Meta's Muse tops the charts, and investors start selling the middlemen

Meta's personal agent became the top free app on both Apple's App Store and Google Play, in both the United States and Canada, with 2.8 million downloads in two weeks and 55% average daily growth over its first ten days, on Reuters' figures.

What followed on 23 September is the part worth recording, because it is the first time a consumer AI agent has visibly repriced a sector. Reuters reported Meta up nearly 13%, Shopify up 11.4% on a Muse integration, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 7% — against JPMorgan and Wells Fargo each off more than 3%, Charles Schwab down nearly 5%, TripAdvisor and Booking Holdings off more than 6%, Arthur J. Gallagher down 4.6%, Marsh down 2.4%, Planet Fitness down 17% and the New York Times down 10%. The thesis being traded is that an agent that shops, books and compares removes the intermediary's fee.

Treat the causation carefully. This is Reuters' framing of investor sentiment plus one sell-side strategist, not a demonstrated effect on revenue, and Reuters itself carries sceptics asking whether price-sensitive consumers represent real losses for these businesses. The download figures are third-party app analytics, not a Meta disclosure, and other counts for overlapping windows do not reconcile with 2.8 million.

Meanwhile the thing itself is not quite working. Amazon blocked Muse from browsing and buying on its retail site on 21 September. CNN's hands-on found it planned well but surfaced venues “closed for years”, overstated its ability to haggle on Facebook Marketplace, and was blocked from autonomous checkout by Target among others. The market repriced the disintermediation of retail and finance during a week in which the agent could not complete a purchase at two of America's largest retailers.

• Confirmed Muse became the top free app on both Apple's App Store and Google Play in the US and Canada, with 2.8m downloads in two weeks and 55% average daily growth over ten days. Reuters
• Reported On 23 September Reuters reported Meta up ~13% and Shopify up 11.4%, against Schwab down ~5%, Booking and TripAdvisor off more than 6%, Planet Fitness down 17% and the New York Times down 10%. Reuters
• Reported Amazon blocked Muse from browsing and buying on its retail site on 21 September; CNN's review found it surfaced venues closed for years and was blocked from checkout by Target and others. GeekWire; CNN Business