🔀 Hims at a crossroads

You probably first heard about Hims when it just mailed out discreet brown paper packages filled with erectile dysfunction pills. Then it added hair-loss meds, and next aimed at women, adding “& Hers” to its brand in 2018. Through its tongue-in-cheek messaging, the company hit a sweet spot: it became a well-known name (and retail trading favorite), but sold drugs that it didn’t develop itself, instead capitalizing on selling commoditized versions of drugs whose patents had expired. 

Then a real “eureka” moment came for the company, as it was able to supply the hungry masses with GLP-1s during the three-year shortage of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy. 

Hims’ stock vaulted more than 800% from the beginning of 2023 to a peak this February (see the remarkable chart). Then the government ended the shortage designation, limiting the ability for compounding pharmacies to keep selling GLP-1s. Though some companies are saying the change means “nothing” for its customers and Hims has plans on how to pivot, there’s no denying the company’s revenue and stock took a hit.

But CEO Andrew Dudum is confident in his vision. Like DoorDash for food delivery or Uber and Lyft for taxis, Hims took things that existed already but made them more convenient. Dudum wants you to think of his company like another successful startup: Netflix. He told us more about his vision here.

The Takeaway

Hims, its competitors, and pharma companies are all watching how key figures in the new administration — Health and Human Services Chair RFK Jr. and recently confirmed FDA Chair Marty Makary — will move in the next few months as Novo Nordisk and others battle to protect their market share and companies like Hims stress the importance of personalization and lower-cost access to the weight-loss drugs that made up a $40 billion market in 2024. 

Read more.

• Air travel demand slows under tariff-clouded skies: Tariff turmoil could be doubly bad news for airlines, with the potential to crimp spending from both corporations and vacationers (not to mention lower demand from international travelers). Both Delta Airlines and ultra-budget carrier Frontier pulled full-year guidance, with Frontier cutting flights on off-peak weekdays this quarter due to slowing demand. With United Airlines reporting tomorrow, we’ll be listening for more tariff turbulence in its forecast.

• Harvard cuts tuition costs for more students: Despite the general trend of colleges becoming more and more unaffordable for students, some schools have gone the other way, cutting fees entirely for students whose families make under a certain amount, and Harvard is expanding that effort as its tuition fees rise. Previously, the free tuition threshold stood at $85,000, but now that’s more than doubled. What’s more, students who come from households earning under $100,000 will be relieved of all billed expenses. Part of why Harvard can do that? Its gargantuan endowment fund, as we’ve charted.

How carmakers are responding to Trump’s auto tariffs, so far

Unfortunately for the auto industry, cars appear to be at the center of the ongoing trade war between the US and the rest of the world. Who’s hiking prices, who’s eating the levies, and who’s laying off workers? Our table tells all.

And see who makes our cars.