---
title: "Digits: Messi nets billions, Coca-Cola’s can-don’t attitude, and more newsy numbers"
description: "Plus: Threads’ gain is also Threads’ gain and Chipotle slices its avocado prep time."
---

[Hustle News ](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news)

# [Digits: Messi nets billions, Coca-Cola’s can-don’t attitude, and more newsy numbers](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/digits-messi-nets-billions-coca-cola-s-can-don-t-attitude-and-more-newsy-numbers)

 Written by [Ben Berkley](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/ben-berkley) | Jul 18, 2023 7:17:24 AM

1) One sign soccer superstar Lionel Messi is just like us: He was [spotted](https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/lionel-messi-shops-at-publix-in-miami-ahead-of-mls-debut-17406063) in a Florida grocery store with his family, buying Lucky Charms. One signing that shows Messi ain’t like anyone else: His new $150m deal with MLS team Inter Miami will bring his career on-field earnings to **$1.6B**, [per](https://www.sportico.com/personalities/athletes/2023/lionel-messi-career-earnings-billion-mls-1234730823/?cx_testId=9&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=0&cx_experienceId=EXAKGDTXOYL0#cxrecs_s) *Sportico*. Off the pitch, Messi has revenue-sharing deals in place with MLS partners Apple, Adidas, and Fanatics — and endorsement deals with Budweiser, Mastercard, and Pepsi.

2) As for the non-Messi-backed beverage titan: Coca-Cola and some of its top bottling partners are [ponying up](https://agfundernews.com/coca-cola-and-bottling-partners-launch-138m-sustainability-fund) **$137.7m** for sustainability investments. The shared VC fund will back tech firms that offer packaging, energy, and distribution solutions that can reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Coca-Cola is behind target on one front: its bottles contain 15% recycled material today, well short of its goal to reach 50% by 2030.

3) Threads helps Threads (no relation): Meta’s Threads is surging, with 150m users so far, and its popularity is [rubbing off](https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/15/threads-a-slack-alternative-completely-unrelated-to-instagram-has-seen-downloads-surge/) on another Threads, an unrelated Slack alternative launched in 2019 that started the month in obscurity and now has nearly **2m** downloads. The latter owns Threads.com; Zuck’s version lives at Threads.net.

4) Peeling and coring an avocado kinda sucks, but it’ll no longer be the pits for Chipotle. Until now, it has taken the chain’s kitchen staff [**~50 minutes**](https://gizmodo.com/chipotle-autocado-guacamole-robot-avocados-1850631468) to create a batch of guacamole. That number’s about to go way down thanks to Autocado, a machine that automates the tedious avocado prep process, 25 pounds of the fruit at a time, built by robotics startup Vebu. That’ll be a productivity boon for Chipotle, which uses [100m+](https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/13/business/chipotle-avocado-robot-guacamole/index.html) pounds of avocados each year.

[View full post](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/digits-messi-nets-billions-coca-cola-s-can-don-t-attitude-and-more-newsy-numbers)

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