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Warner Bros. Discovery announced Monday it will split into two public companies by mid-2026, separating its streaming empire from its traditional TV networks as media giants scramble to escape cable's death spiral. CEO David Zaslav will helm the streaming and studios division housing HBO Max and movie properties, while CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels becomes CEO of the global networks company controlling CNN, TNT Sports, and Discovery channels.

The breakup follows Comcast's similar move to spin off CNBC and other cable networks into Versant, as both media titans acknowledge traditional pay-TV's terminal decline. WBD's cable portfolio — assembled from the 2022 Warner-Discovery merger — suffered a crushing $9.1 billion write-down last year, though the networks still generate substantial cash flow that has subsidized streaming losses for years.

Shares jumped over 2% as investors welcomed the surgical separation, despite WBD's staggering $34 billion debt load that will be divided between both companies. The split grants each entity "strategic flexibility" to pursue acquisitions while potentially sacrificing tax-free status for the right deal, executives confirmed. S&P's recent downgrade to junk status underscored traditional TV's cash flow hemorrhaging, making the split essential for survival (see more).

Apple unveiled its most radical visual overhaul in over a decade at WWDC Monday, introducing Liquid Glass — a translucent interface that lets users see through everything while dramatically inflating version numbers in what critics called corporate insecurity theater. The visionOS-inspired redesign dynamically reacts to movement and lighting, marking the biggest aesthetic shift since iOS 7 abandoned skeuomorphism.

The Cupertino giant simultaneously abandoned sequential numbering across all platforms, jumping iOS 18 directly to iOS 26 and macOS 15 to macOS 26 to align with release years. The numbering inflation came as software chief Craig Federighi delivered crushing news just six minutes into the keynote: Siri's promised AI upgrade still isn't ready, extending Apple's lag behind competitors in the intelligence race.

Shareholders punished the admission immediately, sending Apple stock down 2.5% before recovering to close down 1.2% as investors digested modest AI wins including real-time conversation translation and a new Foundational Models framework for third-party developers. The offline-capable AI tools avoid cloud computing costs while promising to turn World Cup 2026 multilingual arguments into entertainment, though analysts questioned whether cosmetic changes could mask Apple's continued AI struggles.

Google's AI chatbots are devastating news publishers by eliminating the need to click blue links, with HuffPost and Washington Post losing over half their organic search traffic in three years as AI Overviews and the new ChatGPT-competing AI Mode deliver answers without sending users to websites. Business Insider slashed 21% of its staff last month after organic search traffic plummeted 55% since 2022 (Google’s search history).

The shift from search engine to "answer engine" marks journalism's latest existential crisis, forcing publishers to abandon their Google dependency and chase direct reader relationships. Washington Post CEO William Lewis called the click-free search evolution "a serious threat to journalism that should not be underestimated," while his company scrambles to prepare for a post-search era by connecting with overlooked audiences.

Google executives insist they remain committed to web traffic, claiming users who click links after seeing AI summaries spend more time on destination sites, though the data tells a different story. The New York Times saw organic search drop from 44% to 36.5% of total traffic, while even winners like the Wall Street Journal experienced search's declining share of overall visits. See Google’s AI competitors.

Ultrarunning legend Courtney Dauwalter has weaponized discomfort through "the pain cave"—deliberately exploring deeper levels of suffering to expand mental boundaries. Her philosophy: "I love that feeling of digging really deep and getting to a finish line." She's made famous this practice of diving into pain instead of avoiding it.

The mental edge comes from rejecting your body's comfort-seeking signals. "If you listen to your body you would never finish one of these races—everybody is hurting no matter where you are in the field." Her breakthrough insight: "Our bodies like to throw up red flags when they just want to stop because that's easier."

The dangerous balance: "I like that feeling of immortality, but you're not immortal." After 309 miles on the Colorado Trail, her decision-making capacity dissolved—proving even pain cave masters need external wisdom to recognize true danger signals. See this clip.

Learn how to go viral in 2025. Hook Point founder Brendan Kane reveals why most creators fail while his systematic approach transforms unknown accounts into viral phenomena. His breakthrough discovery: virality isn't luck—it's storytelling calibrated to how brains process digital information, with repeatable formulas that separate 20-million-view content from 10,000-view failures. Full episode here. Insights here.

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