In today’s edition we discuss David Beckham sues Mark Wahlberg for $10 million dollar endorsement fee he says he is owed for F45 Training ambassadorship, Tesla’s stock is in free fall with the company laying off 10% of their global workforce while Elon Musk demands a $56 billion dollar payday, calling Mars might get easier with AI laser communications breakthrough, Taylor Swift is an economic powerhouse & Johnny Depp is thinking of buying a $4 million dollar Italian castle.

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Brad Pitt’s Chateau Miraval Winery, Business & Real Estate Empire

Business

If you hold Tesla stock, like me, you’ve been feeling the hurt from seemingly non-stop bad news out of the EV maker lately.

Tesla recently announced they were laying off more than 10% of their global workforce amid slowing demand for EVs worldwide.

As you can imagine, the stock did what you’d expect and has been on a downward trajectory, off from a high $248.42 at the beginning of the year down to $133.91 at the time of writing this post.

That’s a drop of $103.53 year to date, or a 41.52% decrease in the stop’s price for 2024.

Then Elon Musk has the nerve to ask shareholders to vote again to award him a $56 billion payout that a court in Delaware recently ruled was invalid.

Why would shareholders reward an absentee CEO with the biggest stock option grant in the history of modern companies after the company’s stock is cratering?!?!

Could it be Elon Musk has been a little busy lighting Twitter’s once valuation of $44 billion dollars on fire, renaming it to the unpopular X, and inviting hate speech and undesirable characters onto the platform, resulting in the platform’s revenue dropping and the value of X being less than one third of what it used to be? Maybe it’s time to focus on Tesla again and return it to glory before Elon Musk destroys a second company’s valuation.

Tesla will lay off more than 10% of global workforce

Tech

This could be huge, and could change the math of how astronauts handle long duration missions to Mars and beyond.

Researchers have developed a groundbreaking communications system that could revolutionize how astronauts communicate over great distances - I’m talking 100’s of Millions of miles apart.

Take for instance Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, which is 140 million miles from Earth.

Traditional communication methods, relying on direct radio links with Earth, face significant challenges due to the vast distance and signal delays. This new system employs a combination of lasers and AI to overcome these obstacles, enabling real-time communication between astronauts on Mars and mission control on Earth. By transmitting data via laser beams, rather than traditional radio waves, the system dramatically reduces signal delays, potentially allowing astronauts to make voice and video calls back to Earth with minimal latency.

If you told me I was going to be sealed in a tin can for about nine months to get to Mars, spend some time on the planet’s surface, then another 9 months to get back, without being able to make a two-way video call to my family I’d never let them shut and lock the door of the rocket that was about to carry me into the heavens.

But now with the integration of AI algorithms to help enhance the reliability and efficiency of the communication process, we might be able to have direct voice and video calls across the 140 million miles separating Earth from Mars.

This breakthrough has profound implications for future Mars missions, offering astronauts a lifeline to stay connected with their loved ones and mission control while exploring the red planet.

As humanity ventures further into space, innovations like this are crucial for overcoming the unique challenges of interplanetary exploration and ensuring the success of ambitious missions to explore and eventually colonize distant worlds.

New comms breakthrough could enable isolated Mars astronauts call home

Entertainment

What happens when one of the most successful soccer players turned co-owner of the MLS soccer team Inter Miami FC sues one of the most successful movie action stars in Hollywood? You get a huge lawsuit with more plot twists than a Quentin Tarantino movie.

To understand how we go here it helps to go back to where it all began, and to do that let me set the scene.

Mark Wahlberg is an exercise fanatic. The man wakes up at 4 AM to get his first work out of the day, before going into his home office or arriving on set of one of his action movies. In 2019 he became enamored with a new fitness company called F45 Training that is designed to use different energy systems for a maximum burn during curated cardio workouts. They use the comradery and energy of a group to build a cohesive workout that not only builds muscle, but boosts metabolism.

Mark Wahlberg was so into F45 workouts that he recruited his family and a lot of his famous friends to attend with him at these pre-dawn workouts.

Then in 2019 Mark Wahlberg invested in F45 Training to purchase a 36 percent interest in F45 Training.

That brings us to David Beckham, who in May of 2023 first filed a lawsuit against F45 Training, Wahlberg’s investment firm named Mark Wahlberg Investment Group, and F45’s founders Adam Gilchrist and Rob Deutsch, who launched the company in 2012 in Australia.

David Beckham’s issue with Mark Wahlberg stems from a purported agreement for F45 to pay $10 million dollars to be an ambassador to F45 Training. In court documents David Beckham claimed he was “duped” by Mark Wahlberg and F45 Training into signing the endorsement deal.

How does someone “dupe” a soccer superstar into signing a $10 million dollars endorsement deal?!?! Seems like a great deal if you ask me!

Mark Wahlberg became friends with David Beckham when the soccer star moved to Los Angeles and bought a home in the same neighborhood that Mark Wahlberg lived in. Both being celebrities, they rolled in the same circles, and their family’s became close. These days neither celebrity still lives in Los Angeles, with Mark Wahlberg having moved his family to Las Vegas, and David Beckham splits his time with his family in London where he’s originally from and Miami, Florida where he is co-owner of the MLS Inter Miami FC soccer team.

Back to the lawsuit.

David Beckham claims he was never paid the $10 million dollars, nor did he ever receive any of the allegedly promised stocks as compensation. That might turn out to have been fortunate, since F45’s stock has plummeted to $0.15 cents a share down from their high of $17.28 when they went public in an IPOs back in July of 2021 and F45 Training was valued at $1.4 billion dollars. I should know, because I was an investor in their IPO through Robinhood, but I’ve got diamond hands and still own the stock solely because I’m a huge fan of Mark Wahlberg.

So what do I think will happen next with David Beckham’s lawsuit against Mark Wahlberg’s investment company and F45 Training? I’m guessing they’ll settle out of court in a few years after the lawsuit winds its way through the courts, and in the end it’ll be the lawyers who will be the only ones who’ll make money off this deal.

David Beckham Sues Mark Wahlberg’s Fitness Brand for $10 Million

Economics

In a groundbreaking revelation that shocks absolutely nobody, the world continues to underestimate the financial prowess that is Taylor Swift.

Brace yourselves for the shock of the century when I say that Taylor Swift, with her mountains of cash and chart-topping hits, might just be a teeny bit influential in the economy.

Who knew, right?

With her empire of adoring fans and record-breaking albums, it's truly baffling that anyone could overlook her as a financial force to be reckoned with.

Hold onto your hats, folks, because apparently, Taylor Swift isn't just a talented musician, she's also... wait for it... rich! Mind blown, right?

Taylor Swift has used her cunning business experience in the music industry to accumulate wealth that could rival a small country's GDP. Cue the collective gasps of shock and disbelief that a female musician, who’s become a global icon, could actually translate that experience into some serious moolah.

Who would have thought that selling out stadiums and dominating the charts could be profitable?

Answer: literally anyone you ask!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Taylor Swift is an economic powerhouse!

People underestimate Taylor Swift's economic impact: Strategist

Real Estate

Is Johnny Depp buying a castle?

That’s the rumor going around the small Italian town of Montalto Dora, Italy, home to around 3,300 people.

The castle dates from the 12th century, and was most recently renovated in the 19th century, with a complete restoration that started in the 1960s and took nearly 20 years to complete.

The castle has over 21,000 square feet, with 11 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a medieval chapel, 2 libraries, a tower, and its very own dungeon. The estate also has a second smaller castle, because just one castle is never enough for an A-list actor like Johnny Depp.

And Johnny Depp can certainly afford the $4 million dollar asking price for this castle, having a net worth of roughly $150 million dollars, although that is down from the $900 million dollar net worth it is rumored he had at the height of his Pirates Of The Caribbean movie fame. Johnny Depp’s movies have grossed over $8 billion dollars worldwide, making him one of Hollywood's most desirable and profitable A-list celebrities.

Johnny Depp eyeing $4M historic Italian castle as mayor voices concerns over potential sale