Good morning. It’s Thursday, June 19, and we must say Thursdays are weird. The energy is off, your motivation is running on fumes, and your inbox suddenly remembers it has needs. But here you are, loyal and brave, clicking on a newsletter like it’s your civic duty. We see you. We salute you. Wishing you a week that ends faster than your patience and one small win today — even if it’s just finding your AirPods on the first try.

Thanks for reading. You keep showing up, and we keep writing like someone’s watching. Let’s get into it.

Today’s stories:

• Herbal company surges despite zero real products

• Trump launches phone plan powered by branding

• DeepL speeds up translation with Nvidia power

• Musk seeks debt; investors aren’t biting

• Threads finally gets spoiler tag feature

• Amex targets Gen Z with shinier perks

• Prime Day now lasts four chaotic days

• Barbie’s next toy may outsmart you

• Meta tries to poach OpenAI talent

• Pixar’s new villain? A smug tablet

• Warner Bros. cuts back to safe IP

• TikTok ban pushed back. Again

• Canva adds AI tool for video

  and more…

Stocks mostly treaded water Wednesday after the Fed held rates steady — but not without drama.

The Dow dipped just 44 points, the S&P barely budged, and the Nasdaq managed a tiny gain. Chair Powell confirmed rate cuts are still on the table this year — but also flagged Trump’s tariffs and rising inflation as wild cards.

The Fed now sees slower growth (just 1.4% in 2025) and hotter inflation (3.1%). In short: rate cuts are coming, but not if the economy catches a stagflation cold first.

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Amex Reinvents the Platinum Card

American Express just announced its “largest investment ever” in the Platinum card. CEO Steve Squeri wants more millennials and Gen Zers to feel seen — and swiped — so he’s giving the card a glow-up late this summer or early fall. They're not saying exactly what’s coming, but “more luxury brands” and “more of what you already like” is the gist. Translation: the perks are getting shinier, and the marketing is getting thirstier. Amex says young people are buying into it hard. Gen Z and millennials now make up 75% of new premium cardholders, and they’re apparently swiping like rent doesn’t exist. They even have better credit than expected — turns out, buying overpriced oat lattes on points builds loyalty. Retention is at cool 98%. Because once you’ve convinced yourself $695 a year is “worth it,” turning back feels like failure.

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Trump drops a $499 phone. Trump is now in the phone business. The Trump Organization just announced Trump Mobile — a $47.45/month plan and a $499 gold-colored phone called the “T1,” etched with an American flag and powered by pure ego. The plan is called The 47 Plan, a not-so-subtle nod to his return to the White House and his obsession with branding. The package includes unlimited everything, roadside assistance, and something called a “Telehealth and Pharmacy Benefit,” which sounds like healthcare by merch drop. As usual, Trump didn’t actually make the phone. It’s just another licensing deal. Like the sneakers, the Bibles, the steaks — the business model remains: slap a logo on it, rake it in.

Four days of Amazon deals you didn’t need. Amazon just announced that Prime Day is now four days long. Because two days of impulse buying wasn’t chaotic enough. From July 8–11, Prime members will get more time to scroll, add to cart, remove from cart, and finally cave. It’s the first time Amazon’s extended Prime Day since 2017, and this time, they’re adding daily themed “Big Deals” to keep your dopamine hits on schedule. Expect discounts on everything from air fryers you’ll never use to tech you’ll forget to set up. New AI shopping tools will help you track deals, which sounds helpful until you realize you’re being upsold by a robot.

Chinese herb company moons while making nothing. Regencell, a Hong Kong-based herbal medicine company with no revenue and no actual products, has somehow skyrocketed to a $36 billion market cap. That puts it above Lululemon, eBay, and Kraft Heinz — all for pushing traditional Chinese herbs and selling dreams. The stock exploded 280% on Monday after a 38-for-1 stock split and is now up 59,900% in 2025. It trades like a meme coin with a green juice subscription. Regencell claims it’s developing treatments for ADHD and autism using herbs. It’s a gold rush powered by wellness buzzwords, RFK Jr. vibes, and zero fundamentals.

Musk’s xAI tries to raise $5B in debt. Elon Musk’s AI startup xAI is trying to raise $5 billion in debt, but investors aren’t exactly throwing cash. Morgan Stanley’s leading the deal, which includes high-interest loans and junk-level bonds — because xAI isn’t rated and hasn’t made a dime. Despite weak demand, the debt will be allocated this week. Some investors walked away, citing déjà vu from Musk’s Twitter buyout mess — where banks got stuck holding the bag for two years. To sweeten the deal, xAI is offering interest rates as high as 12%, which screams “please trust us” louder than a Tesla earnings call.

Zuck Is Throwing Billions at OpenAI Staff

Meta tried to lure OpenAI talent with $100 million bonuses. Sam Altman says the “best people” stayed put — because apparently, no one wants to be part of Mark Zuckerberg’s midlife AI crisis. Meta’s latest strategy: copy OpenAI, delay their own models, and buy startups like Scale AI for $14B just to look busy. Sam called it out: chasing your rival’s leftovers doesn’t build culture — it builds chaos with better lighting. Zuck’s AI dreams are big. But the vibes are still very Facebook, circa 2012.

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Your kid’s next toy is smarter than you. The Barbie people are teaming up with OpenAI to launch a new generation of toys that don’t just blink or squeak — they talk back, learn, and probably judge your parenting style in silence. Mattel says playtime is being “redefined,” which is corporate for: robots are raising your children now. Later this year, the toy giant will drop its first AI-powered product — a toy that evolves with your kid like it’s in a Pixar reboot of Her. It’ll be educational, engaging, and just a little unsettling. 

DeepL says it can translate the whole internet in 18 days now. German startup DeepL just leveled up its humble brag game, claiming it can now translate the entire internet in 18 days — down from 194 — because it got its hands on Nvidia’s latest monster hardware. Apparently, when you plug in enough overpriced chips, even Google Translate starts sweating. They’re using something called a DGX SuperPOD — which sounds like a villain lair but is really just a bunch of servers stuffed with Nvidia’s shiny new Grace Blackwell chips. It’s AI on steroids, and DeepL is using it to build smarter models that might actually understand context. Maybe. Meanwhile, Nvidia is busy selling these chips to anyone not named Microsoft or Amazon, hoping the startup crowd builds the next big AI app before they run out of buzzwords.

Trump delays TikTok deadline again. Trump is giving ByteDance another 90 days to sell off TikTok’s U.S. operations — despite a law that said it should’ve been shut down by June 19. This is his third delay. The ban was supposed to kick in back in January, but here we are, still scrolling. The White House says he’ll sign another executive order this week to keep TikTok live. 

Threads adds spoiler tags. Zuckerberg just announced that Threads is testing spoiler text — that thing every other platform already has. Now you can gray out your White Lotus theories and unhinged movie takes until someone taps to reveal them. Meta says it’s about “quality of life” and helping pop culture convos thrive. It’s also about pretending Threads is where the culture lives now.

Canva adds AI tool to make fancy videos. Canva now lets paid users create 8-second video clips from text prompts using Google’s new Veo 3 model. Type a few words, wait two minutes, and boom — you’ve got a dramatic mini-movie for your slide deck. It’s only for Pro, Team, Enterprise, Nonprofit, and Leonardo.ai users. You get five videos a month, they come out in HD with sound, and you can edit them in Canva’s video editor. They also added Canva Shield to make sure no one tries anything weird. Good luck with that.

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Toy Story 5: The iPad Is the Villain Now

Pixar is back at it — milking your childhood for every last drop of serotonin with Toy Story 5, out in 2026. This time, the villain isn’t a deranged toy collector or abandonment issues in a box. It’s a literal tablet named Lily Pad, hellbent on stealing Bonnie’s attention like every dopamine-hacked screen since 2012. Pixar dropped promo art of Lily Pad looking smug next to the toys she’s about to make obsolete. This is no longer a battle for playtime — it's a war against touchscreens. Your childhood heroes are officially fighting for relevance. Again.

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Warner Bros. games shrinks to four franchises. Warner Bros. Games is done pretending to take creative risks. After bleeding $300 million from a series of flops, the company is restructuring again — this time to focus exclusively on Harry Potter, Mortal Kombat, DC, and Game of Thrones. Three studio heads got promoted to senior VPs to babysit what’s left of the IP vault. No layoffs this time, just canceled projects and shuttered studios. The Wonder Woman game is dead. Original ideas are on life support. The message is clear — if it doesn’t already have a fanbase, Warner Bros. isn’t making it.

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TikTok of the day: watch here

Final Chance to Own a Piece of Virtuix

Virtuix is redefining the future of immersive entertainment — and time is running out to join in. Its flagship “Omni” treadmill lets users physically walk and run in 360 degrees through virtual worlds, with real-world applications across gaming, fitness, and military training.

✅ $18M+ in product sales
✅ 400K+ registered players
✅ 4X revenue growth in the last fiscal year
✅ Backed by $40M+ from top investors, including Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary

With over $2.7M raised in this round, investor demand is accelerating — but the raise closes June 20.

This is your final chance to back one of the most exciting players in the VR space.

Invest in Virtuix. Closing Soon.

_{This Reg CF offering is made available through StartEngine Primary, LLC. This investment is speculative, illiquid, and involves a high degree of risk, including the possible loss of your entire investment.}

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