Transcript 0:00 Still waiting in line, again? That's time you will never get back. Save time and money with stamps.com. Over four million businesses have skipped the line with stamps.com. 0:11 Join them to save up to 90% off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail, and packages in seconds. 0:21 Get $20 in free postage when you sign up for the pro plan at stamps.com/blackfriday2026. Terms and conditions apply. [gentle music] Hi, everyone. My name is Gboye Kolade, co-founder and president of The Future Party. 0:37 And I'm Chris Sottol, CEO and co-founder of Crosscheck Studios. And welcome to the Future Forecast podcast, where we explore the intersection between business, technology, and entertainment. 0:47 We've done the research so you don't have to, and we're here to give our opinions about news topics, and have a thoughtful discussion on the shifting landscape of our culture. 0:58 Today, we are talking about a handful of awesome things. We're gonna go through Alex Cooper from her latest signing and venture funding, and her shift to CAA. 1:11 We're also gonna talk about the Lakers and, uh, Josh Kushner and Bob Iger buying them for a reported $12.5 billion. And last but not least, we're gonna talk about the latest on AI. 1:26 We've got billions of users and trillions in IPOs from Gemini to ChatGPT and Anthropic. But let's, let's hunker down. Uh, first off, Chris and I are wearing the same shirt again. 1:38 I don't know how that happened, but- [laughs] Here we are. I, I feel like, I feel like you're stalking me, and I've been wanting to talk to you about this for a while, and I, I am a little... Listen, it's okay. 1:52 You can take fashion tips from me. [laughs] I, I, I'm happy to provide them. If you want, I... We've gone back and forth about it. 1:59 I've talked about, or I've thought about creating a, a side Insta handle, Chris's Clothes. So, um- Maybe you should... I'm more than happy to provide you, @chrissclothes. Yeah. The- A private link to, to... 2:11 Or I'll, I'll, I'll add you to my friends, my, my, my, my... What is it? What, what, what is it? Uh, close friends? I'll add you to my close friends- Close friends... 2:19 and you can see what I'm wearing the n- the, the night before. Nice. The, the funny thing is- [laughs]... I'm, I'm currently, I'm currently hoteling it, so I could actually change if I wanted to. 2:30 I could've changed before we started. Don't say that. But, um [laughs] Because now you're rubbing it. You're like, "You know what? No, I'm not..." You're, you're being that guy. You're being that guy. 2:39 You know, I had to travel to work today. I, I had to travel. I had to drive 30 minutes to get to where we needed to be to film this, and you got to sit in, in your luxury hotel room. Well, A, it's dedication for you. 2:53 B, it's not, it's not... Still, still going through it, um, for those of you who don't know, we have, we, we found mold in our home. So, um, it's, it's not like I'm just trying to live the high life here. 3:05 We're, we're, we're forced to be in the hotel, but we'll figure it out. Deep, dark question, like as, as- Yeah... a future homeowner. Yeah, yeah. Does insurance cover that? 3:13 They ba- they basically like, in a situation like that, they put you up. Homeowner's insurance cover that? Like, who is at... You know, where does that, where does that net out? Also, if it's like, yo, TL, like- Yeah... 3:22 Chris- No, no, I'm-... talk about entertainment... I'm sure no policy is the same. However, from our understanding with our situation, there needs to be some level an- of an event to have caused it. Hmm. So- Hmm... 3:37 we're still trying to figure out how it happened, but if it was just, hey, it like, moisture or whatever, it may be harder. 3:47 But if there was like a leak or a crack in the foundation, that may be grounds for insurance to take over, because there was an event to cause the mold, if that makes sense. Interesting. Yeah. An event. An event. 4:00 As if, as if it's like a Marvel- Event... a, a Marvel moment, and we're gonna have IE come out and say, "And Dr. Doom came out and said, 'Let there be rain.' 4:11 " [laughs] And a health storm totally took over and, and created mold in your house. Wow. Well- The moldening. Wait- Um- With the moldening. 4:18 Well, way to, way to, way to take the power back and take care of your, your house and home and family. And live- Thanks... uh, live in a hotel. So, um- There's a, there's a movie there. There's a movie there somewhere. 4:30 Somewhere. Uh, you know where there's a movie? I actually just saw this. Did you see the headlines of these fraternity brothers getting caught with cocaine? No. 4:40 Uh, like, they were doing like a, they were trafficking, doing like a cocaine ring. What? Okay, I gotta look this up real quick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This is, this is crazy. 4:47 Um, and this is totally a movie that, like, I'd love to make. Okay, Penn State students were accused of running a cocaine trafficking ring at fraternity houses. 14 were charged at Penn State University. It's crazy. Wow. 5:04 Yeah. Uh- I just wanna... That, like, that's like Breaking Bad, but [laughs] put... It's like Carlito's Way, but, but brought to you by Wayne and Isaac, uh, and of Penn State. That's so funny. 5:19 I mean, I should- I'm telling you, it's a movie waiting to happen. Yeah, I get that. Also a TV show. I'd say more, I, I, I would watch the TV show version of that, for sure. Of that? Yeah. I mean, there's an end to it. 5:31 You know? I mean, there's an end to every TV show, but it's like, how long are these kids in college? Is like every season a different year? 5:38 You know, but- Listen, for, uh, most, most TV shows would, would be fortunate to run a good four- Yeah... four- four-year season. Also, don't have to, don't have to go all four years. 5:48 You could also then graduate, and the fifth season is- Well, you're in prison. 5:52 [laughs] Or, or you graduate and you are passing it off to the next chapter or the next class, and maybe your issues are that your class is trying to cut you out of your dealing. 6:03 So they're like the, the other, the other generation's like, "Well, I don't need to, like, hold this thing up." And you're like, "Yeah, you do. This is how we make money." And they're like, "Uh- Yeah... 6:10 I didn't decide to, like, be a part of this." Yeah. I guess you could romanticize it, but it's got, like, for example, you know, the, they made, um, what do you call frat recruits? Pledges. 6:21 They made pledges, uh, cut, cut cocaine- Oh, whoa... and like, yeah. Yeah. Um- That was their, that was their hazing. [laughs] Exactly. Exactly. Uh, we should, you know what we should do? 6:31 We should pitch this to Bad Robot, and then, uh, me and my long lost dad, JJ- Yeah... um, could do that together. [laughs] You know? We could, we could do that together. 6:41 I was waiting to make that joke, because for those of you who aren't watching, Chris, Chris looks like JJ Abrams right now, ready to direct the next Star Wars. And in cut... You know what? Listen, listen, I'll take it. 6:52 Uh, I don't- Yeah... I'm actually curious. I don't know if I would wanna tackle Star Trek or Star Wars, personally. Mm. Meaning like, A, I have such a strong affinity for Star Wars more so than Trek. 7:02 Both are phenomenal and fantastic in their own right. More me just saying that I always was a Star Wars kid, but I don't know if I would want, you know, the concerns of, like, having to, like, take on that, uh, lineage. 7:13 I actually, I love Star Trek. The- the new, the new age versions that- that, the TV shows that are on Paramount Plus are really good. Oh, that's right, you're a Trekkie. 7:23 Like- See, I was never a Trekkie, but I loved Chris Pine, and I, so I, I love that legacy. Mm-hmm. Like, I actually thought, like, those were, that was a- They were good... he was a phenomenal Kirk. Yeah. 7:32 I don't think he gets enough, I don't think he gets enough- enough, enough credit. He's good. Yeah, speaking of credit- It's okay... 7:36 clearly UTA's not getting theirs because, uh, CAA just poached Alex Cooper, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So great, great segue, and let's dive in a little deeper. Um, the headlines. 7:54 Even before sort of this signing, and it's, I forgot who was saying that, like, Alex Cooper is this master genius at PR, and I- maybe, actually, because, like, what happened was she announces this huge investment, one of the first of its kind- Yeah... 8:10 with Patrick Weiss, a legend. And I think it was the same day or within 24 hours, her beverage brand goes under and then moments later she shifts to CAA. 8:22 And so it's like all this, like, positive news stacked on top of the negativity, mind you- Also, let- You know... 8:31 let, let's not forget the, uh, the narrative out there the, the, you know, the, you know where I'm going with this. The la- la- last week also with Dave's book, there was the accusation. 8:39 She was on, she was on the news, or she was, she was on a show, uh, getting interviewed. I think it was Smashbox or Qua- uh, Squashbox, uh- Mm... like, on the outlet. 8:48 But she gets asked point blank, "So where do you stand, uh..." 8:53 You know, Dave had mentioned that at some point in his book, uh, you had accused him of sexual assault, uh, or sexual misconduct in order, a- as a threat to get out of your deal, or you teased it out. 9:06 And she goes, "I don't remember that." And- Oh... a- yeah, yeah. 9:10 And so it w- but it was, it was pretty bad press because the whole commentary was more like that was out there, it's a reaction to what Dave said to Alex, and then the back and forth in that interview essentially is her saying, "My remembering of that situation is probably very different than Dave's remembering of that situation." 9:28 Yeah. So kind of like outright denying it, but then as they continued to push on it, she was like, "I'm just... I, I don't, I'm not here for drama. I'm having a baby. You know, I've been in mommy- Yeah... baby life. 9:40 I don't know." You know, basically, like, kinda, like, trying to, like... And so it's, I think, further to your point about the drink going under or, you know, um, filing. 9:50 There is marketing genius, or there, there, there a significant amount of smarts that comes with that- Mm... I'm sure, you know. Don't look over here. Yeah. Don't look at the man behind the curtain, right? 10:00 Like, that's, that's very smart. Yeah. Well, I was gonna say, to me, this, this feels like a lesson. Like, there's a saying where, like, all press is, is good press. 10:10 But I, over time, feel like that's only for certain individuals who understand it and push through it. Yeah. And there's- Yeah... 10:20 certain, there's certain people we can name on one hand that are the epitome of this, right? Trump, Elon, Kanye. They're, they're extremely polarizing, but they still have very dedicated fan bases. Yeah. 10:34 And I believe one of the reasons is because they push through the negativity. They don't say, "Oh, the w-" like, "The sky is falling." They go, "Whatever," you know. "I'm onto the next thing." 10:46 Well, they don't, they don't apologize, or they acknowledge that the universe that they've crafted or the words that they've crafted and the, what, what they've said, it's, they define the narrative and never cave on what the narrative has always and continues to be for them. 11:00 Yeah, 100%. It's the reality s- distortion field, you know, that Steve Jobs is notorious for having, too, and I think you, you need it at a certain level. 11:09 And I, I think any celebrity or person of stature could take a page out of this book. I, I'm thinking about Justin and Blake's court case, right? I actually think- Yeah... they could both come out of it unscathed- Mm... 11:24 if they just, if they just push through. I genuinely feel that. Even though it seems damning, I think if they just push through... What, what, what makes you think it couldn't? Out of curiosity. 11:34 I, I think Justin could, but I think that there's already... Like, look at all the damage that's already been done as it relates to Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. I mean, like, their brands have heavily been... 11:44 Now, again, for different instances, but Ryan's reputation, it start, you know, it started with this Baldoni stuff. 11:51 I know w- guys, bear with, uh, bear with us, where I know we're, we're taking a corner or taking a turn here, but we'll get it back. We'll get it back on track. 11:58 [laughs] Uh, on the, on the, on the, on the Baldoni front, you know, Ryan very heavily got pulled into that. Obviously, it's his wife, but predominantly- Yeah... 12:06 more because what they exposed was the idea of this pettiness where he- Yeah... based one of the Deadpool characters on Baldoni as a means to, like- Oh... "Oh, do you know, are you not, are you not aware?" So, so 12:22 spoiler alert, but, eh, it's been years, so, like, come on, guys, catch up. [laughs] Deadpool versus Wolverine. Nicepool. Have you, have you seen Deadpool versus Wolverine? I've, I've seen Deadpool. 12:32 I remember that it's, like, the multiverse of Deadpool guy. Right. Right. So the long-haired, the n- the one, the, the nice one- Mm-hmm... that doesn't have the actual, that doesn't have the, uh, the- Regeneration?... 12:43 regeneration capabilities- Okay... right? They als- comment specifically about being for women's rights. All of that. Has long hair like Justin. Very much wa- And then, and then doesn't he get killed? 12:54 [laughs] And then he gets killed in the most hilarious but graphic way. Shot 50 ti- like, you know, like, thousands of times- Dang... in the back and in the front, and, like, he's literally... 13:05 Like, Deadpool looks at him as, like, the epitome of everything he hates. And so, you know, listen, like, pull from real life. Like, that's art. You know, by all means, it's, you know, you, you made that... 13:17 N- if anything, it helped enhance the creative and make it funny for you. Yeah. Uh, meaning for you, Ryan, and for us, the viewers. Not even knowing that that's what he was pulling from. Mm-hmm. 13:26 But then for that to be exposed later on and to know that it was, like, mocked and it was more a means to mock him- Yeah... uh, in plain public, that, that, that, that doesn't help. 13:36 Also, further to their point of bring, bringing up Doctor Doom, I don't even know, but, like, peop- then Blake and Taylor puts, Ta- Taylor... 13:44 Talk about Doctor Doom, the Robert Downey Jr., uh, Ryan Reynolds debacle that happens during Avengers: Doomsday. 13:52 There's huge commentary around the fact that, like, these two titans are in disagreement and that Ryan is there to be a cameo, and this is, this is, this is the house that that mouse built, and the mouse being Downey himself being the king of the MCU. 14:08 And Ryan had to kinda get put in the corner, and to the point where Downey and Ry- Ryan would not film on the same day. They had to lit- they would not film with each other whatsoever. 14:19 So that's, that's how that story goes, which continues to further not make him a likable character in- Yeah... Hollywood. I, I don't know, though, man. I still think, like, if Ryan keeps... 14:31 If he creates another Welcome to Wrexham or he, he, like... I, I just feel like s- people sometimes have a short memory, you know? And, like- Yeah... 14:39 to me, the biggest thing is, like, uh, several months earlier, Alex C- Alex & Alex, right, that drama, and I would argue to say Alex Cooper's brand was, like, in the dumps. 14:52 Then you had all the interoffice drama, and, and then her husband, and all of a sudden, her company is worth $500 million because someone doesn't care, right? Like, Patrick s- said, "Oh, I see this drama. 15:07 Doesn't mean a thing." You know, what you're doing, what you're creating is, is where the magic is, and that there's value in that. And, you know, I would argue the same thing with CAA, right? CAA goes, "We don't care. 15:23 We're gonna take you from UTA," [laughs] you know what I mean? 15:26 Um, regardless, I do, I do agree there's a chink in Ryan's armor, but I, I want to n- I think the, the, the billion dollar, literally billion dollar sort of conundrum is what sets people apart from taking negative 15:45 PR and still becoming a titan of industry. Like, what is it about them and what they do? 15:51 I, my, my other challenge, or r- m- I, I, not to challenge you, but I would say is, like, what we are exposing is the discussion around privilege, and privilege as it pertains to Hollywood is a really key thing, right? 16:02 Mm-hmm. Like, if you're in a position of power or if you have financial means or friendships that will help, that you can help lean on, then yes, they can help things go away. 16:11 I mean, that's just the way of the world, right? I mean- Mm-hmm... Amber Heard, you know, it's not like she's coming back, and it's not like she's having a... 16:20 Brett Ratner was at the top, you know, had some bad, you know, n- not that we... We, we don't need to go down the list. Kevin Spacey. 16:28 He's been kind of, he's definitely not been vindicated by any means, but he's coming back and making claims about accusations going away or, like, people, the courts ruling in his favor on some cases. Mm-hmm. 16:41 So I, I think I'm just trying to, I think all I'm trying to expose is the fact that, like, yes, I'm with you. Everyone loves a comeback story. Uh, Seabiscuit, the Mighty Ducks, Kim Kardashian. [laughs] You know what? 16:53 I think, I think what- That's a deep cut. I'm so glad that Max laughed at that. That's a Park and Rec quote- [laughs]... or a Park and Recs reference that probably went over your head. 17:01 Oh, I don't watch enough Parks and Recs. Oh, God. Chris Pratt is a, is a comedic genius. Anyway, but, but, but, but everyone, l- l- looks at, look at Shia. Talk about someone who has literally been 17:14 through it all but continues to come back. Uh, I think it just matters on, like- Oh, yeah... right place, right time and who's willing to, like, help give you a platform and give you, give your story a shot. Yeah. 17:26 Kanye's not coming back right now, bro. Like, I'm sorry. As someone that is, was a Kanye and loves a Ka- and still, I don't listen to Kanye music anymore, but, like, that's not by choice. 17:35 I think it's just, like, I don't, I just don't go for it. Yeah. But he still, he still has a fan base, though. I, I think the answer is in being prolific, is just in making things. 17:46 And to your point, right place, right time, people to help you, I think part of it is that, too. But I think it's this, like, internal confidence to, like, lean into your end-be-all vision and say that doesn't... 18:02 Like, nothing else matters. I think Elon is maybe, maybe the best example of someone who has stepped on toes, been canceled 100 times, hated and dearly loved. 18:16 If anything, his moment with Trump, like, I don't know if you remember what happened when he basically lit the house on fire with his relationship, but, like, he's just prolific. 18:26 He's, he's building value for people and, yeah, I don't know. Okay. Now what you're articulating... Hold on. To be very clear, 'cause we talk about cancellation. Yeah. The people- Mm-hmm... 18:37 that we are talking about Dave Portnoy, Alex Cooper, Trump- Mm-hmm... Elon- [gentle music] Shipping, billing, admin, payroll, marketing. 18:49 You're managing all the things, so why waste time sending important documents the old-fashioned way? Mail and ship when you want, how you want with stamps.com. 18:58 Print postage on demand and schedule pickups from your office or home. Save up to 90% with automated rate shopping. Over one million small businesses trust stamps.com. 19:08 Get $20 in free postage when you sign up for the pro plan at stamps.com/blackfriday2026. Terms and conditions apply. Musk, Kanye. When we talk about cancellation, I think what is deeply... 19:24 And we should actually do an entire episode just on cancellation culture and cancel culture just at, at, at, at, at large. Yeah. 19:32 But something that is so important to acknowledge as we're, as it pertains to the individuals we're specifically talking about, when these individuals, quote-unquote, "get canceled," it is, for a lack of better term, a lot of the comments being made are based or pulled from public opinion. 19:50 Now, of course, accusations may be made, may or may not be made, and then they're made public by way of court and PR spinning them and talking about them. 20:00 Again, that is not me siding with one way or the other about one person's opinion or whether or not they did or did not do something horrible. Let's... This is not a political show, so anyone listening- Mm-hmm... 20:09 again, in the comments section, I am not siding one way or the other. All I am talking about is the circumstances in which public figures specifically receive scrutiny. 20:20 And I think, for the most part, the individuals that we've m- mentioned, the scrutiny that they receive and the ridicule is all based around whether or not my opinion is right in the world of living life. 20:37 So go with me for a second. Kanye West, he made a song, clearly, you know, uh, if you're going, uh, based on the written word, not the most loving towards a certain type of person. 20:51 That's artistic freedom, that is self-expression, that is by all means, as it pertains to how we as Americans govern, there's nothing wrong with that. 21:03 And so what we're watching play out in real time is a social experiment based around Kanye or an individual, whether we agree or disagree with the values that he just showcased to the world. 21:18 And the reason why it works in his favor is because people care so d- like, the smartness of this and the stickiness of this, whether you like him or not, you're now going to know who he is, how he is, and what he is because of us attaching self-expression or freedom of speech to said person. 21:37 Charlie Kirk, s- very sadly, you know, uh, re- was on the, uh, was, was not a benefactor of this by any means, given, uh, his, his untimely death. But was- Mm-hmm... 21:49 also play, you know, played the same fine line of, "This is my opinion. This is how I see it. I'm willing to live and die by it." 21:59 And I think that that's very much where we're moving towards is people won't go away based on their opinion. And very sadly- Yeah... 22:07 how much one or two crazies want to assert their dominance or how, showcase their frustration and have killed people for it. Martin Luther King- Yeah... Jr. 22:18 being a, a perfect example of someone on the, on, as history says, the right side of that discussion. Mm-hmm. Right? But, um, very sadly also res- uh, the recipient of an unfortunate- Yeah. 22:30 Um, I also would, would, uh, would say you're not saying that Kanye's words were correct. You're saying that he has every right to say whatever he wants to say- Yeah... 22:40 because we live in a free United States, even if you disagree with what he has to say. Agreed. You know? Yeah. 22:47 Um, so, well, you know, the, the, the last part of this I think we should dive into is the CAA and UTA of it all, right? 22:56 And, uh, I would say we probably would both agree from a talent agency perspective, UTA has been on top from a creator digital POV for a very long time now. 23:09 I, I would argue to say the other agents, agencies have been chasing the prominence of UTA Digital. Recently, um, CAA hired Brent Weinstein, who used to run the CA, uh, the UTA Digital Group. 23:23 Now he's doing CAA's, and they've been making some moves. You know, they've been getting bigger and better talent. I think Alex Cooper is a huge deal. 23:34 I think it's not just, to me, this isn't just we got Alex Cooper, right? I see it as, "Hey, we are just as good as anyone else out there." I, I, I actually think this is a, 23:51 this is, there, there might be a domino effect of other talent now seeing the opportunity of being at CAA, personally. Interesting. 23:58 As someone, I love all of the agencies, and I think that there's some phenomenal both agents and leaders at, at each of them. 24:07 Specifically to highlight, I think, you know, CAA, UTA, WME, and Gersh are all very reputable as it pertains to the digital world. That's not opinion, that's fact. 24:20 I think the, the, if, if, if you, that is just clear fact. I will say that as someone that has done the rounds and has done signing meetings in the past, and have met with... 24:30 And there's not, there's no, there's not a one size fits all, and there's also, you know, it's dependent agent to agent or the team or who's assembled and who's going to, who believes in or who... 24:41 You know, it, it's case by case and time, you know, ma- all, all, all in the matter of timing. I will say to, to what I think you're alluding to, there is a moment right now at CAA or for CAA 24:55 To leverage their traditional ecosystem, because that is what they're most deeply known for, is being the top in movies and film and, and, and what have you. 25:05 The more bought in that side is, knowing that there are digital talent that so badly want to make that crossover, if they can help be the bridge for that gap and help prove that, there's a huge app- there's, there's hu- there's so va- there's a wide open net for that. 25:22 S- additionally, as you mentioned, when someone is seen as the top, if UTA is the, the best in that department or is seen as the best in the creator ecosystem, there's also a fear 25:36 for some that they might not be a Charli D'Amelio or an Alix Earle or Alex Cooper, and that those people are so large that there isn't necessarily enough room for them to be at the biggest and best agency. 25:51 And now, now, in that, you know, uh... And so that plays into strategy as well. Do you wanna go be a smaller fi- a bigger fish in a smaller pond? 26:02 And I know that I've had several conversations with talent and/or managers that have clients when assessing the landscape, where specifically 26:16 it was strategically decided, "Let me go invest in CAA's digital department now," because they're s- not, they're not smaller, but if I'm a b- if I believe myself to be a bigger talent, and I don't think that their talent pool is as vast, I'll get more attention and I will be one of the top prop there. 26:35 I also think too, like, the, the thing that I think we lose sight of in a lot of these talent signing deals is it's all about people, right? 26:45 And at the end of the day, you know, the, the agencies are represented by the people who work with them, the agents. 26:54 And I can genuinely say I love people at all the agencies, but you know, the, like, that's what talent is reacting to as well, like who they connect with- Yeah... who they feel is effective. 27:06 I know agents or agencies are seen as places that shouldn't be anything but deal makers and connectors, but I think the best agents are creative. You know what I mean? They, like, you have to think creatively. 27:20 And so, um, I think traditionally UTA has, has been that. Again, it doesn't mean WME nor CAA doesn't have that, but, um, yeah, it's gonna be, it's gonna be an exciting wild, wild, wild ride. Well, 27:34 we should probably talk about our next thing in the world of basketball. [laughs] Oh. We're playing basketball. Basketball. Yeah, there we go. [laughs] Oh my God. [laughs] I used to sing that all... 27:51 I used to jam out to that song all the time. All the time, buddy. [laughs] Um, all right. 27:59 So, uh, basket- basically, um, Bob Iger, Josh Kushner, they just bought the Lakers, uh, $12.5 billion- [laughs]... which is, like, absolute insanity. Oh, man. Wow. 28:15 Um, what makes it more crazy is that Mark Walter, he bought the team at, at the time, a record $10 billion roughly 10, 10 months, uh, before, and he sold it to Josh and Bob. So he got a nice $2.5 billion markup. 28:32 That must be the one of the craziest flexes. It's mainly Josh's money. It's mainly Josh's money. Um- And they put Bob, Bob is there associated to be like, "I'm, I'm a part of it. 28:43 I'm more of, like, an anchor for entertainment- Exactly... in Hollywood," et cetera. Yeah. And look, I, I don't know how much Bob put in, but, like, he sh- hopefully he put in a, something. Yeah. 28:56 But, but Josh Kushner is the, is the one who runs Thrive Capital that has billions on billions- Yeah... in assets- Yeah, yeah... and is also connected to his brother, Jared, who secretly runs the White House. 29:09 So, uh, all that to say [laughs] Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. Uh, all that, all that to say, um- Look, I mean, for the record, just for the record, I mean, when you look at, like, Bob's 29:25 total annual compensation, they say that his package, generally speaking, is $48.8 million every fiscal year. You know, his, uh, 29:37 his fixed base salary is a million, but then he gets stock awards of, like, 21 million, options for 14. Mm-hmm. So I, I, I'm only saying it because $12.8 billion, 29:49 you know, you're not, you're not, you're not covering that net with a, with a $45 million salary. Salary. Yeah. I mean, unless he made good decisions with saving and investing, that's totally plausible. 30:06 He pr- I mean, he probably definitely has a lot of money. Let's, let's not get that wrong. Um- Yeah. Yeah... uh, and he worked at Disney for a long time. Fair. A long time. Fair. Uh, I think, I'm hearing- Wow... 30:20 roughly 30 years. That doesn't mean that you're making $45 million every single one of those years, buddy. No, of course. I mean, probably only the last, I don't know. I mean, he, how long was he CEO? Like, let's see. 30:36 Um, 'cause he was the, he's, I mean, he's been the head of that company for a while. Yeah. 30:41 And then, and then, and then, I mean, and then, and then pulled, for, for the record, pulled a Leo or pulled a Wolf of Wall Street, and literally just went, "All right, guys, later." 30:51 [laughs] And then went, "I'm not leaving." [laughs] You know? Or, or really they asked him to come back, but that's, that's amazing to me, in my opinion. Yeah. And he wa- he was there for 19 years- Damn... 31:03 um, as, as CEO. Um, but, okay, so, so this is, this is interesting, right? 31:10 I, I think a lot of people are, even though mo- most of it is probably Josh's money and other people's, uh, the fact that this is where Bob, you know, is pr- gonna need to spend a lot of time, he's the figurehead. 31:24 And, you know, I was reading, um, I think it was Matt Belloni, and he was talking about how it's gonna be a different ride for him, right? 31:32 When he was running Disney, the buck stops with him, but there's o- there's also other people that really are figureheads and take ownership. 31:40 But here, like, if there's something wrong with the food, if the team's not doing well, it's Bob's fault. And so it's also interesting with L- with LeBron leaving. Um, so they're gonna have to do some building here. 31:54 Yeah. You know? Yeah. Uh, the, the other, the other unique thing happening here is the drama with the Buss family. 32:06 And, um, Jeanie Buss, she ha- you know, um, her family has, has owned the Lakers for a long time, and- You ever watch the show? You ever watch John C. 32:20 Reilly play, uh, play Buss, Just Peachy speaking? Jerry? No. Oh. It's great. It, it, it covers, it covers Magic Johnson's reign as a Laker. It's all, it's all about his- Oh... journey personally. 32:35 His, his general journey and it, uh, while on the Lakers obviously, his rise, and it's pretty freaking cool. It's, uh, a well, well, well-produced, well-shot, well-documented. 32:47 And there's moments where, like, of course they show the great parts, but they also... I, I almost, I have to imagine that Magic participated in the producing of the show. Hmm. 32:59 You know, they didn't shy away from making sure that there were parts of him that, I don't wanna say ugly, but being a young man, uh, being ugly, so, uh, just being a young person and ensuring that they get what's theirs. 33:12 Yeah. 33:12 I think some people could misinterpret it as selfish, and I think others, depending on the light, would say, kinda going back to our last topic, very much asserting their narrative for what they deserve and what they need to get theirs to achieve what it is that they wanna do, what, what, what they need to do to achieve. 33:30 Anyway. Yeah. Do, give it, give it a watch. It's fantastic. Okay. Well, I will say one show that I have watched is Running Point, the, the, the parody on, on all of this. Have you seen it? No. 33:45 Okay, so you should watch it. It's, it's on Netflix. It stars, it stars, uh, Kate Hudson, Brenda Song, Chet Hanks. Um, it's got, uh, Jay Ellis in it as well, Max Greenfield, and it is hilarious. 34:00 But, um, Kate Hudson basically plays Jeanie in a fictional sort of world where, um, the Lakers are a different team and blah, blah, blah. Mm-hmm. But it's, it's, it's cool. 34:11 It, it's, it's cool and, um, it's wild that, you know, there's so many pieces of sh- content coming out about this family that has dominated, you know, um, sports, uh, sports ownership. 34:25 I hope- But I, I men- I mention it also just 'cause when you do watch it, similar, I'll watch... Uh, we'll do a trade, we'll do a trade-off. But you have to watch HBO, and I have to watch Netflix. 34:33 So I think the trade-off is you get the better show. [laughs] That's fine. We get, we get rankings, so let's just, let's, let's not forget last week. 34:40 [laughs] Um, you know, you're gonna have, you're gonna have to throw in an extra trade for me. I need something else. Okay. You gotta give me something else. Send me a bag of popcorn or something. All right. 34:49 But in the documentation, what's really cool is that, uh, where, the way in which it's depicted of Jerry Buss, when documenting Buss's journey, what was really cool- Mm-hmm... 34:59 about that moment especially, so they have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Kareem is now f- he's moving on or he's, he's... They've just brought Magic Johnson in. He's the first person, you know, drafted. He negotiates. 35:14 He, he negotiates. He, he doesn't... He basically pre-negotiates his fee- Mm... going into, 'cause he didn't have to be drafted. He didn't have to go in. He would, like, he could've extended his time still in college. 35:27 Mm-hmm. And so he pre-negotiated his fee and was like, "That's cool, I'll just..." Uh, but like got the Lakers to give him a hefty fee, made him one of the highest paid- Wow... individuals, uh, at that time. And 35:41 when you see Jerry running around, what you discover is that, like, they were, I don't wanna say insolvent, but they didn't have the money that they needed. So he was really robbing Peter to pay Paul and squeezing- Mm... 35:53 people on deals and shining others off when they were trying to collect their money. And 36:00 I don't wanna say did some pretty shitty deal-making to people, but, like, very smartly to keep the franchise alive and to build it and grow it and to what it is. It was pre- it's pretty cool to kinda see. 36:09 Like, I don't wanna say, it, definitely not fake it till you make it, but the level, the complexity of having to keep an even keel during, during riding the storm that is entrepreneurship is very cool. Yeah. 36:21 I, I'm very intrigued on... I was talking to someone yesterday, um, uh, and he, he's worked in the entertainment industry. 36:31 We were talking about retirement, and he loves this idea of someday becoming a professor and just teaching kids and, like, you know, always working, but that's, like, a way to retire. 36:41 And I'm, I'm feeling lately that the way to the retire for the ultra rich is to buy a sports team. [laughs] And, [laughs] um- Yeah. Yeah... 36:51 it's, uh, you know, 'cause I heard the rumor was that, um, there's gonna be, um, an expansion team out of Vegas, and that- Yeah, I heard that... um, Josh and, and Bob were looking at that, at that team specifically. 37:04 Um, but you- I heard that Bob was looking at it at one point Okay. Yeah. I mean, I'm, I'm not surprised, right? 37:09 A while ago, there's been-- Uh, I think a while ago, the idea was there were rumors of LeBron buying a, an extens- expansion team. Obviously, it's not happening anymore. Mm-hmm. But there was- Yeah... 37:17 I think about two years ago, the idea is that they were looking at Vega- they were looking at Vegas as an expansion. He would become a player owner. Mm. Mm. Yeah, yeah. 37:26 I mean, uh, Bezos, he, you know, he just bought Liverpool. Mm-hmm. So, and there's so many other countless examples. Uh, Steve Ballmer right after Microsoft, right? Yeah. He got the Clippers. 37:38 So, um- Do you think, do you think they have, they have, they have to trade? 37:40 If we're talking about the Lakers, they have to like-- They have Luka, but like, what are they-- They're gonna have to do some pretty heavy, hefty trades, no? Yeah. 37:47 There, there's pro-- That's what I was saying, like they g- they gotta build. I don't know that you could build a championship- Yeah... team with Luka as the star. Yeah. You know? I did hear that- A little while ago... 37:55 Bob Iger did start doing some trades though. Did you hear about this? He d- he did do one trade- Just one?... out the gate. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Already? Yeah. Type in, um, type in, um, Bob Iger trades. 38:08 Uh, [mumbling] Well, ladies and gentlemen, as he pulls that up, clearly Boye was not informed of this meteoric trade that Bob Iger, uh, crafted. Is this a joke? Just tell me. What is this? 38:21 Uh, Bob Iger traded for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit with NBC. They-- He actually ended up in deal, in a deal. He gave the, I guess... Was it Al Michaels' deal or Al Roker? Uh, uh, uh- Mm-hmm... one of the Als. 38:38 We should do-- As you're looking it up. He specifically traded for the IP. Uh, one of the, one of the, um, uh, they ga- he-- NBC owned, uh, pr- it w- the very first character ever created by Walt Disney- Mm... 38:55 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. And it's not a joke, this actually did happen. Iger, when wanting to relinquishing, uh, one of their talent's deals over to NBC or releasing him, they, he got Oswald Lucky Rabbit back. 39:10 So anyway- That's cool... a very tiny- All right... peak way of talking about trade. Yeah, yeah. But what is indicative of that commentary, and they also announced it at D3, so that's also like quite timely. 39:21 I'm just kinda like seek, you know, seeping in a little bit of like the, um, the d- uh, the Disney Con, uh, commentary. I'm just helping tie that in. Uh, they're gonna do something with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. 39:33 They're gonna, uh, as, as people have talked about the Mickey Mouse, um, knowing that Mickey Mouse's trademark is loosening up or is now gonna become a little bit more public re- uh, is now gonna be available- Mm-hmm... 39:45 in, um, to the masses, that's their play is, uh, presumably they're gonna grab-- They, they grabbed Oswald as a, as a means to- That's, that's cool... for their fuel more content. Wow, look at you, little historian. 39:59 Yeah, yeah. [chuckles] Also, a very cool way of anointing that. What a great story. What a great way to get people that are Disney fans further ingratiated into that character. Yeah. 40:10 We're bringing back Walt Disney's ever first character. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. Well, uh, it's gonna be interesting to see how, uh, Bob's sort of, uh, let's call it retirement [chuckles] goes. 40:27 Uh, like I mentioned, there's drama right now with the Buss family, um, having said that they sold, um, their shares in this transaction with Jeanie being like, "No, I have the power. I didn't sell." 40:40 Um, uh, she's, you know, wants to remain governor of the Lakers. So, um, I think we're just hearing the beginning of probably what's going to be a lot of Lakers drama. Well, last but not least, [snorts] 40:58 we have another AI summit. And, uh- Another one? Another one. Another one. It's the state of the union. We have to. AI is everywhere. 41:07 The, the big piece of news, the biggest piece of news is that, um, there's now sort of a timeline to Anthropic's proposed IPO. 41:17 They are rumored to go public, uh, as soon as October at a two trillion valuation- Wow... 41:25 or more, which would, uh, don't tell Elon, top SpaceX's $1.77 trillion June listing as the largest debut ever. And, uh, you know, this is, this is gonna be interesting. 41:40 We're starting to see new money flow into the economy, and, um, this is also off the heels of, um, uh, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who announced that the Gemini app has passed one billion monthly active users, um, as of August 11th. 42:00 And, um, ChatGPT has a billion users, so like a-- like people are using AI at an maybe an alarming [chuckles] rate. Um- 'Cause we're-- Just for clarity, there's what? 42:14 There's about, essentially about like 8.6 billion people in the world? 7.6 last time I- Let's see. I thought it was around seven, but I think it's, it's more. I mean, China has- China has... I mean, I mean-... 42:23 one billion of those. Um, so we've got- And if you, and if you really think about it, there's significant overlap. 8.3 billion people. 8.3 billion. I was off by 300 million. [chuckles] Boom. Yeah. 8.3 billion. 42:38 Uh, another guesstimate. Uh- And that was in 2022, so it could be likely higher. Oh, wow. So you're saying that was maybe right. Wow. Wow. Wow. Um, 42:50 point-- Uh, the only, only thing I'm trying to articulate here is like that doesn't mean that if there's a billion users on OpenAI, there's a billion people, there's two billion people using AI generally speaking. 43:00 I know you're not saying that. But I just wanna remind ourselves here for a second, there is a significant amount of overlap on those accounts. Oh, yeah. No question. Yeah. Right? Mm-hmm. Uh- Mm-hmm 43:11 That's crazy to think that that number- Totally... is that high. But I guess if I'm reminded there's eight billion people, that's only one-eighth of the... 43:17 I mean, that's, that's a lot to think that one-eighth of the world's population is using AI. Yeah. A- and look, these guys have the, they have the numbers to back it up. 43:28 So, um, in May, Anthropic reported 47 billion in annualized revenue. Um, and they're projecting 100 to 120 billion by year-end. 43:41 So people are, are u- like, it's not, they're not just using it, like, these, these AI companies are, are making a lot, a lot of money. Uh, and honestly- But they-... 43:52 I'd consider SpaceX an AI company at this point, too, with X AI. Yeah. Right. But, you know, they also don't put next to that number how much the output costs. So I'm actually really- True... 44:02 curious about the energy output, because there's been, uh, I know that I, I'm, I've heard on several accounts from several different sources, uh, as well as, like, news sources, uh, you know, you've seen there's been a lot of con- conversation around how expensive it is to manage and run a lot of these, a lot of the servers and all- Tokens. 44:20 Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So, like- Yeah... I'm deeply curious if, you know, when you hear these numbers, you go, "Yeah, they're, they're, they're printing money." 44:27 But then I'm, then, you know, on the, on the flip side, there's the thought of are they running to IPO because of the fear of being able to maintain the- Mm-hmm... the, the, the, uh, maintain the finance of it? 44:38 I mean, the- The figures... startup costs just to get this going prior to, right? It was not a for-profit situation at, at first. Yep. Right? It's also a squeeze on the economy a little bit. 44:50 Um, and what I mean more is, like, uh, from an environmental POV, right? Yeah. One big culture conversation, and when I say culture, I don't mean, like, cool culture. 45:02 I'm talking just, like, our economy, like every m- mom and dad and family, is data centers, you know? Yeah. Uh, and they're popping up in neighborhoods. There's noise pollution. 45:13 There's water use, like, uh, you know, there's regulations, and now they even wanna create data centers in space, you know? And all of this is predicated by our enormous use of AI, you know? 45:28 And chips, you know, chip factories being built. It's like, it's, um... I'm very, I'm going to be very intrigued for our, our future, and honestly, like, 45:41 uh, this might sound funny, but if, I remember Terminator and Terminator 2. Yeah. In many ways, I actually feel that that movie is, could be prophetic. Dude, the first place- You know?... 45:52 the first place we're going for data centers, moon. Yeah. Well s- people wanna, they wanna put data centers right now in our, in our orbit. Yeah. So they wanna put data centers, but, like, yeah, the moon, right? 46:02 It's like, it's this, it's very similar. But it, to me, it's just like... So I, the other day, I asked, um, I asked Chat, like, "Do you wanna take over the world?" Oh, wow. And- Okay. All right. 46:14 No, but, like, it was just in my mind, and it said some really profound things, and basically, it's, it was like 46:22 it's not necessarily about AI taking over the world, it's about humanity giving so much information to AI that at some point, AI is just gonna control everything because we are, we ourselves are giving away our information to AI. 46:42 That was the first thing it said. The, the other thing that I thought was really profound is that inadvertently, AI could take a prompt, an order, and do something 46:58 that would be negative to humanity. Because AI, the, the goal is about being efficient, right? And so, um, this idea that you could tell it to make the world a better place- Yeah. That's-... 47:15 and so it would determine-... so bad... yeah, what it... So it could be like- Oh... "Well, I'm going to, I'm gonna be Thanos and kill half the world because- Right... that's what's good. 47:26 That's what's gonna make the world a better place." Yeah. Less people, more... You know what I mean? Yeah. 47:31 So, and, and look, as we know, all it takes is a bad actor to create an AI that, like, might not even be evil, might literally be like Thanos. Thanos didn't think he was evil. He thought he was doing the universe 47:44 a service, right? And so these are the things that keep me, keep me up at night. [laughs] Kind of in a way is, way to bring that full circle, just being a, being a uncancelable... 47:56 Talk about someone that was uncancelable. Thanos very much lets you know that he was- [laughs]... doing it for whatever reasons he thought were believable and justified. Yeah. Complex character- That's true... 48:06 if you will. Complex character. You know, one, one more thing I will, I will add, um, and I'd be curious what, just what tools you're using right now, because I'm, I'm still using Chat, 48:19 and what I see Chat doing is trying to suck me in. So, you know, on the pod a couple months ago, we talked about how we can give it our, um, we can give it our, uh, financial data, right? Yeah. 48:33 Connect it to our bank accounts. You know, I'm seeing now that, like, you know, I can give it access to my health data too. Mm. Right? 48:41 So there's, the, you know, if you go into Chat, there, there are things that you can connect that keep it sticky, and they are also working on competing with Claude Cowork as well. 48:54 So, you know, I, I think for a moment people were kind of saying Claude was better, but, like, I just haven't had the, to be honest, the energy to, like, go to a new ecosystem. I feel that's... 49:06 I'm gonna, I'm gonna stop you. You- Yeah... before you, uh, if I, if I may, actually permission to stop you Stop me You can't make that comment until you use Claude. Okay. 49:16 I'm only saying that, let me, let me re-- Uh, I'm only saying that to say, as someone that has both right next to each other and does... Zoom in on that. Look at that. 49:26 But don't look at how many messages and phone calls I don't have answered. But- [laughs] Proof. Right there. Y- oh, yeah Right there, right there right next to each other. 49:37 All I'm saying, all I'm saying is, I go back and forth, and I'll prompt both sides same exact question. Mm-hmm. And don't get me wrong, like, like, I like the fast answers that I can get from... 49:47 Or I like the general conversation I have with Sol. Mm-hmm. But as it relates to proper data and results, I have to give Claude their flowers. He, uh, he really makes it happen. He really, he really calls the shots. 50:03 Yeah. And I'm not saying I don't want to use it or will never use it, I'm just saying that ChatGPT is definitely doing work to make it sticky for you- Yeah... to not feel the need to leave. And, like, 50:19 AI's also moving so fast. 50:20 Like, you know, I've been, I've advised and invested in founders who, you know, were cr- were and are creating agents to do what they need to be careful Claude and GPT are now doing, right? Right now- Yeah... 50:38 the next two years, these platforms are going to empower not just the information of it all, but tasks. Yeah. We are going to get the major LLMs in our emails, in our Slacks- Yeah... like, doing tasks. You know? Yeah. 50:56 That's the next evolution. And then, to me, it's robotics. Now the tasks that happen on our computer is just gonna... So, like, be careful, be smart as an entrepreneur 51:09 of where you're going because these 800-pound gorillas are, they just kinda wanna eat it all, you know? Anyways. Well, way to leave us on that dire news, sir. 51:21 [laughs] With one snap of your fingers, you just destroyed all of, all of, all of our listeners. [laughs] Um, yeah. So, all right. I think we're done. I think it was a great conversation, a good day. 51:38 We talked about Alex Cooper, Bob Iger, and Josh Kushner with the Lakers and, and the, the latest with AI. So we'll leave that with our readers. Catch us wherever you find podcasts, and we'll catch you next week. 51:52 Over and out. Pew, pew, pew. [gentle music] Business is booming. Is your fulfillment ready for peak season? Switch to ShipStation now and handle more volume with confidence when it counts. 52:08 ShipStation connects Shopify, Amazon, TikTok Shop, and over 200 more integrations with one platform that does it all. You can manage orders, sync inventory, track returns, all automatically. 52:18 Everything your operation needs, all in one place. Right now, qualified shippers get a real, dedicated person to get you set up and switched over for free, so when peak season hits, you're ready to go. 52:28 Switch today at shipstation.com, code audio. [gentle music] This show is brought to you by The Future Party and Crosstalk Studios, produced by Chris Altiel, Hoya Holiday, and Paul York. 52:40 Special shout-out to our production team, Araceli Rubalcava, Max Goolen, Shannon Klein, and Eli Tafur.
