Shares of Reddit (RDDT $121.00, +8.02%) jumped Tuesday after the company decided to stop being just a data goldmine—and start acting like a bouncer.

In a new lawsuit filed in San Francisco, Reddit accuses AI startup Anthropic of scraping its site for training data without permission, calling it “unlawful and unfair.” In short: Claude’s been lurking on Reddit threads like a ghost in a hoodie, and Reddit wants to get paid.

The irony? Reddit has spent years championing its open platform—a hive of memes, opinions, and shower thoughts that anyone with Wi-Fi could browse freely. But now, in the middle of an AI licensing gold rush, Reddit’s legal team has apparently decided that “free” stops where potential royalties begin.

Reddit claims that while companies like OpenAI and Google have played nice and inked licensing deals, Anthropic crossed the line. The company is now seeking damages and looking to force Anthropic to comply with what it sees as its “contractual and legal obligations.”

Investors, perhaps misreading this as a monetization breakthrough rather than a court case with an uncertain outcome, sent the stock surging—despite Reddit still being down 28% year to date.

To be clear: this lawsuit doesn’t generate revenue, users, or a better ad product. But in today’s market, apparently a well-aimed legal haymaker can double as a growth narrative.

AI might be trained on Reddit, but Wall Street seems to be operating on pure vibes.

Apple’s Too Pricey, Say Analysts—But Investors Still Paying Like It’s 2015

Apple (AAPL $204.47, +1.64%) just got a downgrade from Needham, which politely suggested investors might want to stop pretending the iPhone is still a high-growth AI company in disguise.

The firm cut Apple from a “buy” to a “hold,” citing the increasingly awkward reality: soft iPhone sales, limited AI firepower, and a 26x earnings multiple that only really makes sense if you assume Tim Cook’s about to invent teleportation.

Needham's note makes it clear: Apple’s enviable ecosystem isn’t a force field. In a world where every Big Tech rival is throwing billions at AI infrastructure, Apple’s relatively dainty capex spend doesn’t inspire confidence. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Meta are outbuilding Cupertino like it’s a race—because it is.

Add in regulatory headaches (hello, antitrust!) and a sluggish global smartphone market, and you’ve got a company growing earnings at ~5% that somehow trades at the same multiple as Meta (growing at nearly triple the rate) and more expensively than Alphabet (GOOGL $173.70, +3.23%), which is—gasp—actually making strides in AI.

Needham’s takeaway? If you’re serious about tech’s future, you might want to look at Amazon (AMZN $213.75, +2.70%) or Alphabet instead. But judging by the stock’s price action, investors are still clinging to Apple like it’s a safe haven, not a luxury hardware shop being slowly disrupted by AI-native platforms.

Apple might still be iconic—but in 2025, paying growth-company prices for a flat-growth business isn’t bold. It’s just bad math.

UBS to Netflix: Take Our Money—Everyone Else Gave Up

UBS just cranked up its price target on Netflix (NFLX $1,240.70, -0.71%) by nearly 30%, boosting it to $1,450 on the theory that the last streamer standing wins by default. The bank kept its “buy” rating and practically handed Netflix a trophy for simply still trying in an industry where most of its rivals have started tapping out.

Why so bullish? Because traditional cable networks have more or less ghosted their own audiences—Q1 TV viewership is down 13%, and only 10 scripted shows are hitting major networks this year. In contrast, Netflix is throwing 30 new titles at the screen and hoping at least a few stick.

UBS also cited surging international viewership (+10% this quarter), thanks to global crowd-pleasers like The Eternautand When Life Gives You Tangerines (your cousin in Spain loves it, apparently). And with final seasons of Squid Gameand Stranger Things arriving later this year, Netflix looks poised for another subscriber feeding frenzy—even though, awkwardly, it no longer reports subscriber numbers.

Never mind that. UBS is feeling good: it expects 2025 revenue growth of 14% and a 24% boost in operating income—more optimistic than even Netflix’s own guidance. With competitors slashing budgets and running on fumes, analysts argue Netflix can just keep rolling out content and monetizing while everyone else quietly exits stage left.

The stock’s up 38% year to date. Investors seem to agree: Netflix isn’t just winning by being good—it’s winning because there’s no one else left trying. That’s not a strategy. That’s a vacuum.

And UBS is betting big that no one fills it.

TSMC’s $40 Billion Expansion Plan Hits a Pothole—Literally

TSMC (TSM $205.50, +0.88%) is the world’s most advanced chipmaker. It supplies the likes of Apple, Nvidia, and basically the entire AI ecosystem. But when it comes to building its second plant in Japan? The whole thing’s stuck in traffic.

At a shareholders’ meeting this week, CEO C.C. Wei admitted the company’s expansion in Kumamoto is on hold—not because of tech issues, supply chain bottlenecks, or geopolitical risk—but because the roads around the plant are too narrow and too congested. What used to be a 10-minute drive now takes an hour, thanks to the flood of trucks, workers, and concrete mixers rolling in for TSMC’s semiconductor mega-project.

The company has “communicated” to Japanese officials that until someone widens the roads—or invents teleportation—progress on its second fab is going to be... slow.

In case you’re wondering: yes, Japan has pinned part of its industrial revival strategy on this very project. It’s supposed to help reboot domestic chip manufacturing, attract more foreign investment, and future-proof national tech supply chains. Instead, it’s become a high-stakes civil engineering traffic jam.

Despite the delays, Wei still expects record profits this year, even though currency headwinds are nibbling three percentage points off operating margins. But in the meantime, Japan’s shot at becoming a chip powerhouse again is bottlenecked—literally—at the local intersection.

If you ever doubted that infrastructure still matters in a high-tech world, consider this: the most valuable company in Asia is waiting on a road crew.

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