David Ellison’s Dream Factory

PRESENTED BY PLAYERSTV

Happy Friday, Future Party. Here’s a sobering reality to take into your weekend — 51% of older Americans say they plan to skip retirement altogether and work indefinitely. That’s according to a survey of 1,000 adults ages 65 to 99 conducted by Asset Preservation Wealth & Tax. While most cited cost-of-living pressures as the main reason for staying in the workforce, 40% said they work to stay physically and mentally fit. For many Americans, it seems, they’ll always be living for the weekend.

After a year and a half, Skydance, the premium production company and film financier run by David Ellison, has finally completed its $8.4 billion takeover of Paramount Global.

The Big Picture: Mergers in Hollywood are never simple, but Skydance’s bid for Paramount seemed extra challenging — featuring tense negotiations with Shari Redstone, boardroom clashes, shareholder lawsuits, and even a legal skirmish with Donald Trump involving CBS. By holding firm (and bringing deep pockets to the table), the 42-year-old Ellison now becomes one of the youngest studio moguls since Hollywood’s early days.

Behind the Scenes: With Ellison at the helm, changes are coming from Paramount… or what will now be officially known as “Paramount, A Skydance Corporation.”

The Future: Paramount remains one of Hollywood’s crown jewels, though it has trailed its competitors for years. Ellison’s pitch has always been to restore the studio to its former glory by investing in creative (more theatrical releases) and tech upgrades (AI-driven optimization). No matter what, Ellison plans to be here for a long time and a good time, telling investors: “Our financial North Star is to maximize the long-term value of the company.”

First Moves: Having wasted no time in winning its first major movie-bidding war, expect Paramount to roll out a wave of high-profile talent deals and marquee projects throughout the rest of the year.

A new media network is giving pro athletes ownership of their content… and they’re inviting fans, too.

That network is PlayersTV.

It’s the first sports media company backed by over 50 legendary athletes, including Kyrie Irving, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Travis Kelce, and Ken Griffey, Jr.

PlayersTV is a platform where athletes can tell their own stories, show fans more of who they really are, and connect in a whole new way.

And here’s the kicker: it’s not just athlete-owned — it’s fan-owned, too.

PlayersTV has the potential to reach 300M+ homes and devices through platforms like Amazon, Samsung, and Sling.

That’s why 2,200 fan-investors are already backing the company.

There’s also an early bonus opportunity with just a few days left…

Get 20% bonus shares when you invest by midnight, 8/12. 

_{^{This is a paid advertisement for PlayersTV Regulation CF offering. Please read the offering circular at https://invest.playerstv.com/}}

Following two years of development and several setbacks, OpenAI is rolling out GPT-5 — its most advanced AI model yet, boasting advanced reasoning and coding capabilities.

Why It Hits: OpenAI may have kicked off the AI revolution with the release of ChatGPT in 2022, but it’s no longer the only game in town. Since then, companies like Google, Microsoft, Anthropic, and others have closed the gap. GPT-5 is OpenAI’s bid to prove it still leads Silicon Valley’s most competitive race.

Behind the Code: So, what can GPT-5, which is now available at no cost, actually do?

Last Prompt: OpenAI has a lot riding on the success of GPT-5. It already has five million paying business customers, but it wants to multiply that number by wooing them away from other chatbots like Claude and Gemini. Additionally, it’s in talks with Thrive Capital for a secondary stock sale that would value it at $500 billion (two-thirds more than it’s currently valued), making it the most valuable private company in the world.

Prediction: The success of GPT-5 and its ability to make businesses rely solely on ChatGPT could be necessary for the company to keep up with the pace of its own investments.

Cut through the noise. The AI Report makes AI clear, practical, and useful—without needing a technical background.

Join 400,000+ professionals mastering AI in minutes a day.

Stay informed. Stay ahead.

No fluff—just results.

Smarter AI. Zero fluff.

62.1% of you voted Machine-like in yesterday’s poll: Do you think hospitality robots should be designed to look more human or more machine-like?

“Make it what it is.”

“Don’t need confusion here.”

“If I’m dealing with a robot, I want to absolutely know it’s a robot. It would be too creepy to find out later that it was not a real person I had been interacting with.”

“[Human], unless it’s a super cute adorable machine??”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🎥 The newly reorganized Vice Media scored a $75 million credit facility from Western Alliance Bank as it plans to spend $500 million on content.

🍿 AMC Theatres is backtracking on plans to extend its preshow by an additional 25 to 30 minutes following pushback from studios.

⚾ Even Dick’s Sporting Goods is getting in on the original content game with the launch of Cookie Jar & A Dream Studios.

📱 X will start to roll out ads within Grok responses to boost revenue.

🤖 Speaking of Grok, the new Imagine feature allows users to make NSFW deepfakes of famous figures using “Spicy” mode. Lawsuits incoming…

👀 Meta announced that WhatsApp took down 6.8 million accounts that were “linked to criminal scam centers.” Yikes.

💸 The White House tariffs have officially — no, for real this time — taken effect, imposing levies of up to 50% on some countries and even higher on certain imports.

📈 Shopify’s stock popped 19% after reporting a 31% revenue jump, with no signs yet that customers are cutting back due to looming tariff-related price hikes.

👟 Zendaya has released her first co-created sneaker with On — the Cloudzone Moon.