MrBeast’s TikTok Offer

PRESENTED BY EQUITYBEE

Happy Thursday, Future Party. You better start saving your pennies because the (pretty much useless) coin has been caught in the crosshairs of the Department of Government Efficiency. It turns out that making pennies costs more than a penny — three pennies to be exact. In 2023, the federal government spent $86 million to mint 4.5 billion pennies, most of which, anecdotally, end up on the street or stuck in couch cushions. If pennies are taken out of circulation, they could be really worth something decades from now.

MrBeast is joining a consortium of investors in submitting an all-cash bid to acquire TikTok’s US operations before President Trump’s 75-day extension on the app’s ban ends.

The Big Picture: The race is on to see who will land the most coveted social media platform in the world (if China really does allow a sale). Whoever can curry the most favor with Trump could end up being the victor.

Behind the Offer: After conquering YouTube, MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson) has set his sights on TikTok.

The Future: Tinsley, Donaldson, and co. already have quite a bit of competition. Former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and Shark Tank investor Kevin O’Leary have made a bid (with or without TikTok’s famous algorithm) and talked with the President about it. AI search startup Perplexity has also submitted an offer. And Trump himself said he’d be happy if Elon Musk or Oracle founder Larry Ellison tried to acquire the platform. 

But Trump may have already given ByteDance the upper hand in any dealmaking after stating that if TikTok were allowed to stay in the US, it’d be worth “like a trillion dollars.” We joke, but you never know.

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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — the Pentagon’s top clandestine research arm — is researching whether modifying red blood cells and inserting them into soldiers can protect them from disease and injury on the battlefield.

Why It Hits: Biohacking has evolved from a fringe science to a legit lifesaver for high-risk patients. Figuring out ways to optimize soldiers’ health could both revolutionize war and lead to cutting-edge therapies for civilians in areas such as infectious diseases and various cancers.

Between the Cells: DARPA gave Insider a first look at its program known as “Red Blood Cell Factory.”

Closing Thoughts: DARPA is still a far ways off from actually inserting modified red blood cells into a soldier. It’s still in the “Is this even possible?” phase as it experiments on bags of blood. But enhancing soldiers has always been a desire of the US defense and intelligence apparatuses, from the remote-viewing Stargate Project in the ‘70s to the “Cyborg Soldier 2050” report released in 2019. While some ambitions are never realized, the research along the way has led to many consumer products we know and love — like Pringles, duct tape, and the Internet.

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63.1% of you voted No in yesterday’s poll: Do you shop at the mall these days?

“I try to shop locally as much as possible to support small businesses.”

“I’d love for them to come back! My local mall has slowly been getting more abandoned, and it’s sad to see.”

“Only when I want to see an item in person to look at the color or to try it on. Too many online fails and wasted time returning something that doesn’t match or fit right.”

“I’m a Zoomer (Gen Z Boomer), and I hate online shopping. Love going to malls with friends to shop.”

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.

💸 Netflix’s stock hit an all-time high of $997.66 per share after posting record subscriber growth.

🎮 Annapurna Interactive tapped Netflix vet Leanne Loombe as EVP and head of games.

🏂 The X Games are testing a Google-powered AI system to judge select ski and snowboard events.

🪫 The Trump administration is pumping the brakes on America’s EV evolution.

🤖 OpenAI is set to release a new agentic AI tool dubbed “Operator,” which can take over a user’s web browser to complete tasks.

💭 Not to be outdone, ByteDance is releasing a reasoning AI model called “Doubao-1.5-pro.”

💰 Instagram is offering top TikTok creators $50,000/month bonuses to migrate to Reels.

🏈 The NFL forced the New England Patriots to delete their Bluesky account because of the league’s partnerships with X and Meta.

🤨 Users are confused as to why they’re suddenly following President Trump, VP JD Vance, and First Lady Melania Trump on Instagram.