• Tip News
  • Posts
  • Influencer Stuck In Antarctica Cuts Deal

Influencer Stuck In Antarctica Cuts Deal

Your unbiased daily news brief

August 12, 2025

In partnership with

Good Tuesday morning. Taylor Swift announced her upcoming 12th album — The Life of a Showgirl — at 12:12 a.m. ET. Have a great day!

In Today’s Brief

  • U.S. Steel: Fatal explosion

  • Canada: Wildfire season

  • Texas: AG speculation

  • Tariffs: China delay

  • UFC: Media rights

... and more

First time reading? Sign up here

Learn from this investor’s $100m mistake

In 2010, a Grammy-winning artist passed on investing $200K in an emerging real estate disruptor. That stake could be worth $100+ million today.

One year later, another real estate disruptor, Zillow, went public. This time, everyday investors had regrets, missing pre-IPO gains.

Now, a new real estate innovator, Pacaso – founded by a former Zillow exec – is disrupting a $1.3T market. And unlike the others, you can invest in Pacaso as a private company.

Pacaso’s co-ownership model has generated $1B+ in luxury home sales and service fees, earned $110M+ in gross profits to date, and received backing from the same VCs behind Uber, Venmo, and eBay. They even reserved the Nasdaq ticker PCSO.

Paid advertisement for Pacaso’s Regulation A offering. Read the offering circular at invest.pacaso.com. Reserving a ticker symbol is not a guarantee that the company will go public. Listing on the NASDAQ is subject to approvals.

The Top Tip

Legal freeze

A 19-year-old American is now able to leave the coldest continent after a months-long ordeal.

  • The backstory: Ethan Guo launched a plan last year to fly to all seven continents while raising funds for childhood cancer research. Chilean authorities alleged he provided them with a fake flight plan in June and landed in Antarctica without permission.

  • In limbo: Guo was hit with criminal charges in the matter. He spent six weeks living at a Chilean military base after being ordered to not leave the South American country’s territory — conditions left him unable to leave for warmer climates.

  • The news: A judge dropped the charges yesterday after Guo agreed to make a $30K donation to a childhood cancer charity within 30 days. He was also ordered to leave Chilean territory immediately and cannot re-enter the country for three years. It is unclear whether he will be allowed to leave in his Cessna if conditions permit.

Quick Tips

U.S. News

  • Two people died after an explosion at a U.S. Steel plant in western Pennsylvania. Ten people were injured in the blast about 15 miles outside of Pittsburgh; five suffered critical injuries (More)

  • Tropical Storm Erin will likely become the first Atlantic hurricane this year. Meteorologists said it is too early to forecast whether it will hit the U.S. (More)

  • President Donald Trump placed Washington D.C. police under federal control. He also deployed the National Guard to the city; the Home Rule Act says the president can only act for 30 days and will need congressional approval to extend control (More)

World News

  • Canada's current wildfire season is already the second-worst on record. Over 470 blazes are considered out of control; scientists say climate change is exacerbating the fires (More)

  • Niger is investigating whether a 54-pound Martian meteorite was illegally smuggled out of the African nation. The rock sold for over $5M at auction last month; Sotheby's denies the accusations (More)

  • President Trump said Ukraine and Russia will have to swap land to end their war. He claimed he will try to restore some Ukrainian territories currently occupied by the Kremlin (More)

Political News

  • Texas Rep. Chip Roy is reportedly mulling a bid to become the state's attorney general. Current AG and fellow Republican Ken Paxton is seeking the GOP Senate nomination next year (More)

  • New York City mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa asked President Trump to stay out of the race. The Republican said his presence could energize Democrat Zohran Mamdani's campaign (More)

  • Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to tab Jay Collins as lieutenant governor. The former Green Beret could become a gubernatorial candidate next year; DeSantis is term-limited (More)

Business & Markets

  • Major indexes closed lower yesterday. The Dow Jones dropped 200 points as the markets await new inflation numbers later this week (Dow -0.45%, S&P 500 -0.25%, Nasdaq -0.30%).

  • President Trump extended the deadline to hit China with high tariffs by another 90 days. The delay now runs through mid-November; the president also announced gold will not be subject to tariffs (More | More)

  • The Justice Department supports revoking the Delta-Aeromexico antitrust exemption. The Transportation Department has argued the airlines' joint venture may stifle competition (More)

Entertainment & Sports

  • UFC struck a seven-year, $7.7B media rights deal with Paramount. All of the MMA circuit's cards will be available to the media giant's streaming platform subscribers, ending its pay-per-view business model (More)

  • Texas is ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press' preseason college football poll. Ohio State is No. 2; the teams will meet in the season opener on Aug. 30 in Columbus (More)

  • Shrek 5's release date was pushed back. The latest installment in the animated franchise will be released on June 30, 2027; it was initially supposed to come out next year on Dec. 23 (More)