Temu was losing an average of $30 per order as of 2024

Temu works with individual sellers who list and promote their products on the platform

Temu not only takes a roughly 5% to 15% commission rate, but also earns the money its sellers pay to advertise their products on the Temu platform.

'Planet Money' explains how Temu became one of the most downloaded apps in the US

According to some estimates, as of 2024, Temu was shipping as many as a million packages a day into the US, and was among of the most downloaded iPhone apps in the country with around 50 million monthly active users.

Temu was ordered to pay a $2M fine for alleged FTC violations

Specifically, Temu allegedly violated the INFORM Consumers Act of 2023 by failing to provide its customers with information and tools to help them avoid and report stolen, counterfeit, or unsafe goods.

Temu mainly sells off-brand items, while Amazon offers brand names

A personal finance expert breaks down the key similarities between Temu and Amazon in a quick video so consumers can decide which is the better choice for their shopping needs.

Temu was born out of a Chinese company that, at the time, was called Pinduoduo

Today, the company is called PDD Holdings, and owns both Temu and its very similar sister app in China, Pinduoduo.

Temu uses gamification techniques to encourage customers to shop on its app

Games include a spinning roulette wheel that offers coupon rewards, promises free delivery, and more. Some have said it’s tough to pull themselves out of the Temu ecosystem once they’re in it.

Temu aired its first Super Bowl ads in 2023

The “Shop Like a Billionaire” ad ran twice during the game. Temu saw a roughly 45% surge in downloads and a 20% increase in daily active users the day it aired.

Amazon launched a Temu competitor called Haul in 2024

On Amazon's Temu competitor, which it named "Haul," users can get extremely low-priced items shipped to them from—you guessed it—China.

Former Temu CEO Colin Huang is among China's richest people

With a $43.3B net worth as of September 2025, Huang was the founder of PDD Holdings, Temu’s parent company.

The dating app industry's average customer acquisition cost exceeds $40 per user

This relatively high cost of customer acquisition (according to 2022 data from saturated markets) makes profitable growth increasingly difficult for dating apps, which is why many have pivoted to focusing on their subscription tiers for reliable revenue.

Amazon didn't have a profitable quarter until 2001, more than 6 years into its existence

Jeff Bezos, however, took pride in Amazon's early unprofitability, reinvesting the money Amazon made back into its business, prioritizing investment into long-term growth and customer acquisition over short-term gains.

Claire's has filed for bankruptcy multiple times

Between competition from online retailers such as Shein and Temu, and too many physical stores for today's retail climate, Claire's has had a difficult time modernizing.

Listen to a 2026 interview where Bumble's CEO said its stock is down 96% since its IPO 'for no reason'

CEO and Founder Whitney Wolfe Herd said the company is still performing very well. She added that the business makes $1B per year and referred to it as profitable. She went on to say "who knows what people trade stock on?" and that she believes the stock market has written Bumble off as if it were debt

Private equity deals sometimes come with layoffs

To increase profits, private equity firms often try to streamline and consolidate operations within the companies they acquire as much as possible. They also often alter company business models, expanding into new product offerings and markets that could necessitate team changes.

Sushi is an estimated $33B business in the US

US fishermen stock most of the country's more than 17,000 sushi restaurants. Distributors frequently adjust prices for different fish, based on their availability and the quality of the meat. This podcast unpacks how that industry operates.

Pizza's popularity has waned in the 2020s

The food remains popular, but it has lagged behind the growth of other fast food spots like coffee shops and Mexican restaurants. It ranked sixth in US food sales from restaurant chains in 2024; it was in the second slot throughout the 1990s. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

Experts suggest the industry could be a $45B business

Sports betting used to primarily consist of who would win and the points spread, but the rise of online betting apps has fueled a substantial increase in parlay bets. "Existing markets are still growing at a rapid clip," said Noah Naparst, who evaluates sports-betting companies for Goldman Sachs. "So we’re not mature yet, but we’re not in the early wildcat days of the market anymore, either.”

As of 2025, an estimated $3.2B in annual revenue flows through dark web platforms

The untraceable cryptocurrency Monero is used in about 60% of transactions across more than 37 active marketplaces that sell copyrighted materials, private information, and phishing kits—tools that help bad actors more easily create fake sites to steal users' data—for financial fraud.

Americans spend an average of nearly $500 per year on tipping at restaurants and bars

The habit runs contrary to economic rationality: Why pay more for a good or service you have already received when it isn’t mandatory? Researchers found that people tip, in part, to avoid the psychological pain of not fitting in.

Market concentration and high markups don't always signal a monopoly

When regulators and economists evaluate whether a company constitutes an illegal monopoly, they often consider its overall market share or its relatively high price markups. This piece argues that the Olley-Pakes decomposition is a better measure, identifying whether customers within a market are switching to more productive companies.

After the owner fell into a Ponzi scheme, one braiding shop in suburban Maryland began making $130K a day by staying open for 24-hours

Because braiding often takes a long time, the salon prioritizes fast, efficient styles, with two braiders often working together on a client, which increases revenue by increasing turnover. The salon has 120 seats and more than 400 contracted braiders across its 10,000-square-foot space.

TerraUSD offers a cautionary tale of stablecoin use

This stablecoin was completely wiped out in May 2022, losing investors roughly $40B in value, when its linked support token, LUNA, collapsed in value, triggering a spiral that wiped out the dollar peg and left both tokens essentially worthless within days. TerraUSD's creator was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2025. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

75% of venture-backed startups fail

Startups are inherently risky ventures. Successful startups are relatively rare due to factors including cash flow drying up, marketing issues, and more.

The US-led global debt settlement market is expected to expand from $4.8B in 2024 to $7.2B by 2032

While debt settlement companies aren't technically allowed to charge fees until after lowering a consumer's debt, a loophole in the Telemarketing Sales Rule (a mix of federal and state laws) gives predatory firms the opportunity to exploit consumers.

By 2022, Meta was betting strongly on a metaverse strategy for its products

Moving beyond the controversies over fueling misinformation, division, and harm worldwide, Mark Zuckerberg expressed optimism about technology's role in connecting people. Meta's multibillion-dollar investments in integrative AR and VR technologies have further evolved its founder's vision.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth

Fast-casual restaurant Chili's is experiencing a resurgence, with its parent company recently reporting a nearly 32% increase in sales, thanks to passionate Gen Z fans on TikTok.

SpaceX's S-1 or 'prospectus' revealed many previously unknown details about the company, including its unprofitability despite doing $18.7B in revenue in 2025, exactly how many voting shares Elon Musk will have in the company (roughly 85%), and more.

Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency—a form of digital currency with a wide variety of uses—created around popular 'memes,' or viral internet jokes.

Telehealth demand for GLP-1s for weight loss is booming as consumers seek easier access.

Hedge funds, the private investment firms that trade a wide swath of financial assets, make money by imposing steep fees on investors and from the fund's investment performance.

Use this calculator to find the dollar value of your mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care for your children.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

About 2,000 US babies are born annually without some portion of their limbs, potentially leading to a lifetime of pricey prosthetics.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Budweiser stores yeast derived from the original 1800s strain in a secret bunker, which only the Head of Yeast Management can access—not even the CEO

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

The deadliest aspect of volcanic eruptions is often not lava, but pyroclastic flows—avalanches of ash, gas, and rock that can move more than half the speed of sound.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.