Zooey Deschanel says she's careful her kids never see her doubt herself.
Monica Schipper/Getty Images
Zooey Deschanel, 45, says she doesn't let her two kids see her insecure.
That's because kids "get their self-esteem from their parents," the actor said.
Although Hollywood can be brutal to women, she says she tries not to let comments about her appearance affect her.
Zooey Deschanel, 45, says she's mindful of how she shows up around her kids.
On Thursday's episode of "Call Her Daddy," the "Elf" actor spoke about being bullied as a child and how it shaped her identity and her approach to parenting.
Though she still has moments of insecurity, Deschanel says she doesn't let her kids see them.
"I have a daughter and a son, and I don't want them to ever think like, 'Oh, Mommy's insecure,' or, you know, like, 'My mom doesn't like…'" Deschanel told host Alex Cooper.
"I always want them to think I'm happy with myself and, like, because they get their self-esteem from their parents, you know. So yeah, it's important to me to, like, show up with confidence," she said.
Deschanel shares two children with her ex-husband, Jacob Pechenik. The pair split in 2019 after four years of marriage.
The actor said she's aware that Hollywood can be brutal to women when it comes to their appearance, but says she tries not to let that kind of commentary affect her.
What's important is having a strong sense of self, she said.
"My identity was never super wrapped up in my appearance. I always made an effort to be like, what I'm presenting is more about my style and like, artistic and creative expressions versus, 'Oh, like I'm so just naturally perfect,'" Deschanel said.
"All those things are so ephemeral and, you know, they change, and they're subjective. And so I think not having my identity so wrapped up in what I looked like when I was 25 is really great," she said.
Deschanel says she tries to be fully present with her kids whenever she isn't working, including doing school drop-offs and pickups, taking them to playdates, and attending their extracurricular activities.
When she is working, she focuses on attending the important events.
"I get that sometimes you can't, but try to get there for like, whatever, the big game or the school play or like those big things, because those are the things they remember a lot," Deschanel said.
Deschanel joins other celebrities talking about how they try to instill confidence in their kids.
Speaking to People in 2024, Carson Daly said he's honest about his own struggles with his kids and treats them like adults so they feel safe discussing difficult topics with him.
"I've always talked to them like they were 30 years old," Daly said.
In May, Kate Winslet's daughter, Mia Threapleton, told Elle that her mother tried to instill body confidence in her from a young age, including when she was insecure about showing her shoulders while swimming.
"My mom said: 'No, this is strong. So many people would love to be able to swim the length of the pool the way you do — think of it as a positive thing,'" Threapleton said, recalling her mother's words.
Trump pledges $1,776 bonus checks to military members funded by tariffs for Christmas.
Doug Mills/via REUTERS
Trump pledges $1,776 bonus checks to military members funded by tariffs for Christmas.
The announcement follows low economic approval ratings and growing concerns about affordability.
It is questionable whether Trump can authorize checks without congressional approval.
President Donald Trump is promising more checks.
In an economic address to the nation that aired during prime time on Wednesday, Trump said $1,776 in bonus checks would be sent to military members for Christmas — and that tariffs are funding the payments.
It is unclear if the checks are legal and can be made without the approval of Congress, which has the constitutional power to enact a budget and appropriate funds.
The speech comes as Trump works to sell the nation on his economic plans.
According to a NPR/PBS News Marist Poll earlier in December, Trump's economic rating hit a low this term, with only 36% saying they approve of how the president is handling the economy.
In a recent interview with Politico, Trump said he would give his economy a grade of "A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus."
Trump is embarking on an economic tour across swing states to campaign for Republican candidates in the midterms. In his first stop in Philadelphia, he defended his tariffs and called the Democrats' criticism that his policies are driving up prices a "hoax."
Trump had also promised other checks in the past. He's floated such a $2,000 tariff dividend for every American below a certain income level, though congressional Republicans have balked at the idea. And he announced a $10,000 bonuse to select Transportation Security Administration employees for remaining at their posts during the 43-day federal government shutdown.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
Amazon has been in talks to become the "first tenant" at Fermi America's Texas data centers, Fermi CEO Toby Neugebauer told BI.
Fermi's stock slumped after it said the prospective anchor tenant canceled a $150 million advance.
Talks between the two companies remain constructive, Neugebauer said.
Amazon is the prospective tenant that withdrew funding from Fermi America's massive data-center project, sending the developer's stock plummeting earlier this month, Business Insider has learned.
In September, Fermi, which is developing an 11-gigawatt data-center campus in the Texas Panhandle, said it had agreed to a nonbinding letter of intent with an investment-grade tenant to anchor the project. The tenant would take the first gigawatt of power across 12 facilities.
On Friday, December 12, Fermi's stock plunged by nearly half after a securities filing said an unnamedprospective partner had canceled a $150 million advance to begin construction, known as an Advance in Aid of Construction Agreement, or AICA. The cancellation followed the end of an exclusivity period.
Amazon is that tenant, Toby Neugebauer, Fermi's billionaire CEO, confirmed in a December 15 phone call with Business Insider, discussing the talks that led to the cancellation. The tech giant has been negotiating the deal, which would pay more than $20 billion over the next 20 years, Neugebauer said.
"The lead negotiator for Amazon called me on Thursday," Neugebauer said.
Neugebauer said the talks between Fermi and the tenant remain constructive, and that the ending of the AICA didn't indicate any breakdown in conversation.
"It's just a normal negotiation," he said. "Their issue was spending money after the exclusive period had ended."
Neugebauer said he wasn't worried about the talks taking too long. "It's a big deal," he said. "Big deals take longer."
Lisa Levandowski, a spokesperson for Amazon, declined to comment.
Fermi America's Panhandle project ranks among the most ambitious attempts yet to meet the surging energy demands of the data centers fueling the AI boom. The company intends to bring 11 gigawatts of new power online over the next decade-plus with a mix of power from the grid, natural gas, and nuclear sources.
The company went public in September, pricing its shares at $21 to raise more than $680 million.
Dubbed Project Matador, the development relies on a 99-year ground lease with the Texas Tech University System. That agreement is dependent on a signed letter of intent between Fermi America and a tenant.
The December 12 filing said that none of the $150 million construction advance had been used and that the negotiations were ongoing. The letter of intent remains in force.
Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald said in a note published December 12 that they had spoken to Fermi America's management and learned that, per the company, the anchor tenant "tried to make last-minute changes to the agreement pricing that were unacceptable to" Fermi.
Amazon is the second company to be linked to the project. In October, Neugebauer told the Amarillo City Council that Palantir, the software company known for its police and government contracts, had taken an interest in the site.
"I just finished with Palantir, which is our nation's tip of the spear in the AI war," Neugebauer said during the October 28 meeting. "They'll be here Thursday."
The Cantor Fitzgerald analysts said in their note that management indicated that they were "active" with two additional tenants, and in dialogue with another four.
Fermi America was founded less than a year ago by Neugebauer,former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and Perry's son Griffin. The IPO valued the company at nearly $14 billion.
A recent slump in the company's shares has brought its valuation to below $6 billion.
Financier Howard Rubin (center) was arraigned on sex trafficking charges on Friday.
JONATHON ZIEGLER/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Ex-Salomon Brothers bond trader Howard Rubin was denied bail a 3rd time in his sex trafficking case.
Prosecutors say he paid former Playboy models to engage in "fetish play," then tortured them.
Rubin says the encounters were consensual and ended in 2019; he's just a granddad now, he argued.
Howard "Howie" Rubin, a once-prominent Salomon Brothers investment banker featured in the 1985 Wall Street expose "Liar's Poker," must remain in a federal jail in Brooklyn indefinitely as he fights sex-trafficking charges, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
It was the third bail denial for Rubin, accused of paying women, many of them former Playboy models, $5,000 to engage in "fetish play," then constraining and torturing them, including by electrocuting them against their will.
Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo said her main concern is the risk that the wealthy financier, who has a $70 million account based in the Cayman Islands, would flee the country.
"The thing that is troubling me is I don't know if I can trust Mr. Rubin," Kuo said in denying bail. She said she has no way of knowing for certain if Rubin is mulling, "What does my life look like if I flee, and what does it look like if I stay?"
Rubin's 10-count indictment alleges a series of attacks against 10 Jane Does between 2009 and 2019 in luxury hotels and a soundproofed bedroom "sex dungeon" at his Manhattan penthouse apartment.
Rubin, 70, of Fairfield, Connecticut, pleaded not guilty and has been held without bail since his arrest in September. Rubin was once considered one of Wall Street's most skilled and aggressive traders of complex mortgage securities, earning him roles at influential firms like Merrill Lynch and Soros Fund Management.
In his latest bid for freedom, his lawyers had offered a $70 million bond, co-signed by family members. They include his wife, who has been divorcing him since 2021, and who wrote a letter to the judge extolling his devotion to three young grandchildren, who call him "Pops."
"There is no allegation that Mr. Rubin engaged in any BDSM activity since 2019," his lawyers wrote in bail arguments filed Tuesday. "He has been living in Connecticut for years, devoted to the care of his grandchildren," they wrote.
Federal prosecutors countered that no amount of bail or electronic monitoring could guarantee Rubin's return to court; they also say that he has used threats and coercion to silence his accusers, allegations Rubin denies.
Rubin's former personal assistant, Jennifer Powers, has been charged with pocketing millions of dollars to arrange the encounters; she has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges and is free on $850,000 bail.
Her husband, Stephen Powers, is free on $250,000, according to court records. Both Powers have pleaded not guilty to bank and tax fraud in connection with the encounters.
Three attorneys for Rubin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. A Department of Justice spokesperson declined to comment.
Rubin is due back in court on January 15. If convicted of the top sex trafficking charge, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and as much as life in prison.
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If you've ever been to a karaoke bar or rented a private room with friends, chances are, you've heard of Journey whether you realize it or not. The band has made a legacy of songs that have crossed generations with their epic ballads. I may have laughed about my dad and his friends growing up in the Midwest singing “Wheel in the Sky” and “Only the Young," yet here I am decades later repeating that cycle with my kids. Luckily, for fans old and new, the band is going on tour next year and I've broken down how to get Journey tickets below.
While the band no longer has their famous front man and acclaimed songwriter, Steve Perry (he’s still alive, but hasn’t been with the band since 1998), they have continued on. There have been multiple iterations since Perry’s exit from the band, including multiple different singers. Steve Augeri took the lead from 1998 to 2006. Jeff Scott Soto took the mic briefly for a year in 2006. Arnel Pineda has been holding the mic ever since.
Despite the changes in the band’s front mic lineup, the band hasn’t stopped believing in the power of touring. They’ve been holding onto that feeling for decades. This year, however, is the time when the Journey may be ending its big touring journey.
Next year’s tour is due to be their final farewell tour. We’re going to help you find your way with “Open Arms” to the tour that the band has deemed their “Final Frontier Tour” with leads on ways you can find ways to “Be Good to Yourself” and get the cheapest tickets on Stubhub and VividSeats to their big coming final farewell tour to sing along before they go their “Separate Ways.”
Just because the band is finally hanging their hat up after this tour doesn’t mean that they aren’t going to go the distance with making sure that their fans have a chance to see them live before they make their exit.
While they will be playing in several major cities along their tour, the band is specifically choosing to play in areas outside major metropolitan areas that typically host big-name acts. They are playing in several smaller town venues across the country, which gives fans in areas that might not have been able to make a trek to a big city a chance to see them.
The band will also be playing a select number of shows in a few cities in Canada.
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How to buy tickets for Journey’s 2026 concert tour
Journey may have played about the city by the Bay, but for some reason, they aren’t headed there during their tour. The closest they will get to it is hundreds of miles away, with shows in Sacramento, Fresno, and Bakersfield being the closest stops that Bay Area fans will be able to see the San Francisco-originated band. Perhaps the lights may have already gone down on the city by the bay for them.
That aside, the band is playing a lot of midsize and smaller cities for the majority of their farewell tour. It’s groovy for some, but city folks may have to make more of a trek to get to see them if they want to catch one of these last shows.
That said, tickets for most of the shows are also not super high city prices. They’re pretty accessible price-wise. If you poke around, you can easily scoop tickets for a show for under or about a hundred bucks. That’s not a bad thing at all. Parking may even be a lot less stressful, too.
How much are tickets?
You can find tickets on Ticketmaster, StubHub, and Vivid Seats. Some tickets are unavailable via certain resellers. The Canada tickets, for example, were only available on VividSeats. The three-day pass for their appearance at Stagecoach was only available on Stubhub.
Shows can be vastly cheaper on resellers, but it really isn’t an exact science. There are some tickets available for the opening show on Ticketmaster for as low as $98. There are also ticket options available over there for CitiBank cardholders.
outside Ticketmaster, the cheapest ticket available anywhere currently is for the April 8 show in Iowa. This cheap ticket, however, states that it is a “premium lot” ticket with a view. It appears that these may be tickets outside the venue where there is visibility to see the show while parked outside it. However, as I am not specifically familiar with this venue personally, and information from the venue’s website does not have it easily available, you may want to contact them directly before purchasing that option if you’re really curious about saving the thirty bucks or so difference in cost between that and the next higher level option. A higher-level option is available for $84 in the center itself, which is viewable on Stubhub.
The highest-priced tickets for their tour are during their appearance at the Stagecoach music festival, where fans can expect to spend at least $763 for a day pass to the show. The highest-priced single show is in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with tickets costing $271.
Who is opening for Journey’s tour?
Journey has worked hard to be the front headliners. They’re going to be holding that line in the spotlight themselves as much as possible with this tour, with the exception of when they’re going to be playing the Stagecoach festival in Indio, California. Stagecoach is a massive concert experience featuring bands such as Counting Crows, Pitbull, Bush, Post Malone, Brooks & Dunn, the Wallflowers, Ludacris, Lyle Lovett, Cody Johnson, and Lainey Wilson.
Will there be international tour dates?
The tour comprises multiple locations throughout North America. Unfortunately, there are none planned on other continents. If you’re looking to see them outside the US, you can catch one of their shows in Canada on March 7 in Ottawa, March 9 in Hamilton, March 11 in Montreal, March 12 in Quebec City, or April 17 in Vancouver, BC. The Canadian tickets are only available via VividSeats.
Who are the members of Journey?
Originally Journey was composed of lead guitarist Neal Schon who has been with the band since its inception in 1973, Gregg Rollie (who was once a lead singer of Santana before joining Journey at one point before exiting in 1980), bassist Ross Valory, rhythm guitarist George Tickner (who left after the first album), and drummer Prairie Prince (who was replaced by Aynsley Dunbar shortly after the band's formation). Needless to say, the band has seen some changes since its original formation.
Some, as mentioned above, have been about the vocalist of the band. Famous frontrunner vocalist and co-songwriter Steve Perry was with the band from 1977 to 1998. Perry was a co-songwriter on many of Journey’s most famous songs in their catalog. There have been multiple others who have left their ensemble due to differences in thoughts on the band's direction or health-related concerns. The current members of Journey embarking on this last tour are lead guitarist Neal Schon, keyboardist Jonathan Cain, vocalist Arnel Pineda, bassist Todd Jensen, drummer and singer Deen Castronovo, and keyboardist and singer Jason Derlatka.
For many parents, providing for their children goes far beyond daily expenses — it's about building a foundation for the future. We talked to parents about how they built wealth from scratch to give their kids financial security and the lessons they learned along the way.
David Zaslav, right, of Warner Bros. Discovery, which rejected bids from David Ellison's Paramount Skydance.
Leon Bennett/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images; Shannon Finney/WireImage
Warner Bros. Discovery has urged shareholders to reject Paramount's offer in favor of Netflix's bid.
A new filing gives inside details of the bidding war, including Larry Ellison's involvement.
We break down the top six takeaways from the filing about the messy and dramatic bidding process.
Warner Bros. Discovery didn't just reject Paramount again on Wednesday. It also pulled back the curtain on what the bidding war was like behind the scenes.
WBD advised shareholders to dismiss Paramount's $30-per-share offer for the company and stick with Netflix's bid of $27.75 per share (for only its studios and streaming business). In a filing, WBD's board called Paramount's latest bid inadequate, with significant risks and costs imposed on shareholders compared to Netflix's bid, which it said offered superior value and more certainty.
Some of the information in the filing has already been made public, but it revealed some juicy bits that haven't been reported.
Here are the top six takeaways:
1. David Ellison pulled the dad card early on
Right after WBD rejected one of multiple secret bids in September, David Ellison called Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav to request that Zaslav meet with Larry Ellison. The conventional wisdom was that the Oracle cofounder's billions would prevail. In the end, that didn't happen. WBD expressed concern that the bid relied on a revocable trust, whose assets or liabilities were subject to change.
2. A zealous Paramount pulled out all the stops to woo Zaslav
We already knew Zaslav stood to make over $500 million from a Paramount deal, based mainly on his shares that would vest immediately after it closed ($567,712,631, to be exact, according to the filing). Zaslav told the WBD board that the Ellisons had "indicated to him that" if a deal went through, he would "receive a compensation package worth several hundred million dollars," per the filing. Zaslav responded that it "would be inappropriate to discuss any such arrangements at that time," he told the board.
Paramount also offered Zaslav the position of co-CEO and co-chairman of the combined company, a role Netflix didn't offer, the filing said.
That runs contrary to the narrative put forth in a letter Paramount's attorneys at Quinn Emanuel sent to WBD, stating they suspected the process was biased in favor of Netflix due to WBD leadership's expectations that there could be roles for them at the new company. Paramount's legal and financial advisors didn't know about the "December 3 Quinn Emanuel" letter and, in their view, the letter should not have been sent, was "not helpful," and was a "mistake," the filing says.
3. WBD had not one but two companies interested in its declining cable assets
The filing revealed the presence of a fourth, previously unknown bidder in the process, "Company C," which proposed acquiring Warner Bros.' cable channels and 20% of its streaming and studio businesses for $25 billion in cash.
Multiple outlets reported that Company C was Starz. Business Insider was unable to independently confirm that. Starz declined to comment.
WBD determined that the Company C bid was "not actionable" and continued to work with Netflix, Paramount, and "Company A" (clearly Comcast).
4. Banking is a good business
Some of Wall Street's marquee names — Allen & Co., J.P. Morgan, and Evercore — are set to make a total of $225 million in connection with WBD's sale to Netflix or Paramount, if a deal goes through, according to the filing.
The good times are poised to continue: Media and telecoms M&A deal value rose 61% in the past year, excluding the announced WBD sale, and the momentum should keep going in the years ahead, helped by investor appetite for valuable IP, according to PwC.
5. The Middle East money wasn't a dealbreaker
The Ellisons wanted to use $24 billion from Middle Eastern sources to fund their bid. That would seem to raise a whole host of concerns, not the least of which is that they'd be buying CNN and some of that money would come from Saudi Arabia's government, which US intelligence said killed a Washington Post journalist in 2018.
However, as Business Insider's Peter Kafka wrote, the issues WBD says the foreign money raised were "presented as technical hurdles" and "not moral or patriotic dealbreakers."
6. So much for regulatory concerns
A big question around the dueling bids was which company would have a better chance of surviving regulatory scrutiny.
Both Paramount and Netflix made their cases, arguing that they'd sail through the process, while the other bidder would encounter issues.
Paramount said a Netflix-Warner Bros. deal would harm consumers and Hollywood talent. Netflix is by far the largest paid subscription streamer, and it would become even stronger with the addition of WBD's studio assets, including HBO and the well-stocked Warner Bros. library. Netflix, for its part, has argued that a combination of Paramount and WBD would actually be larger than its own proposed new entity, as measured by total US TV viewing time.
None of this seemed to be a chief concern for the WBD board, though.
"The WBD Board further took into account advice of WBD's regulatory advisors that regulatory risk was not a material differentiating factor between" the Paramount and Netflix proposals, the filing said.
The wild card is Trump, though, who has close ties to the Ellisons but hasn't come down firmly on either side publicly.
LinkedIn is hopping on the Spotify Wrapped bandwagon.
The professional networking platform released a "Year in Review" feature that recaps user data.
I spent 281 days on LinkedIn this year, and a lot of my connections scored AI jobs.
Curious just how much time you're spending on LinkedIn?
Well, now you can find out how many days out of the 365-day calendar year you're logging in — among other stats — from LinkedIn's "Year in Review" feature.
Microsoft-owned LinkedIn is one of many platforms following in Spotify's footsteps with a personalized end-of-year recap of users' data. This year, several companies joined in on the Spotify Wrapped fun, including YouTube and Uber Eats (shortly following an SNL spoof).
Just a couple of weeks ago, I wrote a wish list of what other apps I wanted "wrapped." LinkedIn was one of them.
Thank you for fulfilling my data-hungry dreams, Microsoft!
(TikTok, Instagram, and dating apps, there's still time to deliver us with more wrapped experiences.)
"Year in Review gives members a new way to reflect on how they learned, connected, and grew in 2025," LinkedIn editor in chief Dan Roth said in a statement. "It's a fun way to look back on the year and celebrate milestones like new jobs, skills, and moments of professional growth."
How to find your LinkedIn 'Year in Review'
Open LinkedIn, and at the top of the homepage on the LinkedIn mobile app, you should see a pop-up inviting you to view your "Year in Review."
LinkedIn's "Year in Review" can be found by going to your notifications tab in the mobile app.
Screenshot/LinkedIn
If not, head over to your notifications tab, where there should be another reminder to "look back at your 2025 on LinkedIn." Or search directly for the feature in the app's search bar.
The feature summarizes data points in several slides, including the year you joined LinkedIn, how frequently you use the platform, any job changes, and your LinkedIn engagement and performance metrics throughout the year.
I do think the team missed a golden naming opportunity, however, to name the recap feature your "LinkedIn Annual Performance Review."
I'd also like to know who my top profile viewers were. C'mon, we know you can do it.
What I learned from my own LinkedIn wrapped
I spent 281 days on LinkedIn, according to my own LinkedIn recap.
That's about 77% of the calendar year. And that definitely includes several weekends.
I spent 281 days on LinkedIn, according to my own "Year in Review." That lands me in the top 10% of users.
Screenshot/LinkedIn
The feature also takes you down a memory lane of LinkedIn connections, reminding you of when you joined the professional networking platform and who your first connection was. (I joined in 2017, and my first connection was a peer from college.)
Meanwhile, my connections are scoring hot jobs in AI. LinkedIn told me that 588 of my connections "were on the move" and landed at companies like OpenAI, Stealth Startup, and Stealth AI Startup. As a reporter covering tech, that's … not surprising given the heated talent wars happening in AI and the cacophony of new AI startups launching.
If you wanted an ego boost (or buzzkill), LinkedIn also recaps some of your engagement metrics, such as new followers, comments, reactions, and profile views (if you pay for LinkedIn Premium).
Premium users also get to see their top searches and most-used premium features.
My LinkedIn connections are landing new jobs in AI.
Screenshot/LinkedIn
The cheekier features include a title summarizing what "you embodied" on LinkedIn. For me — and at least three other Business Insider peers of mine — it was a "catalyst." This, according to LinkedIn, means that "you put your ideas out there and got people talking, sparking fresh perspectives."
Even the dullest of us can understand this storyline: In a single day, three of old media's most treasured assets have been acquired by digital usurpers — internet services that used to be dismissed by media giants, and are now giants themselves.
If Netflix does end up walking away with most of Warner Bros., that's a big, structural change. A purely digital outlet will control a movie studio that (still) puts movies into movie theaters, as well as the most prestigious premium TV service.
And while I'm still processing this one, I think moving the Oscars from ABC — in 2029, when the five-year deal kicks in — is going to be more symbolic than tectonic. That is: If you are someone who liked watching the Oscars on ABC, you'll just watch it on YouTube.
It's possible that YouTube version of the Oscars could look and feel radically different. But I doubt it, because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — the people who actually run the Oscars and produce the show — will still be running the Oscars and producing the show. And my hunch is YouTube has already promised the Academy that the 2029 Oscars will look and feel just like the 2026 Oscars.
The Oscars on YouTube don't necessarily mean a bigger audience
Which brings us to the next question: Will moving the Oscars from a TV channel to an internet service bring any more eyeballs to the Oscars? Because right now, the Oscars seem like a product in permanent decline: In 1998, when "Titanic" was a megahit and most people treated the internet as a novelty, viewership peaked at 57 million US viewers. It has been steadily eroding since then, and now brings in less than half of that — which means Hollywood's biggest night brings in considerably fewer eyeballs than an average NFL game.
But there really shouldn't be any debate at all: TV is less popular because of the internet. So everything on TV — with the sole exception of the NFL — is less popular.
So while moving the Oscars from a broadcast TV network to the internet, and making the Oscars available worldwide, for free, will certainly increase the potential audience, I'm not sure that many more people will find it compelling.
Yes, it's cool to see stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet — the two leading contenders for the 2026 Best Actor award — sitting in the Dolby Theatre. But even if that happens, there's a very good chance that you won't have seen the movies they've been nominated for. So whether the show is on TV or an app, are you going to tune in — especially when you can already see Leonardo DiCaprio and Timothée Chalamet on Instagram and TikTok, 24/7?
If the Academy wants bigger audiences, YouTube is a fine place to look. They just might not like what they find.
Elon Musk addressed xAI staff during an all-hands last week, several sources with knowledge of the meeting said.
Musk said xAI will beat competitors if it can survive the next two to three years.
Musk highlighted xAI's rapid data center growth and funding access.
Elon Musk appears to be feeling upbeat about the future of his AI company.
At a companywide meeting at xAI's San Francisco headquarters last week, Musk told staff that if the company could survive the next two to three years, xAI would triumph over its competitors, several sources with knowledge of the meeting said.
The xAI CEO said that the company's ability to rapidly scale its power and data capacity would be a key ingredient in the race to achieve superintelligence — which surpasses human intelligence — and become the most powerful AI company.
Musk said that xAI could achieve artificial general intelligence, which matches or exceeds human intelligence, in the next few years, even as soon as 2026, sources said.
Musk said in November that xAI had a 10% likelihood of achieving AGI with its Grok 5 model, which he has said the company plans to release early next year.
The CEO also told staff that xAI would have an advantage over other AI companies because it would have access to around $20 billion to $30 billion in funding per year, and it could benefit from its proximity to his other companies, sources said. Tesla integrated Grok into its vehicles earlier this year.
Overall, workers said Musk appeared happy with the company's progress. One insider described the meeting as "peppy."
Musk also theorized about building data centers in space and his plans to colonize Mars, the sources said. He said that Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot could eventually man such extraterrestrial data centers, the people said.
Musk has previously said that Optimus could provide support for SpaceX missions as soon as next year. Google CEO Sundar Pichai and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have publicly talked about the possibility of building data centers in space, though Pichai acknowledged that it is a "moonshot."
In response to Business Insider's request for a comment, the company responded with an automated message: "Legacy Media Lies."
Over the past year, xAI has rapidly expanded the footprint of its data centers, a project it has named Colossus. Earlier this year, the company said it had around 200,000 GPUs, and Musk has said it plans to expand to 1 million GPUs.
xAI is one of many companies racing to build AGI and justify valuations worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Despite Musk's outsize profile, xAI is still a relatively new player in a race dominated by giants like OpenAI and Google.
The AI race shows no signs of slowing down. Earlier this month, OpenAI entered a state of emergency as it raced to push out its latest model, according to reports. Google released a new Gemini model in November, and xAI has pushed new versions of Grok in rapid succession.
During the all-hands, xAI leads demonstrated several updates to existing products, such as Grok Voice, the company's app for Tesla owners, and its agents, sources said. Some of the updates included improvements to Grok's ability to predict outcomes, better listening functions for Grok voice, and video editing, the people said.