Day: November 9, 2025

• Self-driving cars and delivery robots are here.
• But rolling them out on a large scale will take more money, companies behind them said this week.
• Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash all said investment is needed to get autonomous tech ready for prime time.

Self-driving robotaxis and delivery robots are already on America’s streets. Scaling them up, however, will require a significant amount of money.

Investors got a reminder of that this week when Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash reported quarterly earnings. A common topic was each company’s plans for autonomous vehicles — and, to varying degrees, how much they’ll need to invest to make them common sights across the US.

The most notable example came when delivery company DoorDash reported results on Wednesday. It said it plans to spend “several hundred million dollars more” than previously planned on key initiatives, including its autonomous delivery technology, in 2026.

DoorDash’s autonomous delivery efforts include Dot, a stroller-sized robot launched this year that can navigate itself across bike lanes and sidewalks to make deliveries.

“This is not something that’s going to happen overnight,” CEO Tony Xu said on an earnings call Wednesday. “It does require making investments upfront.

DoorDash’s stock fell 17% on Thursday — the biggest one-day drop in its history — after the company unveiled its spending plan.

The CEOs of the major ride-hailing services also said that they need to invest more in robotaxis to expand those operations and make money from them.

Lyft, which has a partnership with Waymo, for instance, is planning to build a depot in Nashville to charge, service, and store cars available to Lyft riders there. The depot is expected to cost between $10 million and $15 million to build, CFO Erin Brewer said on Lyft’s earnings call on Wednesday.

The upfront cost is necessary for the self-driving cars to operate smoothly, CEO David Risher said on the call.

“You’ve got to invest in some physical infrastructure, but we like the unit economics there a lot,” he said.

Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, said on an earnings call Tuesday that self-driving cars are a money-losing venture for the company right now. However, over time, Uber plans to invest in expanding the availability of driverless cars for its users, aiming to increase demand from riders, he said.

It’s the same model Uber has used in the past and plans to use in several areas of growth, from robotaxis to Moto, which offers trips on motorbikes in some foreign markets, Khosrowshahi said.

“We can turn those products profitable if we want it tomorrow, but it’s about the balance of investing in profitability and growth,” he said.

Do you have a story to share about Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, or another gig app? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com.

• Hollywood is embracing micro dramas, with Fox and others investing in the mobile-first format.
• Micro dramas, popular in Asia, are short, low-budget, and often salacious.
• We broke down five Hollywood companies jumping into the space.

Hollywood is falling in love with micro dramas, with Fox and other industry players moving to capitalize on the made-for-mobile format.

The flicks, sometimes called “verticals” or “mini dramas,” originated in Asia and bear little resemblance to prestige Hollywood fare. Designed to be watched in one- to two-minute episodes on mobile apps like ReelShort and DramaBox, they’re more like gaming apps, with cliffhangers meant to hook viewers and get them to pay to keep watching. They’re low-budget and usually quite cheesy, with titles like “Fake Married to My Billionaire CEO” and “Divorced at the Wedding Day.”

The audience and money in micro dramas have become impossible for traditional Hollywood to ignore. Already, players from Disney to Fox have jumped on board and are looking for ways in, often by saying they’ll put a more elevated spin on them.

Paramount Skydance and ReelShort are exploring ways to co-create. Paramount Pictures worked with ReelShort to promote “Regretting You” in the ReelShort app ahead of its October 24 release. Users of the app could see the movie’s trailer and read more about the film.

Lionsgate has also explored the format, a person familiar with the studio’s plans said. So has Hallmark, someone familiar with the company’s thinking said.

Tech and ad companies are getting into the space as well. Meta‘s Instagram is testing the format in India with a series. TikTok, already widely used as a marketing channel for the format, has pitched companies on uploading entire films to the app. The ad-holding company Dentsu invested in Japan’s Emole, the company behind a micro drama app called Bump, through its venture capital arm, Dentsu Ventures.

Hollywood has been losing ground to YouTube and social media apps. Mobile users spend more time per day on DramaBox than on Comcast’s Peacock and Warner Bros. Discovery’s HBO Max, Bernstein analysts wrote in a recent report. Micro drama apps are on track to generate $3 billion in revenue this year globally, excluding China, nearly triple their haul last year, streaming consulting firm Owl & Co. estimated. Verticals may not be the answer to Hollywood’s woes, but they could help.

Here are five companies that are at the forefront of investing in micro dramas and how:

• Bill Block, the former CEO of Miramax, raised $14 million from Alexis Ohanian, Kris Jenner, Kim Kardashian, and others to launch GammaTime, an app he’s calling the “Netflix of premium short-form storytelling.” The app launched with more than 20 vertical originals spanning thrillers, romance, and true crime, and including originals written by “CSI” creator Anthony E. Zuiker.
• Lloyd Braun and other media veterans launched MicroCo this summer with undisclosed backing from tech-driven entertainment company Cineverse. MicroCo said it planned to elevate the format by using both union and non-union labor, as well as AI tools to keep production costs down and improve content recommendations. “If the thesis is, this is a significant portion of viewing time, you can’t ignore it,” Erick Opeka, Cineverse’s president and chief strategy officer, told Business Insider of the format. “You’ll need it to be a funnel to your high-revenue streaming services.”
• Disney has invested in the space, giving prominent micro drama app DramaBox a spot in its selective accelerator program whose membership has included voice cloning startup ElevenLabs and Epic Games.
• Fox Entertainment invested in Holywater, a Ukrainian company behind the micro drama app My Drama. Fox sees the format’s potential to test out ideas for new shows as well as extend existing ones. It’s already producing scripted vertical series that’ll live on My Drama, with the potential of distributing them other places. It’s also talking to its established talent and exploring adapting the micro drama format for true crime and animation. Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade said he saw the investment as a way to go more direct-to-consumer and improve on the format using Fox’s in-house talent and marketing. “Micro dramas just offer another way to reach audiences where they are,” he said.
• TelevisaUnivision, the Spanish-language media company, is leaning hard into telenovela-style vertical dramas for distribution on ViX, its streaming platform. It rolled out the first six originals on July 21, including “Te Escribí Antes de Conocerte” (“I Wrote to You Before I Knew You”) and “El regreso de la Heredera Fugitiva” (“The Return of the Fugitive Heiress”), and is on pace to deliver 40 micro dramas by the end of the year, with 100 set for 2026. The plan is to expand into other genres, such as documentaries and comedy.

Read more about the rising micro drama trend: Micro Dramas on your phone challenge Peacock, HBO, and other Hollywood streamers

• The Blend Coffee and Cocktails filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Florida.
• Coffee remains popular, but the cost of beans and workers is rising.
• Even Starbucks has been cutting costs and closing stores.

Coffee is a growing American pastime. Some two-thirds of American adults, 66%, drink coffee daily, up 7% from 2020, according to the National Coffee Association, a trade group.

Coffee shops are under pressure, however, thanks to rising costs and growing competition. Even Starbucks, the nation’s largest coffee chain, has been feeling the pain. The Seattle coffee giant in September announced plans to lay off about 900 non-retail workers and close about 1% of its North American stores amid declining same-store sales.

Last week, a Florida coffee chain known for its unusual flavors and Instagram-ready “coffee flights” filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a federal court. The Blend Coffee and Cocktails, which operates eight locations in Florida, is seeking to continue operating while restructuring its debts under court supervision.

The Blend’s bankruptcy lawyer didn’t return a request for comment about the reason behind the consolidated bankruptcy effort. Court documents listed a wide range of creditors, including landlords, vendors, and tax collectors.

US bankruptcy filings have been increasing since 2021, driven by stricter lending conditions and higher costs. Data from Epiq AACER showed a 7% bump in business bankruptcies last month compared to the previous year, including a 35% jump in small business bankruptcies.

Adding to pressure for coffee shops has been the rising cost of coffee beans: The average price of ground coffee doubled in September from 2020 levels to over $9 a pound, according to data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

The increase is being driven in part by global supply constraints, partly due to droughts in Brazil, which produces about 40% of the world’s coffee. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have also restricted coffee supplies in the US.

Labor costs are also on the rise, according to data from the National Restaurant Association.

Here is a list of coffee shops and small chains that have filed for bankruptcy protection since 2024, when coffee prices really started to accelerate. All of them remain in business.

The Blend Coffee and Cocktails

The Blend Coffee and Cocktails operates eight locations in Florida, according to its website.

The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November.

Cuppa Austin Coffee Shop

Cuppa Austin Coffee Shop is a single-location coffee shop in Austin.

Its parent company filed for Chapter 11 protection in October.

Red Bay Coffee

Red Bay Coffee operates seven locations in the Bay Area, according to its website.

It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2024.

Switchback Coffee Roasters

Switchback Coffee Roasters operates two locations in Colorado, according to its website.

It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August 2024.

Ink! Coffee

Ink! Coffee operates four locations in Colorado, according to its website.

It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2024.

The offers and details on this page may have updated or changed since the time of publication. See our article on Business Insider for current information.

• For Love & Money is a column from Business Insider answering your relationship and money questions.
• This week, a reader’s brother lied to her for years about what happened to their mother’s diamond ring.
• Our columnist feels that financial retribution is unlikely, but suggests forgiveness, for her own sake.

Dear For Love & Money,

My mother died in 1975, and I was given her diamond ring with six diamonds of unknown value. In 1980, my brother and his wife were given my father’s house after he moved in with his second wife. When my husband and I moved to Florida, I left two boxes of personal items with my brother.

Soon after our move, however, my husband and I divorced. He was traveling to New York, and I asked him to pick up my two boxes. When he returned, both boxes were unsealed, and the ring was gone. Both my sister-in-law and brother said my husband must have stolen it. I was devastated. During the divorce, my ex-husband denied taking it, and the judge said I had no proof.

After that, I only saw my brother twice in 45 years and spoke to my sister-in-law about 10 times during that time. Out of the blue, my brother called me on my 67th birthday and told me his 45-year marriage was miserable. Then, he mentioned that my sister-in-law had even pawned the rings he had given her, including my mother’s ring.

I was in shock and repeated, “She had mom’s ring?” He responded, “Yes, but can you believe she sold the rings I gave her?” I said, “She is a thief, and you told me that my ex stole it.” He responded, “Yeah, she kept it on the police scanner’s antenna and never wore it.”

I haven’t spoken to either one of them and feel betrayed. Should I try contacting an attorney or let karma take its course?

Sincerely,

Betrayed By My Brother and Sister-in-law

Dear Betrayed,

As I read your letter, my heart broke for you. I can tell that your mother’s ring held immense value to you that superseded any dollar amount. To lose something this precious to someone who misled you about what happened to it and left it hanging on an antenna until they pawned it off for fast cash is truly gut-wrenching.

Wanting to extract a pound of flesh from the perpetrators is the most natural thing in the world, and yet, it’s been 45 years. Fortunately or unfortunately, there’s no longer any financial vengeance to be had. You’re long past the statute of limitations for theft, and that doesn’t even touch the evidence you would have to provide — evidence that is as long gone as your mother’s ring.

While I wouldn’t bother hiring a lawyer, if it’s financial restitution you’re after, you could try asking him for a ballpark figure. However, based on how you described your conversation with your brother, I have my doubts about how receptive he’ll be to this suggestion. Even as you openly panicked over a ring, he remained resolutely focused on how poorly he’d been treated — so focused, in fact, that he didn’t seem to recognize he owed you an apology, let alone repayment.

While financial recompense and an apology may help you move on, neither of those will get your mother’s ring back, and it’s important to remember that’s what you really want. In the absence of that, as you think about next steps, consider what you need to move forward from this, and if further contact with your brother needs to be part of that plan.

I find it telling that you’ve only seen your brother twice in the last 45 years. That’s a long time to go without speaking to someone. However, if you are interested in rekindling the sibling bond you presumably once shared with your brother, it’s telling that he remembered your birthday, called you after all this time, and shared his emotional hardships with you.

What you do with this overture is up to you. Perhaps you can put his betrayals behind you and reconnect with the family you have left. Ask yourself what you would need in order to reinvest in this relationship. An honest apology from him? An explanation for why he lied to you for all of those years? If so, having a frank and open conversation with him may be one path forward.

Or maybe you’re the karma you’re hoping will take its course, and you decide not to re-engage with someone who betrayed you so deeply, and leave him to find someone else to burden with his troubles. That would also be understandable and well within your rights.

Whatever you decide to do with your brother, I hope you forgive him — for your own sake. This isn’t to say you should invite him to Thanksgiving and laugh together about the time his ex stole and pawned the precious keepsake your mother gave to you. You can forgive your brother and still choose to never speak to him again.

In recent years, the conversation around forgiveness has shifted from an unquestioned moral virtue to a dicey offshoot of toxic positivity. After all, when people do awful things, where’s the justice in letting them off the hook to be “good” ourselves?

I always go back to the quote: “Holding onto anger is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.” But I’d expand on that; holding on to anger is like being poisoned, and rather than rushing to the ER to have your stomach pumped, you stay home alone, waiting for the poison in your stomach to kill your poisoner.

Forgiveness is about healing the wound another has given you because you refuse to let their transgression destroy you. It’s not hard because it’s a magnanimous gesture; it’s hard for the same reason that extracting a nail from your foot is hard. What emotions will pour out without your anger there to block them? And yet, as long as the nail remains in your foot, so will the pain.

You didn’t deserve your brother’s betrayal, and you don’t deserve to let that betrayal devour your joy for the rest of your life. So, decide what — if anything — you need from him and from your relationship, and let karma take its course. You have a life to live.

Rooting for you,

For Love & Money

Looking for advice on how your savings, debt, or another financial challenge is affecting your relationships? Write to For Love & Money using this Google form.

• Former Chief People Officer Pav Stojkovic has laid off hundreds of workers during his career.
• He recommends trying to negotiate for better severance and requesting your employee file.
• Even if you’re fired for poor performance, Stojkovic said you should still qualify for unemployment benefits.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Pav Stojkovic, former chief people officer of the sports publication The Athletic, the biotech startup Omeat, and other companies. He’s now taking a career break to care for his newborn son. This story has been edited for length and clarity.

I’ve worked as a chief people officer for over a decade, and I’ve had to lay off hundreds of people. I’ve seen layoffs go well, poorly, and everything in between.

There’s an emotional component that comes with getting let go. Even if the company offers generous severance or pays for COBRA, the initial reaction for a lot of people is, ‘I’ve put so much of myself into this job, and this is how they treat me?’

That feeling is valid. But you can’t let that emotion drive you to do something irrational. I’ve been yelled at point-blank to my face. Doing that just opens you up to all kinds of issues. In that moment, I’m less willing to be flexible and meet you where you are. My job is to get you to sign a piece of paper and get rid of you as fast as possible because you’ve gone from a good actor to a liability to the company.

Don’t bash the company

An example of an irrational move is publicly bashing the company. Your severance agreement might have a non-disparagement clause, so if you speak negatively about the company, you could nullify your cash severance, an acceleration of your stock options, or your health insurance for you and your family.

The same or worse could happen if you take confidential information with you, such as by forwarding an email from your work account to your personal email on your last day.

Say you post bad things about the company on your Facebook page. As a chief people officer, if I see it, I have an obligation to go to my CEO and say, ‘What’s the actual risk to us here?’ Most employers are smart enough to know when employees are just venting. But it’s always on a case-by-case basis.

You can and should negotiate

Don’t sign anything immediately. I’ve seen former employees just sign whatever is given to them on the spot. Instead, say something like, ‘Thank you. I’m going to take these documents, review them, and get back to you.’

You always have the ability to negotiate. As a chief people officer, I’m never going to say, ‘You know what? Because you’re negotiating, now you get nothing.’ That doesn’t make sense, because I want you to sign that document. I want you to release the company from any potential risk and liability. So you have leverage.

If you’re asking for more severance, most of the time it’s going to be a no, and there’s a good reason. The company wants to be consistent across the board. The same can be true if you’re letting one individual go. That’s how I operate. At this seniority level, with this amount of time at the company, you get X amount. It’s a formula. But there’s no downside to negotiating, so you should at least try.

It’s expensive to get on COBRA, especially if your former employer is not contributing toward it. But that is something that you might be able to negotiate. You can always say, ‘What would be nice is if you covered 50% of my COBRA for the next few months,’ or something like that. It doesn’t hurt to ask.

Request your employee file

In many states, companies are legally obligated to allow you to inspect your employee file and make your own copies. Most employers will just send you a digital version and call it a day.

It might not be useful to you, but it’s about you, so you should have it. Maybe you had some really strong performance reviews, and you were laid off as part of a reduction-in-force. It would be great to be able to showcase to a potential future employer that your layoff had nothing to do with your performance.

Having that file could also be important if you need to take legal action against the company for something like missing wages. Having access to all your pay stubs is one way to prove that you weren’t paid properly.

Put your ego aside and get back out there

I think a lot of people don’t bother to apply for unemployment benefits because they feel like that’s not who they are, or that it’s just for people who don’t have any money. Put your ego aside and recognize the situation that you’re in. Take advantage of those benefits.

An employer is only going to contest your unemployment if you were fired for gross misconduct, like stealing or sexual harassment. Not being great at your job is not gross misconduct. I’ve received countless claims for unemployment from former employees, and I’ve never contested a single one.

When we’re let go from a job, we have this tendency to tuck our tail between our legs and feel like we’ve failed. But we’ve all been there. We’ve all experienced some type of traumatic setback in our careers. Don’t feel like you’re alone. Reach out to your network, to people who you think can help you find your next opportunity.

Go on vacation, or just don’t think about anything work-related for some time — but not too much time. Get in the headspace of thinking about what’s next. Then get back out there, and hold your head high.

Ahmad al-Sharaa, once detained by the U.S. for joining al-Qaida in Iraq, will be the first Syrian president to visit Washington since 1946.

• Meta employees can use Metamate, an internal AI assistant, to help with performance reviews.
• Meta product director Joseph Spisak said Metamate aids with feedback and evaluations.
• Some staff report mixed results about using Metamate in performance reviews.

A Meta product leader said that employees are turning to the company’s internal AI assistant for performance reviews.

Joseph Spisak, a product director in Meta Superintelligence Labs, said that the company’s internal ChatGPT-style tool, Metamate, can search through employees’ documents and generate summaries of their accomplishments.

“When at the end of the year we do our performance, and I want to summarize my performance or whatever, I call Metamate and it goes and searches all my docs and what I’ve done and summarizes what I’ve done for the year and my accomplishments and feedback on me,” Spisak said onstage at the TechEquity AI Summit in Sunnyvale, California, on Friday. “And it’s great.”

Spisak joked that employees could “reward hack it,” after a moderator asked whether they could bribe the system to boost their evaluations.

Spisak said that in addition to helping employees with performance reviews, Meta’s AI tools are trained on internal data and used for other tasks, such as building applications.

Meta, like most Silicon Valley tech companies, has been increasingly integrating AI into its internal work — from Devmate, an AI coding assistant, to games and dashboards that track employee AI usage.

A Meta employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told Business Insider that while some staff members experiment with Metamate for performance reviews, its results can be uneven, and the AI often struggles without detailed context about individual projects. Still, the person said they use it to generate feedback for coworkers by setting up templates and filling in examples.

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