Current News

Mining/Energy/Resources/Biz/Markets/Pop Culture

The Business Of Everything Edition! Part V

Sin City Sydney Australia, Wall Street, New York, and Beyond The Black Stump

Digital Bush Telegraph

Spread The Risk!

"Wall Street Shuffle" (10cc)
"Poker Face" (Lady Gaga)
"I've Got Friday On My Mind" (The Easybeats)
"Thursday's Child" (David Bowie)
"Hail to the Chief" (All The President's Men movie)

Road To WWE Night Of Champions: King And Queen Of The Ring. He or she who owns the gold makes the rules!

UFC Freedom 250: Fallout; Big Thumbs Up From Most

Past, Present And Future

June 2026

June 19

Markets

ASX 200 futures down 51 points/0.6%: 8854

AUD -0.1% to 70.22US¢

Bitcoin $62,596.88 -2.51%

Wall St:
Dow +0.1%
S&P +1.1%
Nasdaq +1.9%

VIX down 2.04 to 16.40
Gold -0.1% to $US4,210.52 an ounce
Brent oil -0.4% to $US79.21 a barrel
Iron ore flat to $US99.20 a ton

10-year yield:
US +4.45%
Australia +4.77%

Cryptos:

Dogecoin: $0.08256 -3.07%

XRP: $1.1351 -3.56%

News (Australia)

Numbers Double Check

Australian Dollar: $0.7009 USD (down $0.0011 USD)
Iron Ore: $99.20 USD (down $0.10 USD)
Oil Price (West Texas): $76.61 USD (up $0.96 USD)
Gold Price: $4,209.33 USD (down $47.60 USD)
Copper Price: $6.3780 USD (up $0.0150 USD)
Dow Jones: 51,564.70 (up 72.15 points)

News (Australia)

June 19

ASX drops as US rate bets weighs on miners

The Australian sharemarket lost ground on Thursday, after a negative lead from Wall Street; the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6 per cent to close at 8,911.1 points. Fortescue was down 1.7 per cent at $19.97, Ora Banda Mining finished 7.5 per cent lower at $1.29 and Xero shedded 3.9 per cent to end the session at $71.64. However, Lifestyle Communities rose 9.8 per cent to $5.51 and the ANZ Bank was up 0.3 per cent at $35.14. (RMS)

News

Sports Business: NRL

Amazon in race for NRL as V'landys mulls splitting pay TV games

Sources have indicated that Amazon's Prime Video streaming service is interested in acquiring the broadcasting rights for up to two National Rugby League matches each week. The Australian Rugby League Commission's chairman Peter has indicated that he is open to NRL matches being split between several subscription video services, provided that the cost remains affordable for fans. The incumbent NRL broadcasters, Nine Entertainment and pay-TV group Foxtel, both want to secure the rights to all matches; Nine would show NRL on both its free-to-air channels and Stan Sport, while Foxtel would seek a sub-licencing deal with the Seven or Ten networks in order to comply with anti-siphoning laws. (RMS). (Media Man Peg-On): Pros and cons with spitting media rights between various platforms. Fan friendly elements vs bean counter money grabs!

Lead Up

ASX steady after rate call; BHP hits record

The Australian sharemarket edged higher on Tuesday, after the Reserve Bank left official interest rates unchanged; the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.042 per cent to close at 8,917.7 points, having reached an intra-day low of 8,843. BHP was up 0.015 per cent at a new record high of $65.19, Woodside Energy rose two per cent to $30.04 and Valiant Gold finished 4.7 per cent higher at $0.225. However, Karoon Energy shed 11.6 per cent to end the session at $1.64 and WiseTech Global was down 4.2 per cent at $36.79. (RMS). Media Man Peg-On: BHP ultra bullish. Let's go Gina and Hancock Prospecting and associates. Space X meeting to Moon, Mars and beyond.

Shares

TKO Holdings
$198.78
+4.25 +2.718%

Alphabet Inc Class A
$368.03
+4.24 +1.17%

Netflix
$77.38
+0.42 +0.55%

Paramount Skydance Corp
$9.94
-0.40 -0.40%

News Lead Up (Australia)

Cricket Australia board to be overhauled, BBL sale greenlit after crunch meeting

The six state cricket associations held a lengthy meeting at Cricket Australia's headquarters in Melbourne on Monday, with a series of agreements being struck. South Australia proposed the states should be allowed to make up their own minds about selling off stakes in their Big Bash League teams, while the meeting called for an overhaul of the Cricket Australia board. The mooted new board structure would see one director appointed by each of the six states, along with four independent directors, one of which would be the chair. (RMS)

News (Aust)

(ICYMI)

Gina Rinehart bets $1.4 billion on Musk with record SpaceX stake

Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting has bought a $US1 billion ($1.4 billion) stake in rocket and satellite company SpaceX. It represents Hancock Prospecting's biggest investment outside of iron ore, with Rinehart claiming that the Elon Musk-owned company is a further example of "why the world needs more enterprise, more builders and much less bureaucracy". Hancock Prospecting's investment in SpaceX adds to a portfolio that includes stakes in Liontown Resources, Azure Minerals and Tesla. (RMS). (Media Man Peg-On): Let's Go Team Gina w Musk. To The Moon, Mars and Beyond! Fish 'N Chips Rocket Express! : ) Islands In The Stream! Aussie Barbarella meets Gold movie and Mission To Mars. The Galaxy in your Oyster. Take off down under in Australia maties! Time for a new captain in Canberra right Peter Gravy. Getting inside here ... Operation Red Fish meets Rocket Man and Mrs Miner. Winning! Gonzo Truth News!

News Lead Up

(ICYMI)

SpaceX IPO Nears, Pushing Elon Musk Toward Trillionaire Status

SpaceX plans to price shares at $135 each on Thursday, valuing the company at $1.77 trillion and raising up to $75 billion in the largest IPO ever, with trading possibly starting Friday on Nasdaq under SPCX. Musk's 42% stake would be worth $740 billion to $866 billion, combined with his $300 billion-plus Tesla holdings pushing his net worth over $1 trillion according to Forbes and Bloomberg estimates. Prediction markets give 96% odds he'll be the first trillionaire by year-end, amid X users celebrating employee windfalls and free markets while others decry economic inequality, with jokes about Musk's riches flying alongside analyst cautions on risks. (Media Man Peg-On): To the Moon, Mars and Beyond. Real Life Iron Man Musk firing on all cylinders. Investors getting stars in their eyes?! Record Breaking Rocket Man!?

News

June 16

Gold

Gold is finding its footing

Gold has surged at its fastest pace in two months following reports that Donald Trump has called off strikes against Iran. The precious metal extended its rally on news of a deal between Washington and Tehran. With tensions easing, the outlook for Gold is improving. After dropping 18% from its highs and hitting its lowest level since November 2025, investors are once again seeing reasons for optimism.

Since the start of the geopolitical conflict, the precious metal has moved in the opposite direction to oil, so the fall in Brent has allowed gold to find its footing. Higher energy prices heighten the risks of inflation becoming entrenched at elevated levels and increase the likelihood of the Fed tightening monetary policy. This creates a headwind for gold, whilst the end of the conflict in the Middle East becomes a tailwind.

The precious metal’s rebound is being driven by US stock indices returning to record highs. The history of gold’s transformation into a risky asset dates back to 2025. At that time, gold prices jumped by 65%, whilst the New York Stock Exchange mining index rose by a record 155%. Gold can also serve as a source of liquidity, with investors selling it during stock market downturns to meet margin requirements.

Another factor set to drive gold's growth is increased demand for bullion from central banks. According to the WGC, 45% of the 76 central banks that responded to the survey plan to buy gold over the next 12 months. This is a record high since such surveys began in 2018. In emerging markets, this figure stands at 53%.

Taken together, easing tensions in the Middle East, lower oil prices, a reduced likelihood of further Fed tightening in 2026, stronger equity markets and robust central bank demand are creating a more supportive backdrop for gold, potentially paving the way for a broader recovery in prices.

The technical picture also favours the bulls, showing a striking surge in buying activity from the 61.8% Fibonacci support level of the 2022–2025 rally. Further confirmation of the reversal comes from the bounce off the 50-week moving average, which turned sharply upwards after slipping at the start of June.

Summary: Gold is rebounding as Middle East tensions ease, oil prices fall, Fed tightening risks fade, equities strengthen, and central bank demand supports recovery. (FxPro)

News

June 16

Crypto: growth without the euphoria

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation rose to $2.3 trillion by the end of Monday, before falling back to $2.27 trillion at the time of writing. The market recovery trend continues, but the relatively cautious pace of growth suggests we are far from euphoria. This looks more like a phase of asset consolidation by major players, which means the rally will have to wait a while. Among the most active coins, the growth leaders were Stellar (+14.8%), Uniswap (+14.2%) and Aave (+7%). The underperformers were Toncoin (-5.6%), Official Trump (-3.3%) and The Graph (-3.2%).

Bitcoin is trading near $66.3K, up just under 1% over the past 24 hours, but some distance from Monday’s intraday highs, which were approximately $1K higher. The price rise is occurring within a channel that formed 10 days ago. On Monday, the price confirmed this channel by touching and pulling back from its upper boundary, but it remains at the top of the range. Provided the positive momentum continues, we see the $68K area (the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level) as the nearest technical resistance to price growth. A more distant signal of market strength would be a firm consolidation above the 50-day moving average, which currently exceeds $73K.

News Background

CryptoQuant notes that inflows of bitcoins to crypto exchanges from long-term holders have reached their lowest level since 2015. Selling pressure is easing, and the number of bitcoins held by long-term holders has reached a new all-time high of 15.8 million BTC.

Relai expects Bitcoin’s bearish trend to end once the phase of major investment in artificial intelligence concludes. Capital may begin to flow back into the leading cryptocurrency as early as next year.

Strategy purchased an additional 1,587 BTC last week for $100 million at an average price of $63K per coin. The company now holds 846,842 BTC, purchased for $64.1 billion at an average price of $75.6K per Bitcoin.

BitMine has increased its Ethereum holdings to 5.62 million ETH, having purchased approximately 0.08 million ETH over the past week. BitMine’s reserves have reached 4.66%, with plans to acquire 5% of the Ethereum supply.

Summary: The crypto market is rising cautiously with no signs of euphoria; Bitcoin is holding within a 10-day channel, while selling pressure is easing. (FxPro)

News

Gaming/UFC

EA Sports UFC 6 Revives Open Weight Class Selection for Ranked Matches

EA Sports UFC 6 restores open weight class selection in Prospect ranked ladder placement matches, letting players choose divisions freely just weeks before the June 19 launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The feature, a hit in the first three games, was dropped in UFC 4 and 5 for rotating classes but returns alongside revamped fighter ratings and Flow State perks to mix up matchups. Streamers like Liam Healy hail it as a game-changer, though some note potential matchmaking issues in lighter divisions and lament the lack of PC support at launch. (Media Man Peg-On): The best of both worlds. Ground and pound and strike action. Take down your gaming store today, in a fun and friendly way. Road To The White House and beyond!

News

(ICYMI)

News

Heavy Industry News

Mack Trucks wins Media Man 'Truck Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Caterpillar wins Media Man 'Heavy Equipment Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Bingo Industries wins Media Man 'Construction Brand Of The Month' award

Elders wins Media Man 'Agribusiness Of The Month' award

Landman wins Media Man 'Streaming Series Of The Month' award (Oil/mining industry based story via Paramount Plus)

News

Gold Movie

Gold is a 2016 American epic crime drama film directed by Stephen Gaghan and written by Patrick Massett and John Zinman. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Édgar Ramírez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Toby Kebbell, Craig T. Nelson, Stacy Keach and Bruce Greenwood. The film is loosely based on the true story of the 1997 Bre-X mining scandal, when a massive gold deposit was supposedly discovered in the jungles of Indonesia; however, for legal reasons and to enhance the appeal of the film, character names and story details were changed.

Trailer

Gold (YouTube Movies and TV)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=yc0S96OZhi0

Gold is the epic tale of one man's pursuit of the American dream, to discover gold. Starring Oscar® winner Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar, Dallas Buyers Club, The Wolf Of Wall Street) as Kenny Wells, a modern day prospector desperate for a lucky break, he teams up with a similarly eager geologist and sets off on an amazing journey to find gold in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia. Getting the gold was hard, but keeping it would be even harder, sparking an adventure through the most powerful boardrooms of Wall Street. The film is inspired by a true story.

News Flashback

Early 2026

January and March

Streaming Wars
The "Streaming Wars" refers to the intense competition among digital media platforms to dominate the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market by capturing and retaining global audiences.

As of early 2026, the landscape has shifted from a period of rapid expansion into a phase of major consolidation and a focus on profitability over subscriber volume.

The "Winner" and Current State (2026)

Netflix Dominance: Industry analysts increasingly cite Netflix as the victor. In January 2026, Netflix reported 18% year-over-year revenue growth and is currently pursuing a high-stakes $83 billion all-cash acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets (including HBO/Max).

The "Big 3": Despite fierce competition, the market is primarily dominated by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+.

YouTube's Rise: Some experts argue YouTube is the true winner of the broader attention economy, surpassing traditional streaming services in total viewership by pivoting back to user-generated content.

Key Strategies in 2026

Consolidation: Smaller or struggling services are being shuttered or merged. For example, Disney recently shut down Hulu as a standalone service.

Monetization Shifts: Platforms have moved away from "growth at all costs" to strategies like password-sharing crackdowns, ad-supported tiers, and price hikes.

Live Sports & Events: Services are increasingly bidding on live sports rights (e.g., Netflix hosting WWE's Raw starting in 2025) to differentiate their offerings.

Bundling: To combat "subscription fatigue," platforms are forming strategic partnerships with telecommunications companies and banks to offer bundled service hubs.

Consumer Impact

Price Hikes: Many consumers are canceling services due to rising costs; over 40% of Americans cited price as their primary reason for unsubscribing in late 2025.

Resurgence of Piracy: Fragmented content and high costs have led to a significant comeback for pirate sites, which some users now find more comprehensive than paid services.

"South Park: The Streaming Wars": The term was popularized in mainstream culture by a 2-part South Park special released on Paramount+ in 2022, which satirized the industry's aggressive competition.

News/Profile

Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd

Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd (HPPL) is a privately owned Australian mineral exploration and agriculture company headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. As of 2026, it is recognized as one of the most successful private companies in Australian history.

Leadership and Ownership

Executive Chairwoman: Gina Rinehart AO, who has led the company since 1992.

CEO: Garry Korte.

Ownership: The company is owned by Gina Rinehart (76.6%) and the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust (23.4%).

Major Mining Operations

The company has transitioned from a prospecting firm into a major global miner, with primary interests in the Pilbara region:

Roy Hill: A flagship mega-project and Australia’s largest single iron ore mine, producing 60–70 million tonnes annually.

Hope Downs: A 50/50 joint venture with Rio Tinto, comprising four open-pit mines with a capacity of approximately 47Mtpa.

Atlas Iron: Acquired in 2018, it operates the Mount Webber, Sanjiv Ridge, and Miralga Creek mines.

Hancock Iron Ore: A new entity formed in July 2025 to consolidate Roy Hill and Atlas Iron operations.

Diversification and Strategic Investments

Under Rinehart’s leadership, the company has expanded significantly into other sectors:

Agriculture: Hancock is Australia's second-largest beef producer, owning over 25 properties including the iconic S. Kidman & Co. It also owns 50% of Bannister Downs Dairy.

Critical Minerals: Major stakes in lithium (Liontown Resources, Azure Minerals, Vulcan Energy) and rare earths (Arafura Rare Earths, MP Materials, Lynas Rare Earths).

Energy: Significant interests in oil and gas through Warrego Energy and Senex Energy.

International Ventures: In January 2026, the company signed a gold exploration license agreement with Saudi Arabia's state-owned miner, Ma’aden.

Current Events (January 2026)

Australia Day Sponsorship: The company is the principal partner for the 2026 Hancock Prospecting Australia Day celebrations in Perth.

Helipad Proposal: In December 2025, the City of Perth refused the company's proposal to build a helipad at its West Perth headquarters.

Financial Performance: For the 2025 fiscal year, the company reported a profit of AU$3.08 billion.

History

The company was founded on November 25, 1955, by Lang Hancock, who is credited with discovering the world's largest iron ore deposit in 1952. When Gina Rinehart took over following his death in 1992, the company was in a precarious financial state with significant debt.

News

Gold (1974)

Gold is a 1974 British action-thriller directed by Peter R. Hunt, starring Roger Moore and Susannah York. Based on the 1970 novel Gold Mine by Wilbur Smith, the film is set in the South African goldfields and follows a conspiracy by a global syndicate to manipulate the price of gold by sabotaging a rich mine.

Plot: Rod Slater (Moore), a newly appointed general manager, is manipulated by his boss, Manfred Steyner (Bradford Dillman), into drilling through a protective barrier into a subterranean lake. This is intended to flood the mine, causing a global gold shortage and driving up prices for a greedy cabal.

Production Controversy: The film was controversially shot on location in South Africa during the apartheid era. This led to a "black ban" by British film unions, though some crew members defied it to work on the production.

James Bond Connection: Many crew members were veterans of the James Bond franchise, including director Peter Hunt (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), editor John Glen, and title designer Maurice Binder.

Accolades: The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Wherever Love Takes Me," composed by Elmer Bernstein and sung by Maureen McGovern.

Cast & Crew

Rod Slater: Roger Moore

Terry Steyner: Susannah York

Hurry Hirschfeld: Ray Milland

Manfred Steyner: Bradford Dillman

Farrell: John Gielgud

Director: Peter R. Hunt

Music: Elmer Bernstein

Availability in 2026

As of 2026, the film is available through several formats and platforms:

Streaming: Accessible on Prime Video, Tubi, and Roku devices.

Physical Media: High-definition restorations are available on Blu-ray and DVD from Kino Lorber and 88 Films

News

Pop Culture

"Gold" (Spandau Ballet)

"Gold" is a signature 1983 hit by the British New Romantic band Spandau Ballet, written by Gary Kemp.

Lyrics

Thank you for coming home I'm sorry that the chairs are all worn I left them here, I could have sworn These are my salad days Slowly being eaten away Just another play for today Oh, but I'm proud of you, but I'm proud of you

Nothing left to make me feel small Luck has left me standing so tall

Thank you for coming home I'm sorry that the chairs are all worn I left them here I could have sworn

These are my salad days Slowly being eaten away Just another play for today Oh but I'm proud of you but I'm proud of you

Nothing left to make me feel small Luck has left me standing so tall

Gold (gold)

Always believe in your soul You've got the power to know You're indestructible Always believe in

'Cause you are

Gold (gold)

Glad that you're bound to return There's something I could have learned You're indestructible Always believin'

Oh after the rush has gone I hope you find a little more time Remember we were partners in crime It's only two years ago

The man with the suit and the face You knew that he was there on the case Now he's in love with you he's in love with you

My love is like a high prison wall But you could leave me standing so tall

Gold (gold)

Always believe in your soul You've got the power to know You're indestructible Always believe in 'Cause you are

Gold (gold)

Glad that you're bound to return There's something I could have learned You're indestructible Always believin'

My love is like a high prison wall And you could leave me standing so tall

Gold (gold)

Oh always believe in your soul You've got the power to know You're indestructible Always believe in 'Cause you are

Gold (gold)

Glad that you're bound to return Something I could have learned You're indestructible Always believin'

Songwriter: Gary James Kemp

Spandau Ballet - Gold (HD Remastered)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ntG50eXbBtc

Official video of Spandau Ballet performing 'Gold' from their 1983 third album 'True'.

Gary Kemp wrote both the music and lyrics; the song was produced by the partnership of Steve Jolley and Tony Swain. The music video was filmed on location in Carmona, Spain and directed by Brian Duffy. The video featured Sadie Frost as a gold-painted nymph, in one of her earlier roles. Some parts of the music video were also filmed in Leighton House, which was also used in the video for "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers.

Spandau Ballet are one of Britain’s great iconic bands having sold over 25 million records, scored numerous multi-platinum albums and amassed 23 hit singles across the globe since their humble beginnings as a group of friends with dreams of stardom in the late 1970s. It wasn’t long before they became fully-fledged members of the iconic Blitz Club scene and established themselves as one of the super-groups of the 80s.

The band's classic line-up features brothers Gary and Martin Kemp on guitars, vocalist Tony Hadley, saxophonist Steve Norman and drummer John Keeble.

Spandau Ballet’s hits include Gold, True, To Cut A Long Story Short, Through The Barricades and many more.
News

The Australian Financial Review wins Media Man 'Newspaper Of The Month' award

Roy Morgan wins Media Man 'News Services Business Of The Month' award

Sky News Australia wins Media Man 'Australian Media Outlet Of The Month' award

WWE wins 'Wrestling Promotion Of the Month' award; Runner-up: Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide

News

Pop Culture Dream Matches: Fantasy Booking

Media Man Series

Team Trump def Team Left
Dana White def Naysayers
Sydney Sweeney def critics
Pauline Hanson def critics
SpaceX def everyone
Mr NXT vs Mr AEW
Conor McGregor vs critics
Sten Lee (Marvel) vs DC Comics (Team Warner)
Mr Netflix vs Mr Paramount
Mr YouTube vs Mr Rumble
Mr Meta vs Mr Bluesky
Mr Crypto vs Mr NWO
Mr Toyota vs Mr Porsche
Tony D'Angelo vs Mr EVIL - NXT (Great American Bash) - June 28
Seth Rollins vs Bron Breakker - WWE Night of Champions - June 27
WWE vs everyone - WWE Satuday Night's Main Event - July 18 - Madison Square Garden, NYC

Best Quotes

"I've never met a currency I didn't like" JBL

"What's your hustle" Paul Heyman

"Just in any job, if you want to get ahead, take shorter lunch breaks, be happy to stay later, do the work, and finish it off well" Gina Rinehart

"Everyone you meet knows something you don't" Fred Schebesta

Mining/Energy/Resources/Biz/Markets/Pop Culture

The Business Of Everything Edition! Part II

Sin City Sydney Australia, Wall Street, New York, and Beyond The Black Stump

Digital Bush Telegraph

Spread The Risk!

Before The Bell

"Wall Street Shuffle" (10cc)

"Poker Face" (Lady Gaga)

"Monday, Monday" (The Mamas & The Papas)

Road To WWE Night Of Champions

UFC Freedom 250: Fallout

Past, Present And Future

June 2026

June 16

Markets

ASX 200 futures are pointing down 110 points or 1.2 per cent to 8815.

AUD -0.3% to 70.70US¢

Bitcoin $65,737.37 +0.51%

Wall Street:

Dow +0.9%
S&P +1.6%
Nasdaq +3.1%

VIX down 1.5 points to 16.2
Gold +0.1% to $US4314.55 an ounce
Brent oil -4.4% to $US83.46 a barrel
Iron ore +0.6% to $US102 a ton

10-year yield:
US +4.47%
Australia +4.80%

Cryptos:

Dogecoin: $0.08696 -1.87%

XRP: $1.2172 +3.09%

News (Australia)

Numbers Double Check

Australian Dollar: $0.7073 USD (up $0.0035 USD)

Iron Ore: $102.00 USD (up $0.50 USD)

Oil Price (West Texas): $81.13 USD (down $3.75 USD)

Gold Price : $4,309.36 USD (up $98.46 USD)

Copper Price: $6.4900 USD (up $0.0160 USD)

Dow Jones: 51,671.03 (up 468.77 points)

News (Australia)

ASX rallies on US-Iran deal, BHP hits record

The Australian sharemarket rose strongly on Monday, after the US announced an interim agreement with Iran to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz; the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3 per cent to close at 8,914 points. BHP was up 3.6 per cent at a record high of $65.18, Ora Banda Mining advanced 16.3 per cent to $1.28 and Accent Group finished 15.4 per cent higher at $0.75. However, Santos fell 8.1 per cent to $7.42 after a sharp fall in the crude oil price, and Coles Group was down 2.1 per cent at $23.51. (RMS)

Shares

TKO Holdings
$201.17
-1.38 -0.68%

Alphabet Inc Class A
$369.35
+9.67 +2.69%

Paramount Skydance Corp
$10.49
-0.020 -0.19%

News (Australia)

Gina Rinehart bets $1.4 billion on Musk with record SpaceX stake

Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting has bought a $US1 billion ($1.4 billion) stake in rocket and satellite company SpaceX. It represents Hancock Prospecting's biggest investment outside of iron ore, with Rinehart claiming that the Elon Musk-owned company is a further example of "why the world needs more enterprise, more builders and much less bureaucracy". Hancock Prospecting's investment in SpaceX adds to a portfolio that includes stakes in Liontown Resources, Azure Minerals and Tesla. (RMS)

News Lead Up

(ICYMI)

SpaceX IPO Nears, Pushing Elon Musk Toward Trillionaire Status

SpaceX plans to price shares at $135 each on Thursday, valuing the company at $1.77 trillion and raising up to $75 billion in the largest IPO ever, with trading possibly starting Friday on Nasdaq under SPCX. Musk's 42% stake would be worth $740 billion to $866 billion, combined with his $300 billion-plus Tesla holdings pushing his net worth over $1 trillion according to Forbes and Bloomberg estimates. Prediction markets give 96% odds he'll be the first trillionaire by year-end, amid X users celebrating employee windfalls and free markets while others decry economic inequality, with jokes about Musk's riches flying alongside analyst cautions on risks. (Media Man Peg-On): To the Moon, Mars and Beyond. Real Life Iron Man Musk firing on all cylinders. Investors getting stars in their eyes?! Record Breaking Rocket Man!?

News

News Lead Up

(ICYMI)

Gold News

Gold: has it bottomed out at $4,300

Gold is trying to find a bottom, bracing for the US CPI release

China continues to buy gold for the 19th consecutive month

The US dollar retreated after Israel and Iran announced a ceasefire. Donald Trump urged them not to shoot at each other. Nevertheless, the adversaries reserve the right to resume hostilities, keeping tensions high in the Middle East, which supports the greenback as a safe-haven asset.

Investors are fixated on Donald Trump’s determination to strike a deal with Tehran at any cost and are using the positive news to buy EURUSD. However, according to BMO Capital Markets, headlines are noise, whilst regime change is the signal. Oil prices will not collapse following the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and high US inflation is set to persist for some time. The new administration will force the Fed to raise rates and make the US dollar the favourite in the forex market. The firm recommends buying the greenback against the euro, the pound and the yen.

This reasoning holds. With low unemployment and a tight labour market, any acceleration in US economic growth will lead to higher wages. This will push consumer prices upwards and prompt the Fed to tighten monetary policy. The federal funds rate could be raised even now. Inflation has long exceeded the 2% target, and the labour market is at its strongest since 2024.

The prospect of the Fed moving towards monetary tightening, combined with rising oil prices due to the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, has pushed gold back to levels seen at the start of 2026. The precious metal has wiped out all its gains this year due to the strengthening US dollar and rising Treasury bond yields.

Even active buying by central banks is failing to help gold bulls. The People’s Bank of China increased its reserves by 320,000 ounces in May, having purchased gold continuously for 19 months. This is the longest such streak since 2015, when regular publication of these statistics began.

The next test for gold will be the May US inflation report. Consumer prices are expected to rise from 3.8% to 4.2%, and core CPI from 2.8% to 2.9%. Such trends will increase the likelihood of the Fed tightening monetary policy and put pressure on gold.

Summary: Gold is under pressure from a strong dollar and expectations of accelerating US inflation. Even Chinese buying is not helping: the increased likelihood of a Fed rate hike is heightening the risks of a decline. (FxPro)

News

Sports/Gaming

(ICYMI)

Kristen Foxen Wins Sixth WSOP Bracelet and $1.77 Million in High Roller

The Canadian pro topped Galen Hall heads-up in the $25,000 High Roller No-Limit Hold'em 8-Handed event at Horseshoe and Paris Las Vegas, earning a career-high $1,773,083 and pushing her total live earnings over $20.7 million. Hall took second for $1,182,050, with Biao Ding third at $819,504; the final table included Joey Weissman, Ignacio Moron, and others. Foxen's six bracelets now match an elite group of 11 players—twice as many as any other woman—and peers like Patrick Leonard hail her as possibly the best No-Limit Hold'em player in WSOP history. (Media Man Peg-On): Sport, Gambling or both?!

News

Danhausen Claims 7x WWE Grand Slam After Pinning Miz Seven Times

During WWE's Summer Tour stops in Strasbourg, Lisbon, Madrid, Bologna, and Rome from June 2-6, Danhausen racked up clean wins over Miz at non-televised events. He based his bold claim on Miz's real Grand Slam status, prompting fans to joke he's actually 14x and cheer him as the GOAT. While some critics want more TV time, supporters point to his merch success, sold-out crowds, and house show dominance. (Media Man Peg-On): News Hausen, Media Hausen. X News Grand Slam. Danhausen def AEW curse?! Danhausen in New York Knicks good books!

News

Saudi Arabia step up push for direct flights to Australia

Australian cattle exporters have had to contend with limited access to air freight to countries in the Persian Gulf region since the Iran war began, as well as higher frieght costs. However, Saudia Cargo will shortly commence direct flights to Avalon Airport in Victoria and the Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport in Queensland. Australia Saudi Business Council chairman Sam Jamsheedi says this will allow fresh meat from Australia to arrive in Saudi Arabia within 14 hours. He adds that negotiations have commenced for Riyadh Airlines to begin premium passenger flights on Australia-Middle East routes, in competition with established rivals Emirates and Qatar Airlines. (Media Man Peg On): Aussie beef may be the best in the world. Saudi knows quality. Take it to the bank! Aussie lamb takes a back seat?! Don't start us on Kangaroo!

News

(ICYMI)

News Lead Up

Bitcoin News

Bitcoin is losing the confidence of major holders

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has been rapidly shrinking since the start of the new week, falling by 5% to $2.38 trillion, its lowest level since early April. It appears that confidence in the prospects of cryptocurrency has fallen sharply following reports of a largely symbolic BTC sale from Strategy’s balance sheet, which may be followed by more active selling from other holders. We also cannot rule out an ‘Iranian connection’, as reports of seizures of Iranian cryptocurrency undermine the notion of anonymity and untraceability that has long underpinned the crypto market. The solid performance of supposedly anonymous coins fits neatly into this hypothesis. Thus, over the past 24 hours, the top performers have been NEAR Protocol (+14.8%), Internet Computer (+10.2%) and Zcash (+5%). The three worst performers are Stellar (-13.2%), Basic Attention Token (-10%) and Bitcoin (-4.3%).

Bitcoin is accelerating its decline, having fallen to $69K, even though it started the week just above $74K. As expected, the drop below the 50-day moving average a week ago followed more than a week of selling pressure at that level. Technically, the leading cryptocurrency faces relatively few obstacles on its way down to the $65-66K range, but further down, longer-term support may come into play, having halted the decline in February and March.

News Background

According to CoinShares, global investment in crypto funds fell by $1.671 billion last week, marking the largest outflow since January. Investments in Bitcoin fell by $1.438 billion (the largest outflow from BTC this year), in Ethereum by $257 million, in Solana by $1 million, and in Sui by $1 million. Investments in altcoins rose by $20 million in XRP, $11 million in Hyperliquid, and $8 million in Near.

Sentiment towards Bitcoin on social media has reached its most positive level since the start of the year, despite the crypto market’s decline in May, Santiment notes. In the past, such surges in optimism have often coincided with local highs in the asset’s price.

Strategy has sold Bitcoin for the first time since 2022. Last week, 32 BTC were sold for approximately $2.5 million at an average price of $77,135 per coin. The largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, which had previously promised never to sell the asset, will use the proceeds to pay dividends on preference shares.

As a result of the latest adjustment, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty rose by 1.72% to 138.96 T. The figure has returned to its April highs.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has renamed the cryptocurrency Toncoin (TON) to Gram (GRAM), describing the rebranding as a return to its roots. The blockchain will retain the name TON (The Open Network). No action is required from token holders.

Summary: Bitcoin accelerated its decline towards $69K amid a record outflow from crypto funds and Strategy’s first BTC sale since 2022, heightening fears among large holders. (FxPro)

(Media Man Peg-On): Invest/gamble at own risk!

News

Gaming/UFC

EA Sports UFC 6 Revives Open Weight Class Selection for Ranked Matches

EA Sports UFC 6 restores open weight class selection in Prospect ranked ladder placement matches, letting players choose divisions freely just weeks before the June 19 launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The feature, a hit in the first three games, was dropped in UFC 4 and 5 for rotating classes but returns alongside revamped fighter ratings and Flow State perks to mix up matchups. Streamers like Liam Healy hail it as a game-changer, though some note potential matchmaking issues in lighter divisions and lament the lack of PC support at launch. (Media Man Peg-On): The best of both worlds. Ground and pound and strike action. Take down your gaming store today, in a fun and friendly way. Road To The White House and beyond!

News

(ICYMI)

News

Heavy Industry News

Mack Trucks wins Media Man 'Truck Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Caterpillar wins Media Man 'Heavy Equipment Manufacturer Of The Month' award

Bingo Industries wins Media Man 'Construction Brand Of The Month' award

Elders wins Media Man 'Agribusiness Of The Month' award

Landman wins Media Man 'Streaming Series Of The Month' award (Oil/mining industry based story via Paramount Plus)

News

Gold Movie

Gold is a 2016 American epic crime drama film directed by Stephen Gaghan and written by Patrick Massett and John Zinman. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Édgar Ramírez, Bryce Dallas Howard, Corey Stoll, Toby Kebbell, Craig T. Nelson, Stacy Keach and Bruce Greenwood. The film is loosely based on the true story of the 1997 Bre-X mining scandal, when a massive gold deposit was supposedly discovered in the jungles of Indonesia; however, for legal reasons and to enhance the appeal of the film, character names and story details were changed.

Trailer

Gold (YouTube Movies and TV)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=yc0S96OZhi0

Gold is the epic tale of one man's pursuit of the American dream, to discover gold. Starring Oscar® winner Matthew McConaughey (Interstellar, Dallas Buyers Club, The Wolf Of Wall Street) as Kenny Wells, a modern day prospector desperate for a lucky break, he teams up with a similarly eager geologist and sets off on an amazing journey to find gold in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia. Getting the gold was hard, but keeping it would be even harder, sparking an adventure through the most powerful boardrooms of Wall Street. The film is inspired by a true story.

News Flashback

Early 2026

January and March

Streaming Wars

The "Streaming Wars" refers to the intense competition among digital media platforms to dominate the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market by capturing and retaining global audiences.

As of early 2026, the landscape has shifted from a period of rapid expansion into a phase of major consolidation and a focus on profitability over subscriber volume.

The "Winner" and Current State (2026)

Netflix Dominance: Industry analysts increasingly cite Netflix as the victor. In January 2026, Netflix reported 18% year-over-year revenue growth and is currently pursuing a high-stakes $83 billion all-cash acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets (including HBO/Max).

The "Big 3": Despite fierce competition, the market is primarily dominated by Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+.

YouTube's Rise: Some experts argue YouTube is the true winner of the broader attention economy, surpassing traditional streaming services in total viewership by pivoting back to user-generated content.

Key Strategies in 2026
Consolidation: Smaller or struggling services are being shuttered or merged. For example, Disney recently shut down Hulu as a standalone service.

Monetization Shifts: Platforms have moved away from "growth at all costs" to strategies like password-sharing crackdowns, ad-supported tiers, and price hikes.

Live Sports & Events: Services are increasingly bidding on live sports rights (e.g., Netflix hosting WWE's Raw starting in 2025) to differentiate their offerings.

Bundling: To combat "subscription fatigue," platforms are forming strategic partnerships with telecommunications companies and banks to offer bundled service hubs.

Consumer Impact

Price Hikes: Many consumers are canceling services due to rising costs; over 40% of Americans cited price as their primary reason for unsubscribing in late 2025.

Resurgence of Piracy: Fragmented content and high costs have led to a significant comeback for pirate sites, which some users now find more comprehensive than paid services.

"South Park: The Streaming Wars": The term was popularized in mainstream culture by a 2-part South Park special released on Paramount+ in 2022, which satirized the industry's aggressive competition.

News/Profile

Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd

Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd (HPPL) is a privately owned Australian mineral exploration and agriculture company headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. As of 2026, it is recognized as one of the most successful private companies in Australian history.

Leadership and Ownership

Executive Chairwoman: Gina Rinehart AO, who has led the company since 1992.

CEO: Garry Korte.

Ownership: The company is owned by Gina Rinehart (76.6%) and the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust (23.4%).

Major Mining Operations

The company has transitioned from a prospecting firm into a major global miner, with primary interests in the Pilbara region:

Roy Hill: A flagship mega-project and Australia’s largest single iron ore mine, producing 60–70 million tonnes annually.

Hope Downs: A 50/50 joint venture with Rio Tinto, comprising four open-pit mines with a capacity of approximately 47Mtpa.

Atlas Iron: Acquired in 2018, it operates the Mount Webber, Sanjiv Ridge, and Miralga Creek mines.

Hancock Iron Ore: A new entity formed in July 2025 to consolidate Roy Hill and Atlas Iron operations.

Diversification and Strategic Investments

Under Rinehart’s leadership, the company has expanded significantly into other sectors:

Agriculture: Hancock is Australia's second-largest beef producer, owning over 25 properties including the iconic S. Kidman & Co. It also owns 50% of Bannister Downs Dairy.

Critical Minerals: Major stakes in lithium (Liontown Resources, Azure Minerals, Vulcan Energy) and rare earths (Arafura Rare Earths, MP Materials, Lynas Rare Earths).

Energy: Significant interests in oil and gas through Warrego Energy and Senex Energy.

International Ventures: In January 2026, the company signed a gold exploration license agreement with Saudi Arabia's state-owned miner, Ma’aden.

Current Events (January 2026)

Australia Day Sponsorship: The company is the principal partner for the 2026 Hancock Prospecting Australia Day celebrations in Perth.

Helipad Proposal: In December 2025, the City of Perth refused the company's proposal to build a helipad at its West Perth headquarters.

Financial Performance: For the 2025 fiscal year, the company reported a profit of AU$3.08 billion.

History

The company was founded on November 25, 1955, by Lang Hancock, who is credited with discovering the world's largest iron ore deposit in 1952. When Gina Rinehart took over following his death in 1992, the company was in a precarious financial state with significant debt.

News

Gold (1974)

Gold is a 1974 British action-thriller directed by Peter R. Hunt, starring Roger Moore and Susannah York. Based on the 1970 novel Gold Mine by Wilbur Smith, the film is set in the South African goldfields and follows a conspiracy by a global syndicate to manipulate the price of gold by sabotaging a rich mine.

Plot: Rod Slater (Moore), a newly appointed general manager, is manipulated by his boss, Manfred Steyner (Bradford Dillman), into drilling through a protective barrier into a subterranean lake. This is intended to flood the mine, causing a global gold shortage and driving up prices for a greedy cabal.

Production Controversy: The film was controversially shot on location in South Africa during the apartheid era. This led to a "black ban" by British film unions, though some crew members defied it to work on the production.

James Bond Connection: Many crew members were veterans of the James Bond franchise, including director Peter Hunt (On Her Majesty's Secret Service), editor John Glen, and title designer Maurice Binder.

Accolades: The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for "Wherever Love Takes Me," composed by Elmer Bernstein and sung by Maureen McGovern.

Cast & Crew

Rod Slater: Roger Moore

Terry Steyner: Susannah York

Hurry Hirschfeld: Ray Milland

Manfred Steyner: Bradford Dillman

Farrell: John Gielgud

Director: Peter R. Hunt

Music: Elmer Bernstein

Availability in 2026

As of 2026, the film is available through several formats and platforms:

Streaming: Accessible on Prime Video, Tubi, and Roku devices.

Physical Media: High-definition restorations are available on Blu-ray and DVD from Kino Lorber and 88 Films

News

Pop Culture

"Gold" (Spandau Ballet)

"Gold" is a signature 1983 hit by the British New Romantic band Spandau Ballet, written by Gary Kemp.

Lyrics

Thank you for coming home I'm sorry that the chairs are all worn I left them here, I could have sworn These are my salad days Slowly being eaten away Just another play for today Oh, but I'm proud of you, but I'm proud of you

Nothing left to make me feel small Luck has left me standing so tall

Thank you for coming home I'm sorry that the chairs are all worn I left them here I could have sworn

These are my salad days Slowly being eaten away Just another play for today Oh but I'm proud of you but I'm proud of you

Nothing left to make me feel small Luck has left me standing so tall

Gold (gold)

Always believe in your soul You've got the power to know You're indestructible Always believe in

'Cause you are

Gold (gold)

Glad that you're bound to return There's something I could have learned You're indestructible Always believin'

Oh after the rush has gone I hope you find a little more time Remember we were partners in crime It's only two years ago

The man with the suit and the face You knew that he was there on the case Now he's in love with you he's in love with you

My love is like a high prison wall But you could leave me standing so tall

Gold (gold)

Always believe in your soul You've got the power to know You're indestructible Always believe in 'Cause you are

Gold (gold)

Glad that you're bound to return There's something I could have learned You're indestructible Always believin'

My love is like a high prison wall And you could leave me standing so tall

Gold (gold)

Oh always believe in your soul You've got the power to know You're indestructible Always believe in 'Cause you are

Gold (gold)

Glad that you're bound to return Something I could have learned You're indestructible Always believin'

Songwriter: Gary James Kemp

Spandau Ballet - Gold (HD Remastered)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ntG50eXbBtc

Official video of Spandau Ballet performing 'Gold' from their 1983 third album 'True'.

Gary Kemp wrote both the music and lyrics; the song was produced by the partnership of Steve Jolley and Tony Swain. The music video was filmed on location in Carmona, Spain and directed by Brian Duffy. The video featured Sadie Frost as a gold-painted nymph, in one of her earlier roles. Some parts of the music video were also filmed in Leighton House, which was also used in the video for "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers.

Spandau Ballet are one of Britain’s great iconic bands having sold over 25 million records, scored numerous multi-platinum albums and amassed 23 hit singles across the globe since their humble beginnings as a group of friends with dreams of stardom in the late 1970s. It wasn’t long before they became fully-fledged members of the iconic Blitz Club scene and established themselves as one of the super-groups of the 80s.

The band's classic line-up features brothers Gary and Martin Kemp on guitars, vocalist Tony Hadley, saxophonist Steve Norman and drummer John Keeble.

Spandau Ballet’s hits include Gold, True, To Cut A Long Story Short, Through The Barricades and many more.
News

The Australian Financial Review wins Media Man 'Newspaper Of The Month' award

Roy Morgan wins Media Man 'News Services Business Of The Month' award

Sky News Australia wins Media Man 'Australian Media Outlet Of The Month' award

WWE wins 'Wrestling Promotion Of the Month' award; Runner-up: Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide

Best Quotes

"I've never met a currency I didn't like" JBL

"What's your hustle" Paul Heyman

"Just in any job, if you want to get ahead, take shorter lunch breaks, be happy to stay later, do the work, and finish it off well" Gina Rinehart

"Everyone you meet knows something you don't" Fred Schebesta

Media Man

Markets, Cryptos and Culture

June 1, 2026

Wall Street, New York - Sin City, Sydney, Australia

"The Wall Street Shuffle" (10cc)

Big Week In Store For Markets, Streaming Biz, Combat Sports; Ripple Effect! Bulls vs Bears continued

UFC Macau Very Solid, WWE Clash In Italy: Strong Show and Lucha Libre Noche de Los Grandes Over-delivers with Mask vs Mask Modern Classic/Match Of The Year Contender!

WWE RAW Upcoming: Clash In Italy Aftermath and Road To UFC Freedom 250; Wrestling With Numbers And Creative

WWE's Logan Paul

"Logan Paul knows better than anyone, this ain't ballet" Paul Heyman, re Paul injury

Digital Bush Telegraph

Australia and Wall St Continues To Ring Bells

Markets

June 1 (Aust)

ASX futures down 13 points or 0.2%: 8737

AUD +0.1% at US71.70¢

Bitcoin $73,108.05 -1.16%

Dow +0.7%
S&P +0.2%
Nasdaq +0.2%
Gold +1.0% to $US4540.26 an ounce
Brent oil -1.7% at $US91.12 a barrel
Iron ore -0.1% at $US105.20 a ton

News (Australia)

Australian Dollar: $0.7168 USD (up $0.0005 USD)
Iron Ore: $105.20 USD (down $0.10 USD)
Iron Ore : $105.15 USD (up $0.07 USD)
Oil Price (West Texas): $87.36 USD (down $1.36 USD)
Gold Price : $4,539.76 USD (up $43.78 USD)
Copper Price): $6.3940 USD (down $0.0275 USD)
Dow Jones: 51,032.46 (up 363.49 points)

News

ASX eyes lower open as investors await RBA speeches

Futures for the S&P/ASX 200 Index indicate a 0.1 per cent fall on Monday, following the strongest rally in nearly two months on Friday. The week ahead will see a number of speeches from senior Reserve Bank officials, with investors hoping they will provide a view as to the interest rate outlook, while 'stop-start' efforts by Iran and the US and Washington to extend their ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz will again continue to dominate the market outlook. (RMS)

News

Advertising/Media/Sports/Betting

'Immoral': Labor gambling ad limits rubbished

The federal government has been attacked for not implementing key recommendations of an inquiry into sports wagering advertising; the inquiry was led by the late Labor MP Peta Murphy and called for a total ban on gambling advertising. New draft laws released by the government on Friday call for gambling advertisements to be limited to three per hour, but they will still be allowed after 8.30pm. Prominent anti-gambling advocate Tim Costello says the idea that all children will be in bed by that time during the weekend when a sporting event is on defies logic. He says the government should resist claims that a ban on gambling ads will hurt free-to-air TV, with Costello claiming that it will soon end as a result of competition from streaming, and to that to allow it to operate a little longer so that children can be groomed by gambling ads is "immoral". (RMS)

News

Industry/Resources (Australia)

Bidders for Whyalla steelworks offer a stark choice of global experience versus local ambition

A consortium led by Matt Latimore's M Resources and Indian firm Jindal Steel and Power are the two final short-listed bidders for Whyalla steelworks, although BlueScope still retains the right to make a last-minute bid. Jindal can claim to have an advantage over Latimer in terms of its experience in running and operating steel mills, although M Resources will likely acquire that expertise via potential future consortium partners POSCO and JSW Steel. Jindal does not have a very good record in Australia, with its only major local operation having been Wollongong Resources, which operated coal mines at Russell Vale and Wongawilli. Both mines were mothballed in early 2024, with the loss of more than 200 jobs, after safety regulators ordered the closure of the Russell Vale mine after five underground fires in just a short periof of time. (Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Gaming/Tech Biz

Pokies company Ainsworth writes off $13.2m investment in alleged 'pyramid scheme'

Australian poker machine manufacturer Ainsworth Game Technology has lost a $13.2 million investment in an Argentinian fintech company called Wenance, with the company having been declared bankrupt. Its CEO Alejandro Muszak was arrested in 2024 amid fraud allegations facing Wenance, while there are claims that it operated a Ponzi scheme. With Ainsworth Game Technology having recently forecast a profit before tax of just $1m for the six months ending 30 June, the news that it has lost its $13.2 million investment in Wenance is unlikely to please its shareholders. (RMS)

Cryptos

XRP $1.3079 -2.10

DOGE $0.09976 -0.99%

Bitcoin Cash $292.91 -4.10

News

Gold News

Again, technical factors are saving gold from the drop

Gold fell below $4,400, reaching levels last seen during the prolonged March decline. At its intraday low, the price dipped below the 200-day moving average. Buyers have repeatedly stepped in around this level over the past three years. The last week of May was no exception. Beyond purely technical factors, the precious metal was supported by positive signals from the US-Iran front and an encouraging equity market rally, which boosted risk appetite.

The key difference between the current rally from $4,400 to levels above $4,500 and the one in March is that gold no longer appears heavily oversold, and market conditions appear much more balanced. A break below this level could open the way to the $4,000–$4,100 range. However, if selling pressure intensifies, the decline could prove much deeper, down to $3,400.

Although we find it hard to believe in the sustainability of the current rebound, it is still worth acknowledging that the market may get stuck near current levels, gathering strength after the downward momentum, which could take anywhere from a couple of days to a week. An even more optimistic – and even less likely – scenario involves a bullish breakout above the 50-day moving average at $4,630, which would put an end to the recent months' downtrend and restore a long-term bullish bias. (FxPro)

News Lead Up

The crypto market is juggling altcoins

Market Overview

The crypto market remains stagnant, stuck at $2.57T and hovering around the 50-day moving average, awaiting further signals. The crypto market’s overall sideways movement looks like a juggling act for mid-tier altcoins: one after another takes the lead. Among the most popular coins over the last 24 hours are NEAR Protocol (+14%), The Graph (+5.6%) and Toncoin (+4.5%). The underperformers were Zcash (-5.9%), Dash (-4.1%) and Uniswap (-3.1%).

Bitcoin rose to $77.8K at the end of the day on Monday, but by the start of trading in Europe, it was trading $1,000 lower. The coin is finding support near the upward-sloping 50-day moving average. Earlier in May, the 200-day moving average briefly acted as strong resistance. If current trends continue, these lines will cross in just a couple of weeks, forming a golden cross, a strong bullish signal. But even before that, we may see a breakout of one of the key moving averages, the outcome of which will determine the trajectory of Bitcoin and the entire crypto market for the coming weeks.

News Background

Institutional investors have withdrawn $1.74 billion from Bitcoin ETFs over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, retail traders are increasing their leverage in anticipation of a reversal in the BTC price. In the past, such a combination has repeatedly resulted in severe waves of liquidations, warns CryptoOnchain.

Current Ethereum levels are suitable for building long-term positions, according to MN Trading founder Michael van de Poppe. In his view, the asset remains a crucial infrastructure element of the on-chain ecosystem, despite lagging the market in recent months due to macroeconomic factors.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved the listing of options on a Bitcoin index calculated based on BTC prices across multiple exchanges. This is the first such instrument on US stock exchanges currently; only options linked to the value of spot crypto ETF shares are traded there.

Strategy skipped its weekly Bitcoin purchase last week, instead buying back $1.5 billion of its own convertible bonds. The company’s founder, Michael Saylor, publicly revealed for the first time the tactic that Strategy has been using for five years. (FxPro)

News Lead Up

May 25

Bitcoin is shy to move up, but refuses to fall

Market Overview

The crypto market continues to fluctuate, returning for the third time this week to market capitalisation levels around $2.57T, although at the end of last week it dipped to $2.5T following an earlier surge to $2.7T in May. Over the past 24 hours, the top-performing coins have been Near Protocol (+7.3%), Internet Computer (+4.1%) and Toncoin (+3.4%). Uniswap has seen the biggest decline, falling by 1.6%, whilst Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin have each lost 1%.

Bitcoin fell to $74.3K on Saturday but was trading just above $77K by Monday. Its price movements remain very subdued, with no sharp spikes, and it continues to lag behind stock indices, which are climbing towards all-time highs. On the other hand, the trend of buying on dips is also clearly continuing. The 50-day moving average remains a support level, but buyers are wary of accelerating their purchases. They are likely somewhat put off by the lack of a ‘final capitulation’ in the leading cryptocurrency, which could have brought the bear market to an end.

News Background

Outflows from US spot Bitcoin ETFs have continued for a second week, following six weeks of inflows. According to SoSoValue, net weekly outflows from spot BTC ETFs rose to $1.26 billion, hitting their highest level since late January. Total inflows since the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in January 2024 have fallen to $57.08 billion (-2.2% for the week).

Outflows from US spot Ethereum ETFs have also persisted for two consecutive weeks. Net weekly outflows from ETH ETFs fell by $216 million. Total net inflows since the ETF's launch in July 2024 have fallen to $11.62 billion (-1.8% week-on-week).

Weakening retail demand and outflows from crypto ETFs could be a ‘contrarian indicator’ signalling a buy signal for Bitcoin, according to Santiment.

Bitcoin miners remain cautious and are not yet showing confidence that the bear market phase is over, CryptoQuant notes. Miners continue to reduce their reserves of the leading cryptocurrency, as they do not yet see sufficient grounds for active BTC purchases.

The media corporation Trump Media and Technology Group transferred 2,650 bitcoins from the project’s crypto wallet to the http://Crypto.com exchange. The transaction suggests a desire to sell BTC, Arkham Intelligence speculated. The deal will be a loss-maker, as the average purchase price of the coins exceeded $118K.

Billionaire Mark Cuban has sold 80% of his bitcoin holdings and stated that he has lost faith in bitcoin as a safe-haven asset. According to him, he continues to hold Ethereum, placing more trust in this altcoin than in BTC. (FxPro)

News (120 + Hours Ago)

Silver And Gold

Silver caught in a price trap

After a long period of calm, volatility has returned to the silver market. Silver surged to a two-month high, rallying more than 20% from its May lows in just a week. However, concerns over tighter monetary policy and rising bond yields have since put pressure on prices.

Of course, the current fluctuations cannot be compared to what we saw in January, when a 35% drop occurred in a single day. Investors felt that the rally had gone too far. However, the situation does not yet look like a classic bubble burst, as silver prices are still 130% higher than a year ago, which is suppressing global demand. UBS estimates a 50 million-ounce decline this year, allowing the bank to lower its price forecast from $100 to $85 per ounce by the end of the second quarter.

High prices are forcing not only jewellers but also industrialists to seek alternatives for silver. There has been some success in replacing it with copper in the manufacture of solar panels. This sector accounts for a fifth of global supply. Due to the fall in global demand, the 46.3-million-ounce deficit forecast by the Silver Institute for 2026 may prove smaller, putting pressure on the price per ounce.

Silver is also facing weaker investment demand. Rising global bond yields and a stronger US dollar are putting pressure on the metal. UBS reports that speculative interest has fallen sharply, while silver ETF holdings have dropped by 70 million ounces since the start of the year, to 794 million ounces.

De-escalation in the Middle East could turn the tables. Oil, the US dollar and Treasury yields would fall, which would be positive for silver. However, as long as the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked, it remains under pressure.

The silver market is relatively small compared to gold, which makes it more vulnerable to speculative trading. This often leads to sharper price moves in both directions. (FxPro)

News

(ICYMI)

Conor McGregor Rematches Max Holloway at UFC 329

UFC 329 on July 11 at T-Mobile Arena headlines with this welterweight rematch during International Fight Week, airing live on Paramount+. McGregor, 22-6 and last fighting in 2021 after a tibia fracture, meets Holloway, 27-9, in his welterweight debut—the ex-featherweight champ aiming to make a statement. Trash talk flew fast: McGregor promised to 'son' Holloway again, while 'Blessed' fired back demanding respect on his name. Early odds favor Holloway at -500 amid McGregor's ring rust.

The Lead Up

TKO Neg With Talent/Wrestling With Numbers And Contracts; If The New Price Is Right Mr Wrestling and Ms Wrestling; Mr Corbin aka Mr Lucky enjoying strong buzz: Join the dots; Mr Kross Of WSW and MLW Enjoys Strong Mega Buzz In Australia and Globally: World Series Wrestling, Belt Collector! WSW YouTube Is Updated!

UFC MMA and U.S Admin Mix It Up With Fighters Visiting White House; Patriots Well Received In And Around Oval Office; Present Trump Gets Welcome Image Revamp Of Sorts; Keeping The Wars In The Octagon!

Legendary WWE Tag team Rumored To Return To Roster; No Names/Spoilers - Join The Dots .. And You Can't Beat That ... Ok, Not . S.A.W.F.T ... Hard On The Mic + +

Red Turns To Green And Gold!

News Flashback

Netflix MMA Debut Peaks at 11.6 Million U.S. Viewers with Rousey Win

On May 16 at Los Angeles' Intuit Dome, MVP's triple-main-event card averaged 9.3 million U.S. viewers and peaked at 11.6 million during Rousey's featherweight submission over Carano, topping the prior MMA high from 2011. Other highlights included Mike Perry's corner-stoppage win over Nate Diaz and Francis Ngannou's first-round knockout of Philipe Lins, drawing star power from fighters like Rousey and Ngannou. Promoters Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian celebrated the global reach and 410 million social impressions, though podcaster Brendan Schaub questioned the figures and off-cage drama saw Claressa Shields banned after a VIP-area altercation with Alycia Baumgardner. (Media Man Peg-On): Are the numbers and biz model sustainable? Perhaps only if Netflix keeps green lighting them. Is there a return on investment if you are Netflix? Insiders and outsiders continue to debate broadcast!

News

Pop Culture Ref: "The Wall Street Shuffle" (10 cc)

LinkedIn b2b Business Continues To Lift For Media Man Group and Associates

News (ICYMI)

Dana White, UFC Power, Makes Front Cover Of Time: The Promoter!

Alphabet/Google Cracks TIME 100 Cover; Positive Buzz

Beast Industries aka MrBeast TIME Top 100 Influencer;

Post Buzz Continues For TIME Media Darlings

TKO/WWE In And Out Of The Ring Continues; Up and Down Cycle; TKO's Nick Khan Offer Positive Vibes To US Admin Re Ali Act Amendment; Counter Punch by some competitors; WWE RAW: Clash In Italy Fallout and Road To UFC Freedom 250

TKO Prez Mark Shapiro Admits Back To Back WrestleMania's In Sin City Las Vegas May Have Been Mistake; Will Return To City To City Strategy, No Repeat City's For WrestleMania In Future

TKO's LinkedIn Continues To Enjoy Strong News Media Buzz; Google LinkedIn Numbers Up; Search Engine Journal LinkedIn; Rio Tinto (Mining) Strong LinkedIn Media Vibes And Buzz

News

WWE's Danhausen Offers Mega Exposure To Rootless Coffee And WWE Merch; Number 3 Best Seller Of WWE Merch With Human Monies; Danhausen ESPN News! Very Nice!

Media Man LinkedIn and X Up; WWE Clash In Italy Aftermath To Hit WWE RAW and Road To UFC Freedom 250

Google/Alphabet: Bullish!

May 31, 2026 (U.S)

Markets

Coffee 265.60 -8.65

Cocoa 3823.00 -176

Sillicon 8620.00 +205.00

Silver 75.755 +0.501

Beef 349.70 +0.45

World Container Index 2800.00 +88.00

Newsfeed

News Lead Up

248 + Hours Ago

BTC/Cryptos

Bitcoin hits the pause button at $80K

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has stalled at around $2.70 trillion, reflecting Bitcoin’s indecision around $80,000. At the same time, risk aversion is mounting in global markets, which can be easily linked to profit-taking following the rally and the US dollar's upward momentum. Among the top coins, the leaders over the past day were Theta (+8.5%), Toncoin (+4.9%) and NEAR Protocol (+2.1%). The underperformers were Dash (-4.2%), Official Trump (-3.5%) and Zcash (-3.5%). Full coverage via FxPro. (FxPro). (Media Man Peg-On): Can we call Michael Saylor the "King Of Bulls". Awesome PR machine and LinkedIn buzz. Join the dots!

News

Media Man with Cafe News Media Watercooler

Beer killer? Rise of the vodka RTD

Gold Coast-based drinks maker Hard Fizz emerged at around the time of the pandemic, while the ready-to-drink canned beverage market boomed after the pandemic. Hard Fizz originally focused on alcoholic seltzer drinks, but it is now switching to vodka-based canned drinks, with CEO Wade Tiller saying the change is because you are more limited with flavour when you use seltzer. Hard Fizz's seltzer sales have slumped over the past year, at a time when there is a broader consumer shift to RTDs, while vodka-based light RTDs account for 75 per cent of Australian RTD sales. (RMS)

News

oOh!media rejects $770m offer, triggers bidding war

The board of listed outdoor advertising group oOh!media has advised that it is open to further takeover approaches after spurning two suitors. The company has indicated that it assessed both offers and deemed that neither reflected its intrinsic value. US-based private equity firm I Squared Capital had offered $1.45 per share, valuing its bid at $770m; it had trumped a previous offer from Pacific Equity Partners of $1.40 per share. Brian Han from Morningstar says the rejection of both offers means that oOh!media's directors have effectively put up a 'for auction' sign. (RMS)

News

Current

Shares

TKO Group Holdings Inc
$205.18
+2.31 +2.31%

Alphabet Inc Class A
$376.43
-2.51%

Meta Platforms Inc
$632.51
-0.44%

Netflix Inc
$86.02
-0.39%

Wynn Resorts Ltd
$101.22
-0.32%

MGM Resorts International
$43.67 +1.72%

NVIDIA Corp
$211.14
-1.45%

News

(ICYMI)

Wrestling/WWE/Combat Sports

Logan Paul Reveals Gnarly Scar After Triceps Tear in WWE Title Defense

During Saturday Night's Main Event, Paul and Austin Theory defended their championships against the Street Profits when Paul tore his triceps on a dive from Angelo Dawkins. WWE confirmed the injury on Raw, with a six-month recovery timeline, though Paul joked he'd return in weeks fueled by his PRIME shake. He underwent surgery soon after, posting graphic operating room selfies and calling the scar an 'uncrustable' edge, earning praise for his toughness from fans and wrestlers alike. (Media Man Peg On): Much respect to LP. The wrestlers wrestlers, akin to the late, great, Harley Race. LP to return with a veneange. Austin Theory and Bron keeping The Vision flag aloft. Dawkins Dawg may get bit?! LP bite worse than considerable bark. Size of the fight in the dog, right creative mastermind Michael Hayes.

News

Roman Reigns Retains Title in Brutal Tribal Combat at WWE Clash in Italy

WWE's first show in Italy drew 12,000 fans on May 31, with most champions holding strong in five title matches streamed on Netflix and ESPN. Cody Rhodes pinned Gunther amid controversy over a foot on the ropes, Rhea Ripley beat Jade Cargill after Charlotte Flair's help and dedicated the win to her Italian grandparents, Brock Lesnar returned to crush Oba Femi, and rising star Sol Ruca upset Becky Lynch for the Women's Intercontinental title. The main event saw Reigns outlast Fatu in a 27-minute no-DQ war, followed by a tense staredown with Rhodes.

News

(ICYMI)

MGM Vegas

Heyman Hustle/Paul Heyman - Live At MGM

News

Heyman’s involvement ties into his Looking4Larry Agency’s creative work and a broader MGM Studios partnershipMGM Live is the new entertainment/content brand for MGM Resorts International’s Las Vegas properties. It launched on Instagram with a debut reel featuring Paul Heyman and UFC President Dana White together at an EZ Baccarat table at the Live at Park MGM venue on the Las Vegas.

This marks a notable crossover, as UFC and WWE are both under TKO Group Holdings. Park MGM has hosted WWE events (like the 2026 Hall of Fame) and UFC PPVs.

Heyman shot disruptive/late-night content there during WrestleMania week, including:His TikTok debut from Park MGM (talking about Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania, etc.).

"Heyman on Heyman" interview with his son Jacob for HeymanHustleTV. Multiple Instagram/TikTok reels embracing his "King of New York (and everywhere else)" persona while promoting MGM.

News

Big Tech

(ICYMI)

Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms Report Q1 2026 Earnings Beating Expectations

Alphabet reported Q1 2026 revenue of $109.9 billion and EPS of $5.11, surpassing estimates, with Google Cloud revenue up 63% to $20 billion.

Microsoft reported fiscal Q3 2026 revenue of $82.89 billion and EPS of $4.27, beating expectations, driven by 39-40% Azure growth.

Amazon reported Q1 2026 revenue of $181.5 billion and EPS of $2.78 exceeding forecasts, with AWS up 28%, while Meta reported Q1 2026 revenue of $56.3 billion and EPS of $10.44 above estimates.

News

(Rey Mysterio is new AAA GM); JBL May Challenge!

Pop Culture/Lucha Libre

Mask vs Mask. El Grande Americano's Make History In Mexico May 30, 2026; Match Of The Year Buzz!

Sports News Lead

UFC - MMA Building Stars Again; SS King Of Division, Substance And Hype; Yan UFC Bonus; Dana White Inks McGregor for UFC 329; Road To UFC Freedom 250

New York Kind Of Feeling

US Stocks - Black-ish Friday again?

WWE RAW Upcoming: WWE Clash In Italy Fallout!

Road To WWE Money In The Bank (for some)

Google/Alphabet vs The Others

X vs The Others

Sports Biz Event Tickets And Merch Drive

Danhausen Lifts WWE Merch Hausen

News

Media Man Group Weekly Series

Pop Culture Dream Matches

Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar - Rematch - Clash in Italy - Future Rubber Match?! WWE SummerSlam?

New Blood vs New Day vs Old News

GCW Bloodspot vs The Others

MGM Wrestling vs Atlantic City

Mr UFC vs Upstart MMA's

Bam Bam vs Time

Mankind vs IWC

UFC vs Outlaw Mud Shows

MVP vs Weekend Warriors

WBD Wrestling vs Own Goal

Mr Dingo Driver vs Dingo Warrior

New School vs Old School

Paul Heyman and Son and MGM Gamification vs others!

PopWrecked vs Karen

Studio97 vs others: Catfight Rules!

FHM vs MAXIM

x AI vs others!

T. Abbott (Aust) and P. Hanson vs Wokes

Rousey and Gina vs Critics

Ali vs self

The Man In The Arena vs self

Netflix vs Paramount Plus vs YouTube - 3 Way Dance! Special Ref: Easy E. Share The Love!

Ultra A.I vs Human Full Bloods

Extreme Swimming vs Traditional Swimming

Ex Machina vs Cave Man

Rudos vs Technicos (Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide)

Killer Kross vs All; KK The Belt Collector!

Mr News vs Mr VOX *That's with a V, not FOX)!

FOX vs The Hare: Fox And The Hound! Re-match. NYC Rules!

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

"What's your hustle" Paul Heyman

"I've never met a currency I didn't like" JBL

"Everyone you meet knows something you don't know" Anon/Mr Crypto Castle

"An investment in ones self is always the best bet" Greg Tingle, Media Man Group

"The consumer and fans decide what and who is the best" Greg Tingle, Media Man Group

"More often than not it pays to be Google friendly" Greg Tingle, Media Man Group (repeated at Google Search Central Live, Sydney, Australia)

Media Man

Markets, Cryptos and Culture

May 20, 2026

Sydney, Australia to Wall Street, New York

Aussie Black Tuesday!l Big-ish Wednesday per Surf Culture?! The Ripple Effect! Bulls vs Bears continued

Digital Bush Telegraph

Australia Continues To Ring Bells

Markets

ASX 200 futures down 39 points/0.5%: 8600

AUD -0.8% to US71.09¢

Bitcoin $76,715.79 -0.19%

Wall St:
Dow -0.7%
S&P -0.7%
Nasdaq -0.8%

VIX +0.24 to 18.06
Gold -1.8% to $US4482.61 an ounce
Brent oil -0.8% to $US111.18 a barrel
Iron ore -0.2% to $US108.00 a ton

10-year yield:

US 4.67%
Australia 5.06%

News

May 20

Numbers Double Check

Australian Dollar: $0.7106 USD (down $0.0056 USD) Iron Ore: $108.00 USD (down $0.25 USD)
Oil Price: $104.13 USD (down $2.78 USD)
Gold Price : $4,482.23 USD (down $84.03 USD)
Copper Price: $6.1930 USD (down $0.1395 USD)
Dow Jones: 49,363.88 (down 322.24 points)

XRP
$1.3565 -2.00%

DOGE
$0.1022 -2.71%

News

ASX closes up 1.2pc after Trump walks back Iran threats

The Australian sharemarket rebounded from a seven-week low on Tuesday, with the S&P/ASX 200 closing up 1.2 per cent at 8604.7 points. Its recovery was on the back of US President Donald Trump announcing he would delay further strikes on Iran, with the price of Brent crude down 1.5 per cent to $US110.40 by the close of trading. Stocks to rise included Woolworths, up 3.7 per cent to $34.21, and the National Australia Bank, which rose two per cent to $37.04, while TechnologyOne fell 2.9 per cent to $27.80 and NextDC declined 0.2 per cent to $14.55. (RMS)

News

Media (Australia)

Karl Stefanovic and Eddie McGuire sign with Kyle and Jackie O's old radio company and Nine

Eddie McGuire and Karl Stefanovic are to host a new program on the streaming platforms of Nine Entertainment and radio network Gold every Friday, with the program to be called 'The Long Weekend'. With Stefanovic being the host of Nine's 'Today' program and McGuire the former Collingwood Football Club president, the deal that sees them broadcast the new program is regarded as a 'coup' for Gold owner ARN, following the loss of its 'marquee' breakfast show hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson. (RMS)

News

Silver And Gold

Silver caught in a price trap

After a long period of calm, volatility has returned to the silver market. Silver surged to a two-month high, rallying more than 20% from its May lows in just a week. However, concerns over tighter monetary policy and rising bond yields have since put pressure on prices.

Of course, the current fluctuations cannot be compared to what we saw in January, when a 35% drop occurred in a single day. Investors felt that the rally had gone too far. However, the situation does not yet look like a classic bubble burst, as silver prices are still 130% higher than a year ago, which is suppressing global demand. UBS estimates a 50 million-ounce decline this year, allowing the bank to lower its price forecast from $100 to $85 per ounce by the end of the second quarter.

High prices are forcing not only jewellers but also industrialists to seek alternatives for silver. There has been some success in replacing it with copper in the manufacture of solar panels. This sector accounts for a fifth of global supply. Due to the fall in global demand, the 46.3-million-ounce deficit forecast by the Silver Institute for 2026 may prove smaller, putting pressure on the price per ounce.

Silver is also facing weaker investment demand. Rising global bond yields and a stronger US dollar are putting pressure on the metal. UBS reports that speculative interest has fallen sharply, while silver ETF holdings have dropped by 70 million ounces since the start of the year, to 794 million ounces.

De-escalation in the Middle East could turn the tables. Oil, the US dollar and Treasury yields would fall, which would be positive for silver. However, as long as the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked, it remains under pressure.

The silver market is relatively small compared to gold, which makes it more vulnerable to speculative trading. This often leads to sharper price moves in both directions. (FxPro)

News

The dollar is making a tactical retreat

Rumours of talks with Iran have caused the USD index to retreat

The pound has recouped some of its losses thanks to Labour’s intention to stick to the rules. The US dollar has retreated following Donald Trump’s statement that he was postponing the resumption of bombing Iran. According to the US president, he was asked to do so by Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE because negotiations with Tehran are underway. Markets have once again come to believe in a de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, which has led to a fall in oil prices and the USD index.

Despite the headlines, the US and Iran remain far apart on key issues. It is difficult to envisage the Strait of Hormuz reopening any time soon, and the longer the standoff persists, the stronger the tailwinds for Brent and the dollar. Even more so, the stock market has finally begun to consider the negative consequences of accelerating inflation and the attractiveness of rising Treasury yields. The S&P 500 has retreated from record highs, and the associated deterioration in global risk appetite has bolstered the greenback as a safe-haven asset.

The swearing-in ceremony for Kevin Warsh as the new Fed Chair will take place at the White House this Friday. No doubt, Donald Trump is sincerely hoping for a rate cut, despite the futures market suggesting a 50% probability of a rate hike in 2026 after actively repricing expectations in recent weeks.

The British pound has launched a counterattack thanks to a statement by Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham. The frontrunner to succeed Keir Starmer as Prime Minister has stated that he adheres to fiscal rules. Previously, investors had feared that the new head of government would turn to fiscal stimulus, which would conflict with the Bank of England’s monetary tightening. Bond selloffs paused, and GBPUSD rose from 1.33 to 1.34.

The pound was supported by the IMF, raising its forecast for UK GDP growth from 0.8% to 1% in 2026. The economy may be able to withstand two rounds of BoE rate hikes, as signalled by the futures market.

Japan’s 2.1% GDP growth in the first quarter did not deter the USDJPY bulls. Investors are cautiously awaiting the government’s use of a supplementary budget to finance the servicing costs of its growing debt.

News Lead Up

Sellers are pressing down on crypto

Market Overview

The crypto market is trading within a narrow range, having bounced off its upper boundary at $2.73T and retreated to $2.67T at the time of writing. New records on the US stock market have spurred crypto buyers into action, but this has proved insufficient to break through key resistance levels. We attribute this weak performance to the strengthening of the dollar, as evidenced by gold's dynamics. Over the past 24 hours, the top performers among the most liquid coins have been Dash (+4%), Zcash (+3.8%) and Uniswap (+3.1%), while fewer coins are losing ground, with the most significant losses seen in Internet Computer (-8%), Aptos (-1.1%) and Official Trump (-0.8%).

Riding a wave of optimism in equities, Bitcoin rose once again towards $82K, hitting the 200-day moving average once more. This is usually a signal line, but in May, it is acting as an impenetrable resistance level, capping the price from above. As a result, early on Friday, the price once again found itself just above $80K. The prevailing cautious sentiment in equities early on Friday is intensifying the outflow from cryptocurrencies, setting the stage for a decline towards the lower end of the range at $79K by the end of this week.

News Background

Institutional players are using the recent recovery to take profits, and this is not driven by fear or panic, according to Glassnode. CryptoQuant considers the risk of a further decline in Bitcoin to be real against this backdrop.

Activity among companies buying crypto assets for their reserves has also declined. According to Bitfinex, the volume of Bitcoin purchases by large companies has fallen by 80% over the week.

The volume of Ethereum in staking has exceeded 85 million coins — this is more than 70% of the cryptocurrency’s total supply, SharpLink has calculated. ETH reserves on exchanges also continue to decline, which may exacerbate the asset’s shortage.

The altcoin market has shown the first signs of recovery following a 50% drop from previous highs, notes analyst Darkfost. At the same time, liquidity remains limited, which is hindering the start of a sustained alt season.

Kevin Warsh, confirmed this week as the new Fed chair, has described Bitcoin as an “important asset” that helps authorities assess the state of the economy. He has invested in several crypto projects and holds Solana and Optimism tokens.

Following several months of discussions due to disagreements between banks and crypto companies, the US Senate Banking Committee on Thursday approved the CLARITY Act, a bill on the structure of the cryptocurrency market. The bill will now be put before the full Senate for consideration. Bankers fear that the yield on stablecoins stipulated in the bill will lead to an outflow of funds from bank deposits. (FxPro)

News

Conor McGregor Rematches Max Holloway at UFC 329

UFC 329 on July 11 at T-Mobile Arena headlines with this welterweight rematch during International Fight Week, airing live on Paramount+. McGregor, 22-6 and last fighting in 2021 after a tibia fracture, meets Holloway, 27-9, in his welterweight debut—the ex-featherweight champ aiming to make a statement. Trash talk flew fast: McGregor promised to 'son' Holloway again, while 'Blessed' fired back demanding respect on his name. Early odds favor Holloway at -500 amid McGregor's ring rust.

The Lead Up

TKO Neg With Talent/Wrestling With Numbers And Contracts; If The New Price Is Right Mr Wrestling and Ms Wrestling; Mr Corbin aka Mr Lucky enjoying strong buzz: Join the dots; Mr Kross Of WSW and MLW Enjoys Strong Mega Buzz In Australia and Globally: World Series Wrestling, Belt Collector!

UFC MMA and U.S Admin Mix It Up With Fighters Visiting White House; Patriots Well Received In And Around Oval Office; Present Trump Gets Welcome Image Revamp Of Sorts; Keeping The Wars In The Octagon!

Red Turns To Green And Gold!

News

Netflix MMA Debut Peaks at 11.6 Million U.S. Viewers with Rousey Win

On May 16 at Los Angeles' Intuit Dome, MVP's triple-main-event card averaged 9.3 million U.S. viewers and peaked at 11.6 million during Rousey's featherweight submission over Carano, topping the prior MMA high from 2011. Other highlights included Mike Perry's corner-stoppage win over Nate Diaz and Francis Ngannou's first-round knockout of Philipe Lins, drawing star power from fighters like Rousey and Ngannou. Promoters Jake Paul and Nakisa Bidarian celebrated the global reach and 410 million social impressions, though podcaster Brendan Schaub questioned the figures and off-cage drama saw Claressa Shields banned after a VIP-area altercation with Alycia Baumgardner. (Media Man Peg-On): Are the numbers and biz model sustainable? Perhaps only if Netflix keeps green lighting them. Is there a return on investment if you are Netflix?

News

Pop Culture Ref: "The Wall Street Shuffle" (10 cc)

LinkedIn b2b Business Continues To Lift For Media Man Group and Associates

Media And Broadcasting Legend Ted Turner Dies (May 6); 100s Of Tributes Globally; Media, Entertainment And Sports Business World Pays Tribute; Turner Company Helped 1000s Globally In Career And Business; Online Tributes Live On For Many Who Find It Hard To Let Go Of Good Times And Boom Days In Biz And Career History Says Aussie Media Man Ex Aussie Cable Guy In PPV, Pay TV And Combat Arena With World Channels Team

News (ICYMI)

Alphabet/Google Cracks TIME 100 Cover; Positive Buzz

Beast Industries aka MrBeast TIME Top 100 Influencer;

Post Buzz Continues For TIME Media Darlings

TKO/WWE In And Out Of The Ring Continues; Up and Down Cycle; TKO's Nick Khan Offer Positive Vibes To US Admin Re Ali Act Amendment; Counter Punch by some competitors; Road To WWE Clash In Italy and WWE SNME

TKO Prez Mark Shapiro Admits Back To Back WrestleMania's In Sin City Las Vegas May Have Been Mistake; Will Return To City To City Strategy, No Repeat City's For WrestleMania In Future

TKO's LinkedIn Continues To Enjoy Strong News Media Buzz; Google LinkedIn Numbers Up; Search Engine Journal LinkedIn; Rio Tinto (Mining) Strong LinkedIn Media Vibes And Buzz

News

WWE's Danhausen Offers Mega Exposure To Rootless Coffee And WWE Merch; Number 3 Best Seller Of WWE Merch With Human Monies; Danhausen ESPN News! Very Nice!

Media Man LinkedIn and X Up; Road To WWE Clash In Italy and WWE SNME

Google/Alphabet Earnings Bullish

May 20, 2026

Markets

Coffee 270.15 +5.95

Cocoa 3907.00 +116.00

Sillicon 8330.00 +35.00

Silver 73.960 -0377

Newsfeed

News Lead Up

120 + Hours Ago

BTC/Cryptos

Bitcoin hits the pause button at $80K

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has stalled at around $2.70 trillion, reflecting Bitcoin’s indecision around $80,000. At the same time, risk aversion is mounting in global markets, which can be easily linked to profit-taking following the rally and the US dollar's upward momentum. Among the top coins, the leaders over the past day were Theta (+8.5%), Toncoin (+4.9%) and NEAR Protocol (+2.1%). The underperformers were Dash (-4.2%), Official Trump (-3.5%) and Zcash (-3.5%).

The sentiment index has settled just below the midpoint of the range, recording readings of 47, 48 and 49 over the last three days. At the same time, we continue to note how difficult it is for the crypto market to consolidate at the upper end of the spectrum, which indicates a predominance of bears.

Bitcoin points to much the same thing, having lost its upward momentum as it approached the 200-day moving average. Although this line is trending downwards, the market has failed to break through it for the past six days. On the other hand, as the decline is quite modest, it resembles nothing more than a breather following a rally, leaving a strong chance of growth resuming.

News Background

According to CoinShares, global investments in crypto funds rose by $858 million last week. Investments in Bitcoin increased by $706 million, in Ethereum by $77 million, in Solana by $48 million, and in XRP by $40 million. Outflows from Bitcoin short positions totalling $14 million marked the largest of the year.

Investments rose amid a compromise on stablecoin yields under the CLARITY Act. The Senate Banking Committee is expected to consider the bill next week, CoinShares notes.

Strategy acquired 535 BTC for $43 million last week — at an average price of $80,340 per coin. The week before, the company skipped its weekly BTC purchase ahead of its quarterly report. Strategy now holds 818,869 BTC, purchased for $61.86 billion at an average price of $75,540 per Bitcoin.

Strategy will continue to build up its reserves of the leading cryptocurrency. At the same time, the volume of purchases will significantly exceed any potential sales, stated the company’s founder, Michael Saylor. According to him, it is important to remain a ‘net buyer’ and end each year with more coins than at the start.

Jordi Visser, founder of 22V Research, has increased his investment in Ethereum. In his view, this year will see the start of mass asset tokenisation, which will form the basis for payments by AI agents. For autonomous transactions, they will need digital assets such as Ethereum or stablecoins. (FxPro). (Media Man Peg-On): Can we call Michael Saylor the "King Of Bulls". Awesome PR machine and LinkedIn buzz. Join the dots!

News

Media Man with Cafe News Media Watercooler

Beer killer? Rise of the vodka RTD

Gold Coast-based drinks maker Hard Fizz emerged at around the time of the pandemic, while the ready-to-drink canned beverage market boomed after the pandemic. Hard Fizz originally focused on alcoholic seltzer drinks, but it is now switching to vodka-based canned drinks, with CEO Wade Tiller saying the change is because you are more limited with flavour when you use seltzer. Hard Fizz's seltzer sales have slumped over the past year, at a time when there is a broader consumer shift to RTDs, while vodka-based light RTDs account for 75 per cent of Australian RTD sales. (RMS)

News

oOh!media rejects $770m offer, triggers bidding war

The board of listed outdoor advertising group oOh!media has advised that it is open to further takeover approaches after spurning two suitors. The company has indicated that it assessed both offers and deemed that neither reflected its intrinsic value. US-based private equity firm I Squared Capital had offered $1.45 per share, valuing its bid at $770m; it had trumped a previous offer from Pacific Equity Partners of $1.40 per share. Brian Han from Morningstar says the rejection of both offers means that oOh!media's directors have effectively put up a 'for auction' sign. (RMS)

News

AI News

The hidden expenses in banking's AI rollout

Tokens have been described as the hidden cost of using artificial intelligence, with tokens being a basic unit that measures how much data is being processed through autonomous AI models such as Anthropic's Claude. Westpac's CEO Anthony Miller told a recent investment banking conference that the bank was still in the process of working out how to disclose token use and productivity, with the cost of tokens depending on the model used. Noel Williams from PwC says the cost of tokens is definitely something that the big banks need to take into consideration, while Goldman Sachs analysts claimed recently that token consumption would increase 22-fold by 2030 and 55-fold by 2040. (RMS)

News

Advertising expectations and experience: Australians have their say about AI

The second wave of Ad Standards' Community Sentiment Tracker, which was conducted by Roy Morgan, has found that 72% of Australians are concerned about the use of AI-generated content in advertising, particularly its potential to mislead or deceive people with unrealistic or fake content. Around half are also worried that the use of AI could reduce authenticity and creativity in advertising and promote unrealistic body or beauty standards. Australians believe AI-generated content is already widely used in advertising, with more than half saying that it is used very often (21%) or often (37%). Despite this, confidence in recognising AI-generated content remains low, with one in five Australians saying they are not at all confident they could identify when AI-generated content has been used in an ad. Some 64% of Australians believe it should always be necessary to disclose when advertising contains AI-generated content. The Ad Standards-Roy Morgan Community Sentiment Tracker Survey was conducted online with a cross-section of 1,000 Australians aged 18+ between 19 February and 2 March 2026. (Roy Morgan)

News

Sports/Media/Broadasting

Seven boss flags interest in NRL

Southern Cross Media Group's CEO Rohan Lund has indicated that the Seven Network owner could potentially bid for the NRL's broadcasting rights. Lund says media companies like Seven have an important role in helping audiences and partners to connect with their sports teams. He adds that Seven could be interested in the annual State of Origin series in particular. The Nine Network's current free-to-air rights deal for the NRL expires next year, and the NRL aims to finalise its next deal by the end of July. (RMS)

News

Shares

TKO Group Holdings Inc
$193.07
-1.00 -0.52%

Alphabet Inc Class A
$387.66
-9.28 -2.34%

Meta Platforms Inc
$602.61
-8.60 -1.41%

Netflix Inc
$89.33
-0.32 -0.36%

Wynn Resorts Ltd
$94.78
-0.73 -0.76%

MGM Resorts International
$36.02
-1.07 -2.88%

News

(ICYMI)

MGM Vegas

Heyman Hustle/Paul Heyman - Live At MGM

News

Heyman’s involvement ties into his Looking4Larry Agency’s creative work and a broader MGM Studios partnershipMGM Live is the new entertainment/content brand for MGM Resorts International’s Las Vegas properties. It launched on Instagram with a debut reel featuring Paul Heyman and UFC President Dana White together at an EZ Baccarat table at the Live at Park MGM venue on the Las Vegas.

This marks a notable crossover, as UFC and WWE are both under TKO Group Holdings. Park MGM has hosted WWE events (like the 2026 Hall of Fame) and UFC PPVs.

Heyman shot disruptive/late-night content there during WrestleMania week, including:His TikTok debut from Park MGM (talking about Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania, etc.).

"Heyman on Heyman" interview with his son Jacob for HeymanHustleTV. Multiple Instagram/TikTok reels embracing his "King of New York (and everywhere else)" persona while promoting MGM.

News

Big Tech

(ICYMI)

Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms Report Q1 2026 Earnings Beating Expectations

Alphabet reported Q1 2026 revenue of $109.9 billion and EPS of $5.11, surpassing estimates, with Google Cloud revenue up 63% to $20 billion.

Microsoft reported fiscal Q3 2026 revenue of $82.89 billion and EPS of $4.27, beating expectations, driven by 39-40% Azure growth.

Amazon reported Q1 2026 revenue of $181.5 billion and EPS of $2.78 exceeding forecasts, with AWS up 28%, while Meta reported Q1 2026 revenue of $56.3 billion and EPS of $10.44 above estimates.

News

Pop Culture/Lucha Libre

AAA Announces New General Manager Reveal on May 23

On the April 25 episode of AAA on Fox, President Marisela Peña announced that Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide will get a new General Manager, with the live reveal set for May 23 in Mexico City. This follows her son Dorian Roldán's recent plea for the role, which she decided to open to other candidates after careful thought. Fans are speculating on names like Zelina Vega, Rey Mysterio, or even The Undertaker, amid AAA's growth since WWE's majority stake acquisition last April and its new Fox broadcasts blending lucha action with WWE polish. (Media Man Peg-On): Ariba. Triple A has massive influence from The Undertaker, and it's paying off as far as entertainment value for fans and in other creative and business ways from what we see and hear. Can see see Danhausen in Triple H also? Lucha Hausen! And Vice City Rocks!

News Lead

UFC - MMA Building Stars Again; SS King Of Division, Substance And Hype; Yan UFC Bonus; Dana White Inks McGregor for UFC 329

New York Kind Of Feeling

US Stocks - Black Friday and In Australia Black Tuesday aftermath

Road To WWE Clash In Italy

Road To WWE Saturday Night's Main Event

WWE Management And Wrestlers Bullish; Wrestling and Boxing; WrestleMania Not Returning To Vegas For Long Time After Repeat Let Down

Sports Biz Event Tickets And Merch Drive

Danhausen Lifts WWE Merch Hausen

News

Media Man Group Weekly Series

Pop Culture Dream Matches

New Blood vs New Day vs Old News

GCW Bloodspot vs The Others

MGM Wrestling vs Atlantic City

Mr UFC vs Numerous Mainstream Media

Bam Bam vs Father Time

UFC vs Outlaw Mud Shows

MVP vs Weekend Warriors

WBD Wrestling vs Own Goal

Mr Dingo Driver vs Naysayers

New School vs Old School

Paul Heyman and Son and MGM Gamification vs others!

PopWrecked vs Karen

Studio97 vs others: Catfight Rules!

FHM vs MAXIM

Danhausen and Minihuasen def Bully Ray and Easy E

Oba Femi vs Lockeroom

x AI vs others!

T. Abbott (Aust) vs Wokes

Rousey vs self

Rousey and Gina vs Critics

Ali vs self

The Man In The Arena vs self

Netflix vs Paramount Plus vs YouTube - 3 Way Dance! Special Ref: Easy E. Share The Love! Enough For The Big 3!

Ultra A.I vs Human Full Bloods

Extreme Swimming vs Traditional Swimming

Ex Machina vs Cave Man

Rudos vs Technicos (Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide)

Killer Kross vs All; KK The Belt Collector!

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

"What's your hustle" Paul Heyman

"Everyone you meet knows something you don't know" Anon

"An investment in ones self is always the best bet" Greg Tingle, Media Man Group

"The consumer and fans decide what and who is the best" Greg Tingle, Media Man Group

Media Man

Markets, Cryptos and Culture

May 18, 2026

Sydney, Australia to Wall Street, New York

Digital Bush Telegraph

Australia Continues To Ring Bells

Markets

Australian Dollar: $0.7142 USD (down $0.0078 USD)
Iron Ore: $109.35 USD (down $1.55 USD)
Oil Price (West Texas): $105.42 USD (up $3.40 USD)
Gold Price : $4,540.49 USD (down $110.35 USD)
Copper Price: $6.2895 USD (down $0.2905 USD)
Dow Jones: 49,526.17 (down 537.29)

Bitcoin $76,849 -1.66%

News

May 18

ASX to dip as Nvidia earnings, rate fears loom over markets

The S&P/ASX 200 is expected to open slightly lower on Monday, after the futures index pointed to a 0.1 per cent fall. The predicted decline comes after investors took profits on semiconductor and tech companies on Wall Street on Friday, with the profit-taking coming after a weeks-long, record-setting rally. As far as the week ahead is concerned, investors will be waiting on earnings results from chip maker Nvidia, along with a speech from Reserve Bank of Australia assistant governor Sarah Hunter on Tuesday, with it marking the first public commentary from the RBA since it increased the cash rate for the third time this year, to 4.35 per cent, on 5 May; the RBA's minutes from that decision will also be released on Tuesday. (ABIX)

News

Conor McGregor Rematches Max Holloway at UFC 329

UFC 329 on July 11 at T-Mobile Arena headlines with this welterweight rematch during International Fight Week, airing live on Paramount+. McGregor, 22-6 and last fighting in 2021 after a tibia fracture, meets Holloway, 27-9, in his welterweight debut—the ex-featherweight champ aiming to make a statement. Trash talk flew fast: McGregor promised to 'son' Holloway again, while 'Blessed' fired back demanding respect on his name. Early odds favor Holloway at -500 amid McGregor's ring rust.

The Lead Up

TKO Neg With Talent/Wrestling With Numbers And Contracts; If The New Price Is Right Mr Wrestling and Ms Wrestling

UFC MMA and U.S Admin Mix It Up With Fighters Visiting White House; Patriots Well Received In And Around Oval Office; Present Trump Gets Welcome Image Revamp Of Sorts; Keeping The Wars In The Octagon!

Red Turns To Green And Gold!

Pop Culture Ref: "The Wall Street Shuffle" (10 cc)

LinkedIn b2b Business Continues To Lift For Media Man Group and Associates

Media And Broadcasting Legend Ted Turner Dies (May 6); 100s Of Tributes Globally; Media, Entertainment And Sports Business World Pays Tribute; Turner Company Helped 1000s Globally In Career And Business

News

(ICYMI)

Pop Culture

Mortal Kombat II Scores $63 Million Opening Weekend

The R-rated Mortal Kombat II, directed by Simon McQuoid and produced by James Wan, opened on May 8 with $40 million domestically and $23 million internationally, totaling $63 million despite landing second to The Devil Wears Prada 2. Returning stars like Ludi Lin as Liu Kang joined Karl Urban's cocky Johnny Cage to face Shao Kahn in a tournament drawn from Mortal Kombat 9 and 11, earning mixed critic scores of 65% on Rotten Tomatoes but a roaring 90% audience approval. Pro gamer SonicFox called it 'peak holy fucking shit 10/10,' praising Urban's performance, with strong IMAX sales and gamer buzz pointing to solid legs ahead. (Media Man: Peg-On): Much stronger buzz and reviews than the original.

News (ICYMI)

Alphabet/Google Cracks TIME 100 Cover; Positive Buzz

Beast Industries aka MrBeast TIME Top 100 Influencer;

Post Buzz Continues For TIME Media Darlings

TKO/WWE In And Out Of The Ring Continues; Up and Down Cycle; TKO's Nick Khan Offer Positive Vibes To US Admin Re Ali Act Amendment; Counter Punch by some competitors; Road To WWE Clash In Italy and WWE SNME

TKO's LinkedIn Continues To Enjoy Strong News Media Buzz; Google LinkedIn Numbers Up; Search Engine Journal LinkedIn; Rio Tinto (Mining) Strong LinkedIn Media Vibes And Buzz

News

Trump Concludes China Summit with Xi on Trade and Iran

Over two days starting May 13, 2026, Trump and Xi discussed stabilizing trade amid tariffs, keeping the Strait of Hormuz open amid the Iran war, and Taiwan tensions, with no major deals but agreements on Boeing jet purchases and no Chinese military aid to Iran. Trump highlighted the U.S. business leaders' presence to foster deals, while Xi praised America's patriotic revival and warned against mishandling Taiwan. The summit featured grand ceremonies like a state banquet and Temple of Heaven visit, though a photo of the all-male delegations drew criticism over optics. (Media Man: Win-Win?)

News

WWE's Danhausen Offers Mega Exposure To Rootless Coffee And WWE Merch; Number 3 Best Seller Of WWE Merch With Human Monies; Danhausen ESPN News! Very Nice!

Media Man LinkedIn and X Up; Road To WWE Clash In Italy and WWE SNME

Google/Alphabet Earnings Ultra Bullish

May 18, 2026

(Sydney, Australia To Wall Street, New York)

Markets

Coffee 266.90 -8.80

Cocoa 4002.00 -187.00

Sillicon 8330.00 -20.00

Silver 75.050 +0.245

Newsfeed

May 13

Culture/WWE NXT

Naraku Crushes Lince Dorado in Dominant WWE NXT Debut

The 39-year-old Japanese powerhouse, formerly EVIL in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and an ex-IWGP Heavyweight Champion, signed with WWE in April and debuted Tuesday on NXT airing on The CW. After vignettes and a chilling promo revealing his hellish new name, Naraku grabbed a quick win over Dorado, then snarled into the mic: "NARAKU is not a man of honor. I am pure EVIL!" His intact NJPW gimmick and House of Torture flair drew fan buzz, with eyes now on NXT Champion Tony D'Angelo as the King of Darkness eyes gold. (Media Man Peg-On): In Australia WWE NXT airs on Netflix. Highlights via the official WWE YouTube channel.

News

Pop Culture/WWE

Randy Orton's WrestleMania 41 Card Sells for $42,100 Record Price

The one-of-a-kind card from Topps' 2025 Royalty WWE set features a patch from Orton's WrestleMania 41 match in Las Vegas, signed with 'WM#20' and 'The Viper.' It shattered records by doubling the prior No. 2 WWE card sale, beating out a Steve Austin 1/1, after Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns bid nearly $40,000 before losing in the final seconds. Orton reacted by promising the winner his WM41 throwback gear—he still has his iconic 2004 SummerSlam trunks from becoming WWE's youngest world champion at age 24. (Media Man Peg-On): Some collectors making an RKO killing. Punt kick to a real job! Coiled up big ballers!

News Lead Up

60 + Hours Ago

BTC/Cryptos

Bitcoin hits the pause button at $80K

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has stalled at around $2.70 trillion, reflecting Bitcoin’s indecision around $80,000. At the same time, risk aversion is mounting in global markets, which can be easily linked to profit-taking following the rally and the US dollar's upward momentum. Among the top coins, the leaders over the past day were Theta (+8.5%), Toncoin (+4.9%) and NEAR Protocol (+2.1%). The underperformers were Dash (-4.2%), Official Trump (-3.5%) and Zcash (-3.5%).

The sentiment index has settled just below the midpoint of the range, recording readings of 47, 48 and 49 over the last three days. At the same time, we continue to note how difficult it is for the crypto market to consolidate at the upper end of the spectrum, which indicates a predominance of bears.

Bitcoin points to much the same thing, having lost its upward momentum as it approached the 200-day moving average. Although this line is trending downwards, the market has failed to break through it for the past six days. On the other hand, as the decline is quite modest, it resembles nothing more than a breather following a rally, leaving a strong chance of growth resuming.

News Background

According to CoinShares, global investments in crypto funds rose by $858 million last week. Investments in Bitcoin increased by $706 million, in Ethereum by $77 million, in Solana by $48 million, and in XRP by $40 million. Outflows from Bitcoin short positions totalling $14 million marked the largest of the year.

Investments rose amid a compromise on stablecoin yields under the CLARITY Act. The Senate Banking Committee is expected to consider the bill next week, CoinShares notes.

Strategy acquired 535 BTC for $43 million last week — at an average price of $80,340 per coin. The week before, the company skipped its weekly BTC purchase ahead of its quarterly report. Strategy now holds 818,869 BTC, purchased for $61.86 billion at an average price of $75,540 per Bitcoin.

Strategy will continue to build up its reserves of the leading cryptocurrency. At the same time, the volume of purchases will significantly exceed any potential sales, stated the company’s founder, Michael Saylor. According to him, it is important to remain a ‘net buyer’ and end each year with more coins than at the start.

Jordi Visser, founder of 22V Research, has increased his investment in Ethereum. In his view, this year will see the start of mass asset tokenisation, which will form the basis for payments by AI agents. For autonomous transactions, they will need digital assets such as Ethereum or stablecoins. (FxPro). (Media Man Peg-On): Can we call Michael Saylor the "King Of Bulls". Awesome PR machine and LinkedIn buzz. Join the dots!

News

Media Man with Cafe News Media Watercooler

Beer killer? Rise of the vodka RTD

Gold Coast-based drinks maker Hard Fizz emerged at around the time of the pandemic, while the ready-to-drink canned beverage market boomed after the pandemic. Hard Fizz originally focused on alcoholic seltzer drinks, but it is now switching to vodka-based canned drinks, with CEO Wade Tiller saying the change is because you are more limited with flavour when you use seltzer. Hard Fizz's seltzer sales have slumped over the past year, at a time when there is a broader consumer shift to RTDs, while vodka-based light RTDs account for 75 per cent of Australian RTD sales. (RMS)

News

oOh!media rejects $770m offer, triggers bidding war

The board of listed outdoor advertising group oOh!media has advised that it is open to further takeover approaches after spurning two suitors. The company has indicated that it assessed both offers and deemed that neither reflected its intrinsic value. US-based private equity firm I Squared Capital had offered $1.45 per share, valuing its bid at $770m; it had trumped a previous offer from Pacific Equity Partners of $1.40 per share. Brian Han from Morningstar says the rejection of both offers means that oOh!media's directors have effectively put up a 'for auction' sign. (RMS)

News

AI News

The hidden expenses in banking's AI rollout

Tokens have been described as the hidden cost of using artificial intelligence, with tokens being a basic unit that measures how much data is being processed through autonomous AI models such as Anthropic's Claude. Westpac's CEO Anthony Miller told a recent investment banking conference that the bank was still in the process of working out how to disclose token use and productivity, with the cost of tokens depending on the model used. Noel Williams from PwC says the cost of tokens is definitely something that the big banks need to take into consideration, while Goldman Sachs analysts claimed recently that token consumption would increase 22-fold by 2030 and 55-fold by 2040. (RMS)

News Lead Up

144 + Hours Ago

Cryptos

Altcoins are surging amid a steady rise in BTC price

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has risen by 0.75% over the past 24 hours, reaching $2.69 trillion. The top three performers are Zcash (+29%), Toncoin (+23%) and Filecoin (+16%). The underperformers are Ethereum (-0.4%), Algorand (-0.5%) and Basic Attention Token (-4.6%).

Bitcoin is approaching $81.5K, continuing its movement within an upward channel and hitting new highs since February. This positive momentum can easily be linked to the continued rise in stock indices, which is boosting risk appetite and bringing a more significant technical battle into view. The leading cryptocurrency is approaching its 200-day moving average (currently at $83.3K); a firm consolidation above this level would be a further sign of bullish dominance. We saw the first such sign – consolidation above the 50-day moving average – exactly one month ago. It is quite likely that, as Bitcoin approaches $83K, a short-term profit-taking phase awaits, allowing some of the gains to be taken.

The performance of altcoins clearly shows how BTC’s steady growth is encouraging increased risk-taking. First Toncoin, and today Zcash, have gained nearly 30% over the past 24 hours. The latter has been rising every day since 3 April, gaining 80% during this period; it was one of the first major cryptocurrencies to climb out of the slump at the end of January and reach highs last seen in November of last year. The key pivot zone in 2018 and 2025, near $800, looks well within reach in the coming days.

News Background

The total USDT market capitalisation has increased by $5.9 billion over the last 60 days, whereas prior to March, the market was losing around $2 billion monthly, notes analyst Darkfost. The inflow of capital into the crypto market is boosting asset values.

Morgan Stanley suggests that US banks may be able to hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets in the future, despite current regulatory barriers. The bank recently launched a Bitcoin-based exchange-traded product (ETP). Later this year, Morgan Stanley will launch spot trading in cryptocurrency on its Wealth platform.

The international payment system Western Union has launched its own stablecoin, USDPT, on the Solana blockchain. Integration with SOL will allow the company to speed up settlements and move away from traditional interbank systems, which are prone to delays.

BitMine has increased its Ethereum reserves to $13 billion, purchasing over 100,000 ETH for the third week in a row. The company’s reserves have reached 5,180,131 ETH, or 4.29% of the Ethereum supply.

Toncoin (TON) jumped by 45% amid fee reductions and the reorganisation of TON. Pavel Durov announced that Telegram would take over management of the TON crypto project from the current operator, the TON Foundation. The entrepreneur promised to reduce fees on the TON network sixfold and turn the eponymous token into a mass-market product.

News

Advertising expectations and experience: Australians have their say about AI

The second wave of Ad Standards' Community Sentiment Tracker, which was conducted by Roy Morgan, has found that 72% of Australians are concerned about the use of AI-generated content in advertising, particularly its potential to mislead or deceive people with unrealistic or fake content. Around half are also worried that the use of AI could reduce authenticity and creativity in advertising and promote unrealistic body or beauty standards. Australians believe AI-generated content is already widely used in advertising, with more than half saying that it is used very often (21%) or often (37%). Despite this, confidence in recognising AI-generated content remains low, with one in five Australians saying they are not at all confident they could identify when AI-generated content has been used in an ad. Some 64% of Australians believe it should always be necessary to disclose when advertising contains AI-generated content. The Ad Standards-Roy Morgan Community Sentiment Tracker Survey was conducted online with a cross-section of 1,000 Australians aged 18+ between 19 February and 2 March 2026. (Roy Morgan)

News

Sports/Media/Broadasting

Seven boss flags interest in NRL

Southern Cross Media Group's CEO Rohan Lund has indicated that the Seven Network owner could potentially bid for the NRL's broadcasting rights. Lund says media companies like Seven have an important role in helping audiences and partners to connect with their sports teams. He adds that Seven could be interested in the annual State of Origin series in particular. The Nine Network's current free-to-air rights deal for the NRL expires next year, and the NRL aims to finalise its next deal by the end of July. (RMS)

News

Shares

TKO Group Holdings Inc
$190.07
-1.26
The Lead Up
$192.50
+8.80 +4.79%

Alphabet Inc Class A
$396.78
+1.07
The Lead Up
$401.07
-1.55 -0.38%

Meta Platforms Inc
$614,23
-0.68
The Lead Up
$618.43
+1.80 +0.29%

Netflix Inc
+0.092
The Lead Up
$86.94
-0.62 -0.71%

Wynn Resorts Ltd
$95.42
-0.010
The Lead Up
$95.43
-0.78 -0.81%

MGM Resorts International
$36.97
+0.43
The Lead Up
$36.81
-0.60 -1.60%

News

(ICYMI)

MGM Vegas

Heyman Hustle/Paul Heyman - Live At MGM

News

Heyman’s involvement ties into his Looking4Larry Agency’s creative work and a broader MGM Studios partnershipMGM Live is the new entertainment/content brand for MGM Resorts International’s Las Vegas properties. It launched on Instagram with a debut reel featuring Paul Heyman and UFC President Dana White together at an EZ Baccarat table at the Live at Park MGM venue on the Las Vegas.

This marks a notable crossover, as UFC and WWE are both under TKO Group Holdings. Park MGM has hosted WWE events (like the 2026 Hall of Fame) and UFC PPVs.

Heyman shot disruptive/late-night content there during WrestleMania week, including:His TikTok debut from Park MGM (talking about Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania, etc.).

"Heyman on Heyman" interview with his son Jacob for HeymanHustleTV. Multiple Instagram/TikTok reels embracing his "King of New York (and everywhere else)" persona while promoting MGM.
News

Pop Culture/WWE

Danhausen Reopens Cameo for Sports Curses and Uncurses

The Metro Detroit wrestler, now with WWE, offers personalized videos for around $125 to curse or uncursed sports teams, just as NBA playoffs heat up. A Knicks fan's uncursing video preceded their 140-89 Game 6 blowout over the Hawks, sparking requests from Chiefs, Nets, Panthers, Cavs, Bears, Arsenal, Ferrari, and Jets fans. His 'very nice, very evil' persona has fans half-jokingly linking his hexes to real results, with Cameo now swamped and unavailable. (Media Man Peg-On: You are not cursed, and you are on Media Man!

News

Big Tech

(ICYMI)

Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms Report Q1 2026 Earnings Beating Expectations

Alphabet reported Q1 2026 revenue of $109.9 billion and EPS of $5.11, surpassing estimates, with Google Cloud revenue up 63% to $20 billion.

Microsoft reported fiscal Q3 2026 revenue of $82.89 billion and EPS of $4.27, beating expectations, driven by 39-40% Azure growth.

Amazon reported Q1 2026 revenue of $181.5 billion and EPS of $2.78 exceeding forecasts, with AWS up 28%, while Meta reported Q1 2026 revenue of $56.3 billion and EPS of $10.44 above estimates.

News

News Lead Up

144 approx Hours Ago

Bitcoin has begun hunting down short sellers

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has continued to hit new highs since early February, reaching $2.67 trillion. This time, the movement was not uniform, consisting of individual surges led by Toncoin (+29%), followed by Algorand (+4.5%) and Basic Attention Token (+4%). The underperformers include Dash (-5.5%), Aptos (-2.1%) and VeChain (-1.6%).

The sentiment index has reached 50, the midpoint of the indicator’s range, where it last stood on 17 January. The market is approaching a significant turning point. Since last October, there have been only brief surges in sentiment to higher levels, but these have provided excellent opportunities for bears to sell at higher prices.

Although Bitcoin faced some pressure midday on Monday, it overcame it on Tuesday, reaching $81K and gaining 1.3% for the day, though, by and large, it covered this ground in just the last 4 hours. We attribute this rally to short squeezes, as the rise occurred during the period of the most aggressive movements ahead of the start of active trading in Asia, when liquidity is at its lowest. Meanwhile, on the stock markets, there was only a slight pullback following the downward momentum. In any case, on the daily charts, Bitcoin is recording its sixth bullish candle, and the entire April uptrend now fits within a new upward channel, with the upper boundary currently at the 200-day moving average.

News Background

The Capriole investment fund has noted a sharp rise in demand for Bitcoin from major players. Institutional investors are buying up more than 500% of the daily mining output of the leading cryptocurrency every day. Historically, such a supply shortage has led to a 24% rise in BTC over the following month.

Bitcoin appears poised for an upward surge. A break above $80K opens up the possibility of reaching $86K–$88K in the coming period, notes MN Trading founder Michael van de Poppe.

Following the latest adjustment, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has fallen by 2.3% to 132.47 T. According to Glassnode, the network’s average hash rate, smoothed by a 7-day moving average, stands at around 955 EH/s.

Senators Tom Tillis and Angela Olsbrooks have reached a compromise regarding stablecoin yields in the CLARITY Act. This bill regulating the US crypto market may be considered by the Senate Banking Committee in the week following 11 May. (FxPro)

News

Pop Culture/Lucha Libre

AAA Announces New General Manager Reveal on May 23

On the April 25 episode of AAA on Fox, President Marisela Peña announced that Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide will get a new General Manager, with the live reveal set for May 23 in Mexico City. This follows her son Dorian Roldán's recent plea for the role, which she decided to open to other candidates after careful thought. Fans are speculating on names like Zelina Vega, Rey Mysterio, or even The Undertaker, amid AAA's growth since WWE's majority stake acquisition last April and its new Fox broadcasts blending lucha action with WWE polish. (Media Man Peg-On): Ariba. Triple A has massive influence from The Undertaker, and it's paying off as far as entertainment value for fans and in other creative and business ways from what we see and hear. Can see see Danhausen in Triple H also? Lucha Hausen! And Vice City Rocks!

News Lead

UFC - MMA Building Stars Again; SS King Of Division, Substance And Hype; Yan UFC Bonus; Dan Inks McGregor for UFC 329

New York Kind Of Feeling

US Stocks - Black Friday aftermath

Road To WWE Clash In Italy and WWE SNME

WWE Management And Wrestlers Bullish; Wrestling and Boxing

Sports Biz Event Tickets And Merch Drive

Danhausen Lifts WWE Merch Hausen

News

Media Man Group Weekly Series

Pop Culture Dream Matches

New Blood vs New Day vs Old News

GCW Bloodspot vs The Others

MGM Wrestling vs Atlantic City

Mr UFC vs Numerous Mainstream Media

Bam Bam vs Father Time

UFC vs Outlaw Mud Shows

MVP vs Weekend Warriors

WBD Wrestling vs Own Goal

Mr Dingo Driver vs Naysayers

New School vs Old School

Paul Heyman and Son and MGM Gamification vs others!

PopWrecked vs Karen

Studio97 vs others: Catfight Rules!

Danhausen and Minihuasen def Bully Ray and Easy E

Oba Femi vs Lockeroom

x AI vs others!

T. Abbott (Aust) vs Wokes

Rousey vs self

Rousey and Gina vs Critics

Ali vs self

The Man In The Arena vs self

Netflix vs Paramount Plus vs YouTube - 3 Way Dance! Special Ref: Easy E. Share The Love! Enough For The Big 3!

Ultra A.I vs Human Full Bloods

Ex Machina vs Cave Man

Rudos vs Technicos (Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide)

Killer Kross vs All; KK The Belt Collector!

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

"What's your hustle" Paul Heyman

"Everyone you meet knows something you don't know" Anon

"An investment in ones self is always the best bet" Greg Tingle, Media Man Group

"The consumer and fans decide what and who is the best" Greg Tingle, Media Man Group

Media Man

Markets, Cryptos and Culture

FinTech, Big Tech, Big Biz

May 14, 2026

Sydney, Australia to Wall Street, New York

Digital Bush Telegraph

Australia Continues To Ring Bells

Markets

ASX 200 futures down 22 points/ 0.3%: 8636

AUD +0.3% to US72.59¢

Bitcoin $79,510.16 -1.46%

Wall St:
Dow -0.1%
S&P +0.6%
Nasdaq +1.2%

VIX -0.12 to 17.87
Gold -0.6% to $US4688.77 an ounce
Brent oil -1.9% to $US105.70 a barrel
Iron ore +0.7% to $US110.95 a ton

10-year yield:
US 4.47%
Australia 5.06%

News

May 14

Numbers Double Check

Australian Dollar: $0.7260 USD (up $0.0020 USD)
Iron Ore: $110.95 USD (up $0.85 USD)
Oil Price (West Texas): $101.00 USD (down $1.01 USD)
Gold Price : $4,689.17 USD (down $26.23 USD)
Copper Price): $6.6190 USD (down $0.0145 USD)
Dow Jones: 49,693.20 (down 67.36 points)

News (Australia)

ASX down as investors wipe $30b from CBA

The Australian sharemarket lost ground on Wednesday, with the S&P/ASX 200 shedding 0.5 per cent to close at 8,630.4 points. Bank stocks were sold down for a second day in the wake of the federal budget, with the Commonwealth Bank falling 10.4 per cent to $153.67. PEXA Group was down four per cent at $11.90 and Temple & Webster ended the session 6.4 per cent lower at $4.98. However, BHP rose 2.9 per cent to a record high of $61.52 and Aristocrat Leisure was up 13.3 per cent at $51.94. (RMS)

News

The Lead Up

TKO Neg With Talent/Wrestling With Numbers And Contracts; If The New Price Is Right Mr Wrestling and Ms Wrestling

UFC MMA and U.S Admin Mix It Up With Fighters Visiting White House; Patriots Well Received In And Around Oval Office; Present Trump Gets Welcome Image Revamp Of Sorts; Keeping The Wars In The Octagon!

Red Turns To Green And Gold!

Pop Culture Ref: "The Wall Street Shuffle" (10 cc)

LinkedIn b2b Business Continues To Lift For Media Man Group and Associates

Media And Broadcasting Legend Ted Turner Dies (May 6); 100s Of Tributes Globally; Media, Entertainment And Sports Business World Pays Tribute; Turner Company Helped 1000s Globally In Career And Business

News (ICYMI)

Alphabet/Google Cracks TIME 100 Cover; Positive Buzz

Beast Industries aka MrBeast TIME Top 100 Influencer;

Post Buzz Continues For TIME Media Darlings

TKO/WWE In And Out Of The Ring Continues; Up and Down Cycle; TKO's Nick Khan Offer Positive Vibes To US Admin Re Ali Act Amendment; Counter Punch by some competitors; Road To WWE Clash In Italy and WWE SNME

TKO's LinkedIn Continues To Enjoy Strong News Media Buzz; Google LinkedIn Numbers Up; Search Engine Journal LinkedIn; Rio Tinto (Mining) Strong LinkedIn Media Vibes And Buzz

WWE's Danhausen Offers Mega Exposure To Rootless Coffee And WWE Merch; Number 3 Best Seller Of WWE Merch With Human Monies; Danhausen ESPN News! Very Nice!

Media Man LinkedIn and X Up; Road To WWE Clash In Italy and WWE SNME

Google/Alphabet Earnings Ultra Bullish

May 14, 2026

(Sydney, Australia To Wall Street, New York)

Markets

Coffee 280.70 +0.55

Cocoa 4418.00 -169.00

Sillicon 8585 -50.00

Silver 87.554 +0.123

Newsfeed

May 13

Culture/WWE NXT

Naraku Crushes Lince Dorado in Dominant WWE NXT Debut

The 39-year-old Japanese powerhouse, formerly EVIL in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and an ex-IWGP Heavyweight Champion, signed with WWE in April and debuted Tuesday on NXT airing on The CW. After vignettes and a chilling promo revealing his hellish new name, Naraku grabbed a quick win over Dorado, then snarled into the mic: "NARAKU is not a man of honor. I am pure EVIL!" His intact NJPW gimmick and House of Torture flair drew fan buzz, with eyes now on NXT Champion Tony D'Angelo as the King of Darkness eyes gold. (Media Man Peg-On): In Australia WWE NXT airs on Netflix. Highlights via the official WWE YouTube channel.

News

Pop Culture/WWE

Randy Orton's WrestleMania 41 Card Sells for $42,100 Record Price

The one-of-a-kind card from Topps' 2025 Royalty WWE set features a patch from Orton's WrestleMania 41 match in Las Vegas, signed with 'WM#20' and 'The Viper.' It shattered records by doubling the prior No. 2 WWE card sale, beating out a Steve Austin 1/1, after Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns bid nearly $40,000 before losing in the final seconds. Orton reacted by promising the winner his WM41 throwback gear—he still has his iconic 2004 SummerSlam trunks from becoming WWE's youngest world champion at age 24. (Media Man Peg-On): Some collectors making an RKO killing. Punt kick to a real job! Coiled up big ballers!

News Lead Up

12 + Hours Ago

BTC/Cryptos

Bitcoin hits the pause button at $80K

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has stalled at around $2.70 trillion, reflecting Bitcoin’s indecision around $80,000. At the same time, risk aversion is mounting in global markets, which can be easily linked to profit-taking following the rally and the US dollar's upward momentum. Among the top coins, the leaders over the past day were Theta (+8.5%), Toncoin (+4.9%) and NEAR Protocol (+2.1%). The underperformers were Dash (-4.2%), Official Trump (-3.5%) and Zcash (-3.5%).

The sentiment index has settled just below the midpoint of the range, recording readings of 47, 48 and 49 over the last three days. At the same time, we continue to note how difficult it is for the crypto market to consolidate at the upper end of the spectrum, which indicates a predominance of bears.

Bitcoin points to much the same thing, having lost its upward momentum as it approached the 200-day moving average. Although this line is trending downwards, the market has failed to break through it for the past six days. On the other hand, as the decline is quite modest, it resembles nothing more than a breather following a rally, leaving a strong chance of growth resuming.

News Background

According to CoinShares, global investments in crypto funds rose by $858 million last week. Investments in Bitcoin increased by $706 million, in Ethereum by $77 million, in Solana by $48 million, and in XRP by $40 million. Outflows from Bitcoin short positions totalling $14 million marked the largest of the year.

Investments rose amid a compromise on stablecoin yields under the CLARITY Act. The Senate Banking Committee is expected to consider the bill next week, CoinShares notes.

Strategy acquired 535 BTC for $43 million last week — at an average price of $80,340 per coin. The week before, the company skipped its weekly BTC purchase ahead of its quarterly report. Strategy now holds 818,869 BTC, purchased for $61.86 billion at an average price of $75,540 per Bitcoin.

Strategy will continue to build up its reserves of the leading cryptocurrency. At the same time, the volume of purchases will significantly exceed any potential sales, stated the company’s founder, Michael Saylor. According to him, it is important to remain a ‘net buyer’ and end each year with more coins than at the start.

Jordi Visser, founder of 22V Research, has increased his investment in Ethereum. In his view, this year will see the start of mass asset tokenisation, which will form the basis for payments by AI agents. For autonomous transactions, they will need digital assets such as Ethereum or stablecoins. (FxPro). (Media Man Peg-On): Can we call Michael Saylor the "King Of Bulls". Awesome PR machine and LinkedIn buzz. Join the dots!

News

Media Man with Cafe News Media Watercooler

Beer killer? Rise of the vodka RTD

Gold Coast-based drinks maker Hard Fizz emerged at around the time of the pandemic, while the ready-to-drink canned beverage market boomed after the pandemic. Hard Fizz originally focused on alcoholic seltzer drinks, but it is now switching to vodka-based canned drinks, with CEO Wade Tiller saying the change is because you are more limited with flavour when you use seltzer. Hard Fizz's seltzer sales have slumped over the past year, at a time when there is a broader consumer shift to RTDs, while vodka-based light RTDs account for 75 per cent of Australian RTD sales. (RMS)

News

oOh!media rejects $770m offer, triggers bidding war

The board of listed outdoor advertising group oOh!media has advised that it is open to further takeover approaches after spurning two suitors. The company has indicated that it assessed both offers and deemed that neither reflected its intrinsic value. US-based private equity firm I Squared Capital had offered $1.45 per share, valuing its bid at $770m; it had trumped a previous offer from Pacific Equity Partners of $1.40 per share. Brian Han from Morningstar says the rejection of both offers means that oOh!media's directors have effectively put up a 'for auction' sign. (RMS)

News Media

Truescope's co-founder and CEO John Croll contends that Australian companies are not getting much value from traditional media monitoring firms. He says they s are paying large sums of money each year for monthly media intelligence reports that are based on daily press clippings, and are therefore usually out of date before the client receives them; he adds that the analysis in these reports is often outsourced to low-cost workers offshore. In contast, Truescope processes content within minutes of publication and performs sentiment analysis at sentence level rather than story level; it also uses artificial intelligence to produce an executive summary. Croll was previously the CEO of iSentia.

News

AI News

The hidden expenses in banking's AI rollout

Tokens have been described as the hidden cost of using artificial intelligence, with tokens being a basic unit that measures how much data is being processed through autonomous AI models such as Anthropic's Claude. Westpac's CEO Anthony Miller told a recent investment banking conference that the bank was still in the process of working out how to disclose token use and productivity, with the cost of tokens depending on the model used. Noel Williams from PwC says the cost of tokens is definitely something that the big banks need to take into consideration, while Goldman Sachs analysts claimed recently that token consumption would increase 22-fold by 2030 and 55-fold by 2040. (RMS)

News

AI/Aviation (Aust)

Union demands Qantas AI talks

The Australian Services Union has asked for a meeting with Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson, following comments by her at a recent conference that suggest she intends to accelerate the airline's adoption of artificial intelligence. With the ASU representing clerical and call centre staff at Qantas, assistant national secretary Scott Cohen said attempts to enshrine protections into work agreements for staff around the implementation of AI had not been agreed to by Qantas, making Hudson's comments all the more concerning; he says he hopes that the ASU can work with Qantas to find ways by which AI can improve customer service and perhaps even lead to more human interaction. (RMS)

AI News

'Red tape is killing Australia's AI dream'

Data centre company Iren was called Iris Energy and operated as a bitcoin miner when it tried to list on the ASX in 2021, but the ASX knocked it back. That proved a blessing in disguise, as Iren instead floated on the tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange in the US, with co-founder Dan Roberts noting that on Friday it traded $US10bn in just that one session, which he says is more than the ASX's on-market dail turnover of $7.5bn. Roberts contends its rejection by the ASX was sign of Australia's unwillingness to " back next-generation technology at scale", while Iren has signed a $4.7bn deal with Nvidia to house its processing chips in Iren data centres.

News

(ICYMI)

Politics/MMA/UFC

Trump Hosts UFC Stars in Oval Office for White House Fight Event

Trump welcomed lightweight champ Ilia Topuria, challenger Justin Gaethje, light heavyweight titleholder Alex Pereira, and heavyweight Ciryl Gane to preview UFC Freedom 250 on June 14. The free event on the South Lawn features a 4,500-seat arena for Topuria vs. Gaethje and Pereira vs. Gane, tying into America's 250th anniversary and Trump's 80th birthday, with overflow crowds on giant screens nearby. Banter flew in the meeting—Trump joked about Pereira's powerful hand, while Topuria teased him lightly—building hype for this historic first pro sports event on White House grounds. (Media Man Peg-On): Win-Win-Win. Even if you lose on whe White House, you also win at the game and biz of MMA! Much respect to all.

News Lead Up

100 + Hours Ago

Cryptos

Altcoins are surging amid a steady rise in BTC price

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has risen by 0.75% over the past 24 hours, reaching $2.69 trillion. The top three performers are Zcash (+29%), Toncoin (+23%) and Filecoin (+16%). The underperformers are Ethereum (-0.4%), Algorand (-0.5%) and Basic Attention Token (-4.6%).

Bitcoin is approaching $81.5K, continuing its movement within an upward channel and hitting new highs since February. This positive momentum can easily be linked to the continued rise in stock indices, which is boosting risk appetite and bringing a more significant technical battle into view. The leading cryptocurrency is approaching its 200-day moving average (currently at $83.3K); a firm consolidation above this level would be a further sign of bullish dominance. We saw the first such sign – consolidation above the 50-day moving average – exactly one month ago. It is quite likely that, as Bitcoin approaches $83K, a short-term profit-taking phase awaits, allowing some of the gains to be taken.

The performance of altcoins clearly shows how BTC’s steady growth is encouraging increased risk-taking. First Toncoin, and today Zcash, have gained nearly 30% over the past 24 hours. The latter has been rising every day since 3 April, gaining 80% during this period; it was one of the first major cryptocurrencies to climb out of the slump at the end of January and reach highs last seen in November of last year. The key pivot zone in 2018 and 2025, near $800, looks well within reach in the coming days.

News Background

The total USDT market capitalisation has increased by $5.9 billion over the last 60 days, whereas prior to March, the market was losing around $2 billion monthly, notes analyst Darkfost. The inflow of capital into the crypto market is boosting asset values.

Morgan Stanley suggests that US banks may be able to hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets in the future, despite current regulatory barriers. The bank recently launched a Bitcoin-based exchange-traded product (ETP). Later this year, Morgan Stanley will launch spot trading in cryptocurrency on its Wealth platform.

The international payment system Western Union has launched its own stablecoin, USDPT, on the Solana blockchain. Integration with SOL will allow the company to speed up settlements and move away from traditional interbank systems, which are prone to delays.

BitMine has increased its Ethereum reserves to $13 billion, purchasing over 100,000 ETH for the third week in a row. The company’s reserves have reached 5,180,131 ETH, or 4.29% of the Ethereum supply.

Toncoin (TON) jumped by 45% amid fee reductions and the reorganisation of TON. Pavel Durov announced that Telegram would take over management of the TON crypto project from the current operator, the TON Foundation. The entrepreneur promised to reduce fees on the TON network sixfold and turn the eponymous token into a mass-market product.

News

Advertising expectations and experience: Australians have their say about AI

The second wave of Ad Standards' Community Sentiment Tracker, which was conducted by Roy Morgan, has found that 72% of Australians are concerned about the use of AI-generated content in advertising, particularly its potential to mislead or deceive people with unrealistic or fake content. Around half are also worried that the use of AI could reduce authenticity and creativity in advertising and promote unrealistic body or beauty standards. Australians believe AI-generated content is already widely used in advertising, with more than half saying that it is used very often (21%) or often (37%). Despite this, confidence in recognising AI-generated content remains low, with one in five Australians saying they are not at all confident they could identify when AI-generated content has been used in an ad. Some 64% of Australians believe it should always be necessary to disclose when advertising contains AI-generated content. The Ad Standards-Roy Morgan Community Sentiment Tracker Survey was conducted online with a cross-section of 1,000 Australians aged 18+ between 19 February and 2 March 2026. (Roy Morgan)

News

Sports/Media/Broadasting

Seven boss flags interest in NRL

Southern Cross Media Group's CEO Rohan Lund has indicated that the Seven Network owner could potentially bid for the NRL's broadcasting rights. Lund says media companies like Seven have an important role in helping audiences and partners to connect with their sports teams. He adds that Seven could be interested in the annual State of Origin series in particular. The Nine Network's current free-to-air rights deal for the NRL expires next year, and the NRL aims to finalise its next deal by the end of July. (RMS)

News

Shares

TKO Group Holdings Inc
$183.70
+0.37 +0.20%

Alphabet Inc Class A
$402.62
+15.27 +3.94%

NVIDIA Corp
$225.83
+5.05 +2.29%

Meta Platforms Inc
$616.63
+13.63 +2.26%

Netflix Inc
$87.56
-0.100 -0.11%

News

(ICYMI)

MGM Vegas

Heyman Hustle/Paul Heyman - Live At MGM

News

Heyman’s involvement ties into his Looking4Larry Agency’s creative work and a broader MGM Studios partnershipMGM Live is the new entertainment/content brand for MGM Resorts International’s Las Vegas properties. It launched on Instagram with a debut reel featuring Paul Heyman and UFC President Dana White together at an EZ Baccarat table at the Live at Park MGM venue on the Las Vegas.

This marks a notable crossover, as UFC and WWE are both under TKO Group Holdings. Park MGM has hosted WWE events (like the 2026 Hall of Fame) and UFC PPVs.

Heyman shot disruptive/late-night content there during WrestleMania week, including:His TikTok debut from Park MGM (talking about Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania, etc.).

"Heyman on Heyman" interview with his son Jacob for HeymanHustleTV. Multiple Instagram/TikTok reels embracing his "King of New York (and everywhere else)" persona while promoting MGM.

News

Pop Culture/WWE

Danhausen Reopens Cameo for Sports Curses and Uncurses

The Metro Detroit wrestler, now with WWE, offers personalized videos for around $125 to curse or uncursed sports teams, just as NBA playoffs heat up. A Knicks fan's uncursing video preceded their 140-89 Game 6 blowout over the Hawks, sparking requests from Chiefs, Nets, Panthers, Cavs, Bears, Arsenal, Ferrari, and Jets fans. His 'very nice, very evil' persona has fans half-jokingly linking his hexes to real results, with Cameo now swamped and unavailable. (Media Man Peg-On: You are not cursed, and you are on Media Man!

News

Big Tech

(ICYMI)

Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms Report Q1 2026 Earnings Beating Expectations

Alphabet reported Q1 2026 revenue of $109.9 billion and EPS of $5.11, surpassing estimates, with Google Cloud revenue up 63% to $20 billion.

Microsoft reported fiscal Q3 2026 revenue of $82.89 billion and EPS of $4.27, beating expectations, driven by 39-40% Azure growth.

Amazon reported Q1 2026 revenue of $181.5 billion and EPS of $2.78 exceeding forecasts, with AWS up 28%, while Meta reported Q1 2026 revenue of $56.3 billion and EPS of $10.44 above estimates.

News

News Lead Up

100 approx Hours Ago

Bitcoin has begun hunting down short sellers

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has continued to hit new highs since early February, reaching $2.67 trillion. This time, the movement was not uniform, consisting of individual surges led by Toncoin (+29%), followed by Algorand (+4.5%) and Basic Attention Token (+4%). The underperformers include Dash (-5.5%), Aptos (-2.1%) and VeChain (-1.6%).

The sentiment index has reached 50, the midpoint of the indicator’s range, where it last stood on 17 January. The market is approaching a significant turning point. Since last October, there have been only brief surges in sentiment to higher levels, but these have provided excellent opportunities for bears to sell at higher prices.

Although Bitcoin faced some pressure midday on Monday, it overcame it on Tuesday, reaching $81K and gaining 1.3% for the day, though, by and large, it covered this ground in just the last 4 hours. We attribute this rally to short squeezes, as the rise occurred during the period of the most aggressive movements ahead of the start of active trading in Asia, when liquidity is at its lowest. Meanwhile, on the stock markets, there was only a slight pullback following the downward momentum. In any case, on the daily charts, Bitcoin is recording its sixth bullish candle, and the entire April uptrend now fits within a new upward channel, with the upper boundary currently at the 200-day moving average.

News Background

The Capriole investment fund has noted a sharp rise in demand for Bitcoin from major players. Institutional investors are buying up more than 500% of the daily mining output of the leading cryptocurrency every day. Historically, such a supply shortage has led to a 24% rise in BTC over the following month.

Bitcoin appears poised for an upward surge. A break above $80K opens up the possibility of reaching $86K–$88K in the coming period, notes MN Trading founder Michael van de Poppe.

Following the latest adjustment, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has fallen by 2.3% to 132.47 T. According to Glassnode, the network’s average hash rate, smoothed by a 7-day moving average, stands at around 955 EH/s.

Senators Tom Tillis and Angela Olsbrooks have reached a compromise regarding stablecoin yields in the CLARITY Act. This bill regulating the US crypto market may be considered by the Senate Banking Committee in the week following 11 May. (FxPro)

News

Pop Culture/Lucha Libre

AAA Announces New General Manager Reveal on May 23

On the April 25 episode of AAA on Fox, President Marisela Peña announced that Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide will get a new General Manager, with the live reveal set for May 23 in Mexico City. This follows her son Dorian Roldán's recent plea for the role, which she decided to open to other candidates after careful thought. Fans are speculating on names like Zelina Vega, Rey Mysterio, or even The Undertaker, amid AAA's growth since WWE's majority stake acquisition last April and its new Fox broadcasts blending lucha action with WWE polish. (Media Man Peg-On): Ariba. Triple A has massive influence from The Undertaker, and it's paying off as far as entertainment value for fans and in other creative and business ways from what we see and hear. Can see see Danhausen in Triple H also? Lucha Hausen! And Vice City Rocks!

News Lead

UFC - MMA Building Stars Again; SS King Of Division, Substance And Hype; Yan UFC Bonus

New York Kind Of Feeling

US Stocks - Black Friday aftermath

Road To WWE Clash In Italy and WWE SNME

WWE Management And Wrestlers Bullish; Wrestling and Boxing

Sports Biz Event Tickets And Merch Drive

Danhausen Lifts WWE Merch Hausen

News

Media Man Group Weekly Series

Pop Culture Dream Matches

New Blood vs New Day vs Old News

GCW Bloodspot vs The Others

MGM Wrestling vs Atlantic City

Mr UFC vs Numerous Mainstream Media

Bam Bam vs Father Time

UFC vs Outlaw Mud Shows

MVP vs Weekend Warriors

WBD Wrestling vs Own Goal

Mr Dingo Driver vs Naysayers

New School vs Old School

Paul Heyman and Son and MGM Gamification vs others!

PopWrecked vs Karen

Studio97 vs others: Catfight Rules!

Danhausen and Minihuasen vs Bully Ray and Easy E

Oba Femi vs Lockeroom

x AI vs others!

T. Abbott (Aust) vs Wokes

Netflix vs Paramount Plus vs YouTube - 3 Way Dance! Special Ref: Easy E. Share The Love! Enough For The Big 3!

Ultra A.I vs Human Full Bloods

Ex Machina vs Cave Man

Rudos vs Technicos (Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide)

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

"What's your hustle" Paul Heyman

"Everyone you meet knows something you don't know" Anon

"An investment in ones self is always the best bet" Greg Tingle, Media Man Group

Media Man

Markets, Cryptos and Culture

FinTech, Big Tech, Big Biz

May 14, 2026

Sydney, Australia to Wall Street, New York

Digital Bush Telegraph

Australia Continues To Ring Bells

Markets

ASX 200 futures down 22 points/ 0.3%: 8636

AUD +0.3% to US72.59¢

Bitcoin $79,510.16 -1.46%

Wall St:
Dow -0.1%
S&P +0.6%
Nasdaq +1.2%

VIX -0.12 to 17.87
Gold -0.6% to $US4688.77 an ounce
Brent oil -1.9% to $US105.70 a barrel
Iron ore +0.7% to $US110.95 a ton

10-year yield:
US 4.47%
Australia 5.06%

News

May 14

Numbers Double Check

Australian Dollar: $0.7260 USD (up $0.0020 USD)
Iron Ore: $110.95 USD (up $0.85 USD)
Oil Price (West Texas): $101.00 USD (down $1.01 USD)
Gold Price : $4,689.17 USD (down $26.23 USD)
Copper Price): $6.6190 USD (down $0.0145 USD)
Dow Jones: 49,693.20 (down 67.36 points)

News (Australia)

ASX down as investors wipe $30b from CBA

The Australian sharemarket lost ground on Wednesday, with the S&P/ASX 200 shedding 0.5 per cent to close at 8,630.4 points. Bank stocks were sold down for a second day in the wake of the federal budget, with the Commonwealth Bank falling 10.4 per cent to $153.67. PEXA Group was down four per cent at $11.90 and Temple & Webster ended the session 6.4 per cent lower at $4.98. However, BHP rose 2.9 per cent to a record high of $61.52 and Aristocrat Leisure was up 13.3 per cent at $51.94. (RMS)

News

The Lead Up

TKO Neg With Talent/Wrestling With Numbers And Contracts; If The New Price Is Right Mr Wrestling and Ms Wrestling

UFC MMA and U.S Admin Mix It Up With Fighters Visiting White House; Patriots Well Received In And Around Oval Office; Present Trump Gets Welcome Image Revamp Of Sorts; Keeping The Wars In The Octagon!

Red Turns To Green And Gold!

Pop Culture Ref: "The Wall Street Shuffle" (10 cc)

LinkedIn b2b Business Continues To Lift For Media Man Group and Associates

Media And Broadcasting Legend Ted Turner Dies (May 6); 100s Of Tributes Globally; Media, Entertainment And Sports Business World Pays Tribute; Turner Company Helped 1000s Globally In Career And Business

News (ICYMI)

Alphabet/Google Cracks TIME 100 Cover; Positive Buzz

Beast Industries aka MrBeast TIME Top 100 Influencer;

Post Buzz Continues For TIME Media Darlings

TKO/WWE In And Out Of The Ring Continues; Up and Down Cycle; TKO's Nick Khan Offer Positive Vibes To US Admin Re Ali Act Amendment; Counter Punch by some competitors; Road To WWE Clash In Italy and WWE SNME

TKO's LinkedIn Continues To Enjoy Strong News Media Buzz; Google LinkedIn Numbers Up; Search Engine Journal LinkedIn; Rio Tinto (Mining) Strong LinkedIn Media Vibes And Buzz

WWE's Danhausen Offers Mega Exposure To Rootless Coffee And WWE Merch; Number 3 Best Seller Of WWE Merch With Human Monies; Danhausen ESPN News! Very Nice!

Media Man LinkedIn and X Up; Road To WWE Clash In Italy and WWE SNME

Google/Alphabet Earnings Ultra Bullish

May 14, 2026

(Sydney, Australia To Wall Street, New York)

Markets

Coffee 280.70 +0.55

Cocoa 4418.00 -169.00

Sillicon 8585 -50.00

Silver 87.554 +0.123

Newsfeed

May 13

Culture/WWE NXT

Naraku Crushes Lince Dorado in Dominant WWE NXT Debut

The 39-year-old Japanese powerhouse, formerly EVIL in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and an ex-IWGP Heavyweight Champion, signed with WWE in April and debuted Tuesday on NXT airing on The CW. After vignettes and a chilling promo revealing his hellish new name, Naraku grabbed a quick win over Dorado, then snarled into the mic: "NARAKU is not a man of honor. I am pure EVIL!" His intact NJPW gimmick and House of Torture flair drew fan buzz, with eyes now on NXT Champion Tony D'Angelo as the King of Darkness eyes gold. (Media Man Peg-On): In Australia WWE NXT airs on Netflix. Highlights via the official WWE YouTube channel.

News

Pop Culture/WWE

Randy Orton's WrestleMania 41 Card Sells for $42,100 Record Price

The one-of-a-kind card from Topps' 2025 Royalty WWE set features a patch from Orton's WrestleMania 41 match in Las Vegas, signed with 'WM#20' and 'The Viper.' It shattered records by doubling the prior No. 2 WWE card sale, beating out a Steve Austin 1/1, after Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns bid nearly $40,000 before losing in the final seconds. Orton reacted by promising the winner his WM41 throwback gear—he still has his iconic 2004 SummerSlam trunks from becoming WWE's youngest world champion at age 24. (Media Man Peg-On): Some collectors making an RKO killing. Punt kick to a real job! Coiled up big ballers!

News Lead Up

12 + Hours Ago

BTC/Cryptos

Bitcoin hits the pause button at $80K

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has stalled at around $2.70 trillion, reflecting Bitcoin’s indecision around $80,000. At the same time, risk aversion is mounting in global markets, which can be easily linked to profit-taking following the rally and the US dollar's upward momentum. Among the top coins, the leaders over the past day were Theta (+8.5%), Toncoin (+4.9%) and NEAR Protocol (+2.1%). The underperformers were Dash (-4.2%), Official Trump (-3.5%) and Zcash (-3.5%).

The sentiment index has settled just below the midpoint of the range, recording readings of 47, 48 and 49 over the last three days. At the same time, we continue to note how difficult it is for the crypto market to consolidate at the upper end of the spectrum, which indicates a predominance of bears.

Bitcoin points to much the same thing, having lost its upward momentum as it approached the 200-day moving average. Although this line is trending downwards, the market has failed to break through it for the past six days. On the other hand, as the decline is quite modest, it resembles nothing more than a breather following a rally, leaving a strong chance of growth resuming.

News Background

According to CoinShares, global investments in crypto funds rose by $858 million last week. Investments in Bitcoin increased by $706 million, in Ethereum by $77 million, in Solana by $48 million, and in XRP by $40 million. Outflows from Bitcoin short positions totalling $14 million marked the largest of the year.

Investments rose amid a compromise on stablecoin yields under the CLARITY Act. The Senate Banking Committee is expected to consider the bill next week, CoinShares notes.

Strategy acquired 535 BTC for $43 million last week — at an average price of $80,340 per coin. The week before, the company skipped its weekly BTC purchase ahead of its quarterly report. Strategy now holds 818,869 BTC, purchased for $61.86 billion at an average price of $75,540 per Bitcoin.

Strategy will continue to build up its reserves of the leading cryptocurrency. At the same time, the volume of purchases will significantly exceed any potential sales, stated the company’s founder, Michael Saylor. According to him, it is important to remain a ‘net buyer’ and end each year with more coins than at the start.

Jordi Visser, founder of 22V Research, has increased his investment in Ethereum. In his view, this year will see the start of mass asset tokenisation, which will form the basis for payments by AI agents. For autonomous transactions, they will need digital assets such as Ethereum or stablecoins. (FxPro). (Media Man Peg-On): Can we call Michael Saylor the "King Of Bulls". Awesome PR machine and LinkedIn buzz. Join the dots!

News

Media Man with Cafe News Media Watercooler

Beer killer? Rise of the vodka RTD

Gold Coast-based drinks maker Hard Fizz emerged at around the time of the pandemic, while the ready-to-drink canned beverage market boomed after the pandemic. Hard Fizz originally focused on alcoholic seltzer drinks, but it is now switching to vodka-based canned drinks, with CEO Wade Tiller saying the change is because you are more limited with flavour when you use seltzer. Hard Fizz's seltzer sales have slumped over the past year, at a time when there is a broader consumer shift to RTDs, while vodka-based light RTDs account for 75 per cent of Australian RTD sales. (RMS)

News

oOh!media rejects $770m offer, triggers bidding war

The board of listed outdoor advertising group oOh!media has advised that it is open to further takeover approaches after spurning two suitors. The company has indicated that it assessed both offers and deemed that neither reflected its intrinsic value. US-based private equity firm I Squared Capital had offered $1.45 per share, valuing its bid at $770m; it had trumped a previous offer from Pacific Equity Partners of $1.40 per share. Brian Han from Morningstar says the rejection of both offers means that oOh!media's directors have effectively put up a 'for auction' sign. (RMS)

News Media

Truescope's co-founder and CEO John Croll contends that Australian companies are not getting much value from traditional media monitoring firms. He says they s are paying large sums of money each year for monthly media intelligence reports that are based on daily press clippings, and are therefore usually out of date before the client receives them; he adds that the analysis in these reports is often outsourced to low-cost workers offshore. In contast, Truescope processes content within minutes of publication and performs sentiment analysis at sentence level rather than story level; it also uses artificial intelligence to produce an executive summary. Croll was previously the CEO of iSentia.

News

AI News

The hidden expenses in banking's AI rollout

Tokens have been described as the hidden cost of using artificial intelligence, with tokens being a basic unit that measures how much data is being processed through autonomous AI models such as Anthropic's Claude. Westpac's CEO Anthony Miller told a recent investment banking conference that the bank was still in the process of working out how to disclose token use and productivity, with the cost of tokens depending on the model used. Noel Williams from PwC says the cost of tokens is definitely something that the big banks need to take into consideration, while Goldman Sachs analysts claimed recently that token consumption would increase 22-fold by 2030 and 55-fold by 2040. (RMS)

News

AI/Aviation (Aust)

Union demands Qantas AI talks

The Australian Services Union has asked for a meeting with Qantas CEO Vanessa Hudson, following comments by her at a recent conference that suggest she intends to accelerate the airline's adoption of artificial intelligence. With the ASU representing clerical and call centre staff at Qantas, assistant national secretary Scott Cohen said attempts to enshrine protections into work agreements for staff around the implementation of AI had not been agreed to by Qantas, making Hudson's comments all the more concerning; he says he hopes that the ASU can work with Qantas to find ways by which AI can improve customer service and perhaps even lead to more human interaction. (RMS)

AI News

'Red tape is killing Australia's AI dream'

Data centre company Iren was called Iris Energy and operated as a bitcoin miner when it tried to list on the ASX in 2021, but the ASX knocked it back. That proved a blessing in disguise, as Iren instead floated on the tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange in the US, with co-founder Dan Roberts noting that on Friday it traded $US10bn in just that one session, which he says is more than the ASX's on-market dail turnover of $7.5bn. Roberts contends its rejection by the ASX was sign of Australia's unwillingness to " back next-generation technology at scale", while Iren has signed a $4.7bn deal with Nvidia to house its processing chips in Iren data centres.

News

(ICYMI)

Politics/MMA/UFC

Trump Hosts UFC Stars in Oval Office for White House Fight Event

Trump welcomed lightweight champ Ilia Topuria, challenger Justin Gaethje, light heavyweight titleholder Alex Pereira, and heavyweight Ciryl Gane to preview UFC Freedom 250 on June 14. The free event on the South Lawn features a 4,500-seat arena for Topuria vs. Gaethje and Pereira vs. Gane, tying into America's 250th anniversary and Trump's 80th birthday, with overflow crowds on giant screens nearby. Banter flew in the meeting—Trump joked about Pereira's powerful hand, while Topuria teased him lightly—building hype for this historic first pro sports event on White House grounds. (Media Man Peg-On): Win-Win-Win. Even if you lose on whe White House, you also win at the game and biz of MMA! Much respect to all.

News Lead Up

100 + Hours Ago

Cryptos

Altcoins are surging amid a steady rise in BTC price

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has risen by 0.75% over the past 24 hours, reaching $2.69 trillion. The top three performers are Zcash (+29%), Toncoin (+23%) and Filecoin (+16%). The underperformers are Ethereum (-0.4%), Algorand (-0.5%) and Basic Attention Token (-4.6%).

Bitcoin is approaching $81.5K, continuing its movement within an upward channel and hitting new highs since February. This positive momentum can easily be linked to the continued rise in stock indices, which is boosting risk appetite and bringing a more significant technical battle into view. The leading cryptocurrency is approaching its 200-day moving average (currently at $83.3K); a firm consolidation above this level would be a further sign of bullish dominance. We saw the first such sign – consolidation above the 50-day moving average – exactly one month ago. It is quite likely that, as Bitcoin approaches $83K, a short-term profit-taking phase awaits, allowing some of the gains to be taken.

The performance of altcoins clearly shows how BTC’s steady growth is encouraging increased risk-taking. First Toncoin, and today Zcash, have gained nearly 30% over the past 24 hours. The latter has been rising every day since 3 April, gaining 80% during this period; it was one of the first major cryptocurrencies to climb out of the slump at the end of January and reach highs last seen in November of last year. The key pivot zone in 2018 and 2025, near $800, looks well within reach in the coming days.

News Background

The total USDT market capitalisation has increased by $5.9 billion over the last 60 days, whereas prior to March, the market was losing around $2 billion monthly, notes analyst Darkfost. The inflow of capital into the crypto market is boosting asset values.

Morgan Stanley suggests that US banks may be able to hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets in the future, despite current regulatory barriers. The bank recently launched a Bitcoin-based exchange-traded product (ETP). Later this year, Morgan Stanley will launch spot trading in cryptocurrency on its Wealth platform.

The international payment system Western Union has launched its own stablecoin, USDPT, on the Solana blockchain. Integration with SOL will allow the company to speed up settlements and move away from traditional interbank systems, which are prone to delays.

BitMine has increased its Ethereum reserves to $13 billion, purchasing over 100,000 ETH for the third week in a row. The company’s reserves have reached 5,180,131 ETH, or 4.29% of the Ethereum supply.

Toncoin (TON) jumped by 45% amid fee reductions and the reorganisation of TON. Pavel Durov announced that Telegram would take over management of the TON crypto project from the current operator, the TON Foundation. The entrepreneur promised to reduce fees on the TON network sixfold and turn the eponymous token into a mass-market product.

News

Advertising expectations and experience: Australians have their say about AI

The second wave of Ad Standards' Community Sentiment Tracker, which was conducted by Roy Morgan, has found that 72% of Australians are concerned about the use of AI-generated content in advertising, particularly its potential to mislead or deceive people with unrealistic or fake content. Around half are also worried that the use of AI could reduce authenticity and creativity in advertising and promote unrealistic body or beauty standards. Australians believe AI-generated content is already widely used in advertising, with more than half saying that it is used very often (21%) or often (37%). Despite this, confidence in recognising AI-generated content remains low, with one in five Australians saying they are not at all confident they could identify when AI-generated content has been used in an ad. Some 64% of Australians believe it should always be necessary to disclose when advertising contains AI-generated content. The Ad Standards-Roy Morgan Community Sentiment Tracker Survey was conducted online with a cross-section of 1,000 Australians aged 18+ between 19 February and 2 March 2026. (Roy Morgan)

News

Sports/Media/Broadasting

Seven boss flags interest in NRL

Southern Cross Media Group's CEO Rohan Lund has indicated that the Seven Network owner could potentially bid for the NRL's broadcasting rights. Lund says media companies like Seven have an important role in helping audiences and partners to connect with their sports teams. He adds that Seven could be interested in the annual State of Origin series in particular. The Nine Network's current free-to-air rights deal for the NRL expires next year, and the NRL aims to finalise its next deal by the end of July. (RMS)

News

Shares

TKO Group Holdings Inc
$183.70
+0.37 +0.20%

Alphabet Inc Class A
$402.62
+15.27 +3.94%

NVIDIA Corp
$225.83
+5.05 +2.29%

Meta Platforms Inc
$616.63
+13.63 +2.26%

Netflix Inc
$87.56
-0.100 -0.11%

News

(ICYMI)

MGM Vegas

Heyman Hustle/Paul Heyman - Live At MGM

News

Heyman’s involvement ties into his Looking4Larry Agency’s creative work and a broader MGM Studios partnershipMGM Live is the new entertainment/content brand for MGM Resorts International’s Las Vegas properties. It launched on Instagram with a debut reel featuring Paul Heyman and UFC President Dana White together at an EZ Baccarat table at the Live at Park MGM venue on the Las Vegas.

This marks a notable crossover, as UFC and WWE are both under TKO Group Holdings. Park MGM has hosted WWE events (like the 2026 Hall of Fame) and UFC PPVs.

Heyman shot disruptive/late-night content there during WrestleMania week, including:His TikTok debut from Park MGM (talking about Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania, etc.).

"Heyman on Heyman" interview with his son Jacob for HeymanHustleTV. Multiple Instagram/TikTok reels embracing his "King of New York (and everywhere else)" persona while promoting MGM.

News

Pop Culture/WWE

Danhausen Reopens Cameo for Sports Curses and Uncurses

The Metro Detroit wrestler, now with WWE, offers personalized videos for around $125 to curse or uncursed sports teams, just as NBA playoffs heat up. A Knicks fan's uncursing video preceded their 140-89 Game 6 blowout over the Hawks, sparking requests from Chiefs, Nets, Panthers, Cavs, Bears, Arsenal, Ferrari, and Jets fans. His 'very nice, very evil' persona has fans half-jokingly linking his hexes to real results, with Cameo now swamped and unavailable. (Media Man Peg-On: You are not cursed, and you are on Media Man!

News

Big Tech

(ICYMI)

Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms Report Q1 2026 Earnings Beating Expectations

Alphabet reported Q1 2026 revenue of $109.9 billion and EPS of $5.11, surpassing estimates, with Google Cloud revenue up 63% to $20 billion.

Microsoft reported fiscal Q3 2026 revenue of $82.89 billion and EPS of $4.27, beating expectations, driven by 39-40% Azure growth.

Amazon reported Q1 2026 revenue of $181.5 billion and EPS of $2.78 exceeding forecasts, with AWS up 28%, while Meta reported Q1 2026 revenue of $56.3 billion and EPS of $10.44 above estimates.

News

News Lead Up

100 approx Hours Ago

Bitcoin has begun hunting down short sellers

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has continued to hit new highs since early February, reaching $2.67 trillion. This time, the movement was not uniform, consisting of individual surges led by Toncoin (+29%), followed by Algorand (+4.5%) and Basic Attention Token (+4%). The underperformers include Dash (-5.5%), Aptos (-2.1%) and VeChain (-1.6%).

The sentiment index has reached 50, the midpoint of the indicator’s range, where it last stood on 17 January. The market is approaching a significant turning point. Since last October, there have been only brief surges in sentiment to higher levels, but these have provided excellent opportunities for bears to sell at higher prices.

Although Bitcoin faced some pressure midday on Monday, it overcame it on Tuesday, reaching $81K and gaining 1.3% for the day, though, by and large, it covered this ground in just the last 4 hours. We attribute this rally to short squeezes, as the rise occurred during the period of the most aggressive movements ahead of the start of active trading in Asia, when liquidity is at its lowest. Meanwhile, on the stock markets, there was only a slight pullback following the downward momentum. In any case, on the daily charts, Bitcoin is recording its sixth bullish candle, and the entire April uptrend now fits within a new upward channel, with the upper boundary currently at the 200-day moving average.

News Background

The Capriole investment fund has noted a sharp rise in demand for Bitcoin from major players. Institutional investors are buying up more than 500% of the daily mining output of the leading cryptocurrency every day. Historically, such a supply shortage has led to a 24% rise in BTC over the following month.

Bitcoin appears poised for an upward surge. A break above $80K opens up the possibility of reaching $86K–$88K in the coming period, notes MN Trading founder Michael van de Poppe.

Following the latest adjustment, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has fallen by 2.3% to 132.47 T. According to Glassnode, the network’s average hash rate, smoothed by a 7-day moving average, stands at around 955 EH/s.

Senators Tom Tillis and Angela Olsbrooks have reached a compromise regarding stablecoin yields in the CLARITY Act. This bill regulating the US crypto market may be considered by the Senate Banking Committee in the week following 11 May. (FxPro)

News

Pop Culture/Lucha Libre

AAA Announces New General Manager Reveal on May 23

On the April 25 episode of AAA on Fox, President Marisela Peña announced that Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide will get a new General Manager, with the live reveal set for May 23 in Mexico City. This follows her son Dorian Roldán's recent plea for the role, which she decided to open to other candidates after careful thought. Fans are speculating on names like Zelina Vega, Rey Mysterio, or even The Undertaker, amid AAA's growth since WWE's majority stake acquisition last April and its new Fox broadcasts blending lucha action with WWE polish. (Media Man Peg-On): Ariba. Triple A has massive influence from The Undertaker, and it's paying off as far as entertainment value for fans and in other creative and business ways from what we see and hear. Can see see Danhausen in Triple H also? Lucha Hausen! And Vice City Rocks!

News Lead

UFC - MMA Building Stars Again; SS King Of Division, Substance And Hype; Yan UFC Bonus

New York Kind Of Feeling

US Stocks - Black Friday aftermath

Road To WWE Clash In Italy and WWE SNME

WWE Management And Wrestlers Bullish; Wrestling and Boxing

Sports Biz Event Tickets And Merch Drive

Danhausen Lifts WWE Merch Hausen

News

Media Man Group Weekly Series

Pop Culture Dream Matches

New Blood vs New Day vs Old News

GCW Bloodspot vs The Others

MGM Wrestling vs Atlantic City

Mr UFC vs Numerous Mainstream Media

Bam Bam vs Father Time

UFC vs Outlaw Mud Shows

MVP vs Weekend Warriors

WBD Wrestling vs Own Goal

Mr Dingo Driver vs Naysayers

New School vs Old School

Paul Heyman and Son and MGM Gamification vs others!

PopWrecked vs Karen

Studio97 vs others: Catfight Rules!

Danhausen and Minihuasen vs Bully Ray and Easy E

Oba Femi vs Lockeroom

x AI vs others!

T. Abbott (Aust) vs Wokes

Netflix vs Paramount Plus vs YouTube - 3 Way Dance! Special Ref: Easy E. Share The Love! Enough For The Big 3!

Ultra A.I vs Human Full Bloods

Ex Machina vs Cave Man

Rudos vs Technicos (Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide)

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

"What's your hustle" Paul Heyman

"Everyone you meet knows something you don't know" Anon

"An investment in ones self is always the best bet" Greg Tingle, Media Man Group

Media Man

Markets, Cryptos and Culture

FinTech, Big Tech, Big Biz

May 7, 2026

Sydney, Australia to Wall Street, New York

Australia Continues To Ring Bells Before The NYC Bell; Who Is The Bell Of Big Balls?! : TKO Neg With Talent/Wrestling With Numbers And Contracts; If The New Price Is Right Mr Wrestling and Ms Wrestling

LinkedIn b2b Business Lifts For Media Man Group and Associates

Media And Broadcasting Legend Ted Turner Dies; Media, Entertainment And Sports Business World Pays Tribute

Alphabet/Google Cracks TIME 100 Cover; Positive Buzz

Beast Industries aka MrBeast TIME Top 100 Influencer;
Post Buzz Continues For TIME Media Darlings

TKO/WWE In And Out Of The Ring Continues; Up and Down Cycle; TKO's Nick Khan Continues To Offer Positive Vibes To US Admin Re Ali Act Amendment; Zuffa Boxing 06 This Weekend; WWE Backlash Weekend

TKO's LinkedIn Continues To Enjoy Strong News Media Buzz; Google LinkedIn Numbers Up; Rio Tinto (Mining) Strong LinkedIn Media Vibes And Buzz

WWE's Danhausen Offers Mega Exposure To Rootless Coffee And WWE Merch; Number 3 Best Seller Of WWE Merch With Human Movies; Very Nice!

Media Man LinkedIn and X Up; TKO News Flashbacks

Road To WWE Backlash: May 9 in Tampa, Florida: Bloodline Themes! Road To WWE SNME

Google/Alphabet Earnings Ultra Bullish

May 7, 2026

(Sydney, Australia To Wall Street, New York)

Markets

ASX 200 futures up 95 points/1.1%: 8892

AUD +0.8% to US72.37¢

Bitcoin $80,989.05 -0.59%

Wall St:
Dow +1.2%
S&P +1.5%
Nasdaq +2%

VIX +0.01 to 17.39
Gold +3% to $US4691.33 an ounce
Brent oil -7.1% to $US102.09 a barrel
Iron ore +1.9% to $US110.60 a ton

10-year yield:
US +4.35%
Australia +4.95%

Coffee 284.85 -5.90

Cocoa 4135 +61

Numbers Double Check

Australian Dollar: $0.7230 USD (up $0.0050 USD)
Iron Ore: $110.60 USD (up $2.10 USD)
Oil Price (West Texas): $96.21 USD (down $6.47 USD)
Gold Price : $4,691.26 USD (up $134.13 USD)
Copper Price: $6.1935 USD (up $0.2045 USD)
Dow Jones: 49,910.59 (up 612.34 points)

News (Australia)

ASX up on ceasefire talk; CBA, banks rally

The Australian sharemarket rallied on Wednesday, amid growing hopes of a permanent ceasefire in the Middle East; the S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3 per cent to close at 8,793.6 points. The Commonwealth Bank was up three per cent at $177.98, DigiCo Infrastructure REIT advanced 25 per cent to $2.95 and Reece finished 1.4 per cent higher at $13.59. However, Woodside Energy was down 2.7 per cent at $31.84 and JB Hi-Fi fell 6.3 per cent to $72.98. (RMS)

News

China hit with punitive 82pc steel tariff

The federal government has imposed tariffs of between 38 per cent and 82 per cent on hot-rolled coil steel products that are imported from China. Industry Minister Tim Ayres approved the new tariffs on Monday, with temporary levies of up 117 per cent having been in place since late 2025 while the Anti-Dumping Commission completed its investigation into claims that China was exporting steel products to Australia at heavily discounted prices. A spokesman for Ayres says that all trade remedies are fully consistent with Australia's obligations under its trade agreements, and the nation's anti-dumping regime does not target any country in particular.

News

Politics/MMA/UFC

Trump Hosts UFC Stars in Oval Office for White House Fight Event

Trump welcomed lightweight champ Ilia Topuria, challenger Justin Gaethje, light heavyweight titleholder Alex Pereira, and heavyweight Ciryl Gane to preview UFC Freedom 250 on June 14. The free event on the South Lawn features a 4,500-seat arena for Topuria vs. Gaethje and Pereira vs. Gane, tying into America's 250th anniversary and Trump's 80th birthday, with overflow crowds on giant screens nearby. Banter flew in the meeting—Trump joked about Pereira's powerful hand, while Topuria teased him lightly—building hype for this historic first pro sports event on White House grounds. (Media Man Peg-On): Win-Win-Win. Even if you lose on whe White House, you also win at the game and biz of MMA! Much respect to all.

News

Cryptos

Altcoins are surging amid a steady rise in BTC price

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has risen by 0.75% over the past 24 hours, reaching $2.69 trillion. The top three performers are Zcash (+29%), Toncoin (+23%) and Filecoin (+16%). The underperformers are Ethereum (-0.4%), Algorand (-0.5%) and Basic Attention Token (-4.6%).

Bitcoin is approaching $81.5K, continuing its movement within an upward channel and hitting new highs since February. This positive momentum can easily be linked to the continued rise in stock indices, which is boosting risk appetite and bringing a more significant technical battle into view. The leading cryptocurrency is approaching its 200-day moving average (currently at $83.3K); a firm consolidation above this level would be a further sign of bullish dominance. We saw the first such sign – consolidation above the 50-day moving average – exactly one month ago. It is quite likely that, as Bitcoin approaches $83K, a short-term profit-taking phase awaits, allowing some of the gains to be taken.

The performance of altcoins clearly shows how BTC’s steady growth is encouraging increased risk-taking. First Toncoin, and today Zcash, have gained nearly 30% over the past 24 hours. The latter has been rising every day since 3 April, gaining 80% during this period; it was one of the first major cryptocurrencies to climb out of the slump at the end of January and reach highs last seen in November of last year. The key pivot zone in 2018 and 2025, near $800, looks well within reach in the coming days.

News Background

The total USDT market capitalisation has increased by $5.9 billion over the last 60 days, whereas prior to March, the market was losing around $2 billion monthly, notes analyst Darkfost. The inflow of capital into the crypto market is boosting asset values.

Morgan Stanley suggests that US banks may be able to hold Bitcoin on their balance sheets in the future, despite current regulatory barriers. The bank recently launched a Bitcoin-based exchange-traded product (ETP). Later this year, Morgan Stanley will launch spot trading in cryptocurrency on its Wealth platform.

The international payment system Western Union has launched its own stablecoin, USDPT, on the Solana blockchain. Integration with SOL will allow the company to speed up settlements and move away from traditional interbank systems, which are prone to delays.

BitMine has increased its Ethereum reserves to $13 billion, purchasing over 100,000 ETH for the third week in a row. The company’s reserves have reached 5,180,131 ETH, or 4.29% of the Ethereum supply.

Toncoin (TON) jumped by 45% amid fee reductions and the reorganisation of TON. Pavel Durov announced that Telegram would take over management of the TON crypto project from the current operator, the TON Foundation. The entrepreneur promised to reduce fees on the TON network sixfold and turn the eponymous token into a mass-market product.

News

Advertising expectations and experience: Australians have their say about AI

The second wave of Ad Standards' Community Sentiment Tracker, which was conducted by Roy Morgan, has found that 72% of Australians are concerned about the use of AI-generated content in advertising, particularly its potential to mislead or deceive people with unrealistic or fake content. Around half are also worried that the use of AI could reduce authenticity and creativity in advertising and promote unrealistic body or beauty standards. Australians believe AI-generated content is already widely used in advertising, with more than half saying that it is used very often (21%) or often (37%). Despite this, confidence in recognising AI-generated content remains low, with one in five Australians saying they are not at all confident they could identify when AI-generated content has been used in an ad. Some 64% of Australians believe it should always be necessary to disclose when advertising contains AI-generated content. The Ad Standards-Roy Morgan Community Sentiment Tracker Survey was conducted online with a cross-section of 1,000 Australians aged 18+ between 19 February and 2 March 2026. (Roy Morgan)

News

Sports/Media/Broadasting

Seven boss flags interest in NRL

Southern Cross Media Group's CEO Rohan Lund has indicated that the Seven Network owner could potentially bid for the NRL's broadcasting rights. Lund says media companies like Seven have an important role in helping audiences and partners to connect with their sports teams. He adds that Seven could be interested in the annual State of Origin series in particular. The Nine Network's current free-to-air rights deal for the NRL expires next year, and the NRL aims to finalise its next deal by the end of July. (RMS)

News

Mining/Energy/Resources

BHP's learning curve after tough negotiations

BHP's chief financial officer Vandita Pant addressed the Macquarie Australia conference on Wednesday. She stated that the resources group was pleased to have concluded commercial negotiations with China Mineral Resources Group regarding iron ore pricing and sales. The recent deal ended a seven-month stand-off, and Pant said the negotiations with state-owned CMRG were "tough". Chinese media reports have suggested that CMRG has secured a 1.8 per cent discount on iron ore from BHP. Pant also stated that BHP's experience in dealing with supply chain disruptions during the pandemic has been invaluable in coping with similar global supply shocks due to the Iran war. (RMS)

News

Pop Culture/Wrestling/WWE/NXT

Shawn Michaels Announces Loaded NXT Card for Next Week

Next Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on The CW from Orlando's WWE Performance Center, NXT Women's North American Champion Tatum Paxley teams with newcomer Lizzy Rain against Zaria and Nikkita Lyons, fresh off last week's wild brawl. A win in the Kendall Grey vs. Kelani Jordan match earns a title shot, while Japanese star Naraku debuts in the ring and indie signee Sean Legacy joins a six-man tag. Noam Dar returns from injury for a one-on-one with Jackson Drake, as Michaels spotlights rising talents in a buzzing women's reset. (Media Man Peg-On): For Australians enjoy the show on Tuesday morning (Australia) via Netflix! Highlights will appear on YouTube the same day!

News

Ted Turner, CNN Founder and Media Pioneer, Dies at 87

Turner launched CNN in 1980 as the world's first round-the-clock news network, revolutionized cable with superstation WTBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network, and owned the Atlanta Braves during their 1995 World Series win. He built a vast media empire from his family's billboard business, sold it to Time Warner for $7.3 billion in 1996, and gave $1 billion to the United Nations while conserving 2 million acres of land. Tributes highlight his innovations in news and entertainment, with survivors including five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. (Media Man Peg-On): RIP legend. Thank you for what you did for us in our 5 years of Pay TV days at Optus Vision down under.

May 7

Shares

TKO Group Holdings Inc
$190.47
+3.53 +1.89%

Alphabet Inc Class A
$398.04
+9.57 +2.46%

NVIDIA Corp
$207.83
+11.33 +5.77%

Meta Platforms Inc

$612.88
+7.92 +1.31%

Heyman Hustle/Paul Heyman - Live At MGM News

Heyman’s involvement ties into his Looking4Larry Agency’s creative work and a broader MGM Studios partnershipMGM Live is the new entertainment/content brand for MGM Resorts International’s Las Vegas properties. It launched on Instagram with a debut reel featuring Paul Heyman and UFC President Dana White together at an EZ Baccarat table at the Live at Park MGM venue on the Las Vegas.

This marks a notable crossover, as UFC and WWE are both under TKO Group Holdings. Park MGM has hosted WWE events (like the 2026 Hall of Fame) and UFC PPVs.

Heyman shot disruptive/late-night content there during WrestleMania week, including:His TikTok debut from Park MGM (talking about Brock Lesnar, WrestleMania, etc.).

"Heyman on Heyman" interview with his son Jacob for HeymanHustleTV.

Multiple Instagram/TikTok reels embracing his "King of New York (and everywhere else)" persona while promoting MGM.

News

(ICYMI)

Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms Report Q1 2026 Earnings Beating Expectations

Alphabet reported Q1 2026 revenue of $109.9 billion and EPS of $5.11, surpassing estimates, with Google Cloud revenue up 63% to $20 billion.

Microsoft reported fiscal Q3 2026 revenue of $82.89 billion and EPS of $4.27, beating expectations, driven by 39-40% Azure growth.

Amazon reported Q1 2026 revenue of $181.5 billion and EPS of $2.78 exceeding forecasts, with AWS up 28%, while Meta reported Q1 2026 revenue of $56.3 billion and EPS of $10.44 above estimates.

News

Geopolitics has caused the dollar to retreat

The end of Operation Epic Fury is boosting risk appetite.

Japan is likely to continue punishing speculators. The US dollar has lost ground following statements from the White House regarding the conclusion of the two-month ‘Operation Epic Fury’ and progress in negotiations with Iran. Investors are interpreting this as a de-escalation in the Middle East and are selling Brent. At the same time, the dollar index is once again testing the lows of the past two months amid risk-on sentiment in key markets. Optimism could push EURUSD higher. Although its further trajectory will depend on the pace of the fall in oil prices. It will take time to repair the damaged energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf. Therefore, it is believed that Brent and WTI will not return to the $65–70 levels seen before the conflict in the Middle East this year. This is a pro-inflationary factor. US services PMI indices are signalling the highest price pressure since 2022, while the futures market is ramping up expectations of Fed rate hikes. It will not be easy for Kevin Warsh to fulfil Donald Trump’s wishes for a significant easing of policy. For now, traders’ attention is entirely focused on the Middle East. The end of the conflict is driving the EURUSD up to 1.1760, and this rise will gain momentum with further signs of de-escalation. Conversely, another breakdown in negotiations and a deadlock in US-Iran relations will force the major currency pair to take a step back. And this is not merely a matter of caution, as alongside their conciliatory rhetoric, the US is building up its military presence in the Persian Gulf. The sharp collapse in USDJPY on Wednesday suggests that the government has once again intervened in the forex market. Japan needs to properly deter speculators from using dips in the US dollar to buy it. Rumours of a de-escalation in geopolitical tensions have catalysed a rally of more than 3% in gold, pushing it above $4,700. The fall in oil prices reduces the risk of high inflation becoming entrenched and removes the need for central banks to tighten policy. As a result, the precious metal may see a return to the debasement trade. (FxPro)

News Lead Up

48 Hours Ago

Bitcoin has begun hunting down short sellers

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has continued to hit new highs since early February, reaching $2.67 trillion. This time, the movement was not uniform, consisting of individual surges led by Toncoin (+29%), followed by Algorand (+4.5%) and Basic Attention Token (+4%). The underperformers include Dash (-5.5%), Aptos (-2.1%) and VeChain (-1.6%).

The sentiment index has reached 50, the midpoint of the indicator’s range, where it last stood on 17 January. The market is approaching a significant turning point. Since last October, there have been only brief surges in sentiment to higher levels, but these have provided excellent opportunities for bears to sell at higher prices.

Although Bitcoin faced some pressure midday on Monday, it overcame it on Tuesday, reaching $81K and gaining 1.3% for the day, though, by and large, it covered this ground in just the last 4 hours. We attribute this rally to short squeezes, as the rise occurred during the period of the most aggressive movements ahead of the start of active trading in Asia, when liquidity is at its lowest. Meanwhile, on the stock markets, there was only a slight pullback following the downward momentum. In any case, on the daily charts, Bitcoin is recording its sixth bullish candle, and the entire April uptrend now fits within a new upward channel, with the upper boundary currently at the 200-day moving average.

News Background

The Capriole investment fund has noted a sharp rise in demand for Bitcoin from major players. Institutional investors are buying up more than 500% of the daily mining output of the leading cryptocurrency every day. Historically, such a supply shortage has led to a 24% rise in BTC over the following month.

Bitcoin appears poised for an upward surge. A break above $80K opens up the possibility of reaching $86K–$88K in the coming period, notes MN Trading founder Michael van de Poppe.

Following the latest adjustment, Bitcoin’s mining difficulty has fallen by 2.3% to 132.47 T. According to Glassnode, the network’s average hash rate, smoothed by a 7-day moving average, stands at around 955 EH/s.
Senators Tom Tillis and Angela Olsbrooks have reached a compromise regarding stablecoin yields in the CLARITY Act. This bill regulating the US crypto market may be considered by the Senate Banking Committee in the week following 11 May. (FxPro)

News

BHP's price deal puts minnows, rivals on alert

Rio Tinto's former CEO Sam Walsh believes that the iron ore pricing deal between BHP and China Mineral Resources Group will fail. Few details of the deal to end the long-running dispute between BHP and CMRG have emerged, although reports suggest that BHP has ceded more influence to China in setting iron ore prices; this could potentially lead to more ore being priced in Chinese currency. Geoff Raby, Australian ambassador to China, believes that the key outcome of the deal is BHP's acceptance that the benchmark price of iron ore should be set by China, rather than a price reporting agency based in the US or the UK. (ABIX)

Media Man Peg-On: BHP per ad "We've been called many things". Gonzo journalism in mining and rare earth news lives!
News

UFC/MMA

Chimaev Shares Sparring Clip Ragdolling Strickland Before UFC 328 Title Fight

The undefeated UFC middleweight champion Chimaev (15-0) shared the American Top Team gym session showing him slamming takedowns on a shirtless Strickland (30-7), days ahead of UFC 328 at Newark's Prudential Center where he defends his belt for the first time. Bad blood stems from a group chat spat over Chechen wrestling jokes, escalating to media day barbs like Strickland calling Chimaev 'soft' and daring a parking lot fight, while Chimaev shrugged it off and said security protects Strickland. Odds favor Chimaev at -510, but Joe Rogan spots a real shot for Strickland's boxing and cardio, with Dricus du Plessis warning the first round decides it all. (Media Man: Nothing quite like a good old fashioned blood feud, be it MMA or wrestling. Red turns to green! Sell out on the cards!

News

WWE Backlash
May 9, 2026
Benchmark International Arena
Tampa, Florida
Main Event: Roman Reigns vs Jacob Fatu
Rollins vs Breakker
Williams vs Zayn
SKY vs Asuka
Danhausen and Mystery Partner vs Miz and Kit Wilson

News Flashback

WWE NXT/Wrestling

NXT Debuts EVIL, Lizzy Rain, and Will Kroos in Roster Shake-Up

WWE NXT's April 28 episode on The CW featured six debuts, including former NJPW star EVIL's chilling arrival targeting NXT Champion Tony D'Angelo, rocker Lizzy Rain's dominant win over Nikkita Lyons with her Thunderstruck finisher, and indie powerhouse Will Kroos joining a beatdown on D'Angelo. John Cena hyped EVIL with his classic promo quote, while fans praised the secrecy around Kroos and Rain's heavy-metal entrance. Other newcomers like Tristan Angels, Kam Hendrix, and Tate Wilder added to the stacked night, setting up fresh storylines for titles and rivalries. (Media Man Peg-On): NXT needed some fresh faces and new blood to replace some of the WWE main roster call-ups; Shawn Michaels and Robert Stone one again deliver. It's almost a new era kinda feeling and vibe with the shake-ups. Fans pumped for the upcoming main roster debuts of Blake Monroe and Ricky Saints.

News

Google, Meta shift $11b offshore, pay just $140m in tax

Technology firms Meta and Google have come under ongoing criticism over the fact that they seem to pay very little tax on the huge amount of revenue they generate in Australia. The criticism comes in particular from companies that must compete with them, including banks and media companies, while the federal government is set to force them to enter into commercial agreements with Australian news publishers. The criticism regarding the low amount of tax that Google and Meta is not likely to go away, given the revelation that they transferred almost $11 billion to offshore entities in service fees and reseller payments over the past year, but only paid just over $140 million in tax. (RMS)

News

News Lead Up

WWE/Pop Culture

Paul Heyman Praises Lil Yachty Amid WWE Celebrity Backlash

On SmackDown, Yachty celebrated new U.S. Champion Trick Williams' WrestleMania 42 victory over Sami Zayn, but Zayn ambushed them unmasked as a Gingerbread Man with a Helluva Kick. Paul Heyman endorsed Yachty as a respectful crossover star who honors WWE's history and fans, countering backlash from viewers upset over recent talent cuts like Aleister Black and Karrion Kross. While some fans call it unwanted filler, others praise the fun energy as WWE balances celebrities with homegrown stories ahead of Backlash. (Media Man Peg-On): We're going with Heyman on this. Yachty is great and over with the audience for the most part.

News

Pop Culture/Lucha Libre

AAA Announces New General Manager Reveal on May 23

On the April 25 episode of AAA on Fox, President Marisela Peña announced that Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide will get a new General Manager, with the live reveal set for May 23 in Mexico City. This follows her son Dorian Roldán's recent plea for the role, which she decided to open to other candidates after careful thought. Fans are speculating on names like Zelina Vega, Rey Mysterio, or even The Undertaker, amid AAA's growth since WWE's majority stake acquisition last April and its new Fox broadcasts blending lucha action with WWE polish. (Media Man Peg-On): Ariba. Triple A has massive influence from The Undertaker, and it's paying off as far as entertainment value for fans and in other creative and business ways from what we see and hear. Can see see Danhausen in Triple H also? Lucha Hausen!

News Lead Up

April 23

(Wall St, New York) : April 24 (Sydney, Australia)

UFC - MMA Building Stars Again

New York Kind Of Feeling

US Stocks - Black Friday - Black-ish Thursday into Friday

Post WrestleMania; Road To WWE Backlash 2026

WWE Management And Wrestlers Bullish; Wrestling and Boxing

Sports Biz Event Tickets And Merch Drive

Danhausen Lifts WWE Merch Hausen

Traditional Big Tech Sector Takes Big Hit April 23

News

Media Man Group Weekly Series

Pop Culture Dream Matches

New Blood vs New Day vs Old News

GCW Bloodspot vs The Others

MGM Wrestling vs Atlantic City

Bam Bam vs Father Time

UFC vs Outlaw Mud Shows

WBD Wrestling vs Own Goal

Mr Dingo Driver vs Naysayers

New School vs Old School

Paul Heyman and Son and MGM Gamification vs others!

PopWrecked vs Karen

Studio97 vs others: Catfight Rules!

Danhausen def Easy E

x AI vs others!

T. Abbott (Aust) vs Wokes

Netflix vs Paramount Plus vs YouTube - 3 Way Dance! Special Ref: Easy E. Share The Love! Enough For The Big 3!

Ultra A.I vs Human Full Bloods

Ex Machine vs Cave Man

Rudos vs Technicos (Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide)

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

"An investment in ones self is always the best bet" Greg Tingle, Media Man Group

Media Man

Markets, Cryptos and Culture

FinTech, Big Tech, Big Biz

LinkedIn b2b Business Lifts For Media Man Group and Associates

TKO/WWE In And Out Of The Ring Continues; Up and Down Cycle; TKO's Nick Khan Offers Positive Vibes To US Admin Re Ali Act Amendment; TKO's LinkedIn Enjoys Strong News Media Buzz; Google LinkedIn Numbers Up; Media Man LinkedIn and X Up; TKO News Flashbacks

Google/Alphabet Earnings

April 30, 2026

(Sydney, Australia To Wall Street, New York)

ASX 200 futures down 69 points/0.8%: 8627

AUD -0.9% to US71.17¢

Bitcoin - $75,808.20 -0.71%

Wall St:

Dow -0.6%
S&P -0.04%
Nasdaq +0.04%

VIX +0.98 to 18.81
Gold +0.03% to $US4549.45 an ounce
Brent oil +8.9% to $US120.19 a barrel
Iron ore +0.6% to $US107.05 a tonne
10-year yield: US 4.43% Australia 4.99%

Coffee 290.70 flat!

Cocoa 3403.83 +23.83

Numbers Double Check

April 30

Australian Dollar: $0.7110 USD (down $0.0070 USD)
Iron Ore: $107.05 USD (up $0.65 USD)
Oil Price (WTI): $108.49 USD (up $8.87 USD)
Gold Price : $4,543.97 USD (down $52.22 USD)
Copper Price: $5.9265 USD (up $0.0070 USD)
Dow Jones: 48,861.81 (down 280.12 points)

Shares

TKO Group Holdings Inc
$183.71
-0.87 -0.47%

Alphabet Inc Class A
$349.94
+0.13 +0.037%

NVIDIA Corp
$209.25
-3.82 -1.79%

News

Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta Platforms Report Q1 2026 Earnings Beating Expectations

Alphabet reported Q1 2026 revenue of $109.9 billion and EPS of $5.11, surpassing estimates, with Google Cloud revenue up 63% to $20 billion.

Microsoft reported fiscal Q3 2026 revenue of $82.89 billion and EPS of $4.27, beating expectations, driven by 39-40% Azure growth.

Amazon reported Q1 2026 revenue of $181.5 billion and EPS of $2.78 exceeding forecasts, with AWS up 28%, while Meta reported Q1 2026 revenue of $56.3 billion and EPS of $10.44 above estimates.

News

Biz (Aust)

April 30

ASX falls for seventh straight day; G8 tanks

The Australian sharemarket lost ground on Wednesday, amid growing expectations of an official interest rate rise next week in response to the latest inflation data; the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3 per cent to close at 8,687 points. Newmont Corporation was down 3.2 per cent at $153.58, Cochlear shed 3.2 per cent to end the session at $90 and G8 Education shed 31.3 per cent to finish at $0.165. However, oOh!media rose 32.9 per cent to $1.13 in response to a takeover bid and Codan was up 15.5 per cent at $42. (RMS)

News

The crypto takes a breather after growth

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation has changed little over the past 24 hours, hovering around $2.57 trillion, with assets moving in different directions. Markets are likely to prefer a wait-and-see approach ahead of decisions by the Bank of Canada, the Fed, the ECB and the Bank of England over the next couple of days. Officially, markets are expecting a hawkish tone, so a focus on the economy could spur active buying.

The sentiment index plummeted to 26, falling below last week’s lows, reflecting a return of fear to the markets. The inability to hold above 50 since September remains a key sign of bearish sentiment.

Over the past two days, Bitcoin has lost approximately $4K from peak to trough at $75.6K, but on Wednesday, it turned higher, attempting to consolidate above $77K. Thus, Bitcoin has broken out of its upward trend but has not yet confirmed a reversal; therefore, we can only note a slowdown in growth at the 50% mark of the January-February decline.

News Background

The $80K level remains an important psychological barrier, around which a large volume of options is concentrated, GSR notes. QCP Capital considers $82K to be a key resistance level.

Bernstein regards Bitcoin’s February low of $60K as a “clear bottom” and expects a “higher and structurally longer bull cycle” going forward. The main driver of optimism remains a steady inflow of capital from institutional investors.

Bitcoin is no longer merely an “interesting asset” for companies seeking to remain competitive, Tim Draper, founder of venture capital firm Draper Associates, stated. According to him, firms must hold a portion of their reserves (5–15%) in BTC to avoid being financially irresponsible towards their shareholders.

Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the US Presidential Council on Digital Assets, announced an “important statement” regarding the US strategic Bitcoin reserve, which will be made in the coming weeks.

Bitmine, the largest publicly traded corporate holder of Ethereum, announced the acquisition of over 5 million ETH over 10 months, at an average cost of $2,369 per ETH. The company’s reserves have reached nearly 5.08 million ETH, representing 4.21% of the Ethereum supply.

News

Pop Culture/WWE

Roman Reigns Sweats Through Epic Promo Amid Arena Heat in Laredo

A power outage killed air conditioning at Sames Auto Arena, turning Monday Night Raw into a sauna with fans drenched and wrestlers glistening under pyro-lit lights. Reigns cut a fiery main event promo on Fatu's World Heavyweight Title shot at Backlash on May 9 in Tampa, listening to The Usos' warnings before greenlighting the match—only for Fatu to ambush him with a brutal Tongan Death Grip post-promo. Fans flooded social media with memes of Reigns' sweat-drenched look, declarations of stanning the champ, and hype for the Bloodline clash, proving his unbreakable draw even as some Cody Rhodes fans pushed back. (Media Man Peg-On): So pumped for the main event of WWE Backlash. We smell a Bloodline screw-job finish, but we shall see.

News

WWE NXT/Wrestling

NXT Debuts EVIL, Lizzy Rain, and Will Kroos in Roster Shake-Up

WWE NXT's April 28 episode on The CW featured six debuts, including former NJPW star EVIL's chilling arrival targeting NXT Champion Tony D'Angelo, rocker Lizzy Rain's dominant win over Nikkita Lyons with her Thunderstruck finisher, and indie powerhouse Will Kroos joining a beatdown on D'Angelo. John Cena hyped EVIL with his classic promo quote, while fans praised the secrecy around Kroos and Rain's heavy-metal entrance. Other newcomers like Tristan Angels, Kam Hendrix, and Tate Wilder added to the stacked night, setting up fresh storylines for titles and rivalries. (Media Man Peg-On): NXT needed some fresh faces and new blood to replace some of the WWE main roster call-ups; Shawn Michaels and Robert Stone one again deliver. It's almost a new era kinda feeling and vibe with the shake-ups. Fans pumped for the upcoming main roster debuts of Blake Monroe and Ricky Saints.

News

Pop Culture

Danhausen Reunites with Jade Cargill in WWE Photoshoot Throwback

The surprise images dropped Tuesday, showing Danhausen in full vampire gear posing dynamically with Cargill, who rocked a white fur bodysuit and championship belt. It's a nod to their fun AEW days, where Danhausen debuted his 'very nice, very evil' persona before crossing to WWE this year with stunts like emerging from a crate at Elimination Chamber and teaming with John Cena at WrestleMania 42. Jadehausen!?

News

April 28

Pop Culture/Pro Wrestling/WWE/NXT

EVIL From Japan Makes NXT Debut; Faced Off With Tony D!

Blake Monroe Buried in Dramatic NXT Graveyard Farewell; The Glamour Heading To Main Roster

NXT's Ricky Saints Heading To WWE SmackDown

News

Google, Meta shift $11b offshore, pay just $140m in tax

Technology firms Meta and Google have come under ongoing criticism over the fact that they seem to pay very little tax on the huge amount of revenue they generate in Australia. The criticism comes in particular from companies that must compete with them, including banks and media companies, while the federal government is set to force them to enter into commercial agreements with Australian news publishers. The criticism regarding the low amount of tax that Google and Meta is not likely to go away, given the revelation that they transferred almost $11 billion to offshore entities in service fees and reseller payments over the past year, but only paid just over $140 million in tax. (RMS)

News

Elon Musk's OpenAI Trial Jury Selected in Oakland

Jury selection finished Monday in federal court in Oakland, California, for Musk's civil suit against OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Greg Brockman. Musk, who helped launch the nonprofit in 2015 with $45 million and no equity, claims its for-profit pivot—now valued at $852 billion—betrays the original mission of open AGI for humanity's benefit. He's seeking to unwind the structure and potential $134 billion in damages, while OpenAI calls the case baseless jealousy; opening statements start Tuesday with testimony from Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella expected. The jury's findings will guide Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in a trial set to last two to four weeks. (Media Man Peg-On): Musk vs Altman. Pick'em Title, Who you got?!

News

WWE

WWE Raw Hits Laredo with Rollins-Reigns Tension and Backlash Build

Monday Night Raw airs live at 8 p.m. ET from Sames Auto Arena in Laredo, Texas, exclusively on Netflix, featuring Seth Rollins opening with words for Roman Reigns and Reigns responding to Jacob Fatu's title challenge at Backlash. Bayley and Lyra Valkyria face Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez in tag action, while Becky Lynch returns after reclaiming her Women's Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania to address challengers. Joe Hendry performs a live concert, and fan cards highlight matches like Penta El Zero Miedo vs. Rusev, all building hype toward Backlash.

News Lead Up

April 27

The crypto market has yet to satisfy sellers

Market Overview

The crypto market capitalisation rose to $2.64T in the early hours of Monday but quickly retreated to the $2.60T level that has held steady over the past five days. Bears are aggressively defending the level from which the active sell-off began in February and where local highs were also seen earlier in April. Over the past seven days, the cryptocurrency market has gained 2.8%, with Zcash (+15%), Algorand (+12%) and Cosmos (+9%) leading the way, while Trump (-10%), Theta Network (-2.5%) and Polkadot (-2.3%) lagged.

The sentiment index has risen to 47, entering neutral territory and reaching its highest level since the second half of January. Since last August, the indicator has spent no more than a few consecutive days above 50, the first sign of a bear market. In the short term, approaching this level increases the risk of a fresh wave of selling. But don’t rush to side with the sellers until the situation becomes clearer, as a bear market does not last forever.

Bitcoin has approached the $80K mark for the second time in the last few days, but has since experienced significant downward momentum. As it approaches this round figure, a build-up of sell orders is preventing the coin from moving further upwards. For now, we consider this situation to be temporary, as the corrective pullbacks fit within the uptrend formed at the end of March.

News Background

Bitcoin has entered a new phase amid the return of US retail investors to the market, Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz said. In his view, the combination of retail demand, institutional capital and limited supply creates the foundation for further growth.

Over a short period, sentiment among Bitcoin investors has shifted sharply — from pronounced pessimism to fear of missing out (FOMO), according to Santiment. Crypto whales have increased their holdings by more than 40,000 BTC over the past two weeks.

CryptoQuant, on the other hand, believes that Bitcoin’s recent rise above $79K was driven primarily by a short squeeze in the derivatives market, rather than sustained demand in the spot market. Large-scale short covering is making the market vulnerable.

Japanese company Metaplanet, one of the largest corporate holders of Bitcoin, has announced the issuance of $50 million in bonds to finance new purchases of the leading cryptocurrency.

The infrastructure of traditional finance and blockchains began to form a unified system in 2026, according to CoinShares. Stablecoins remain the largest segment of hybrid finance.

A quantum computer has, for the first time, cracked a 15-bit elliptic curve cryptographic key — the mathematical basis of digital signature schemes that ensure the security of Bitcoin networks and most blockchains. (FxPro)

News

WWE/Pop Culture

Paul Heyman Praises Lil Yachty Amid WWE Celebrity Backlash

On SmackDown, Yachty celebrated new U.S. Champion Trick Williams' WrestleMania 42 victory over Sami Zayn, but Zayn ambushed them unmasked as a Gingerbread Man with a Helluva Kick. Paul Heyman endorsed Yachty as a respectful crossover star who honors WWE's history and fans, countering backlash from viewers upset over recent talent cuts like Aleister Black and Karrion Kross. While some fans call it unwanted filler, others praise the fun energy as WWE balances celebrities with homegrown stories ahead of Backlash. (Media Man Peg-On): We're going with Heyman on this. Yachty is great and over with the audience for the most part.

News

UFC/MMA

(Australia)

UFC Fight Night in Perth Features Main Event Between Jack Della Maddalena and Carlos Prates

UFC Fight Night is set for Perth, Western Australia, headlined by a welterweight bout between top-ranked fighters Jack Della Maddalena and Carlos Prates. The event, promoted as UFC Perth, airs live on Paramount Plus. (Media Man Peg-On): On paper this Fight Night down under should be stronger/better than some of their previous fight nights are far as match quality.

News

Pop Culture/Lucha Libre

AAA Announces New General Manager Reveal on May 23

On the April 25 episode of AAA on Fox, President Marisela Peña announced that Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide will get a new General Manager, with the live reveal set for May 23 in Mexico City. This follows her son Dorian Roldán's recent plea for the role, which she decided to open to other candidates after careful thought. Fans are speculating on names like Zelina Vega, Rey Mysterio, or even The Undertaker, amid AAA's growth since WWE's majority stake acquisition last April and its new Fox broadcasts blending lucha action with WWE polish. (Media Man Peg-On): Ariba. Triple A has massive influence from The Undertaker, and it's paying off as far as entertainment value for fans and in other creative and business ways from what we see and hear. Can see see Danhausen in Triple H also? Lucha Hausen!

News Lead Up

April 23

(Wall St, New York) : April 24 (Sydney, Australia)

UFC - MMA Building Stars Again

New York Kind Of Feeling

US Stocks - Black Friday - Black-ish Thursday into Friday

Post WrestleMania; Road To WWE Backlash 2026

WWE Management And Wrestlers Bullish; Wrestling and Boxing

Sports Biz Event Tickets And Merch Drive

Danhausen Lifts WWE Merch Hausen

Traditional Big Tech Sector Takes Big Hit April 23

Media Man Group Weekly Series

News Lead Up

ASX 200 futures down 4 points: 0.1% to 8828

AUD -0.4% to US71.30¢

Bitcoin $78,168.22 +0.52%

Dogecoin $0.09776 +2.24%

Ripple aka XRP $1.4374 +1.48%

Wall St:

Dow -0.4%

S&P -0.4%

Nasdaq -0.9%

VIX +0.39 to 19.31

Gold -1% to $US4694.14 an ounce

Brent oil +4.5% to $US106.44 a barrel

Iron ore -0.6% to $US106.65 a tonne

10-year yield: US 4.32% Australia 5.00%

News

News Flashback

November 2025

Polymarket Partnership Could Be a Game Changer for TKO Group Holdings (TKO)

Nov 17

(In Case You Missed It)

Polymarket/UFC/TKO

Polymarket recently announced a multi-year partnership making it the Official and Exclusive Prediction Market Partner for UFC and Zuffa Boxing, introducing real-time fan prediction metrics directly into UFC broadcasts and social media experiences.

This collaboration marks the first time major sports organizations have integrated prediction market technology into the live fan experience, creating new ways for audiences to interact and for TKO's sports brands to differentiate themselves.

We'll explore how this innovative fan engagement initiative could strengthen TKO Group Holdings' investment narrative by deepening audience connection and content value.

What Is TKO Group Holdings' Investment Narrative?

To see the value in TKO Group Holdings as a shareholder, you really have to believe in its ability to keep building out top sports entertainment brands like UFC and WWE into global, multi-platform franchises. A lot of the story is about continuing to grow earnings and revenue faster than the overall market, attract loyal audiences, and evolve with changes in media rights, streaming, and digital fan engagement. Recent announcements, such as the multi-year partnership with Polymarket, reflect TKO’s push to unlock new monetization avenues and deepen fan involvement.

However, it’s unlikely this news will materially change the core short-term catalysts, which are still dominated by performance in key international deals, broadcast partnerships, and the rollout of new events. The biggest risks remain legal challenges, compression of media rights value, and questions about board experience. The new fan engagement efforts add differentiation, but don’t directly reduce these core risks for now. On the flip side, investors should pay close attention to ongoing legal proceedings against TKO and UFC.

TKO Group Holdings' shares have been on the rise but are still potentially undervalued by 15%.

Ten retail investors in the Simply Wall St Community produced fair value estimates for TKO ranging from US$63.92 to a very large US$37,618.47. While community views can be widely split, ongoing legal challenges remain a topic several market participants keep circling back to as a concern for TKO’s future performance. Explore these diverse perspectives and see how the risks and opportunities stack up.

Historical Data and Intel

TKO Group: News

News Flashback

Insider Buying and Selling at TKO Group

In related news, Director Nick Khan sold 45,168 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.82, for a total value of $7,715,597.76. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 156,494 shares in the company, valued at $26,732,305.08. This represents a 22.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 73,725 shares of company stock valued at $12,767,807. Corporate insiders own 61.30% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

TKO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Baird R W raised TKO Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Zacks Research upgraded TKO Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Bank of America upped their target price on TKO Group from $200.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Robert W. Baird began coverage on TKO Group in a report on Friday, September 5th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $225.00 target price for the company. Finally, Roth Capital raised their target price on TKO Group from $208.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $192.21.

TKO Group Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:TKO traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $202.33. 897,072 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 683,611. TKO Group Holdings, Inc. has a 52-week low of $114.01 and a 52-week high of $204.10. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $178.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $165.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.28, a quick ratio of 1.30 and a current ratio of 1.30. The company has a market capitalization of $40.12 billion, a PE ratio of 83.61 and a beta of 0.79.

TKO Group (NYSE:TKO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported $1.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.23 by ($0.06). TKO Group had a net margin of 5.40% and a return on equity of 2.82%. The business had revenue of $1.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.72 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 53.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that TKO Group Holdings, Inc. will post 3.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

TKO Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This is an increase from TKO Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.38. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 15th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. TKO Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.81%.

TKO Group Profile

TKO Group Holdings, Inc operates as a sports and entertainment company. The company produces and licenses live events, television programs, and long-form and short-form content, reality series, and other filmed entertainment on digital and linear channels and via pay-per-view. It is involved in the merchandising of video games, apparel, equipment, trading cards, memorabilia, digital goods, and toys, as well as sale of travel packages and tickets.

News Flashback

TKO Group Holdings, Inc. is an American sports and sports entertainment company. Established on September 12, 2023, the public company was formed by a merger between Endeavor subsidiary Zuffa—the parent company of mixed martial arts promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship —and the professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment. TKO is led by CEO Ari Emanuel and president Mark Shapiro, both of Endeavor; Dana White and Nick Khan retained their roles as CEOs of UFC and WWE respectively upon the merger, while WWE co-founder Vince McMahon served as executive chairman until resigning from the company in January 2024 amid a sex trafficking scandal. The merger marked the first time that WWE has not been solely and primarily majority-controlled by the McMahon family, which founded the company and owned it for over 70 years. As of 2024, the UFC and WWE were the two most valuable combat sports organizations in the world according to Forbes. UFC was listed as the most valued mixed martial arts company with a revenue of $1.406 billion and WWE being the most valued professional wrestling promotion with a revenue of $1.398 billion in 2023. (Wikipedia)

TKO owns iconic properties including UFC, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization; WWE, the global leader in sports entertainment; and PBR, the world’s premier bull riding organization. Together, these properties reach 210 countries and territories and organize more than 500 live events year-round, attracting more than three million fans.

TKO also services and partners with major sports rights holders through IMG, an industry-leading global sports marketing agency; and On Location, a global leader in premium experiential hospitality. (Credit: TKO Group)

News

Best Quotes Of The Day

"An investment in ones self is always the best bet" Greg Tingle, Media Man Group

Markets, Cryptos and Pop Culture

Culture In Biz Series Edition
Thank God It's Friday For Sin City Sydney

December To Remember

Dec 12
Sydney, Australia

Dec 11
Wall Street, New York Groove

Cryptos Struggling; All That Glitters
TKO To Naysayers Again!
World Streaming Wars
Online Media vs Legacy Media: Disruptors

Media Pop Culture Theme: "Another Brick In The Wall" aka "We Don't Need No Education" (Pink Floyd)
"Schools Out" (Alice Cooper)
Silicon Valley theme: "Stretch Your Face" (Tobacco)
"The Social Network" (score album for film)
"Hall of Fame" (The Script)
"Eight Days a Week" (The Beatles)
"The Wolf of Wall Street" ("Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (Cannonball Adderley)
"Friday On My Mind" (The Easybeats)

December 12, 2025

Sin City Sydney, Australia

ASX futures up 96 points/1.1% to 8687

Wall Street:

S&P 500 +0.2%
Dow Jones +1.4%
Nasdaq -0.3%

Europe

Stoxx 50 +0.8%
FTSE +0.5%
DAX +0.7%
CAC +0.8%

Australian dollar at 66.39 US cents

Bitcoin $92,885.97 +0.52%

Gold flat: $US4205.79 per ounce
US oil -1.2% to $US57.78 a barrel
Brent crude -1.2% to $US61.46 a barrel
Iron ore -1% to $US101.75 per ton

10-year yield:
US 4.14%
Australia 4.72%
Germany 2.84%

Bitcoin

Bitcoin: (Near Live) $92,885.97 +0.52%

Ethereum $3,249.65 -2.76%

XRP $2.0508 +0.03%

News Update: (Near Live)

News

New York/Wall St via Mr Wolf!
December To Remember!

Dec 11
After The Bell; Bells To Be Rung

NYC!

Cryptos Today: (Near Live)

Cryptos tarnished again!

Bitcoin $93,473.79 +1.16%

Market ups and downs! Mood: Medium: Still picking up a little. Play the long game?! Hardcores keep dream, as always!

Media Man Favs:

(Near Live)

Bells Rung by Mr Wolf!
TKO hulks up! Going for submission on competitors?!
Christmas Grinch vs Santa.
Miners on hunt. Gamers full speed instead of socials.. Tech heads grapplers watch streaming wars!
NYSE Bell Ringers With Trees! Prep for new Season's Beatings!
TKO kicks out again heading towards Saturday Night's Main Event via Friday Night SmackDown!

Wall St, New York

TKO Group Holdings Inc $204.30 +7.36 +3.74%
NVIDIA Corp $180.93 -2.85 -1.55%
Formula One Group Series $86.66 +1.42 +1.67%
Alphabet Inc Class A $312.43 -7.78 -2.43%
News Corp Class A $26.10 -0.020 -0.077%
Netflix Inc $94.09 +1.38 +1.49%
Caterpillar Inc $625.61 +10.26 +1.67%
Trump Media & Technology Group Corp $10.91
-0.39 -3.45%
Tesla Inc $446.87 -4.58 -1.02%
Walt Disney Co $111.46 +2.63 +2.42%
Wynn Resorts Ltd $124.85 +1.25 +1.01%
Meta Platforms Inc $652.71 +2.58 +0.40%
Elders ADR $19.73 (US) (NYSE)
Mercedes Benz Group ADR $17.91 +0.11 +0.62%
Rio Tinto Ltd $90.59 (US)
Paramount Skydance Corp $14.12 -0.60 -4.08%
Red Light Holland Corp $0.021 +0.00261 +4.33%
Volvo ADR (parent/owner of Muck Trucks) $32.06
+0.70 +2.23%
Porsche Automobile Holding SE Unsponsored Germany ADR $4.78 +0.070 +1.49%
Microsoft $483.47 +4.91 +1.03%

News

Global Markets React to Central Bank Decisions and Policy Outlooks

Stock indices

The Fed managed to please the American stock market by easing its policy and forecasting an increase in GDP from 1.8% to 2.3%, as well as a slowdown in inflation from 3% to 2.5% in 2026, while also discussing the positive impact of AI on productivity. As a result, the S&P500 experienced its most dramatic reaction to an FOMC meeting since March, and the Russell 2000 set a new record.

A strong economy and inflation heading towards the 2% target present a prime opportunity for stocks. Along with increased productivity, this indicates that S&P500 companies may see growth in corporate earnings. Historical episodes in which the Fed cut rates and markets were near their peaks have shown higher levels 12 months later in every case.

However, expectations for the next rate cut have now shifted to April, removing the indexes safety buffer. There may be renewed talk of a tech giant bubble, as evidenced by Oracle's shares plunging sharply after the company reported disappointing earnings.

According to Yardeni Research, investors should diversify away from the "Magnificent Seven" and seek opportunities in other issuers, as artificial intelligence is transforming nearly every company into a technology firm.

What is ahead

The key events of the third week of December will be the release of US labour market data for October and November, as well as central bank meetings. The ECB, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan will have their say. Investors will also pay attention to European business activity data for December.

Jerome Powell says that FOMC officials have similar views on the US economy but differ in their assessment of its risks. Hawks are concerned about high inflation, while doves are worried about the cooling labour market. If employment figures disappoint, derivatives will shift expectations of monetary policy easing from April to March, and possibly even January. This will weaken the dollar. On the other hand, a pleasant surprise from non-farm payrolls will allow the USD to recoup some of its losses.

While no changes are expected from the ECB, the Bank of England is 90% likely to cut its repo rate to 3.75%. However, the negative is already priced into the pound, and in the event of hawkish comments, the pound could strengthen. The fate of the yen will depend on the outlook for the Bank of Japan's leadership. Few doubt that the overnight rate will be raised, but what next? (FxPro)

News

'I love solving puzzles': How AFP's crypto sleuth tracks ill-gotten gains

Abigail Gibson is the Australian Federal Police's only cryptocurrency forensic accountant, a role she has held since 2022, after she first joined the AFP as a forensic accountant in 2017. Gibson uses blockchains to look for clues that might be able to connect individuals to money laundering, scams or sales of illicit goods and services on the dark web, and she says that "cryptocurrency is a well-established method for criminals to attempt to hide their wealth and transfer assets". Her work includes aiding the AFP's Criminal Asset Confiscation Taskforce, which has frozen $65 million in cryptocurrency assets since July. (AFR)

News

Miners lift ASX after Fed; Oracle hits tech

The Australian sharemarket posted a small gain on Thursday, with the S&P/ASX 200 adding 0.2 per cent to close at 8,592. The resources sector was bolstered by a rise in the gold price after the US Federal Reserve's decision to reduce the cash rate for a third time; Ramelius Resources advanced 6.7 per cent to $3.81 and Rio Tinto was up 1.8 per cent at $140.01. However, a sharp fall in Oracle's share price weighed on local technology stocks, with WiseTech Global shedding 2.2 per cent to end the session at $70.99. (AFR/Roy Morgan Summary)

News

Dec 11

Bitcoin attempts to break the short uptrend

Market Overview

The crypto market cap has been in a see-saw pattern over the past three weeks, exhibiting a gentle uptrend that has returned to the $3.08 trillion level during a consolidation phase. With no clear trend, crypto traders have reduced their activity in altcoins, waiting for the trend to recover in the first cryptocurrency and key stock indices.

Bitcoin jumped to $94.5K on Wednesday evening in response to the Fed's announcement of a bond-buying programme and a key rate cut. But this link to stocks played a cruel joke. The fall in Oracle shares dragged the Nasdaq-100 to eight-day lows, and BTC rolled back to $90K. The market is testing the strength of the modest uptrend that has been forming since 21 November. A drop below $88K would break this trend, bolster bearish sentiment and confirm the end of the recovery rally.

News Background

Public and private companies have increased their Bitcoin reserves by 448% since the beginning of the year to 1.08 million BTC, according to Glassnode. The corporate sector remains a key driver of demand for digital gold.

ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood believes that large companies buying cryptocurrency for long-term storage could prevent BTC from falling 75-90% as it has in the past.

Strategy founder Michael Saylor announced the company's plans to acquire as much Bitcoin as possible. Mayside Partners believes that such plans are economically unsound. This is not innovation, but cascading leverage on speculative collateral — a model that has failed time and time again.

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has called on the US Senate to withdraw the cryptocurrency bill on ‘responsible financial innovation,’ which will be considered next week. The organisation pointed to the risks to pension savings and the country's economy.

Twenty One Capital, a big Bitcoin holder, has entered the stock market. The company's shares fell 20% on their first day of trading on the NYSE. The firm ranks third among public holders of the first cryptocurrency with 42,000 BTC (~$3.9 billion). (FxPro)

News

Crypto market awaits the final battle of the year

Market Overview

The crypto market lost just over 1% in 24 hours to $3.08T, falling back to the consolidation levels of late November. Attempts to shake up the market at the beginning of this month were unsuccessful for both bulls and bears. Excluding this impulse, the market has been treading water for almost two weeks, hovering around the 23.6% correction rebound line from the October-November decline. Such a shallow rebound could be a sign of a strong bear market, but this will only be confirmed if November's lows of $2.73T are updated.

Bitcoin is trading near $90K, having crossed this level for the fifth consecutive day. An upward trend line can be drawn through the lows of late November, but BTC is now trading dangerously close to this line. At the same time, horizontal resistance has formed in the $92K area, bringing the positions of bulls and bears closer together over time and promising a decisive battle by the end of this week. It could not only be the last significant battle of the year but also determine the trend for the coming months.

News Background

Short positions on Bitcoin have recorded their largest outflow since March 2025, when the price of BTC was near its lows. Investors likely believe that the current surge in negative sentiment has bottomed out, according to CoinShares.

According to Glassnode, the reserves of long-term Bitcoin holders fell to a cyclical low in November. This marks the end of the spot sell-offs that have hindered market growth throughout 2025.

Ethereum exchange reserves have fallen to record lows, which could signal an imminent supply crisis, according to CryptoQuant. Since July 2025, the indicator has fallen by about 20%.

The largest American investment company, BlackRock, has applied with the SEC to register an ETF that will allow investors to earn income from staking Ethereum without directly owning the cryptocurrency.

Strategy has increased its weekly Bitcoin purchases to their highest level since July. The company bought 10,624 BTC ($963 million) last week at an average price of $90,615 per coin. Strategy now owns 660,624 BTC, purchased for $49.3 billion at an average price of $74,696 per Bitcoin. (FxPro)

News

Streaming Wars: Netflix vs Paramount (for Warner Bros) aka WBD. What's Up Doc?!

Paramount makes hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery

Dec 9

Paramount Skydance has directly approached Warner Bros Discovery's shareholders with a takeover offer; it has opted to bypass the rival media group's board, contending that Warner's directors have backed an "inferior proposal". Paramount has proposed a cash offer of $US30 per share, valuing its bid for the entire company at about $US108bn. It is seeking to trump Netflix's deal to acquire some of Warner's assets for around $US83bn, which has been approved by the boards of both companies. Warner has rejected Paramount's claims that its sale process had favoured a single bidder.

*Developing news story "The Streaming Wars"

News

Australia - USA Connection

Praise for Trump's review of AUKUS

Defence Minister Richard Marles says the federal government is currently "working through" the Trump administration's now-completed review of the AUKUS alliance. He adds that the US is "completely supportive" of the deal to sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia. The review was headed by US defence official Elbridge Colby, who has been a notable critic of AUKUS in the past. The AUKUS alliance is likely to be a key focus when Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong hold the annual AUSMIN talks with US counterparts Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio in Washington DC next week.

News

24 hours ago +

Developing Story

The crypto market tries to form an uptrend

Market Overview

The crypto market soared by almost 7% over the past day, reaching a capitalisation of $3.15T and forming a higher local peak compared to Sunday. The mood on the crypto market was buoyed by moves from institutional giants Vanguard and Bank of America to open access to digital assets for their clients. Combined with the fact that the low point on December 1st is higher than the lows on November 21st, we are seeing a series of vital signs of an upward trend forming. However, a conservative view suggests that fluctuations below $3.38T are a correction from the previous decline.

Bitcoin approached $94K on Wednesday morning, recovering half of its losses from the sell-off between November 11th and 21st. Considering the entire decline from its October peak, BTCUSD remains trading below $ 98K as part of the correction. The $98-100K range contains three psychologically significant levels: the 50-day average, early November support, and 61.8% of the decline from the peak. Consolidation above this level could convince buyers that crypto winter has not arrived.

News Background

Vanguard, the world's second-largest investment company by assets, will open access to crypto ETF trading for its clients on December 2nd. The company had previously stated that it would avoid Bitcoin funds because cryptocurrency is an “immature asset class” and does not fit with the company's philosophy.

Bank of America, one of the largest banks in the United States, has recommended that its institutional clients allocate 1% to 4% of their portfolios to cryptocurrencies. Previously, investors were unable to access cryptocurrencies because advisors were prohibited from recommending such instruments.

The four-year cycle theory has ceased to work, so Bitcoin has a chance to reach new highs in 2026, according to Grayscale. Analysts believe there are already some signs that Bitcoin has likely bottomed out.

News (from Friday: Sydney)

ASX up as tech stocks rally, WiseTech gains

The Australian sharemarket posted a modest gain on Thursday, with lower trading volumes ahead of Wall Street's closure for Thanksgiving Day; the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.1 per cent to close at 8,617.3 points. WiseTech Global was up 6.9 per cent at $69.72, Bellevue Gold rose 3.2 per cent to $1.29 and Reece advanced four per cent to $12.73. However, DroneShield was down 7.8 per cent at $2 and Santos fell 1.8 per cent to end the session at $6.44. (RMS)

News

The Dollar's new edge: from shield to sword

The dollar is losing its safe-haven status. • The scale of the Fed's rate cuts has been overestimated. • The yen is the main favourite for 2026.

BoJ may not raise rates until March. If the US dollar was previously a shield, it is now turning into a sword. (FxPro)

News

Pop Culture News

Dream Matches: Fantasy Booking/Sports; Media Man Group Dream Match Series; Crack The Code!

Million Dollar Man vs IRS
Michael Wall Street vs Billionaire Ted
Mr X vs Mr BTC
Mr Green vs Mr Cash
VKM vs Easy E
Vinnie Vegas vs Mr Corbin
Mr Corp Merch vs Mr Freelance
Masked Superstar vs John McAfee
Sid Justice vs Mr Blood Diamond
Mr Bluey Chipper vs Street Fighter - King Of The Streets Mr Dotcom vs Mr Wiki
Mr Gold vs Mr Green - Money In The Bank Ladder Match Khan vs Khan - Winner Take All Match
Mr Wolff vs The Cleaner
Mr News vs Mr Vice - U.S Market Footprint Stipulation Mr Paramount vs Mr Netflix
Mr ESPN vs Mr Fox
Mr Kross vs Mr Cardona
Cesaro vs Rollins
Dirty Dom vs Mr AAA
Punks vs Egos
Kross vs H
Murdoch Title vs Title
Mr Black Coffee vs Mr Claudio's Cafe Blend
Mr Warner vs Mr Netflix: Broadway draw thus far! Re-match! Winner take all?!
TMZ vs Riddle
UFC vs PFL
The Oracle vs Cincinnati, Ohio
Mr X vs Hollyweird
Succession vs Billions
Mouse House vs Art House
NFL vs UFL
ABC vs Mainstream Aussies
Reigns vs Blanka
Cody Rhodes vs Joe
E. Honda vs NJPW
Capcom vs Warner
Cena vs ACME
Combat Sports Players vs Father Time
NXT vs TNA Wrestling (Showdown, not Invasion)!
Alpha vs Meta
TED X vs The Others
WWE's Solo vs NYC and Western Australia
UFC Predator vs MMA Predator
UFC Legal vs UFC Bad Egg Betting Disruptors
Bulls vs Bears
Logan Paul vs WWE babyfaces
Santa's Helper vs Grinch
John McAfee vs FBI + + +, Running .... Netflix Wins again!
Killer Kross vs Matt Riddle - Shoot Fight/Wrestling (MLW)! Holliday working web?! Most Marketable?!
VKM vs Numerous!
MLW vs The World
The Big Event vs US Promoters
Storm vs WWE Locker Room. Lash Legend on side!
NXT Gold Rush: Page & Green vs Hendry & Hail
Baszler vs Itoh - HOG Superclash - Nov 15
MSG, NY winning with WWE and UFC in Nov
The Vision vs WWE Lockerroom
John Cena vs Dirty Dom
Miz vs Management
Jericho vs Internet Marks
Mr Gold vs Mr Fool's Gold
Neo vs Mr Smith
PBR vs Others. No Bull?!
Aus Gvt vs Big Tech
Banks vs Cryptos
NVIDIA vs World
White House vs Wokes
Packer vs Devil D
Lucha Bros vs AAA Heels
WWE Black Scorpion/Masked Man vs Babyfaces
CM Punk vs The Hood
Starks vs Oba Femi - NXT Deadline
TNA Wrestling vs Dirtsheets
TKO vs Naysayers
John Cena vs Gunther: SNME
Chris Jericho and Mr X vs IWC
Mr Netflix vs Mr Paramount

News

Crypto Movies/Docos

The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin (2014)
Follows early Bitcoin adopter Daniel Mross, exploring Bitcoin’s origins, its volatile rise, and the community behind it. Great for understanding Bitcoin’s early days and its potential to disrupt finance.

Banking on Bitcoin (2016)
Examines Bitcoin’s history, ideological roots, and impact on global financial systems through interviews with pioneers and experts. A solid primer for newcomers.

Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains, and the Future of the Internet (2020)
Directed by Torsten Hoffmann, this documentary dives into blockchain’s broader applications beyond cryptocurrency, addressing scalability and regulatory challenges. Ideal for those interested in blockchain’s transformative potential.

Trust Machine: The Story of Blockchain (2018) Narrated by Rosario Dawson, it explores blockchain’s societal impact, from financial inclusion to voting systems. A comprehensive look at real-world applications.

Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It (2015)
Traces the history of money and introduces Bitcoin as a decentralized alternative, critiquing centralized financial systems. Features interviews with crypto experts.

Deep Web (2015) Narrated by Keanu Reeves, this documentary focuses on the Silk Road marketplace and its creator, Ross Ulbricht, highlighting Bitcoin’s role in dark web transactions.

Bitconned (2024) Explores the Centra Tech crypto scam, detailing how three individuals defrauded investors during the 2010s crypto boom. A cautionary tale about unregulated markets.

Feature Films

Crypto (2019)
A crime thriller starring Beau Knapp, Luke Hemsworth, and Kurt Russell. It follows a young anti-money laundering agent investigating corruption and cryptocurrency in his hometown. Critics note its exaggerated portrayal but praise its entertainment value.

Silk Road (2021)
A dramatization of Ross Ulbricht’s creation of the Silk Road, a dark web marketplace using Bitcoin. It explores his rise and fall, blending crime and drama.

Dope (2015) A coming-of-age comedy-drama featuring Bitcoin as a plot device. High schooler Malcolm uses Bitcoin for a dark web transaction, reflecting its early association with illicit activities.

Bonus Mentions

Life on Bitcoin (2014): Follows a couple attempting to live solely on Bitcoin for 100 days, showcasing early adoption challenges.

Bitcoin Heist (2016): A Vietnamese action-comedy about hackers chasing a crypto criminal, blending humor and thrills.

Notes Documentaries are generally more educational, focusing on Bitcoin’s history, blockchain technology, and real-world implications. They’re great for beginners and enthusiasts alike.

Feature films often dramatize crypto’s association with crime or scams, sometimes oversimplifying or exaggerating for effect. They prioritize entertainment over accuracy. For a deeper dive, check streaming platforms like Prime Video, Fandango at Home, or YouTube, where many of these are available.

News

Wall Street (Movie)
Wall Street (1987), directed by Oliver Stone, is a drama about ambition and greed in the 1980s financial world. It follows Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen), a young stockbroker desperate to succeed, who gets entangled with Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), a ruthless corporate raider. Gekko’s mantra, “Greed is good,” drives the story as Bud is lured into insider trading and unethical deals, compromising his morals for wealth and power.

The film explores themes of capitalism, loyalty, and betrayal, with Bud navigating pressures from Gekko, his father (Martin Sheen), and his own conscience.

Key Details: Cast: Michael Douglas (Gordon Gekko), Charlie Sheen (Bud Fox), Daryl Hannah (Darien Taylor), Martin Sheen (Carl Fox).
Runtime: 2h 6m.
Genre: Drama/Crime.
Rating: R. Box Office: ~$44 million (US).

Awards: Michael Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Notable Aspects:

Gekko’s “Greed is good” speech is iconic, reflecting 1980s excess. Inspired by real-life figures like Ivan Boesky and Michael Milken.

A sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), continued the story.

Where to Watch (as of 2025):
Streaming: Available on platforms like Peacock or rentable on Amazon, YouTube, or Apple TV (check current availability).
Physical: DVD/Blu-ray via retailers like Amazon.

News

Best Quotes

An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." — Benjamin Franklin

"Bottoms in the investment world don't end with four-year lows; they end with 10- or 15-year lows." — Jim Rogers

Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful." — Warren Buffett

Media Man "Bullish is a mindset"

Crypto News

Bitcoin to soar as ETFs on cusp of approval
- January 9, 2024

The price of Bitcoin is spiking and one analyst predicts it could more than triple in value and hit $300,000 by the end of 2025.

Bitcoin has risen above $US47,000 (A$70,000) for the first time since April 2022 and one analyst is predicting it could more than triple in value to be worth US$200,000 (A$298,000) by the end of 2025.

The prediction comes after news that US regulators appear ready to finally approve Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

In a note, Standard Chartered head of crypto research Geoff Kendrick wrote: “If ETF-related inflows materialise as we expect, we think an end-2025 level closer to US$200,000 is possible.”

It has been over a decade since the first applications for ETFs that invest directly in the digital currency were filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Prospective ETF issuers BlackRock, Fidelity, Invesco, Ark, Galaxy Digital and WisdomTree filed amended forms on Monday in what is seen by analysts as a final push to offer the investment products.

The regulator has until Wednesday to make a decision on the applications, which could result in an investment product tracking the daily price of the most popular digital currency traded on a stock market for the first time.

If approved, the advent of Bitcoin ETFs is expected to drive up Bitcoin’s price due to increased accessibility and liquidity of the digital currency.

The rise in Bitcoin also flowed through to a surge in the price of other cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, Cardano, SOL and Polkadot, while the share prices of listed crypto exchanges and miners such as Coinbase Global, Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital also rose.

Bitcoin’s previous all-time high of almost $US69,000 (A$103,000) was reached in November 2021.

#Bitcoin #BitcoinNews #BitcoinETF #BitcoinETFs #ETF #cryptonews #cryptocurrencynews #cryptocurrencies #fintech #BTC #SEC #BlackRock #Fidelity #Invesco #Ark #GalaxyDigital #Galaxy #WisdomTree #Ethereum #Marathon #SOL #Polkadot #Riot #RiotPlatforms #bizneews #biz #finnews #digitalnews #research #trends #trending #buzz #hype #cryptoculture #culture #AI #X #media

(Newsfeeds)

Bitcoin Rally Cools in Countdown to US Spot ETF Decision by SEC - 9 January 2024

Bitcoin consolidated after briefly rallying past $47,000 on optimism that regulators are set to approve the first US exchange-traded funds investing directly in the world’s largest digital asset.

The token dipped to $46,739 as of 6 a.m. Tuesday in London after a 6.5% jump on Monday in the US to a 21-month high. Bitcoin’s new year climb now stands at 10%, contrasting with drops over the same period in stocks and gold.

The crypto market expects a green light for US spot Bitcoin ETFs by a Jan. 10 deadline. Prospective issuers such as BlackRock Inc., Fidelity Investments and Ark Investment Management updated paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the regulator has until Wednesday to take action on at least one of the applications.

Speculators are wagering that the agency will announce a slew of decisions at once to avoid handing out a first-mover advantage. If the funds are approved, the next question is how much money they will woo. Bitcoin is up 172% in the past 12 months in a sign that traders anticipate wider adoption of the token.

“Participants seem to be coming around to thinking that the initial flows will actually exceed expectations,” said Kyle Doane, a trader at Arca.

Applicants amended forms on Monday in the US in a final push to offer spot Bitcoin ETF products more than a decade after the first attempt.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler has repeatedly argued that crypto is rife with fraud and misconduct. The agency cracked down on the sector following a 2022 rout and collapses such as the bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange.

But the SEC last year lost a key legal fight against crypto asset manager Grayscale Investments LLC, spurring speculation that the regulator will have to acquiesce to the spot ETFs. The spat was over the $29 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s desire to convert into such a product.

ETF Critics

Critics contend that spot crypto ETFs would pose a risk for investors given that digital assets are notorious for volatility and attracting illicit activity.

“What’s going to happen, unfortunately, is lots and lots of Americans in our view, are going to get hurt financially,” said Dennis Kelleher, chief executive officer of financial reform nonprofit Better Markets.

The months-long advance in Bitcoin has lifted the digital-asset market more broadly, bolstering smaller tokens like Solana and Avalanche. US crypto-linked stocks mostly rose on Monday, providing a tailwind for Asian peers such as Japan’s Monex Group and Woori Technology Investment Co. in South Korea.

Pullback Risk

Some crypto watchers wonder whether Bitcoin is ripe for a pullback if and when SEC approval finally lands, since speculators may decide to bank a slice of profits from the token’s rally.

There are “no signs” of a so-called sell-the-news event just yet, Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone Group Ltd., wrote in a note. Based on chart patterns, the $51,000 level is a possible target before any such retreat, according to Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia Pty.

Looking past short-term price gyrations, “the main result of Bitcoin spot ETF approval will be the marketing machine behind greater Bitcoin awareness, powered by some of the largest names in traditional finance,” wrote Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter.

The token reached a record high of almost $69,000 back in 2021 during a pandemic-era bull run fueled by ultra-low borrowing costs.

#Bitcoin #BitcoinETF #ETC #crypto #cryptonews #cryptocurrencies #SEC #markets #finance #fintech #digitalnews #digitalbiz #digitalbusiness #newsmedia #newsfeeds #media

Bitcoin News Media

January 8, 2024

Bitcoin ETF Insider Leak Powers Bitcoin Price Surge Over $45,000 After $1.6 Trillion Ethereum, XRP, Solana And Crypto Boom

Now, as panicked traders try to get ahead of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) "rug pull of the decade," an insider leak has revealed BlackRock has readied a huge $2 billion bazooka if its spot bitcoin ETF bid is approved.

"I heard from a pretty well placed source that BlackRock has more than $2 billion lined up in week one in new incremental flows from existing bitcoin holders who are adding to positions," Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at investment company VanEck, said during an X Spaces broadcast organized by The Block.

"I can't vouch for that," Sigel added. "But you know, that's what everyone is doing. Just making phone calls and trying to find the folks who can write checks into these products. And our estimates—that, you know, if that $2 billion happened in week one, you know, that would blow away our estimates."

1/8 update: The bitcoin price has shot over $45,000 per bitcoin as the Wall Street race to get a bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) to market enters its final week. The price surge boosted the price of ethereum, XRP and solana as traders bet a historical spot bitcoin ETF would boost crypto prices across the board.

This week, spot bitcoin ETF hopefuls, including BlackRock, Fidelity and Grayscale, have met the deadline to file their amended documents.

This filing "is another important step towards uplisting GBTC as a spot bitcoin ETF," Grayscale spokeswoman Jenn Rosenthal said in a statement to Coindesk. Grayscale has been trying to convert its bitcoin trust to a fully-fledged spot bitcoin ETF for years, last year successfully suing the SEC over its rejection of its bid. "At Grayscale, we continue to work collaboratively with the SEC, and we remain ready to operate GBTC as an ETF upon receipt of regulatory approvals."

"Market participants maintain expectations for the approval of the 21Shares filing, potentially triggering a cascade approval for all issuers," Matteo Greco, a research analyst at investment company Fineqia International, said in emailed comments, referring to the Ark 21Shares spot bitcoin ETF bid that's first in line.

"Numerous meetings between the SEC, issuers, and exchanges have fuelled the narrative of an imminent approval. The introduction of ETFs could usher in new investor cohorts from traditional finance, significantly improving market transparency and liquidity and bringing long term capital inflow in the digital assets market."

Sigel said VanEck was anticipating "$2.5 billion in the first quarter of trading," a figure derived from "past flows into the first gold ETF and adjusting by the U.S. money supply. And we have a $40 billion market opportunity over two years based on a similar analysis."

"$2 billion week one into BlackRock alone would blow expectations out of the water," Travis Kling, the chief investment officer of Ikigai Asset Management, posted to X. "Half that from all ETFs combined would have been a pretty good outcome."

VanEck, along with other spot bitcoin ETF hopefuls BlackRock, Fidelity, Grayscale, Valkyrie, ARK 21Shares and InvescoIVZ +1.8% have rushed to finalize their applications this week ahead of a January 8 Monday morning deadline.

Five SEC commissioners will reportedly vote on the spot bitcoin ETF bids next week, according to Bloomberg, citing an anonymous source.

#Bitcoin #BTC #BitcoinNews #Crypto #CryptoNews #cryptocurrency #XRP #ETF #Ethereum #BitcoinETF #BitcoinETFs #fintech #digitalnews #newsmedia #newsfeeds #trend #trends #buzz #hype #bitcoinnewsmedia #x #media

(Sources: Wires, Newsfeeds, X)

Crypto needs a new king. These are the contenders - December 15, 2023

The price of bitcoin is surging again. Major financial firms are showing renewed interest in digital currencies. And crypto fanatics are celebrating the end of a long period of depressed prices and business collapses.

But the sudden explosion of optimism has come at a turbulent moment for the cryptocurrency industry.

The last time crypto prices were skyrocketing, the industry’s most influential executives were Sam Bankman-Fried and Changpeng Zhao, rival billionaires whose online sparring could move markets. Now Bankman-Fried, founder of the FTX crypto exchange, and Zhao, who ran the world’s largest crypto firm, Binance, both face prison time after parallel falls from power.

A federal jury convicted Bankman-Fried last month on fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from FTX’s collapse. Three weeks later, Zhao pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge and agreed to relinquish control of Binance.

With the two men out of the picture, a crowded field of crypto entrepreneurs, Wall Street executives and government regulators are vying to control the industry’s next chapter. Their scramble for influence could determine whether crypto survives in the United States, where a regulatory crackdown has made it increasingly difficult for the industry to operate.

Some executives have argued that the crypto world needed to purge figures like Zhao and Bankman-Fried — aggressive entrepreneurs who gave priority to growth over compliance — to win over regulators and the public.

After Zhao’s guilty plea, Brian Armstrong, CEO of the US-based crypto exchange Coinbase, hailed the case as a turning point for the industry.

“We now have an opportunity to start a new chapter,” Armstrong posted on social media last month. “This industry should be built right here in America, in a compliant way, under US law.”

But the crypto world remains filled with companies that engage in risky business practices and don’t offer much transparency about their experimental products.

“There is no intrinsic value to any of this,” said Hilary Allen, an expert on financial regulation at American University. “The only hope is to have more money sloshing around, and more people willing to buy into it to create demand.”

Crypto has always had its share of influential leaders. The vision behind bitcoin, the original and most valuable digital currency, was first laid out by someone using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, whose mysterious identity became its own brand.

As the crypto world expanded, new centres of power and influence emerged. Zhao founded Binance in 2017 and built it into the world’s largest marketplace for buying and selling experimental coins. The exchange’s size and reach turned Zhao into a star on Twitter, now known as X, where he accumulated more than 8 million followers, dismissing government lawsuits and allegations of illegal conduct as disinformation spread by crypto’s enemies.

Zhao’s chief rival was Bankman-Fried, who appeared on billboards and magazine covers, cultivating a persona as the responsible adult who would help the fledgling industry work with regulators.

In the end, both Zhao and Bankman-Fried fell from grace. Bankman-Fried is set to be sentenced in March and faces the prospect of decades behind bars. Zhao is likely to receive a lighter sentence, with prosecutors expected to request about 18 months.

“Having those characters not in the plot any more is a really good thing,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO of the crypto company Circle. “I’m focused and have been focused on: How do we make this useful for the world?”

A new generation of executives is already emerging as the industry’s top cheerleaders. Paolo Ardoino, an outspoken crypto enthusiast with a vast online following, recently took over as CEO of Tether, the company that oversees one of the most popular digital currencies. At Binance, Zhao was replaced by Richard Teng, a key executive at the exchange who had been groomed to step into Zhao’s shoes.

On paper, Teng is Zhao’s opposite. The Binance founder was antagonistic toward regulators, while Teng is a veteran of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country’s central bank.

Binance’s future is uncertain. As part of a settlement last month, the company agreed to pay a $US4.5 billion ($6.7 billion) fine to several government agencies and have a US monitor embedded in the business for the next three years.

“My general sense is there’s a real ‘wait and see,’” Allaire said. “I don’t think anyone knows the details of what that monitorship means.”

A Binance spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Arguably the biggest beneficiary of crypto’s current reshuffle is Coinbase’s Armstrong, who declared this month that bitcoin “may be the key to extending western civilisation”. Coinbase’s share price has nearly tripled over the past six months, even after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the firm as part of the agency’s broad crackdown on the industry.

“Coinbase is now the last man standing,” said John Todaro, an analyst at Needham who tracks the crypto industry. “There’s less competition out there.”

Coinbase has also positioned itself to profit from a potentially seismic development in the crypto world — the possible approval of an exchange-traded fund, or ETF, that tracks the price of bitcoin.

“Having those characters not in the plot any more is a really good thing.”

Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire

In recent days, bitcoin’s price has surged to over $US43,000 ($65,600), its highest level since a wave of bankruptcies sent the industry into crisis last year. Much of the enthusiasm is fuelled by growing confidence that the SEC is poised to approve a bitcoin ETF that would trade on traditional stock exchanges, potentially bringing new money into the industry.

Coinbase has agreed to store the bitcoin that would underlie an ETF offered by BlackRock, one of the world’s largest asset managers. BlackRock is the biggest of several major financial firms, including Fidelity, that have applied to offer the investment product.

Wall Street was once the enemy of the insurgent crypto industry, but after a bruising 18 months of bankruptcies and arrests, crypto proponents have greeted the collaboration between Coinbase and BlackRock as a potential salvation.

“Crypto isn’t disrupting Wall Street; it’s merging with it,” Allen said. “It’s fairly obvious — they think they can make some money here.”

Cryptocurrency-mining Chinese principal sacked for stealing school power supply -
12th November 2018

by Richard Wood

Cryptocurrency machines drained electricity from a Chinese high school for almost a year before the principal behind the illicit operation was busted.

‘Lei's clandestine set-up would total eight cryptocurrency machines’

When a school employee reported a spike in electricity usage, the principal Lei Hua blamed it on air conditioners and heaters, reports the South China Morning Post.

Lei, the head of Puman Middle school in China’s Hunan province, started mining the cryptocurrency ethereum from his home in June 2017 using one machine.

But it became such a huge electricity drain – reportedly up to 21 kilowatts per hour – that he moved his operation to his school’s computer room.

Eventually Lei’s clandestine set-up there would total eight cryptocurrency machines.

In January, the school’s deputy principal purchased a mining computer and, under guidance from Lei, also tapped into the school’s power source.

High powered mining machines can generate more cryptocurrency, but become hot and noisy and eat up huge amounts of power.

Authorities uncovered the electricity theft after reports of strange round-the-clock noises from the school’s computer room and problems with its IT network.

The school’s energy surge also caused its power bill run to 14,700 yuan ($2900) – almost double compared with the previous year.

Lei was dismissed soon after and his deputy principal was reportedly issued a warning, reports the BBC.

China started a crackdown on cryptocurrency mining operations this year amid fears of future financial chaos.

In April, police arrested six people in Tianjin province for stealing electricity from the local grid to power 600 bitcoin mining machines.

(Nine.com.com)