🎯 Europe > US Stocks in 2025
Poland ETF best performing with 30% return in 2025
Welcome back to another issue of Trendline! We’ve lots of interesting charts to dive into today! 👇️
1) US stocks have significantly underperformed other countries in 2025: So far in 2025, the best-performing stock markets aren’t in the U.S. or Asia—they’re in Europe. Poland’s main ETF is up 30% YTD (in EUR), followed by Greece and Spain. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is down over 6%, making it one of the worst performers among major markets.
While U.S. investors often default to domestic equities, this year’s rally is unfolding abroad. European and emerging market ETFs are showing strong momentum—reminding investors that diversification isn’t just about risk reduction, but also about catching upside where it appears.
2) Bundles/multiproducts are are driving subscriber growth for NY Times: NY Times has transitioned from advertising led to a paid subscription company. The media company has 10.8 million digital paid subscribers at the end of 2024, adding +1.1 million in the one year.
But NY Times doesn’t just sell news. It also sells gaming products (Wordle, Crosswords etc.), cooking recipes etc. News only subscribers are only 17% of total. Thanks to aggressive discounting, bundled/multiproduct subscribers now account for 48% of all subscribers. 30% of subscribers don’t subscribe to news at all 😄
3) iRobot (Roomba makers) is on the verge of bankruptcy: I love my Roomba! It has been a loyal cleaning robot for the last 5 years. However, a good product doesn’t always result in a good company.
Revenue for iRobot (the company behind Roomba) has declined by 56% in the last 3 years. The company’s gross margins are abysmal (~20%) even by hardware company standards. The company did try to sell to Amazon back in 2022 for $1.4 billion but EU regulators blocked the deal. Its market cap is now only $95 million! Ouch.
The company has declared recently that its on the verge of bankruptcy. Things look grim.
4) Global recorded music industry grew 4.8% in 2024: According to IFPI, Industry revenue reached $29.6 Billion globally, driven by streaming off course.
Streaming revenue grew by +$1.4 Billion in 2024, and now accounts for 69% of total industry revenue, roughly split as 51% in paid streaming and remaining 18% ad-supported streaming. US, Japan and UK are the top 3 markets globally.
IFPI
5) YouTube vs. Netflix: The two dominant video content models on the internet —paid streaming (Netflix) and ad-supported (YouTube)—are both massive and thriving. In 2024, Netflix generated $39B in streaming revenue, while YouTube brought in $36B from ads. Over the past four years, Netflix grew at a 12% CAGR; YouTube outpaced it with 16.3%.
For investors, it’s a reminder that you don’t have to pick a side. There’s no single way to monetize attention—subscriptions and ads both can scale massively.
