GIBBI, Today

Jun 27, 2025

Stories:

Travis Kalanick is in talks with Uber to fund his acquisition of the US business of Chinese self-driving car company Pony.ai, The New York Times reported Thursday
Pony.ai, whose stock price jumped 13% following the report, is still only testing its autonomous vehicles in cities in California and Arizona. The company is preparing to sell or spin off its US subsidiary by March
If the deal goes through, Kalanick would run Pony and remain in his current role as CEO of startup CloudKitchens, according to The New York Times report
GIBBI View: Remember that in the beginning of the year I was working in create my startup that I called it GIBBI CarSharing, where I wanted to connect people that need to rent their car with people that need to rent a car (Customer to Customer), but after working in that I understood that I didn’t have the enough skills nor the team to develop it yet, and that now the world is moving to self-driving cars

Cristiano Ronaldo has signed a new two-year contract with Al-Nassr that means he will stay with the Saudi Pro League club until beyond his 42nd birthday
Ronaldo's Al-Nassr deal had been due to expire at the end of June and there was speculation he could leave, but that has now been quashed
He has managed 99 goals in 111 appearances overall for Al-Nassr and is well on his way to reaching 1,000 senior goals in his career, with a current tally of 938 for club and country
GIBBI View: Three week ago Cristiano helped Portugal to win its second UEFA Nations League title, and now Cristiano has two goals to achieve: 1) reach 1,000 goals in his career (he’s going to achieve them in 2027) and 2) win the FIFA World Cup 2026 (a tough challenge and try to tie Messi with this trophy)

Bengals Strike 10-Year, $470M Stadium Deal To Stay in Cincinnati (Front Office Sports)

The Bengals will remain in Cincinnati through 2036, after an expiring stadium lease had threatened their future in the city after this season
The NFL franchise and Hamilton County have agreed to a new 10-year lease to continue playing games at Paycor Stadium, and give the venue a $470 million renovation. There is an option for a further 10-year extension through 2046
The team’s current lease was set to expire in 2026, unless a new deal was agreed to by June 30. In April, Bengals EVP Katie Blackburn sparked concern when she said, “We could, I guess, go wherever we wanted after this year”
GIBBI View: Now most of the NFL Teams (Bills, Titans, Browns, Commanders) are making new stadiums and other are working in renew their stadiums, so their fans can have the best experience possible and try to bring other big events to their stadiums (Super Bowl, March Madness, Soccer Games, etc)

Global payment company PayPal announced on Thursday that it has inked a deal with the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences to allow student-athletes to receive compensation through the fintech company’s platform
The announcement comes just weeks after a court settlement in the House v. NCAA case, which dramatically shifts the college sports landscape by allowing schools to compensate student-athletes for the first time
The deal will allow students at Big Ten and Big 12 universities to receive their compensation quickly and securely, PayPal said. The company added students will also have the option to pay their college tuition via PayPal, which will become a preferred payment partner at select schools
GIBBI View: I think that I could start to work in develop a fintech startup where I can help to manage student-athlete payments that are receving in college, so let’s see if I write an article this weekend or next week

Free-agent kicker Justin Tucker has been suspended without pay for the first 10 weeks of the 2025 season due to violations of the NFL's personal conduct policy, the league announced Thursday afternoon
Tucker has been accused of improper behavior during massage sessions by 16 massage therapists from eight Baltimore-area spas. He was released May 5 by the Baltimore Ravens following 13 seasons with the club
An undrafted free agent out of Texas, Tucker is a seven-time Pro Bowl selection and five-time All-Pro. He is the most accurate kicker in league history with an 89.1 field goal percentage and holds the NFL record for the longest made field goal at 66 yards and won Super Bowl XLVII with Baltimore
GIBBI View: Talking about the sporting topic, Tucker had his worst season in his career last year where he only converted a 73.3% of his field goals so it was an “easy” decision to Ravens to cut him; in my opinion, Tucker shouldn’t return to play any more game to NFL but because he’s still an “elite” kicker he’s going to return to play this season

GIBBI