Hello, N2K’ers!

The subject of this week’s world famous News Haiku^TM competition is that Robert Redford has died at 89. Email me through your tears by Thursday at noon ET with your entry!

—Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor

News You Need2Know

• Kimmel’s return and Disney’s bottom line

• Office Depot going private for $1 billion

• OpenAI shows off Texas AI data center

• YouTube reinstates creators banned for misinformat …

• Trump’s workforce purge reshapes D.C. housing mark …

What’s the stock market up to, eh?

$SPX ( ▼ 0.28% ) $DJI ( ▼ 0.37% ) $NDX ( ▼ 0.34% )

Companies mentioned in today’s newsletter

$DIS ( ▲ 1.05% )  $NXST ( ▼ 1.37% )  $SBGI ( ▼ 1.12% )  $ODP ( ▼ 0.18% )  $AMZN ( ▼ 0.23% )  $WMT ( ▲ 0.21% )  $SPLS ( ▲ 0.1% )  $GOOG ( ▼ 1.79% )  

Kimmel’s return and Disney’s bottom line

I’m as shocked as you are about this, but apparently Disney’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel from the air was partly about — gasp — money.

Kimmel’s initial suspension by Disney’s $DIS ( ▲ 1.05% ) ABC was driven by "their relationship with their affiliate partners," such as affiliate networks Nexstar $NXST ( ▼ 1.37% ) and Sinclair $SBGI ( ▼ 1.12% ) , which have continued to resist bringing the show back in local markets, Lukas Alpert of MarketWatch told Cheddar. Alpert explained that Nexstar, in particular, was "under some pressure" to stay on the right side of the Trump administration due to a major merger requiring FCC approval. This might also explain why they’ve continued to keep the show off the air even as Disney has brought Kimmel back.

Meanwhile, some viewers, including my editor, have lined up to cancel their Disney subscriptions over free speech, even with Kimmel’s reinstatement. But that’s going to have less financial impact on Disney, Alpert said, than preventing a major merger. He believes a boycott would need to be "massive for it to really be hugely impactful." He also highlighted CEO Bob Iger's desire to "pull back from some of the more kind of politically sensitive topics," aiming for Disney to be "about entertainment." Alpert acknowledges that "content will always be somewhat... hard to make it completely apolitical."

What do you think of the way Disney handled all this? Let us know in today’s poll below 👇🏻

Song of the day: Milo Korbenski, ‘Ratworm’

Milo Korbenski delivers a fresh take on slacker-dream-pop by wearing a mask to perform his melodic, lo-fi, and emotionally charged anthems. “I wanted it to sound like an album you found on a floppy disk in a puddle,” Korbenski says of the album Sex Angel from which this single is taken, “and then you took it home, put it on your iPod, and it became the soundtrack to your summer of fun and debauchery.”

Office Depot going private for $1 billion

Office Depot and OfficeMax will go private in a $1 billion deal with private equity firm Atlas Holdings. The agreement marks a significant step for the Boca Raton, Florida-based company, which has been exploring strategic alternatives amidst mounting competition from e-commerce giants like Amazon $AMZN ( ▼ 0.23% )  and Walmart $WMT ( ▲ 0.21% ). Atlas Holdings has agreed to pay $28 per share, representing a 34% premium over parent company ODP's $ODP ( ▼ 0.18% )  share price.

Gerry “No Ben Here” Smith, CEO of ODP, said: “Atlas brings an understanding of our industry, along with the operational expertise, resources, and track record of supporting its companies that will fast forward our B2B growth initiatives and strengthen our position as a trusted partner to our customers.”

For Atlas Holdings, headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, the acquisition adds to its portfolio of 29 companies in manufacturing and distribution. The news has surprised some investors, especially given ODP's history of failed merger attempts with competitor Staples $SPLS ( ▲ 0.1% ), but overall, the deal is being seen as a positive step for ODP's future growth.

Today on the ‘gram: That didn’t take long

Post of the day: Leo is on the Kelces’ podcast

Quote of the Day

OpenAI shows off Texas AI data center

OpenAI has unveiled its new Stargate AI data center complex in Abilene, Texas. The lone-state-of-the-art facility is set to revolutionize AI, they say. But then they would say that, wouldn’t they?

OpenAI CEO Sam “Rootin’ Tootin’” Altman highlighted the significance of the project, pointing out its massive scale and potential. "When you hit that button on ChatGPT, you really don’t — I don’t, at least — think about what happens inside the data halls used to build and operate the chatbot," he said during the visit, sounding like a robot wrote his lines.

The company’s $500 billion investment in such data centers gained momentum after President Trump’s endorsement earlier this year and will include five additional data centers spread across the U.S., with two more in Texas, one in New Mexico, one in Ohio, and another in an “undisclosed Midwest location,” which I’m going to hope is Fargo, North Dakota.

The economic impact of these facilities is significant. “More than 6,000 workers now commute to the massive construction project each day,” noted Abilene mayor Weldon “It Doesn’t” Hurt, expecting numerous job creations and a boost to the local economy. He didn’t mention that once the thing is built, it’ll require far fewer workers to keep going.

Some residents have also expressed concerns over resource usage and environmental impacts.

“We’re burning gas to run this data center,” said Altman, but added that “in the long trajectory of Stargate” the hope is to rely on many other power sources.

Should you check your 401(k) today?

👎️ 

Absolutely not.

YouTube reinstates creators banned for misinformation

Good news for those of us who like to watch videos telling us to drink bleach during pandemics, I guess?

YouTube is reinstating creators who were banned for violating its COVID-19 and election misinformation policies. Parent company Alphabet $GOOG ( ▼ 1.79% ) announced the move in a letter responding to subpoenas from the House Judiciary Committee.

“No matter the political atmosphere, YouTube will continue to enable free expression on its platform, particularly as it relates to issues subject to political debate,” Alphabet’s attorneys wrote.

The decision follows a broader rollback of content moderation policies that had cracked down on misinformation during the pandemic and the 2020 election. In 2023, YouTube phased out its ban on claims of widespread fraud in past U.S. presidential elections, and in 2024, it retired standalone COVID-19 content restrictions, integrating such cases into a broader medical misinformation policy.

The House Judiciary Committee, led by chairman Jim Jordan, has been pressuring tech companies to undo moderation measures imposed during President Joe Biden’s administration.

Alphabet’s lawyers accused Biden officials of “repeated and sustained outreach” to remove YouTube videos, which they say was a violation of free speech rights. “It is unacceptable and wrong when any government, including the Biden Administration, attempts to dictate how the Company moderates content,” they said.

Trump’s workforce purge reshapes D.C. housing market

President Donald Trump’s workforce reductions during his second term have sparked significant shifts in Washington, D.C.’s economic and housing landscapes.

The Department of Government Efficiency, once led by Trump adviser Elon Musk, has overseen sweeping layoffs and restructured federal agencies, leaving tens of thousands of workers in the DMV region (D.C., Maryland, Virginia) financially distressed. Since June 2024, the number of homes for sale in the region has skyrocketed by 64%, according to the DMV Monitor, a report by the Brookings Institution and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.

Washington’s unemployment rate has also surged, reaching 6% in August — far above the national average of 4.3% — making it the nation’s highest for four consecutive months. Scott Kupor, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, revealed last month that the federal workforce will shrink by 300,000 employees nationwide by year’s end. He noted, “The DMV region’s economy has grown even weaker than the nation in many categories due to the Trump administration’s seismic actions to shrink the federal government.”

Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, defended the administration’s moves, saying: “President Trump is successfully fixing longstanding issues by cracking down on crime and creating over half a million private-sector jobs for American-born workers.”  

Still, while housing availability has expanded, private-sector job growth remains stagnant in D.C.

Poll of the day: A non-controversial topic

Poll of the day: Coconut water ain’t it

We asked: Have you tried coconut water?

You answered:

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ No, and I don't plan to (217)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ No, and I'm curious (94)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Yes, and I don't plan to do so again (274)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Yes, and I love it! (216) 801 Votes

via @beehiiv polls