🧀 Chuck E. Cheese Is Making a Comeback, This Time With Trampolines

In today’s newsletter we discuss Chuck E. Cheese is making a comeback, Disney, WBD, and Fox are pulling the plug on the Venu Sports streaming service before it even launches, Netflix is postponing Meghan Markle’s new show ‘With Love, Meghan’ until March due to the L.A. wildfires, Anthropic is raising $2 billion dollars at a $60 billion dollar valuation, Rolls-Royce is offering customized bespoke models to their high-end customers, hobby horsing riding championships are a real thing apparently, and some loser in Wales who threw away what would today be work $750 million dollars in Bitcoin was just told he can’t dig it up from a landfill.

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🧀 Chuck E. Cheese Is Making a Comeback, This Time With Trampolines

Chuck E. Cheese, the iconic pizza parlor and arcade that many of us grew up with, is making a comeback after filing for bankruptcy during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has been working hard to revamp its image and attract new customers.

Chuck E. Cheese was founded in 1977 by Nolan Bushnell, the co-founder of Atari. The concept was simple: a place where kids could be kids and parents could “relax” - yes, with air quotes. The first Chuck E. Cheese opened in San Jose, California, and was an instant success. The restaurant featured animatronic characters, arcade games, and pizza. Chuck E. Cheese quickly became a popular destination for birthday parties and family outings.

I can remember my parents bringing me there for birthday parties, and thinking how cool the animatronic dancing Chuck E. Cheese “Munch's Make-Believe Band” was. Now thinking back I can’t help but remember it as a little more than creepy. My little brother even worked at Chuck E. Cheese while in high school during the time of its 2nd refresh which happened during the ‘90’s.

Sadly, in 2020, Chuck E. Cheese filed for bankruptcy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company was forced to close all of its locations, and revenue plummeted - as it typically does when you close up shop and there’s no one left to make pizzas. Chuck E. Cheese did emerge from bankruptcy in 2021 with a fresh vision of focusing on:

*   Remodeling restaurants to create a more modern and appealing atmosphere.

*   Upgrading technology to improve the customer experience. This includes new games, new ways to order food, and new ways to pay.

*   Expanding its menu to include more options for adults and children.

*   Focusing on birthday parties. The company is now offering new party packages and new ways to book parties.

*   Adding new games to its arcades. The company is also working on developing its own exclusive games.

*   Improving customer service.

*   Reaching out to new customers using social media and other marketing channels.

Chuck E. Cheese is back and better than ever, for better or worse. Chuck E. Cheese is now owned by CEC Entertainment, with David McKillips as their President & CEO. The brand has over 600 locations in the United States and Canada. The turnaround has been going pretty good, with Chuck E. Cheese bringing in $1.2 billion in 2023

Now a whole new generation of kids, and their parents, can build memories of crying/screaming children running around, eating generic tasting pizza, and winning prizes.

📺 Business

Not even a week after Disney invested/acquired a 70% stake in Fubo in order for them to drop their lawsuit against the new Venu Sports streaming service, now Disney, WBD, and Fox are pulling the plug on the Venu Sports streaming service before it even launches. Ouch! Expensive experiment that died on the vine.

🚒 Entertainment

Talk about bad timing. Netflix had scheduled to launch Meghan Markle’s new show ‘With Love, Meghan’ in January 2025, but with the L.A. wildfires they’ve postponed the launch to March 2025 so as not to come off as crass or uncaring. Good luck with that. The show will feature interviews with Meghan Markle and her friends, share personal tips and tricks, and jump in and help out in the kitchen and the garden. I’d rather was the skycam of the L.A. wildfires.

🤖 Tech

Another day, another AI startup raising a boat load of money at an insane valuation. Now Anthropic is out with a fresh funding round of $2 billion dollars at a reported $60 billion valuation. Keep in mind Anthropic is only 4 years old, and has already raised $8 billion dollars, including $4 billion dollars from Amazon.

🚘 Luxury

As always, the rich seem to be doing better than just fine in this economy, if recent news from Rolls-Royce is to be believed. The super rich seem to be upping their game by buying the highest of high-end customized bespoke models including their Cullinan, Spectre and Ghost vehicles.

🐴 Sports

In truly bizarre news, Germany held their first hobby horsing riding championship in Frankfurt in 2024. For those not familiar with this made up sport, “hundreds of young riders compete in time jumping, style jumping and dressage on their wooden stick horses.” according to an AP article. Apparently this is part of a growing trend of hobby horse enthusiasts competing in events worldwide.

🪙 Crypto

You know that feeling when you invest in a made up crypto currency 13 years ago, forget you bought them in the first place, and throw out the hard drives you stored them on, then a decade later realize what you did as Bitcoin is now worth around $100K a coin, and you decide to sue to recover the hard drives from a landfill in Newport, Wales? Yea, well that’s what James Howells has been trying to do, and a judge just turned his request down.

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