Brew Markets Daily – Episode Summary

Episode: TikTok & Fox: A New War for Social? Plus Reddit’s AI Might & Gold’s New High

Host: Ann Berry | Date: September 22, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Ann Berry and the Brew Markets team unpack three major stock market stories:

• Emerging M&A dynamics in the social media and news sector, including talk of Fox Corporation's potential interest in TikTok.
• Reddit’s increasingly important role as an AI data partner, including high-stakes negotiations with Google over content monetization and user backlash.
• Gold prices breaking new records, with insights from commodities expert John Champaglier on what’s fueling the rally, investing strategies, and gold vs. bitcoin.

The episode explores the intersections between old and new media, the power struggles shaping AI content sourcing, and how macroeconomic uncertainties play out in commodities markets.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Fox, TikTok & the New Social Media M&A Landscape

[00:00–02:52]

• Fox Corporation’s next chapter: After resolving longstanding succession questions, Fox (via Lachlan Murdoch) is rumored to be exploring a bid to keep TikTok operational in the US. President Trump’s recent comments suggest major US media and tech players—including Oracle’s Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies’ Michael Dell—could be involved.
• Industry connections: Larry Ellison's son, David (CEO of Paramount Skydance), and News Corp’s ties with major media suggest traditional media giants are moving closer to integrating with new digital platforms.
• Speculation on Social Media M&A:
  • Snap ($15B market cap, significant share price decline) and Reddit ($48B market cap, surging post-IPO) are highlighted as targets or partners for legacy broadcasters like Comcast's future Versant spin-out.
  • Traditional news conglomerates are seeking scale, digital data access, and content pipelines, fueling interest in social media tie-ups.

Notable Quote:
"Legacy news providers are trying hard to crack the digital media world. ... What faster way than a tie up with a scaled social media platform both to distribute news and to access data for news ideas?"
— Ann Berry [01:18]

2. Reddit, AI, and the Future of Content Value

[03:28–11:21]

• The Reddit–Google Negotiations:
  • Reddit’s leverage is growing as its content becomes critical for AI model training.
  • Previous Google deal: flat fee of $60M.
  • New negotiations: dynamic pricing—Reddit gets paid more as its data becomes more vital to Google’s AI performance.
  • Reddit seeks to use its prominence in search results to encourage more direct community participation, further feeding the data flywheel.
• Content Uniqueness: Reddit’s community-driven, highly detailed posts—ranked by human voting and organized by theme—make its data more valuable than algorithmically-generated content.

Notable Quote:
"In a slop ridden Internet, Reddit posts are made by real people speaking candidly. Content is well sorted by theme and it is all ranked according to a human run voting system, not an algorithm."
— Ann Berry quoting The Verge [05:11]

• User Backlash:
  • Reddit users voice outrage: if Reddit profits by selling user-generated data, where’s the community’s share?
  • Trust is fragile; alienating contributors could undercut the unique value of Reddit’s data for AI.

Notable Quote:
"If there's a breakdown in trust where the users don't trust Reddit, then they'll flee and then the results that are being fed into the AI aren't valuable anymore."
— John (Producer) [08:46]

• Competitive Tension for Insights:
  • Reddit is developing its own AI-powered tools for brand advertisers, offering sentiment and audience insights.
  • The risk: if Google can access and repackage Reddit data, it could compete directly in the same ad-tech markets.

Notable Quote:
"Do you want to try as best you can to protect that? Or ... are you at risk that Google comes and scrapes your data and then Google turns right around to those same brand partners and sells insights themselves?"
— Ann Berry [10:21]

3. Gold’s All-Time Highs: Safe Haven or FOMO? (Interview)

[12:05–19:41]

Guest: John Champaglier, CEO & Portfolio Manager, Sprott Asset Management

• Why Gold Now?:
  • Despite Warren Buffett’s legendary skepticism ("it doesn’t pay interest or a dividend"), gold’s millennia-long role as a store of value is attracting investors amid distrust of fiat currencies and debt instruments.

Notable Quote:
"Whether you were 3000 BC in Egypt or today, people find that there is value in gold."
— John Champaglier [12:27]

• Gold as a Hedge:

  • Gold is a proven “shock absorber” in volatile times—rising inflation, stagflation risks, geopolitical turmoil, and weakening US Treasury demand all drive investors to gold over traditional safe havens.

• Market Dynamics:

  • US Treasuries’ declining appeal creates a “decoupling” with gold, leaving gold as the most resilient traditional safe asset.
  • Gold ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) now account for $350B in global assets and offer easy, custodial exposure for retail investors, as opposed to physical gold.

• Investing Strategies:

  • Sprott recently launched an actively managed Gold & Silver Miners ETF; their flagship is the Sprott Physical Gold Trust (over $13B AUM).

• Geographic Insights:

  • Major mining regions: US, Canada, Australia, South America, Russia.
  • Central banks (especially China and the US), ETFs, and private investors are the largest physical gold holders.

• Bitcoin vs. Gold?:

  • While Bitcoin is an alternative digital asset, John underscores gold's 5,000-year legacy and physical tangibility.

Notable Quote:
"It's very hard to replace gold because it is a tangible asset that ... has proven itself over the last 5,000 years. ... Gold, we think, is the original."
— John Champaglier [19:15]

4. Market Updates & Corporate Leadership News

[20:00–20:36]

• Major indices closed up for the day: S&P 500 (+0.5%), Nasdaq (+0.7%), Dow (+0.25%).
• Oracle’s CEO Safra Katz steps down after a decade ("this time of strength is the right moment to pass the CEO role to the next generation"), shares up 6%.

5. "Merger Moment" & Upcoming Coverage

[20:36–21:20]

• Ann Berry teases further deep-dives later in the week into newly-announced M&A deals (Compass, Pfizer), inviting listener input for future in-depth analysis.

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

| Quote | Speaker | Timestamp | | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------- | --------- | | "Legacy news providers are trying hard to crack the digital media world..." | Ann Berry | 01:18 | | "In a slop ridden Internet, Reddit posts are made by real people speaking candidly..." | Ann Berry (quoting Verge) | 05:11 | | "If there's a breakdown in trust ... then they'll flee and ... the results ... aren't valuable" | John (Producer) | 08:46 | | "Whether you were 3000 BC in Egypt or today, people find that there is value in gold." | John Champaglier | 12:27 | | "It's very hard to replace gold because it is a tangible asset ... proven itself ... 5,000 years." | John Champaglier | 19:15 |

Tone & Style

The episode blends engaging, conversational analysis with actionable investing insights—true to Morning Brew’s “refreshing” business journalism. Ann Berry’s hosting is direct and inquisitive, seamlessly connecting macro trends, deal news, and community sentiment in social media and finance.

For Listeners Who Missed the Episode

• Media M&A: Keep an eye on traditional news companies making big digital/social moves—with possible effects on your social media stocks.
• AI & Content: Reddit is flexing its muscle in negotiations with Big Tech, knowing its community-sourced data is AI gold (but user trust is an unresolved tension).
• Gold: With prices at record highs, gold’s value as a portfolio hedge is stronger than ever—learn the different ways to gain exposure and how gold compares to the rise of digital assets like bitcoin.
• Markets & M&A: New leadership at Oracle and fresh big-ticket mergers promise more deal flow to dissect in future episodes.

Skip to key segments by timestamp to catch insights on the topics most relevant to you.