🌎 California Has The 4th Largest Economy In The World

Letter From The Editor

What a week we’ve had, in a long line of crazy weeks. It’s literally exhausting trying to keep up with the business news behind the headlines. I’m about to sign-off early for the weekend, because if I hear the word “tariff” one more time I’m going to lose it.

Speaking of taking a break, we did a poll about a month ago where I asked “How many newsletter issues is the right amount per week?” For some context I’ve been writing (3) newsletter issues a week for the last year and 7 months ever since I hit “Publish” on the first issue on September 11th, 2023. In the poll most people voted for me to continue publishing (3) issues a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I’m incredibly appetitive of how much people look forward to receiving my newsletter.

But it’s time for a change, for the positive. I’m going to begin publishing this newsletter (2) times a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at least for the Summer. I have a couple of new YouTube channels I’m launching, and I’m going to take Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to film content.

You can still count on me to bring you the business behind the news, with a healthy dose of sarcasm….but now only (2) times a week so I can bring you new content in the form of YouTube channels and potentially a new newsletter I’ve been working on lately. More deets to follow.

Now onto today’s issue.

In today’s newsletter I discuss how California now has the 4th largest economy in the world, Tesla is opening a drive-in movie theater diner in Hollywood, Americans are rushing to buy frozen microwavable pizzas amidst economic worries, Amazon is pausing new datacenter leases, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owns more U.S. Treasury bills than the U.S. government, and now that Paul Atkins has been sworn in as the new SEC Chair consumers are hoping for clearer regulatory clarity in the crypto markets.

Scroll on!

WHAT WE’RE READING

🌎 California Has The 4th Largest Economy In The World

California has surpassed Japan to become the once again the 4th largest economy in the world. I don’t think people really appreciate how big California’s economy is when comparing the state to other countries. It’s big!

Taking a look at the latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and the International Monetary Fund, California's GDP reached a staggering $4.1 trillion dollars in 2024, surpassing $4.02 trillion dollars for Japan.

To put this into a perspective that shows how insane this stat is, California’s economy is now ranked 4th when comparing the state to counties with the highest global economic rankings behind only the United States, China, and Germany.

California's impressive 6% growth rate in 2024 outpaced the growth of these top 3 economies (U.S. at 5.3%, China at 2.6%, and Germany at 2.9%), highlighting its robust economic momentum. This growth is fueled by the state's dominance in several key sectors, including the globally influential Silicon Valley, a thriving real estate and finance sector, and a strong manufacturing and agricultural base. 

Want to hear another insane stat: California accounts for approximately 14% of the entire United States' GDP.

With a population of around 39.25 million people, California is a major global economic force. The fact that it just surpassed Japan to become the 4th largest economy by GDP says a lot about how important California is in the global economic order.

🏢 Business

Amazon has decided to pause some of its data center lease commitments, which could signal a potential short-term slowing of demand for large-scale data facilities. Despite CEO Andy Jassy's earlier statements about continuing their data center construction spree in order to support AI development, this pause may suggest they are rethinking their expansion plans amid economic uncertainties - read tariffs.

Contrary to the last few year’s fever pitch of building new datacenters, it turns out the money and supply chains to build them don’t grow on trees.

💵 Finance

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway has significantly increased its holdings in U.S. Treasury bills, now owning a substantial 4.89% of the entire market, which stood at approximately $6.15 trillion as of late March 2025. This equates to a staggering $300.87 billion parked in short-term government debt, surpassing even the Federal Reserve's holdings of such instruments, which are just over $195 billion. With Berkshire's total cash reserves exceeding $334 billion, the vast majority, around 90% of that amount, are now allocated to these low-risk, liquid assets yielding an average of 4.359%, as Warren Buffett awaits more attractive investment opportunities. He’s famously said he believes that potential acquisition targets have valuations that are too high.

For Warren Buffet, trying to find a potential acquisition target that is fairly valued in this market is like trying to find a good deal on Temu these days.

⚡🎥🍿 Entertainment

Tesla is moving closer to opening its innovative drive-in movie theater diner complete with a Supercharger station in the heart of Hollywood. Tesla’s Supercharger network continues to grow, with a 14% increase in recharging stations and a 17% rise in connectors year-over-year, delivering 1.4 TWh of energy in a recent quarter. 

Just what Hollywood needs - more traffic jams filled with Teslas waiting to charge while their owners nosh on overpriced popcorn. I'm sure locals are just electrified by the thought!

🪙 Crypto

The financial landscape of cryptocurrency is experiencing significant shifts to say the least, and now with Paul Atkins being sworn in as the new SEC Chair he is pledging to establish clear regulations for the crypto industry. It can’t soon enough! On that news Bitcoin has been rallying this week to over $94,000.

This crypto regulatory shift coincides with the Federal Reserve's withdrawal of previous guidance on bank crypto-related activities, which I believe signals a recalibration of traditional financial institutions' involvement with digital assets. The market has reacted strongly to the new confirmed SEC chair resulting in massive inflows of capital into the crypto market.

As much as the crypto industry has been clamoring for "clear regulations" for years now, but as we stand right now there’s about as much clarity on crypto regulations as a bucket of mud.

🍕 Economy

When the economy begins to cool, people rush to their freezers for some hot microwavable pizza.

Sales of frozen pizzas are surging in the U.S., with the industry generating $6.5 billion in revenue in 2024 and is projected to grow even further in 2025. The sale of frozen pizza is often an indicator of a looming recession. That makes sense. People get nervous about the economy and labor markets, and they instinctively begin to cut back on some easy purchases and begin buying easy to make microwavable pizzas instead of eating out as often.

The economics support the theory.

Consumers begin opting for cheaper microwavable foods instead of eating out, with frozen pizzas being an easy and affordable choice. Frozen pizza sales increased during the 2009 recession, and then again during the 2020 pandemic.

So while Wall Street might be sweating the economy, it looks like consumers are making some dough.

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irl Media NEWSLETTER is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.