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| Gianni Infantino |
FIFA chief Gianni Infantino’s audacious scheme to sell stakes in a new subsidiary that will manage the World Cup is the payoff for his obnoxious pandering to Donald Trump.
The plan calls for FIFA to raise $4.2B from third parties in a venture called FIFA Forward Enterprises, which would be valued at $20B.
Thrive Eternal, which is led by Josh Kushner, brother-in-law of Ivanka Trump, is tapped to lead the investment group.
Infantino announced the move a mere nine days after Trump massaged the World Cup trophy before reluctantly handing it to the champion Spanish team.
That followed the FIFA chief’s smarmy decision to award a made-up peace prize to the Nobel-hankering US president, and to rent offices in his pricey Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
Congressman Jamie Raskin, the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, is mounting a probe into FIFA’s alleged corruption.
“The most recent quid pro quo that FIFA and President Trump orchestrated is not a victimless crime,” he said. “It hurts Americans. FIFA has taken its newfound favored status in the Trump Administration as a sign that it may rip off its consumers, most notably, by employing illegal price gouging and fraudulent sales tactics for the World Cup.”
The Maryland Democrat claims FIFA under Infantino dismantled key ethics guardrails, sidelined ethics and oversight bodies, and pursued an aggressive campaign to curry favor with Donald Trump, including through outright bribery.
He notes that FIFA ripped off World Cup goers by setting extremely high ticket prices that were far above the promised $1,550 cap and by downgrading ticket holders to worse seats after purchase.
These tactics triggered state-level investigations but Trump’s Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission have looked the other way.
Raskin wants FIFA to hand over documents related to gifts or benefits given to Trump and his associates, plus contacts with any other US officials. He also wants Infantino to sit for an interview, which is not likely to happen.
That’s because Infantino views himself as a head of state or globe-trotting diplomat more than the head of a sports body.
He claims the investment plan is the way to democratize soccer worldwide.
The reality: it’s the latest power grab by the guy who has run FIFA since 2016. The out-of-the-blue FIFA monetization boondoggle comes on the heels of the shocking introduction of “hydration breaks” (e.g, time for TV commercials, Coke “Powerade” plugs) during the World Cup, and a half-time show at the final.
Decisions to hold the hydration breaks and half-time show were made without a vote of members and would have been unthinkable a decade ago.
King Gianni Infantino has become downright Trumpian.
Not ready for AI prime time… Consulting giant PwC published four “thought leadership” pieces on artificial intelligence that were riddled with “hallucinations” (e.g., fake footnotes, misattributed claims).
That came to light following an investigation by GPTZero that was reported by the Financial Times.
The reports were designed to drum up business in the Middle East. Instead, they serve as evidence that consulting firms such as PwC are struggling to use AI responsibly and to implement policies to avoid errors.
It’s back to the drawing board.
Elon, WFA bury the hatchet… Elon Musk’s high-profile legal battle with the World Federation of Advertisers has ended in a whimper.
Following his $44B acquisition of what was then known as Twitter, Musk took WFA to court in 2024, charging that its Global Alliance for Responsible Media unit orchestrated an “illegal boycott” of the platform resulting in it losing “billions of dollars” in advertising dollars.
WFA countered that its members can decide to spend their marketing budgets wherever they wanted and were under no obligation to carve out some cash for Musk’s platform.
X and WFA reached a final settlement on Aug. 9. A federal judge in March dismissed the case but Musk appealed.
In the settlement, WFA, which had already discontinued GARM, agreed not to re-start it or set up a similar venture. It reiterated its commitment to freedom of speech.
WFA and X now agree that they are fully aligned in the view that brands, platforms and consumers will all benefit from brand-safety innovation.
Elon can now focus on other matters, such as boosting the stock prices of SpaceX and Tesla.
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As Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to meet with Donald Trump, the influential Israeli media outlet, Haaretz, has called on the country to end of the country’s influence ops campaign targeted at the US.
