Disney Invests $1B in OpenAI & Time’s Person, or Architects, of the Year

Summary

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Morning Brew Daily – Podcast Summary

Episode: Disney Invests $1B in OpenAI & Time’s Person, or Architects, of the Year
Hosts: Neal Freyman & Toby Howell
Date: December 12, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode covers several major stories in business and culture:

• Disney’s unprecedented $1B investment in OpenAI, its implications for IP, AI, and content creation.
• Time Magazine’s 2025 “Person of the Year”: the “Architects of AI”, and ensuing prediction market turmoil.
• Highlights from the week in business, including Warner Brothers’ bidding war and Lululemon’s executive shakeup.
• Commentary on music trends, JetBlue’s upscale move, and the U.S. government’s unexpected font war.

The hosts deliver their trademark blend of sharp analysis and witty banter as they break down the week's biggest news stories.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Disney Invests $1B in OpenAI — A Historic AI-IP Partnership

Overview:
Disney announced a three-year licensing deal with OpenAI, granting access to 200+ Disney-owned characters for OpenAI’s Sora video platform, alongside a $1B equity investment—the largest ever by a Hollywood studio into an AI company.

• Strategic Shift for Disney:

  • It’s seen as a “crossing the Rubicon moment” for Hollywood, with Disney choosing to join rather than fight the AI wave.
  • Disney CEO Bob Iger called it a "critical moment for the industry," aiming to "extend the reach of our storytelling" in a responsible manner (03:36).

• Guardrails and IP Protection:

  • AI-generated videos can use character likenesses, but not voices or original franchise music. For example, Woody can ride a bull, but you can’t have “Tom Hanks’ voice saying 'yeehaw’” (03:57).
  • By participating, Disney hopes to manage reputational risk and keep guardrails in place.

• Market Signal:

  • Neal notes, “It’s a signal to the marketplace that Disney is on the cutting edge of technology…whatever technology the youths are using, Disney’s characters will be front of mind.” (04:03)
  • Connects to earlier moves (e.g., Disney’s $1.5B investment in Epic Games).

• OpenAI’s Motivation:

  • Sora’s downloads were declining due to IP crackdowns, so OpenAI needed a deal to keep people engaged and avoid lawsuits (05:31).
  • Toby: “It's an admission that perhaps people won’t use Sora unless they can do weird stuff with Mickey Mouse…” (05:31)

• Legal Front:

  • Disney is also suing Google for similar copyright issues as are possible with OpenAI: “Disney also said we're suing Google… you can go on Gemini, you can go on Nano Banana and generate very similar characters.” (06:21)
  • The hosts note diverging industry strategies: OpenAI partners, Google faces lawsuits.

2. Time’s "Person (People) of the Year": The Architects of AI

Overview:
Time Magazine named key figures driving AI forward as their 2025 "Person of the Year"—a group including Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, AMD’s Lisa Su, and Fei-Fei Li.

• Time’s Reasoning & Irony:

  • “No one had a greater impact than the individuals who imagined, design and built AI” (07:36).
  • The designation is not necessarily an endorsement; as the hosts point out, "for better or for worse."
  • Time’s citation of AI’s disruptive upside (medical breakthroughs, whale communication, hurricane prediction) is balanced against job threats, cyberattacks, energy use, and concentration of power.

• Notable Quote:

  • “Time stresses that its Person of the Year is…the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives for good or ill…” — Neal (08:04)

• Prediction Market Controversies:

  • “Betting on the Times Person of the Year has become one of the most popular prediction markets”—but this year’s result confused and infuriated bettors (08:18).
  • Different prediction markets (Polymarket & Kalshi) resolved the contracts differently, leaving many feeling duped.
  • Toby: “So just confused if you bet on AI and you resolve to no, you are pissed.” (09:44)

• Tech History Context:

  • Time’s past “revolutions”:
    • 1982: Personal computer
    • 2006: “You” (the rise of digital communities)
    • 2025: Architects of AI
    • Neal: “It thinks it has another one on its hands with the architects of AI in 2025.” (10:47)
  • Irony: On the day AI leaders get celebrated, major AI stocks sink.

3. The Week in Business: Stock & Dog of the Week

Stock of the Week: Warner Brothers

• Bidding War:

  • Warner Brothers Discovery sees a stock surge due to a bidding war between Netflix and Paramount.
  • Paramount’s hostile bid “beats Netflix’s offer”—and is not “best and final,” suggesting more to come (12:33).
  • Neal: “Rule number one of a hostile takeover attempt is they typically lead to higher bids…” (12:17)
  • Institutional support appears to be swinging toward Paramount due to regulatory and cash offer advantages.

• Shareholder Dynamics:

  • Paramount has more financial backing and investors “willing to go higher.”
  • Netflix, in contrast, sees its stock punished as shareholders dislike the potential acquisition.
  • “Netflix shareholders don’t like this deal at all. And they're selling off the stock, which will further hamstring its ability to try to outbid Paramount…” (13:40)

• Personal Stakes:

  • If a deal succeeds, Warner Brothers’ CEO David Zaslav could join the small club of “billionaire CEOs, not billionaire founders” (14:17).

Dog of the Week: New Music

• Sticky Singles:

  • In 2025, most top hits are actually from 2024, and even a song from 2023 is charting high—notably, Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control” (16:53).
  • Streaming “charts” now better reflect actual repeat listening, unlike past sales-driven rankings (17:16).
  • “We are living in the era of sticky singles.” — Toby (17:13)

• Choice Paralysis and Algorithms:

  • Neal likens Spotify to the grocery store hot sauce aisle: endless choice leads users back to familiar favorites (18:14).
  • Algorithms and playlists drive streams for music from previous years, cementing “old” songs’ grip on the charts.

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4. Quick Hits / Final Headlines

• Lululemon’s CEO Shakeup:

  • CEO steps down, shares jump 10%. The founder, Chip Wilson, has been openly critical—taking out full-page ads criticizing current leadership (20:55).
  • Ongoing identity and innovation struggles could signal need for a leadership pivot or new creative direction.

• JetBlue Launches Luxury Lounge:

  • JetBlue opens first exclusive lounge (Blue House) at JFK’s Terminal 5, signaling an upscale rebrand (22:28).
  • Quirky highlights: “They have a neon sign above the toilet that says live laugh laugh.” — Toby (23:12)
  • Tighter exclusivity (140 people limit) may solve the overcrowding problem plaguing other airline lounges.

• U.S. State Department Launches Font War:

  • Marco Rubio orders diplomats to ditch Calibri and return to Times New Roman, reversing a 2023 shift aimed at accessibility (24:15).
  • Decisions seen as part of an anti-DEI move, but the hosts poke fun at the heated online emotions fonts can spark.
  • Fun fact: “If you Google a popular font, everything on the page updates to that font.” (25:51)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “This is the largest equity investment by any Hollywood studio into an AI company. A big departure after months of hesitation and fear from most creative industries.” — Toby (03:36)

• “Bob Iger said this is a play for the youth…whatever technology the youths are using, Disney’s characters will be front of mind.” — Neal (04:03)

• “It might be an admission too that Bob Iger realized that you can’t really control what people are going to do with your characters on the Internet today.” — Toby (04:50)

• “Every major event these days has an A plot and a B plot. The A plot is what actually happened and then the B plot is what is going down on prediction markets because there’s always so much controversy.” — Neal (09:44)

• “Bangers are bangers, and people aren’t just going to stop listening to songs when the calendar changes.” — Toby (17:16)

• “When you log on to Spotify, it's kind of like going to the grocery store and going to the hot sauce aisle...so you always just go back to what you know.” — Neal (18:14)

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Segment Timestamps

• Disney & OpenAI Investment Announcement: 02:37 – 06:21
• Time’s Person of the Year & AI Architects: 07:08 – 11:10
• Stock of the Week – Warner Brothers: 11:10 – 14:17
• Dog of the Week – New Music Trends: 16:53 – 19:10
• Lululemon CEO News: 19:25 – 21:51
• JetBlue’s Blue House Lounge: 22:28 – 24:09
• State Department Font Wars: 24:15 – 26:33

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Recap

This episode wrangles the rapidly changing intersections of AI, media, and business:

• Disney’s bold embrace of AI could reshape content creation and intellectual property norms.
• The spotlight on AI’s “architects” reflects mounting unease and excitement about artificial intelligence.
• Markets, music, and even government documents are all feeling the effects of technological change—and sometimes, the battle is over something as simple as a font.

Neal and Toby keep the insights fast and funny, making business news both accessible and memorable.

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Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Good Morning Brew Daily Show I'm Neal Freyman.

[C]

And I'm Toby Howell.

[B]

Today time's 2025 Person of the Year.

[C]

Is and Disney and OpenAI are in their enemies. To lovers art. It's Friday, December 12th. Let's ride.

[B]

Good morning and Happy Friday to Swiss Yodeling is finally getting the international recognition it deserves. This week yodeling was among the 67 customs to be included on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list, which recognizes country specific traditions worth preserving. Also being honored this year, Italian cooking, Iceland's swimming pool culture, and the Zafa wedding procession in countries like Djibouti where the family breaks an egg on the groom's head. So if you're looking for some culturally inspired travel ideas, this list is a great place to start.

[C]

Nations though do have a love hate relationship with UNESCO because getting recognized can obviously bring a lot of tourists. But also the term UNESCO side has been coined by an Italian journalist because of the throngs of tourists that it brings to certain places and how maybe it destroys the culture you're there to preserve. So sorry yodeling, your days are numbered because throngs of midwesterners are about to descend upon your country and ruin it all. And now a word from our sponsor LinkedIn ads.

[B]

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[C]

Ever wanted to see Mickey Mouse pull off a backside kickflip or Wally Dunk Mike Wazowski over Cinderella. Anything is possible now that Disney gave Open Air a three year license to use more than 200 of its characters spanning from Pixar to Star wars to Marvel inside its SORA short form, a video platform. Disney is also investing $1 billion into OpenAI alongside the license, with CEO Bob Iger calling this a quote, critical moment for the industry, viewing the opportunity as a chance to thoughtfully and responsibly extend the reach of our storytelling. This is the largest equity investment by any Hollywood studio into an AI company. I a big departure after months of hesitation and fear from most creative industries. Fear of training, data misuse, angering labor unions and giving up control of their IP have made the two industries feel more like oil in water. But Disney was comfortable shaking things up, albeit with a few guardrails. While you'll be allowed to generate a video of Woody riding a bull, for instance, you won't get access to Tom Hanks, his voice saying yeehaw. Human faces and voices within Disney's stable of IP are are not up for use, nor will any of the franchise's music. Neil Many view this as a crossing the Rubicon moment for the industry, joining forces with the AI Death Star rather than rebelling against it. But AI is both a threat and a growth opportunity. Iger and Disney are hoping the latter outweighs the former.

[B]

Yeah, a lot of ways to look at this deal. I think the first one is that it's a signal to the marketplace that Disney is on the cutting edge of technology. Yes, it may be a a company that's over 100 years old, but it's constantly looking to the future and it has done that with its partnerships with Apple and then recently a couple of years ago invested $1.5 billion into Epic Games to get its characters into that that company's game of Fortnite. Now it does 1 billion into OpenAI and it gets its characters into Sora. And Bob Iger said this is a play for the youth. We know that America's kids, international kids are increasingly looking to YouTube and user generated content and instead of maybe Disney's longtime characters, this is a way that whatever technology the youths are using that Disney's characters will be front of mind.

[C]

It might be an admission too that Bob Iger realized that you can't really control what people are going to do with your characters on the Internet today. OpenAI was already under heat for allowing people to generate very close to their characters in the app already. So he's like Might as well get ahead of it, might as well participate in the upside by this equity investment if people were going to do it anyways. And also I think that they were looking ahead to the fact that maybe their characters could be used in some, you know, not so kid friendly mannerisms. And so by having OpenAI on your side, you can crack down on some of those edge use cases that were probably happening, but now you have some guardrails in place to prevent that.

[B]

So what does it mean for Open Air? Well, many analysts were looking at this as perhaps OpenAI coming from it, coming from this, from a defensive posture. Wasn't that advantageous of a deal for OpenAI? Because if you look at Sora, a few months ago, Sora came to the App Store and it was being downloaded crazy like it was the number one app. And all those videos were going viral on other social media platforms. But if you look at App Store downloads on Apple and Google in the past few weeks, it had been declining. And perhaps that's because all of these media companies were cracking down on the IP being used on this, on Sora on that platform. So it is an admission that perhaps people won't use Sora unless they can do weird stuff with Mickey Mouse or Mike Wazowski. And so they have to come to the table with this, to this deal and actually pay content creators for the use of their characters.

[C]

The battle lines are being drawn here as well, because in the same breath that OpenAI and Disney announced this deal, Disney also said we're suing Google because the same things that we've described are happening on its platform as well. You can go on to Gemini, you can go on to Nano Banana and generate very similar characters to Disney characters. And so Disney is calling this a massive copyright issue and are doing a big lawsuit against Google right now. So again, this is another reason why OpenAI probably wanted to get ahead of this, because they were going to be staring down a similar lawsuit. So you can see exactly the two paths diverged in the woods. One is trying to do a it by the book and the other, Google is just trying to get away with it. Potentially. They both, I don't know where they both lead, but it probably leads to Mike Wazowski doing something crazy.

[B]

Time magazine released its 2025 Person of the Year yesterday and gosh, Toby, you were so close. Instead, the organization went with architects of AI, including Nvidia's Jensen Huang, OpenAI's Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, AMD's Lisa Su, and Fay Fei Li, known as the godmother of AI Time Editor in chief Sam Jacobs said Person of the Year is a powerful way to focus the world's attention on the people that shape our lives. And this year no one had a greater impact than the individuals who imagined, design and built AI. Time magazine stresses that its Person of the Year award isn't an endorsement of their actions, just the quote, person or persons who most affected the news and our lives for good or ill and embodied what was important about the year, for better or for worse. And with AI, Time highlighted the better and the worse. And terms of the benefits. They said I could facilitate communication with whales, crush existing hurricane prediction models and lead to medical breakthroughs that save lives. At the same time, AI guzzles energy, threatens jobs, enables cyberattacks and obliterates our sense of reality. Furthermore, it's being controlled by a small concentration of ultra wealthy business leaders. The same people it deemed their People of the Year. Right choice Toby?

[C]

I think so. I mean facilitating communication with whales is top of the line stuff right there. This was a confusing year for Times Person of the Year because it's not really a person like Architects of AI, it's multiple people. And the reason I am talking about the confusion is prediction markets sort of broke around this. Betting on the Times Person of the Year has become one of the most popular prediction markets for a lot of people. It regularly sees very high volumes. So if you look at what happened, two different things are going down on call she and Polymarket, the two biggest ones. Polymarket said that the Times first in the year was Architects of AI but they only added that option literally late yesterday. So no one really had the chance to actually bet on it. So everyone says this is kind of a scam. We didn't even have a chance to do this because no one knew this was going to be an option. Then Kalshee on the other hand said anyone who was kind of named in the article or on the COVID was the Person of the Year. So Mark Zuckerberg contract resolved as yes. Elon Musk resolved as yes. All of these people, Fay Fei Li resolved as yes. So two different decisions from these prediction market makers with a lot of people unhappy because what most the most people.

[B]

Were wagering on AI.

[C]

Yeah, just the entity of AI being that was by far the favorite leading into this. And yet it came out as Architects of AI and yet they never allowed the AI bettors to win in this case.

[B]

So just confuse if you bet on AI and you resolve to know that you are pissed. And there are a lot of social media comments about that. And yes, every major event these days has an A plot and a B plot. The A plot is what actually happened and then the B plot is what is going down on prediction markets because there's always so much controversy. Let's talk about the A plot a little bit. The architects of AI Time magazine said this was third in a series that captured key moments of technological revolution over the past half century. In 1982, their Person of the year was the personal computer. And they highlighted Steve Jobs and talked about this as being a computing revolution. And then in 2006, I know if you all remember this times, Person of the year was you, everyone remember. And that was meant to. Everyone remembers that that was meant to celebrate or remark upon the rise of digital communities. And its set time was like, yeah, we absolutely nailed it with those technological breakthroughs in 1980 to the computer and 2006, the rise of digital communities. And it thinks it has another one on its hands with the architects of AI in 2025.

[C]

It was very ironic too, given the fact that Oracle was having a down week. It kind of dragged down most of the AI stocks around it. So on the day that architects of AI was named Time Person of the Year, Nvidia and AMD were read, Microsoft and Metta were red core Weave was down. All of the kind of AI adjacent stocks had a really rough day. So just a little bit of hint of irony right there.

[B]

Welcome to Stock of the Week Dog of the Week, the segment where Toby and I pick one stock they got on Santa's nice list and another that's expecting a lump of coal. I won the pre show gingerbread housemaking competition, so I get to go first. And my winner is Warner Brothers, because just like Zendaya and Challengers, and it pays to have two men going to war over you. Shares of Warner Brothers discoveries soared 16% this week as investors anticipate a bidding war between Netflix and Paramount for control of the iconic Hollywood entertainment company. Just to recap how we got here, a week ago, Warner Brothers agreed to sell its movie studio and HBO Max to Netflix in a cash in stock deal that sent tremors across Hollywood. But turns out that was just the pilot episode in this unfolding drama. On Monday, another suitor, Paramount, launched a hostile bid for Warner Brothers, telling shareholders, we'll pay you 30 bucks per share, all cash, which beats Netflix's offer. Plus, we think you have a clear path to regulatory approval, something that could sink a Netflix takeover. Now, rule number one of a hostile takeover attempt is they typically lead to higher bids, which is why Warner Brothers share price has been soaring. Investors are betting that Paramount or Netflix, or most likely both, will come back to the negotiating table with more money traffic driving Warner Brothers value higher. After all, Paramount even wrote that it's $30 per share bid wasn't its best and final offer. And look, I didn't go to negotiating school, but it seems like this means this isn't their best and final offer.

[C]

That is the funniest part. It goes, hey, this is our offer. Don't accept it. We'll definitely go higher. Which is actually why a lot of people are saying Paramount probably will win this, because they are willing to go higher. But man, it's nice to be wanted. Who is the winner of all this? Just the person at the middle of everything, which is what Warner Brothers. Everyone wants Warner Brothers all of a sudden. As for who's in the lead right now, it's always hard to say, but right now, I hate to go back to prediction markets again, but it's looking like Paramount has surged above Netflix. It was trading around 65% on both Kalshi and Polymarket. By the way, every time we talk about this story, it seems like something changes later in the day. So I'm hesitant to say one way or the other, but talking some newspapers talk to some major media investors who, who were relaying that they are going to probably tell their clients to tender the offer of Paramount. They. They think that what you mentioned, the regulatory approval and the fact that it's a higher cash offer, both mean it's a better deal for shareholders. So that is why it's gaining some momentum with some of the institutional class as well.

[B]

Paramount also has a lot more wiggle room with its investors. It has billions, tens of billions of dollars of Middle Eastern money that it's throwing at Warner Brothers Discovery. And at the same time, NetFL holders have very much balked at this bid. The company has lost $100 billion since September, when rumors first started that it was making eyes at Warner Brothers. Netflix shareholders don't like this deal at all. And they're selling off the stock, which will further hamstring its ability to try to outbid Paramount should Paramount come back with $5 per share more, $10 per share more. So we'll see. Netflix shareholders seem to be in revolt right now.

[C]

You said every story seems to have an A plot and a B plot these days. I think the B plot in this one stands for billion. David Zaslav, who is the CEO of Warner Brothers Discovery who is kind of orchestrating this deal will likely become a billionaire CEO if the deal goes through. He has very high stock based compensation packages tied to share performance of Warner Brothers and he would join a pretty rarefied air. There's not that many billionaire CEOs not billionaire founders. Tim Cook from Apple is one. Saiya Nadella from Microsoft is one. Jamie Dimon from JP Morgan these are people who did not found the companies they are leading and yet are still have that billionaire status. So good luck to David Zlaslav the Beast Dancer Billionaire all right, we're going to take a quick break and come back with our Dog of the Week. Imagine you wake up one day and a huge solar flare adds an extra hour to each day. Or maybe your team will double in size overnight or there'll be a global paperclip shortage. The truth is no one knows what's around the corner.

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[B]

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[C]

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[B]

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[C]

My dog of the week is new music because 2025's top hits are mostly from 2024 more than half of this year's biggest songs aren't from this year at all. If you look at the top songs of 2025 using data from Billboard, you'll only find seven that were actually released in 2025, 16 are from 2024, and one song in the top 10 came out in 2023. Shout out, Teddy Swims, Lose Control. You also find at 2024 stalwarts like Benson Boone's Beautiful Things, so Boozy's a bar song, and Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us firmly entrenched in this year's top 10. The same thing is reflected in Big Streaming Services End of Year list as well. With APT Purse atop Apple's Most Streamed Songs list and Die With a Smile, a 2024 collab between Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars leading Spotify's list. A few things are going on here, Neil one bangers are bangers, and people aren't just going to stop listening to songs when the calendar changes. But also, maybe this is the new normal. Before, streaming charts only captured one time purchases, not repeat listening. So maybe this has always been happening and it's the charts that are for the first time accurately reflecting it. Before 2020, no song spent more than 40 weeks in the top 10 of the Billboard Top 100. Now, eight songs have achieved that. We are living in the era of sticky singles.

[B]

I think one of the main factors here is choice paralysis. When you log on to Spotify, it's kind of like going to the grocery store and going to the hot sauce aisle where there's just so many things. So you always just go back to Pete's, like, you know, it's just like to always go back to Lula, you always go back to Chula, you always go back to whatever is already in your fridge. I think that's what's happening here when people go on to any music streaming service. In music alone, an average of 99,000 new tracks are delivered to streaming platforms each day. And when I talk to people about what music they listen to, they often just say, oh, I just go to whatever Spotify tells me to listen to. And often Spotify is going to those top lists from the past couple of years. And those are the things that are generating all of these streams, which is why we see music from 2024 and 2023 back on the top of the list because people are just turning to Spotify algorithms and playlists and that's what's on there.

[C]

I do think too, 2024 was full of bangers. I mean it was a breakout year for Sabrina Carpenter, Charlie XCX Chapel Rohn Benson Boone, Teddy Swims Shaboozy. Like it was a really good year for music. And I was kind of poking suit them sue through some Reddit threads reacting to this and they really were just saying like sorry that there was just a lot of good music, like I'm going to keep listening to good songs like the calendar doesn't actually matter so why are we getting so wrapped up? Some are just poking holes in Billboards methodology as well saying that they stop, they stop measuring at September, try to get away from like Christmas songs populating too much of the list anyway. They were basically saying that like let's not sleep on the fact that we just came off a really good year of music which is why that music is still on these top lists. Now let's sprint to the finish with some final headlines. Lulu is getting a new new CEO and it's making shareholders go goo goo. Current Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald announced yesterday that he will step down in January, causing shares to jump 10% in after hours trading. The announcement comes after reports that estranged founder Chip Wilson, who has been rallying support in a proxy battle behind the scenes, looking to regain influence over the board in the direction of the company. Wilson, who was ousted for a series of inappropriate comments, has been frustrated with McDonald, telling people that he can speak Wall street but kills innovation. Wilson has a point. Even though Lulu sales have tripled under McDonald, American revenue is falling and shares are down over 4.51percent this year as analysts and customers alike question the brand's creative direction. Neil Lulu is having a bit of an identity crisis as its controversial founder is lurking in the shadows. Spicy stuff.

[B]

So awkward when the founder of the company and the former CEO is just posting mean things about the company on LinkedIn. He even took out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal saying the company was in a quote, nosedive and it needed to stop chasing Wall street at the expense of customers. And Lulu, yes, reported a 7% increase in sales last quarter, but basically all of that was opening new stores in international markets. Revenue in the Americas was down 2%. It's clearly not so cool anymore compared to other athleisure brands like Aloe and Vori. At the same time, it might be facing broader headwinds in the athleisure market. We've talked this year a bunch about how denim is winning out and people are are looking, are dressing up a little bit, maybe not to go to the airport, but they are wearing A lot more jeans as opposed to Lululemon's ABC pants. So I. I'm at a loss. I don't know exactly what Lulu has to do to get its cool back. I mean, that's something that every apparel brand wants to get. And right now, Lulu doesn't have it.

[C]

It does not have it. I think the anecdotes from people wearing it is that it used to be the highest quality. I mean, you would buy Lulu stuff, it would last you forever. Now it seems like they're slipping in quality as well as not really innovating at all. Over the last couple of years, one big push for the company has been these logo collabs with the NFL and Disney where they're just slapping logos on stuff. And that's kind of what you do when you're at your wit's end. You're like, I don't know how to make a new ABC pant. Let's put a giant logo on this. And maybe people will buy it because they like the logo. So, yes, for a while, I think the energy around Lulu has been bad. Maybe what they need is a return of the founder, CEO.

[B]

New York's hottest club is in Terminal 5 of JFK Airport, where JetBlue is about to open its first ever exclusive lounge. The lounge, called Blue House, and debuting next week, is the clearest sign yet that the struggling airline is going upscale to compete with the big dogs like Delta, United and American, who make most of their money from the kind of people who frequent airport lounges. JetBlue's entrance into the space is modest, capped at 140 people, but it won't be lacking in calories. Before your flight, you'll be able to snag classic New York fare like bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches, and pastrami on rye. Well, that is if you have JetBlue's MasterCard. Find yourself at the top tier of its loyalty program or flying in business class across the Atlantic. Toby, can JetBlue rebrand itself as a posh airline?

[C]

The points guy who, you know, talks a lot about credit cards, said this was once unthinkable for JetBlue because JetBlue only had coach seating until 2014. So this is a big departure from its identity going upmarket. Like every single airline is going up market right now to try to attract those big spenders. But I don't know, why wouldn't they be able to pull it off? The lounge itself seems pretty dang it cool. They have a neon sign above the toilet that says live laugh laugh So I don't know if that turns you off when you're going to the bathroom or if, you know, it's just kind of a quirky thing that JetBlue has. But I think I'm also bullish because the intimacy factor, 140 people is not that many people. What have everyone been complaining about recently? Overcrowding of airport lounges. So maybe if they keep a cap on it, make it feel upscaled, you know, have those Live Laugh, Live signs hanging.

[B]

I'm scared to think what kind of art you have in your house if you think that's cool.

[C]

I mean, that's the worst thing I've ever heard. Let's just be clear. But maybe the idea is you take.

[B]

A picture of it.

[C]

Yeah, you take a picture, you take a pilgrimage. So I don't see why they wouldn't be able to pull it off. Finally, there's a new front in the culture war Fonts. Marco Rubio ordered an about face in typeface at the State Department, instructing diplomats to stop using calibri and return to the more traditional script of Times New Roman. The backstory here is that in 2023, the Biden administration shifted to the sans serif calibri to aim to make paperwork more accessible to readers with disabilities. But as part of a systemic dismantling of all DEI policies, Rubio brought back the serifs, telling everyone that Times new Roman in 14 point font was the new standard. The difference in these two fonts is very minor, literally a few decorative, flourishing strokes at the tops and tails of letters. But in the eyes of the Secretary of State, the change was a wasteful diversity move that needed to be unrolled.

[B]

Well, calibri is down bad right now because not only did it get booted from the State Department's official communications, but it was also replaced two years ago in Microsoft Word by something called aptos. So Calibri is on the downswing. Another learning here is just how emotional people get about fonts. You said these two don't look that a lot different, but I think they are quite different and people have a lot of thoughts about that. The one thing that we do have to point out is when researching this story, if you go to Google and type in a popular font, whether that's Impact, Times New Roman or calibri, then everything in that page will go to that font. So check it out. It's super fun. And that was something that Toby discovered while looking around.

[C]

I was very excited to discover that. I also unfortunately discovered that if you Google 6, 7. The entire web page shakes in the, you know, mimicking the motion that kids make with their hands. So two Google Easter eggs yesterday I was feeling pretty dang accomplished.

[B]

And finally, the final note on this story is that I realized before 2004, when the state Department switched to Time New Roman, they were using Courier New and Courier is that very typewriter old timey font that you see on movies when they're talking about like Vietnamese Vietnam, like war, diplomatic cables, things like that. So they were using that font until 2004.

[C]

Like that. Go back to the traditional font of yours.

[B]

That is all the time we have. Thanks so much for starting your morning with us and have a wonderful Friday and an even better, better weekend. If you want to get in touch, you can send a note to Morning Brew daily at Morning Broadcom or DM us on Instagram @MB Daily show let's roll the credits. Emily Milian is our executive producer. Raymond Liu is our producer. Our associate producers are Olivia Graham and Olivia Lake. Eugenia Ogu is our technical director. Hair and Makeup has launched their campaign for People of the year 2026. Devin Emery is our president, and our show is a production of Morning Brew.

[C]

Great show today, Neil. I wish you all well.

[B]

If you like this show, you might like Is Business Broken? A podcast from Boston University Questrom School of Business. On the show, host Kurt Nickish asked the thorny questions necessary for this moment about the role business plays in society.

[C]

Questions like, why are executives paid so much? Why is innovation in health care so hard? Is ESG just greenwashing? And of course, is Business Broken? Follow Is Business Broken wherever you get your podcasts.