After 26 years, and at a time when the pressures of a CFO could arguably not be heavier, Wadih Khayat is trading out a can of Coke for a box of berries.

Khayat was recently hired as CFO of family-owned berry producer Driscoll’s after more than two and a half decades with The Coca-Cola Company, where during his tenure he worked as finance chief of Coca-Cola’s Europe and Asia Pacific regions.

He was also the CFO and head of strategy for Coca Cola’s Global Ventures portfolios.

Digging in. Just weeks into his new gig at Driscoll’s, Khayat told CFO Brew he was excited to be able to bring his international business experience to one of the world’s largest berry companies. Significant international growth, after all, is a cornerstone of Driscoll’s 10-year growth strategy, which Khayat is helping develop.

Keep reading.—DL

It’s the kind of thing you’d hate to hear from your high school algebra teacher: You’re so…resilient. Translation: Maybe you’re better suited for the humanities.

But when the word “resilient” gets thrown around by big bank executives in reference to the US economy? Well, that’s quite a different story.

And the story that emerged throughout a busy earnings week for banks was one of relative resilience: Consumer spending hasn’t been totally derailed by rising prices (at least, not yet), but the full picture of the war in Iran’s impact hasn’t come fully into focus.

Life’s a gas. High gas prices, one of the most-discussed financial impacts of intersecting geopolitical conflicts, haven’t muted consumer spending.

“We saw healthy client activity, including solid consumer spending and stable asset quality, indicating a resilient American economy,” Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said in the company’s Q1 2026 earnings report.

Keep reading.—NP

At first glance, Avis Budget Group appears to be just like any other meme stock, soaring 113.59% in just the last month for seemingly no reason at all. The rental car company was one of the OG meme stocks back in 2021, and its wild rally since March 20 pushed the stock up 667% at its high point on Tuesday, surpassing its gains from a half decade ago.

That said, retail traders are shockingly uninvolved in Avis’s sudden surge, which has been anything but a straight ride upward. Trading was halted due to volatility on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the stock lost 37.82%, its worst day in 28 years—before it fell another 48.38% on Thursday.

Short sellers put the pedal to the floor. Like all meme stocks, Avis has been getting short-squeezed: A stock climbs high enough and fast enough that short sellers are forced to buy shares and cover their positions, in turn propelling the rally higher, in a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. How it’s getting short-squeezed is the unique part.

Of the 35.26 million shares of Avis available on the market, two hedge funds own the vast majority: SRS Investment Management (17.4 million shares) and Pentwater Capital (7.8 million), leaving everyone else with roughly 10 million shares to buy or sell (the float). About 49% of that float was held by short sellers at the end of March—not exactly a vote of confidence.

Keep reading on Brew Markets.—MR