Image by Getty / FuturismRx/MedicinesBroken ice cream machines aren't the only thing bedeviling stalwart fast food chain McDonald's.Financial services firm Redburn Atlantic put the company's stock in the bear category, coinciding with a slumpy week in which it lost about three percent of its value — because analysts are betting that GLP-1 agonist weight loss drugs like Ozempic are going to disrupt the fast food business model, CBS News reports.The eyebrow-raising conclusion comes as the analysts reason that people with lower incomes who go on the drugs will tend to shun food outside the home. Meanwhile, people at a higher income level who take Ozempic and similar go back to their food spending habits after a year or so."Behaviour changes extend beyond the individual user — reshaping group dining, influencing household routines and softening habitual demand," wrote the analysts, as reported by CBS. "A 1 percent drag today could easily build to 10 percent or more over time, particularly for brands skewed toward lower income consumers or group occasions."This could have a huge impact on the bottom line of fast food chains like McDonald's, which could stand to lose as much as $482 million annually as they see the disappearance of 28 million visits from formerly hungry customers.This is all complete speculation at this point, because only about six percent of American adults are currently taking these weight loss medications. And they're prohibitively expensive, prices starting at around $900 per month, meaning that extremely few poor people are currently able to afford them.But there's a movement by some policymakers to lower the price of the drugs, which have been proven to not just help people lose weight, but they come with a rash of benefits from preventing certain cancers to treating addictions, among other positives.So if lawmakers force a reduction in price in the future, expect fast food chains like McDonald's to be left holding the bag.And maybe that's a good thing, because the kind of fried foods that McDonald's traffics in are just plain bad for your health.More on Ozempic: Doctors Concerned by Massive Uptick in Teens Taking OzempicShare This Article

McDonald's announced that it is closing its spin-off, CosMc's. Scott Olson/Getty Images 2025-05-24T18:14:23Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? McDonald's is closing its CosMc's spin-off drink shops. CosMc's, which launched in 2023, drew comparisons to coffee shops like Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts. McDonald's sales declined this year amid economic uncertainty. McDonald's announced on Friday that it is closing its CosMc's spin-off line of Starbucks-style drink shops.McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said in the company's last earnings call that drinks from CosMc's would be introduced to "hundreds of McDonald's restaurants" in the future."In connection with this next phase of testing, we will begin closing all stand-alone CosMc's pilot locations in late June, and the CosMc's app will be discontinued," a McDonald's spokesperson told Business Insider.When it opened in 2023, CosMc's drew comparisons to Starbucks. Its menu included coffees, teas, lemonades, slushes, breakfast sandwiches, and small donut-like pastries called "McPops."In a December 2023 meeting with investors, Kempczinski said that CosMc's is a "small format concept with all the DNA of McDonald's but its own unique personality.""Its menu includes new customizable drinks, sweet and savory treats and familiar favorites such as the Egg McMuffin," Kempczinski said in the meeting.In its announcement on Friday, McDonald's said CosMc's served as a good testing ground for different new flavors, and it plans to blend the "out of this world tastes" of CosMc's drinks into "the McDonald's experience.""What started as a belief that McDonald's had the right to win in the fast-growing beverage space quickly came to life as a multi-location, small format, beverage-focused concept," the company said. "It allowed us to test new, bold flavors and different technologies and processes — without impacting the existing McDonald's experience for customers and crew."The closing of CosMc's comes as McDonald's faces its lowest sales since the COVID-19 lockdowns. US same-store sales at McDonald's declined 3.6% during the first quarter.With low-income diners pulling back their spending over the past year due to economic uncertainty, McDonald's saw even more middle-income buyers do the same during its first quarter, Kempczinski said in an earnings call."People are just being more judicious in cutting back on visits," he told investors.

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