LT Weekly: Aug 14, 2026

With the Q2 earnings season for major TMT stocks largely wrapped up, we took a look at how quarterly financial performance of our LionTree Universe of ~150 companies across 37 sub-sectors with $1bn+ market caps performed against Wall Street expectations

Overall, the vast majority of companies exceeded consensus revenue and profitability forecasts, but to a slightly lesser degree versus Q1 regarding revenue, and to a greater degree regarding profitability. More specifically, 77% of companies in our universe topped consensus revenue estimates in Q2, modestly down from 78% in Q1, while 83% of companies beat consensus profitability projections, more materially up from 69% in Q1.

What was the Street’s reaction to these headline results as well as guidance? Despite the Q2 beats, reactions skewed negative with just 47% of companies trading up in reaction to results and the remaining 53% trading down.

See below for more details.

The Vast Majority Of Companies BEAT Revenue Expectations In Q2

• Overall, 77% of Cos in our LionTree Universe beat cons on revenue in Q2 (modestly down from 78% in Q1)
  • 5% of those companies beat by double digits, up from 2% in Q1
  • The avg sales beat was 2%, in-line w/ Q1
• Nintendo, Fox, and SpaceX had the largest % beats on sales in Q2

• Overall, 23% of Cos in our LionTree Universe reported sales in-line to or lower than consensus (up from 22% in Q1)

• TripAdvisor, Liberty Global, and Globalstar reported the largest % misses on sales

Even More Companies BEAT On Profitability In Q2 vs Q1

• Overall, 83% of Cos in our LionTree Universe beat cons on adj EBITDA in Q2 (up from 69% in Q1) and 38% posted double-digit beats (up from 24% in Q2)
  • The avg adj EBITDA beat at 8% was a step down from 15% in Q1

• Mobileye, Trivago, and Oscar Health has the largest % beats on adj EBITDA in Q2

• Overall, 17% of Cos in our LionTree Universe were in-line or missed cons on adj EBITDA in Q2 (down from 31% in Q1)
• Opendoor, Coinbase, and Globalstar reported the largest % misses on adj EBITDA in Q2

Stock Performance Was Skewed Negative With 53% Of Companies Trading Down & 47% Of Companies Trading Up In Reaction To Results

• Further, the % of Cos that traded down double-digits and traded up double-digits in reaction to earnings continued to fall in Q2
  • 16% of Cos traded DOWN double-digits, DOWN from 31% in Q1
  • 15% of Cos traded UP double-digits, DOWN from 22% in Q1

Top 3 Best & Worst Performers In Reaction To Q2 Results…

Nvidia’s orchestration of a $500bn+ AI compute financing framework w/ six of the largest alternative asset managers was by far one of the key developments across the tech landscape this week. Essentially, third-party capital will be used for AI infrastructure buildouts and Nvidia’s GPUs will serve as collateral in individual SPV structures for the Co’s hyperscalers and AI factory customers. This framework essentially creates a new asset class THAT is not unlike the development of the mortgage-backed securities market in the 1970s.

While that was big news, it was not the only headline grabber in the world of AI. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg doubled down on an open-weight AI strategy in a public essay (which was supported by AT&T’s cost-savings case study, Nvidia’s new open-source Nemotron release, and DeepSeek’s aggressive V4 Pro pricing, all this week as well), pushing back on the closed-model camp just as Anthropic and OpenAI raced to lock in capital, compute, and liquidity ahead of their own public debuts, incl. new data center deals, a pulled-forward IPO timeline reportedly targeting a $2T valn for Anthropic, and a $7bn employee tender for OpenAI at its $852bn valn.

See more details on all these important AI updates below.

Nvidia Lines Up A Massive $500bn In Financing For Its Customers To Finance & Build Data Centers (link/link/link/ link)

• NVIDIA signed a MOU w/ Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR to create independent compute financing platforms that will provide dedicated pools of capital at “significant scale” and “attractive rates” for NVIDIA customers, incl. frontier AI labs, enterprises, and AI clouds
  • CEO Jensen Huang reportedly pitched the deals personally to all 6 firms
  • All partnerships remain subject to execution of final agreements; No individual commitments, financing conditions, or deployment timelines were disclosed

• Deal structure…individual SPVs will be created and financing will be secured by Nvidia’s chips
  • Size of the funding: $500bn+ in 3P capital over time
  • SPVs: Financing will take the form of private offerings and bonds issued by special-purpose (SPV) entities, w/ each vehicle reportedly capable of raising tens of billions at a time
    • The SPVs would lease compute to NVIDIA clients
  • Collateral…the partnerships will use Nvidia’s GPUs as collateral for the debt
    • Compute becomes liquid / fungible: GPUs could be reallocated to other buyers if any customers fail
  • Timing: Not disclosed but deals reportedly are expected to start coming to market within months
  • Nvidia’s contribution? In a post on X, Huang said the Co’s support would extend to “up to 25% of an opportunity, assessed carefully on a project-by-project basis

• This is a new investment class that is being likened to the development of the mortgage-backed securities market in the 1970s, per BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: AI compute will be seen as a “financeable asset class”, similar to how mortgage lenders view homes
  • Modern compute is a “scarce, mission-critical asset class” w/ compelling investment characteristics
  • Per Jensen, “this is really the first time that technology chips have become an investable asset class… They’re productive, they’re long-lived, they’re fungible, they’re flexible”

• Implications…this deal opens the AI data center funding gates for hyperscalers and AI labs to build compute w/o straining their own balance sheets, eliminating a bottleneck in the system as AI scales
  • The funding is only made available for Nvidia’s chips, hence it will steer demand their way vs competitors
  • The deal creates access to more compute (and incremental chip demand) from capital constrained customers
  • This model also lets NVIDIA’s customers fund GPU procurement off-balance-sheet via SPV structures
    • This is similar to what Meta/Blue Owl did in 2025 w/ a 2GW data center JV that raised >$27bn in 144A/Reg S debt, achieving deconsolidation and operating lease treatment
  • Also, if an AI company goes broke and cannot pay its debts, Nvidia is not at risk and their finance partners can take the chips back and rent them to someone else

• Key question going forward…does this model scale sustainably, or does it create systemic risk if AI demand disappoints?
• There is market concern that GPU depreciation risk is real as newer chip generations can erode collateral value

Zuckerberg Now Firmly Leans Back Into Open-Weight & Supports A Fully Distributed AI Eco-System (link to the full memo)

• In an essay published this week, Meta leans into an open-weight AI model framework vs its closed-model rivals…
  • …and announced new open-weight models:
    • Muse Glimmer
    • Muse Spark 2 will release an open-weight version of its most advanced model “in the coming weeks”

-> Also on this open vs closed weight model debate, the WSJ this week detailed AT&T’s decision to increasingly leverage open models as a means to lower costs; Open-weight AI models now power ~25% of the Co’s total AI usage and the Co is targeting that number to reach 70–80% over time; AT&T processes an avg of 45bn AI tokens/day across more than 1k internal use cases and has built a “smart router” that automatically matches each task to the most cost-effective model, and the switch from closed proprietary models to open models has already yielded 80–90% cost savings in certain applications (link)

-> Further, Nvidia released its first open-source AI model called Nemotron 3.5 Lightning; It is a lightweight model that runs on a single GPU on a PC and is available for companies to freely download, use, and modify (link)

-> Lastly, DeepSeek shipped general-availability of its flagship V4 Pro model this week following its ~4 mo preview period; DeepSeek’s self-reported benchmarks show massive agentic coding gains vs. its own preview build though no independent parties have yet reproduced these results; The model is roughly 1/46th the cost of Fable 5 on a blended workload (link/link)

• Zuckerberg believes that distributing AI as widely as possible is least likely to lead to outcomes like totalitarianism, mass unemployment, or existential AI risk
  • “Putting power in people’s hands to pursue their own aspirations is how humanity has made the most progress”
  • “Rather than centralizing superintelligence, we should distribute it widely and give every person the ability to direct it”
• Meta is also establishing a $1bn fund to invest in communities that host its data centers (but no details on structure/disbursements were provided)
  • This is part of an effort to ease the increasing public and political push-back regarding data center builds
• Zuckerberg proposed a framework for how the federal govn’t should work with companies to safety-test new AI models
  • Model distillation: He calls for allowing AI developers to distill one another’s models, which would benefit open-ecosystem players like Meta
  • Board oversight on safety: He said Meta’s own BoD would have a greater role in determining the safety criteria its models adhere to going forward

Anthropic Has Been Busy Ahead Of Its Expected IPO…This Week: (link/link/link/link//link/link/link/link/link/link)

• Anthropic, Macquarie Asset Mgmt, and GIC formed a strategic partnership called Theseus Infrastructure to develop, own, operate, and lease purpose-built data centers to Anthropic under long-term agreements: The initial focus is on the U.S.
  • Macquarie-managed funds + GIC will own the platform and fund the majority of equity
  • Anthropic will be the anchor tenant and committed to covering any consumer electricity price increases from these facilities
  • No site count, capacity targets, or $ were disclosed
• Anthropic struck a 20-yr lease for 191MW of IT capacity at Riot’s Rockdale, Texas campus
  • Total contract value: ~$9.1bn, w/ two 5-yr extension options that could raise it to ~$16.1bn; The lease extends through June 2048
  • Capacity will be delivered in phases: 96MW by Dec 2027, full 191MW by June 2028

-> RIOT stock surged ~25% after-hours Monday and ended Tuesday up +4%

• Anthropic is reportedly pulling its IPO timeline forward to Sept/early Oct from the prior Oct/Nov expectation:The Co is said to be meeting w/ prospective public-market investors in advance of that IPO
  • Per press, key investor pushback themes:
    • Competition from cheap Chinese AI models
    • Tensions w/ the Trump administration
    • Fallout from the Mythos export ban
    • Growing public opposition to DC construction
  • And Anthropic’s reported responses:
    • It downplayed Chinese competition (models trail by months)
    • The Co is pushing into healthcare/biology to counter negative AI sentiment
    • It struck new compute deals w/ SpaceX and Google in recent weeks
    • Demand is strong enough that Anthropic has suffered intermittent outages this year even after new compute agreements

-> IPO investors are also reportedly circling a valn of $2T for Anthropic (which would surpass that of SpaceX’s during its debut) and are expecting the Co to hit $100-120bn in annualized revenue by the end of 2026, per sources (link)

• Anthropic will embed invisible watermarks for text generated by Claude: This is driven by EU AI Act Article 50 transparency requirements (Code of Practice which took effect 8/2)
  • What content has watermarks? Text generated by Claude models released on or after Aug 2nd plus C2PA metadata on supported file types (images, SVGs)
    • It will be applied globally, not just in the EU
  • How does it work? By statistically biasing Claude’s word choices according to a key held by Anthropic
    • The watermarks will sustain through copy/paste and may survive some editing
    • And the watermarks would exist even if Claude only proofreads the content or translates a paragraph
  • Availability: Anthropic plans to release a public text detection API
  • What about other companies? OpenAI has reportedly had the tech to watermark ChatGPT text for years but has chosen not to deploy it given internal debate over false positives and competitive risk

• Anthropic is reportedly in talks to buy Decart AI for ~$6bn to cut AI training costs: This would make it the Co’s largest known acquisition
  • Decart’s core asset is its Decart Optimization Stack (DOS), which is software designed to make AI chips run more efficiently across Nvidia GPUs, Amazon Trainium, and Google TPUs
  • Decart has also developed:
    • Oasis model: Simulation environments for robotics/autonomous driving
    • Lucy model: Real-time video editing
  • Valn history: In May, Decart raised $300mn, which was led by Radical Ventures w/ participation from Nvidia, Adobe Ventures, Sequoia, and Benchmark, at a valn of ~$4bn

OpenAI: Premium Business Seats + $7bn Employee Tender (link/link/link)

• OpenAI launches a new tier for Business power users…$125/mo “Premium” seats (or $100/user/mo annual) for ChatGPT Business: This tier has 5x more usage than Standard seats ($25/mo), the removal of the 5-hr usage limit, and predictable weekly resets
  • Launch promo: $100 in workspace credits per Premium seat (up to 5 seats / $500), for the first 10,000 eligible customers who sign up by 8/20

• The Co also completes a $7bn secondary share sale: OpenAI bought back ~$7bn of shares from current and former employees at the $852bn valuation which is the same valn from the Co’s March $122bn funding round
  • Valuation history: $852bn is the first flat valn print after a run from $157bn (Oct 2024) -> $300bn (Mar 2025) -> $500bn (Oct 2025) -> $852bn (Mar 2026)

Google’s Made By Google event came with some notable new device updates this week. The Co unveiled the full Pixel 11 lineup (Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro XL and Pixel 11 Pro Fold), Pixel Watch 5, its first-ever finder tag in Pixel Tag, a Pixel Buds refresh and a long list of helpful Gemini Intelligence features to “get things done”. On the hardware side, the most incremental Pixel updates this year were on the camera and silicon side rather than on the new form factor side, and Google leaning more into the health & wellness area with Health Guardian was in our view notable. While the new AI capabilities stood out, so did the fact that all phone are $100 more expensive than last yr’s equivalent and the base Pro models actually ship w/ less RAM, which was a press focus. On the plus side, the Co also disclosed new Gemini app user numbers, which point to continued strong adoption.

See below for our full run down of the key announcements and updates that we viewed as the most important. See this link for Google’s full collection of event posts.

The next catalyst in the category will be from Apple, w/ reports pointing to an iPhone 18 event on or around Sept 9.

-> Alphabet’s shares were flat on the day and are up +9.5% YTD

Gemini Intelligence Enables New Capabilities On Pixel 11 To “Get Things Done”

• Google rebranded Gemini as “Gemini Intelligence”
• There were a plethora of new & interesting Gemini-enabled features on the Pixel phones (though some might feel like big brother!)
  • “If a friend asks about a trip that’s coming up, a card with your booking details will pop up along with details if your flight is on time or delayed”
  • “You’ll also see suggestions that are contextually relevant to the conversations you’re having. Like when you’re texting about dinner while rushing out the door, Pixel can step in to help, offering a proactive prompt suggestion to lock down your reservation with just a tap”
  • “Suggestions to save events to your Calendar, locations to Maps, or relevant information to Google Wallet, like membership numbers on airline or hotel apps”
  • “When you’re waiting for a table at a new restaurant, your lock screen will proactively show that location and, with just a tap, offer insights — such as top menu items or the most popular seats — from hundreds of reviews and photos, right in Google Maps”

• Also, Rambler is a Gemini-powered voice input that transcribes cleanly and concisely and filters out filler words, like “um” and “ah”

• Sign-to-Text is also now possible

• A new annc’d Creator Suite adds a teleprompter that adjusts for pacing and pauses, project folders, an audio visualizer, a Photos-powered storyboard and social media grid lines, alongside Pro Stable Video on the Pro models

• Gemini is also adding a new slate of connected apps over the coming weeks
  • Productivity and creativity: Granola, ai and Wix
  • Local and entertainment: Fever, GetYourGuide, Localiza, OpenTable (UK) and Ticketmaster
  • Music: iHeartRadio and Pandora
  • Home, health and lifestyle: Angi, Thumbtack and Zocdoc
• Live Translate now covers YouTube videos and podcasts, not just calls

Google Gemini Crosses 1 Billion Monthly Users (link)

• Relatedly, Google also disclosed that the Gemini app surpassed 1bn MAUs, up from 950mn reported at Q2 earnings and 400mn at I/O in May 2025: This makes it the fastest-growing product in Google’s history
  • 63% of users now interact by voice (vs. typing)
  • 1 in 5 Gemini Live interactions go beyond voice to live camera feeds and screen sharing
  • 150mn+ images are generated per day
  • 100mn+ active users are on iOS; macOS users prompt ~2x more frequently than other surfaces

Camera Upgrades Across Pixel 11 Phones Were Also Notable Along W/ Capturing The Right Shot Capabilities

• Key camera changes/features
  • Edge to edge glass across the Pixel camera bar
  • Starting w/ the Pixel 11, the camera bar’s thickness was reduced by 40%, making the phone virtually bumpless
  • The Pixel 11 also has a new, larger, 48-megapixel main sensor that delivers 56% more light sensitivity and a wider field of view, plus 30x Super Zoom on the 5x telephoto
  • Pixel 11 Pro & Pro XL has a separate, all-new 50MP wide sensor plus a redesigned telephoto lens w/ 30% more light sensitivity, enabling Portrait Mode at 5x and Pro Zoom out to 120x
  • Instant Night Sight captures up to 5x faster at the same quality bar

• These new camera features are enabled by the Co’s new Tensor G6 chip, “our fastest, most powerful chip yet” …see the next section
• Google is also moving from photo editing after the fact to getting the shot right at capture
  • Its Magic Capture analyzes roughly 400-500 frames per session using on-device and Gemini models to return perfectly timed 12MP photos, auto-applying crop and unblur, and hands back a video alongside the stills
  • Camera Looks lets users set an aesthetic at the point of capture, w/ three alternate defaults (Natural, Shadows, Vanilla) and six stylistic options, achieved by merging fewer frames and rewriting color lookup tables to emulate film chemistry

Google’s New Tensor G6 Chip Is A Key Enabler For The New Features Across Devices, & Device Security Also Stands Out

• The Co’s new Tensor G6 is Google’s “fastest, most powerful chip yet” and runs the latest Gemini Nano model
• CPU = 25% faster web browsing and 15% quicker app launches vs Tensor G5 at launch
• TPU = 50% more compute and 2x the memory bandwidth, processing on-device AI tasks up to 5x faster while using up to 3.5x less energy vs Tensor G5

• “Google Pixel is engineered specifically to help safeguard your most sensitive information from advanced attacks today and from risks like attacks by quantum computers in the future”
  • Their new Titan M3 security chip integration w/ the Tensor G6 is slated to bring post-quantum cryptography to secure boot on devices
  • Google cites a Counterpoint Research scorecard claiming that Google AI experience has the most privacy protection on a phone

BUT Higher Memory Prices Are Driving Up Hardware Pricing (link)

• Following Apple recently raising prices for Macs & iPads, every Google Pixel 11 phone starts $100 above the equivalent Pixel 10, and Pixel Watch 5 is $50 more (base unit)
• AND at the same time, Google cut RAM on the 256GB Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL to 12GB from 16GB on the comparable 9 and 10 series, reserving 16GB for the 512GB and 1TB tiers
  • Google killed the 128GB base tier, which lets it frame a higher price against double the starting storage

• Though Google reportedly argues that despite the lower RAM, software and silicon optimization still delivers faster performance than last yr’s comparable 256GB SKUs

• Pixel 11 pricing & availability:
  • Pricing
    • Pixel 11 from $899
    • Pixel 11 Pro from $1,099
    • Pixel 11 Pro XL from $1,299
    • Pixel 11 Pro Fold from $1,899
  • Availability
    • All pre-ordered Aug 12 and on shelves Aug 20

Google Is Leaning More Into Health & Wellness With Some Big Feature Updates On Its New Pixel Watch 5

• Google’s launch of Health Guardian on the Pixel Watch 5 was one of the more interesting announcements at the event

• What is Health Guardian? It adds new proactive health & safety tools to the Google Health app for Pixel Watch and Fitbit Ai

• Key features of Health Guardian that are coming soon:
  • Insulin resistance trends: It analyzes multi-week physiological data to track shifts in users’ metabolic health w/out requiring a single drop of blood
  • Blood pressure trends: It ests BP direction passively from pulse and motion, w/o a cuff or calibration
  • Sleep breathing quality trends: It gives a daily read on time spent in optimal breathing and also provides a monthly assessment
  • Breathing emergency detection: It can recognize when a person’s blood oxygen level drops dangerously low; If they become unresponsive, it can automatically call emergency services and, if applicable, their emergency contacts
    • It launches in Europe first, is opt-in, and has not been cleared or evaluated by the US FDA, so the US commercial path is the open question
• Google also annc’d an agreement with Abbott to connect Google Health w/ Abbott’s over-the-counter Lingo continuous glucose monitor

• Other new capabilities on the Pixel Watch 5:
  • GPS route tracking is 2x more accurate in tough environments, built by tracing satellite paths through Google Maps 3D building models and correcting for live atmospheric data
    • Google claims it outperforms the Apple Watch Ultra 3 and Garmin Fenix 8 Pro, based on an internal July 2026 study on sessions of 3 hrs or less
  • Better performance: The Snapdragon W5 Gen 2 Accelerated platform adds 50% more RAM and a 12% CPU boost for 20% faster performance
  • At a Glance brings context-aware updates to the watch face
    • Like live boarding passes and remaining commute stops
  • Raise to Talk now processes core actions instantly on-device, even fully offline
  • Proactive Suggestions collapse multistep tasks into one-tap actions, confirmed w/ a double pinch gesture
  • Coming soon: On-wrist strength training w/ step-by-step guidance and Health Coach-built routines, plus 15% more accurate sleep staging and Smart Wake

• The external design is unchanged from Pixel Watch 4 but new pricing includes:
  • $399 for the 41mm (up $50)
  • $429 for the 45mm (up $30)
  • W/ cellular a further $100
  • The Stephen Curry Special Edition 45mm is $579 and lands on shelves Sept 3

Source: Google

A Couple Other Updates To Flag

• The Co annc’d Pixel Tag, which is its first-ever finder tag, running on the Find Hub network: Hence, it finally has a product to compete with Apples’ AirTag
  • Some features:
    • Precision finding w/ visual distance and directional cues, plus optional Left Behind alerts
    • Out of Bluetooth range, Find Hub interestingly taps a crowdsourced network of over 1bn Android devices w/ end-to-end encrypted location data, and phones automatically alert users when an unknown tag is traveling w/ them
    • A tag can be shared w/ up to 10 people, and can be located or rung from a Pixel Watch or by asking Gemini through Pixel Buds
  • Pricing & timing: $29 for a single tag or $99 for a 4-pack, BUT it does not hit shelves until Nov 11, well after the phones

• Pixel Buds Pro 2 comes in a new Olive finish orderable Aug 12
  • W/ software updates for Pro 2 and Buds 2a in September

Whenever you might think that sports franchise valuations have hit a peak, they move even higher! Bob Iger and Josh Kushner agreed to buy the Lakers for a record $12.5bn, which resets the high-water mark for a professional sports franchise less than 14 months after the team last changed hands for $10bn, which was itself a record at the time.

But it was not just one big deal that surfaced this week…Liverpool brought in a new investor group at a reported $7bn+ valuation, including capital from a K5 Sports fund backed by Jeff Bezos, and Apollo committed $2.6bn in financing to the Yankees’ parent company.

And on the sports media side, Formula E signed a global streaming deal with Disney+/ESPN, which expands the racing series’ reach and distribution. The deal will bring all Formula E races to Disney+ and ESPN+ in the US and Disney+ across most international markets beginning with the 2026/27 season.

All in, it was another big week for sports, with more capital flowing into teams and media companies continuing to bet on live sports. See below for the details.

Sports Assets Continue To Attract Capital, And At Higher & Higher Levels

• Bob Iger and Josh Kushner have agreed to buy the Los Angeles Lakers for a record-breaking $12.5bn…the highest val’n ever for a N. American sports franchise (link/link/link)
  • Record on top of a record: This deal comes less than 14 mos after Walter bought the Lakers from the Buss family (owners since 1979 and retained a minority stake) at a then-record $10bn, itself only months after the Celtics sold for a then-record $6.1bn
  • This was a QUICK deal: The first inquiry reportedly came from the Iger-Kushner side and talks unfolded over a matter of 3-4 days, with a final agreement shortly following
    • Note that the deal still requires NBA approval
  • Expected structure –
    • Kushner and Iger, who work together on a sports-focused investment platform called Thrive Eternal is expected to invest, but is limited by NBA rules to holding no more than a 20% stake
    • Kushner and Iger each would invest individually, with Kushner serving as a control owner, per a source
    • Other investors are also expected to join
  • The Lakers’ sale price is the highest ever for a professional sports franchise, above the $10bn Lakers mark (the previous record) and the $9.6bn paid for the NFL’s Seahawks in July

• Fenway Sports Group agrees to sell a minority equity stake in Liverpool FC this week (link/link/link)
  • Sold to 1892 Holdings, a consortium led and managed by Amit Bhatia, with investments from –
    • Amit Bhatia and the Mittal Family Trusts
    • K5 Sports (a K5 Global Fund), with Jeff Bezos as the lead investor in the K5 Sports fund
    • EE Capital, the family office of Elaine and Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook.
  • While FSG’s statement did not specify the size of the minority stake or the valuation of the club, it is reported that the deal involved ~30% ownership and set the team’s valn at $7bn+
    • For comparison, Real Madrid is valued at $7.7bn with FC Barcelona and Manchester United at about $6.5bn, per data from Sportico
  • Under the terms of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approvals, Bhatia will become vice chairman and join Liverpool’s expanded board along with Elaine Saverin from EE Capital and Bryan Baum from K5 Sports

• New York Yankees annc’d a $2.6bn financing agreement with Apollo Sports Capital (link/link)
  • The financing agreement is a mix of credit and equity, with proceeds supporting the cont’d growth of the Yankees franchise as well as refinancing of existing debt
  • All of YGE’s entities could get a share: YGE is the parent company of the Yankees and holds ownership stakes in Legends Hospitality, Yankees Entertainment & Sports television network, New York City FC of Major League Soccer and Italian soccer power AC Milan
  • Personnel updates-
    • The deal doesn’t change control of the Yankees…The Steinbrenner family will maintain full control of the New York Yankees and Hal Steinbrenner will remain as the Managing General Partner of the New York Yankees and continue to represent the team as the MLB Control Person
    • Apollo Sports Capital CEO Al Tylis will join YGE’s Board, which will expand by one seat
  • “We are continually seeking ways to strengthen our positioning, and this partnership allows us to explore pursuing strategic opportunities,” per Hal Steinbrenner, Chairman of Yankee Global Enterprises

Formula E Finds a Global Streaming Home

• Formula E announces a global streaming deal with Disney+ and ESPN (link/link)
  • The multi-year deal will bring all Formula E races to Disney+ and ESPN+ in the US and to Disney+ in most international markets beginning with the 2026/27 season
    • Disney+ subscribers worldwide will get live ​coverage of every session at race weekends as well as behind-the-scenes programming and race replays on demand
  • The deal will complement Formula E’s existing ⁠portfolio of free-to-air and linear broadcast partners, ​preserving broad accessibility
    • Formula E will also still be able to negotiate in-market broadcast deals, though it hasn’t annc’d a traditional TV partner for future seasons in the US, where races have recently been covered across CBS and Roku channels
  • Formula E is planning a 21-race calendar across 13 locations for the 2026-27 season, starting with Rounds 1 and 2 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Dec. 18-19 and concluding in July in Tokyo
  • No financial terms of the deal were disclosed

There were a couple of advertising-related updates we wanted to highlight this week, as more TV ad dollars move toward streaming and AI accelerates how advertisers manage and measure their campaigns. Starting on the streaming side, for the first time, streaming captured more primetime upfront ad dollars than linear TV, with spend up ~30% y/y to $17.2bn. Netflix, in particular, said it nearly doubled its US upfront ad commitments, with particularly strong demand around its growing live sports slate.

As more ad dollars move toward streaming and digital platforms, there’s also a growing need for better ways to understand performance and manage that spend. Google is introducing new AI and agentic tools across Google Ads and Analytics that will help advertisers build reports, surface insights and increasingly take action using natural-language prompts.

All in, the ad market continues to evolve on both sides, with advertisers following audiences to new platforms while getting more sophisticated tools to manage and measure that spend. See below for more.

Streaming Upfront Ad Dollars Surpass That Of Linear For The 1^st Time / Netflix Doubles Its Upfront Ad Commitments

• Total TV upfront ad sales activity for the upcoming 2026-27 TV season was up +9% y/y to $33.7bn… and for the first time, streaming captured more upfront ad dollars than linear TV (link/link/link)
  • Streaming ad spend ROSE ~+30% y/y to reach $17.2bn (accel from +18% last yr)
  • Cable ad spend took the biggest hit and FELL -8% y/y (accel from -4% last yr)
  • Linear TV and broadcast TV ads spend also fell y/y
  • BUT buyers are paying less per viewer… overall primetime CPMs fell ~6% y/y, including declines across broadcast, cable and streaming
    • In particular, streaming CPMs were down ~5% as lower-cost FAST inventory puts pressure on pricing across the market

• Looking specifically at Netflix… the Co wrapped its 2026 US upfront negotiations by nearly doubling its advertising commitments vs the previous cycle (link)
  • The Co closed deals w/ “partners across all major agency partners”
    • But did not disclose the dollar value of the commitments
    • The increase was “in line” with its expectations
  • Advertiser interest spanned the slate, including –
    • Returning shows like Love Is Blind, Big Mistakes, Bridgerton, Emily in Paris, Nobody Wants This, and Running Point
    • Upcoming feature films including Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew
    • Live events including the marquee NFL games on Netflix, WWE, and MLB; Upfront demand for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup was also “extremely high”: Sold out of game sponsorships and nearly sold out of all available in-game inventory
  • Coming in the next few months…Netflix’s first international Upfront events: Will bring presentations to partners across Mexico City, São Paulo, Tokyo, London, and Paris

Google Brings More AI & Automation to Advertisers

• Google will roll out AI and agentic experiences across Google Ads and Google Analytics (link/link)
  • New AI dashboards will let advertisers build visual performance reports using natural-language prompts, turning raw campaign data into charts / visuals without having to manually build reports
    • Reports will also automatically generate real-time summaries explaining the “why” behind changes in performance
  • Google is adding AI-generated summaries to the Ads and Analytics homepages, giving advertisers a quick recap of important changes since they last logged in
  • Google Analytics is also getting a new benchmarking tool that will allow advertisers to compare performance against competitors
    • Benchmarking will integrate with Ask Advisor, Google’s in-product AI agent announced in May
  • Ask Advisor is also becoming more actionable, allowing marketers to use natural-language commands to automate campaign setup, diagnose performance declines, generate creative assets and build custom data visualizations without switching between platforms

• YouTube is doubling the monetization threshold for new creators and raising the bar for new creators seeking a share of advertising and Premium subscription revenue (link/link)
  • What are the new thresholds? Applicants to the YT Program will need 1k subs and either 8k qualified watch hours during the previous year or 20mn qualified Shorts views over 90 days, which is 2x the current viewing thresholds
  • When does this start? Beginning February 1, 2027
  • But not everyone is affected:
    • But creators already in the program will not be affected
    • And YT is leaving its lower requirements for fan-funding and Shopping features unchanged
  • Impact: The change effectively creates a significantly higher hurdle for emerging and Shorts-focused channels, although YT says it will introduce additional creator incentives and expand Premium Lite to every market where YouTube Premium is offered

• Meta fails to delay state attorneys general’s youth-harms trial (link/link)
  • What happened? Meta lost a last-minute attempt to postpone a major trial over allegations that Facebook and Instagram harmed young users
    • On August 10, the Ninth Circuit dismissed Meta’s attempt to immediately appeal earlier rulings that allowed portions of the case to proceed
    • The court concluded that Section 230 provides a potential defense against liability, rather than immunity from having to stand trial, and consequently treated Meta’s emergency stay request as moot
  • What followed and what are next steps?
    • The decision cleared the way for jury selection to begin August 12
    • Opening statements are scheduled for August 18