GIBBI, Today

Mar 18, 2025

Stories:

Chicago Cubs and Los Ángeles Dodgers will play a “mini series” of 2 games on Tokyo Dome (Tokyo, Japan), today and tomorrow (both games will be played on 06:10 ET) to start the MLB Season 2025
Dodgers are the reining champion team when last october defeated Yankees in 5 games to win its 8th World Series in its history
The rest of the teams (including Cubs and Dodgers) will start MLB Season 2025 the next March 27th with the Opening Day 2025
GIBBI View: I understand that MLB wants to “explote” the Japan market because Ohtani and all the japan players that play in MLB, but why MLB decides to play a “mini series” of only 2 games 10 days before the opening day?; remember that next week (before opening day), I’m going to record a video where I’ll give my MLB Season 2025 - Predictions

Google’s parent company Alphabet is again in advanced talks to acquire cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz. The two companies were close to securing a deal at a $23 billion valuation last summer, but the transaction failed to materialize
This time, the price being discussed is higher, the person said. A price of around $30 billion was reported by The Wall Street Journal. Thomas Kurian, head of Google’s cloud division, is again leading the effort
One of the reasons the talks failed previously was the inability of the two companies to agree on whether Wiz would remain as a separate division or be integrated into Google Cloud
GIBBI View: I think that Wiz’s board decided to wait until Biden finished its period to try to sell the company, because Wiz’s board are looking for better “conditions” (more money) to sell the company to Google or another tech company

While soda consumption has broadly fallen over the past two decades in the U.S., prebiotic sodas, fueled by industry newcomers Poppi and Olipop, have won over health-conscious consumers over the past five years
Pepsi said it plans to acquire the upstart Poppi for $1.95 billion. The deal includes $300 million of anticipated cash tax benefits, making the net purchase price $1.65 billion
Poppi’s founders Allison and Stephen Ellsworth launched the brand back in 2018, the same year that Olipop was founded. Poppi’s formula includes apple cider vinegar, prebiotics and just five grams of sugar
GIBBI View: I think that in 5 to 10 years from now, sugar will be banned for most food/beverages for the healthy concern of the people, so for that reason company like Pepsi are buying companies that offer a more healthy food/beverages

“Moana 2” has drawn 27.3 million views within the first five days of release on Disney+. It is now the third most successful Disney animated film to hit the platform
The first “Moana,” which has amassed 1.4 billion hours streamed, retains the highest streaming numbers of any film on Disney+
“Moana 2,” which was originally meant to be a Disney+ television show, was released in theaters on Nov. 28 and went on to earn more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office
GIBBI View: To be honest, I liked more Moana 2 that Moana because I felt that the history in second movie was better; but now, I’m waiting when Disney will decide to release Captain America: A New World in Disney+ to watch it (I’ve not watched it yet and I’ve heard good critics about the movie)

John Fisher, managing partner of the Oakland A’s, is offering new shares in his Major League Baseball team at a $2 billion valuation, according to two sources with knowledge of the offering
The Fisher family, which owns more than 95% of the Athletics, also known as the A’s, is looking to raise $550 million to finance a $1.75 billion, 30,000-seat domed ballpark in Las Vegas, according to the sources
The Fisher family will still own more than 80% of the team after the new shares are sold. According to a source, Fisher was the biggest investor in a group that purchased the A’s for an estimated $180 million from Steve Schott and Ken Hoffman in 2005, and has been the managing partner of the team since 2016
GIBBI View: Reading this news, now I understand why invest in U.S. Sport Teams (NFL, NBA, MLB; MLS, NHL) are a great assest to invest, because it doesn’t matter that your team is one of the worst teams in the league and has one of the lowest attendace per season when thanks to the design of U.S. Sport Leagues your team valuation is increasing every year, this is terrific

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GIBBI