SURREAL FOUNDER

WHAT HAS MARC LORE BEEN UP TO IN THE FOUR YEARS SINCE HE LAUNCHED WONDER? SUFFICE TO SAY, IT’S PROBABLY MORE THAN MOST OF US.

SINCE STARTING WONDER in 2018, Lore (above) kept his job at Walmart for two more years; in 2021, he bought the Minnesota Timberwolves with friend Alex Rodriguez; in 2022, he backed friend Vinit Bharara on Mojo, a revival of their sports stock market idea. “I think it can be massive,” says Bharara, who’s raised nearly $100 million for the venture.

LORE HAS INVESTED in or helped launch several firms, including Archer, an electric flying-taxi startup (above) that went public via SPAC in 2021; Wizard, a “conversational commerce” venture that lets consumers buy digitally via chat; a sports-ticketing firm called Jump; and a nuclear-fusion company called Focused Energy.

IN 2021, LORE unveiled a plan for a utopian desert city of five million people (location TBD). Called Telosa, the city will be based on an economic theory in which a foundation owns the underlying land and kicks its proceeds back to the people in the form of health care, education, and other services.