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Bloomberg reported Wednesday that iHeartMedia is exploring a sale of part or all of its podcast business󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇍󠅵󠄪󠄢󠄤󠆅󠄩󠆁󠆙󠄅󠇔︈󠄾󠄙󠆇󠆄󠄝󠄥󠅖󠇋󠄑󠅁󠅅󠇯󠅴󠇀󠇝󠇏󠄣󠅴󠇕󠆇󠆮󠇍󠄓󠅈󠅏󠅕󠅭󠇞. iHeart told The Hollywood Reporter it has “no plan to sell󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆍󠆝󠆁󠄤︉󠆆󠅶󠆙󠅘󠄓󠄣󠄺󠇀󠆯󠇦󠇜󠅉󠅓󠇦󠇄󠅓󠅻󠇋󠇋󠆔󠆆󠅉󠇘󠅉︈󠆨󠅆󠇦󠆡󠅁󠄲󠆺󠇫󠅴󠄿.” Both can be true󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅞󠅃󠇕󠇂󠆘󠆸󠆑󠆔󠆃︉󠆳󠇡󠆷󠄃󠅴󠅸󠄱󠇃󠆮󠄢󠇫󠅂󠆶󠄛󠇥󠆞󠇛󠆺󠄜󠄒󠄎󠄜󠇖󠄦󠇟󠆹󠇯󠅪󠇕󠆅.

iHeart’s Q3 profit fell 17%, it cut full-year EBITDA guidance to $550M to $600M (from about $800M), and the stock lost 65% in five days󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇯︅󠇐󠆦󠄵󠅄󠄑󠇨󠇈󠆑󠆫󠆪󠆳󠇀󠆾󠅢󠄇󠆯󠅪󠄿󠄾󠆸󠅀󠄣󠆝󠆨󠇬󠇯󠄏󠆏󠄸󠇚󠇡󠅋󠄠󠆁󠆾󠄾󠄉󠅝. It carries $5B of debt, with about $3B due in 2029󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄞󠆴󠆩󠅶󠄰󠇤󠆄󠆋󠆑󠄬󠄱󠅨󠄎󠇎󠅉󠆮󠄿󠆕󠅃󠄬󠇞󠆒󠅲󠇅󠄮󠆉󠅃󠄜󠅴󠆻󠆰󠅕󠄻󠅯󠇠󠅆󠄅󠄨󠅪󠅴.

Podcasts are the one thing growing: revenue up 24% to $174M in Q3, and about $657M over the last 12 months󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅶󠆒󠄷󠆫󠆈󠇔󠆽󠄁󠇓󠄳󠆎󠅚󠅰󠅆󠅖󠅛󠆩󠄇󠄒󠆭󠅱󠅸󠇅󠆪󠅦󠄐󠇅󠅟󠄞󠆅󠆻󠅠󠅺󠆳󠅫󠅍󠄬󠆔󠇟󠅄. I estimate the podcast unit alone is worth roughly $1.5B to $2.5B, more than 10x what the market valued all of iHeart at this week󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄐󠅯󠄡󠅬󠄁󠆊󠅕󠇑󠄁󠄴󠄵󠇃󠅘󠆍󠅰󠆽󠅆︄󠅈󠅇󠄪󠆨󠅍󠄰󠆫󠇏󠇒󠄥󠆘󠅫󠅾󠆡󠄖󠄼󠅦󠆉󠄙󠄓󠄻󠄯.

SiriusXM is the best buyer󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄇󠅶︁󠇝󠅽󠇊󠆕󠅿︌󠅂󠄷󠆤󠄵󠇡󠅁󠆜󠄆󠆦󠆅󠆯󠅨󠆬󠅏󠆛󠄇󠄏󠆋󠅧󠇨󠅦󠇦󠅇󠆫󠄚󠇄󠆷󠆮󠆱󠅊󠄢. It already held merger talks with iHeart, it owns the ad tech (AdsWizz, Simplecast), it throws off $1.4B a year in free cash flow, and

Imagine you write a song in three days, shop it around, and a label offers you a life-changing check on one condition: someone else gets to sing it󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄌󠇜󠇐󠄣󠅨󠄏󠇯󠅂󠆣󠄭󠅰󠇔󠆧󠅷️󠅦󠄡󠅗󠄵󠇅󠇧︆󠄀󠆹󠄧󠄕󠅼󠆕󠅺︋󠅱󠆛󠆝󠆺󠇘󠅕󠇂󠄒󠅁󠅯. You have about $100 in the bank󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅭󠇚󠇂󠄸󠄜󠄄󠄷󠇣󠄫󠄇󠆴󠅾󠄾󠄥󠄥󠄙󠅎󠄲󠆮󠄡󠆂󠆳󠆯󠄧󠆺󠄬󠄈󠅖󠆿󠅸︎󠇉󠅕󠆪󠆔󠄳󠆬󠅘︈󠄦. Your dog is eating better than you are󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇣󠇤󠇠󠅢󠄖︇󠅊󠅁󠅚󠆅󠆾󠇫󠅽󠄧︇󠇦󠅫󠅹󠆲︇󠄎󠇣󠇏󠅎󠄢󠆮󠆪󠅠󠆺󠄀󠅉󠅬󠇗󠆑󠆰󠅰󠄽󠅵󠆑󠆓. Do you take the money󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆡󠆯󠆊󠄳︋󠅌︁󠆫󠅞󠄮󠇄󠄫󠄭󠅈󠇂󠄥󠄆󠆸󠆾󠆚󠄉󠅱󠆅󠆣󠇁︌︂󠆬󠄛󠇯󠄿󠄲󠇍󠆫󠅔󠅋󠆮󠆑󠇧︈?

That’s the decision Sylvester Stallone faced in 1975󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅶󠄊󠇫󠄦󠄠󠆒󠆩󠅽󠅅󠆛󠄮󠇒󠄙󠅯󠄂󠄃󠄦󠆹󠅬󠄑󠆷󠇯󠆃󠅴󠅟󠅨󠄖󠆨󠅙󠆶󠄌󠇘󠄩󠆩󠇏󠄓󠆢󠅝󠄎󠅐. Producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff offered him $360,000 for the Rocky script as long as he walked away from the lead󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅼󠅬󠅰󠅢󠄻󠅑󠅻󠄇󠅭󠆠󠆗󠆦󠆡󠅵󠅔󠅢󠅬󠆀󠅈󠄴󠅑󠆅󠇬󠆒󠇗󠄣󠆊󠄸󠇇󠆜󠅘󠅵󠆮󠄇󠇑󠆈󠄏󠆡󠇐󠄎. He had a little over $100 to his name and said no anyway󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅘󠅄󠆯︁󠇪󠅓󠇔󠇍󠄕󠅢︃󠅁󠅰󠄱󠅍󠆎󠅃󠆁󠆐󠄡󠆹󠇖󠆘󠆈󠆛󠅘󠇌︊󠇀︉󠆆󠄸󠄘︄︋󠆫󠄜󠆷︇︋. He would rather, in his words, bury the script in the backyard and let the caterpillars play Rocky󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇍󠆶󠅓󠆮󠆚󠄑󠅅󠇞︇󠄢󠄋󠆷󠇍󠆬󠇛󠆖󠄇󠇓︆󠅔󠅞󠅠󠄂󠆐󠅧󠄲︉󠆃󠆈󠅝󠄣󠄟󠅪󠆕󠄵󠄸󠅠󠄨︍󠇈.

That “no” is the most famous part of the story󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇪󠅒󠆯󠆵󠆠󠇤️󠆰󠄸󠄊󠆾󠅹󠆥󠆮󠅎󠇇󠅼󠅺󠄭󠅍️󠆩󠆰󠆭󠅸󠇗︁󠆐󠆲󠅧︄󠄹󠅹󠅓󠆀󠄷󠇁󠅰󠆃󠆊. The lesser known part is that Stallone won the role and lost the IP󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆞󠄃󠇕󠄁󠇣󠅩󠅰󠅠󠆨󠆼󠅹󠆏󠆶󠅖󠄯󠇙󠅯󠇃󠅷󠇂︄󠄭󠄻󠇕󠄣️󠄄󠇘󠆏󠅇󠄨󠆍󠇛󠆦󠄅󠅲󠄐󠇛󠄣󠇆. Fifty years later, the character he created has earned close to $2 billion at

Say you and twelve friends pool money to buy a food truck󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄋󠆓󠅶󠅬︉󠅾󠅋󠄦󠅓󠄽󠄴󠇟︊󠅗󠄫󠅬󠆬󠅠󠅈󠆸󠅻󠇂︈󠅂󠇍󠇑󠅷󠆲󠆔󠄗󠅞︃󠅸󠄪󠇋󠆙󠆨󠄜󠄼󠇇. You each own a piece󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇞︉󠅖󠇞󠆤󠇍󠆡󠅠󠅦󠇦󠅠︀󠄼󠇋󠅙󠅋󠅭󠄠️󠄽󠆉󠅕󠄺󠆻︎󠅻︎󠅍󠇔󠇌󠄖󠅙󠅯󠄏︆󠅎󠆦󠆑󠆆󠇨. You don't get to tell the cook how much salt goes on the fries, that's their job, and if you're being honest with yourself you'd probably make the fries worse󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄙󠆽󠆾︂󠄗󠄥󠆖󠅬󠄕󠆃󠄫󠇯󠆯󠅇󠄰󠇁󠄎󠇀︈󠄕󠇑󠄟󠅍󠇕󠇛󠆡󠄢󠄒󠄯󠄁󠅇󠆙󠄏︀󠅆󠇌󠆐󠇚󠆑󠆊. But the truck keeps a health code binder in the glovebox, and the whole business lives or dies on nobody getting sick󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆝󠇂󠇩󠄔󠇏󠄫󠆄󠆞󠆙󠅀󠄠󠅊󠆬󠆪󠆻󠆖󠆇󠅙󠇯󠇊󠅡󠄛󠆜󠄺󠄠󠆠󠇩󠅱󠇤󠅑󠄕󠆵󠅋󠅵󠅢󠅠󠇐󠇍󠇌󠅃. Now imagine customers keep getting sick, the truck keeps issuing apologies after someone else points it out, and you hear the cook's assistant complained fifteen times and got told to stop being so dramatic󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄇󠆽󠇥󠇣󠆲󠇘󠄣󠇩󠆚󠄰󠅫󠇒󠆀󠇌󠇝󠄿󠅝󠅋󠆵󠆂󠆺󠄇󠆋󠇎󠄳󠆠󠆻󠅢️󠆌󠅹󠅽︂󠇦󠅇󠇮󠆬󠄮󠆥󠇟. The recipes can stay private󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇝︌️󠅉󠇆󠆍󠅝󠇙󠄝󠆿󠄐󠇏󠄲󠅀󠄥󠇘󠄥󠆦󠇭󠆫󠆍󠅋󠇉󠅩󠇁󠄻󠅒󠄥󠆣󠇖󠄎︌󠆩󠇚󠅨󠇩󠄀󠇤󠄪󠅿. You'd just want to know if anybody who runs this truck ever opens the binder󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄍󠆦󠅑󠅤󠇍󠆕️󠅭󠄄󠅧󠆠󠄧󠇗󠄸󠅖󠆚󠄚󠄏󠇗󠅱󠆥󠅐󠆯󠆞󠅉󠅓󠇍︎󠆴󠄚󠅪󠅗󠄓󠆻︀︂󠄙󠆯󠄞󠇜.

That's the lawsuit Florida's pension fund filed against The New York Times in one paragraph󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄟󠄝󠇘︈󠇦󠅨󠄑󠆒󠆀󠇒󠅎󠅉󠅝󠆞󠇪󠅰󠆧󠅇󠇛󠆧󠅋󠄻󠆁󠇡󠇁󠇮󠄳󠇚󠇑󠆧󠄋󠄜󠇢󠇧󠅋󠇚󠆌󠅐󠅞󠄞.

On Wednesday, September 23,

Thursday morning, a federal judge held a hearing on the settlement that lets Paramount buy Warner Bros. Discovery󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢︋󠄮󠆡󠅋︌󠇟󠅷󠆖󠅁󠄉󠄪󠅌󠆁󠇅󠆟󠆰󠅆󠇎󠇡󠆌󠇋󠅈󠅨󠆤󠄨󠅬󠅠󠄃󠅑󠆸󠄋󠄗󠅯󠅞󠆠󠇙󠆘󠅒󠅽️. She opened by telling both sides the court isn't a rubber stamp, and said she wanted to be sure the deal came out of an arm's length process and not collusion󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇏︇󠇉󠇄󠄓󠅐󠇙󠇀󠅴󠆽󠇫󠆨󠄳󠅝󠆮󠄜󠄭󠆔󠇯󠄅󠇃󠆾󠅯󠆳󠆛󠆟󠄔󠇈󠅓󠄋󠆪󠅵󠆾︈󠆰󠅘󠇨󠅖󠇒󠅖. She also gave outside groups until 12:01 a.m. on September 25 to file briefs󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄿󠄷󠅞󠄇󠄎󠇫󠆦󠄀󠄬󠇐󠄎󠅨󠇝󠇘󠇦󠅢󠅾󠅞󠅡󠄂󠄡󠄑󠄟󠆌󠇡󠄸󠇪󠄳︌󠅓󠅾󠄎󠆖󠄧󠄻󠅖󠄏󠆻󠄽󠇣. So the ink isn't dry as of this writing󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅄󠅩󠆶󠇧󠅝󠄮󠅯󠄽󠅉󠅪󠄲󠄉󠅾󠇗󠆙󠇃󠅚󠅇󠆷󠄗󠇙󠇇󠅨󠅫󠄇󠆺󠅽󠆀󠄢󠄧󠆽󠆯󠇐󠄖󠆌󠄢︂󠆴󠄑󠆾. But the terms are public, I've read all 32 pages, and if you make things for a living (movies, TV, news, content of any kind), the document says a lot about the next five years of your career󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆏󠅫︌󠇡󠄲󠅠️󠄄󠇟󠄺󠄒󠅗󠇂󠆨󠇑󠆬󠆬󠅵󠄸󠄆󠄫︂󠇁󠄞󠆊︆󠇡󠆺󠅍󠇛󠆋󠅽󠇟󠆽󠄪󠆟󠄴︇︊󠆯. So let's walk through it.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄑󠅟󠅹󠆃󠆕󠆰︇󠆋󠅙󠅩󠄆󠄱󠆺󠅻󠄬󠄅󠄖󠇤󠄓󠇮󠇒󠇖󠄸󠆌󠄙︋󠄒󠄶󠄲󠄬󠅡󠅄󠄚󠄮󠆒󠅥󠅹󠆌󠆹󠅏Quick intro if you're new here󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆡︂󠆔󠄶󠆯󠅳󠄅︎󠆩󠄔󠅏󠄊󠆷󠄑󠅸󠄼󠇙󠆣︎󠅭󠆠󠄸󠅵󠆭󠄳󠆰󠆟󠅈󠄑󠄭󠅀󠇅︋󠄶󠆜󠅊󠇎󠇍󠅵󠆥. I'm Carl, by day I run Joseph Black Law PLLC, a New York law practice where I work on startup

Jon Rahm signed with LIV Golf in December 2023 for a deal reportedly worth more than $300 million guaranteed󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅬󠄠󠆤󠆙󠄝󠅤󠆷󠇇󠄺󠆁󠅂󠅂󠇩󠄲󠆈󠇄󠅚󠄗󠄀󠇘󠇡󠅆󠅇󠅖󠆁︂󠅈󠅥󠄐󠆋󠄀󠄙󠇊󠅝󠅴󠇁󠄂󠇓󠄘󠄀. Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, all left the PGA Tour on similar money, backed by a Saudi sovereign wealth fund that had already put more than $5 billion into the league󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆧󠅏󠅍󠆂󠄝󠆖󠆇󠄨󠄋󠇒󠇏󠄜︀󠆱󠆄󠄉󠄾󠆪󠅺󠅴󠅳󠅻󠄡󠄇󠄴󠅈󠆇󠅄󠇡️󠇯󠆹󠄕󠆗󠆱󠄹󠄻󠄺󠇃󠅎. On September 8, 2026, LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New Jersey, and those same players showed up on page eight of the petition as unsecured creditors, owed millions the league hadn't paid them󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇂󠄈󠄍󠅘󠅅󠇪󠆍󠄁󠄙󠇣󠅕󠇩︉󠆗󠅏󠄇󠆯󠄇󠄟󠆷︄󠆡󠇎󠄻󠄈󠆿󠅩󠆣󠅔󠇭󠅄󠅂󠄂󠅚󠅬󠅬󠆇󠇛󠆦󠅜. Jon Rahm's claim alone is $7.47 million󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆎︊󠅟󠇅󠄶󠅺󠄭󠇀󠅬󠅊󠇣󠆷󠆨󠅌󠅉󠇤󠆉󠆈󠅃󠅢󠄢󠇘󠆽󠅓󠆍󠄅󠆨󠆙󠆳󠅿󠇎󠇃󠄐󠆵󠆐󠇚󠇞󠄏󠅱︇. Golf's best-funded league spent five years outbidding the establishment for talent, and now its

The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is check my sleep score on Oura app󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅸󠅑󠄦󠆗󠇏󠅻󠅉󠇨󠄯󠆬󠆂󠇇󠇮󠆞󠇓󠅍󠅕󠇟󠅱󠄇󠄅󠅱󠆒󠆍󠅋󠆈󠄘󠄸󠄧󠇏󠄆󠆧󠆶󠅳󠇐󠆠󠇪︋󠆮󠆒. It's a habit I developed in the last year since a friend of mine gifted me an Oura ring󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆑󠆦󠆘󠆧󠄿󠇘︉󠄘󠅠󠆘󠆈󠇢󠅟󠄃󠅛󠇚󠄶󠆵󠇎󠄠󠆠󠇒󠆼󠄡󠆹󠇚󠅜󠅗󠅆󠇮󠇑󠆥󠆀󠇊󠅞󠅇󠅯󠅉󠄰󠆲. Prior to that I only knew how to communicate my sleep based on how I felt󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅉︋󠆿︀󠄢󠅺󠆀󠇠󠅁󠄱󠅐󠇑󠅉󠇡󠆹󠄼󠄄󠆐󠇖󠅀󠅜󠇏󠆼󠆼󠅜󠄲󠆃󠇏󠅨󠇠󠆕󠄌󠆴󠅩󠅏󠄼󠅭󠇛️󠄜. I'm assuming, for millions of people, that is now the same󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄄󠅃󠄠󠄧󠅺󠆭󠄜󠇁󠅉󠇅󠇨󠇋󠆅󠇏󠇆󠇕󠅰󠇩󠆏󠆌󠇛󠆒󠆣󠆢󠅝󠇃󠄣󠆖󠇦󠄠󠅧󠅑󠄙󠆊󠇨󠆋󠄮󠇈󠇝󠄾. That's the business Oura built, and on August 20th a proposed class action filed in the Northern District of California argued that the number is closer to a guess than a measurement, and that Oura knew it.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆲󠆑󠄒󠅙󠅡󠅨󠆬󠅫󠅣󠄞󠇭󠅧󠆢󠄏󠅢󠇐󠄛󠆐󠆃󠇀󠇋󠇄󠄭󠄥󠆖󠄅󠆦󠇥󠆭󠅒󠆀󠄂󠆮󠅱󠅽󠆹󠄚󠄎󠄴󠅗The case is Surber v. Oura Inc., filed by the Clarkson Law Firm, the same shop behind a long run of consumer class actions against companies that make specific, quantified claims about what their products can do󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆾󠆌󠆍󠄷󠅟󠄆︎󠅮󠅝󠅄󠅡󠅤󠆬󠇀󠄙󠆚󠄼󠅿󠅈󠅕󠇡󠄝󠄖󠅼󠇍󠆹󠇐󠆔󠆱󠄿󠇜󠆼󠄨󠆆󠄈󠆎󠄯󠇎󠅭󠆀. Madison Surber bought an Oura Ring 4

Friday afternoon, a federal appeals court ruled that Nevada can shut down Kalshi, one of the biggest prediction market apps in the country, for operating what the court called sports gambling in disguise󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇍󠆯󠄴󠄍󠅆󠄀󠅫󠄯󠆿󠇅󠆻󠄳󠇂󠇙󠄂󠇗󠄴︊︍󠇯󠆃︃󠅯󠄄󠆵󠄌󠄙󠇁󠇢󠆍󠅢󠄵󠆺󠄨󠄪󠅕󠇧󠅱󠇑󠅑. If you don't follow this stuff closely, that sentence probably needs some unpacking󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇬󠅓󠄿󠇪󠄧󠆎󠄬󠇗︌󠆄󠇣󠅕󠅊󠅮󠇝󠅆󠄾󠅩󠇗󠄥󠅑󠅒󠆱󠄏󠆶󠆭󠇬󠇝󠆉󠆜󠄂󠇦︄󠅛󠆱󠅕󠄹󠆿󠅢󠅥. So let's back all the way up, because by the time we get to the end of this, I think you'll see why I believe this ruling, and everything sitting around it, adds up to one company walking away the outright winner of the entire sports betting era󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢︉󠅷󠆠󠄰󠄻󠆪󠄳󠄺󠅠󠅽󠄕󠆕󠅹󠅦󠅼󠄅󠇐󠇬󠆵󠅪︅󠇘󠄀󠄴󠅺󠆡󠄻󠆑󠆜󠄝󠅒󠆉󠅊󠆄󠇭󠅿󠄷󠇋󠅭󠅡. That company is Fanatics.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆭󠄍󠅚󠆫󠆜󠄆󠇌󠆊󠆧󠇅󠄜󠆩󠅽󠅀󠄘󠅳󠅽󠆍󠇕󠄟󠄗󠇉︉󠅃󠄅󠆳󠄄󠄆󠄫󠇏󠅛󠇤󠅲󠅡󠅡󠇔󠅐󠅸󠄤󠅗Quick intro if you're new here󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅪󠅚󠆩󠆰󠅿󠆶󠄮󠇯󠅺󠆊󠄮󠅘󠄓󠄃󠅊󠄒󠄉󠆃󠅜󠅬󠅙󠇋󠆿󠅤󠆈󠆗󠆹︊󠄑󠄕󠇂󠆿󠅡󠇯󠅫󠅵󠆦󠇂󠆖󠄛. I'm Carl, by day I run Joseph Black Law PLLC, a New York law practice where I work on startup and venture capital transactions, entertainment, music deals, and investment fund structures󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄊󠄿󠅰󠄿󠇮️󠄑󠅑󠆄󠅩󠆝󠅋󠅍󠅔󠆈󠅭󠆊󠄈󠄑︆󠅠️󠆴󠆯󠆛󠄇󠄺󠇛󠇮󠇔󠆽󠇏󠆁󠆏󠇀󠆢󠅭󠆛󠄨󠇊. By night, and honestly during a lot of stolen lunch

You know that feeling when you find out the last mom-and-pop shop on your block just got bought by the same guy who owns the car wash chain, the HVAC company, and the pest control outfit down the street󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇕󠅽󠆼󠅟󠄊󠄟󠇕︊󠇮󠅎󠆖󠇂󠅾󠅀󠄸󠆎󠅅󠆳󠅅󠅾󠇅︃󠇯󠅎󠅒󠄶󠅪󠆊󠅎󠆙︎󠅽󠆞󠆆󠆐󠇤󠄚󠄟󠇨󠇆? That's not a coincidence󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇞󠄟󠄙󠆈󠇛󠅄󠅨󠅟󠅾︆󠆛󠇨󠆲󠇣󠄉󠅄󠆺󠆾󠇎󠆸󠆥󠆐󠅦󠆎󠆙󠇈󠆃󠄮󠇯︂󠇉󠄗󠄿󠇑󠇑󠄕󠄹󠆬󠄬󠇜. Private equity has spent the last fifteen years buying up every fragmented, boring, recurring-revenue business in America󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅺󠆭󠅃︆󠅶󠆂󠄳󠄸󠄓󠇑󠅶󠅗󠆭󠅫󠄐󠄰󠄟󠆁︍󠅻󠅗󠆜󠅬󠇇󠅘󠇘󠄒󠄲󠆦󠄰󠄷︅󠄄󠆰󠅡󠆒󠇨󠅛󠅳󠇓. Laundromats󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅃󠅶󠆷󠆩󠄼󠆝󠆍󠄄󠄰󠇆︂󠄲󠄪󠇌󠅃󠅛󠄙︉︂󠇔󠄼󠆧󠅻󠅼󠇗󠆿󠄢󠆫󠆥󠇪󠆈󠆭︅︉󠄹󠆛󠄁󠄤󠆾󠄯. Veterinary clinics󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅅󠆔󠆏󠆛︆󠆱󠆖󠅑󠄴󠄱󠄀󠄤󠄋󠅶󠆌󠆸󠆧󠄠󠅚󠄃󠇬󠆠󠆈󠅄󠄺󠄶󠅼󠅃󠄇󠅲󠆘󠅟󠄬󠇝󠇗󠆚󠄃󠅵󠆫󠅓. Plumbing outfits󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆇󠅌󠇀󠄝󠆪󠇯󠆿󠄇󠆗󠄃󠆵󠇋󠇘󠄤󠅮󠆘󠄶󠅍︄󠇌󠄟󠆍󠅊󠇒󠄥󠄾󠇕󠆊󠆐󠄗󠆀󠆆󠅵󠅁󠆬󠇩︋󠆚󠄛󠅌. Roofers󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅅󠇚󠄏󠇕󠅻󠅖󠆅󠆖󠆁󠅷󠆐󠅔󠆵󠅹󠄏󠆶󠅜󠇎󠄰󠄰󠇁󠆑󠇬󠅠󠆸󠇦󠅬󠆶󠄅󠅰󠄂󠇊󠅛󠅁󠆄󠆾󠆈󠆃󠄐︀. The formula is always the same: find an industry where nobody owns more than a sliver of the market, buy a bunch of small operators cheap, bolt them together, and sell the whole platform for a much bigger multiple than you paid for the parts󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆝󠄐󠇙󠄹󠆳󠄤󠇁󠆑󠄺︄󠇀󠇑󠄆󠅏󠆋󠅳󠅊󠅤󠆚󠄹󠆭󠄂󠅡󠅒󠅜󠅚󠅅󠄡︆󠄒󠅡󠄵󠇧󠄝󠆖󠆖󠆱󠆐󠅓󠅏. It works so󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢︊󠄻󠄧󠆁󠆓󠆮󠅢󠅸󠇑󠅢󠄥󠆬󠆍󠄉󠅼󠄲󠅊󠆇󠄇󠆭󠄋󠇭󠅂󠄥󠄥󠇂󠄺󠅎󠇭󠇃󠄎󠆏󠇣󠅓󠆾󠅼󠅦󠄎󠄏󠄿 well it has a name, the roll-up, and it's been the dominant strategy in lower-middle-market PE since the 2010s.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆵󠇖󠇝󠇝󠆐󠇈󠇛󠄋󠆴󠇠󠆓󠄪󠄆󠄝󠅿󠇘󠇎󠆖󠅁󠅷󠇡󠄏󠄋󠄠󠄽󠅲󠅗󠆯󠆷󠄶󠆢󠄋󠆋󠆍󠇉󠇈󠄐󠆏󠇪󠄼But there was always a wall PE couldn'

Here's a scenario. You run a music label. Business is decent, but you're a few weeks from missing a loan payment, and if you miss it, the bank can call the whole loan. Two of your biggest lenders, who already have equity in the label, step in with a rescue offer. Take our cash now, they say, or the label goes under. Only catch, if you don't pay us back by a certain date, the money you owe us converts into more equity in the label. Suddenly the two guys who lent you cash last Tuesday own most of your label, and everyone who had a piece of it before is stuck with basically nothing.

That, with a few more commas and a Delaware judge involved, is basically what happened to MPower Financing, and a court just ruled on whether the people who approved that deal did

Back in October of 2024, I wrote a piece called "You Asked For Money, Here It Is", walking through, step by step, how I personally pulled together $750,000 in financing without giving up a single point of equity. A lot of you used that piece as a blueprint. Some of you are still messaging me about it. So today's edition is a bit of a sequel, because the rules of the game just changed, and if you're a founder, operator, or small business owner who's been sitting on an SBA application, this affects you directly.

The Small Business Administration just did something it hasn't done since 2010: it raised the ceiling on how much government-backed capital a single borrower can stack. Go borrow the damn money. Here’s this week’s edition of The Dime💰.

Quick intro if you're new here. I'm

In late June 2026, with zero press release and zero fanfare, Joe Budden and Ian Schwartzman quietly launched joebuddencommunity.com, a fully owned membership platform built in-house rather than licensed from anybody. That sentence reads like a podcast update. It isn't. It's a technology story, and it's one that touches Patreon's fee structure, Whop's balance sheet, Apple's App Store cut, and eventually the $10 a month you're paying some creator right now without thinking twice about it.

Quick intro if you're new here. I'm Carl, by day I run Joseph Black Law PLLC, a New York law practice where I work on startup and venture capital transactions, entertainment and music deals, and investment fund structures. By night, and honestly during a lot of stolen lunch hours, I write The Dime💰.

The Dime💰 exists for one reason: the most interesting financial

Before we get into Sony, a quick note󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄊󠅕󠆪󠄚󠅑󠆉󠅮󠅔󠇊󠅽󠇀󠆧󠆜󠄧󠆩󠅕󠇐󠅀󠆐󠆓󠆙󠇅󠅲󠅹󠅨󠄄︍󠇮󠄻︀󠅦󠄝󠆩󠆁󠇋󠅖󠆴󠇏︍󠆢. We're launching the Due Dilly Supper Club, an intimate evening with friends and supporters of this community󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅤󠇫󠅯󠅯󠄣󠅯󠆳󠄅󠅿󠄼󠅵󠅺󠄩󠇇󠆳󠆛󠄚󠄈󠄘󠄩󠄓󠇮󠇙󠆷󠆱󠄝󠄓󠆪󠄋󠆴󠆥󠄔󠄝󠆨󠅨󠇀󠅨󠅱󠆴󠆤. Think food, drinks, and real conversation in a private space in Brooklyn󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄅󠆹󠅂󠇟󠅈󠅡󠅐󠇯󠅝󠅬󠇀󠇫󠇇󠅑󠆐󠇐󠇭󠄣󠇫󠄀󠆞󠅕󠆊󠄴󠅹󠆿󠄠󠄠󠅝󠄈󠅃󠅍󠇀󠆡󠄧󠅶󠇡󠇔󠆂󠄱. No big stage, no panel, just people who read this newsletter sitting around a table talking about money, culture, and everything in between󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅷󠄺󠆇󠅔󠆁󠇣󠆵󠆠󠆤󠇨󠆽󠆄󠄛󠅰󠆌󠅯󠅱󠅮󠇓󠄜󠅴󠄁󠅽︍󠄊󠅊󠄊󠄛󠅨󠄂󠇟󠄅󠆀󠆅󠆖︁󠆓󠆆󠇅󠇢. First one goes down next week and tickets are $60󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆫󠄀󠇭󠅂󠄥󠇔󠅋󠅆󠅞︃󠇢󠇜󠄓󠇑󠅛󠅓︇󠇥󠇫󠅶󠅂󠆜󠅿󠇪󠆶󠆙󠄾󠇎󠇭󠆄󠆜󠆱󠆬󠄔󠅙󠄛󠄺󠇃󠇑󠄬. Grab yours here󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅳󠆠󠅈󠇨󠅥󠆦󠄅󠄽󠄦󠅔󠇜󠇊󠇁󠄰󠄧󠆦󠄥󠆚󠄠󠆊󠆚󠄳󠄒󠅵󠆿󠆵󠆲󠄱󠅊︈󠄶︀󠇬󠇉󠄵󠅷︊󠄿󠆃󠆛. Space is very limited so don't sleep on it.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅘󠆾󠄀󠇙󠇫󠄹󠇛󠆁󠅥󠄧󠄟󠄼󠇐󠆭󠄎︌󠄗󠄽󠆣󠅄󠆯󠆶󠄈󠄥󠅭󠄏󠅞︌󠅾󠆓󠆿󠄭󠄚󠄩󠄋󠇮󠄚︇︀󠄔On July 7, 2026, Sony Bank got word from Washington that most Sony shareholders never saw coming:the OCC handed it conditional approvalto stand up a national trust bank called Connectia Trust, whose entire job is issuing a dollar-backed stablecoin󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆪󠄍󠄼󠅆󠆗󠆐󠅭󠆑󠅯󠅃󠆖󠇠󠄪󠆱󠆱󠆨󠅲󠇄󠇖󠅃󠄓󠆑󠇫󠄽󠆶󠅄󠅞󠇊󠆆󠆷󠅈󠆅󠄾󠇏󠇯󠅁󠆅󠄷︀󠄎. That sentence reads like a banking trade story󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄇󠆙󠇒󠄭󠇓󠆎︃󠅛󠅹󠅲󠆘󠆈󠅆󠄼󠆧︃󠆀󠆦󠄽󠇜󠆝󠆝󠆩󠄣󠄏󠅥󠆩󠇐󠅮󠆅󠅴󠆥󠆢︋󠅦︇󠅵󠄟󠅾󠇙. It isn't󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆋󠅚󠅇󠅟󠅆󠆶󠇁󠆁󠆡󠅶󠅏󠄍󠇤󠄕󠅌󠅙󠅜󠅎󠅽󠄒󠆨󠄵󠄧󠇋󠇨󠄓󠇃󠄟󠅚󠇋󠆒󠇄󠇍󠆯󠅴󠇧󠄷󠇨󠄿︅. It's an entertainment story, and it's one that touches PlayStation, anime,