On this week's Watson Weekly Weekend edition, hosts Rick Watson and Jessica Lesesky discuss the Stripe circling PayPal news; and we are talking about tariffs again, and they have an in-depth conversation on Walmart earnings.

The payments world got hit with a tectonic shift. While we’ve been watching PayPal's turnaround efforts for years, the narrative has officially flipped. The private-market darling Stripe—now valued at a staggering $159 billion—is reportedly circling PayPal, which has seen its valuation slide to roughly $43 billion.

Remember when eBay was considered the dead weight holding PayPal back? In a twist of fate, eBay’s market cap is now larger than PayPal’s for the first time. Oof, indeed.

The leadership carousel at PayPal tells the story:

If this deal happens, it combines Stripe’s elite behind-the-scenes plumbing with PayPal’s massive base of 400 million active wallets. But don't hold your breath—the antitrust regulators will likely have a field day with this one.

If you thought the supply chain drama was over, think again. On February 20, 2026, the Supreme Court dropped a bombshell, ruling 6-3 that the President lacks the authority under the IEEPA to impose those wide-ranging tariffs we've seen since 2025.

But the victory for importers lasted exactly a few hours.

The administration immediately pivoted to Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, slapping on a 10-15% temporary import surcharge.

My advice? Don't whipsaw your supply chain. Manage your costs, stay agile, and watch out for the 6,000 business entities—including FedEx—currently suing the government over these moves.

Walmart is crushing it, and frankly, they might even be outdoing Amazon where it matters most: speed.

While Amazon has the selection, Walmart can now serve 95% of America in under 3 hours. A logistical feat that seemed impossible five years ago.

By the Numbers:

Walmart is projecting net sales growth of 3.5% to 4.5% for FY 2027, even with substantial uncertainty in the global economy. They are being extremely aggressive — and it’s paying off.

Let's be clear about what happened. Zuckerberg told investors on an earnings call that people who don't wear AI glasses will be at a "pretty significant cognitive disadvantage." Reality Labs has lost $4.53B in a single quarter and approximately $83B since 2020. Follow the math. This is a man justifying a money pit, not predicting the future.

Is he wrong about the destination? Probably not. Is he right about the timeline and the form factor? Nobody knows, including him.

The smartphone analogy is legitimate. Having AI with you, seeing what you see, hearing what you hear — that's a real capability advantage. The question isn't whether ambient AI matters. It does. The question is whether $299 Ray-Bans with Meta AI are the thing that gets us there, or whether we're still a few product generations away from something people actually want on their face all day.

Here's the counter-data Zuckerberg didn't mention on that call: Microsoft and MIT both published research this year showing habitual AI users are seeing declines in critical thinking and problem-solving. So the cognitive disadvantage might cut both ways.

The real story is simpler. Meta has a viable consumer hardware product for the first time — Ray-Ban Meta sales tripled year-over-year. That's legitimately good, for the moment.

But Zuckerberg turned a product win into an existential threat narrative because he needs investors to stay patient while Reality Labs bleeds $4-5 billion per quarter.

Don't buy the fear. Do watch the hardware category closely. Those are different things. Frankly, it wouldn't surprise me if, in the end, that implants are the answer. Like some real Black Mirror shit.