August 06, 2026

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Blast off. If a SpaceX rocket smashes into the moon and nobody sees it, does it make a sound? Probably not, because there’s no sound in space. Still, although no one was able to view it, scientists assured the Associated Press that a crash between the lunar surface and a wayward ship took place as expected yesterday. We won’t know for sure until we see if SpaceX left a note.

—Matty Merritt, Sam Klebanov, Molly Liebergall, Holly Van Leuven, Abby Rubenstein

In today’s newsletter, we’ll get into:

Disney’s deal with TikTok
Iran closing in on a Hormuz deal
Gene-edited beagles

Markets

Nasdaq

26,363.44

-0.83%

S&P

7,723.55

-0.17%

Dow

54,349.12

+0.49%

10-Year

4.617%

-1.0 bps

Bitcoin

$64,616.61

+0.61%

SpaceX

$108.27

-13.61%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:30pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: Stocks were as mixed as an unnecessarily complex mocktail yesterday, with the Dow clinching a record close for the second consecutive day, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq pulled down by slipping tech stocks. SpaceX sank as investors fretted over the big AI spending revealed in its first earnings report as a public company on Tuesday.

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Final hours to invest at $9.01/share. Frontieras reforms coal into six commodities, tapping a $2.1t opportunity*. NASDAQ ticker reserved. Invest by 11:59p.m PT.

TIME TO SCROLL

Disney and TikTok made a deal to share clips

Illustration of ring lights in the shape of a Mickey Mouse head, with smartphones showing Mickey's silhouette in them. Tinkerbell is flying through the lights sprinkling pixie dust, in a reference to the intro to most Disney movies.

Niv Bavarsky

A whole new world of Disneybounding deep dives has just opened up. Disney said yesterday during its earnings call that it has made a deal with TikTok that gives some of the platform’s creators access to its coveted IP, including photos and videos from its flagship properties, as well as those of Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar, and FX.

The House of Mouse also said it would feature “thoughtfully curated” user-generated content on its own short-form feed, Verts. Disney introduced the creatively named Verts last spring on Disney+, but so far, it’s been populated by clips from its own TV shows and movies. This marks the first time TikToks will appear off the platform.

Welcome to the clip show. Aside from getting Disney content in front of TikTok’s billions of users, the partnership is aimed at increasing watch time, with Disney hoping you’ll endlessly scroll on its own app when you don’t know what to watch. Netflix, Paramount+, HBO Max, and Peacock have also entered the short-form vertical content market.

Elsewhere in the company…

This was Josh D’Amaro’s second earnings call as CEO, and things seem to be mostly working out for the new boss:

Disney beat Wall Street’s expectations for operating income and earnings per share, but just missed revenue estimates. The company’s experiences arm, which includes theme parks and cruises, had a stellar quarter, reporting $10 billion in revenue—which is up 10% compared to the same period last year.
Disney also said it has already sold out of ad spots for next February’s Super Bowl. It was asking $10 million per 30 seconds, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Its theatrical releases are doing well…even when they’re not. Toy Story 5 was a hit. The live-action Moana and Mandalorian and Grogu were flops, but D’Amaro told analysts they still drove people to spend money elsewhere, like on merch and theme parks.

In Tomorrowland…the company said it is also looking into launching a free ad-supported streaming channel, like the successful Roku and Tubi. And even after recent layoffs, it said it’s still seeking to cut costs.—MM