Morning Brew Daily - Electronic Arts Goes Private In $50B Deal? & CA vs Nonstick Cookware

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

Episode 680: Welcome Producer Ray to the show! Neal and Ray discuss the almost $50 billion deal that is possible taking video game giant Electronic Arts private. Next up, the battle of California vs nonstick cookware and the Saudi Comedy festival that is paying the world’s top entertainers the big bucks, but has not come without controversy. Then the guys share their winners of the weekend and take a look at the week ahead.  Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn Ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Check out https://www.linkedIn.com/mbd for more. Get your MBD live show tickets here! https://www.tinyurl.com/MBD-HOLIDAY  Vote for MBD in the Signal Awards! http://bit.ly/3W4e5ik  Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. Listen to Morning Brew Daily Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.swap.fm/l/mbd-note⁠⁠⁠  Watch Morning Brew Daily Here:⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@MorningBrewDailyShow⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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pwc.c.com slash U.S. slash brew AI. That's pwc.com slash us slash brewAI. Good morning brew daily show. I'm Neil Fryman. And I'm Raymond Lou. Today, a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia has divided the stand-up community. Then a fight between California and celebrity chefs over non-stick cookware is starting to boil over. It's Monday, September 29th.

Let's ride. Good morning and welcome back to the work week. Toby is living his best Florida man life today, which means. that producer Ray is stepping from out of the control room to host the show with me. Ray, a big welcome, and I want to ask you about this piece of news that dropped last night. The NFL announced that Porterican superstar Bad Bunny will be headlining the upcoming Super Bowl halftime show in February. Now, I probably am not going to be focused on the music because the Eagles are going to be playing, and that'll require my undivided attention.

But, Ray, thoughts on this selection. Well, first of all, I just want to say hello to everyone. You've probably heard my name at the end of the credits, so it's nice to be behind the mic instead of behind the scenes. But yes, we got this news last night about Bad Bunny performing at the Super Bowl halftime show, which will actually take place in my hometown, the Bay Area. Just want to put that out there just to let everyone know where I'm from. But I think what's really impressive is that this three-time Grammy winner is having probably the biggest moment of his career. He's recently wrapping up a two-month residency in San Juan. and mainly it speaks to the global reach that the NFL is really pushing forward.

You know, Commissioner Roger Goodell has been really public about the NFL having more of a global reach. I mean, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings just had a game in Ireland. And, you know, Bad Bunny is one of the biggest international artists in the world. So this is just further building that bridge. Totally. And you're going to see a lot of Bad Bunny come up just this week, too, because he is hosting the season premiere of Saturday Night Live, which is happening. on Saturday night. But first, a word from our sponsor, LinkedIn ads.

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Get the Unreal College deal, everything you need, to study and play with Select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 premium, and a year of Xbox GamePass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn more at Windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th, terms at AKA.m.m.S. College PC. It's in the game, but maybe not for long. name investors is planning to take the video game publisher private in what would be the largest leveraged buyout of all time, the Wall Street Journal reported. Those investors are the private equity

giant Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia's public investment fund, and Jared Kushner's investment firm Affinity Partners, who are cobbling together $50 billion to whisk electronic arts from the public markets. With that representing a premium to EA's current market value, shares shut up about 14% Friday afternoon following the announcement. $50 billion is a tremendous amount of money, but EA has a tremendous game library, one of the best in the biz. It's dominant in sports games with the Madden franchise and the soccer title FC, formerly known as FIFA. It also makes The Sims and Battlefield, which competes with Call of Duty in the shooter game market. However, EA and the rest of the traditional gaming industry is still trying to break out of an extended slump following the COVID boom.

Companies have cut tens of thousands of employees as blockbuster games become more. expensive to make and gamers are turning to mobile and free-to-play options like Fortnite and Roblox. These investors think EA can maintain its leadership position in a changing market, but not under the demands of a public company. Yeah, and you know, you might be wondering what is the point of a company going from public to private? Because most of the times you may, you know, if you start off, most companies start off as a private company and they want to shoot for going public. But one of the biggest reasons that a public company will want to go private is to escape public pressures coming from shareholders. You know, when you make drastic strategic

moves, a lot of times they're not welcome with open arms because massive overhauls can cost a lot of money. And when you're beholden by shareholders, especially having to report quarterly earnings, it could be a real damper on the stock price. So by going private, you essentially avoid all the risk of public scrutiny. And you can also escape some of the regulations that a public company would often have to go through like SEC filings and shareholder disclosures, but it also provides greater control over a company. One of the more famous public to private takeovers was Twitter recently, as Elon Musk bought it in 2020, and you can see how much control he has over X. So it's just one of those things where you have to kind of wonder

EA is going through this overhaul, most likely, and then like you mentioned, the gaming industry isn't doing too hot right now. No, I mean, projections for 2025 industry growth are about 4.6%, which is just a hair over inflation. So basically, the industry is barely growing at all. And there is this transformation from the types of blockbuster games that these companies have been putting out. I mean, I looked at the price for the most recent Madden, which EA publishes. It's $70. And people are really balking at that price for titles across the industry.

What they're moving to is these live service games, think Fortnite, where they're free to play. but you get this recurring revenue that goes on overtime and you play them years and years in these companies, rake in all this money that you're trying to, when you try to buy various upgrades in this particular game. So EA has moved into that domain. Actually, 75% of fiscal 2025 sales comes from live service revenue like this game, Apex Legends, which is competing with Fortnite. So you're right. They have to make these big strategic transformations.

They've had three mass layoffs since 2023. this industry is grinding to a halt in terms of growth. So that's perhaps why these executives at EA are looking for maybe a little bit of a parachute to bail them out of the public markets where they'll be under less scrutiny in the private markets. It's also interesting to look at who is doing this deal, who are the investors that are planning? And I should add that this announcement has not been made. It's not been finalized yet. But it is reported that it will come this week. The three big investors, one is Silver Lake, which was one of the biggest private equity firms in the entire. World. Silver Lake, you may have heard recently, is one of the investors that want to buy into

TikTok and buy that from Chinese bite dance. They also own the parent company of UFC. Then you have the Saudi Well Fund, which the public investment firm. They already own a 10% stake in EA. They're one of the biggest shareholders already. And they are moving into the gaming space in a big way, especially in mobile games. They already own the parent company of Monopoly Go. and they already own the parent company of Pokemon Go. Then the final piece of this triumvirate is Jared Kushner, who's the son-in-law of President Trump. He has this investment firm called Affinity Partners,

which he founded in 2021. That also has huge ties to the Middle East. Most of their money comes from Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Yeah, one of the biggest things just to close it out is, even though the gaming industry isn't doing too hot, and like you said, these brand titles can be pretty expensive. They're kind of switching strategically about getting them, getting to play the game first and then kind of charging later with micro transactions.

But the biggest thing is IP, I think. Madden, as long as there's football, there's always going to be a Madden. Pokemon, a massive brand. So I think this is one of those things where regardless of those industries, kind of struggling a bit, there's always going to be invaluable value in the IP. And let's not forget the Sims. Yes. Oh, I love the Sim.

That was one of my favorite games. But let's move on. There's a food fight heating up between California. and celebrity chefs over a law that could ban the sale of non-stick cookware in the state. The bill, Senate Bill 682, heads to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk to sign into law if he signs it into law. He does have until October 12 to decide. So what's at the yoke of the matter? A chemical called perfluoral alkyl chloral alkyl, aka Pfasas, which is probably what I'm going to be referring it as from now on, which is a large group of mass.

man-made chemicals resistant to water, oil, temperature extremes, and friction. It's what makes non-stick pans non-sticky. As such, these pots and pans are a staple across kitchens in America, meaning if you're cooking at the moment and listening to this podcast, you're likely using a non-stick pan right now. Proponents of the bill, who are mostly public health advocates and environmental groups, say regulating PFAS is a public health necessity and that non-stick cookware can produce toxic fumes at high temperatures, which can then get into the food that we eat. Some research has shown that exposure to these chemicals is linked to a number of health conditions, health conditions, such as infertility, cancer, and thyroid disease. However, opponents of the bill say that non-stick

cookware is relatively safe as long as it's used properly. Celebrity chefs such as Rachel Ray, David Chang, and others have been pretty outspoken about the issue saying that the ban would do more immediate harm than good to the restaurant industry if this ban goes into effect. Now, it should be noted that Rachel Ray, David Chang, and these celebrity chefs either have or endorse their own line of non-stick cookware. Steve Burns, president of the Cookware Sustainability Alliance, which didn't even know existed, said that the lack of concern for increasing cost for people feeding their families is frankly baffling to us. Neil, the restaurant industry is facing a potential seismic shift in California,

and it's looking like a sticky situation. It really is. I mean, more than $4 billion of cookware is sold in the U.S. each year. This is a pretty big industry. And pots and pans with Teflon-like coatings account for nearly two-thirds of sales. So when you said people are cooking with non-stick pans,

it's absolutely the case I made a ton of food this weekend, and virtually all of it was on a non-stick pan because do you want to cook, do you want to clean up for 30 seconds, or do you want to clean up for 15 minutes? I mean, the answer is pretty clear. Now, the chefs who are opposed to this ban cite the fact that one of the chemicals, I said Teflon, that is used on these particular non-stick surfaces,

is called PTFE or under the brand name Teflon. It is a type of PFS, but what they say is it is inert and it is safer than other types of, quote unquote, forever chemicals. And that is their main assertion that this is a particularly safe thing to use, only if you heat up your pan to over 500 degrees Fahrenheit, which I've never cooked anything over 500 degrees Fahrenheit on the pan. That is when it can get a little dangerous, but they're saying the fact that the vast majority of uses,

when you use non-stick pans, it's usually for cooking an egg or just sauteing something. You're never getting up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. And if you keep them in good shape, then this is not going to be a safety concern. And they cite a bunch of research that shows that. So, yeah, it's interesting battle between these celebrity chefs. and the state of California.

And you're very right that all these chefs do have non-stick cookware lines, so they have a lot of skin in the game. Yeah, and one of the things I think you pointed out with the distinction of the chemicals, they are known as forever chemicals. But researchers are probably at the tip of the iceberg in terms of understanding how they actually degrade, so when we use them.

So other states have banned this, have similar laws that have banned non-stick cookware. Just when I'm going to go through them, Minnesota recently just banned the sale of non-stick cookware as of earlier this year. Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, Vermont have laws that are beginning to phase out PFS and cookware. New York is also kind of flirting with the fact of potentially banning this law banning the cookware. But I think it's really significant in California because of the restaurant industry having such a big impact there. You think about the range of restaurants in the state alone going from fine dining to just home cooks,

to social media chefs, which is also important here, the fact that the celebrity factor of it, Rachel Ray, David Chang, I'm sure they have shot a lot of content in California. So there's a lot of money on the line, like you said, a lot of these celebrity chefs have or own or endorse some kind of cookware, but there is a public health concern for it. A lot of the science can be debated either way, whether it's kind of negligible or potentially harmful. Some of the research has said that look, there's other health, there's a lot of other sources of exposure of PFS. Cookware is not necessarily the biggest concern of it all. That's what some researchers are saying.

But, again, a lot of money online, which is kind of why this is a big story. Yeah, they say you could get more forever chemicals in your body from the fish that you're eating that you cook on the pan, then from the pan itself. So a lot writing on Gavin Newsom's pen. Moving on, what is the deal with the Riyadh Comedy Festival? America's most famous comedians are beefing with each other over a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia that kicked off on Friday and runs through the start of October. Dubbed the world's largest comedy festival, the stand-up event features huge names like Dave Chappelle, Bill Burb, Pete Davidson, Kevin Hart, and Aziz Ansari. It's part of Saudi Arabia's push to diversify away from an oil economy and become a power player in sports and entertainment.

But who's not performing is perhaps the bigger story. Shane Gillis said he was offered, quote, a significant bag. but said no to take a principal's stand. The comedy podcaster Mark Marin, who wasn't offered a slot, still jokes sarcastically, from the folks that brought you 9-11, two weeks of laughter in the desert, don't miss it. Those who represent a group of comics

who are going after their own for taking money from the Saudi Kingdom, which boasts a laundry list of documented human rights abuses, including the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The Civil War and Comedy is reminiscent of the schism and golf a few years ago when PGA tour players blasted their colleagues for switching to the Liv Tour and Upstart League set up by the Saudis. Saudi Arabia has been accused of sportswashing. Now they're calling this comedy play joke washing.

Wow. I mean, comedians from all over are using whatever platform they have to chime in on this matter. Although I think it is interesting to point out a group that really hasn't said much, and that's the comedians that are performing at the festival. Some of the more famous participants like Dave Chappelle, Aziz Ansari, Kevin Hart, haven't done much promoting of the comedy festival. festival in Riyadh. And you think about Kevin Hart, he's probably one of the more prolific marketers that you have today. And I just looked at his Instagram page, virtually nothing about

the comedy festival. Look, as you mentioned, it echoes a lot of what happened between the PGA and Liv Golf. I think it does come down to money. The Saudi government has a lot of money. We just talked about them doing private talks, potentially taking over EA. And I think each comedian has to decide how much money they're willing to accept, knowing the potential consequences to their reputation and or brand. So Tim Dillon talked about this. He is a comedian with known for being particularly edgy. And he said he was offered a large sum of money, called it $375,000 for one performance and said that other comedians had been offered as much as $1.6 million. And he said he was going to do it because he said he was being paid a lot of money to not

care about what they do in their country. Quote, so what if they have slaves? They're paying me enough to look the other way. And that's very on brand for Tim Dillon, if you know him. But he actually got dropped from the festival because he made that slavery comment. So they decided to not have him, which kind of speaks to the overall environment of free speech in Saudi Arabia, namely they don't have it. Jimmy Kimmel would certainly not be on the air there.

According to the Global Expression Report, Saudi Arabia ranks 149th out of 161 countries. in terms of the right to free expression and information. And the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority, Turkey Al-Shake, the guy who's running this entire playbook for bringing Saudi Arabia into the entertainment world, literally has a wing named after him in the Riyadh jail for jailing so many people who have sent critical tweets about him. So it's kind of an interesting juxtaposition to have a comedy festival in Saudi Arabia. And I think that's what a lot of these outraged comedians are pointing out

and why a lot of the comedians who are performing have denied, have tried to just kind of sweep it under the rug, get their bag, and then come back home. Yeah, just all quickly, it's all part of the country's Vision 2030 plan, which is Saudi Arabia's plan to diversify its economy beyond oil. So they're bringing a lot of live music, sports film, essentially kind of bringing over a lot of culture into the country.

So it's, again, part of that recent push to expand their entertainment industry and to boost tourism. But again, in this comedy festival, a lot of layers to wear, especially in a comedy festival, you have to kind of wonder what the comedians will be allowed and not allowed to say. Is it really a comedy festival? Okay, don't go anywhere. Up next, why is the economy doing so well? Today we helped a latte for Sam. Coffee shop, get an insurance quote simply and easily. And made sure a floral delivery van was able to make someone's day.

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for both kiddos and grownups. So when your mind won't switch off, you've got something that can help. You're racing thoughts and restless nights won't stand at chance. Find Ollie Sleep Solutions for the Whole Family at Ollie.com. That's OLLLY.com. Welcome to Winners of the Weekend, the segment where Ray and I pick two things that actually meal prepped. Ray, you won the pre-show. Never have I ever hosted Morning Brew Daily before, so you get to go first.

Thank you, Neil. Well, remember how some were worried that we were nearing a recession. Well, the U.S. economy grew in the second quarter at the fastest pace in the last two years as the government revised its earlier report of GDP that showed it increased 3.8% up from its previous report of 3.3%. Personal consumption expenditure is also up 0.6% for the month of August, meaning consumer spending is stronger than analysis initially expected. And earlier estimates show that the third quarter should remain pretty solid. Some economists are saying that this is a good sign, that it shows that the economy's ability to rebate,

after the initial shock of Trump's flurry of tariffs that basically gave the markets our cardiac arrest. These latest reports have eased some of the anxiety that came from earlier forecasting that we were heading towards a bad economic downturn. And yet, despite the data, Americans aren't feeling the love. In its latest survey by the University of Michigan, consumer sentiment is down to 55.1, the seventh lowest on record going back to 1952. And it's essentially the same. story. Fears of inflation, the downstream effects of tariffs, and now a weaker labor market. Hiring has been in a slump lately and monthly job gains recently fell below the amount needed to keep up with the population gain. But, Neil, all in all, no matter what you throw at it,

seems like the U.S. economy is powering through. We've heard this for the past three years, that there's going to be a recession. People are pulling back. They're worried about inflation and we're going to see a economic downturn. But time and time again, the U.S. economy has stayed resilient. We found out that the economy grew at the fastest pace in nearly two years. Consumers spending continues to crush expectations. At the same time, we're seeing views on the economy still at very low levels, the seventh lowest on record. So what is going on? How do we square this particular circle? And one theory that's posed is that if you look at the stock market, it is near record highs. It's been doing really well. And Americans just have a ton of

money in the stock market. So they're looking at their portfolios and feeling a little bit better. Maybe they're looking at their paychecks and not looking so good, but they're looking at their 401Ks and they're seeing that go straight to the roof. And actually, it's a historic amount of money that Americans have in the stock market, direct and indirect stock holdings, whether through mutual funds or retirement plans, accounted for an all-time high of 45% of households, financial assets in the second quarter, according to the Fed. Plus, if you're a homeowner and you got your home before 2020, you have a really good. low mortgage rate. If you got it around 2020, you have a really low mortgage rate and your home

property has skyrocketed in value as well. And then expectations for the current quarter are also through the roof in terms of economic growth. Atlanta Fed's GDP Now tool, which is this live tracking tool of how the economy is performing. It expects GDP to grow 4% this quarter, which would be a huge turnaround from some of the lower GDP readings we've seen over the past few years and just booming economic growth. So very interesting to see what's happening in the economy. People are down on it. But if you actually look at the hard data, it's doing really well. Yeah, it's all part of the whole vibe session and things where there's always that debate of hard economic data versus soft economic data. But regardless of the reasons, the fact that consumers are still willing

to spend is pretty much a good sign because America's GDP, just to throw this out there, is more than two-thirds of consumer spending. So us spending money, whether or not we should be spending money is essentially good for the U.S. economy. Okay, let's head to my winner, which is Team Europe, who eked out a thrilling victory over the United States to retain the Ryder Cup on Long Island. Down big after the first two rounds, USA staged a furious comeback to crank up the drama Sunday afternoon, but it wasn't enough as Europe became the first team to win the Ryder Cup on a way soil since 2012. The biennial tournament, golfing's biggest stage, is known for its rowdy crowds, and that certainly was the storyline for most of the event. Boisterous New Yorkers

instilled with some liquid confidence, taunted and jeered Europe's Rory McElroy in ways that many considered cross the line, leading to state police getting involved, and an MC stepping down after leading a vulgar chant over the loudspeaker. The 50,000 fans at Bethpage Black seemed to get the message and were mostly better behaved yesterday,

but the American golfers will surely face a similarly hostile crowd in Ireland when they try to get revenge in two years' time. Neil, I read that some of the logistics of getting an Uber ride to and from the Ryder Cup was a nightmare. Some were reportedly paying up to $400 to even maybe $700 a ride. I mean, getting an Uber ride in New York City is pretty expensive as it is, but $700 is pretty crazy. But you are actually at the Rider Cup. Tell me about your experience. I mean, I believe that these

Uber rides were insanely expensive because I've never seen such a massive people in my life, all heading for the exit at the same time. They told you to take the Long Island Railroad back to Manhattan, but the line to get a shuttle to the train station, was also insane. You could never see the front or in these buses were not even moving out of this. I mean, it's a state park with literally a couple of roads coming in and out one way, each way. So I understand the logistics were pretty insane. I think we got a little lucky because as we were trying to figure out how the heck to get out of there, some guy came up to us and was like, you guys should take an Uber shuttle. They leave every 10 minutes to coach bus. And it goes to Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. Not that many people know about it. So we booked an Uber shuttle, got on this bus, watched everyone else.

you know, being languishing on the lawn because they were waiting over an hour for an Uber that they would have to pay 500 bucks for. So we got lucky and we got out of their fast, but it was a great experience. Okay, it's Monday. So here's what you need to know to stay ahead in the week ahead. You could be in for a two-day work week if your employer is the federal government, that is. Come Wednesday, the government will shut down if lawmakers don't strike a deal to extend funding for another few months. If a shutdown were to happen, essential government services like the military and TSA would still keep operating, but non-essential programs like National Parks would close. The Trump administration also raised the economic ante last week, instructing agencies to

fire workers and mass if a shutdown were to occur. In typical shutdowns, employees are furloughed before being brought back to work when the shutdown ends. Trump is going to meet with the top four congressional leaders today to try to break the stalemate, and the clock is ticking. Over on Wall Street, the showpiece of the week is the monthly jobs report dropping on Friday morning. As anyone who's looking for a job can relate, the labor market has slowed down dramatically this summer, which has 22,000 jobs added in August, and the unemployment rate ticking a bit higher

to 4.3%. Economists project 50,000 jobs were created in September, a subdued number in line with the average of the past three months. Elsewhere, Nike will give an update on its turnaround efforts tomorrow with its latest earnings report. New CEO, Elliott Hills seems to be making progress, with the company posting a smaller than expected drop in profits in sales in the previous quarter. Next weekend's soundtrack is already locked in because Taylor Swift's new album, The Life of a Showgirl comes out on Friday. Swift recorded the record while on the European leg of her Eros tour and with just 12 tracks, it clocks in way shorter than her previous album, the tortured Poets Department, which tortured many with its length. While Swift typically

communicates with her fans through social media or her fiance's podcast, she's also throwing traditional TV a bone appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon this evening. Look, regardless of how you might feel about Taylor Swift, her music, or even her celebrity, there's no denying her incredible work ethic. I mean, to record an album while she's on tour is pretty amazing. I've never been to a Taylor Swift concert, but I know people who have gone. I think you and Toby went. I heard that she can go on for hours.

So I got to give props to her engine and her endurance. Absolutely. And speaking of endurance, the Major League Baseball postseason kicks off tomorrow with four best of three wild card series after a pivotal final weekend that saw the Mets complete their collapse. The matchups are in the AL, division rivals Detroit versus Cleveland, and the Yankees versus the Red Sox. In the National League, the Reds take on the Dodgers and the Padres face the Cubs. There could be plenty of dingers for just the third time in history.

Four players hit at least 50 home runs this regular season. And finally, October begins on Wednesday, which means the best time to start brainstorming Halloween costume ideas was yesterday. Ray, you got yours yet? have not. And as you know, Neil, I'm known around the office to not shy away from an opportunity to dress up. But haven't thought of any exciting costume ideas yet. Last year, I dressed up as Carmi, the main character from the bear, which was fun. But I had a wig and everything in the apron. But my friends thought I looked like Annie, as in Annie the orphan. So I still have the wig. Maybe I'll

just lean into that and go in as Annie this year. And so it'll come out tomorrow. Okay, that is all the time we have. Ray, appreciate you stepping in. Was an absolute blast to do this with you. You crushed it. And thank you for starting your morning with us. Hope you have a wonderful start to the week. If you have any feedback on today's show, send a note to Morning Brew Daily at Morningbrew.com. Let's roll the credits.

Emily Milliron is our executive producer. Raymond Lou is our producer and our co-host. Our associate producers are Olivia Graham and Olivia Lake. Hair and makeup wants to host a show next. We'll see. Devin Emery is our president and our shows are production of Morning Brew. We'll see you guys tomorrow. Own it all.

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