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Mobile milestone. Hey, Future Party people. Did you know the cellphone turned 50 yesterday? That's right, the big 5-0! And we have Martin Cooper to thank for it. The then-engineer at Motorola made the first public call back in 1973, hitting up his rival at Bell Labs to brag about the brick-like device. Talk about a flex.
In other news… UFC merges with WWE, BuzzFeed experiments with AI, and Elon Musk dreams big.
Top Trends
YouTube → Secret Invasion
Twitter → Harry Potter
Google → Yellowstone
Reddit → Tom Cruise
TikTok → “The Blonde” - TV Girl
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ENTERTAINMENT
All under one ring // Illustration by Kate Walker
Endeavor wrestles control of WWE
The Future. After making UFC a cornerstone of its business over the past decade, Endeavor has struck a deal with WWE to combine the two combat-sports organizations into one behemoth brand. The merger proves how important sports has become to Endeavor and may show that the company’s new North Star is mixing premium live events with a flywheel of branded media.
M&A ManiaEndeavor now holds the title of the world’s biggest combat-sports company.
Endeavor closed a deal to merge its UFC brand with WWE in a new publicly-traded company that will list under the ticker TKO.
Endeavor will hold a 51% controlling interest in the company, with WWE shareholders owning 49%.
Ari Emanuel will be CEO, while WWE’s Vince McMahon will become executive chairman of the to-be-named company.
The combined company will have a reported value of over $21 billion.
Ultimate Fighting CompanyEndeavor has aggressive plans for the new company.
It plans to amp up the number of fights and live events WWE and UFC put on (and content around those fights).
It will also look to milk as much value as possible out of media-rights deals to host matches or license fight-branded films and shows.
With WME, Endeavor also hopes to make more stars out of fighting talent, as it has done with Dwayne Johnson, John Cena, and Ronda Rousey.
AI
Buzzy’s travel guide // Illustration by Kate Walker
BuzzFeed assigns AI more than just lists to write
The Future. BuzzFeed has quietly been using AI to generate travel articles that sound eerily similar. While BuzzFeed promises that it’s an experiment to see if non-writing staff can help AI produce content, it may be the first step to AI taking full responsibility for some of the less writing-intensive material the publisher is famous for.
Buzzy bylineAI has joined BuzzFeed’s editorial team.
Futurism found that roughly 40 SEO-driven travel guides are credited to “Buzzy the Robot.”
The articles note that they’re “collaboratively written” with a human employee.
When pressed, BuzzFeed said it was an “experiment” to see if AI could collate travel recommendations from non-editorial staff (like those in client partnerships or account management) and generate articles based on them.
Gateway writingBuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said earlier this year that the publisher planned to experiment with AI but that it would be limited to a series of quizzes and that they would always be co-written with human writers.
The hope with the new experiment, according to a BuzzFeed spokesperson, is to find “new formats that allow anyone (with or without a formal background in writing or content creation) to contribute their ideas and unique perspectives on our site."
In other words, “can we create professional writing without professional writers?” We’ll see what BuzzFeed concludes.
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We've been on Shortform for about six months, and it's a game-changer. And right now, FutureParty readers can enjoy a three-month free trial (or $50 off).
TECHNOLOGY
Elon’s Twitter? // Illustration by David Vendrell
Musk dreams of remaking Twitter into PayPal 2.0
The Future. Despite the attention-grabbing headlines, Elon Musk’s Twitter 2.0 really has nothing to do with protecting free speech or democratizing influence… it’s about turning the platform into his original vision of PayPal. That’s right; he wants Twitter to be at the center of your financial life. While it’s TBD if most users would give the bird app that much power, the unique makeup of the mobile phone ecosystem in the US may make that dream a couple of decades too late.
Payments planElon Musk has hinted that he wants to turn Twitter into a super app called X… but what does that actually mean? The answer may be becoming clearer.
He wants to model Twitter after China’s WeChat, allowing users to send money to each other, earn interest on deposits, and become the go-to app for all your financial needs.
That would allow Twitter X, or whatever he calls it, to make most of its money from transactions and engagement as opposed to ads.
If this can be accomplished, Musk believes that the resulting revenue could eventually make Twitter worth $250 billion — roughly the market cap of Bank of America. Your mileage on that ambition may vary (see: here and here).
X marks the dreamWell, if you think all of that sounds like PayPal but with the ability to retweet memes… you’re not wrong.
Musk’s online-banking startup, X.com, merged with Peter Thiel’s Confinity in 2000 to form PayPal.
Musk was ousted as CEO before he could see his vision through — a vision that Musk said last year that he plans to “execute… with some improvements” through Twitter.
We’ll see if Musk can make that 23-year dream happen… or if he’ll be brought down by his own impulses.
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Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
The Cure’s Robert Smith axes scalpers
After strong-arming Ticketmaster into refunding ticket buyers for its exorbitant fees, Robert Smith is now taking aim at ticket scalpers. The Cure frontman announced that he was able to cancel 7,000 scalped tickets (ones purchased by fake accounts with the sole purpose of resale), is planning to resell them, and donate the original fees to Amnesty International. The goth hero we all need.
Read more → variety
Tinder wants to set you up with a premium subscription
Not many details are available yet, but Tinder is planning to offer a $500/month subscription dubbed “Tinder Vault.” What will you get for the sky-high price? A guaranteed spouse? Everlasting love? Access to a private jet for dates with matches not in your area? Not even Tinder chief product officer Mark Van Ryswyk allegedly knows yet… but he did say it’ll be built for “high intent members.”
Read more → fastcompany
Adobe lets you edit images with words
Adobe is getting into the generative AI game with a new product called Firefly. The tool allows users to edit images — including changing backgrounds and inventing new brushstrokes — simply by typing a prompt. Firefly will soon be released as a private beta.
Read more → cnbc
Arlington becomes a safe haven for Silicon Valley
There’s been a lot of layoffs in Silicon Valley over the last six months. That’s been good news for defense contractors. According to a new survey from Morning Consult, one-third of laid-off tech workers are open to working in the defense industry — mostly based in Arlington, Virginia. No wonder the NSA reported its biggest hiring surge in 30 years. And with McKinsey saying that the top 15 aerospace and defense companies had 50,000 positions open, expect those to get filled up fast.
Read more → fastcompany
Why won’t US workers take their vacation days?
According to a survey from Pew, only 48% of Americans actually take all their allotted vacation days. Why? 52% say they don’t need it, 49% worry they might fall behind, and 43% feel bad for the work they’ll put on their coworkers. But Christy Pruitt-Haynes, global head of talent and performance at NeuroLeadership Institute, says it’s mostly because “US employees have been conditioned to believe if you aren’t at work, you are lazy or at risk of being replaced.” No wonder we’re burnt out.
Read more → bloomberg
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Today's email was brought to you by David Vendrell.Edited by Nick Comney. Publishing by Sara Kitnick.