sells

SpaceX is about to go public promising to bring AI to space. What really sells is satellite Internet

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SpaceX has confidentially registered with the SECthe US regulator, its application to go public, in what could become the largest public offering in history. Why is it important. The valuation of Musk’s company exceeds one and a half billion dollars, and the objective is to raise between 50,000 and 75,000 million euros before the end of June. To put it in perspective: the IPO of the Arab oil company Saudi Aramco in 2019until now the largest in history, raised just over 25,000 million. Furthermore, this news has been presented as a milestone in space exploration, but if you read between the lines, the real story is different. Between the lines. The story that SpaceX is going to sell to Wall Street mixes rockets, Mars and AI. It is the perfect cocktail to attract capital in 2026, but analysts who have looked at the numbers and quote Reuters are a little cruder: the $1.5 trillion valuation is only supported by starlinkthe satellite Internet service that already has nine million subscribers and generated $8 billion in revenue in 2024 alone. SpaceX billed between 15,000 and 16,000 million dollars in 2025, with about 8,000 million in profit. Starlink accounts for the clear majority of that revenue and almost all of the margins. The orbital data centersthe great promise of the IPO, are still an unproven concept. As said market strategist Shay Boloor: “Starlink is the only reason this assessment is defensible.” The contrast. SpaceX was born in 2002 with a mission: to make humanity multiplanetary. Mars as a destination and reusable rockets as a means. That narrative has had to give some ground. And Wall Street, which has been buying anything with the word AI for years, hears that and opens its wallet. The money trail. This year, SpaceX absorbed xAI, Musk’s AI startup and now also the parent company of X. Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter in 2022 and since then, X and xAI are projects that consume a lot of cash, especially the latter. SpaceX’s IPO, according to The New York Timesis proposed among other things to pay the debt that Twitter incurred when Musk bought it and to finance xAI’s data centers. In other words: the jewel in the crown finances loss-making companies. The big question. Can SpaceX trade at $1.5 trillion with markets shaken by war? The Nasdaq just suffered its worst week in almost a yearwith the war between the United States and Iran in the background and oil skyrocketing. Some bankers have pushed SpaceX to keep between 15,000 and 20,000 million in cash before exiting. For what may happen. The moment of debut can be decisive for the worse even if the fundamentals are great. What is certain is that if the operation goes ahead, Musk, who owns about 42-44% of SpaceX, will almost certainly cross the threshold of a trillion dollars of personal wealth. He would be the first billionaire in history. In Xataka | Seven of the ten largest fortunes in the world in 2026 are due to AI: this illustrative graph makes it very clear Featured image | SpaceX

We know its price and even its name from the most expensive mansion in Spain. The only thing we don’t know is who sells it.

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In Sierra Blanca, the urbanization most exclusive in Marbellawalls do not only delimit properties. They are also silent. It is the unwritten rule of Spanish luxury. The most expensive mansion of the country has just gone on sale with 5,600 square meters of luxuries and opulencewhich does not lack a fountain inspired by the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas. His sale price It is 70 million euros and has absolutely everything, except the answer to the most obvious question: who is selling it? ELON MUSK VS JEFF BEZOS: STAR WARS An oasis of luxury overlooking the Mediterranean As and as highlighted ForbesSierra Blanca is one of the most exclusive urbanizations in Spain and a natural fortress for privacy. Nestled on the slope of the mountain range that gives it its name is Villa Bellagio. The impressive mansion sits on a plot of 14,000 m2 300 meters above sea level. Its gardens mix palm trees, cypresses and native species in a setting designed both for beauty and to keep its tenants out of reach. of curious looks. The 22-meter infinity pool seems to extend to the horizon, with spectacular views over the Mediterranean. A fountain, a replica of the one at the Bellagio hotel-casino in Las Vegas, greets visitors before they even cross the door. The façade, designed by the Spanish architect Jesús del Valle, is impressive with a double staircase flanked by 20 columns up to eight meters high. Engel & Völkers In fact, the house is so ostentatious that it even caught the attention of YouTuber Ibai Llanos, who dedicated it to one of his videos in which he went through it it already showed its details. The mansion was built by Joe Ricotta, founder of a logistics company in the United Kingdom and a luxury real estate developer in Spain. According to the local pressRicotta sold the property (at that time called Villa Ricotta) in 2021. for 40 million euros. However, no one knows the identity of the current owner, faithful to the tradition of discretion that prevails among the residents of the most exclusive urbanization in Spain. Thirteen suites and no random details The interior of the mansion does not disappoint those who arrive expecting opulence and luxury in abundance. The 5,600 m2 built of the mansion are distributed in thirteen suites between its two floors: four of 40 m2 each on the ground floor and eight of up to 50 m2 each on the upper floor. Engel & Völkers Each of the suites has large windows with direct views of the Mediterranean and its own marble-clad bathroom. In total, no less than 24 bathrooms spread throughout the house. The main living room exceeds 200 m2 and connects with a dining room for 14 people and an impressive 60 m2 kitchen with state-of-the-art appliances. Engel & Völkers During his visit to the spectacular mansion, Ibai discovered that the entire house had a centralized home automation system from which the lighting, climate, blinds and sound are controlled in every corner of the house. An in-house electricity generator and several independent water tanks ensure that nothing ever fails, turning the lavish mansion into a self-sustaining bunker. The lower floor is the best example that Villa Bellagio is not a conventional luxury mansion and falls into another category. The spa area includes a heated indoor pool, haman, Finnish sauna, massage room and full gym. Engel & Völkers The leisure offer of the mansion includes a private cinema with capacity for 22 spectators, a double bowling alley of professional sizes, a billiard room with its own bar and a hairdressing and manicure salon for exclusive use. For motor lovers, the mansion reserves its most extravagant chapter: an air-conditioned gallery where to exhibit a collection of up to 12 vehicles as if they were museum pieces, with lighting designed to highlight every detail of their bodies. Underground, a second garage accommodates 40 more cars. In total, 52 places of parking for a collection which, in this context, no one would consider excessive. Engel & Völkers Concierge, cleaning and maintenance services with five-star hotel standards complete the proposal that, more than a home, functions as a private resort. All this behind walls that, as tradition dictates in Sierra Blanca, they reveal nothing about who lives (or has lived) on the other side of the luxurious entrance gate. In Xataka | The most expensive mansion in the world costs 1 billion dollars: the CEO of Citadel is building it in Florida Image | Engel & Völkers

Spain has been ignoring dozens of products that it sells daily in its supermarkets for decades. But that just ended

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You may have read or heard it somewhere: “goodbye to turkey ham and stuffed olives.” And what a joke, can you imagine a world without anchovy-flavored olives? Having to live only on ham or chicken breast? Luckily, you don’t have to imagine it. They don’t disappear. What the Royal Decree does has unleashed All this controversy is something a little more complicated: putting in order the enormous food mess that has been growing for decades in Spanish pantries. What food mess? On February 27 Royal Decree 142/2026 was published that seeks to modify (or repeal) more than a dozen food quality provisions. It seems somewhat minor, but some of which (such as the cookie regulations) are more than 40 years old. The interesting thing, however, is that this new legislation removes from legal limbo numerous products that have not been ‘thought of’ at a regulatory level for many years. In that sense, the decree affects dozens of daily consumer products, but it does not affect them in the sense that ‘they are going to change’: it affects them in the sense that now the rules are going to be clearer. The case of turkey ham and stuffed olives are paradigmatic: the former now has a clear definition and the latter will have the obligation to specify the characteristics of the filling. But what is interesting is not what is important. The important thing, clearly, is the inclusion of gluten-free bread in the bread quality standard. Not only is it a historic demand of the celiac community, but it closes a very tough debate at a regulatory and fiscal level. Until now, at a technical level, the standard did not contemplate that bread made with gluten-free flour could be called bread. This ‘nonsense’ made celiacs They will pay more VAT than they would pay on normal breadbut it’s already over. Something similar happened with horchata without added sugar, the clarification of cider, the types of sangria or the acidity of vinegars. What does disappear. The bologna mortadellawhich until now was a category and which will now have to be called something else to avoid confusion with the designation of origin of the true Bologna mortadella. The central issue is that the agri-food industry has changed a lot. And as usual, the legislation has been dragging its feet, generating piecemeal regulations and creating completely inexplicable holes. So yes, we have taken a step forward. And without having to give up even the turkey ham and stuffed olives. Image | Xavi Cabrera In Xataka | This is how ultra-processed foods have been invading our diet: the evolution of three decades in a single graph

whoever sells the shovels also wants to sell the map

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NVIDIA prepares the launch of NemoClawits own open source platform for enterprise AI agents. The official announcement is expected for GTC 2026, the company’s annual conference, which starts on March 15 in San José. Why is it important. NVIDIA has built its dominance by being the neutral infrastructure provider: it sells shovels to anyone who wants to dig. NemoClaw changes that position. By entering the agent software layer, you begin to compete directly with Anthropic, Microsoft, Salesforce and the community itself open source which until now considered NVIDIA an ally, not a rival. The context. The obvious trigger has been OpenClawan open source AI agent that allows complex tasks to be executed locally without human intervention and that OpenAI acquired a few days ago. Its success showed that there is a huge demand for freelance agents, but it also exposed its risks: Meta even banned its use on business devices following an incident in which an agent accessed a computer without instructions and deleted emails en masse. Companies needed something more controlled and NVIDIA has seen the opportunity there. Between the lines. The platform will be hardware agnostic: it will run on chips from AMD, Intel and others, not just NVIDIA GPUs. It is an apparently generous movement that hides a clear expansionist logic. It’s the same move that Meta made with Llama: giving away the software to boost demand for the hardware that runs it. If NemoClaw ends up becoming the standard de facto For business players, NVIDIA will be able to maintain its influence on the ecosystem even if competition in chips intensifies. The big question. NVIDIA has reached out to Salesforce, Cisco, Google, Adobe and CrowdStrike to forge early partnerships, but none have confirmed any agreement. There are reasons for skepticism: Salesforce has Einstein, Google has Vertex AI Agent Builderand both have clear incentives not to give ground at the application layer. The fact that they contribute to NemoClaw’s open source does not prevent them from continuing to develop their own platforms in parallel. NVIDIA’s success will depend on whether NemoClaw brings something that no one else can, or if it is just another framework gathering dust on GitHub. Yes, but. Gartner estimates that more than four in ten agentic AI projects will have failed by 2027. The business agent market is promising, but still more promise than reality. Furthermore, NVIDIA is entering an area where its competitive advantage (raw silicon power) matters less than the ability to orchestrate complex workflows, manage agent memory, and ensure security in regulated environments. That’s something that chips don’t provide. In Xataka | If the question is how much OpenClaw is taking over, the answer is… in China they are lining up to install it Featured image | Xataka

Carrefour sells off this huge 65-inch Neo QLED Samsung TV, with MiniLED and 120 Hz

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Although it is clear that the OLED TVs They are the highest in image quality, it is true that they are expensive. This has made QLED TVs become one of the most popular options currently, due to their excellent quality-price ratio. If you are looking for a large one, now at Carrefour you can get this Samsung TQ65QN1EFAU with 200 euros discount, for 649 euros. Furthermore, if you have the Carrefour Pass card you can pay it in 10 easy installments of 64.90 euros. Smart TV Samsung TQ65QN1EFAU The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A large screen TV at an unbeatable price As we have already said before, this TV has a 65-inch Neo QLED panel and has technology MiniLED. These LEDs are much smaller than those of a conventional TV, so the zone lighting control is very good, offering very deep blacks, almost at the levels of OLED screens. For gaming it is also a good option, since it has 120Hz refresh ratefour ports HDMI 2.1 and support for FreeSync Premium Pro. In addition, its latency is very low, so it will allow you to make the most of your PS5 either Xbox Series X at 120 fps. This is a 2025 model, so today it is still a very good purchasing option. The operating system under which it works is tizen and is compatible with Apple AirPlay. As for sound, its speakers offer an RMS power of 20 W, although it is something you can improve with a sound bar. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: offer for the Samsung TQ65QN1EFAU smart TV today ✅ THE BEST Its processor is powerful: The NQ4 AI Gen2 is a processor with one of the best image scaling functions. It is capable of taking low-resolution content and cleaning it of “noise” through Artificial Intelligence. Impact shine: Being NEO QLED, the peak brightness offered by this TV is very high. This makes it an ideal TV for living rooms with lots of natural light or windows, where an OLED would suffer from reflections. ❌ THE WORST Without Dolby Vision… It is one of the big “buts” of Samsung. Of course, it supports HDR10+, but you miss out on the most used standard on platforms like Disney+ or Netflix. Intrusion in Tizen… Although Tizen is a very complete operating system, the interface is filled with recommendations and advertising from Samsung’s own channels. This can be somewhat annoying and slow down your browsing. 💡 BUY IT IF… You are going to use the console a lot in a bright room and if you are going to have the TV on for a long time with cartoon channels or DTT, since there is no risk of screen burn-in. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You are a purist Dolby Vision movie buff, since the absence of this is a handicap for them. Some accessories that may interest you for this TV Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Sound Bar HW-B46CF/ZF The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Webedia and Samsung In Xataka | The nine best sound bars and bases for less than 400 euros In Xataka | Mega-guide to set up a home theater: projector, screen, sound system and more

Samsung no longer sells you a great processor. A good intermediary sells you

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He Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 It is surely the most powerful processor that has ever come to an Android phone. Samsung has it in S26 Ultra. And in the launch communications of this mobile he has barely mentioned it, contrary to his modus operandi of yesteryear: the chip used to be one of the big arguments along with the camera and battery. What Samsung has developed with the S26with a lot of time and detail, has been AI. Specifically, the S26 will work with three: Gemini, Bixby and Perplexity. That you choose. That each one does different things. That the device is responsible for coordinating them between them. High-end hardware has reached a point where the differences are marginal for most users. Nobody buys an Ultra anymore because it has 20% more performance in the vapor chamber. But he can buy it because the phone asks him for the Uber only when he has an event on the calendar and calculates the times without him doing anything.to. Or because it filters the calls from spam (there will be trials for this), because it answers for you if you don’t want to pick up the phone, or because it suggests photos of the trip when a friend asks for them via chat. Samsung calls this ‘agentic upgrade’although what it describes is easier to understand: the mobile phone does things in the background without you asking it. There is the twist that the briefing already hinted. Samsung no longer sells itself as the maker of the best hardware. It is sold as the one that best connects you with the intelligence that others have built. It’s not Google, which has Gemini. It is not Perplexity, which has its search engine. It’s not even the chip, which is sometimes an Exynos but sometimes it’s from Qualcomm. Samsung is the layer that unites all thatthe operating system that decides how those agents talk to each other, the hardware that runs them. He is, in the most literal sense, an intermediary. And that’s where he’s focusing now. Perplexity in action, integrated into the S26. Image: Xataka. Galaxy AI. It is not its own AI but rather the integration of someone else’s. Image: Xataka. The bet makes sense as long as that role is difficult to replicate. One UI, Samsung DeXthe integration between native apps and Bixby, the brutal hardware privacy screen that only the Ultra has… All of these are things that you can’t have on another device even if you use the same AIs. For now, at least. The uncomfortable question is what happens when Gemini, Perplexity and Bixby are free on any Android. When what matters is not what AI you access, but how the manufacturer integrates it. Samsung is betting that this difference will be enough of a purchase argument. That’s why it doesn’t sell you the processor. You already assume it’s good. In Xataka | Samsung has a plan to become the greatest AI power in mobile phones. And that is why it has teamed up with Perplexity Featured image | Xataka

The problem is not that your favorite influencer sells you the motorcycle. The problem is that maybe it doesn’t even exist.

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What text-to-image and image-to-video generation will be able to achieve in the coming years is only easy to imagine if you’re in the business. I have been closely following advances in AI as a method to replace humans doing things. And I can assure you based on my experience that 2026 will be a before and after in a daily practice: consuming content on TikTok or Instagram. It’s happening now. We have been talking about influencers created with AI since 2023. The most famous case is that of Aitana Lopeza model created with AI that surpassed the barrier of 100,000 followers on Instagram. The case remained more anecdote than normal, but in 2025 we began to hear from relevant capital firms in Silicon Valley investing in start-ups created as synthetic influencer agencies. The factory. The girl you see above does not exist. She is an influencer that I created in less than two minutes and for free. If you want to make a minimal investment, you could improve the texture of your skin with Nano Banana Pro 4K or render additional details with Topaz AI. All within the same tool. Higgsfield AI is the largest AI content creation platform, and has had the “AI influencer” function for some time now. With the arrival of models like Banana Pro, the results are indistinguishable from reality. Skin enhancer in Higgsfield. Model created with AI. Maybe it exists… and it’s AI. Until now, we have only talked about creating influencers in a 100% artificial way but… what if I told you that you are already watching videos on social networks of people who exist, but who are not real at the moment you are watching the video? Spanish influencers, such as Janmolinerare starting to use AI to clone themselves and post videos in which they appear, but using an AI avatar that replaces them. This opens the doors to: Much higher content creation volume. Cost savings. What we hate with all our might: more ads created with AI. Indistinguishable. I have been training in this type of tools for some time, my eye is trained to try to detect when it is AI and when it is not, and since the arrival of the latest models I have one thing clear: it is currently indistinguishable from reality, and it will improve even more in the coming years. Big Tech. Microsoft, Google, Meta and Anthropic They are paying real money to content creators to promote their AI, with agreements reaching up to $600,000. The big question is whether, in the medium term, it will continue to make sense for companies to have humans advertise their products… or to have an AI announcing another AI. Image | Higgsfield AI In Xataka | I bought a spell online to make my cat an influencer. Now I have two euros less and even more afraid of AI

BYD sells a total of zero cars in the United States. And, despite everything, it has denounced the United States for its tariffs

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Not a year ago and it seems like a thousand lives have passed. In case you don’t remember, I’ll give you some background: the United States and China went to war about a year ago. A trade war who left us images to remember, like the photo of Donald Trump with the “reciprocal tariffs” table either the penguins who will now have to pay for putting their products there. Assuming, of course, that the penguins knew how to design, develop, produce and sell products. Beyond Pepín Tre’s own approaches, the truth is that we have been in tug-of-war between the United States and China for almost a year. In OctoberDonald Trump and Xi Jinping met to try to relieve tensions. It is one more of the chapters that has left us a most bizarre year in which, for example, China has been playing its own solitary tricks, redefining the origin of products, classifying them by their place of manufacture and not by the place of development or packaging and, thus, make the entry of chips accessible without lifting restrictions on other types of products. The last chapter of this story seems to be being written by BYD. The Chinese company is not selling cars in the United States. And what has already been approved by Joe Biden before the entry of Donald Trump, with bans on the sale of all cars with Chinese software or hardware, it does not seem to make things easy for the Asian company either. Despite this, BYD has made a tough decision: sue the United States. They believe that the tariffs they are paying are not legal. They doubt that the regulations used by Donald Trump allow tariffs to be imposed. And that is why they demand that all the money paid since April be returned to them. But what money? Much more than cars… although with cars in mind As we have told you in Xatakathe Asian company is much more than a car producer. In fact, and this is part of its secret, BYD did not start out as a regular car manufacturer. BYD, in addition to cars, produces batteries or heat pumps. Vertical integration is part of your secret to saving costs. From this evolution and opening new horizons, its automobile division was launched. But also buses and trucks. Because when BYD arrived in Europe it had already been there for many years selling their buses for our continent. And the same thing happens in the United States. It does not sell cars, but it does sell buses, trucks and batteries. In fact, according to Reuters750 BYD employees work in the United States in its North American division. Up to four BYD subsidiaries from which buses, trucks, batteries and renewable energy systems come out are those that have filed their lawsuit in the United States Court of International Trade. In it they defend that “the text of the IEEPA (the International Emergency Economic Powers Act on which the “reciprocal tariffs” policy was based) does not use the word “tariff” or any term of equivalent meaning.” Since Donald Trump announced the tariffs that he was going to impose on practically everyone, doubts about their legality or otherwise have been on the table. The United States Government dusted off the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to move them forward, a rule of the Cold war. However, doubts about whether or not this rule should go through Congress were on the table from day one. Even the Senate has voted against the tariffs to some countries but the resolution is purely aesthetic. Now, BYD claims that nowhere in the law does it specify that tariffs can be imposed on products coming from abroad. It is a theory supported by various companies that in recent months have also presented their own lawsuits in the same terms, such as Toyota, Costco or Prada, they point out in CarNewsChina. The decision of the court in charge of the lawsuit is key because if it rules in favor of the companies, the United States would have to return all the money collected since April. But it would also open the door for products to be exported without these special tariffs being applied, they would simply have to comply with the tariffs that were already active before April 2025. That is to say, At stake is not only money that BYD may have lost on the products it has sold there. At stake is also market entry which, with current tariffs, is almost impossible. Besides, Canada has opened the door to Chinese electric cars and Geely has dropped that their intention is also to sell their Chinese cars in the United States. The big question, as in the case of BYD, is how they intend to do it before the end of the decade with the restrictions that are currently imposed. It is a question that neither BYD nor Geely have answered. Photo | BYD and Joshua Hoehne In Xataka | “They are going to regret it”: Canada has generated even more tension with the US by opening the door to Chinese electric cars

They kicked him out of the factory in 2020. Today, this tiktoker sells his company and an AI that replaces him for 900 million

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Khaby Lame, the tiktoker with the most followers in the world (160 million), has sold his company Step Distinctive Limited to Rich Sparkle Holdings for between $900 and $975 million. The operation was closed in January with shares, without cash, and represents one of the largest transactions in the new creator economy. Who is it. He Italian of Senegalese origin25, rose to fame after being laid off from his job as a machinery operator in the pandemic. He began to publish silent videos, favored for their comical expressiveness, where he dismantled one of the fashions then in vogue on the Internet: life hacks that he knew how to detect as ridiculously complicatedand whose artificiality he exposed with a gthis distinctive that became his trademarkand that helped him propose obvious solutions to problems that, in reality, did not exist. On June 22, 2022, she surpassed Charli D’Amelio as the most followed person on the platform. What does the deal include? Dubai-based Step Distinctive Limited handled licensing, partnerships and sales. Lame becomes a shareholder of Rich Sparkle Holdings but loses operational control. A key fact: according to Celebrity Net WorthLame only had 49% of his company. 51% belonged to partners such as the Chinese Anhui Xiaoheiyang Network Technology, of the Three Sheep conglomerate. Lame’s case is not isolated. Mergers and acquisitions in the creator economy grew by 73% in 2025, reaching 52 operations. The sector, valued at more than 200 billion in 2024could exceed one billion before 2033. Other notable cases: MrBeast’s Beast Industries was valued at 5 billion and earned 473 million in 2024. Logan Paul earned 1.2 billion with Prime in 2023, valued between 2,000 and 3,000 million. The formula pursued is obvious: convert your followers into buyers. Digital twins. The most striking thing about the agreement is the transfer of the digital twin made by Lame’s AI. This technology creates digital replicas capable of speaking different languages ​​without recording new content. In China, platforms like Douyin employ AI-generated streamers who sell 24 hours a day, reducing costs by 80%. This technology allows a person to “work” simultaneously in multiple markets without a break. Who buys? Prior to the deal, Rich Sparkle was a financial printing company with no history in social media or AI, and the deal raises questions about the financial effectiveness of these types of deals. Now, for three years, Rich Sparkle has exclusivity over Lame’s business operations but despite his fame, is it a good move? Creators build value with their identity, but when they are controlled by outside corporations they risk losing what made them unique. The creator economy is no longer marginal: it has become a sector that operates with the same amounts as traditional industries. What started in March 2020 with an unemployed worker posting videos has ended five years later in a nearly billion transaction involving AI and Chinese conglomerates. But… is such a purchase capable of maintaining the spontaneity and freshness that characterized Lame? In Xataka | TikTok has dodged the bullet of the US veto. Although it has not been free

Mercadona already sells 51% of all prepared dishes

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Does almost a year Juan Roig astonished everyone and everyone with a prediction that sounded almost like dystopian science fiction. In his opinion, shared the founder of Mercadona, ceramic hobs, ovens, extractor hoods and other culinary appliances have their days numbered in homes. “I said it and I maintain it: in the middle of the 21st century there will be no kitchens,” claimed. It is not that we are going to stop eating at home. We will simply arrive there with our already prepared dishes, stews, pastas, fish… that have previously been prepared in supermarkets. Sector data suggest that Roig was not wrong. Perhaps it is too early to know if the kitchens are mortally wounded, but one thing is clear: the prepared meals business is growing and Mercadona has been able to position itself in it. A percentage: 51.2%. That Mercadona has found the key to become the heavyweight in the sector is nothing new. The data may vary from one study to another, but in general they show that the Valencian company has managed to gain a market share of between 25 and 30%. The curious thing is that there is a niche in which its dominance is even greater: that of the distribution of prepared dishes. According to Algori data advanced by Food Retail In that segment its footprint reaches a surprising (and overwhelming) 51.2%. Getting perspective. The percentage is striking in itself, but it is even more curious when it is put into context and both the overall results of the company and that of its direct rivals are taken into account. Mercadona’s share in the prepared meals segment (54.2%) far exceeds that of the chain as a whole called “FMCG”the total of fast-moving consumer goods. Its footprint in that business niche is ‘only’ 36.9%. As for the rest of the chains, their weight in the cooked food business is much lower. The second best positioned is Grupo Carrefour, with 9.9%, followed by Lidl (8.1%) and (already quite a distance away) Consum (3.9%). Food Retail specifies that the data refers to the “modern distribution”the large-scale sales channel in stores such as supermarkets or hypermarkets. A growing sector…Beyond how each company is doing or the slice of the pie they are taking, Algori data They reflect that prepared dishes represent an increasingly juicy business. According to the consulting firm’s report, its sales have grown by 8.9% year-on-year, almost double that of the total FMCG (5.3%). The pace of purchase stands out above all, which gives us a clue of its growing success among households. While mass consumption as a whole has risen a discreet 0.8% in 2025, prepared food rose by 6.2%. …and it diversifies. In its analysis Algori also explores what we Spaniards buy when we go to Mercadona, Lidl, Carrefour stores… in search of already cooked dishes. And its conclusion is clear. Almost all branches of the business are growing. Meat-based dishes increased by around 18%, as did creams and gazpachos, which already represent 23% of all sales. Even though we Spaniards buy and cook less and less fishsupermarket menus based on this food also grew by 13%, even more than pasta and rice (10%), tortillas (10%) or pizzas (3%). The report does not clarify whether this data is related to the (increasingly common and diversified) supply of sushi and salmon pokés in supermarkets. “Ready to eat”. These data have little of mystery. As it has become clear This Christmas (and it is not something exclusive to the holidays), we Spaniards are less and less willing to spend hours in the kitchen. The reason? Cultural changes, lack of time, a restructuring of families and even changes in homessmaller and therefore with less space to cook. The industry itself dedicated to the preparation of dishes detected in 2024 an increase in demand of 6.6%, which left average consumption at almost 17.2 kg per person per year. Mercadona has been able to read that scenario and has been betting for years for a specific section of already prepared menus: “Ready to eat”. In 2024 the service was available in 1,260 of its premises. Goodbye cooking? The question that these data leave behind is… Was Roig right when he predicted that by the middle of this century kitchens will have lost ground in Spanish homes? Algori data certainly demonstrates a growing interest in ready-made dishes. Others however, such as a report published in 2025 in the academic journal TIJFGSshow that the majority of Spaniards (59%) still put on our apron daily. Images | Andalusian Government (Flickr) and Mercadona In Xataka | Years ago Mercadona decided to conquer the market with its white brands. And that is making gold for some companies

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