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Anyone who has co-signed a loan knows how it works. The borrower pays a rate that reflects the risk, and the co-signer is on the hook if payments stop.

Broadcom Inc. (AVGO), one of the world’s most valuable chipmakers, just took that seat for Anthropic.

CEO Hock Tan spent nearly two months pushing banks to commit more than $40 billion to an Anthropic chip deal, The Wall Street Journal reported. With interest rates rising and AI ventures harder to fund, some lenders felt underpaid for the risk and weighed walking away.

Tan held last-minute weekend talks with bank executives and agreed to higher interest rates to keep them in.

The deal got done. Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Blackstone unveiled the $63 billion package on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, in a press release. Earlier that day, Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, filed publicly for its IPO under the planned Nasdaq ticker ANT.

Also read: Broadcom fought AT&T over VMware: Now a telecom giant is all in

In the release, Tan said the deal “validates that there is capital available to finance such growth.”

I read the weekend scramble differently. The capital was available, but only at a higher price, and only with Broadcom backing the biggest piece. If you own an S&P 500 index fund, you own a slice of Broadcom and the promise it just made.

Broadcom’s credit is carrying Anthropic’s chip deal

A newly formed company will borrow the money and buy Broadcom’s AI chips and networking gear, according to the release. It will lease that equipment to Anthropic, with deliveries expected from 2027.

Broadcom’s role is where the risk sits. It is providing residual value support, which Reuters called effectively a significant guarantee, for an amount equal to the senior debt. In plain terms, Broadcom shields those lenders from losses if Anthropic defaults, the Journal reported.

That senior slice is about $43.5 billion, or roughly 69% of the total, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. In effect, Broadcom’s credit is the safety net under the biggest checks.

Blackstone alone provides the committed part of the junior debt beneath it, according to the release. By my math, the remaining $19.5 billion or so carries Anthropic’s risk without Broadcom’s cushion.

To me, that unprotected slice is where lenders priced Anthropic on its own.

Broadcom is backing about $43.5 billion of senior debt in a $63 billion package that will buy AI chips and networking gear for Anthropic to lease.Sundry Photography / Getty Images

Broadcom’s exposure to one customer keeps growing

This isn’t Broadcom’s first backstop for Anthropic. Apollo Global Management (APO) and Blackstone financed an earlier $35 billion expansion of Anthropic’s computing capacity. Broadcom’s backstop in that deal was up to $29 billion, Reuters reported, citing a company filing.

By my count, Broadcom now stands behind as much as $72.5 billion of debt tied to one customer. Moody’s still describes Broadcom as one of the strongest large tech companies, according to Reuters. Even so, the rating agency warned that risk grows if several deals like this stack up quickly.

There is a quieter risk, too. Residual value support is effectively a bet on what used AI chips will be worth years from now. Broadcom also sells the newer chips that make older ones lose value.

I’d watch whether its sales pitch and its guarantee start pulling against each other.

More Broadcom:

Broadcom stock gets massive $600 call even as AI fears grow

Jim Cramer sees something Wall Street may be missing in Broadcom

Broadcom CEO echoes Warren Buffett with warning for investors

Wall Street still rates Broadcom a Strong Buy

Investors don’t seem rattled yet. Broadcom shares were up more than 2% in premarket trading on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, according to StockAnalysis. Over the past 52 weeks, though, the stock is down about 7%.

The shares sit far closer to their 52-week low of about $290 than to their high of $495, StockAnalysis data show. That gap suggests investors already have doubts about the AI spending boom.

Analysts are far less worried. Broadcom carries a consensus Strong Buy rating from 51 analysts, according to StockAnalysis. Their average price target of about $529 sits roughly 61% above the Oct. 26 close, the site shows. Its latest tracked calls:

Upgraded to Buy from Neutral, target raised to $400 from $350: Gil Luria, D.A. Davidson, Oct. 27

Buy maintained, $575 target: John Vinh, KeyBanc, Oct. 27

Buy maintained, $575 target: Stacy Rasgon, Bernstein, Oct. 26

Buy initiated, $600 target: Ivan Feinseth, Tigress Financial, Oct. 22

The chip boom is turning into a lending business

This deal reminds me of the late 1990s. Telecom equipment makers lent heavily to the carriers buying their gear, and many of those loans went bad when the boom ended.

Broadcom’s finances look far sturdier, judging by Moody’s view. Still, the pattern rhymes. The seller’s balance sheet is becoming part of what keeps demand flowing.

Anthropic’s IPO is the next real test. A strong debut would make every future lease payment look safer. A weak one would leave Broadcom’s guarantee as the thing lenders lean on.

That is when shareholders will learn what all that available capital cost.

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Why we love this deal

The further we get into fall, the shorter the days are. While that alone may not make it everyone’s favorite time of the year, there are plenty of things to look forward to, like more time to admire outdoor lighting. Driving around, I love seeing everyone’s outdoor lights at night. They provide soft ambient lighting and are also very practical, strategically lighting up paths so you don’t trip and fall at night. It’s even better around the holidays, watching both lights and decorations come alive at night. If you want to add your own charming yet practical lights to your outdoor space, Walmart is a great place to look. 

The ExcMark 6-Piece Solar Light Set is a deal I spotted recently, and it’s on sale for $24. During a limited-time Flash deal, you can get the solar lights for 33% off. With six lights in the set, you essentially get them for $4 each, which is a steal considering they’re waterproof and highly rated.

ExcMark 6-Piece Solar Light Set, $24 (was $36) at Walmart

Courtesy of Walmart

Shop at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

Solar path lights, like this set from Walmart, are highly useful in any outdoor space. They can make a home look more elevated, as well as add some light to areas like walkways, around the deck, and garden beds. I personally love using solar path lights in my backyard, as they help me continue yard work even after the sun sets, without having to turn on a blaring spotlight to see in the dark. In fact, this is the exact set that I’m eyeing to add even more to my yard, specifically to line around the fence to make corners a bit brighter. 

The set comes with six LED solar path lights, each with a sleek and modern design. Measuring 3 inches long by 3 inches wide by 17.5 inches high, they emit a bright light. They’re tall, which makes them an especially great choice for flower beds. The stylish lights are durable, with a waterproof rating of IP65. The lights are resistant to heat and snow, making them a solid pick for year-round use. 

You can get the lights in warm white or cool white, and in addition to a set of six, they’re also available as a set of 10 for $34.

Related: Walmart is selling a 2-door outdoor storage shed for just $135

Details to know

Dimensions: 3 inches long by 3 inches wide by 17.5 inches high.

Waterproof rating: IP65.

Battery: AAA.

Features: Resistant to heat and snow.

Walmart shoppers say these lights are “bright and beautiful.” One reviewer said they “shine bright and make our pathway and flowers look beautiful,” adding that they even got compliments from their neighbors because of them. Another customer said they’re “brighter than most,” so much so that they only had to use four of the six in the set to light their patio.

Shop more deals

Ume 10-Piece Solar Pathway Light Set, $40 (was $51) at Walmart

Daybetter 12-Piece Solar Waterproof Pathway Light Set, $18 (was $32) at Walmart

ExcMark 10-Piece Decorative Solar Path Light Set, $27 (was $55) at Walmart

On sale for $24, the ExcMark 6-Piece Solar Light Set is a beautiful and budget-friendly addition to any yard.

Your traditional grocery chain costs more than shopping at Walmart, Aldi, and Costco.

That’s something we’ve seen doing live price comparisons at TheStreet that’s backed up by a more extensive study done by Consumer Reports.

In addition, grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons both admit that they can’t compete on price.

“We are not in the game of being the cheapest because we do not have the lowest costs. But we can provide the best value,” Kroger CEO Gregory Foran said during his chain’s second-quarter earnings call.

Albertsons CEO Susan Morris said almost exactly the same thing during her company’s Q2 earnings call.

“Our goal is not to be the cheapest guy in town, but rather to have the right balanced value proposition that resonates with the customers that we serve uniquely by market,” she said.

Price Chopper, a smaller chain that’s a major player in the Northeast, does not agree. It has launched a new banner designed to be the cheapest option for grocery shoppers.

Price Chopper’s new brand offers price transparency

Retailers rarely offer transparency when it comes to prices. That’s at least partially because on many items, the markup is fairly high, or would seem high to consumers who don’t understand all the costs of running a store.

Back in my retail days, for example, many products were “keystoned,” which means sold at double the price we acquired them for. That’s a 50% retail margin, and it helped cover the fact that some items we sold, Legos being the largest brand, were sold at manufacturer-set prices that gave us a 30% margin.

Since our operating overhead was around 40%, we actually needed to sell some items over that number to offset the ones that fell below it.

Retailers generally don’t share their markup or retail margin numbers; the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIEE) publishes a study showing markup and margins for 13 national chains, with Costco and Walmart having the lowest markups.

Costco markup 14.4%, margin 3.6%

Walmart markup 32.2%, margin 4.2%

Only Kroger had a lower markup among grocery chains than Walmart, coming in at 28.6% while only showing a margin of 2.1%. Aldi and Lidl, two discount grocery chains with a national footprint were not on the list.

“Markups are calculated by subtracting the cost of goods sold from sales, then dividing the result by the cost of goods sold. Retail margins are calculated as operating income divided by sales. The markup average is 48%, and the retail margin average is 6%,” according to PIIE.

Costco marks goods up less than Walmart, but only makes a slightly lower margin because of its lower operating costs and cheaper cost of acquiring goods.

Price Chopper’s new store, ChopMore by Price Chopper, offers full pricing transparency.

“You pay cost plus 10% at checkout,” the company shared on its website.

Price Chopper launches a discount brand

Price Chopper’s ChopMore model looks a lot like the business model being used by Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, which marks up all the prescriptions it fills by 15%.

“We calculate our 15% markup by multiplying the price we pay for the medication by 0.15. This gives us the markup we add to the original price. For example, if the medication costs us $50, the markup would be $50 x 0.15 = $7.50. We then add that $7.50 to the original $50, plus any pharmacy labor and shipping fees,” the company shared on its website.

That’s an online-only company without the costs associated with running a storefront. Operating a grocery chain that does not charge a membership fee like Costco and only marking items up 10% seems like a very challenging business model

Price Chopper’s parent company said it’s able to offer such ChopMore discounts by cutting expenses in other areas.

“Stack it high and sell it low. No marketing, no ads, no gimmicks, no loyalty cards,” Executive Vice President John Cosentino told KCUR. “Some products are in bins. Pallet drops on the endcaps. So it’s a different way of merchandising. Quicker, less labor.”

More retail:

Kroger cuts discounts, promises pricing changes

Walmart gets aggressive when it comes to holiday sales

Costco copies a popular Trader Joe’s collectible

The new store, which replaced a traditional Price Chopper, will operate with fewer employees.

“The former Price Chopper store in the space had about 100 employees a year ago. ChopMore now has about 60. But the company did not lay off workers. Instead, it gradually downsized through attrition,” Startland News reported.

Price Choopper is going for even lower prices at ChopMore. Shutterstock

10% is a really low markup

As a former retailer, I have a hard time believing that ChopMore can operate profitably on a 10% margin.

“Look, a 10% markup sounds great until you realize that’s only about a 9% gross margin. From that little slice, you’ve got to pay the employees, keep the lights on, cover rent, credit card fees, and pay for all the food that spoils before somebody buys it,” RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino told TheStreet.

There’s a reason, he noted, that retailers generally mark their prices up higher than that.

“The only way this works is by moving an enormous amount of merchandise and keeping expenses incredibly low. Costco has membership fees helping its economics,” he wrote. “Price Chopper doesn’t have that cushion here. They need shoppers coming back constantly, and they need those shelves turning over fast. One bad month could eat up whatever profit they’ve made.”

TheStreet Co-Editor-in-Chief Todd Campbell spent nine years in the grocery business working for Stop & Shop, another leading supermarket chain in the Northeast, and thinks the ChopMore could work.

“Price Chopper seems to be making a market share play to gain scale. Grocery operates on razor-thin margins, which is why so many have turned to lower-cost private label, like Aldi,” said Campbell. “It’s tough to turn a profit on a 10% markup without cutting services and embracing a bare-bones model.”

Even then, he added, with Walmart and Costco’s pricing power, “ChopMore may not be the cheapest option.”

Related: Ollie’s, Five Below, and Dollar General see troubling sales trend

Comcast’s Xfinity customers are continuing to pull the plug on key services, and the media giant is making a significant operational change as it works to reverse the trend. 

In the third quarter of 2026, Comcast lost 144,000 U.S. broadband customers and 274,000 U.S. cable TV customers, according to its latest earnings report. Its domestic broadband revenue also dropped 4.7% year over year, while cable TV revenue slipped 8.7%. 

The losses follow Comcast’s increased efforts to attract and retain these customers. For instance, in 2025, the company refreshed its internet plans by lowering everyday prices and adding one-year and five-year price-lock guarantees, unlimited data, new speed tiers, and a free Xfinity Mobile line offer. 

Later that year, Comcast also launched five new Xfinity TV packages with an “everyday pricing structure.” 

Comcast plans layoffs as customers keep leaving

While these changes haven’t dramatically slowed customer losses, Comcast is now opting to conduct “a significant number of job cuts” to improve its Xfinity business, according to a recent Bloomberg report. 

The layoffs will reportedly be announced in the next few weeks and will restructure the company’s broadband, wireless, and cable TV businesses. The job cuts are aimed at putting Comcast in a better position to operate as an independent company after it spins off its NBCUniversal and Sky businesses in 2027. 

On an earnings call on Oct. 22, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh confirmed upcoming organizational changes by stating that the company operates in a “competitive environment” that requires it to “execute at a higher level, move faster, and operate more efficiently.”

“We’re taking decisive steps to change how we operate, structurally improve our cost base, and create greater capacity to invest in growth,” he said.

Read more: Comcast CFO warns of a rising threat as internet customers depart

Comcast expects to take a $1 billion+ charge in the fourth quarter of this year due to these restructuring actions, which it believes are necessary for it to operate more quickly, be more nimble in decision-making, and create capacity to invest in growth.

“We’re challenging established ways of working and redesigning how we make decisions, allocate resources, and run the business to create a more agile, efficient organization that can compete more effectively and invest more decisively in growth,” said Cavanagh.

“Taken together, these advantages and the significant changes underway give us confidence in Comcast’s ability to compete more effectively and create meaningful value for shareholders,” he continued. 

The move comes after Comcast sent a memo to employees in September 2025 warning them that it will begin cutting a layer between its corporate and regional offices in Janurary this year, resulting in layoffs and a simplified management structure in its connectivity and platforms sector.

“This change is not a reflection of anyone’s contributions — it is about simplifying how we work so we can compete more effectively,” reads the memo. 

Comcast’s job cuts also come right before Michael Angelakis is set to become CEO of the company when the planned spinoff of NBCUniversal and Sky businesses from its broadband, cable TV, and wireless operations is completed in 2027. 

Comcast is planning layoffs as it continues to lose Xfinity internet and cable TV customers. UCG / Getty Images

Why Comcast is struggling to compete in broadband

Cavanagh said on the Oct. 22 earnings call that the company has “been operating in an intensely competitive environment for some time.” 

He said Comcast’s broadband business is struggling to navigate fixed wireless and fiber internet competition, with satellite internet options, such as SpaceX’s Starlink, also becoming a growing threat. 

“Fixed wireless remains aggressive and continues to take share, while fiber construction remains elevated, with pockets of irrational pricing and promotional activity,” said Cavanagh. “While satellite is not yet a material factor, we recognize the importance of anticipating emerging forms of competition and positioning our business to respond as the market evolves.”

Comcast Chief Financial Officer Jason Armstrong said on the call that Comcast saw “irrational competition” in the second and third quarters of this year and the trend is continuing into the fourth quarter. He said the pricing of fiber internet from competitors is what’s particularly “irrational,” as it’s “going to be really hard to sustain” in some cases. 

“We obviously do a lot of overbuilding and deploy a lot of this (fiber) ourselves,” said Armstrong. “It’s $1,500+ per home, getting more expensive with construction costs up as you get into more suburban and rural areas.

“The underlying cost structure (of) deploying fiber (is) going up against what we saw as $30-$40 pricing in specific markets in the third quarter,” he continued. “As we look at the return profile of that, to us, that is irrational competition.”

Wireless carriers have been attracting a large number of customers to their fiber and fixed wireless offerings. 

T-Mobile reportedly added roughly 520,000 broadband customers in the second quarter of 2026, according to data from research and consulting firm Recon Analytics. Verizon reported attracting about 348,000 during the quarter. 

Meanwhile, AT&T revealed in its most recent earnings report that it added 696,000 internet customers in the third quarter of this year. 

These notable additions come as U.S. consumers have been switching internet providers in recent months to dodge high prices.  

A survey from Reviews.org in March found that 73% of Americans saw their internet bills spike this year, up from 43% in 2025. The research also showed growing frustration with unexpected charges, with 67% having switched or considering switching internet providers due to hidden or unexpected fees, versus 56% a year earlier. 

In an analyst note, Wolf Research analyst Peter Supino said his firm expects “competition to intensify in 2027” for Comcast as “Starlink’s capacity growth explodes” and the pool of DSL (wired internet service) customers “shrinks to irrelevance,” according to a recent Fierce Network report. 

He also said it would be beneficial if funds from Comcast’s upcoming job cuts and other cost-saving efforts were allocated to growth engines such as edge compute and mobile.

“We worry competition will instead divert cost savings into lower broadband prices,” wrote Supino.

Comcast customers can expect several notable changes

In response to shifting customer behavior, the company is putting a sharper focus on improving the customer experience, in addition to organizational restructuring, Comcast Cable Chief Operating Officer Steve Croney said on the earnings call. 

“As we assess the overall environment, we are going to continue to compete aggressively, but we are going to compete with discipline and really focus on differentiating our products, adding value through deepening our customer relationships, and continuing to provide a great customer experience so we are not giving our customers a reason to leave,” said Croney.

Armstrong said the company will be “accelerating” its “technology transformation, product innovation, and AI adoption” to simplify customer interactions and reshape how they “discover, purchase, and manage services.”

More Telecom News:

Spectrum faces new customer problem after Cox acquisition

T-Mobile excludes 2 generous customer perks from new phone plans

Comcast eyes acquisition of 33-year-old rival amid struggles

“We’re bringing in new technology leadership to increase the pace of innovation,” said Armstrong. “AI is already embedded across our network to optimize performance, and we’re expanding its application across customer experience through partnerships with Sierra and Cresta.”

He also said the company will double down on customer retention and adding more value. 

“We’ve reduced historical pain points around promotional pricing expirations,” said Armstrong. “We’ve invested to increase awareness of our wireless product, and now we’ll push wireless relationships even deeper.”

“Our free line strategy has been a key tool in building awareness, but we’re now positioned to push further on multi-line customers, premium plans, and new device offerings, which meaningfully reduce churn and strengthen the overall relationship,” he continued.

Related: Comcast adds new service to internet plans as customers leave