Daily Brief: Warren Buffett talks Apple and AI, Starbucks lags in China, and inflation fears

Good morning, Quartz readers!

Here’s what you need to know

Starbucks’ ambitious expansion plans in China need an espresso… or three. The coffee chain said competition in the country was a culprit of its latest sales miss.

Sanctions could hold up another Boeing plane. The manufacturer’s 787 Dreamliner is being delayed as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has complicated its supply chain.

Google’s Waymo is expanding its self-driving “robotaxi” testing across California’s San Francisco Peninsula. Not everyone is embracing the technology — especially some residents and city officials.

Paramount Global ended its exclusive merger talks with Skydance Media on Friday. But the deal drama is far from over.

Warren Buffett’s ‘Woodstock for Capitalists’

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway held its annual shareholder conference this weekend. Shareholders wait all year for a chance to hear directly from the 93-year-old Buffett, known as the Oracle of Omaha, in what’s been dubbed the “Woodstock for Capitalists.”

Buffett had a lot to say about AI, Berkshire’s critical stake in Apple, its bad bet on Paramount, and succession.

Here are some of the biggest numbers to know from the conference:

$189 billion: Cash and Treasuries Berkshire had in its pile last quarter, a record

63 million: Berkshire’s last shares in Paramount that it dumped this quarter

$135.4 billion: Value of Berkshire’s stake in Apple

1: Time Buffett linkend the advent of AI to an atomic bomb

Inflation is Americans’ biggest, most annoying financial headache

A growing number of U.S. families are citing the cost of living and rising prices as their most important financial issue — more so than housing costs, debt, and getting fired.

Each year Gallup polls Americans on how they feel about their personal finances and the economy, and this year, concerns over inflation have reached a two-decade high.

Curious about the full survey results? Quartz’s Rocio Fabbro put them into context.

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Surprising discoveries

Three states in the U.S. don’t have any billionaires... One is even on the East Coast, home to one of the states that has the most billionaires!

… but only one state has the worst drivers. And it’s not on the East or West coast (shockingly).

The Nokia brick phone is probably totally coming back. Nothing says nostalgia more than texting on a 3210.

It could take up to 25 years for a VHS to degrade 10% to 20%. But it’s hard to nail down a specific time frame, and it’s even tougher for DVDs and Blu-rays.

Squirrels may have given medieval people leprosy. The discovery is throwing the narrative that it was a human disease into question.

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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, your most worn out Blu-rays, and Nokia brick phones to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.