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Read the pitch deck Scribe used to raise $75 million to fix how companies adopt AI
Workflow software startup Scribe has raised $75 million and achieved unicorn status, as it aims to reimagine AI integration for businesses.
They Started a Newsletter in College and 5 Years Later Sold It for $75 Million. Here's How Alex Lieberman Builds Big Things.
Alex Lieberman, co-founder of Morning Brew, Tenex and storyarb, on bringing your vision to life.
Tyson Foods lowers earnings guidance for beef segment
Tyson Foods lowered its full-year earnings guidance on Thursday (Sept. 3) after reporting larger beef losses than expected. The Springdale-based company now expects to lose between $775 million and $625...
Connor Bedard’s ‘only goal’ after signing $75 million Blackhawks contract
Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard has a clear goal in mind now that he has signed on the dotted line for the next five years.
UCLA receives $75 million in NSF grants for quantum technology
Two UCLA quantum computing institutes received grants from the National Science Foundation worth a combined $75 million Aug. 25. The institutes – Fault-Tolerant Quantum Systems, Architectures and Applications and Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation – aim to advance quantum technologies, which function faster than classical computers or standard digital devices.
Blurred Lines: WHOOP’s $10B Deal Begs Question, Can The Wellness Brand Cross Over Into Health?
WHOOP’s $575 million funding round brings on major healthcare institutions, as the wearable company pushes beyond wellness and into preventative healthcare.
Roane State health science campus opens Jan. 20
The first students will attend spring classes at the $75 million Knox Regional Health Science Education Center, and visitor tours are scheduled.
Virginia Tech, James Franklin Get $75 Million Donor Boost
Virginia Tech is set to receive a $75 million donation, and James Franklin's football program stands to benefit from it.
Stamford Health plans new cancer center, behavioral health facility
Construction is set to start in 2027, with estimated costs around $275 million.
Alex Bregman's Slow Start Should Cause Zero Concern
Alex Bregman’s $175 million tenure in Chicago is off to a frigid start. While the veteran third baseman struggles at the plate, history suggests he'll be just fine.
Sources: Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes to make over $500M in reworked deal
The Chiefs are adding two years to Patrick Mahomes' contract in a reworked contract that ties him to Kansas City through 2033 at a value of $504.75 million, sources told ESPN.
AHF • 'Food for Health’ Ho, Ho, Hosts Holiday Party and Food Pantry in Westlake
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world's largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, currently provides medical care and services to more than 1.75 million clients in 45 countries. With more than 7,000 employees worldwide, AHF now has treatment clinics and other operations in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth, and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare.
WHOOP Raises $575 Million at $10.1 Billion Valuation to Advance Global Health Platform
BOSTON, March 31, 2026--WHOOP, the human performance company, today announced it has raised $575 million in Series G funding at a $10.1 billion valuation, advancing its global expansion and long-term vision for personalized health. The round was led by Collaborative Fund and includes global participation from 2PointZero Group, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), Mubadala Investment Company, Abbott, Mayo Clinic, Macquarie Capital (entities administered by Macquarie Capital), Glade Brook, B-Flexion,
Hermes agent maker Nous Research in talks for new funding at $1.5B valuation
The company is raising at least $75 million, led by Robot, with significant participation from USV and other prominent investors.
Saber's newest game trailer takes a shot at Gearbox's CEO, if you look closely
The first hint that something might be up with the recent debut trailer for Saber Interactive’s Rideshare Stimulator is an unusual choice of words—aside from that second one in the game’s title. “Don’t take your passengers too seriously,” the trailer’s narrator says, as he describes this upcoming game. It a car game about the gig work of driving eccentric people to their destinations, a riff on Crazy Taxi. And then, he says: “When I think I’ve met the randiest of passengers, someone even stranger gets in.” “Randiest”? That suggests “randy,” which usually means having strong sexual desire. Yet none of the oddball backseat occupants featured in the trailer seem particularly lustful. One is an old man who considers his grandson a failure, another shares the theory that birds might control traffic lights, another says he’s banned from an aquarium. A little later, there’s a license plate, shown 63 seconds into the trailer, on the front of an SUV: USB DRV It’s a Texas plate. The symbol between those letters is a cog wheel. If you know, you know. That’s a reference to Texas-based Borderlands game development studio Gearbox Software (their logo features a cog wheel). More specifically, it’s a reference to Gearbox’s CEO Randy Pitchford, who in 2018 found himself explaining the nature of video he’d saved on a USB drive that was found at a Medieval Times restaurant before being returned to the studio: “It was ‘barely legal’ porn. This girl’s handle was ‘Only 18.’” The “girl” in the video had committed a solo sex act that Pitchford, an avid practitioner of magic, found remarkable. “I realized, this is not a sex worker…This is a fucking magician.” Back then, the USB drive was central to competing lawsuits against Gearbox by the studio’s former lawyer and by Gearbox against him. A settlement in late 2019 “exonerated” Pitchford, per the Hollywood Reporter. The USB story has resurfaced at times, now in a trailer from a company that not long ago was corporate brethren with Gearbox. Saber vs. Gearbox The head of Saber told Game File that the reference is payback. “The dig is because Randy took shots at Embracer in Borderlands 4,” Saber CEO Matt Karch told me when I asked him about the license plate. “Without Embracer, Randy is performing magic tricks at birthday parties for a living.” Having interviewed Karch during a cross-country flight in late 2024, I can confirm that Karch was unimpressed with Pitchford during their time both working in the Embracer group. I’d approached him not out of surprise that there was animosity but that it was manifesting publicly now. Gearbox was founded in 1999, worked on a port of Halo early on, and developed hit series such as the loot-based sci-fi shooter Borderlands before it was purchased by The Embracer Group in early 2021 for $363 million (with a possible earn-out of over $1 billion, if certain targets were hit by 2027). Saber was founded in 2001, worked on a remaster of Halo early on, had a big hit with zombie shooter World War Z and was purchased by Embracer in early 2020 for $150 million, with a potential earn-out of up to $375 million. For a few years, the Embracer group was a voracious acquirer of game studios. Then, as investment dried up, it choked. In March 2024, Embracer sold Saber to an investment company controlled by Saber CEO Matt Karch, and it sold Gearbox in an all-stock deal to long-time Borderlands publisher Take Two Interactive. Other studios were shut down. Hundreds of developers were laid off. Gearbox didn’t say much about their Embracer experience, nothing too direct, at least. In the summer 2024, Pitchford told reporter and occasional Game File contributor Nicole Carpenter that Borderlands 4’s story was in some way thematically connected to Gearbox’s experience at Embracer: “There’s this cultural and emotional shift in me, personally, and at the studio. What does it mean to trade some autonomy for organization?” When Borderlands 4 came out, there was something stranger: the matter of “Embracer’s Bluff,” a location in the game featuring an AI-powered toilet and a large trash dump, according to a detailed Kotaku account of the place. Gearbox never commented on it; Take Two never got back to me about it when I asked them last year. By contrast, since Saber exited Embracer, Karch has been one of Embracer’s biggest defenders, casting their management as well-meaning and supportive despite the layoffs and studio closures that resulted from their excessive expansion. Like others, Saber’s Karch saw Embracer’s as a shot. With Rideshare Stimulator’s trailer, he’s returned fire. “It’s amazing to me how fast people forget those who went above and beyond for them,” Karch told Game File. A rep for Gearbox did not comment by press time. Game File is a reader-supported publication. Your backing makes my reporting—including any coverage of trailer-based beefs—possible. Good news! I’m currently running Game File’s first big sale of 2026. You can get a one-year subscription for 23% off. Click here to take advantage of the limited-time offer. And thank you for your support! Item 2: In brief… 🚫 Wal-Mart has laid off the staff of Restart, a games media outlet launched in 2024, Aftermath reports. 🟥 A GTA VI preview is on the way, at last, via an “extended look” that will premiere, unusually, on Netflix at 3pm ET on August 27, then officially go live elsewhere six hours later. Last week, Game File noted that Take Two label Rockstar Games is overdue for showing off GTA VI, based on the timing of the initial hands-off previews of GTA V and Red Dead Redemption 2. During a call with investors, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said pre-orders for GTA VI were “unprecedented and astonishing,” but added the company can’t predict how many of those pre-orders represent bonus sales vs. sales that otherwise would have been made at launch. During the same call, Zelnick was noticeably bullish on the future of playing games over streaming cloud connections (predicting wider adoption in three or so years). He sounded unbothered by Sony’s plans to stop making discs for new games (he said the business is 90% digital already and predicted that there could still be limited edition physical editions of games “in the same way there’s still vinyl in the recorded music business.”) 👀 Take Two wrote off $43 million in their spring quarter after deciding “not to proceed with further development of an unannounced title in its pipeline from a third-party developer.” 🤔 Some rare age-demographics from a big publisher: Capcom recently told investors that “users in their 20s account for approximately half of the users of both Pragamata and Resident Evil Requiem.” Item 3: The week ahead Tuesday, August 11 Game releases: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered (Switch 2; already out for PC, PS5, Xbox) continues the Bethesda strategy of putting Elder Scrolls games on everything; Royalty Free-For-All is a Smash Bros.-style fighting game featuring public domain characters such as Mother Goose brawling with Oliver Twist in a stage based on the original Little Shop of Horrors movie. Wednesday, August 12 Game release: Pro Jank Footy (PC, console) is an arcade-style Australian Rules Football game with increasingly ridiculous rules, the more you play (I enjoyed the Steam demo) Thursday, August 13 Game release: Super Mario Sunshine (Switch 2, originally released in 2002 on the GameCube) is released for Switch 2’s Nintendo Switch Online service. This game is the black sheep of 3D Mario games. It’s the successor to the breakthrough Super Mario 64 and the rare Mario game built around a single (vacation resort) theme. Mario’s got a water-spraying backpack, a Yoshi pal and a lot of blue coins to collect.
Spire announces sale of its Mississippi natural gas business to Delta Utilities for $75 million
/PRNewswire/ -- Spire Inc. (NYSE: SR) today announced it has entered into an agreement to sell its Mississippi local distribution company ("Spire Mississippi")...
Exclusive | Google Investing in ‘Backrooms’ Studio A24
The search giant is putting about $75 million into the studio as part of an artificial intelligence research partnership.
Sutter, Santa Clara Launch New Medical School
Sutter Health and Santa Clara University to Launch the Mark & Mary Stevens School of Medicine Funded in part by a $175 million gift from Mark and Mary Stevens, it will be the first new medical school in the San Francisco Bay Area in more than a century. SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Sutter Health and […]
Breece Hall’s $45.75 million Jets payday ‘really hit different’
Breece Hall was in his feels after inking a $45 million extension with the Jets on Friday, which allowed him to avoid playing on the franchise tag.
Cedar Crossing casino to open in mid-November, ahead of schedule; reveals first entertainment lineup
The Cedar Crossing Casino & Entertainment Center will open in mid-November, ahead of its original Dec. 31 schedule, developers announced Thursday, July 30. Developers also announced the first wave of acts booked for the venue’s event center this fall and winter. The $275 million casino, a joint project of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) and the […]
Jay Collins raises nearly $1.75 million in first quarter as active candidate, with big Ron DeSantis donor giving more than half
The Green Beret may not be getting enough green to be viable down the stretch.
Why the World’s Biggest TikTok Star’s $975 Million Business Deal is Suddenly Falling Apart
Khaby Lame’s landmark merger drew in traders and creator economy optimists alike, but the stock has since plunged more than 90 percent and major brokerages are restricting trading.
Hurricanes Extend Team Captain Jordan Staal
The Carolina Hurricanes announced that they have signed team captain Jordan Staal to a one-year contract extension with the club.Staal was entering the final season of his current contract that pays him $2.975 million this coming season. Now, he has re-signed for one more year on top of that.Hurricanes Re-Sign Jordan StaalPer Sportsnet NHL insider […] The post Hurricanes Extend Team Captain Jordan Staal appeared first on HEAVY.
AI is changing entertainment. Here's what investors are betting on
New Delhi, Oct. 6 -- Recent investments in media and entertainment, from Prime Focus-backed Brahma AI raising $150 million to AI-native live entertainment discovery and ticketing platform thumpN raising over $3.75 million, might suggest that artificial intelligence has become the industry's newest…
Tucker Kraft signs extension on day before Packers' season opener
Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft will be making his return from a torn anterior cruciate ligament with a contract extension. The Packers announced Saturday that Kraft had signed a contract extension. The team didn’t disclose terms, but a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that it’s a four-year, $75 million deal with a maximum value of $92 million that includes a $26.5 million signing bonus. Kraft could have become a free agent at the end of the season if the two sides hadn’t agreed to terms on an extension, though he consistently expressed throughout the offseason his desire to stay in Green Bay.
Mayor Katie Wilson's budget aims to close $175 million gap with no new taxes
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson's $9.1 billion budget aims to eliminate a $175 million deficit without new taxes by cutting spending and redirecting JumpStart revenues.
Blackhawks' Connor Bedard agrees to lucrative five-year deal
The Chicago Blackhawks and Connor Bedard agreed to a five-year, $75 million contract as he rehabs from shoulder surgery.
AHF • ‘We the People’ Coalition Merges Faith & Politics to Engage Black Voters -- L.A. Gospel Concert & Panel, Sat., Aug. 8th
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world's largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, currently provides medical care and services to more than 1.75 million clients in 45 countries. With more than 7,000 employees worldwide, AHF now has treatment clinics and other operations in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth, and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare.
MrBeast Sales Slow, Angel Stock Falls, MUBI and Neon Look for Hits, and Will an NBA Franchise Set a Sales Record?
(Welcome to the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a newsletter on the entertainment industry and business strategy. I write a weekly Streaming Ratings Report and a bi-weekly strategy column, along with occasional deep dives into other topics, like today’s article. Please subscribe.) You probably remember egg prices spiking a few years ago. This led to a lot of debate between the pro-market/pro-competition/antitrust/Neo-Brandesian crowd and the center/center-right/center-left/abundance/libertarian crowd over the cause, whether it was the avian flu outbreak or whether industry consolidation led to price fixing, using avian flu as a convenient cover. Basel Musharbash wrote a whole investigation at BIG looking at it. Well, two years later, we have our answer: it was price fixing. The Justice Department found proof, via emails, of price fixing. Indeed, just the threat of an investigation brought prices down two years ago: I bring this up because at least half a dozen of my favorite political writers and pundits, who were skeptical about price fixing at the time, haven’t written any mea culpas on this issue. It’s really dispiriting and makes it much, much harder to trust their work on other issues. If you take a hard stand on an issue, then you get it wrong, you need to explain how and why you got it wrong. Or update your priors. This is how epistemological bubbles are formed! All of which is to say, it’s time for another installment of “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong”. Last issue, I mostly focused on the “wrong” side of the equation, so today’s is a bit more balanced, but with one big mea culpa (though I still stand by my original concerns). Let’s dive right in! Subscribe CORRECTION: UFC Didn’t Release Subscriber Data (But Seems to Have Bragged About It Internally) In my analysis of the viewership of UFC Freedom 250, I wrote... “Paramount has also released datecdotes bragging about their subscriber numbers. Earlier this year, they claimed that the first UFC fight on Paramount+ brought in 1 million subscribers.” Well, that datecdote did not come from a PR rep, but from great reporting from James Faris at Business Insider. The actual quote was this: “Paramount’s flagship streaming service generated about a million new subscribers on the day of its first-ever UFC event, Paramount product chief Dane Glasgow told employees in a town hall on Tuesday morning, three staffers who attended the meeting told Business Insider.“ This wasn’t the biggest goof in the world; even Faris emphasized to me that this is more a “clarification” than a correction. Still, it sounds like, internally, the folks at Paramount were very happy about this result—and I’m guessing they were happy with this news getting out—even though the gains didn’t last through the quarter, dropping to 700K adds. RIGHT: MrBeast’s Struggles Continue... I’m very skeptical about MrBeast’s burgeoning media “empire” and, in particular, its $5 billion valuation, as I wrote earlier this year and last year. Sure enough, according to Business Insider, regarding its “booming” consumer products division_:_ “US sales volume grew 13% year-over-year in 2025, following a 33% leap the previous year, according to a presentation deck dated May 2026....A February 2025 investor deck viewed by Business Insider showed Feastables’ net revenue more than doubled in 2024 from 2023, to $215 million, and was forecast to grow 74% in 2025, to $375 million.” [Emphasis mine.] If you told investors that you projected 74% growth but delivered 13%,1 that’s not ideal. But it’s not just MrBeast. Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime had sales drop in half for their energy drinks. It’s one thing to build a successful entertainment company and an entirely different thing to succeed in the heavily-consolidated-but-also-very-competitive consumer packaged goods space! CPGs are dominated by a few firms with very wide moats compared to YouTube, which has few barriers to entry. These businesses require different skill sets and have completely different business environments. WRONG: Does the NBA Have an $8 Billion Bidder? Almost as soon as I published my article about the NBA’s finances, casting skepticism on NBA expansion, I saw this Front Office Sports headline: One group “claims to have already raised $8 billion” for the Vegas expansion team. I mean, wow. That’s just $2 billion less than what the Los Angeles Lakers were valued at when they were sold just last year. And they’re arguably the most popular team in the NBA. (Side note: the new owner is now under an investigation for fraud in how he went about financing the Lakers and the Dodgers purchases.) So much for the “dried up” language I used in that article. (This is why I usually stick to my “Entertainment Nuance Guy” tone in articles...) I went off old information—from April, when I read/heard about the NBA downplaying expansion efforts—instead of doing a quick double-check for new news. That said...if you read the article, the market for Seattle is “slow”, with just one reported bidder. So I wasn’t entirely off. This goof has annoyed me since I first published it, mainly because it undercut that article’s real point, which I stand by: NBA franchises are really overvalued right now. Now, I get why NBA teams are overvalued. When it comes to owning sports teams, it’s basically never wrong to assume that some rich person somewhere will care more about owning a team (or just being part of a group since they’re so expensive) than the actual financials. There are only so many teams to own, and opportunities to buy in preferred markets don’t come along very often. This explains why the teams sell for such high multiples (usually above a 10 to 12.5 revenue multiple, which is very high). You only need one person to overpay! Beyond the ultra-wealthy luxury good explanation, I worry NBA teams are becoming speculative assets. More and more private equity investors are buying into NBA teams. But the value, in owning a team, comes from selling it later, not any meaningful relationship to revenue or profit growth. In other words, the newer NBA owners are increasingly expecting someone later to buy their inflated asset. That’s not sound economics; that’s the “greater fool” theory at work.2 At some point, actually making money has to matter. Especially since revenue growth is now below the growth of the stock market. (And this matters because the NBA doesn’t have easy levers to pull to drastically lower their costs—half of their revenue has to go to players and then you actually have to run a team, including coaching, training, travel, media expenses, and more—or raise revenues aside from one-off expansions in America and overseas.) I just don’t see how investors make their money back buying NBA teams, except for selling at a higher price later on down the line. But if revenue/profit growth continues to slow, at some point, someone will be left holding the bag. RIGHT: Baseball and Basketball are about equally popular. Related to the above, I wanted to cite two quick pieces of evidence for one of my other theories: that the NBA and MLB are about as popular as each other, but the NBA gets much, much better media coverage. One YouGov survey has that fans prefer basketball to baseball by 52% to 48%, which I’m guessing is within the margin of error for that poll. That’s virtually even, meaning they’re about the same popularity. Over on NBC, a recent Red Sox-Yankees game averaged 4 million viewers, higher than Sunday Night Basketball’s average of 3.4 million on the same network. A Yankees-Dodgers game averaged 3.9 million two weeks ago. Not every game averages this much, but it shows you that baseball isn’t far off from basketball, depending on the matchup. Altogether, the NBA is just slightly more popular than baseball, but NBC is paying MLB a fraction of what they pay the NBA, a point I’ve made before. RIGHT: Angel, MUBI and Neon Updates... I’ve long been skeptical about many of Hollywood’s buzziest startups/smaller indie studios. It’s not that they don’t make great movies—films like Anora and Everything Everywhere All at Once are amazing—or that they’re not (rightfully) pushing the majors to make better films, but...they get a ton of hype, and that hype often doesn’t live up to the reality or difficulty in scaling up. Starting with MUBI, well, The Wall Street Journal wrote a feature on MUBI’s struggles last April, best summarized by the subheader “After Sequoia valued Mubi at $1 billion, a left-wing revolt sent the indie film company into a tailspin”. MUBI lost $7.3 million on $200 million in revenue in Q4 2025, but reportedly hit a record 1.7 million subscribers at the end of Q1. As for Neon, Department M purchased a “significant stake” in the company earlier this year. How much is that “stake” worth? According to Deadline, “No financial figures for the Neon-Department M deal were disclosed.” So...that’s not great! If it was a big valuation, we’d hear about. Also, I found this curious: “Both Neon and Department M already have separate partnerships with Qatar. The Qatar Film Committee has a slate deal in place with the former, and a biopic production pact with the latter.” Color me skeptical about much Middle Eastern investment dollars. See: LIV Golf. Finally, as for Angel (formerly Angel Studios), their stock very, very slightly popped last month after Young Washington ($20 million budget) which made $45 million in the US, but their stock is still way down from its opening. Smaller Updates RIGHT: The WGA should focus on antitrust concerns! I’ve been on this for years. Post-WGA/AMTPT deal in 2023, I wrote an article for the Ankler calling on the WGA to focus and organize against industry consolidation. Sure enough, the WGA filed a lawsuit against the Paramount-WBD merger, and people are organizing around this issue now. I wish this energy had coalesced earlier (specifically to lobby Washington much earlier), but better late than never! WRONG: Actually, the chip shortage might be due to market manipulation. In my last “Long Reads for the Long Summer” article, I shared an article about how LLMs are causing memory chip prices to spike, which will make all electronics more expensive. Well, turns out, three RAM manufacturers control 90% of the market, and now a private lawsuit accuses them of price-fixing. So yeah. WRONG/UPDATE: The Odyssey will hold! Two weeks ago, I wrote, “As of this moment, we haven’t had a super-blockbuster, though The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday could all cross the $500 million mark. (At this point, The Odyssey would need a very strong hold to get there.)” Well, it’s safe to say it’s going to have that hold! It only dropped 30% in weekend two and IMAX screenings are sold out all month. Spider-Man: Brand New Day is also off to a great start. RIGHT: People are rushing to get shows out yearly. I’ve long been bullish on yearly, weekly-released shows, and Leslie Goldberg at The Ankler wrote about how many people in town are now listening. WRONG: Mark Carney reverses Canada’s stance on homegrown production. After writing about Canada installing domestic production quotas, Canada has backed off. WRONG: I don’t trust Spider-Man: Brand New Day’s online “views”. When I originally wrote about the latest Spider-Man film’s record-breaking trailer, I thought this was just YouTube views, but after watching this Corridor Crew video and doing more research, well, it’s all social views of the trailer globally. Really? That stat includes TikTok, Reels and YouTube Shorts views. Basically, I don’t trust it anymore. (This film will probably set record, but I trust the pre-sales data more.) RIGHT: Celebrity Production companies are still struggling. I’ve written about this for years, but the company that I didn’t track was Kevin Hart’s HartBeat, which was valued at $650 million but is struggling now and might just end soon, especially after Kevin Hart pulled his endorsement deals. And Bad Robot is moving to NYC. CORRECTION: SpongeBob is a “second run” title. In my 2025 recap article, I had _SpongeBob SquarePants_labelled as a “library” title, when it is still a “second run” show, with new episodes still coming out on Nickelodeon. CORRECTION: In my last “What I Got Right, What I Got Wrong” update, I offered a correction from Doug Creutz and misspelled TD Cowen. Thanks, Grammarly! 1 Though he could have increased prices to make up for the gap, he couldn’t have increased them that much. 2 There’s a theory, which I think that Daryl Morey created and Bill Simmons popularized, that, to be successful building your team, you only need a handful of bad GMs in the league to take advantage of. To be clear, Daryl Morey’s theory was also for signing bad contracts, that you could always get out of bad contracts. Basically, there’s always someone who will make a bad trade. It’s not the same exact thing, but similar enough to the Greater Fool Theory that I really like it.
“Practical Magic 2 ”breaks the spell “Spider-Man ”and “The Odyssey ”held over the box office, but fails to conjure a profit
The witchy sequel recouped only $46 million of its estimated $75 million budget — but will it find lasting power at the box office?
Applied Digital Completes Separation of Cloud Business, Establishing ChronoScale as Independent Public Company
ChronoScale to begin trading on Nasdaq under ticker CHRN Applied Digital to retain approximately 97% ownership and invest $15.75 million at…...
Mounts of Mayhem challenges
Take on two challenges in the Mobs of Mayhem drop and earn dashing rewards! Defeat five mobs with a spear, or help the community spawn 75 million zombie horses! The challenges run from Friday Dec 12, 8:00 AM PT to Monday Dec 15, 10:00 AM PT.
$75 million deal clears path for parking meter transfer vote today
Chicago aldermen are set to vote on the $2.53 billion parking meter transfer after securing a $75 million payment and a share of future revenue.
Kiké Hernández Buys New Home — And It’s Not in LA
Dodgers utility player Kike Hernandez has bought a new home worth $5.375 million, though it is not located in LA.
Princeton Equity Group secures $1.3 billion to fund franchise business
With $1.3 billion in commitments, Princeton Equity Group secured more than double the $575 million raised for its predecessor fund.
Backfire News Weekly Recap: June 4–6, 2026
It was a packed week on Backfire News, with coverage spanning Formula 1, NASCAR history, truck culture, collector cars, and a few somber losses across the racing world. Thirteen posts went live between June 4 and June 6, 2026. Here is the full rundown. Formula 1 in the Spotlight F1 dominated the week. A feature on the Monaco Grand Prix experience explored why the street circuit remains the sport's most iconic and unusual weekend, while a look at a $75 million superyacht captured the glamour that
Healthcare data breach exposes 3.75M patient records
The CareCloud data breach exposed Social Security numbers, banking information and medical records belonging to more than 3.75 million people.
Sabre refinances billions of debt; Thryv to sell parts of Yellow Pages business for $142 million
Southlake-based Sabre is refinancing more than $1 billion of debt in one of several deals that have occurred recently in Dallas-Fort Worth. Others include a $275 million acquisition by a Frisco-based home care company and a $142 million sale of some Yellow Pages and White Pages directories by Dallas-based Thryv. Learn about these deals and others in our latest wrap.
Wizards Deliver Bad News For Anthony Davis Future
The Washington Wizards could soon bid goodbye to Anthony Davis, their newest star center, whom they got via trade with the Dallas Mavericks last season. According to The Athletic’s David Aldridge and Josh Robbins, the Wizards are not keen on offering Davis a four-year, $275 million maximum contract extension. That means Davis’ long-term future in […] The post Wizards Deliver Bad News For Anthony Davis Future appeared first on HEAVY.
Scientists Baffled by Bizarre “Living Fossil” From 275 Million Years Ago
Tanyka amnicola is a newly identified ancient tetrapod known from unusual twisted jawbones adapted for grinding plants. This rare herbivorous “living fossil” helps scientists better understand early evolution and ecosystems in Gondwana. In a dry riverbed in Brazil, deep within a forest near the A
Guardians' Jose Ramirez gets incredible $175 million extension news
Jose Ramirez isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
How Investors May Respond To AMC Entertainment Stock Stronger Theater Attendance
AMC Entertainment Holdings recently approved changes to its certificate of incorporation to declassify the board, shorten director terms to the next annual meeting, and remove limits on board size, while also arranging large new secured debt facilities and a US$71.75 million shelf registration tied to 25,000,000 Class A shares for an ESOP offering. The combination of a simpler, annually elected board, sizeable refinancing of secured borrowings, and equity made available for employee...
Whoop, a Wearable Health Device Maker, Raises $575 Million
With elite athletes like LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo as investors, the company, now valued at $10 billion, is courting everyday health enthusiasts.
$275M sports complex breaks ground in Homestead
A $275 million sports complex in Homestead broke ground on Monday.
Meta Ordered To Pay $567M To Address Kids’ Mental Health Online
The new penalty is in addition to the $375 million in civil penalties that jurors ordered in March against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
Alex Bregman signing with Cubs: What that means for Bichette, Red Sox, Hoerner, more
Bregman's five-year, $175 million contract will shift the MLB offseason landscape with two months to go
NYC Health + Hospitals Announces $2.75 Million Investment to Enhance Obstetric Care - NYC Health + Hospitals
New York, NY — NYC Health + Hospitals today announced the launch of a $2.75 million investment to enhance obstetric care with PeriGen’s PeriWatch
Sports Entertainment Group Completes Deferred Placement Allotment of 16,964,290 Shares Raising $4.75 Million
Sports Entertainment Group Limited (ASX:SEG) has completed the deferred allotment and oversubscription components of its placement, issuing 16,964,290 fully paid ordinary shares at A$0.28 per share to sophisticated and professional investors on 12 October 2026, raising a total of A$4,750,001.20 before costs.
Transforming Animal Care, Advancing Human Health
Chancellor Gary S. May issued the following letter today (April 24):To the UC Davis Community:Late yesterday we celebrated another historic gift: $75 million from Kathy Chiao and Kenneth Hao — the second largest individual gift ever made to the UC Davis Weill School of Veterinary Medicine.
Whoop, a Wearable Health Device Maker, Raises $575 Million
With elite athletes like LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo as investors, the company, now valued at $10 billion, is courting everyday health enthusiasts.
Google says its AI systems helped deter Play Store malware in 2025
Google said it prevented 1.75 million bad apps from going live on Google Play during 2025, a figure that's down from previous years.
Big Bend youth sports complex; $175 million project approved
Big Bend has approved plans for a $175 million multi-sport facility at Highway 164 and I-43 set to be the largest of its kind in Wisconsin.
Principal to acquire Beam Benefits in small business benefits deal
Beam generated $175 million in premiums last year, and the deal targets Principal's specialty benefits 5-9% growth range
India's Wipro rises after deal to acquire Olam Group’s IT business
Shares of Wipro rose as much as 3.2% on Monday after the Indian IT services firm agreed to buy the IT services business of Singapore-based Olam Group for an enterprise value of $375 million.
Jaguars’ QB Lawrence Outperformed His Salary Last Season
An MVP finalist campaign and elite efficiency metrics prove Jacksonville’s $275 million investment is paying off as the star signal-caller climbs into the league’s upper echelon of quarterbacks.
Prehistoric water-dwelling weirdo with sideways teeth and a twisted jaw was already a 'living fossil' 275 million years ago
Scientists have described Tanyka amnicola, a newly identified species of prehistoric creature that lived 275 million years ago and had a bizarre twisted jaw with sideways-facing teeth.
Southern University launches rural business growth center
Southern University and A&M College has received a $1.275 million, three-year cooperative agreement from the Minority Business Development Agency to establish the Louisiana Innovation for Thriving Rural Business, or LIFT, Center aimed at strengthening rural businesses and expanding their access to financing, government contracts and advanced manufacturing opportunities. Housed in Southern’s College of Business, the […]
Hims & Hers Health, Inc. Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025 Financial Results
Revenue of approximately $2.35 billion, up 59% year-over-year in 2025 Net income of $128 million; Adjusted EBITDA of $318 million in 2025 Subscribers grew to over 2.5 million, up 13% year-over-year in 2025 Provides Q1 and full year 2026 guidance1, with full year 2026 revenue in the range of $2.7 billion to $2.9 billion and Adjusted EBITDA in the range of $300 million to $375 million Hims Hers Health, Inc. (“Hims Hers” or the “Company”, NYSE: HIMS), the leading health and wellness platform, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025 in a shareholder letter that is posted at investors.hims.com. “More than 2.5 million subscribers now rely on us for a healthcare experience that is both accessible and deeply personal – and we believe we’re well on our way to becoming the global leader in consumer health,” said Andrew Dudum, co-founder and CEO. “In 2025, we made it possible for more customers across the world to depend on us
Manipal Health Enterprises Stock Prices Surge 11% After $975 Million India IPO
The hospital chain raised almost $1 billion in India’s second-largest initial public offering so far this year.
Baptist Health Breaks Ground on New Home of Kenneth C. Griffin Neuroscience Institute and Announces $75 Million Total Gift to Neuroscience Research and Care - Florida Hospital News and Healthcare Report
Stephen Blumenthal, Board Chair, Baptist Health Foundation ,Alex Villoch, Chief Executive Officer, Baptist Health Foundation ,Michael McDermott, M.D., System Chief Executive of Baptist Health Brain & Spine Care, Chief Medical […]
Tennessee athletics sets fundraising record
University secures more than $175 million in donations in fiscal year 2026, breaking 2025 mark of $169.5 million
Alex Bregman signs with Cubs: Third baseman inks five-year, $175 million contract with Chicago, per report
Bregman opted out of the final two years of his Red Sox deal to become a free agent again this winter
The Quintessential Trump-era Politician
In 2020, I wrote an article about collaboration and collaborators. The title was History Will Judge the Complicit, and it started with the story of two famous East Germans, Markus Wolf and Wolfgang Leonhard, who both landed in East Berlin just after the end of the war. Although they came from very similar backgrounds, the former stuck with the regime, eventually becoming its spy boss; the latter, horrified by the brutal reality of Soviet-style communism, escaped. By way of juxtaposition, I also wrote about Lyndsey Graham and Mitt Romney. These two men also made very different decisions when confronted by Donald Trump’s assault on the ideals that they had both grown up believing: A glance at their biographies would not have led many to predict what happened next. On paper, Graham would have seemed, in 2016, like the man with deeper ties to the military, to the rule of law, and to an old-fashioned idea of American patriotism and American responsibility in the world. Romney, by contrast, with his shifts between the center and the right, with his multiple careers in business and politics, would have seemed less deeply attached to those same old-fashioned patriotic ideals. Most of us register soldiers as loyal patriots, and management consultants as self-interested. We assume people from small towns in South Carolina are more likely to resist political pressure than people who have lived in many places. Intuitively, we think that loyalty to a particular place implies loyalty to a set of values. But in this case the clichés were wrong. It was Graham who made excuses for Trump’s abuse of power. It was Graham—a JAG Corps lawyer—who downplayed the evidence that the president had attempted to manipulate foreign courts and blackmail a foreign leader into launching a phony investigation into a political rival. It was Graham who abandoned his own stated support for bipartisanship and instead pushed for a hyperpartisan Senate Judiciary Committee investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden’s son. It was Graham who played golf with Trump, who made excuses for him on television, who supported the president even as he slowly destroyed the American alliances—with Europeans, with the Kurds—that Graham had defended all his life. By contrast, it was Romney who, in February, became the only Republican senator to break ranks with his colleagues, voting to impeach the president. “Corrupting an election to keep oneself in office,” he said, is “perhaps the most abusive and destructive violation of one’s oath of office that I can imagine.” In the wake of Graham’s unexpected death on Saturday, I wrote about him again. He was, in many ways, the quintessential politician of Trump’s Washington, a man who shifted 180 degrees. Graham had been a fervent American patriot, proud reserve officer and military lawyer; he became one of the most important defenders of a president who believes soldiers are “suckers and losers” and shows no respect for law of any kind. As his politics changed, his language grew coarser and his behavior grew worse: He urged Israel to “level the place” in Gaza, and insulted the Danish prime minister in Munich, prompting a colleague, Senator Elissa Slotkin, to issue an apology. Here’s an excerpt from the article, which you can read in The Atlantic (gift link here) Like his close friend John McCain, Graham believed that America should stand at the center of a broad democratic alliance. The few times I met him were in that context, at the Munich Security Conference or at other European-American gatherings, which he once attended with great regularity. He also took seriously the practice of American democracy at home. In a 2014 conversation with The Atlantic, he described himself as a pragmatic politician who eschewed populist slogans. “I know Washington is broken, but what’s broken about it is everybody yelling and nobody trying to fix it,” he said. “I’m trying.” When Donald Trump first appeared in U.S. politics, Graham recognized him immediately for what he was: the spokesman for an alien ideology, one radically different from the idealistic patriotism that Graham had practiced and preached since childhood. Trump privately mocked the military that Graham loved as nothing but “suckers and losers.” He put falsehoods, cynicism, and personal greed at the center of his politics, while expressing disdain for transparency, accountability, and democracy itself. In 2015, Graham described Trump as a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot” who should “go to hell.” Also as a “nutjob.” When Trump won, Graham understood, as did so many others, that he would have to make some important choices. For a while, he went silent. In the spring of 2016, I saw him at one of those conferences in Europe. He seemed too depressed to speak. But then, like many other Republicans—and, more important, like many other people who have lived under political occupation or experienced radical regime change—he made the decision to abandon his previous ideals, to bury the patriotism that was once so important to him, and to become, instead, a loud, opportunistic collaborator. As I wrote in 2020, it’s very hard to look in to anyone’s heart and to understand their motivations from the outside. But it does seem that Graham had a deep need to be relevant, to be in the game, to be a player, at any cost. And that, rather than any particular achievement, is what he will be remembered for. Continuing to monitor conflicts of interest, ostentatious emoluments, outright corruption and policy changes that will facilitate outright corruption. (Read my original article, Kleptocracy Inc and check out the SNF Agora Institute chart) June 27 Trump diverted funds from more than 900 projects nationwide—including safety upgrades at national parks—to finance beautification projects around Washington, including $700,000 used to fix a White House walkway. June 28 After a years-long Department of Justice investigation into Abbott Laboratories over its management of a baby formula facility where potentially deadly bacteria turned up enough evidence to criminally charge the firm, top department officials instead opted for a financial penalty—illustrating the department’s move away from strict corporate enforcement under the Trump administration. June 29 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stacked the Defense Policy Board—which is charged with providing independent national security recommendations to the Office of the Secretary of Defense—with Trump allies, including tech billionaire Marc Andreessen, who has invested in defense contractors like OpenAI and SpaceX, after purging the panel last year. Trump purchased between $1 million and $5 million worth of stock in Axon—which makes about 90% of US tasers—two weeks before ICE solicited bids for a $220 million taser contract. The White House unveiled limited-edition US passports for America’s 250th birthday, featuring a portrait of Trump overlaid on the Declaration of Independence. June 30 Trump made around $1.2 billion from his various crypto companies last year, including more than $500 million from World Liberty Financial and $600 million from sales of his meme coin. Trump is considering issuing 250 pardons to commemorate America’s 250th birthday. These are expected to be largely doled out through the Office of the Pardon Attorney’s informal network of intermediaries. White-collar defense attorneys say they can typically win pardons for clients for $2 million. Last year, Trump administration officials awarded a no-bid contract worth up to $500 million to Clark Construction for the White House ballroom—negotiations in which the president was directly involved. July 1 The Amazon MGM Studios documentary about Melania Trump earned the First Lady more than $10 million. Trump made hundreds of individual stock purchases worth as much as $12.8 million the day before his announcement pausing “Liberation Day” tariffs for 90 days sent the S&P 500 soaring nearly 10%—one of the largest single-day gains ever. Mar-a-Lago and Trump National Doral saw record surges in revenue during Trump’s first year in office, earning $77.5 million and $121.9 million respectively, compared to average annual revenues of $25 million and $75 million during Trump’s first term. Entities across the Persian Gulf paid more than $300 million to Trump’s businesses last year, including $263 million from the sale of half his stake in World Liberty Financial to a firm backed by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a top UAE royal and brother of the country’s president. Kash Patel failed to properly disclose his stock purchase of a Department of Justice contractor, MicroStrategy, worth up to $250,000 last year, despite laws requiring disclosure within 45 days of the trade. July 2 Trump has been directing administration officials to steer more government contracts—so far worth more than $2.4 billion—to Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin aerospace firm, after Amazon gave $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, donated to the White House ballroom project, and reached a $40 million deal to license a Melania Trump documentary. Alongside the billions he made from cryptocurrency last year, Trump earned millions of dollars from real estate licensing fees, including $21 million from organizations in the UAE and $9.2 million in Saudi Arabia, along with smaller sums from merchandise sales, including $4.7 million from Trump Watches and $35,920 from 45 Guitar, a guitar brand endorsed by the president. House Democrats accused consultants tied to the Trump administration of financial fraud, alleging they gave prospective donors to America250—the bipartisan committee created by Congress to celebrate the nation’s semiquincentennial—the banking and routing numbers for Freedom 250, the White House’s fund for events like the UFC cage fight. Democrats also allege that Freedom 250’s CEO traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos to solicit donations from foreign government officials and business leaders. The Trump administration’s proposed rollback of gun regulations would lift the prohibition on mailing handguns to individuals, a significant win for GrabAGun—the direct-to-consumer firearm retailer on whose board Donald Trump Jr. sits and in which he holds a 1.1% ownership stake. GrabAGun currently must rely on a middleman to transfer firearms to customers. Trump’s financial disclosure revealed that he made more than 21,000 securities trades during his first year back in office, growing his investment account to at least $858 million across stakes in around 1,600 companies, compared to the 13 total trades Joe Biden made during his entire presidency. July 4 Nearly 1 million people who bought the president’s meme coin—Trump Coin—collectively lost $3.8 billion on the token, while he walked away with $636 million. July 6 Shares of Dell closed up 4.4% after Trump recommended people buy the firm’s computers during a speech announcing the launch of Trump investment accounts for children, boosting the more than $1 million worth of shares the president owns in the company. July 9 Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh named crypto investor and Trump ally Marc Andreessen to a task force aimed at modernizing the Federal Reserve, including rethinking its approach to inflation—a key factor keeping interest rates elevated. Palm Beach International Airport has officially changed its name to Trump International Airport—a move that will require Florida to pay royalties to the president’s family for licensing his name. I was there a few months ago, during a trip to Barcelona. The sculptures were a revelation, I’d never seen so many together before. Each one has its own personality. Enjoy the good weather, if you are lucky enough to have it. History Will Judge the Complicit The Quintessential Politician Autocracy Inc Open Letters, from Anne Applebaum is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
Sony Group: $475 Million JV With TCL For Home Entertainment Business
Sony Group has agreed to sell a majority stake in its home entertainment business to TCL Electronics Holdings Limited, formalizing a strategic partnership that underscores shifting dynamics in the global television and consumer electronics market.
$75 million deal clears path for parking meter transfer vote today
Chicago aldermen are set to vote on the $2.53 billion parking meter transfer after securing a $75 million payment and a share of future revenue.
Proposed 76ers Trade Swaps Joel Embiid for $175 Million All-Star
A proposed blockbuster centered around Joel Embiid would not make sense for the Philadelphia 76ers.
East Hempfield Twp. sauce maker plans upgrades creating 60+ jobs
Lancaster Sauce Co. has a five-year plan to double its workforce and increase production capacity at its East Hempfield Township manufacturing facility, which recently changed hands for $13.75 million.
AHF • AHF Rose Parade® Float Honors ‘Food for Health’ Wildfire & Hunger Relief Efforts
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world's largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, currently provides medical care and services to more than 1.75 million clients in 45 countries. With more than 7,000 employees worldwide, AHF now has treatment clinics and other operations in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth, and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare.
Main Line Health booked a $134 million increase in medical malpractice reserves in fiscal 2026
The large medical malpractice reserve helped turn what would have been a $75 million operating profit into a $33 million loss for the 12 months that ended June 30, Main Line officials said.
Beef business weighs on Tyson Foods
Company is now projecting a loss of between $625 million and $775 million.
United States and Madagascar to Implement $175 Million Five-Year Health MOU - U.S. Embassy in Madagascar
United States and Madagascar to Implement $175 Million Five-Year Health MOU U.S. and Malagasy health officials are convening in Antananarivo for a two-day joint review process, marking the first major step in implementing the strategic health cooperation framework established in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries in December 2025. The MoU outlines the structure and terms of U.S. support to Madagascar’s health sector from 2026 through 2030, with a total commitment of $134,305,000 from the U.S. Government and $41,216,252 from the Government of Madagascar working jointly to address malaria, maternal and child health, polio and global health security issues. This approach reflects the America First Global Health Strategy by prioritizing effective, results-driven cooperation that advances mutual health security and supports Madagascar’s progress toward self-reliance and independence from foreign assistance. The events bring together U.S. Government health experts and Madagascar’s Ministry of Public Health leadership to conduct a comprehensive review of seven major health programs currently supported by United States funding, discussing current activities, and developing recommendations for programs to align with the signed Memorandum of Understanding, which advances both the America First Global Health Strategy and the Government of Madagascar’s goals. “This memorandum sets the course for U.S. strategic cooperation and support to Madagascar’s health sector over the next five years,” said Chargé d’Affaires Stephanie Arnold at the workshop’s opening. This review will help determine how to maximize the effectiveness and impact of these programs, ensuring resources provided by U.S. taxpayer dollars are used wisely,” she added. “By working together to address global health challenges, we demonstrate America’s leadership and commitment to a safer, healthier world, making both the United States and Madagascar healthier and stronger.” Under President Trump’s leadership, the United States is implementing a Global Health Strategy for foreign assistance that emphasizes increased host country ownership, resilient health systems and human resource capacity to reduce dependency, maintaining frontline support to reduce infectious disease threats, and strong performance monitoring systems for accountability and service delivery. “Diseases do not respect borders, and when we support Madagascar’s capacity to detect, prevent, and respond to infectious disease threats, we are contributing to global health security that benefits communities both here and in the United States,” Arnold emphasized, noting that “The MoU represents a commitment to transparency, accountability, and results.” The United States recognizes the commitment of Malagasy leadership in prioritizing investment of time and significant resources on the healthcare of their own citizens. With recent changes in leadership, Madagascar has an opportunity to strengthen governance, improve performance, and move forward toward greater self-reliance, particularly in the healthcare sector. Through strategic focus and thoughtful collaboration under this MoU, U.S. health programs in Madagascar will deliver meaningful results that advance both countries’ interests while supporting Madagascar’s journey toward greater self-reliance and a healthy future.
Republic Business Credit Supports Textile Wholesaler with $2.75MM Factoring Facility
Republic Business Credit provided a national textile wholesaler with a $2.75 million factoring facility to fuel the company’s West Coast expansion and market
Chargers make key $75 million decision on All-Pro
This is a key piece now signed, sealed, and delivered.
New Mexico jury says Meta harms children's mental health and safety, violating state law
The jury agreed that Meta engaged in "unconscionable" trade practices that unfairly took advantage of the vulnerabilities of and inexperience of children. Jurors found there were thousands of violations, each counting separately toward a penalty of $375 million.
Happy Health secures $75M to expand AI-powered care in the home starting with sleep apnea
Digital health company Happy Health secured a $75 million series A funding round to continue building its artificial intelligence-powered platform for continuous home-based care. | The startup’s smart ring—dubbed Happy Ring—was first cleared by the FDA in 2024.
$1.75 million gift will allow Kent State to expand health outreach
The $1.75 million gift will provide funding for the college’s community health and outreach programs such as the Mobile Flashes program.
UNC Health plans to take over Goldsboro hospital with $675 million investment
Officials said the money would go toward expanding healthcare services, upgrading facilities and technology, and recruiting more doctors at the Goldsboro hospital.
Trump bucks and the politics of mailing checks
The checks started going out last week, nearly one million of them, and mostly to battleground states. With a return address for the U.S. Treasury and a letter enclosed signed by President Donald Trump, these one-time checks for $500 were ostensibly government rebates for Obamacare enrollees who overpaid. In the accompanying letter, however, Trump attacks his predecessor and talks about his record in office on an important issue he’s not polling well on, which makes it seem more like the most expensive political mailer in U.S. history. The average piece of direct mail costs between 30 cents and $3, according to Mail Processing Associates, a print, mail, and fulfillment company. At $500 a pop plus roughly 50 cents each to issue the paper check, the cost of Trump’s healthcare mailer sent to more than 950,000 enrollees comes in at more than $475 million. Trump’s midterm healthcare message “For years, the Biden Administration overcharged you to fund the operation of HealthCare dot gov,” Trump wrote in the letter. “That money belongs to hard-working Americans, not the Government, and now, I am returning it to you!” In the letter, Trump makes false and misleading claims about his administration’s record on healthcare costs, an issue Democrats have a 20 point advantage on over Republicans, according to a recent poll from KFF, a nonpartisan health policy think tank. Trump touts his administration’s TrumpRX program, which he claims is “delivering massive discounts.” However, new research from KFF found that of a selection of drugs available on the TrumpRX platform, just five were the lowest price, while 13 were the highest price. Trump also falsely claims in the letter that he’s fighting to lower healthcare costs. In reality, average monthly premium payment costs for enrollees rose 58% under Trump while marketplace sign-ups declined 5%, per KFF. Under Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it’s estimated 10 million more Americans will be uninsured by 2034. You get a check and you get a check and you get a check Trump’s long promised cash outs to his fans, from his days as a casino operator and gameshow host to his presidency. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the first Trump administration made the unprecedented move to put Trump’s name on checks that went out under the CARES Act (notably the $500 refund checks this time around don’t feature Trump’s name). Ever since, Trump’s been chasing that high. In his second term, Trump’s promised more stimulus that never arrived, like refund checks from DOGE cuts and tariffs, while he said at his party’s convention last month that he’d give out $5,000 checks to everyone if Republicans win in November. In reality, DOGE overstated its cost cutting and Trump’s government actually now spends more than former President Joe Biden’s, while Trump’s tariffs actually grew the trade deficit. His proposal for $5,000 checks would add about $1.2 trillion to the national debt. The problem is there’s no money to give. These $500 checks — plus $90 Medicare rebate checks also going out as well as $250 deposited this week in some Trump Accounts for kids courtesy Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and his wife Susan — represent the closest Trump’s going to get to making good on his promise to deliver cash fast. And the checks seem especially targeted. Though the $500 checks went out to enrollees in one of 30 states that use the federal HealthCare dot gov marketplace, a Reuters review found 71% of the payments, or $339 million, went to enrollees in 13 states that have the most competitive elections for governor and U.S. Senate. Most Americans don’t buy it Could Trump bucks sway the election? An Economist-YouGov poll found 57% of U.S. adults doubt Trump will deliver on his promise for $5,000 checks, compared to 21% who do. “I’m waiting on my DOGE check and I’m still waiting on my tariff check,” one 2024 Trump voter who’s since turned on him told a recent focus group. “It felt like kind of trying to buy people’s votes, which honestly felt like in elementary when the class president was like, hey we’re going to take you to the water park if you vote for me. It’s like, I don’t think it works like that.” But for voters in swing states who got a check, it could still matter. One survey published in 2022 found receiving a physically personalized check in the mail during the pandemic was associated with a much greater self-reported likelihood of voting for Trump in 2020, and those gains mainly came from out partisans. The issue for Trump comes if these checks are mostly going to Obamacare enrollees whose premiums have gone up by more than just $500 since he took office and who view the money as something like a bribe before the election rather than an actual long-term solution to lowering household costs. Spending $500.50 per mailer would be absurd as a normal campaign expenditure, but since Trump’s checks and letter are a government rebate, his campaign and super PAC didn’t have to spend a dime and he got out his message regardless. If enough voters in key states are swayed by the one-time payment, it could prove to be the best $0 the Trump campaign spent. 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Sports-focused prediction market Novig raises $75 million to challenge Kalshi and Polymarket
Novig’s Series B values the startup at $500 million with backing from Pantera Capital, Multicoin, and Forerunner.
BioSyent to Acquire Oral Science Inc.
Accretive Transaction with Combined Companies’ Pro-Forma Revenue in Excess of $70.00 Million and EBITDA(1) in Excess of $15.75 Million (TTM Sept 30, 2025) MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, Feb. 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioSyent Inc. (“BioSyent”, TSX Venture (TSXV): RX) announced today that it has entered into a Share Purchase Agreement (“SPA”) dated February 8, 2026 to acquire Oral Science Inc. (“Oral Science”), a privately-owned Canadian distributor of specialized healthcare products for dental hygiene
Bureau Veritas Buys Irish Quality Control Business Lotusworks
France’s Bureau Veritas SA will acquire Irish quality control business Lotusworks Ltd. in a deal representing an enterprise value of €375 million ($433 million).