The Six Million Dollar Banana

PRESENTED BY AI TOOL REPORT

Thursday time, party people. If you’re a 90s kid, then there’s a strong chance you collected Pokémon cards. If you’re feeling nostalgic for simpler times, you’re in luck — Pokémon cards are back. Well, at least they are as a mobile app. Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket launched on iOS and Android on October 30th and has already been downloaded 30 million times. Pokémon really does catch ‘em all.

DAILY TOP TRENDS

Comcast Cuts The Cable

Comcast officially moved forward with its proposed plan of spinning off the majority of its cable assets into a separate company.

Plugged In: Spinning off its declining cable brand frees NBCUniversal to focus on its stable or growing businesses without the extra weight on its balance sheet.

Between the Spinoffs: The new cable-focused company, dubbed “SpinCo” for now, is ready to be the king of a dying kingdom.

• SpinCo will include MSNBC, CNBC, Universal Kids, USA, E!, Oxygen, and Syfy… but not Bravo, which is considered an important programmer for Peacock.

• NBCU chairman Mark Lazarus will head SpinCo, while Chief Content Officer Donna Langley and DTC head Matt Strauss will run the slimmed-down NBC in expanded roles.

• SpinCo, whose assets bring in roughly $7 billion in annual revenue, will be free to acquire other cable assets or position itself for a sale or merger.

• Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said SpinCo will also eventually go public, but there’s no specific timeline.

The Future: Cable brands still bring in significant ad revenue, but they’re nearly all trending downward as customers cut the cord and depart for streamers. Comcast has made the calculation that content investment is better suited for growing platforms like Peacock and flagship brands like NBC, NBC News, and NBC Sports. Wall Street is a bit on the fence with the plan, but the outlook seems positive for Comcast. If that holds, expect every other media conglomerate — especially Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery — to follow Comcast’s playbook.

Together with AI Tool Report

There’s a reason 400,000 professionals read this daily.

Join The AI Report, trusted by 400,000+ professionals at Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI. Get daily insights, tools, and strategies to master practical AI skills that drive results.

Sign up now for free and work smarter, not harder.

Sotheby’s Six Million Dollar Banana

Last night, Sotheby’s put satirist Maurizio Cattelan’s viral art piece titled Comedian — which is simply a fresh yellow banana duct-taped to a white wall — and it sold for a whopping $6.2 million.

Fresh Take: The bunches of money that Comedian sold for show that the stunt-art market is alive and well. Like Banksy triggering his painting to shred after its purchase or MSCHF’s growing roster of high-class jokes, Cattelan’s no-effort piece of brilliance demonstrates that what people (well, very, very wealthy people) really pay for is to be part of a one-of-a-kind cultural moment.

Behind the Peel: Comedian, which debuted as five bananas in 2019, each sold between $120,000 and $150,000 at Art Basel Miami… and it’s only grown in value.

(Yes, this is objectively hilarious.)

• The artwork sold to Justin Son, the founder of crypto platform Tron, for $6.2 million (which he will pay in crypto, of course). He plans to eat the banana to honor “its place in both art history and popular culture.”

• The banana comes with a 14-page instruction bullet for maintaining the work’s integrity… like, if the banana goes rotten, tape a new banana (that you have to purchase yourself) vertically and with the curve pointing right.

• And just in case someone tried to heist the banana — i.e., take it off the wall and eat it — the auction house has backups.

Final Bid: Sotheby’s has rolled out the red carpet for this banana, touring it in nine cities, including Tokyo and Dubai, setting up the fruit in its own room, and emblazoning it on merch. That’s because the banana is a hit — a version is even on loan to NYC’s respected Guggenheim Museum (they haven’t taped it up yet). Considering the ridiculous purchase price — grocery inflation be damned — a new post-post-modern art movement may be peeling.

Go Bananas: Michael Bouhanna, Sotheby’s head of digital art and NFTs, independently launched a crypto based on Comedian that now has a market cap of $330 million. Very silly, very suspicious.

DEEP DIVES

• Read: NYT Magazine digests whether the rush for the weight-loss drug Ozempic could cut people’s appetite for junk food.

• Listen: Decoder discusses how the incoming Trump administration may park the EV revolution… for everyone but Tesla.

• Explore: THR highlights the top 35 Hollywood executives under 35.

52.3% of you voted No in yesterday’s poll: Have you ever discovered a favorite brand by stumbling upon it on a walk?

“Kids have time for window shopping — my time is too valuable. I prefer to discover new brands online, and if things don’t work out, I can quickly return them through the mail.”

“Mostly on Small Business Saturday. In reality, I do most of my shopping online or in familiar stores.”

“Yes, but not by walking — driving.”

“I found my favorite soap producer when I volunteered at a local festival.”

“Yes! Small, multi-brand boutiques were my favorite growing up because you could achieve the trendy look without spending a ton of money — plus, layering different brands makes it your own.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

QUICK HITS

→ Entertainment / Media

🎤 Coachella announced next year’s headliners: Lady Gaga, Green Day, and Post Malone. And the grounds will be curated by Travis Scott.

💿 Speaking of Lady Gaga, her collab with Bruno Mars, “Die With a Smile,” became the fastest song to hit a billion streams on Spotify.

🧙‍♀️ Wicked will officially have sing-a-long screenings for those who want to belt out Broadway numbers.

→ Technology

✏️ OpenAI released a teacher’s guide to ChatGPT to prepare educators for the influx of AI-generated homework.

📘 Also… OpenAI struck a deal with HarperCollins to use its nonfiction books for training.

🚀 SpaceX is preparing to sell insider shares at a company valuation of $255 billion.

→ Creator Economy

💳 Visa will now categorize creators as small businesses so they can unlock new financial tools.

💻 A new study found that Twitch was behind 82% of streaming hours last quarter.

📱 Threads has rolled out the ability for users to make custom feeds.