INDIAN STAR BACKS BLOCKCHAIN-BASED ‘COCKFIGHTING’ GAME
▶ Robert Downey Jr finds flavour in plant-based investments and Pink Floyd’s catalogue could fetch in excess of $500 million,
Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor Ahuja has invested in the blockchain-based game MechaFightClub (MFC), she said on social media last week.
The company developing the game said Kapoor Ahuja’s experience, audience and expertise would help it bring MFC to India and the Indian diaspora, and work to establish MFC as the premiere P2E experience in the UK and parts of North America.
“I’ve grown up playing video games and love everything about them. The art, the storytelling, the creativity that goes into developing a game that is exciting today and also stands the test of time is something that’s always intrigued me,” she said on Twitter.
“All this drew me to MFC, and what’s more groundbreaking is how MFC is bringing the video gaming industry into the next chapter of Web3.”
The play-to-earn game is being launched by Irreverent Labs, a developer of artificially intelligent entertainment products. Players can buy and sell mechanical roosters in the game, which is inspired by the controversial street sport of cockfighting. Non-fungible tokens are used to verify that each chicken is unique.
The investment was part of a recent Series A funding round joined by venture firms a16z and Solana Ventures, as well as Michael Ovitz, founder of talent management company Creative Artists Agency.
“Sonam is one of the biggest film stars on Earth, reaching an audience of over a billion people with blockbusters like Sanju [at the time of its release, the eighth-most successful box-office in Bollywood history] and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo [at the time of its release, the sixth-most successful movie in Bollywood history],” Irreverent Labs said.
Kapoor Ahuja, 36, has a net worth of $13 million, according to estimates by Indian media websites. She and her husband, Anand Ahuja, own VegNonVeg, a multi-brand sneaker store with outlets in Mumbai and Delhi.
The star has her own fashion brand, Rheson, which she launched in 2017 with her sister, Rhea.
Ahuja, a garment and fashion entrepreneur, also owns clothing label Bhane.
The couple reportedly share a home in London and own a bungalow in Delhi.
Robert Downey Jr
Actor Robert Downey Jr’s FootPrint Coalition Ventures has invested in Motif FoodWorks, a food technology company in Boston that also has a line of plant-based foods.
The two companies will work on developing new plant-based food forms with the aim of moving beyond products that seek to replicate the taste of meat.
“If plant-based foods are going to make a real impact on sustainability, we need an approach that’s both delicious and nutritious,” said Downey Jr. “By focusing on both better tasting and healthier options, Motif is not only making a difference in products today, but also reimagining the future of tomorrow’s plant-based foods.”
In the US alone, retail plantbased food sales grew three times faster than total food sales to $7.4 billion last year, according to data from market intelligence firm Spins.
FootPrint Coalition invests in robotics and nanotechnology to help clean up the planet. It lists 16 investments on its website, including nuclear energy company Commonwealth Fusion Systems, mealworm protein producer Ynsect and bamboo toilet paper manufacturer CloudPaper.
Downey Jr’s net worth is estimated at $300m, in large part due to his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
While he earned only $500,000 for the first Iron Man movie, he earned up to $80m for his role in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Wealth-tracking website Celebrity Net Worth puts his income from playing Iron Man in the various Marvel movies at $345.5m. Besides his investments in FootPrint Coalition, Downey Jr, 57, is thought to own at least three homes in the state of California.
Pink Floyd
Progressive rock band Pink Floyd are reportedly in talks to sell their recorded music catalogue in what could be the biggest single-act catalogue sale at an estimated hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Bloomberg.
Among the companies competing for ownership of the collection of rock classics are Warner Music Group and KKRbacked BMG.
Bids have surpassed the estimated $500m Sony Music paid for Bruce Springsteen’s entire catalogue in December, The Financial Times reports. The band have not publicly commented on the possible sale.
Warner acquired control of the catalogue when it bought the Parlophone Label Group from Universal Music Group in 2013. It paid £487m (about $765m at the time).
It is unclear how current and former band members – or the estates of those who are deceased – will benefit from the sale.
Pink Floyd were formed in 1965 by Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters and Richard Wright. David Gilmour joined in 1967. Barrett left the band the following year. He died in 2006 and Wright in 2008. Waters and drummer Mason are touring this year as solo artists.
The market for music rights appears to be softening, but Pink Floyd’s strong body of work should prove resilient.
The band have sold more than 250 million records, including box sets and compilations. Its 1973 release, The Dark Side of the Moon, has sold 50 million copies and is the second-largest selling album of all time, after Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
Collectively, the band’s members have an estimated net worth of $800m, principally through income from music sales and touring.
Waters is estimated to be the richest, with a net worth of $310m, according to Celebrity Net Worth. He is a big draw on the touring circuit, with his The Wall Live Tour 20102013 grossing $460m over 220 performances, with 4.1 million tickets sold.
Together with pop star Shakira, he bought a $16m island in the Bahamas to create a retreat for artists. Gilmour and Mason are estimated to each have a net worth of $180m. Wright’s estate is valued at $70m and Barrett’s at $5m.
Mehmet Oz
Celebrity heart surgeon Mehmet Oz has valued his assets at between $104m and $422m. The tally could make him one of the wealthiest members of the US Senate if he wins a tightly contested Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary election.
The figures were published by The Philadelphia Inquirer. The wide range is because the US Senate requests each asset be valued within a certain dollar bracket. Oz’s assets include homes, stock and life insurance. A significant source of his income is The Dr Oz Show, the long-running syndicated daytime television programme show that his Oz Media company co-produces with Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions and Sony Pictures Television.
He filed earnings of $10m last year. Nearly all of it was salary from his TV show and income from his media company. He ended the show this year to concentrate on his Senate run.
Oz, 61, has at least $11.5m in non-public stock in Asplundh, the tree-trimming company owned by his wife’s family, as well as at least $6m in non-public stock in retail chain Wawa and at least $5m in non-public stock in travel agency Five Star Travel.
In addition, he has tens of millions of dollars in equities, including stocks such as Amazon, Alphabet and Microsoft.
The filing listed a home in Palm Beach, Florida, valued at between $5m and $25m, two homes valued at more than $1m each in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, overlooking Manhattan, as well as a third property of a similar value in suburban Philadelphia.
He also has property interests in New York City, Boston and a cattle farm in Florida. Oz valued the cattle between $250,000 and $500,000.
Oz has dual Turkish and American nationality.
He said in March he would renounce his Turkish citizenship if elected.