In today’s newsletter we discuss CNN’s new CEO, Roblox buys Speechly, China builds radios, Kevin Durant expands agency, George Clooney selling $100 Million Italian estate, Formula 1 rookie Oscar Piastri signs contract extension

Business

Oh CNN, how I miss the old days when you were the #1 news network and respected. Oh how the mighty have fallen. The turmoil at CNN has been well documented in the last few years, and boy have the times changed. Now Fox News is the reigning champ, and there seems to be a never ending revolving door of anchors at CNN.

But is that all about to change (cue the sarcasm)? The news network has a new CEO according to a story on rival network CNBC, “Mark Thompson, a former New York Times CEO, will begin as CNN’s CEO on Oct. 9.”

Part of Mr. Thompson’s (no relation, but great last name!) long, exhausting list of responsibilities will be to “turning CNN into a sustainable business over the next five years” while at the same time resurrecting CNN’s EBITDA from its current $700 Million closer to the $1 Billion it was before their downfall. Best of luck with that.

After a year of chaos, CNN bets on new CEO Thompson to focus on long-term viability

Tech

If you have a teen or tween you’ve probably heard of Roblox. The company was founded back in 2006, they have over 200 million monthly active users, and the company was valued around $16.97 billion as of September 2023.

Back in 2021 Roblox announced they would be adding voice chat to their platform. To aid in implementing voice chat the company just announced they’ve acquired voice moderation startup Speechly to offer voice chat moderation, real-time transcription and Voice API, AI voice technology, and voice interfaces to their platform.

Terms of the deal haven’t been released, but Speechly was founded in 2016 and has raised company raised $7.53 million to date.

Roblox acquires voice moderation startup Speechly

Space

China is getting into the deep-space radio telescope market in a big way to support their moon and beyond pursuits. Radio telescopes are needed on Earth to receive the mountains of data these sorts of missions throw off. The plan is to locate four radio telescopes across the country, located in Beijing, Shanghai, Urumqi and Kunming. A price tag for this expansion of China’s Earth-based radio telescope infrastructure hasn’t been released, but if you have to ask you probably can’t afford it.

China builds new radio telescope to support lunar, deep-space missions

Entertainment

Kevin Durant is anything by lazy. The current NBA superstar of the Phoenix Suns is expanding his business empire along with his business partner Rich Kleima to form Boardroom Advisory, a subsidiary of their existing company Boardoom, which “will operate on a yearly fee structure and work with athletes as well as executives and brands on creating business and sports ownership opportunities, content and more” according to this article on CNBC.

With an estimated net worth of $300 Million Kevin Durant is following in the shoes of other uber successful athletes like Michael Jordon, Lebron James, and Shekel O'Neal in building their own business empires off the court.

Kevin Durant’s Boardroom launches entertainment and sports advisory firm

Real Estate

I guess celebrities really are just like the rest of us in these tough economic times. There’s news out on the super reliable Page 6, that George Clooney is selling his Lake Como estate for $107 million. First, that a lot of money even to your average Billionaire. Second, he’s going to make bank on the sale since he reportedly purchased the property back in 2002 for roughly $10. And it’s not like George Clooney is scrapping the bottom of the barrel for money. I mean, he just had a guest appearance in DC’s Flash movie starting as the best looking (in my opinion) version of Batman. Not to mention he and his partners sold their Casamigos tequila brand for close to $1 Billion dollars just a few years ago. If you’re George Clooney right about now life is good.

George Clooney is selling his Lake Como estate for $107 million

Sports

Oscar Piastri surprised everyone in the paddock this week when it was announced that he has signed a contract extension to end of 2026 season with Formula One’s McLaren team. He already had an existing $2 Million dollar a year deal through the end of the 2024 season, this new extension locks him in for 2 more years.

Judging by how impressive this rookie has been this year I’m guessing McLaren had to shell out a healthy yearly salary to lock Piastri into a few more years. All this isn’t occurring in a vacuum. There are rumors swirling that Oscar Piastri’s teammate at McLaren, Lando Norris, is being courted by his good friend Max Verstappen RedBull team for a spot for the 2024 or 2025 season despite current RedBull driver Sergio Perez already having a contract through the end of the 2024 season. But as Formula One’s silly season has taught us time-and-time again contracts are meant to be broken and drivers paid out early to make room for new talent.

Oscar Piastri signs McLaren F1 contract extension to end of 2026 season

So much news, so little time. Until tomorrow we’re signing out.

— Chris