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The Seattle Mariners will be repping Nintendo this season. The team announced that starting with the season opener on Thursday, team members will be wearing Nintendo patches on their jerseys. It’s the first time the team has ever had a jersey sponsorship. The Mariners promoted the partnership in a video posted to social media showing center fielder Julio Rodríguez wearing the new jersey and grabbing a Mariners ball cap that’s sitting next to a red Mario hat in a locker. Major League Baseball announced in 2022 that it would begin allowing teams to put sponsorships on their uniforms. Some teams quickly capitalized: The New York Yankees signed Starr Insurance, and the Kansas City Royals signed the convenience store and gas station chain QT. For the Mariners, the Nintendo patches are just the latest in a long-running partnership with the video game company that goes back more than three decades to 1992, when Nintendo of America purchased a controlling stake in the team. Though most of Nintendo of America’s stake was sold in 2016, the company still owns about 10% of the team. “Nintendo and the Mariners have been inextricably linked since 1992,” Kevin Martinez, the baseball teams president of business operations, said in a statement. “Now, each time the Mariners take the field, our jersey sleeves will help serve as a reminder of all that Nintendo of America has done for the Northwest community and the team.” [Photo: Seattle Mariners] Mariners players will wear white jerseys with the red-and-white Nintendo “racetrack” logo on the sleeve for home games. For away games, their turquoise jerseys will feature a red patch for the Switch 2, the Nintendo console that comes out next month. For baseball fans unhappy with corporate sponsorships finally making their way to players’ jerseys, the Nintendo patches may be unwelcome news. But at least for Mariners fans the team’s first ad might just be something they actually want to buy.
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E-Commerce
In early 2024, Ben Collins was contemplating the future of the media businessand his place in it. He was in the process of resigning after spending six years as a senior reporter at NBC News, exhausted by the disinformation beat that took him to some of the darkest and most disturbing corners of the internet. It hadnt helped that in December 2022 NBC News had suspended Collins from the Elon Musk beat following his highly critical coverage of the gazillionaires acquisition of Twitter. The media landscape looked bleak. Layoffs were decimating storied media titles like Sports Illustrated, and Collins was hearing rumors that G/O Media, the holding company owned by private equity firm Great Hill Partners, was looking to shed 36-year-old satirical news publication The Onion from its portfolio. (G/O had dumped Jezebel and was about to purge other titles, including Deadspin and The A.V. Club.) As a joke, Collins posted a message on Bluesky: So uh how do we buy The Onion? Two media friends (Leila Brillson and Danielle Strle) jumped on board, and they quickly joined forces with another Onion lover, Twilio cofounder and former CEO Jeff Lawson, who also just so happens to be a billionaire. By late April 2024, the team had closed the deal. Heres how it felt from the inside. Ben Collins, CEO There was this article saying that The Onion is aggressively for sale. I knew that Elon Musk had been dreaming for a long time of owning it. And I was like, If The Onion is in his hands, just give up on American society. Hes the most humorless person on earth. So I [posted on Bluesky], Who wants to buy The Onion? I think I have $600. I had no idea how to buy a company. Im not a guy who buys stuff. All my shirts are from the dollar store. Its a huge problem. But Leila Brillson was sitting at home. She had just had a baby three weeks before. She was the first female executive editor for Playboy and then went to work at Netflix and Disney and TikTok. Leila Brillson, chief marketing officer I think the reason Ben picked up my call is that I had just moved back to Chicago, which is where Im from. The Onion is based in Chicago. My thought process was, Huh, its for sale. It cant be that much. Followed by, I bet they have an incredible social footprint. Followed by, Theyre in Chicago. Hey, Im in Chicago. I think he thought I was much more connected than I am. The best thing I brought to the table was that I was the only one who lived in Chicago. Also, my sister is an M&A lawyer. [Paula Brillson is now general counsel at The Onion.] Danielle Strle, chief product officer I had a lot of freedom after Tumblr [where Strle went from employee No. 8 to director of product] to just work on fun projects. I had helped a friend run a cheese shopI was the chief technology officer of New Yorks best cheese shop. When Ben called, I was immediately interested. I remember seeing The Onion on newsstands in New York right after 9/11, and I was like, Wow, The Onion is here. Were going to bounce back. My first call was to Scott Kidder [now acting as The Onions CFO]. Hes a true wizard on the spreadsheets. If youre going to try and buy something, youre going to need a powerful set of spreadsheets. Jeff Lawson, Owner Jeff Bezos bought The [Washington] Post, and Marc Benioff bought Time. The universe would just be right if I bought The Onion. This sort of started like a joke but then, as we looked into it more, it was like, its hit some hard times under the last owner and needs some revitalization. So it wasnt just a matter of, I could buy The Onion, [but] hey, we could save The Onion. There was a real opportunity here to take this modern American institution and help it thrive in a new media environment. An environment where we need satire more than ever.
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E-Commerce
Its not every day that microbial genetics leads to a chic influencer party in Los Angeles. Yet there stood Patrick Torbey, the lone scientist in a plant-filled wine bar, addressing a roomful of stylish guests nibbling artisan crackers topped with melted Brie. Torbey was there to introduce the first product from Neoplants, the Paris-based startup he cofounded six years ago with Lionel Mora, a former Google product marketing manager. Their debut offering, called Power Drops, promises a biological air filterhence the appeal for wellness influencers. For the science-minded, theyre genetically modified soil bacteria that work with plants to absorb and metabolize toxic chemicals commonly found indoors. Weve developed a natural air purifier, Torbey says. By pouring in these bacteria, you increase by about 30 times the air pollution efficiency of one plant. These pollutants, known as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pass through microscopic pores in plant leaves and exit through their roots. When Power Drops are mixed with water and added to a planter, the bacteria cling to the roots and feed on the VOCsproducing nutrients for the plant in the process. The result: a 30% reduction in airborne toxins in a 160-square-foot room. [Photo: Neoplants] Neoplants originally planned to launch Power Drops in January, just as wildfires engulfed parts of Los Angeles. Instead, the company postponed its event and added a new initiative, CleanAirforLA.com, offering a free months supply to support recovery efforts. We have a technology that can solve a big part of the issue that’s going to linger for a long time, which is that VOCs emitted by these fires will be absorbed by [fabrics and furniture in] every home and continuously reemitted, Torbey says. This is really using nature as the technology to solve that problem in a sustainable way. [Rendering: Neoplants] According to the World Health Organization, indoor pollution accounts for an estimated 3 million deaths annually. It can also impact focus and productivity and exacerbate respiratory issues like asthma. Torbey suggests putting the treated plants in bedrooms as a complement to HEPA filters that block particulates larger than VOCs, which are only several atoms in size. It takes much longer, but it’s much more sustainable because there’s no electricity, he says. It’s always on in the background. Among the event’s attendees was The Good Place star Kristen Bell, who came away smitten with the companys naturaland in her case, foolproofapproach. I have little kids, so Ive been very concerned with educating myself on the air quality post-fires. I thought this was a very smart way to make it easy, affordable, and sustainable for people, she says. I don’t have a green thumb; I have a black thumb. The plants come [in planters] with reservoirs where I don’t have to remember to water [them] more than once a month. Thats extremely helpful for someone like me. Genetics as a tool Neoplants grew from Torbeys desire to apply his genetic engineering PhD to something beyond academia, Big Pharma, or agriculture. Everybody has this kind of negative feeling towards genetic modification, he says. But genetics is just a tool, and I wanted to show people how we can use this tool to have a pure, positive impact without any negative consequences. He met Mora through the Paris division of the global talent incubator Entrepreneur First, which introduces scientists and businesspeople. Theyve since raised $20 million from two fundraising rounds through True Ventures and Heartcore Capital and expanded to a 20-member staff. Neoplants founder Patrick Torbey (center) with Clean Air Campaign supporters [Photo: Neoplants] The science, however, didnt come easy. When boosting plants ability to absorb VOCs proved too complex and time-consuming, the team pivoted to microbes. Bacteria, unlike plants, can be modified and tested within a weekand they clear regulatory hurdles faster. Neoplants engineered two bacteria strains that naturally metabolize formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, and xylene, turning them into sugars, amino acids, and lipids. Then, using directed evolutonexposing them to increasingly toxic environmentsthey bred super-efficient strains. Its kind of a boot camp for bacteria, says Torbey, crediting Mora and his Google training for the quick iteration process. We were trying to go at the speed of software using biotechnology. [Photo: Susan Karlin] Power Drops contain 10 billion dehydrated bacteria per packet, activated in water for monthly doses. They work best with leafy, soil-based indoor plantsnot succulents, hydroponics, or sandy soil. While theyre not for edible greens, theyre nontoxic to humans and pets. And although the bacteria improve soil quality, the effect on plant growth is minimalfor now. Boosting growth is the next focus for Neoplants. From the ground to space Meanwhile, as its bacterial research raced ahead, Neoplants continued modifying plants to metabolize VOCs without the need for bacteria by isolating the microbial genes responsible and inserting them into plant genomes. Having finally achieved that, the company is now awaiting approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a process not yet impacted by recent federal layoffs. The company will also avoid import tariffs by keeping its R&D operations in Paris and product production in the U.S. [Photo: Neoplants] Down the road, Torbey hopes to apply Neoplants research to other environmental issueshere on Earth and even for future space habitats. One goal is modifying plants to absorb nitrogen from the air instead of using nitrogen fertilizers, which exacerbate the rise in nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas. Hes also spoken to the European Space Agency about how his research might assist its MELiSSA life support project.
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E-Commerce
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