🧬 23andMe Finds A White Knight To Save Them

In today’s newsletter I discuss how 23andMe found a white knight to save them, Starbucks is launching their new Summer drinks today, Archer Aviation will be flying people at the 2028 LA Summer Olympics, Netflix adds ‘Sesame Street’ for their upcoming season, JPMorgan to offer their customers the ability to buy Bitcoin, and Lamar Jackson founded the Maryland Colts as a part of the newly formed National Thoroughbred League.

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WHAT WE’RE READING

🧬 23andMe Finds A White Knight To Save Them

After 23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March of 2025, things were looking pretty bleak. Their co-founder and CEO, Anne Wojcicki, resigned, and customers got real nervous about what might happen to their data now.

Now Regeneron Pharmaceuticals has slid into 23andMe’s DMs and offered to acquire them for $256 million dollars in order to gain access to their vast genetic data.

Oh how the mighty have fallen! 23andMe was once valued at $6 billion dollars, but I guess when you sell costumes a genetic test that they never have to take again it turns out your business model isn’t good for repeat customers. Thus the bankruptcy that followed.

Here’s hoping Regeneron has some better ideas for selling genetic testing other than showing their customers they all share a common maternal ancestor named Mitochondrial Eve (that’s a DNA joke if you didn’t get it.)

🥤 Business

Starbucks is launching their new Summer drinks today. The new menu release is happening amidst a plan to cut 30% of their drink offerings by the end of 2025. New menu items include an Iced Horchata Oatmilk Shaken Espresso, featuring Blonde espresso with horchata-flavored syrup and oat milk, and the Strawberries & Cream Cake Pop, which I know my daughter will be begging me to buy for her. Also returning is the Summer-Berry Refreshers, which offers a mix of raspberry, blueberry, and blackberry flavors with raspberry-flavored pearls. Not my jam, but you do you Starbucks.

🐥 Entertainment

It’s tough times on the streets these days, and Warner Bros. Discovery knows a thing or two about that. At the end of 2024 they didn't renew their deal with 'Sesame Street', so Big Bird walked across the street to Netflix who picked up their 56th season and 90 hours of past episodes. Now new episodes will also air simultaneously on PBS and Netflix.

The only downside of the deal is I’m guessing Big Bird is going to want to renegotiate his contract to include residuals from Netflix.

🚁 Tech

Archer Aviation, which designs and develops electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, has been named the official air taxi provider for the 2028 L.A. Olympics. This is a big deal, and marks the first Olympics that will feature eVTOL aircraft.

Archer Aviation ended Q1 2025 with over $1 billion in cash, and is aiming to begin commercial operations in the UAE later this year.

It’s great that as a society we fund billion dollar companies so that rich people and celebrities can take a slightly shorter commute to their VIP seats at the 2028 L.A. Olympics.

🪙 Crypto

JPMorgan, under the leadership of CEO Jamie Dimon, who once called Bitcoin a "pet rock," will now allow their clients to purchase Bitcoin, though the bank with over $4 trillion in assets won't hold custody of the cryptocurrency themselves.

This news comes on the heels of Dubai's government partnering with Crypto.com to accept crypto for government services and fee payments. This initiative aligns with Dubai's ambitious "Cashless Strategy" that aims for 90% of all transactions to be digital by 2026.

Is it just me, or countries in the rest of the world adopting crypto much quicker than here in the U.S.? I thought we were the country that invented Bitcoin! Shouldn’t we be leading the world in the adoption and use of crypto?

🐎 Sports

Lamar Jackson, the quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens, loves horses so much that he founded the Maryland Colts, a team in the newly formed National Thoroughbred League, to leverage his horse racing venture to elevate Baltimore's status in the sport.

The National Thoroughbred League, which launched in early 2025, is a team-based horse racing league featuring quarter-mile races and purses of $2.5 million dollars for the season.

Lamar Jackson aims to use his team ownership to help expose underprivileged children to the horse racing industry and provide job training.

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irl Media NEWSLETTER is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.