In today’s issue we discuss Brad Pitt getting his 10% stake in the Château Miraval Winery back, ESPN/Fox/Warner Bros partner on sports streaming platform, stupid people are wearing the Apple Vision Pro while driving Tesla Cybertrucks, Sony bought half of Michael Jackson’s publishing rights and recorded masters catalog for $600 million, and Tiger Woods partners with TaylorMade in a new venture to create a standalone footwear and apparel lifestyle brand called Sun Day Red. 

YouTube

Has Taylor Swift Brought More Female Viewers To The NFL This Year?

Business

Don’t look now, but there’s another must-have streaming platform for sports lovers.

ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. are launching a joint streaming platform focused solely on sports, and it won’t be cheap.

The three companies are spinning up this new venture as a stand-alone company that they will each own one third of, but if you have to ask me with ESPN’s involvement in the project I imagine Disney will be pulling the strings behind the scenes just like they did when they partnered with News Corporation, NBC Universal, and and Providence Equity Partners to create Hulu, only to later buy out their partners when it became a success.

The logical goal of this new streaming platform is to make it the home of every sports fan.

Each of the three companies will be contributing sports content from their own networks including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, TNT, TBS, TruTV, Fox, FS1, FS2 and BTN.

That’s a lot!

But do we really need ANOTHER streaming platform to subscribe to?

In my house we cut the cable cord about four years ago, and now subscribe to Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, Max, F1 TV, Apple+, Netflix, and YouTube TV which we use to watch Football but now that the NFL season is over I usually cancel it and then resume it in September when the new season kicks off.

I don’t even want to add up the cost of all these services, but they are all watched by different family members under our roof, so I don’t see how we can cut down on the steaming services we subscribe to.

And I’m guessing my family isn’t alone, which is kind of the unspoke trap of signing up for a streaming service. Once they have you, it’s tough to break the streaming addiction.

ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. to launch joint sports streaming platform this year

Tech

Either we’ve reached peak tech saturation, or these people are just competing for the next Darwin Award.

I’m scared to call this a new trend, because being stupid is more a state of mind for someone all the time rather than something people pick up because it’s trendy.

It’s gotten so bad that U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has warned people not to drive Tesla vehicles while wearing Apple’s new Vision Pro.

Seriously?!?!

I can’t believe this even had to be said, but welcome to 2024!

Social media has been abuzz since the Apple Vision Pro debutted, and lovers of Tesla”s new Cybertruck (worst name ever if you ask me) have had a field day posting videos of their rare vehicles in the wild. So it was only a matter of time before some idiots combined both of these new elite tech gadgets and began posting real, or elaborate made up skits, of wearing an Apple Vision Pro while driving or even being pulled over.

Oh what some stupid people do for views and likes.

People are Driving the Cybertruck While Wearing The Vision Pro

Entertainment

Michael Jackson’s music is still making his estate and partners money nearly 15 years after his death.

Recently, Sony Music bought a stake in Michael Jackson’s music catalog, which has valued his music rights at over $1.2 Billion dollars with a capital B!

The deal with Sony Music cost the company an estimated $600 million dollars, but they picked up half of Michael Jackson’s publishing rights and recorded masters catalog for the price.

This represents the largest valuation ever of a musician’s music assets, and that is saying a lot.

The music world has been busy in the last few years with high profile musicians selling their music catalogs for some eye popping prices. 

In September of 2023 Katy Perry sold master recording royalties and music publishing rights to her first five albums to Litmus Music in a deal reportedly worth $225 million.

In 2021 Bruce Springsteen sold his entire recorded music and publishing catalog to Sony Music for $500 million.

In January of 2023 Justin Bieber sold 100% percent of his publishing and artist royalties from his master recordings and neighboring rights on 290 of his songs up to December 31, 2021, for around $200 million.

In December of 2020 Bob Dylan sold his entire catalog of 600 songs to Universal Music for somewhere between $300 and $400 million (an exact figure isn’t available, but that’s the scuttlebut around the interwebs). That was for the rights to his lyrics and compositions. Then in 2022 Bob Dylan sold his entire back catalog of recorded music to Sony Music Entertainment in a deal worth between $150 and $200 million.

Pretty savvy move by Bob Dylan.

Michael Jackson Estate Sells Music Rights to Sony at $1.2B Valuation

Real Estate

Brad Pitt is getting back a 10% percent equity stake in the Château Miraval Winery from his ex-wife Angelina Jolie after a recent court ruling, but that’s not the end of the story. 

To understand how we go here it’s best to go back to how this all began.

In 2008 Brad Pitt and his then girlfriend Angelina Jolie purchased the Château Miraval Winery in France, with Brad Pitt putting up the funding for 60% percent of the estate and Angelina Jolie funding the remaining 40% percent.

Then when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married on August 14, 2014 at the Château Miraval Winery, Brad Pitt gave Angelina Jolie a 10% percent stake as a wedding gift, making with the the Château Miraval Winery a 50/50 split between the two A-list actors and parents to six children together.

Now a court in  Luxembourg has put that 10% percent share of the estate into escrow until they make a final ruling, which could take a few years, according to reports.

Complicating the matter, as if it couldn’t get more complicated, is the fact that Angelina Jolie purportedly sold a 50% percent stake in the Château Miraval Winery to Russian billionaire Oligarch Yuri Shefler, valuing the estate at $500 million dollars.

Brad Pitt was not very happy with Angelina Jolie selling her stake out of spite following their divorce, because it turns out that Brad Pitt is quoted as saying he had a “right of first refusal” to buy Angelina Jolie’s 50% stake for an estimated $54.5 million.

That begs the question, what’s a “right of first refusal”?

Well, according to Wikipedia it’s a legal term for “a contractual right that gives its holder the option to enter a business transaction with the owner of something, according to specified terms, before the owner is entitled to enter into that transaction with a third party.”

If it’s true that Brad Pitt had a right of first refusal in writing to purchase the Château Miraval Winery for $54.5 million from Angelina Jolie for her 50% stake, then contractually that Russian billionaire Oligarch Yuri Shefler deal to buy Angelina Jolie’s stake is null and void.

I think we can all agree that the last thing Brad Pitt wants is an angry Russian Oligarch coming after him.

Brad Pitt Can Keep an Extra 10% Stake in Château Miraval Winery

Sports

Tiger Woods has a new sponsor that’s not named Nike for the first time in nearly 30 years.

On Monday, February 13, 2024, Tiger Woods and TaylorMade announced they have created a standalone footwear and apparel lifestyle brand called Sun Day Red.

This could be HUGE!

I’m sure a lot of brands rushed to try and sign Tiger Woods as his contract with Nike was nearing an end, but it looks like only one brand was willing to partner with him to create a brand new company with Tiger Woods as an equity partner.

The new Sun Day Red brand is being built from the ground up to be one of the most sought-after lifestyle brands, with a full range of premium apparel and footwear, according to a press release about the launch of the new brand.

The make up of this new venture is unique as well. TaylorMade could have just set this up within their existing company structure, installed their own management team and designers, and headquarter the whole thing out of one of their own buildings, but none of that happened.

Instead, TaylorMade and Tiger Woods have set up Sun Day Red as a completely stand-alone brand with its own team of designers, and its own headquarters. The new company have put together an experienced team drawing from the fashion industry, and are creating a company culture in the vision of Tiger Woods.

They’ve hired Brad Blankinship, who hails from such luminary brands as Quiksilver and RVCA, as President of Sun Day Red, who will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the company.

The new company will launch their first line of apparel for men in May in the United States and Canada, with plans to launch new product offerings including footwear, and women's and kids’ lines of apparel.

Here’s to hoping Sun Day Red will be a grand slam for Tiger Woods and TaylorMade.

Tiger Woods Expected to Debut TaylorMade Apparel Line This Week

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

— Chris