American Express released a cryptic Instagram reel about a new upcoming business card, “Coming Soon”. No details are given.
People found somewhere a graphic from American Express about a possible upcoming Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card with $250 annual fee, 2% everywhere unlimited, and 5% on flights and hotels booked with AmEx Travel.
This would be a rival for the Chase INK Business Premier card which also earns 2% everywhere. That card has a couple of advantages over this rumored upcoming AmEx card: 2.5% on transactions above $5,000 and a lower $195 annual fee.
These cards can make sense for business owners who spend a lot and don’t do points. Not many business cards get 2% everywhere. For regular personal use there are more options. There’s also the Blue Business Plus and Blue Business Cash available with 2x/2% everywhere, I suppose this rumored new card would mainly be better for someone who needs unlimited.
Last year and earlier this year I wrote articles predicting a crash of 50% (or more) in Robinhood Markets(HOOD 0.94%) stock. After peaking last October, the stock is now down by around 51%.
Robinhood operates a popular investing platform where its clients can buy and sell stocks, options, cryptocurrencies, and more. The basis for my prediction was simple: Robinhood experienced a significant increase in value during 2025 mainly because of a surge in its cryptocurrency revenue, meaning its clients were engaging in speculative, high-risk trading, which history suggested simply wasn’t sustainable.
Now that Robinhood has lost more than half of its peak value, what will happen next? Here’s what I think.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
Crypto trading is an unreliable source of revenue growth
The majority of Robinhood’s revenue comes in the form of transaction fees, which it earns every time a client buys or sells a financial asset, whether it’s a stock, an options contract, or a cryptocurrency. Donald Trump’s presidential election win in November 2024 drove a tsunami of investment into the crypto markets, because he campaigned on a series of policies that stood to benefit the industry.
This contributed to a surge in Robinhood’s crypto transaction revenue, which rocketed 732% (year over year) higher during the fourth quarter of 2024, hitting a record high of $358 million. It represented more than half of the company’s total transaction revenue for the period. Something similar happened during the speculative crypto frenzy in 2021, which sent Robinhood’s crypto transaction revenue soaring by 4,560% during the second quarter of that year. But just one year later, as crypto markets tanked, it was down by 75%.
History appears to be repeating itself. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Robinhood’s crypto transaction revenue fell 38% compared to its peak in the fourth quarter of 2024, coming in at just $221 million. The company’s overall transaction revenue still climbed modestly due to a sharp gains in other areas of its business, like options trading and prediction market betting, but these activities are also highly speculative.
Image source: Robinhood Markets.
The total value of all cryptocurrencies in circulation stands at $2.5 trillion as I write this, which is down sharply from the 2025 peak of $4.4 trillion. The Trump administration’s pro-crypto policies haven’t created much tangible value for the industry, and since most coins and tokens still lack a true use case, they have struggled to hang onto their post-election gains.
None of the major coins have escaped the carnage, not even Bitcoin or Ethereum, which are both down more than 40% from their all-time highs. These steep losses are likely to keep many investors on the sidelines, which could result in a further reduction in Robinhood’s crypto transaction revenue.
Today’s Change
(-0.94%) $-0.70
Current Price
$74.20
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$67B
Day’s Range
$71.70 – $75.15
52wk Range
$29.66 – $153.86
Volume
751K
Avg Vol
28M
Gross Margin
94.96%
Robinhood’s valuation leaves room for further downside
Robinhood stock peaked at more than $150 last October. At the time, its price-to-sales (P/S) ratio had soared to more than 30, which was almost triple its average of about 11.5 since the stock went public in 2021. Therefore, its valuation was completely unsustainable.
Despite the 51% decline in the stock during the past few months, its P/S ratio is still at an elevated level of 15.3.
HOOD PS Ratio data by YCharts
That means Robinhood would have to decline by a further 25% just to trade in line with its long-term average P/S ratio of 11.5. I’m not suggesting that will happen for certain, but I will say a high valuation reduces the odds of a rally in the near future, especially with one of the company’s core revenue drivers — crypto trading — in decline.
On a more positive note, Robinhood’s entry into the prediction market sector (in partnership with Kalshi) has expanded the company’s reach, because it lets clients bet on the outcome of sports matches, elections, and more. Robinhood ended the fourth quarter of 2025 with $435 million in annualized revenue from its prediction business, which more than tripled from the third quarter just three months earlier.
The prediction business could help Robinhood attract more clients, which would be good news considering its monthly active user base declined last year. But there is one caveat: According to research by The Motley Fool, the overwhelming majority of sports bettors lose money over time, which isn’t ideal if Robinhood is trying to attract repeat customers.
In summary, I think further downside is the path of least resistance for Robinhood stock.
Did you know? Over 200 million protein structures are now mapped and freely available, a number that would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.
Before, solving the structure of a single protein could take months to years using labor-intensive methods like crystallography or cryo-EM. Some even dedicate their whole careers to figuring out how one protein folds.
But today, AI systems like AlphaFold can predict those same structures in minutes to hours with near-experimental accuracy.
From 1 to 200 million. Years to hours. Hours to minutes. Imagine that jump.
Here are more crazy AI breakthroughs and what it means to you as a physician. Let’s talk more about it!
Disclaimer: While these are general suggestions, it’s important to conduct thorough research and due diligence when selecting AI tools. We do not endorse or promote any specific AI tools mentioned here. This article is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal, financial, or clinical advice. Always comply with HIPAA and institutional policies. For any decisions that impact patient care or finances, consult a qualified professional.
There’s a faster way to figure out income beyond medicine
PIMDCON, the #1 Real Estate & Entrepreneurship Conference for Physicians, brings together doctors who’ve already built what you’re trying to create, so you can skip the guesswork and focus on what matters.
LEARN MORE ABOUT PIMDCON
The 5 Crazy AI Breakthroughs
One of the most amazing things about AlphaFold is that what changed is not just speed but scale.
Biology has shifted from a slow, one-protein-at-a-time discipline into something that can be explored almost as quickly as data can be processed, opening the door to faster drug discovery, better disease understanding, and a fundamentally new way of approaching medicine.
This breakthrough is just the beginning. AlphaFold3, the latest version, can model interactions between proteins, DNA, RNA, and small molecules, further pushing the boundaries of what AI can achieve in biological sciences.
At the same time, research from Meta AI led to tools like ESM-2, which enabled the creation of entirely new proteins such as esmGFP. These advancements contributed to the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded to David Baker for computational protein design and Demis Hassabis and John Jumper for protein structure prediction.
For physicians, this directly impacts how diseases are understood, how drugs are developed, and how treatments are personalized. For the average person, it means faster development of therapies, more precise diagnostics, and a future where treatments can be tailored at a biological level. Biology is no longer only something we observe. It is becoming something we can systematically read and increasingly design.
And protein folding was only the beginning!
A broader wave of AI-driven breakthroughs is now reshaping both medicine and everyday life, often in ways that are not immediately visible.
1. AI-Designed Drugs
For much of history, drug discovery has been defined by trial and error, with thousands of compounds tested before a viable treatment emerges.
Today, companies like Insilico Medicine are using AI to design drugs such as INS018_055, which entered Phase II clinical trials. Similarly, Exscientia has developed AI-designed molecules that reached human testing significantly faster than traditional timelines.
AI models simulate how molecules bind to proteins and predict their effectiveness before lab testing begins. This reduces cost and time while increasing the likelihood of success.
For physicians, this means faster access to effective therapies and more targeted treatments. For the average person, it translates to shorter waiting times for new medicines and potentially lower costs as drug development becomes more efficient.
Real-world example: BenevolentAI used AI to identify BEN-34712, a promising ALS candidate, advancing to IND-enabling studies in months—a process that traditionally took years.
2. New Materials
AI is accelerating the discovery of new materials through projects like Google DeepMind’s GNoME system, which identified 2.2 million new stable crystal structures. These discoveries expand the pool of materials available for real-world use. Companies like IBM and Microsoft are also investing in AI-driven materials science to improve batteries, semiconductors, and industrial components.
In medicine, this leads to better implants, more efficient imaging machines, and improved medical devices. For everyday life, it means longer-lasting batteries, faster electronics, and more durable consumer products. Over time, these changes quietly reduce costs and improve quality of life.
Example: Researchers have used AI to design materials for more efficient solar cells, potentially reducing renewable energy costs.
3. Fusion Energy
Energy is a foundational layer of modern society, including healthcare. AI helps stabilize fusion reactions in projects like DeepMind’s plasma control for tokamaks and efforts supported by ITER research. Private companies such as Helion Energy leverage advanced computation and AI to accelerate reactor development, aiming for net electricity via Polaris.
If fusion becomes viable, it could provide a near-limitless source of clean energy. For healthcare systems, this means more reliable infrastructure and lower operational costs. For the average person, it could lead to cheaper electricity, a more stable power supply, and a reduced cost of living across multiple sectors.
4. AI as Scientific Partner
AI takes an active role in the scientific process. Systems from Google DeepMind generate hypotheses, design experiments, and analyze results iteratively.
For example, AI agents propose materials or molecular structures, test in simulations, and refine without full human intervention.
For physicians, this means medical knowledge evolves faster. For the average person, innovations arrive more quickly.
Example: DeepMind AI identified new cancer molecular targets, aiding drug development and personalized medicine.
5. Programmable Biology
With tools like CRISPR and AI-driven protein modeling, biology is becoming programmable. Companies such as Moderna leverage computational design in mRNA therapies, highlighted during COVID-19, using AI for sequence optimization.
AI-designed proteins like esmGFP show new biological structures can be created. This opens doors to engineered cells targeting cancer or repairing tissue.
For physicians, this shifts from managing disease to designing interventions. For the average person, it means personalized treatments and faster vaccines. Example: CRISPR-Cas9 therapies like Casgevy treat sickle cell anemia, FDA-approved after editing hematopoietic stem cells (not embryos).
Unlock the Full Power of ChatGPT With This Copy-and-Paste Prompt Formula!
Download the Complete ChatGPT Cheat Sheet! Your go-to guide to writing better, faster prompts in seconds. Whether you’re crafting emails, social posts, or presentations, just follow the formula to get results instantly.
Save time. Get clarity. Create smarter.
Final Thoughts
AI is rapidly reshaping medicine and the world at large.
It would be an understatement to say it’s everywhere, from medicine to even our refrigerators (the talking one). So the idea is this, for physicians, the risk isn’t that AI will replace you (absolutely far from that), it’s missing out on the tools that are transforming healthcare and our lives in general.
The scale of change is enormous, the opportunities are vast, and it’s all changing so fast.
This is your chance to adapt, make use of it, and reclaim time and freedom. Understanding AI doesn’t require years of study. A basic grasp of these technologies can put you ahead of the curve, empowering you to work smarter, not harder.
Don’t wait to get on board; understanding AI now will position you to thrive in this new era of healthcare. Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Download The Physician’s Starter Guide to AI – a free, easy-to-digest resource that walks you through smart ways to integrate tools like ChatGPT into your professional and personal life. Whether you’re AI-curious or already experimenting, this guide will save you time, stress, and maybe even a little sanity.
Want more tips to sharpen your AI skills? Subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive insights and practical advice. You’ll also get access to our free AI resource page, packed with AI tools and tutorials to help you have more in life outside of medicine. Let’s make life easier, one prompt at a time. Make it happen!
Disclaimer: The information provided here is based on available public data and may not be entirely accurate or up-to-date. It’s recommended to contact the respective companies/individuals for detailed information on features, pricing, and availability.All screenshots are used under the principles of fair use for editorial, educational, or commentary purposes. All trademarks and copyrights belong to their respective owners.
If you want more content like this, make sure you subscribe to our newsletter to get updates on the latest trends for AI, tech, and so much more.
Mortgage rates took another leg up today, rising ever closer to 6.50%.
The culprit once again has been the conflict in the Middle East, which has sent oil prices surging higher.
That leads to inflation, whether it’s higher gas prices or higher input costs on goods and transporting said goods.
Bonds don’t like inflation, so mortgage-backed securities (MBS) prices fall and their yield (aka interest rate) rises.
That’s what we’ve been seeing since the beginning of March and it might get worse before it gets better.
The 30-Year Fixed Is Back on the Cusp of 6.50%
The latest daily reading from Mortgage News Daily puts the popular 30-year fixed at 6.43%, up from 6.36% yesterday.
That’s the highest point of 2026, with the previous high being 6.41% on Friday March 13th.
It also tells you (or at least me!), that a 6.50% 30-year fixed is simply a matter of time.
Not a matter of if, but when. We are banging on the door and the trend certainly feels higher before lower.
As I said a week or so ago, mortgage rates stop trending lower and began trending higher, something that hasn’t happened for a very long time.
Had there not been this conflict in Iran, mortgage rates would likely be well below 6% today.
Instead, we’re facing the worst rates since nearly August, which is terrible news for prospective home buyers and those looking for a rate and term refinance.
Given there’s no sign of a resolution anytime soon, I would bet on mortgage rates moving higher before they move lower.
How high is another question, but ideally they don’t go much higher as this is perhaps a “transitory” issue.
Both oil prices and mortgage rates jumped up unexpectedly on the Iranian news, but could settle down for the same reasons since it’s one specific issue as opposed to a widespread economic narrative shift.
Could Mortgage Rates Reach the 7% Range Again?
Is a return to 7% mortgage rates possible?
What once felt unthinkable is now back on the table thanks to geopolitics.
I don’t think we go quite that high, though I do think mortgage rates keep moving higher in the short- and medium-term.
In other words, I definitely think we blow past 6.50% any day or week now, at least by MND’s measure.
And chances are we go even higher than that as the months go on.
That could mean a 30-year fixed at 6.625%, 6.75%, or even 6.875%, but I don’t foresee a 7% 30-year fixed again.
Sure, anything is possible, but I think a lot of what has transpired is already mostly baked into 10-year bond yields.
They were sub-4% in late February and closer to 4.30% today. That’s a big jump in a short amount of time that reflects what’s currently happening.
Bond yields could re-test 4.50% levels as this drags on and if mortgage spreads are around 200 basis points (2.00%) or slightly higher, you can foresee a 6.75% rate.
But getting to 7% seems like a stretch.
If we did get back to a 7% mortgage rate and it made the headlines, I think it would be too much for the housing market to bear.
Best-case scenario right now is rates settle down soon and don’t move much higher.
It won’t be great for the spring home buying season, but staying below year-ago levels can still be viewed as a win.
Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to begin writing about mortgages 19 years ago to help prospective (and existing) home buyers better navigate the home loan process. Follow me on X for hot takes.
*JOIN FOR FREE* – I am personally paying for your Hammer *ELITE* subscription for the first month ➡️ Sign up for *ELITE* and I’ll send you a digital gift card covering the $10 cost. In today’s post-show, MY PRODUCER TELLS ME SHE IS SELLING FEET PICS FOR MONEY— AGGGGGG WTF IS GOING ON?!?!?
💸 Download Dollarwise today:
🔥 GamerSupps: tasty, cheap ($0.40/serving)! Save 10% with code CALEB:
👉 Checking & Savings: Get up to a $350 bonus with a new Chime® Checking account, and earn up to 3.50% APY on your savings:
=============================
*Sponsors for This Video*
=============================
Use Yrefy to refinance your private student loans today at: or call (888) Yrefy-78
=============================
Master Your Money with Caleb Hammer
=============================
⚡️Budget YOUR dream life with my simple courses: ➡️
⚡️Check out all of my custom Financial Audit merch: ➡️
=============================
*Check Out My Resources*
=============================
👉 Get a $40,000 cash bonus by investing with Webull!
👉 Checking & Savings: Get up to a $350 bonus with a new Chime® Checking account, and earn up to 3.50% APY on your savings:
👉 Land a high-paying job with no experience or degree: ➡️
👉 Get $20 from Acorns for free: ➡️
👉 First 100,000 Mine (formerly Fizz) sign-ups with code HAMMER10 get $10:
👉 Helium Mobile: Use promo code CALEB for a FREE plan ➡️
👉 Protect your online privacy and security for free with Aura: ➡️
👉 Get an exclusive HighLevel 30-day trial:
=============================
*Chapters*
=============================
00:00 Intro
01:10 She Likes To WHAT?
02:02 Job & Income
05:05 She Has A Plan & It Involves Boobs
13:21 Almost 40 But Hasn’t Locked In Yet (She Has “Spending Amnesia”)
24:09 She Avoids Looking At Her Bank Accounts (But She’ll Manifest Everything To Work Out)
32:29 She Has A Southwest Card But It’s Worse Than We Thought..
36:29 Her Sister Filed For Bankruptcy But She Still Trusted Her With Her Credit Card
40:22 She Forget Her Bills Sometimes (Almost 40 Years Old BTW)
45:42 She Swipes This Credit Card When She Doesn’t’ Want To Spent Money (?)
48:24 Excuses Excuses Excuses
52:11 Aunties Getting Some, Good For Her
55:32 Is Furniture A Necessity?
57:48 Consolidated Date And It’s Still THIS F*cked?
01:01:27 Calebs Bravery Is Unmatched (Based Avatar Take)
01:04:29 Bullsh*t Amazon Spending
01:08:29 Her Kid Has Credit Card Access Too (We Give Him A Call)
01:13:38 When Should Kids Be Given Phones?
01:20:00 It Never Ends
01:23:52 Let’s Build A Budget!
01:26:31 What’s The Plan?
01:28:08 Hammer Financial Score
=============================
Want more content?
=============================
🍿Caleb Hammer LIVE: / @calebhammerlive
🍿 Financial Audit Follow-Ups here: / @financialauditfollowups
=============================
*Connect with me!*
=============================
TikTok:
X:
IG:
Facebook:
=============================
*Want to be a guest on Financial Audit?*
=============================
👉 We film weekdays in our studio in Austin, Texas (in person only)! To apply, visit:
*Some of the links and other products that appear in this video are from companies for which Caleb Hammer will earn an affiliate commission or referral bonus. This is not investment advice.
Sponsorship and business inquiries: business@calebhammer.com
Tempo — a specialized payments network developed with backing from the major payment services provider Stripe — has now gone operational on its primary blockchain. Concurrently, the project has rolled out an innovative, openly available standard aimed at streamlining payments conducted by automated machines and intelligent systems.
Originally incubated through a partnership involving Stripe and the investment firm Paradigm, Tempo was conceived as a dedicated Layer 1 blockchain tailored explicitly for large-scale financial transactions.
The platform prioritizes stable digital currencies to deliver fast, affordable, and highly customizable payment capabilities suitable for global use cases ranging from cross-border remittances and micro-payments to embedded financial services and tokenized financial instruments.
The activation of the mainnet marks the transition from testing phases to full public availability.
Developers can now connect via open access points to construct applications on this infrastructure.
Key technical advantages include quick transaction confirmations approaching half a second, predictable and minimal transaction costs settled directly in stable assets rather than fluctuating tokens, and specialized pathways ensuring consistent performance even under heavy load.
These elements position Tempo as an ideal foundation for high-frequency and precision financial operations.
Accompanying the network launch is the introduction of the Machine Payments Protocol, a collaborative open specification created alongside Stripe.
This standard provides a consistent approach for autonomous entities, such as AI agents, to initiate, authorize, and finalize monetary exchanges programmatically.
A standout feature is its session capability, which permits an initial approval of spending limits followed by seamless streaming of numerous tiny payments that are batched for efficient processing.
Operating independently of specific underlying rails, the protocol accommodates both blockchain-based stablecoins and conventional fiat methods, enhancing compatibility with established payment gateways like cards, digital wallets, and lightning-fast networks.
This timing aligns perfectly with the rapid evolution toward economies powered by independent AI agents that engage in commerce and consume services without constant oversight.
By resolving hurdles in automated financial flows, the new framework opens doors to fresh models of service delivery and monetization in digital environments, where software programs can handle everything from data acquisitions to computing resources on demand.
The development underscores broader efforts to integrate advanced blockchain solutions into mainstream finance, offering enterprises reliable tools for international operations and innovation.
With substantial prior funding and input from major collaborators in tech and traditional banking, Tempo and its protocol represent forward-thinking infrastructure designed for an increasingly automated financial future.
Experts anticipate that this rollout could accelerate adoption of programmable money across both legacy and emerging sectors, fostering more fluid and efficient global economic interactions.
As machine intelligence assumes larger roles in business processes, solutions like these will likely become essential components of the digital economy’s backbone, bridging human-led systems with the coming wave of agent-driven commerce.
This article is presented by Cost Segregation Guys.
Ask 10 real estate investors to explain depreciation, and you will get 10 different answers. Some will get it mostly right, while others will confuse it with something else entirely. A few will admit they just let their CPA handle it and have never really dug into how it works.
That is more common than you might think, and it’s also a real missed opportunity. Depreciation is one of the most significant tax advantages available to real estate investors, and understanding it at a basic level makes you a sharper investor, regardless of how many units you own.
What Depreciation Actually Means
In plain English, depreciation is the IRS’s acknowledgment that physical assets wear out over time.
A building is not going to last forever. The roof will eventually need replacing. The plumbing ages. The structure itself has a finite useful life. Because of this, the tax code allows property owners to deduct a portion of their property’s value each year to account for gradual wear and tear.
Think of it like this. If you buy a piece of equipment for your business that has a 10-year lifespan, you can deduct one-tenth of its cost each year rather than writing off the whole thing up front. Real estate works the same way, just on a longer timeline. You paid a certain amount for the property, and the IRS lets you spread that cost out as a deduction over the course of several decades.
One important note: Land does not depreciate. You can only depreciate the structure itself, not the dirt under it. When calculating depreciation, the land value gets separated from the building value, and only the building portion counts.
Residential vs. Commercial Timelines
The IRS assigns different depreciation timelines depending on the type of property. For residential rental properties, that timeline is 27.5 years. For commercial properties, it is 39 years.
These numbers are not arbitrary. They reflect the IRS’s general assumption about how long each type of structure has a useful life.
What this means practically is that each year, you can deduct 1/27.5 of your residential building’s value, or roughly 3.6%, as a depreciation expense on your taxes. For a commercial property, that works out to about 2.6% per year over 39 years.
These are the standard timelines. There are strategies, likecost segregation, that allow certain components of a property to be depreciatedon much shorter schedules. But as a baseline, 27.5 and 39 years are the numbers most investors start with.
Why Depreciation Does Not Mean Your Property Is Losing Value
This is one of the most common points of confusion, and it is worth addressing directly. Depreciation for tax purposes has nothing to do with what your property is actually worth in the market. A building can be depreciating on paper while simultaneously appreciating in value. These are two separate things.
Tax depreciation is an accounting concept. It exists to reflect the theoretical wear and tear on a structure over time, not to track market conditions. Your property’s actual value is determined by what buyers are willing to pay for it, which is influenced by the market, location, condition, rental income, and dozens of other factors that have nothing to do with the IRS’s depreciation schedule.
Many investors have owned properties for 20 or 30 years that have tripled in value while being fully depreciated on paper. The two things simply live in different worlds.
How Depreciation Reduces Taxable Income
Here is where depreciation becomes genuinely powerful. When you own a rental property, the income you collect from tenants is taxable. But you are also allowed to deduct legitimate expenses against that income—like mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, repairs, and property management fees.
Depreciation is another deduction you can stack on top of those. And unlike most deductions, it does not require you to spend any money in the year you claim it. It is what accountants call a noncash deduction. The wear and tear on your building is assumed to be happening whether or not you wrote a check for it.
The result is that many rental property owners show a loss on paper even when they are cash flow positive. Rent comes in, expenses and depreciation are deducted, and the taxable income left over is often significantly lower than the actual cash in their pocket. Depending on your situation, that paper loss can also potentially offset other income, though the rules around this involve income limits and passive activity rules that are worth discussing with a tax professional.
Where Most Investors Get This Wrong
The most common misunderstanding is not about the mechanics of depreciation itself. It is about what happens when you sell.
When you sell a property, the IRS requires you to pay back a portion of the depreciation you claimed over the years. This is called depreciation recapture, and it is taxed at a rate of up to 25%.
A lot of investors are surprised by this at the time of sale because they either forgot they were taking depreciation deductions or did not fully understand that those deductions were not free. They were more like a deferral.
The second most common misunderstanding is simply not claiming depreciation at all. Some investors, particularly those who are newer or working with generalist CPAs, end up not taking the deduction they are entitled to. The IRS still counts it as if you did, which means you could end up paying recapture taxes on depreciation you never actually benefited from.
Final Thoughts
Depreciation is not complicated once you understand the basics, but it does reward investors who pay attention to it. Knowing how it works, what it affects, and what it eventually costs you gives you a clearer picture of the real financial performance of your properties.
If you’re ready to go beyond the standard 27.5- and 39-year schedules and uncover faster write-offs hiding inside your property, Cost Segregation Guys can help you do it the right way. Their team makes the process simple, identifies the components that qualify for accelerated depreciation, and helps you maximize deductions while staying aligned with IRS rules. You can reach out to Cost Segregation Guys to see how much you could potentially accelerate, and start keeping more of what your properties earn.
In a world of protein-maxxing and fiber-counting, it’s hard to remember a time when a baked good itself could be a fad.
But a decade ago, people underwent a frenzy for cupcakes. Adults would line up around the block for cupcakes that came out of vending machines; a company selling jumbo cupcakes with custard filling IPO’d at $13 a share, and people raced to buy a sheet of miniature tie-dye cupcakes for $45. The frenzy was so massive, the cupcake boom moved 669 million units in a single year, but like an overdone cupcake in the oven, it deflated just as quickly as it went up. Crumbs went from a Nasdaq darling to bankrupt in three years. Sprinkles, the brand that invented the cupcake ATM, shut its doors for good just weeks ago. Nearly every gourmet cupcake company from that era has dramatically flared out and died—except one.
Melissa Ben-Ishay founded Baked by Melissa in 2008 after getting fired from her job as an assistant media planner at 24. Eighteen years and more than 500 million bite-sized cupcakes later, she’s stepping down as CEO—and for the first time, she says the company is open to a sale.
Ben-Ishay will transition to president—a title she held before the board installed her as CEO in late 2019—while Sanjay Khetan, the company’s current CFO, takes over as chief executive. In an exclusive Fortune interview with both Khetan and Ben-Ishay, Ben-Ishay said she’d planned to bring Khetan on with the intention of finding someone who could replace her. On her first day of being the President and not the CEO of her company, Ben-Ishay described the move candidly: “I am so freaking thrilled that I am no longer needed in that seat,” she said, “so I can focus on the areas of the business that I can uniquely drive.”
The openness to a sale marks a reversal for Ben-Ishay. In a 2025 interview with the Food Institute, Ben-Ishay said that maintaining quality standards was one of the reasons she’d “avoided acquisitions.” When Fortune read the quote back to her, she said she didn’t remember making it, then acknowledged the shift in her perspective. “It’s something we’re definitely interested in exploring and working towards,” she said. She noted that the company fields acquisition offers regularly. “Every day we get offers in my inbox,” she said.
Asked what Baked by Melissa figured out while other brands from that era burned out, Ben-Ishay credited its bite-sized format—mess-free, with no knife or fork required—and a “best in class” shipping experience. That, and a refusal to scale recklessly. “We didn’t try and grow too quickly,” she said. The company now has nine retail locations, nationwide shipping, and claims continued year-over-year top-line growth. Where Crumbs chased a Nasdaq listing and Sprinkles sold to private equity, Baked by Melissa stayed private, taking in just $6 million in outside funding in their 18 year tenure and keeping a light footprint.
Going viral for the opposite of cupcakes
Ben-Ishay had been CEO for barely three months when COVID shuttered stores across New York. “I was scared out of my mind,” she said, unsure of how to scale the business. Ben-Ishay has been open about the imposter syndrome that defined her early years—she has previously told Fortune she didn’t think she deserved the CEO title. Asked whether she ever felt the company had outgrown her, she was unequivocal. “Never,” she said.
In her first year of being a CEO and during a pandemic, she said the company grew e-commerce revenue roughly 99% year over year. It was also during the pandemic that Ben-Ishay accidentally built what she now calls “a business within my business”—going viral on TikTok not for cupcakes but for her Green Goddess salad recipe, which racked up over 27 million views. Her social following has spawned a brand partnerships division, two cookbooks (including a New York Times bestseller), and collaborations with Oatly, Squishmallows, and Ferrero.
Ben-Ishay’s TikToks are chaotic—food bits flying, kids yelling, smoke detector beeping—with the overachieving-burnt-out-mom energy that millennials have made aspirational. It clearly speaks to a strong contingent: Baked by Melissa has nearly 3 million followers on TikTok alone. On the call with Fortune, the vibe wasn’t all that different; Ben-Ishay took part of the interview from the passenger seat of a car, at one point pausing to hug and chat with someone while Khetan answered questions.
For Ben-Ishay, that comes with territory of being a high-powered, ambitious person. “I am a mom with young kids. I am a creator. I am a cookbook author—New York Times bestselling cookbook author—and an executive co-founder of Baked by Melissa,” she said. “Today, president and co-founder. Yesterday, CEO and co-founder,” which, she said, means she wears “many, many hats. And I have my priorities straight: I think this transition is not only best for Baked by Melissa, but best for me so I can breathe, like, a tiny bit.”
The question of what happens to the brand’s social media presence—arguably its most valuable marketing asset, built almost entirely on Ben-Ishay’s personal content—seems central to the transition. But she said she expects the shift to give her more time to create, not less. She has resisted the label “influencer” even as her following has grown. “I’m not an influencer by trade,” she said. “I have this greater responsibility, not only to Baked by Melissa, but also to my customer.”
The company’s founding story has always been a family affair. Ben-Ishay’s brother Brian Bushell co-founded the business and served as its first CEO until 2016. He remains a shareholder and is involved in high-level strategic conversations, according to Ben-Ishay. She declined to comment on a books-and-records inspection lawsuit that Bushell appears to have filed against the company. (Bushell has not responded to a request for comment). Her husband, Adi Ben-Ishay, also works at Baked by Melissa and will continue to report to Khetan.
Khetan said the partnership works because the division of labor is clean: Ben-Ishay leads brand and creative, he handles operations and finance. “The potential to create more value over the next couple of years is extraordinary,” he said.
Ben-Ishay offered a final thought. “Baked by Melissa—we make bite-sized stuffed cupcakes in a variety of flavors that make you feel like a kid again, and we ship nationwide,” she said. “And hop to it, because Easter is on its way.” Eighteen years in, and she’s still closing.
![[Rumor] New Upcoming American Express Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card (2% Everywhere, $250 Annual Fee)](https://globalinvestmentstrategy.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-19-at-1.30.33-PM-190x300.png "[Rumor] New Upcoming American Express Graphite Business Cash Unlimited Card (2% Everywhere, $250 Annual Fee)")
