European football club owners incited fan fury with their short-lived attempt to start a Super League. Could that be enough to push at least one ownership group out the door?

Spotify CEO and founder Daniel Ek is putting together a bid to acquire Arsenal with three legends of the London club: Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, and Patrick Vieira. 

Ek teased a potential bid on Friday, tweeting that he’s a lifelong Arsenal fan and would “be happy to throw my hat in the ring,” should current owners Kroenke Sports Enterprises be open to selling. 

That could please the roughly 2,000 fans who gathered at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium that same day to protest the team’s owners. The team board apologized for its involvement in the Super League.

However, it’s not at all clear if KSE is looking to move on. Josh Kroenke, an executive at KSE, said on Thursday that the group has no intention of selling the club, which it took full control of in 2018. 

Denver-based KSE also owns:

• Los Angeles Rams
• Denver Nuggets
• Colorado Avalanche
• Teams in MLS and the National Lacrosse League
• Esports teams in the Overwatch and Call of Duty leagues

Arsenal was valued by Forbes at $2.8 billion this month, but Ek can afford them. The 38-year old Swede owns 9% of Spotify and is worth a reported $4.8 billion.

Major food and beverage corporations are pumping up their portfolios with nutrition supplement companies.

British food, drink, and beauty product conglomerate Unilever is acquiring Onnit for an undisclosed sum. 

In addition to nutritional bars, powders, drinks, and supplements, Onnit sells workout equipment and “nootropics” like its Alpha Brain powder, which has purported benefits to one’s cognitive abilities.

The company joins Lipton, Heilman’s, Dove, Axe/Lynx, and many others under the very large Unilever umbrella, with its $94.1 billion in total assets.

Onnit has numerous celebrity and athlete endorsers, including podcast host and fighting enthusiast Joe Rogan, golfer Scott Stallings, Olympic skier Bode Miller, Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews, and several MMA and UFC fighters. 

Nutritional supplement companies have been hot lately.

• Nestle is in talks to acquire vitamin and nutrition supplement maker The Bountiful Company, adding it to a nutrition sector shopping spree over the last two years that has brought in Persona, Vital Proteins, and Freshly.
• Unilever has also been boosting its nutrition options, acquiring Horlicks, Liquid I.V., and SmartyPants Vitamins since the start of 2020.
• Bayer acquired nutrition company Care/Of last November.

These corporations may be trying to ride a rising wave: The nutritional supplement market is expected to nearly double from $151.9 billion this year to $272.4 billion in 2028, according to Grand View Research.

While you wait for your electric car to charge, why not play a video game projected by your headlights from the comfort of your front seat?

The all-electric Audi A6 E-tron concept car was revealed this week at Auto Shanghai 2021 and its digital matrix LED headlights deliver a video feed meant for seamless gaming. 

Audi has developed a racing game specifically for the car where owners control the game using their smartphones. The game allows owners to kill time during the car’s recharging process by projecting on blank walls.

Audi hopes the move will entice gamers with disposable income to purchase the luxury model when it’s available in late 2022.  The company took a slight hit due to the pandemic last year, reporting FY 2020 revenue of $2.04 billion compared to $2.23 billion for FY 2019.

Auto manufacturers have incorporated gaming in the past. 

In a partnership with Twitch, Lexus revealed its “Gamers’ IS” in February, a one-of-one car modified for gamers that includes a PC installed in the trunk. 

Tesla owners can already play titles like Atari’s “Asteroids” in their vehicles. Elon Musk says the next Model S will be able to play CD Projekt’s “Cyberpunk 2077,” which sold 13.7 million copies in less than a month last year despite being riddled with bugs.

Many athletes put money into health and fitness startups, and several others have invested in a different area of wellness: mental health.

While wellness startups attracted less VC investment overall in the first half of 2020, mental health startups brought in $932 million, more than the previous three years combined. 

Earlier this month, U.S. Women’s National Team star Megan Rapinoe and Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks were part of a $10 million Series A round for mental health care startup Real. Real provides therapy, events, and mental health tracking for a monthly subscription.

Rapinoe, who is also an advisor to the company, praised Real for making mental health services more accessible when they can often be challenging to find.

Decorated Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps has been vocal about his ongoing mental health battles, including substance abuse, depression, and suicidal thoughts. He explored his challenges in the HBO documentary “The Weight of Gold,” which he narrated and co-produced. 

Phelps is now a spokesperson for the talk therapy app Talkspace and a board member for Medibio, a company that diagnoses depression and other mental health issues.

Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love is also making an effort to fight stigmas against talking about mental health publicly. 

Love, who experienced a panic attack during a game in 2017, has been vocal about his challenges and invested in a seed round for Coa, a “mental health fitness” company.