Business

The WHO said the recent monkeypox outbreaks are unusual because they are occurring in countries where the virus is not endemic.
More cases will likely be reported in the coming days as surveillance expands, the global health agency said.
Monkeypox is spread through close contact. It usually begins with flu-like symptoms and then progresses to body rashes.
It can result in death for 1 in 10 people who contract the disease based on observations in Africa, according to the CDC.

The World Health Organization has confirmed about 80 cases of monkeypox with recent outbreaks reported in 11 countries, according to a statement Friday from the global health agency.
The outbreaks are unusual because they are occurring in countries where the virus is not endemic, according to the WHO. More cases will likely be reported in the coming days as surveillance broadens, it said.

“WHO is working with the affected countries and others to expand disease surveillance to find and support people who may be affected, and to provide guidance on how to manage the disease,” the agency said.
European nations have confirmed dozens of cases in the largest outbreak of monkeypox ever on the continent, according to the German military. The U.S. has confirmed at least one case, and Canada has confirmed two. Monkeypox is usually found in Central and West African rainforests where animals that carry the virus live, according to the WHO.

This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak.
Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner | CDC via AP

Monkeypox is a disease caused by a virus in the same family as smallpox but is not as severe, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, monkeypox can result in death in as many as 1 in 10 people who contract the disease based on observations in Africa, according to the CDC.
The smallpox vaccine is 85% effective at preventing monkeypox based on observational studies in Africa, according to the WHO and the CDC.
Monkeypox is spread through close contact with people, animals or material infected with the virus. It enters the body through broken skin, the respiratory tract, the eyes, nose and mouth. Though human-to-human transmission is believed to occur through respiratory droplets as well, that method requires prolonged face-to-face contact because the droplets cannot travel more than a few feet, according to the CDC.

Monkeypox usually begins with symptoms similar to the flu including fever, headache, muscle aches, chills, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes, according to the CDC. Within one to three days of the onset of fever, patients develop a rash that begins on the face and spreads to other body parts. The illness usually lasts for about two to four weeks.
“As monkeypox spreads through close contact, the response should focus on the people affected and their close contacts,” the WHO said. Health-care workers, household members and sexual partners of people who have the virus are at greater risk of disease.
The CDC confirmed a monkeypox case in Massachusetts on Wednesday. The person had recently traveled to Canada using private transportation. New York City is investigating a possible monkeypox case, according to a health department statement Thursday.
The U.S. had a monkeypox outbreak in 2003, the first outside Africa, which was caused by human contact with infected prairie dogs kept as pets. That outbreak resulted in more than 70 reported cases.

CNBC Health & Science

Read CNBC’s latest global coverage of the Covid pandemic:

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Friday that while the retail sector has had a rough week, there are still several winners that stand out against the deluge of stocks that tanked.
“While retail’s truly awful right now, it’s not uniformly awful. Most stores may be struggling, but you’ve got a few that are doing quite well,” the “Mad Money” host said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer said Friday that while the retail sector has had a rough week, there are still several winners that stand out against the deluge of stocks that tanked.
“The big four aren’t the only retailers that reported this week, and surprisingly, some of the smaller players actually did pretty well,” the “Mad Money” host said, referring to retail giants Walmart, Home Depot, Target and Lowe’s.

“While retail’s truly awful right now, it’s not uniformly awful. Most stores may be struggling, but you’ve got a few that are doing quite well. And I’m telling you that TJX is definitely a buy, [BJ’s Wholesale] I’m okay on, Foot Locker is alright for a trade,” he later added.
Cramer’s comments come after several retail giants reported their quarterly earnings this week. Target and Walmart both reported disappointing results that saw their stocks fall, while Home Depot and Lowe’s fared better.
“These big-box chains are being eaten alive by inflation and changing consumer preferences — people are no longer spending like we’re in a pandemic, they’re spending like we’re back to normal,” Cramer said, noting that that has led to excess inventory for these retailers.
While that’s bad news for names like Target and Walmart, it’s a tailwind for discount retailers such as BJ’s and TJX, which operates TJ Maxx and Marshalls, Cramer said.
TJX “preys on the weakness of other retailers — it’s like a vulture. For several quarters, they couldn’t get their hands on much merchandise because nobody had excess inventory. … When you see Walmart and Target struggling like this, you know TJX won’t have a problem getting good product,” he said.

As for Foot Locker, Cramer said its better-than-expected quarterly earnings puts it in a more comfortable spot than several of its bigger peers.
“Clearly, these guys do have a better handle on the current retail landscape than most other operators,” he said.
Disclosure: Cramer’s Charitable Trust owns shares of Walmart.
Sign up now for the CNBC Investing Club to follow Jim Cramer’s every move in the market.
Disclaimer

Questions for Cramer?Call Cramer: 1-800-743-CNBC
Want to take a deep dive into Cramer’s world? Hit him up!Mad Money Twitter – Jim Cramer Twitter – Facebook – Instagram
Questions, comments, suggestions for the “Mad Money” website? [email protected]

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

A report from Business Insider says SpaceX paid a flight attendant $250,000 in severance over a sexual misconduct claim made against CEO and founder Elon Musk.
Musk told the outlet that there is “a lot more to this story.” Later, he tweeted that “wild accusations” against him were untrue, although he didn’t specify the allegations.
The Insider report comes as Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla, is engaged in an effort to purchase social media giant Twitter.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said in a tweet late Thursday that “wild accusations” against him are not true after a Business Insider report said the aerospace company had paid $250,000 in severance to a private jet flight attendant who accused the billionaire of sexual misconduct.
The report, which cited interviews and documents obtained by Insider, said the woman claimed that during a massage she was giving Musk he exposed his erect penis, touched her thigh without her consent and offered to buy her a horse if she performed sex acts. CNBC could not independently verify those allegations.

While Musk did not specify which accusations he was referring to in his tweets, he told Insider there was “a lot more to this story” as he asked the publication for more time to respond to the article’s claims, according to the outlet.
“If I were inclined to engage in sexual harassment, this is unlikely to be the first time in my entire 30-year career that it comes to light,” Musk wrote to Insider, according to the story. He also said its article was a “politically motivated hit piece,” the outlet reported.

Insider reported that it moved the publication deadline after Musk requested more time to respond, but that he never made further comment on the allegations. Christopher Cardaci, legal affairs vice president at SpaceX, was quoted by Insider as saying, “I’m not going to comment on any settlement agreements.”
Later, Musk, without referring directly to the report, tweeted that “for the record, those wild accusations are utterly untrue.”
“The attacks against me should be viewed through a political lens – this is their standard (despicable) playbook,” he tweeted.

The Insider report comes as Musk, who is also CEO of Tesla, is engaged in an effort to purchase social media giant Twitter. Friday morning, Musk tied the controversy to his deal to buy Twitter. “In my 30 year career, including the entire MeToo era, there’s nothing to report, but, as soon as I say I intend to restore free speech to Twitter & vote Republican, suddenly there is …” he wrote.
Insider reported that the alleged incident occurred in Musk’s room aboard a SpaceX jet on a flight to London in late 2016, after the world’s richest person asked her to give him a “full body massage.”
CNBC reached out to Musk and SpaceX for comment on those allegations but did not immediately hear back.
“We stand by our story, which is based on documents and interviews and which speaks for itself,” an Insider spokesperson said in response to a request for comment.
The allegations reported Thursday are detailed in a declaration signed by a friend of the flight attendant.
That declaration was made to support a complaint that the woman’s lawyer had made to SpaceX’s human resources department in 2018 after she felt that her work opportunities at the company dwindled after she declined to engage in sexual contact with Musk, according to Insider.
Neither the friend, who spoke with Insider, nor the woman, who declined to be interviewed by the publication, was identified by name in the article. The flight attendant signed a nondisclosure agreement as part of her settlement with SpaceX, according to the report.

CNBC Politics

Read more of CNBC’s politics coverage:

Insider reported that the friend said the flight attendant told her the story about Musk shortly after it happened.
The outlet reported that the friend said she decided to reveal the woman’s allegation without first asking the flight attendant because she felt obliged as a survivor of sexual assault to disclose the claim against Musk.
Insider reported that the flight attendant’s complaint to SpaceX’s HR department was “resolved quickly after a session with a mediator that Musk personally attended.”
The news outlet said Musk, SpaceX and the flight attendant in November 2018 entered into an agreement to have the woman paid $250,000 in severance in exchange for promising not to file a lawsuit connected to her claims.
Read the full Insider report here.
— CNBC’s Weizhen Tan and Michael Sheetz contributed to this report.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

It’s that time again! “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer rings the lightning round bell, which means he’s giving his answers to callers’ stock questions at rapid speed.

Loading chart…

Loading chart…

Loading chart…

Loading chart…

Riot Blockchain Inc: “You absolutely should own it as it was your speculative situation. … But please, don’t add too many of those.”

Loading chart…

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

Monday – Friday, 6:00 – 7:00 PM ET

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday explained fresh technical analysis from veteran chartist Larry Williams that signals the market is headed for a bottom.
“He says this is it. … I wouldn’t bet against him. I trust his predictions more than I despise this market, and I say that as someone who really does hate the tape,” the “Mad Money” host said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Friday explained fresh technical analysis from veteran chartist Larry Williams that signals the market is headed for a bottom.
“I know it’s tough to believe anything positive at this moment, but I said the same thing in April 2020, and that’s when Larry Williams made one of the best bottom calls I’ve ever seen,” the “Mad Money” host said, referring to when the market spiraled after the onset of the Covid pandemic sent shockwaves through the global economy.

“He says this is it. … I wouldn’t bet against him. I trust his predictions more than I despise this market, and I say that as someone who really does hate the tape,” he added.
Cramer started off his explanation of Williams’ analysis by examining the S&P 500 futures chart.

Arrows pointing outwards

The futures line is in black and the advance/decline line, a cumulative indicator measuring the number of stocks going up on a daily basis versus the number going down, is in blue, Cramer said.
Williams views the advance/decline line as an indicator of the market’s internal strength or weakness, according to Cramer.
“Right now, you can see that while the S&P spent the last week getting smashed into oblivion, the advance/decline line has been holding up much better. In fact, it’s steadily worked its way higher,” he said.

He noted that that pattern – when an important indicator goes the opposite way of an index – is called a bullish divergence. “According to Williams, this action in the advance/decline line is incredibly positive for the market. It tells you that, from the perspective of breadth, the worst of this decline may be behind us,” Cramer said.
Next, Cramer inspected the daily S&P futures chart plotted with the on-balance volume index in purple. The chart reveals that the volume of trading has already started to “dry up on the sell side,” Cramer said.

Arrows pointing outwards

He noted that the on-balance volume index is a cumulative indicator that measures volume flow by adding the volume on up days and subtracting on down days.
“We care about this because volume’s like a polygraph test for technicians: High volume moves are telling the truth. Low volume moves [are] often misleading,” he said.
And because the on-balance volume line has held up despite the S&P reaching new lows, the chart is consistent with what Williams would expect to see in “a down market where some major money managers have finally just started buying stocks more aggressively,” Cramer said.
He also showed a chart showing S&P 500 futures plotted with Williams’ insider activity indicator, in green.

Arrows pointing outwards

“Look at the bottom of the chart – this is Williams’ … commitments of traders index, which shows you what professional money managers are doing with their futures positions,” Cramer said. “Even though the market’s down, Williams sees the professionals buying here, and that often sets up significant rallies,” he added.
Finally, Williams observed the dominant cycles for the S&P 500, which typically run for 75 days.
“Right now, that cycle says the S&P is ready to run … and if the cycle holds, Williams would expect it to keep running through mid-to-late June,” Cramer said.

Arrows pointing outwards

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

In 1990, McDonald’s opened up its first restaurant in the Soviet Union, serving a record of 30,000 customers in a single opening day.
The iconic American chain is leaving Russia and its 62,000 employees behind as hundreds of Western brands exit the country following its invasion of Ukraine.
For a generation of Russians, McDonald’s represented their first exposure to capitalism and American culture.

Soviet customers stand in line outside the just opened first McDonald’s in the Soviet Union on January 31, 1990 at Moscow’s Pushkin Square.
Vitaly Armand | Afp | Getty Images

It was 4 a.m. and a trickle of Russians had already begun lining up outside the building in the freezing winter cold, hours before opening time. 
When the doors opened, hundreds of hungry, bundled-up Muscovites rushed in for their first-ever taste of this alien creation: the Big Mac. 

It was January of 1990 and McDonalds was opening its very first restaurant in the Soviet Union, becoming one of the few Western companies to breach the Iron Curtain in its final days as it slowly opened up to the world.
At that time, Russians were hungry. In the literal sense. Stores frequently ran out of food and lacked most of the products that existed in the Western world. A meal at McDonald’s cost half a days’ wages, but “it’s unusual … and delicious,” one local woman told a CBC News reporter at the opening, after trying her first burger. 
“We are all hungry in this city,” the woman said. “We need more of these places – there is nothing in our stores or restaurants.” The McDonald’s ended up having to stay open several hours past its official closing time due to the high demand, and served a whopping 30,000 customers on its opening day – a record for the iconic American chain.  

Of course, in the 32 years since, Russia has become a capitalist haven, replete with thousands of recognizable Western brands and foreign investment. But in the weeks following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of its neighbor Ukraine and amid global condemnation, most of these brands have shut their doors, either closing temporarily or vacating the country entirely. 

So the scenes from 1990 have almost repeated themselves three decades later, albeit in a very different context. When McDonald’s announced the temporary closing of its more than 800 restaurants in Russia in early March, before this week’s decision to exit the country permanently, long lines were seen outside its facilities as Russians came to get what could be their last-ever golden-arched burgers and fries.

One Russian man even handcuffed himself to the door of a Moscow McDonald’s in protest, shouting “Closing down is an act of hostility against me and my fellow citizens!” before being arrested.

‘Massive symbolic importance’

For Bakhti Nishanov, a Eurasia specialist who grew up in the Soviet Union, the departure is oddly emotional.
“It’s truly weird how this hits me. It’s almost like hope leaving the country,” he told CNBC.
“This has a massive symbolic importance: McDonald’s coming to Russia, then part of the Soviet Union, was an implicit signal to the world that Russia is open for business. The company leaving Russia is an explicit signal that the country is no longer a place you want to be in as a business,” Nishanov said.

People wait in line to enter a McDonald’s restaurant in Moscow on March 11, 2022, after the chain announced it was temporarily closing its 850 restaurants in Russia, joining other foreign brands that have been suspending operations in Russia following the country’s military campaign in neighboring Ukraine. McDonald’s has since decided to exit Russia permanently.
Vlad Karkov | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

“I first read about the McDonald’s in Russia in a youth magazine called Yunniy Tehnik,” Nishanov recounted. “I was absolutely mesmerized and fascinated by the article and the idea that one, for a relatively modest amount of money, can too be part of the American culture that McDonald’s was a tangible representation of.”
“To a generation of Russians, McDonald’s — commonly referred to as MakDak — was a fascinating phenomenon,” he added. “Clearly connected to the American culture, yet very much part of their daily lives and, in a way, less foreign or alien than many other brands.” 

A lot of employees and a lot of money

Economically, too, the departure is significant – McDonald’s employs 62,000 people across Russia. With the hundreds of other foreign companies that have left the country, the number of jobs that have disappeared is estimated in the hundreds of thousands. 
The burger chain will now sell its business, which included some 847 restaurants, saying that the “humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, and the precipitating unpredictable operating environment, have led McDonald’s to conclude that continued ownership of the business in Russia is no longer tenable, nor is it consistent with McDonald’s values.”

The logo of the closed McDonald’s restaurant in the Aviapark shopping center in Moscow, Russia, March 18, 2022.
Picture Alliance | Getty Images

CEO Chris Kempczinski said he was proud of all of the company’s workers employed in Russia and that the decision was “extremely difficult.” He also said that the employees will continue to be paid until the business is sold and that “employees have future employment with any potential buyer.”

Shoppers look towards closed McDonald’s and KFC restaurants at the Mega Mall, in Khimki, outside of Moscow, Russia on March 27, 2022.
Konstantin Zavrazhin | Getty Images

McDonald’s write-off from exiting Russia will be between $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion, the company said. Just closing its restaurants for the first few weeks in Russia had hit its earnings significantly, costing it $127 million last quarter. Together with its 108 restaurants in Ukraine, Russian and Ukrainian business made up about 9% of McDonald’s revenue in 2021.

‘Crucial soft diplomacy’ during the Cold War

Politically, the golden arches also went a long way, says Tricia Starks, a professor of history at the University of Arkansas and author of the forthcoming book “Cigarettes and Soviets.”
“The American way of consumption was a crucial soft-diplomacy front in the Cold War … acquainting the Soviets with America’s material standards was another field of battle,” Starks said. A few other brands took on this role in the USSR before McDonald’s did, namely Pepsi in 1972 and Marlboro in 1976. 

A Soviet policeman stands by a queue of people waiting to enter a newly opened McDonald’s on Gorky Street in Moscow in 1990.
Peter Turnley | Corbis Historical | Getty Images

But McDonalds, unlike a can of Pepsi or a pack of Marlboro cigarettes, “was a totally immersive experience of capitalism’s sensual joys,” she said. 
“From the moment you stepped in, it was an entirely different experience than a Soviet restaurant. You were greeted with smiles and shouts of ‘Can I help you?’ Products were of consistent quality and always consumable. The burgers were hot!” 
This was a culture shock to Soviet denizens, many of whom expressed confusion when staff would smile at them. “When I smile, people are asking what’s wrong, they think I am laughing at them,” one Russian employee at the McDonald’s opening day in 1990 told a reporter.

Traditionally dressed Russian musicians perform in front of the then-busiest McDonald’s restaurant in the world in Pushkin Square in Moscow during the 15th anniversary of the opening of its first restaurant in Russia on January 31, 2005.
ALEXANDER MEMENOV | AFP | Getty Images

“When you were done, a worker would come and whisk away the trash, and the showplace on Pushkin Square was kept clean despite the thousands who would come by through the day — some of them waiting hours to spend a full month’s wages on dinner for a family of four,” Starks described, noting that customer service was simply not a concept in the USSR. “Service was a side product of a McDonald’s experience.”

‘Thank you for all your sanctions’

Not all Russians feel bad about the golden arches leaving. 
“Hello Americans … We want to thank you for all your sanctions, for taking away from our country Coca Cola, KFC, McDonald’s and all that sh–. Now by summer we will be healthy, strong and without ass fat,” Russian influencer and comedian Natasha Krasnova wrote in an Instagram post in March that was viewed more than 5 million times. 

A mobile fast food van is seen in Moscow, Russia, as people buy alternative fast food after McDonald’s closed its roughly 850 restaurants across the country. March 21, 2022.
Sefa Karacan | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Many Russians have encouraged replacing Western chains with Russian-made brands, and at this point are perfectly capable of making their own burgers and other fast food products. There has also been a push by some to ditch American-style food as a whole in favor of local dishes, as much of the country rejects Western symbols out of patriotism. 

A view of McDonald’s restaurant serving in Murmansk, Russia, the northernmost city in the world, on March 11 2022, after the chain said it would temporarily close all of its 850 restaurants in Russia in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. In May, it announced its permanent exit from Russia.
Semen Vasileyevy | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Many Russians feel bitter about having to deal with the consequences of a war they did not choose. Those consequences pale in comparison to the horror being dealt to Ukraine, where thousands of civilians have been killed by Russian bombs and numerous cities reduced to rubble.
But as the war rumbles on and Russia becomes increasingly isolated by international sanctions, time will tell how many Russians will abandon their country in pursuit of the more open world they knew, and how many will choose allegiance to the state, turning against that world. 
For Nishanov, it’s not just about McDonald’s, but something bigger. 
“McDonald’s leaving Russia hits many of my generation differently,” he said, “I think because it represented — and I know this sounds dramatic —  hope and optimism. The company leaving confirms Putin’s Russia is a place devoid of those two things.”

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

Hyundai Motor on Friday confirmed plans to spend $5.54 billion to build its first dedicated electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
The operations are expected to open during the first half of 2025, with an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles.
The investment is the latest example of a global automaker seeking to establish new supply chains and production facilities in the U.S. to produce electric vehicles.

The logo of Hyundai is shown at the #WeAreMobility fair at the 97th edition of the Brussels Motor Show on 18 January 2019, in Brussels.
Dirk Waem | AFP via Getty Images

Hyundai Motor on Friday confirmed plans to spend $5.54 billion to build its first dedicated electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
The plants will be located outside of Savannah, Georgia, in Bryan County, the company said. The operations are expected to open during the first half of 2025, with an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles, according to the South Korean automaker. About 8,100 new jobs are to be created.

The investment is the latest example of a global automaker seeking to establish new supply chains and production facilities in the U.S. to produce electric vehicles, which are expected to grow exponentially during the decade.
It’s also a major win for the Biden administration, which has been urging companies to establish electric vehicle supply chains and production in the U.S. rather than overseas. President Joe Biden last year set a target for EVs to represent half of all new auto sales in the country by 2030.
“The Group is accelerating its electrification efforts with the global target to sell 3.23 million full electric vehicles annually by 2030,” Hyundai said in a release.
Hyundai also said it expects to produce a “wide range of full electric vehicles for U.S. customers at the new Georgia EV plant,” noting additional details will come at a later date.
The company announced the plans, details of which were previously reported, after officially entering into an agreement with Georgia; state and local incentives and other details for the new facilities were not announced.
Hyundai said it selected Georgia “due to a range of favorable business conditions, including speed-to-market, talented workforce, as well as existing network of … affiliates and suppliers.”

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More

Grocery start-up Weee! wants to make online food shopping more fun and immersive by showcasing videos and sharing stories behind the ingredients that it sells.
The company, which sells Asian and Hispanic groceries, hired “Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu as its chief creative officer earlier this year.
The start-up encourages shoppers to share what they order on social media or post videos of favorite foods and recipes through a TikTok-like feature in its app.

Online grocery delivery start-up Weee! encourages customers to share videos of recipes and favorite items on its app. It specializes in hard-to-find Asian foods, along with fruits, vegetables and other staples.

Online grocery start-up Weee! specializes in hard-to-find foods from Asian and Hispanic cuisines. It nabbed another kind of rarity earlier this year: A big Hollywood name in its executive suite.
The company hired Jon M. Chu, director of “Crazy Rich Asians” and the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights,” as its chief creative officer. Chu is bringing his storytelling expertise from the movies, in which food and culture play a central role, to an in-house team of about 10 people that spotlights unique dishes and the ingredients needed to make them — sold on the ever-expanding Weee! online platform.

Chu said he imagines bringing unconventional features to the online grocer, like playlists of songs customers could listen to while cooking or a follow-up email they might receive about the history of items they’ve purchased.
“To me, this was more important than just doing a job for a start-up,” he said. “This was about my storytelling taking new form.”
Weee! sells more than 10,000 products, from cuisine-specific items such as kimchi and frozen shrimp dumplings to staples like milk, bananas and chicken breasts. Shoppers can browse the company’s website and app in different languages, including English, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean or Spanish. On the app, shoppers can also order takeout from more than 1,000 restaurants.
The San Francisco Bay Area-based start-up now delivers fresh groceries to 18 states and shelf-stable products to all lower 48 states. It has eight fulfillment centers across the country, in states including Washington to New Jersey, where orders are packed and shipped.
The company is trying to stand out in a fragmented space — and previewing how grocery shopping online could look in the future. The grocer’s app and website shake up the typical experience of online food shopping to make it more social and immersive.

Weee! encourages customers to upload videos of recipes and favorite foods to its app through a TikTok-like feature. Shoppers can buy snacks and ingredients featured in those videos with a click of a button. They get discounts if they refer a friend or family member and can share custom coupons for the items they recently purchased.
“We just believe that food shopping shouldn’t be like what we see today,” founder and CEO Larry Liu said. “It should be much, much better, much, much more inspiring and fun.”

Changing tastes

Over the past two years, consumers have embraced new ways to fill up fridges and developed expanded palates while cooking more at home. That inspired some to try meal kits, get groceries delivered to their doors or use curbside pickup.
The pandemic sparked growth for Weee! The privately held, venture-backed start-up declined to share its total customers and revenue, but said it has fulfilled more than 15 million orders so far. Its monthly active users have grown more than 150% year over year. To date, the start-up has raised more than $800 million in funding — including a $425 million investment round announced in February led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
The pandemic also catalyzed the U.S. online grocery market, which accounts for a small but growing fraction of the industry’s total sales. Online grocery sales almost doubled from $29.3 billion in 2019 to $57 billion in 2020, according to IRI E-Market Insights and Coresight Research. Online grocery sales in the country will reach nearly $90 billion this year, according to the firms’ estimate. Yet brick-and-mortar still dominates the grocery category, with as much as 95% of food retail spending taking place at stores in 2021, according to Coresight’s research.
Online grocery retailers don’t have sample stations, colorful displays and other experiences that draw people to stores and prompt purchases, said Ken Fenyo, president of research and advisory at Coresight Research.
At stores, customers are “able to smell the fruit. You’re able to walk the aisles and see if there’s something new you want. You might have that serendipity of ‘Oh, I forgot I needed that. Let me throw it in'” he said. “Online tends to be a lot more search-driven, a lot more list-driven.”
Retailers like Weee! can revive experiential elements to grocery shopping to make e-commerce more exciting and personalized, Fenyo said. Other direct-to-consumer grocers have carved out specialties, such as Thrive Market, which sells organic and natural foods, or Misfits Market and Imperfect Foods, which sell high-quality groceries for less by offering misshaped fruits and vegetables, broken almond pieces or similar items.
The challenge for Weee! and other smaller online grocery players is winning new customers, keeping the cost of deliveries low and fending off traditional grocers, who may encroach on their turf, Fenyo said.

Larry Liu, a Chinese immigrant, started Weee! because of his own struggles to find favorite foods.

An immigrant’s tale

For Liu, 41, the challenges that inspired Weee! were personal.
Liu, a first-generation Chinese immigrant, founded the company in 2015 after struggling to find some of his own favorite foods. He grew weary of the hour-and-a-half drive to his closest Asian market and got inspired by seeing WeChat groups organized by others who missed the tastes of home. In one, a woman coordinated a group order for friends — and friends of friends — who wanted to buy fresh cod from Half Moon Bay in California.
That experience later shaped some of the Weee! app’s distinct features, such as a “Community” tab that resembles a social media network with a mix of company- and user-generated videos.
Weee! caters to customers who live in communities that don’t have the density to support a large Asian market like an H Mart, from international students attending college in the States to seniors who live at assisted living facilities, Liu said. Most customers order more than two times per month and Weee! makes up about 40% to 50% of their monthly grocery budget, he said.
Weee! is gradually adding Hispanic foods, too. It offers a Mexican cuisine category in California and Texas.
Popular items include everyday staples like rice and fresh vegetables, along with seasonal items, such as sweet winter melon from Vietnam, hot pot kits from Southern China and sesame cake from Northern China during Lunar New Year.
Its app features a rotating list of suggestions, too, such as Japanese snacks to celebrate sakura, or cherry blossom, season or treats for Mother’s Day. It also offers a growing assortment of beauty and household items, such as Korean cosmetics.

Jon M. Chu attends Disney’s Premiere of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” at El Capitan Theatre on August 16, 2021 in Los Angeles, California.
Axelle | Bauer-Griffin | FilmMagic | Getty Images

A new kind of storytelling

Before Weee! hired film director Chu, he had already seen the company’s delivery trucks, heard about the company from friends and began getting deliveries as a customer of Korean barbecue ingredients like sauce and short ribs. Intrigued by the company and its mission, he reached out to Liu. Their conversations led to a job offer.
Chu will soon start directing Universal Pictures’ adaption of Broadway hit “Wicked” with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo. Despite the big project, he said he wanted to make room in his schedule for Weee!
As a kid, Chu often did his homework at the bar of Chef Chu’s, the family restaurant his parents opened in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1969. The restaurant is featured in a video about Weee!’s purpose of connecting generations and cultures through food.
Now a father himself, Chu said he wants to make sure that his three young kids learn about their culture.
“I wanted them, when they smelled Asian food, [to feel] that it wasn’t exotic or weird for them,” he said. “That it was home for them the way it was for me.”
Chu recently capitalized on his Rolodex of Hollywood connections, teaming up with Disney and Pixar to develop recipes and shoot videos for the Weee! app inspired by “Turning Red,” a coming-of-age movie about a Chinese-Canadian teenager who turns into a giant red panda. Chu interviewed the movie’s director, Domee Shi, about making the film and did an unboxing of some of her favorite childhood snacks.
Chu and Liu said by telling the stories behind dishes, the grocery service can introduce people to new traditions and flavors.
Erin Edwards, 34, of Santa Ana, California, and her family are among those kinds of eaters. Edwards, who is not Asian or Hispanic, placed her first order from Weee! in February after watching a video shared by a friend. Since then, she’s kept shopping with the site to supplement her weekly shopping at Trader Joe’s and Target.
Her family of four has bought Chinese snacks and ingredients for Asian recipes, from crab-flavored potato chips to noodles for homemade pho. Pocky, Japanese chocolate-dipped biscuit sticks, has become a favorite dessert for her 2-year-old daughter, Holland, and 4-year-old daughter, Wren.
“Seeing people make videos and do tutorials, it makes it so easy,” she said. “We’ve been much more empowered in doing it ourselves.”
Liu said he sees a similar culture of sharing in his three young children.
“Their classmates, no matter what their skin color, they all drink boba milk tea. They all eat sushi. They all eat Korean barbecue and Indian curry and Mexican tacos,” he said. “So I think the future generation, their taste is going to be very, very diverse. In a way, we are really building the assortment for the future cultural explorers.”
Disclosure: CNBC is owned by NBCUniversal, the parent of Universal Pictures.

WATCH LIVEWATCH IN THE APP More