image of the company. Then things started to get interesting because Duolingo wanted to not only teach us languages ​​to speak, but also programming languages. He was encouraged to want to serve as a tool so that the little ones They learned to read and write. And for the young and not so young, Duolingo wanted to become private mathematics teacherof music or even chess. All of this ensured that over the years Duolingo managed to solidify that company image that Not only did he solve real problems, but he did it in a friendly, friendly and fun way.. In 2021 the company decided go public and after a couple of relatively calm years, the shares began to rise in value significantly. Everything seemed to be going great for the company. And then everything went wrong. AI has mortally wounded Duolingo, but not because of what we think When OpenAI presented GPT-4o in June 2024, many of us saw the future. One in which you no longer typed on your computer or on your mobile screen: it was enough to talk to him. That promised to transform many segments and kill some others, and among those threatened were companies like Duolingo. At the time it wasn’t so obvious, but when we saw that kid solving a math problem With the help of AI, it was not difficult to imagine that education, as we had known it, could have an expiration date. Curiously, that didn’t seem to affect Duolingo too much. The company continued to grow, but then two things happened. First and foremost, a major blunder. Luis von Ahn advertisement in April an “AI First” vision in which I would bet on artificial intelligence as a new great tool for your growth. The message sounded like “let’s do without the human being,” and although von Ahn tried to clarify things, the damage was done. After that, the debacle. Duolingo shares began to plummet. But the thing didn’t end there. The second of those turning point events occurred in August, when GPT-5 demonstrated that one could build a custom Duolingo for, for example, learn french in a fun way. People stopped being in love with Duolingo and they began to criticize her precisely because of what had made her succeed. There was too much gamification and, as i said a user on Reddit, “for me the reward for learning a language is learning the language.” Source: Cinco Días. Stocks continued to fall almost steadily. These days Duolingo presented financial results, and the curious thing is that although they were good, they were not good enough for Wall Street. The firm reached 135 million active monthly users (50 million use it daily), 20% more than in the same period of the previous year. It also rose 34% in paying users. Although one would think those numbers were fantastic, they also warned that the forecasts for the fourth quarter were not so optimistic. Result: new stock market debacle. So much so that the shares have plummeted 64% since reaching their highs on May 1, just after the “AI First” announcement. Since then, Duolingo’s drift has been worrying, and the coming months will undoubtedly mark its future even more. The company is in a difficult moment, and the rise of AI may end up causing those experimenting with their chatbot to realize that starting to learn languages ​​​​is as easy as telling ChatGPT “I want to practice my English with you a little. Correct me when I say something else and suggest small exercises” out loud. That is the great challenge for Duolingo going forward. In Xataka | How to practice languages ​​using artificial intelligence

the company is drowning in the market that it itself created

by

The first time I ordered food at home, it was from Telepizza. It’s possible that you do too. In the nineties, Telepizza was the perfect plan for hangouts to watch football or a movie at home. They had no competition. Today yes, and a lot. This, together with decades of treating the company as a financial asset and not as a long-term business, has caused the current situation: the company’s accounts are bleeding and there are serious doubts about its viability. Debt, restructuring and losses According to one PricewaterhouseCooper audit published in Merca2in 2024 Telepizza lost more than 48 million euros and carries a total debt of 150 million euros. The expected turnover for this period was 300 million euros, but they achieved 249.9 million, 18% less. This is in addition to expenses that amounted to 18.6 million euros in 2024 alone. Spain continues to be its strongest market and accounts for 60% of all its income, but also where the loss is greatest (almost 25 million euros). According to PwC, there are “material uncertainty regarding the continuity of the business”, and it is not the first time they have warned of something like this. They did another audit of the company’s accounts in 2022 in which they showed “significant doubts about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” Telepizza is at a crossroads: it needs to generate income quickly to cover expenses and debt, but at the same time it needs to invest if it wants to become competitive again in the current landscape. The accounts don’t work out. Telepizza and the delivery boom The food delivery landscape has radically transformed. Telepizza no longer competes in the market it founded, but in a totally saturated ecosystem where there are more and often better options. According to Dashmote data in 2024between 2019 and 2022 the delivery market in Spain doubled its income, reaching 5,000 million euros and in 2023 it would grow to 6.6 billion. Not all the mountain is oregano, the main delivery operators They also cannot boast of stability and profitsbut for Telepizza the reality is that, where they once reigned, now There are hundreds of thousands of restaurants available. It also happens that pizza is no longer the favorite option to order at home. According to DBK dataIn 2024, hamburger restaurants accounted for 61% of the market. Fried chicken restaurants and “other concepts” also grew, while pizzerias decreased their turnover by 1.8%. There is also the problem that entering this model implies give a third of income in commissionssomething that does not suit Telepizza very well in its delicate situation. Given this panorama, Telepizza has opted to encourage orders through its app and website. Recently They celebrated a pyrrhic victory: They are the pizza brand with the most users through their website and appreaching a total of 1.8 million monthly users. The problem is that the figure is not even striking. To put it in context, Burger King and McDonald’s have 4.7 and 4.5 million users through their apps respectively. Telepizza’s strategy involves reinforcing its own channel and betting on loyal customers who already know them and return to their app, but at the same time has become practically invisible for the rest of the public, who have many more pizzerias to choose from through the apps. It is an isolation strategy. The final chapter of a series that began decades ago To understand how Telepizza is today, you have to look back. The current situation is the consequence of a trend that began in the nineties. After a spectacular IPO in 1996, at the end of 1999 its founder sold his stake (months before the collapse of the dotcom bubbleby the way). This sale marked the beginning of an era in which Telepizza became a financial asset at the hands of venture capital funds and its valuation fell with each movement. In 2007, Telepizza went public after the takeover bid by the Permira and Ballvé fund and was valued at 850 million euros. In 2016, after the entry of the KKR fund, it went public again, although with quite disastrous results. Here the valuation had dropped to 780 million euros, but the worst thing is that not even three years passed when the KKR group launched another takeover bid again for take it out of the bag againvaluing it only in 600 million euros. Paradoxically, 2017 was a good year for the company’s accounts, which achieved record profits. Right after it was signed the agreement with Pizza Hut in which Telepizza committed to opening 1,300 restaurants, almost nothing. The plan ended up going awry internal tensions and the pandemic. In the end Telepizza broke up with Pizza Hut in many of the countries in which it was going to operate. In 2023, the debt caused the KKR fund left the equation and a financial restructuring was signed in which the company passed into the hands of its creditors, among which are Oak Hill and Fortress, two opportunistic funds, also known as vulture funds. Under this new mandate the objective was to try to stabilize the losses with the exit from Latin Americaalthough They couldn’t sell everything. The image speaks for itself In contrast, its most direct competitor, Domino’s Pizza, has had a stable trajectory of growth and is in good financial healthyou just have to look at its growth curve on the stock market. In addition to the global parent company, behind Domino’s Pizza Spain is Alsea, the Mexican restaurant provider which also manages brands such as Starbucks, Burger King or Foster’s Hollywood. Venture capital has squeezed Telepizza so much that has left it without operating marginleading it to a delicate situation that has lasted for years and that calls into question its continuity. In the end, the secret was not in the dough, but in being a restaurant chain and not a financial asset that passes from hand to hand. Image | Telepizza In Xataka | Robotic vans are already key in … Read more

For years the white label was the ugly duckling of the super Spanish. Now it is slowly eating up the market

by

The white marks continue to get stronger in the retail Spanish. And clearly, with resounding growth both in the ‘short assortment’ chains that have traditionally opted for them (Mercadona, Lidl or Aldi) and among others that have chosen to adapt their offer and give them greater prominence, in the case of Alcampo, Eroski or Carrefour. The trend as such has been seen since some time agobut the latest data published by Worlpanel by Numerator (advanced today by elEconomista.es) are especially forceful. What does the data say? That in recent years the weight of its own brands has clearly grown in the country’s main supermarkets, including Mercadona, the chain that owns higher quota of market in the sector. If in 2023 Mercadona’s white brands (with Hacendado at the head) represented 72.9% of its sales, the latest data from Worldpanel show that this percentage now stands at 77.8%. It is a high figure, but not the highest in the sector. It is surpassed by Lidl, where private labels account for 80.7% of sales. In your case, yes, a slight drop has been recorded: the percentage improves on that of 2023 (79.7%), but reveals a slight decline when compared to that of 2024. Chain % of white label sales 2023 % of white label sales 2024 % of white label sales 2025 Lidl 79.7% 81.9% 89.7% Mercadona 72.9% 74.5% 77.8% aldi 68.8% 69.1% 74.5% Day 54.2% 56.3% 65.1% consumption 33% 35.9% 37.4% Carrefour 29.3% 31.4% 33.3% Eroski 25.6% 28.4% 31.2% Alcampo 21.5% 24.3% 23.8% And the rest of the chains? They have also seen the white label imprint grow. Let’s see. In Aldi it has gone from 68.8% in 2023 to the current 74.5%, in Dia from 54.2% to 65.1%, in Consum from 33% to 37.4%, in Carrefour from 29.3% to 33.3%, in Eroski from 25.6% to 31.2% and in Alcampo from 21.5% to 23.8%. Its quota has not only expanded, it has also done so in a practically sustained manner. The only chains that have recorded a decline or stagnation between 2024 and 2025 are Lidl and Alcampo. The latter is also the only one that remains below 25%. Is there data from the entire sector? Yes. The latest data from Worldpannel by Numerator allows us to go into detail about the main chains, but the picture is not very different if we analyze the sector as a whole. another report Recent research by the consulting firm NIQ shows that, if we talk about food, the market share of distribution brands is around 54%. That was the data at least for September. That of the annual accumulated (first nine months of the year) marks 53.5%. The percentage is interesting because it shows a clear growth trend and is at values ​​never seen before. What is the reason? As is usually the case, the rise in private labels does not respond to a single factor. Multiple causes come into play, although there are two particularly interesting ones. The first is the growth of those known as short assortment chainssupermarkets with a limited selection of products and a strong commitment to their own items. The clearest example is Mercadona, which has managed to achieve a market share of more than 27%but there are others, such as Lidl or Aldi, which according to Worldpanel bring together a 6.9% and 1.9% of quota. And the other reason? The commercial strategy. Supermarkets have been laying the groundwork for years to promote their brands. This is what I suggested in 2024 a Kantar study. Their data must be handled with caution because they are presented by Promarca, a representative of manufacturers and therefore an interested party, but they are curious: according to the report, between 2018 and 2023 the supply of private label products increased by 13% on shelves while that of external items decreased by 23%. That is the general data, if we go down to detail and analyze chain by chain, noticeable variations are observed. In the case of Mercadona for example the study reveals that the presence of manufacturer brands was reduced by 45% in just five years. In the case of Dia the collapse was 42% and in that of Eroski it was almost 31%. An analysis by Kantar and The Battle Group also shows that this loss of footprint was accompanied by an increase in rates: third-party items are sold at prices between 5 and 160% higher than those of private labels. Are there more factors at play? Yes, there are. The prices, the offer and especially a cultural change which has favored private label brands, stripping them of the stigma that weighed on them for years. Mercadona once again sets a good example: Hacendado competes with premium brands and has some products that customers demand, prioritizing even other brands. The big question is how far brands like Hacendado, Auchan or Seleqtia (to name three examples) will be able to expand their share, as they find it very difficult to compete in certain niches in which traditional brands succeed. It is something that Worldpanel already warned about in one of your latest reportsin which he pointed out a certain “slowdown” in the growth of the value share of own brands. Images | Eroski Group (Flickr) Via | elEconomista.es In Xataka | Action supermarkets have gone from being unknown to conquering half of Europe. In Spain they will not have it easy

Neobanks break 25% market share in Spain. Traditional banking is losing young customers

by

They are no longer an anecdote, they are a main actor. For the first time, neobanks have exceeded 25% of the market share among individuals in Spain. A new report echoed by some media, places the penetration of these entities in 27.2%. It is a significant jump from the 21.8% they registered in 2024. The data confirms a clear trend: traditional banking is losing the battle for the young customer, although it continues to retain the main business. Image: Revolut What is a neobank. Unlike traditional bankingneobanks operate 100% digitally, without physical branches. Their model is based on a very light cost structure that allows them to offer commission-free services all managed from a mobile app. The Bank of Spain itself defines them as entities that offer banking intermediation services in a completely digital way. The assault on the young public. Neobanks entered the Spanish market attacking a very specific niche: young people and travelers. a study from Adyen and OpinionWay reveals that practically all Spaniards (93%) reject paying banking fees abroad. This has caused 59% of millennials and 55% of Gen Z to trust them more than traditional banks when traveling. Part of the “win” in innovation and reputation It’s not just in the product, but in the marketing. They understood that an app was not enough to attract the new generations; You had to be where they are: social networks and platforms like Twitch and YouTube. Revolut has been the most aggressive, renewing for a third year its alliance with Ibai Llanos and sponsoring its “Evening of the Year.” It seems that traditional banking has reacted to this trend, and has used the same weapons: now, Banco Santander has signed the YouTuber Plex. With almost 15 million followers on their networks, He is the protagonist of the last campaign. The Revolut surprise. This growth is not uniform; It is led by the well-known Revolut. A report from the CNMC was devastating: in 2024, Revolut led the acquisition of new accounts in Spain with 19.8% of the total, surpassing giants such as BBVA and Santander. The CNMC was blunt and recognized that “neobanks and fintechs pose a real competitive threat.” Figures. That leadership in recruitment now translates into real money. According to data from Expansion and El Mundo, the total neobank customer base in Spain exceeded five million in 2024. Revolut quadrupled its deposits in a single yeargoing from 739 million euros to 3,127 million. Meanwhile, its competitor N26 (with one million clients) suffered a 9% decline in deposits since December. Image: BBVA Fintech in traditional banks. The reactionary stance of some entities has led them to a strategy: launch their own neobanks to compete in the same field. Imagin stands out, promoted by CaixaBank. Your numbers They do not leave many doubts: they can boast 3.5 million clients and a 48% market share in the 18 to 34 year old segment among the main neobanks. But very few trust them with their payroll.. Despite the good penetration figures, traditional banking continues to dominate the main relationship with the customer. According to a report by Inmark, banks such as CaixaBank, Santander and BBVA account for almost 84% of the business market. Among individuals, only 4.2% use a neobank as their main entity. However, the goal of neobanks is stop being a complement. They are ripening to attack the core business of banking: Revolut has already announced its plans to offer mortgages in Spain and yes it has materialized installment payment services. The official view: necessary competence. The rise of fintech is a trend validated by official organizations. The Bank of Spain, in its 2025 Observatoryconfirms a 50% growth in the number of entities since 2020 and a 249% increase in their total assets since 2018. At the European level, the president of the Single Resolution Board recently warned that the Revolut model reinforces the need for a deposit guarantee fund mutualized in the EU. For its part, the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) and your report It is important to understand why they succeed: The traditional banking sector is highly concentrated. Spain (HHI of 1,331) has a higher index than Germany (323) or France (567). This lack of competition is one of the reasons why traditional banks do not remunerate deposits. It is the neobanks who break this dynamic. The Spanish banking sector is four times more concentrated than the German one, according to the CNMC. Neobanks have not grown by chance: they have taken advantage of the void that traditional banking left by not competing Now, there are always stones on the road. The CNMC points out that Spaniards have a “relatively high level of distrust” in online banking – only 23% feel “very comfortable” compared to the 41% average in the eurozone – and “below” average financial education. This paints a battlefield for the coming years. The growth of neobanks shows that they have won the usability war: they are easier to use and have masterfully conquered the young public. However, CNMC data reveal that traditional banking still has the most important defensive moat: customer trust and inertia. Cover image | Composition with images of CardMapr.nl and Revolut In Xataka | There are more and more millionaires in the world and that is a problem: luxury products are no longer exclusive

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.