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Five-year-old European military drone startup Helsing is reportedly close to raising a new $1.2 billion round at about an $18 billion valuation. The round is expected to be led by Dragoneer and co-led by existing Helsing investor Lightspeed, the Financial Times reported. Helsing last raised just under a year ago, in June 2025, in a deal that was led by billionaire Spotify founder Daniel Ek. That was a €600 million investment at an estimated €12 billion valuation ($14 billion USD). So this new round is a step-up. While Helsing isn’t the only European unicorn defense tech, it is by far the…
A new video game about President Donald Trump’s war in Iran features fights with the pope and New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani. It’s impossible to win, and that’s the point.The game, Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell, was developed by Secret Handshake, an anonymous group of artists behind a handful of satirical works mocking the Trump administration. The group previously installed a gold statue of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein on the National Mall; it portrayed Trump holding onto Epstein in a pose reminiscent of Jack and Rose from the movie Titanic.The game is available to play online, but three…
WPP U.S. president Michael Houston will step down from his role, according to an internal memo obtained by ADWEEK.Houston, a 24-year veteran of the holding company, will transition to a new role as senior advisor in what marks a “natural and planned evolution for WPP, as our operating model continues to evolve,” WPP CEO Cindy Rose wrote in a note to employees and leadership.Starting at Young & Rubicam and Landor in the 1990s, Houston spent his career at WPP. He joined Grey in 2007, where he rose to worldwide CEO over 15 years, leading the agency through a period of…
Redwood Materials has finally found a new chief financial officer roughly a year and a half after its last one departed. He’s a familiar face to the former Tesla executives running the battery recycling and energy storage company. On Monday, Redwood Materials said it has hired former Tesla finance chief Deepak Ahuja as its new CFO. Ahuja joins an executive team that includes Tesla’s former CTO (JB Straubel, Redwood’s founder and CEO) and former Tesla powertrain vice president Colin Campbell (Redwood’s CTO), among a number of other Tesla expats throughout the ranks. Most recently, Ahuja was chief finance and business…
As the U.S., Canada, and Mexico each gear up to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup, brands are getting ready to score on and off the pitch. Six billion people are projected to watch 48 teams compete across 104 matches when the global tournament kicks off on June 11, 2026. A further five million will watch in person at stadiums in cities including New York, Texas, Mexico City, and Toronto.As the event nears, the U.S. and Israel’s conflict with Iran, concerns over security, and ticket pricing complaints are casting a long shadow over the tournament. Despite this, advertisers are going…
TikTok is introducing an ad-free subscription plan in the U.K. that costs £3.99 (about $5.44 USD) per month. The new offering is rolling out over the coming months and will be available to users 18 and over. Users who sign up for the plan won’t see ads on TikTok, and their data won’t be used for advertising purposes. The launch was likely driven by the U.K.’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which prohibits companies from collecting users’ personal data for advertising purposes without their consent. “Choice for our community and growth for UK businesses go hand in hand on TikTok,”…
I fear brands have flopped the World Cup before it’s even started.A World Cup hosted on U.S. soil is something most of us will see once in a lifetime. More than just another tournament, this is a cultural moment that will live in the history books. 5.6 billion people will be watching, or the equivalent of 44 Super Bowl audiences. Brands have a chance to be part of that story and do something legendary.Instead, we’re weeks out, and it’s pretty quiet.Yes, Adidas dropped an absolute bomb last week with an incredible film, and Fox Sports came out strong by challenging…
The New York Times is betting that the Wordle craze isn’t over yet. On Monday, the Times announced that it would be turning the hit mobile word game into a televised game show on NBC. “Today” show anchor Savannah Guthrie will host the affair, while The Times and “The Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon will both serve as production partners. Guthrie and Fallon announced the news on the 8:00 AM broadcast of the “Today” show on Monday, where they shared that the game show had been in development for the past two-and-a-half years. The show, which will begin airing on…
People who had previously felt paralyzed by their NDA’s began to talk. Helena, the conflict-avoidant moderator of the Mercor subreddit, worked overtime deleting furious rants from aggrieved workers who delighted in dropping names of the “secret projects”—something explicitly banned by the non-disclosure agreement every tasker must sign before being hired as an Independent Contractor.Elsewhere, on another project, Handsome Swede was not faring well. Felled by Covid, he told his team leaders he could not make the minimum weekly requirement and was swiftly fired. He entered the melee once again to find yet another project.The wages were dropping week by week.…
The skip button doesn’t apply to Netflix ads.Around three and a half years after launching its ad business, Netflix is on pace to double its ad revenue for the second year in a row, set to reach $3 billion in 2026. In addition, its ads plan represents more than 60% of sign-ups in countries with the tier, and its programmatic business has grown to nearly 50% of its advertising as it has added DSP partners like Yahoo and Amazon.As the company heads into its upfront event on May 13 in New York City, ads leader Amy Reinhard says the streaming…
Discord on Monday unveiled Nitro Rewards, which gives Nitro subscribers access to offers from other gaming and lifestyle brands for no additional cost. Currently, Nitro offers upgrades to Discord itself, like more profile customization options, HD streaming, and the ability to upload files of up to 500 MB. The subscription is optional, as you can easily use the platform without paying, which is an intentional design choice on Discord’s part. But that also means user acquisition can be tricky. “Nitro has always been about how we can meaningfully upgrade the Discord experience, but not limit it [for free users] in…
A major oil company is seeking a state tax break in Texas worth hundreds of millions of dollars to build a massive power plant. The energy won’t be going to residential customers, though. Instead, the gas plant will be used to power a data center whose eventual tenant could be Microsoft.Chevron subsidiary Energy Forge One has filed an application with the State Comptroller’s board to obtain a tax abatement for a power plant it’s building in West Texas. In late January, the comptroller’s office made a recommendation to support the application’s approval—the first such approval under the program for a…
Amazon’s Prime Video advertisers can now automatically tailor their messaging based on the viewer’s previous exposure to a brand or product.The new tool, called Dynamic TV Creative, will be announced by executives onstage during Amazon’s upfront presentation at New York City’s Beacon Theatre on May 11.The tool is the latest of many that Amazon has released in the past year as it aims to scoop up more brand marketing dollars. Amazon has increasingly pitched itself to advertisers as a full-funnel platform, offering everything from newer upper-funnel, brand awareness plays on live TV and streaming properties down to performance-focused ecommerce ads…
Venmo is rolling out a significant redesign over the coming months that aims to make the app more useful, social, and easier to navigate. This is the peer-to-peer payments app’s biggest refresh since 2021. The timing is notable. PayPal, which owns Venmo, is restructuring to spin Venmo off as a standalone business unit — a move widely seen as laying the groundwork for a potential sale. Stripe has reportedly expressed interest in buying PayPal outright. In that context, a splashy redesign looks less like a routine update and more like a window-dressing job ahead of a transaction. The rollout will…
Starting today, eager customers of the US pizza restaurant chain Papa Johns living in one corner of southern North Carolina will have the opportunity to receive their food from the sky, thanks to a new collaboration with Alphabet’s drone company, Wing. But Papa Johns’ signature pizzas won’t be on offer. Instead, drone-loving North Carolinians will have to choose between three kinds of sandwiches, a newer product for the fast-food chain: Philly cheesesteak, chicken bacon ranch, or steak and mushroom varieties.Drone deliveries are popping up in more communities across the US and the world. Questions about the long-term economics and regulatory…
First-time FIFA World Cup sponsor Dove Men+Care is making its soccer debut with a bang and a bass guitar.The brand has launched a rousing social-first campaign urging men to care for their skin between match-day rituals, like wearing “lucky” unwashed jerseys, covering themselves in body paint, and showering in champagne to celebrate a goal.The minute-long spot is set to the riff from The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army,” a stadium staple adopted by fans around the world, including Belgium’s national team supporters, Italy’s Ultras, and the Liverpool Reds.As the anthem builds from a single voice to stadium stands into a…