🤖 Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Is Spending $65 Billion Dollars In 2025 To Win At AI

In today’s newsletter I discuss how Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta is spending $65 Billion dollars in 2025 to win at AI, Walmart is launching their own credit card, Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys had passed away, Nintendo Switch 2 has shattered sales records, Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal have jointly sued AI image generator Midjourney for alleged copyright infringement, and Aaron Rodgers is married?

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WHAT’S ON OUR MIND

🤖 Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Is Spending $65 billion Dollars In 2025 To Win At AI

Mark Zuckerberg is getting serious about AI, and his company Meta is launching a new AI superintelligence lab with the goal of developing artificial general intelligence that surpasses human capabilities. So it’s not enough anymore that Mark Zuckerberg is the smartest person in any room he walks into? Now even his AI has to be smarter than everyone else!

Meta’s new initiative signals a push into the competitive AI of AGI, or artificial general intelligence; essentially an AI that is as smart, if not smarter, than a human. Meta’s goal here appears to be to outpace rivals, including OpenAI and Google. Mark Zuckerberg is said to be personally recruiting top-tier AI researchers and engineers for this project, and is reportedly offering compensation packages that extend into the nine-figure range to win over the very best candidates.

Meta’s recruitment efforts are intense, with reports of Meta offering lucrative deals, including annual salaries exceeding $1 million dollars and accelerated stock vesting. This aggressive pursuit of a roughly 50 person "superintelligence" team shows Meta is serious about being a leader in the AI race.

A key part of Meta’s strategy involves substantial financial investment, not just in talent but also in infrastructure and partnerships. Meta is currently negotiating a deal to invest up to $15 billion dollars in Scale AI, a data-labeling startup founded by Lucy Guo and Alexandr Wang. This investment would secure Meta a 49% stake in Scale AI, and would bring their team into Meta's new superintelligence division. This new initiative is a colossal commitment in terms of Meta’s plans to invest up to $65 billion dollars in AI infrastructure by the end of 2025. With only 6 months left before the end of the year Meta better get crackalackin’.

💳 Business

Walmart is launching their own credit card after ending their agreement with Capital One. They're leveraging their fintech company, OnePay, in partnership with Synchrony, to power this new credit card. Capital One's existing Walmart credit card portfolio holds approximately $8.5 billion dollars in loans. Looks like Walmart just swiped right on a new financial relationship.

🪦 Entertainment

It was with immense sadness that I read that the legendary Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys had passed away at the young age of 82. His musical genius shaped generations, and made a big impression on me as a youngster. The Beach Boys sold over 100 million records worldwide, and Brian Wilson himself had a net worth that is estimated to be as much as $100 million dollars at the time of his passing. I can’t help but sing along with a smile on my face every time I hear The Beach Boys’ song ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’. Rest in peace Brian.

🎮 Tech

The Nintendo Switch 2 has shattered sales records, selling over 3.5 million units worldwide in its first four days since its June 5, 2025 release. This makes it the fastest-selling Nintendo hardware ever in that timeframe, with the baseline price of the console being $449.99 dollars.

Question: Who could have ever predicted that the new Nintendo Switch 2 would be so wildly successful?

Answer: Literally anyone you asked!

🤖 AI

The Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal have jointly sued AI image generator Midjourney for alleged copyright infringement, claiming the service generates unauthorized copies of their intellectual property, including characters like Darth Vader and Homer Simpson. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles federal court, states that Midjourney, which reportedly generated $300 million dollars in revenue last year, operates as a "bottomless pit of plagiarism" by using their intellectual property without permission. Apparently, Midjourney thought simply ignoring the cease-and-desist letters they received was a viable legal strategy. When will the universe learn not to argue with a company that’s holding a lightsaber?!?!

💒 Sports

Aaron Rodgers, with an estimated net worth of $200 million dollars and a history of dating high-profile celebrities like Olivia Munn, Danica Patrick, and Shailene Woodley, has reportedly tied the knot. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers confirmed his marriage at minicamp, but he remains tight-lipped about the details and the identity of his new spouse. Literally the only thing anyone knows about her is her name is Brittani and an “i”. Despite his $13.65 million dollars base salary with the Pittsburgh Steelers this year, it seems some things, like his personal life, are just too valuable to share.

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irl Media NEWSLETTER is written, edited, and published by Chris Thompson.