Daily Brew // Morning Brew // Update

April 14, 2026

Mornin’, friends. Exciting news at the Brew: Some of your faves, Macy Gilliam and Morning Brew Daily’s Neal and Toby, have been nominated for Webby Awards (the “Best of the Internet,” as voted by fans). Macy is nominated for her stellar social series Out There, and Morning Brew Daily is nominated for Best Business Podcast.

They’ll be fired if they don’t win, so please take two minutes out of your day to vote here for Macy and vote here for Neal and Toby.

—Sam Klebanov, Dave Lozo, Molly Liebergall, Abby Rubenstein, Neal Freyman, Holly Van Leuven

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

Hollywood stars opposing Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros.
The US’ blockade of the Strait of Hormuz begins
Why Mark Zuckerberg is making an AI clone

MARKETS

Nasdaq

23,183.74

+1.23%

S&P

6,886.24

+1.02%

Dow

48,218.25

+0.63%

10-Year

4.297%

-2.0 bps

Bitcoin

$73,235.83

+2.68%

Oracle

$155.62

+12.70%

Data is provided by

*Stock data as of market close, cryptocurrency data as of 6:00pm ET. Here's what these numbers mean.

Markets: Investors acted like Ted Lasso and decided to look on the bright side yesterday, sending stocks surging on hopes that an Iran peace deal is coming soon after Trump said the country had reached out. Oracle was one of the biggest winners of a rally in software stocks.

“I OBJECT” MOMENT

Hollywood celebs protest Paramount-Warner merger

Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images, Gilbert Flores/Getty Images, Chad Salvador/Getty Images

Paramount’s planned takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery inspired a protest letter with a list of signatures that’d make any autograph collector swoon. Yesterday, an ensemble cast of over 1,000 Hollywood creators—including dozens of A-listers like Ben Stiller, Joaquin Phoenix, Kristen Stewart, and Tiffany Haddish—issued a statement expressing “unequivocal opposition” to the $111 billion deal.

The signatories maintain that further consolidation doesn’t herald a Hollywood ending for the film industry:

They’re concerned it’ll lead to fewer movie releases, resulting in industry job losses and leaving audiences with less choice for entertainment.
The letter notes that the merger “would reduce the number of US major film studios to just four.”

The concerns echo anxieties over Paramount’s plan to save investors $6 billion by eliminating duplication within the two companies, which has reportedly left Warner Bros. staff fearful of job cuts.

Paramount responded by saying that merging competencies will help the new megastudio compete and green-light more projects. It also reiterated CEO David Ellison’s vow that the merged behemoth would release at least 30 movies per year for the big screen.

It’s no golden age

Hollywood was worried even before the tectonic merger appeared on the seismographs. The amount of work available has already been reduced by productions moving to cheaper overseas locations and by streaming platforms prioritizing profitability over growing content libraries. The number of jobs in the industry has dropped by 30% since late 2022, according to government data.

The merger has also rankled pricey popcorn purveyors: Earlier this month, Cinema United, the trade group representing 31,000 US movie theater screens, asked state attorneys general to investigate the deal over competition concerns. The group said it worries fewer movie releases could endanger business—which is already struggling with weak box-office hauls.

Looking ahead…federal regulators are expected to green-light the merger, but state authorities could still challenge it. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has promised a “vigorous” review.—SK

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WORLD

Tour de headlines

Indranil Aditya/Getty Images

Trump says Iran wants a deal on first day of US Hormuz blockade. As the US began its blockade of ships from Iranian ports in the globally important choke point, President Trump threatened that any Iranian ships would be “immediately ELIMINATED” in the same manner the US has attacked alleged drug boats. Iran responded that if its ports are threatened, “no port in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman will be safe.” With a tenuous ceasefire still in place, Trump said Iran had reached out to seek a peace deal, something Iran did not immediately confirm. Vice President JD Vance, who was part of the recent talks, said yesterday that a deal was possible but “it’s up to the Iranians” to take the next step.

Goldman kicks off earnings season with a record quarter (that didn’t impress). Earnings season is officially here with Goldman Sachs reporting its Q1 numbers yesterday, and the rest of the big banks to follow. The investment bank’s profit jumped 19% to $5.63 billion, beating expectations as dealmaking and market volatility delivered Goldman’s second-best quarter ever for overall profit and revenue. But Goldman’s stock still fell nearly 2% as investors fretted over an unexpected drop in bond-trading revenue. CEO David Solomon criticized analysts for setting the bar too high.

Trump sparked controversy with Pope Leo feud and a Jesus-like AI image. President Trump faced backlash from some on the Christian right yesterday after beefing with the pontiff and briefly posting on Truth Social an image of himself that appeared to cast him as Jesus. The president criticized US-born Pope Leo XIV after the religious leader spoke out against the war in Iran, and the pope responded that he was “not afraid of the Trump administration” and would continue to spread the Gospel. Meanwhile, Trump also posted an AI-generated image that showed him in robes with light emanating from his hands tending to a sick man, but deleted it after it drew pushback. He said he thought the image portrayed him “as a doctor.”—AR

I’M CHUGGIN’ IT

Neon caffeine coming to McDonald’s

The Washington Post/Getty Images

The biggest burger chain in the world will start selling energy drinks, refreshers, and dirty sodas at its US locations later this year, following its competitors’ leads into the booming market of fun little beverages, the Wall Street Journal reported.

According to the WSJ:

New beverages include Red Bull Dragonberry Energizer, Mango Pineapple Refresher, and Dirty Dr. Pepper.
McDonald’s plans to price the new items lower than competing drinks from Starbucks, Sonic, and other chains with footholds in the $100 billion global beverage market.

McDonald’s is leaning into drinks—which tend to have higher profit margins than food—at a time when diners are increasingly downsizing their meal portions and, separately, being influenced by Utah culture. Cream- and syrup-filled dirty sodas went viral in recent years, thanks to the drink’s original creator, the Utah-based beverage chain Swig, which was featured in the reality show The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.

McDonald’s is somewhat late to the drink craze. Sonic started letting customers “make it dirty” in 2024, and Taco Bell added dirty sodas to its permanent menu last month. Meanwhile, Starbucks launched extra caffeinated refreshers last week. McDonald’s previously tested the waters with CosMc’s, a specialty beverage drive-through that opened in 2023 but closed last year.—ML

Name that veg

On National Gardening Day, here’s a trivia category about vegetables. Here in the US, we have names for certain veggies that are called something else in other parts of the world. We’ll give you an international name for a vegetable, and you have to name the American word for it.

Aubergine
Coriander
Swede
Courgette
Rocket

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ANSWER

Eggplant
Cilantro
Rutabaga
Zucchini
Arugula

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: persevere, meaning “to persist in spite of opposition or discouragement.” Thanks to Mike Borschuk from Dakota Dunes, SD, for pushing through with the suggestion. Submit another Word of the Day here.

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