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Mercor’s Brendan Foody calls out Sequoia over ‘dual-pricing’ valuation tricks | TechCrunch
In recent days, founders and founders-turned-investors took to X to share horror stories about being mistreated by VCs. Their complaints ranged from VCs falling asleep during pitch meetings to investors suggesting a founder fire a co-founder.

Brendan Foody, co-founder of the AI talent platform Mercor, which was last valued at  billion, went so far as to call out Sequoia, arguably one of the most elite VC firms in the world.







“The “sequoia scam” is worse than a single horror story,” Foody wrote on X. “in the last 6 [months] ive seen a half dozen rounds where sequoia invests in 2 tranches. everyone pretends they only did the higher valuation. founders misrepresent this to their employees & then shop it to angels too.”

TechCrunch has previously reported on VCs investing in the same round at different valuations. Under this mechanism, the lead VC firm invests a significant chunk of its capital at a lower, preferential valuation, while putting a much smaller portion of capital in at a drastically higher price. The massive “headline” valuation that gets announced manufactures the perception of a dominant market winner, masking the fact that the lead investor’s actual average entry price was significantly lower.

The disparity can be stark. For example, when the AI-driven IT helpdesk startup Serval announced a  million Series B at a  billion valuation, the announcement didn’t tell the whole story. According to The Wall Street Journal, Sequoia’s actual lowest entry point valued the company at just 0 million — less than half the headline figure. The gap between those two numbers is the gap between perception and reality that Foody is pointing at.

Serval isn’t alone. At Aaru, a startup that uses AI to simulate user behavior for market research, lead investor Redpoint backed the company at a 0 million valuation despite an announced  billion headline price.

Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire pushed back on Foody’s characterization directly. “TBH I have seen some of this behavior but I think it’s unfair to call it the ‘Sequoia scam,’” Maguire wrote in response to Foody on X. “This has happened approximately five times during my seven years at Sequoia. What happens is other investors are willing to pay a high price for a hot company — usually AI — at multiples above what we’re willing to pay. So we try to decouple the company-building relationship with our partner from the capital, and this leads to two tranches at different valuations in close succession. 


“I’m not aware of anything shady here,” Maguire continued, “but if you’ve seen it I’d love to know. VC is a repeated game, so it just doesn’t make sense for us to try to mislead people. And if anyone has, I’d love to know. And in general, congrats on the success of Mercor — it was a miss for us.”

Maguire’s response frames the practice as a market reality rather than a deliberate maneuver — Sequoia, he suggests, is simply unwilling to pay what competitors will pay for the hottest deals, so it structures its participation differently. Whether that explanation fully holds up depends on a question Maguire doesn’t address: what founders are telling the people who don’t already know about the lower tranche.

Although Sequoia appears to use this pricing mechanism most frequently, Foody acknowledged it isn’t the only firm using this tactic. And while the dual-pricing structures certainly inflate a startup’s perceived worth and help attract top talent, calling the practice a “scam” may be going too far.







That’s because employee stock options should theoretically be priced based on the blended value of all tranches — not the headline number — according to Jason Woo, partner in valuation and financial modeling at Armanino, whose firm provides the independent 409A appraisals startups use to set option prices. A 409A is supposed to reflect a company’s fair market value, giving employees a strike price that’s insulated from whatever valuation gets announced in a press release.

There’s a catch: 409A valuations are widely understood to skew low. Because a lower strike price means a smaller tax bill for the company, there is a structural incentive to keep that number down. The appraisal that’s supposed to protect employees from an inflated headline valuation is also, by design, not trying particularly hard to reach the top of the range.

The angel question is more complicated. Unlike employees, angels are writing checks, not receiving options. There is no independent appraiser standing between an angel investor and whatever number a founder chooses to share.

The dual-pricing structure is just one of way VCs and founders game the perception of success in a hyper-competitive market. Another, more pervasive tactic involves manipulating or outright overstating annual recurring revenue (ARR). 

The VC Niko Bonatsos, a longtime veteran of General Catalyst who more recently founded Verdict Capital, addressed this issue during one of TechCrunch’s events in Athens last month. “We [at Verdict] mostly invest before metrics, before product, before the company [has fully taken shape] but I do have a past portfolio, and sometimes the conversations are telling. I’ll get a call or an email with a very high ARR number. I’ll think: I didn’t remember that company doing so well. So I reach out to the founder: ‘What happened? Why are the numbers so strong?’ And the answer is: ‘Oh yeah, it’s 365 times the revenue we made yesterday because one of our campaigns hit.’ So yeah, some of these terms have lost meaning.”

Foody declined to comment further. Sequoia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

 — With additional reporting from Connie Loizos


When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#Mercors #Brendan #Foody #calls #Sequoia #dualpricing #valuation #tricks #TechCrunchMercor,Sequoia Partners,Valuations

Mercor’s Brendan Foody calls out Sequoia over ‘dual-pricing’ valuation tricks | TechCrunch

In recent days, founders and founders-turned-investors took to X to share horror stories about being mistreated by VCs. Their complaints ranged from VCs falling asleep during pitch meetings to investors suggesting a founder fire a co-founder.

Brendan Foody, co-founder of the AI talent platform Mercor, which was last valued at $10 billion, went so far as to call out Sequoia, arguably one of the most elite VC firms in the world.

“The “sequoia scam” is worse than a single horror story,” Foody wrote on X. “in the last 6 [months] ive seen a half dozen rounds where sequoia invests in 2 tranches. everyone pretends they only did the higher valuation. founders misrepresent this to their employees & then shop it to angels too.”

TechCrunch has previously reported on VCs investing in the same round at different valuations. Under this mechanism, the lead VC firm invests a significant chunk of its capital at a lower, preferential valuation, while putting a much smaller portion of capital in at a drastically higher price. The massive “headline” valuation that gets announced manufactures the perception of a dominant market winner, masking the fact that the lead investor’s actual average entry price was significantly lower.

The disparity can be stark. For example, when the AI-driven IT helpdesk startup Serval announced a $75 million Series B at a $1 billion valuation, the announcement didn’t tell the whole story. According to The Wall Street Journal, Sequoia’s actual lowest entry point valued the company at just $400 million — less than half the headline figure. The gap between those two numbers is the gap between perception and reality that Foody is pointing at.

Serval isn’t alone. At Aaru, a startup that uses AI to simulate user behavior for market research, lead investor Redpoint backed the company at a $450 million valuation despite an announced $1 billion headline price.

Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire pushed back on Foody’s characterization directly. “TBH I have seen some of this behavior but I think it’s unfair to call it the ‘Sequoia scam,’” Maguire wrote in response to Foody on X. “This has happened approximately five times during my seven years at Sequoia. What happens is other investors are willing to pay a high price for a hot company — usually AI — at multiples above what we’re willing to pay. So we try to decouple the company-building relationship with our partner from the capital, and this leads to two tranches at different valuations in close succession.

“I’m not aware of anything shady here,” Maguire continued, “but if you’ve seen it I’d love to know. VC is a repeated game, so it just doesn’t make sense for us to try to mislead people. And if anyone has, I’d love to know. And in general, congrats on the success of Mercor — it was a miss for us.”

Maguire’s response frames the practice as a market reality rather than a deliberate maneuver — Sequoia, he suggests, is simply unwilling to pay what competitors will pay for the hottest deals, so it structures its participation differently. Whether that explanation fully holds up depends on a question Maguire doesn’t address: what founders are telling the people who don’t already know about the lower tranche.

Although Sequoia appears to use this pricing mechanism most frequently, Foody acknowledged it isn’t the only firm using this tactic. And while the dual-pricing structures certainly inflate a startup’s perceived worth and help attract top talent, calling the practice a “scam” may be going too far.

That’s because employee stock options should theoretically be priced based on the blended value of all tranches — not the headline number — according to Jason Woo, partner in valuation and financial modeling at Armanino, whose firm provides the independent 409A appraisals startups use to set option prices. A 409A is supposed to reflect a company’s fair market value, giving employees a strike price that’s insulated from whatever valuation gets announced in a press release.

There’s a catch: 409A valuations are widely understood to skew low. Because a lower strike price means a smaller tax bill for the company, there is a structural incentive to keep that number down. The appraisal that’s supposed to protect employees from an inflated headline valuation is also, by design, not trying particularly hard to reach the top of the range.

The angel question is more complicated. Unlike employees, angels are writing checks, not receiving options. There is no independent appraiser standing between an angel investor and whatever number a founder chooses to share.

The dual-pricing structure is just one of way VCs and founders game the perception of success in a hyper-competitive market. Another, more pervasive tactic involves manipulating or outright overstating annual recurring revenue (ARR).

The VC Niko Bonatsos, a longtime veteran of General Catalyst who more recently founded Verdict Capital, addressed this issue during one of TechCrunch’s events in Athens last month. “We [at Verdict] mostly invest before metrics, before product, before the company [has fully taken shape] but I do have a past portfolio, and sometimes the conversations are telling. I’ll get a call or an email with a very high ARR number. I’ll think: I didn’t remember that company doing so well. So I reach out to the founder: ‘What happened? Why are the numbers so strong?’ And the answer is: ‘Oh yeah, it’s 365 times the revenue we made yesterday because one of our campaigns hit.’ So yeah, some of these terms have lost meaning.”

Foody declined to comment further. Sequoia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

— With additional reporting from Connie Loizos

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#Mercors #Brendan #Foody #calls #Sequoia #dualpricing #valuation #tricks #TechCrunchMercor,Sequoia Partners,Valuations

In recent days, founders and founders-turned-investors took to X to share horror stories about being mistreated by VCs. Their complaints ranged from VCs falling asleep during pitch meetings to investors suggesting a founder fire a co-founder.

Brendan Foody, co-founder of the AI talent platform Mercor, which was last valued at $10 billion, went so far as to call out Sequoia, arguably one of the most elite VC firms in the world.

“The “sequoia scam” is worse than a single horror story,” Foody wrote on X. “in the last 6 [months] ive seen a half dozen rounds where sequoia invests in 2 tranches. everyone pretends they only did the higher valuation. founders misrepresent this to their employees & then shop it to angels too.”

TechCrunch has previously reported on VCs investing in the same round at different valuations. Under this mechanism, the lead VC firm invests a significant chunk of its capital at a lower, preferential valuation, while putting a much smaller portion of capital in at a drastically higher price. The massive “headline” valuation that gets announced manufactures the perception of a dominant market winner, masking the fact that the lead investor’s actual average entry price was significantly lower.

The disparity can be stark. For example, when the AI-driven IT helpdesk startup Serval announced a $75 million Series B at a $1 billion valuation, the announcement didn’t tell the whole story. According to The Wall Street Journal, Sequoia’s actual lowest entry point valued the company at just $400 million — less than half the headline figure. The gap between those two numbers is the gap between perception and reality that Foody is pointing at.

Serval isn’t alone. At Aaru, a startup that uses AI to simulate user behavior for market research, lead investor Redpoint backed the company at a $450 million valuation despite an announced $1 billion headline price.

Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire pushed back on Foody’s characterization directly. “TBH I have seen some of this behavior but I think it’s unfair to call it the ‘Sequoia scam,’” Maguire wrote in response to Foody on X. “This has happened approximately five times during my seven years at Sequoia. What happens is other investors are willing to pay a high price for a hot company — usually AI — at multiples above what we’re willing to pay. So we try to decouple the company-building relationship with our partner from the capital, and this leads to two tranches at different valuations in close succession.

“I’m not aware of anything shady here,” Maguire continued, “but if you’ve seen it I’d love to know. VC is a repeated game, so it just doesn’t make sense for us to try to mislead people. And if anyone has, I’d love to know. And in general, congrats on the success of Mercor — it was a miss for us.”

Maguire’s response frames the practice as a market reality rather than a deliberate maneuver — Sequoia, he suggests, is simply unwilling to pay what competitors will pay for the hottest deals, so it structures its participation differently. Whether that explanation fully holds up depends on a question Maguire doesn’t address: what founders are telling the people who don’t already know about the lower tranche.

Although Sequoia appears to use this pricing mechanism most frequently, Foody acknowledged it isn’t the only firm using this tactic. And while the dual-pricing structures certainly inflate a startup’s perceived worth and help attract top talent, calling the practice a “scam” may be going too far.

That’s because employee stock options should theoretically be priced based on the blended value of all tranches — not the headline number — according to Jason Woo, partner in valuation and financial modeling at Armanino, whose firm provides the independent 409A appraisals startups use to set option prices. A 409A is supposed to reflect a company’s fair market value, giving employees a strike price that’s insulated from whatever valuation gets announced in a press release.

There’s a catch: 409A valuations are widely understood to skew low. Because a lower strike price means a smaller tax bill for the company, there is a structural incentive to keep that number down. The appraisal that’s supposed to protect employees from an inflated headline valuation is also, by design, not trying particularly hard to reach the top of the range.

The angel question is more complicated. Unlike employees, angels are writing checks, not receiving options. There is no independent appraiser standing between an angel investor and whatever number a founder chooses to share.

The dual-pricing structure is just one of way VCs and founders game the perception of success in a hyper-competitive market. Another, more pervasive tactic involves manipulating or outright overstating annual recurring revenue (ARR).

The VC Niko Bonatsos, a longtime veteran of General Catalyst who more recently founded Verdict Capital, addressed this issue during one of TechCrunch’s events in Athens last month. “We [at Verdict] mostly invest before metrics, before product, before the company [has fully taken shape] but I do have a past portfolio, and sometimes the conversations are telling. I’ll get a call or an email with a very high ARR number. I’ll think: I didn’t remember that company doing so well. So I reach out to the founder: ‘What happened? Why are the numbers so strong?’ And the answer is: ‘Oh yeah, it’s 365 times the revenue we made yesterday because one of our campaigns hit.’ So yeah, some of these terms have lost meaning.”

Foody declined to comment further. Sequoia didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

— With additional reporting from Connie Loizos

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

Source link
#Mercors #Brendan #Foody #calls #Sequoia #dualpricing #valuation #tricks #TechCrunch


Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom gets an action figure. Bruce Campbell says Evil Dead has “moved away” from familiar favorites. Two new horror movies explore poodle breeding and the Civil War. They’re here already! You’re next! It’s Morning Spoilers! 


Brine

Deadline reports Jennifer Holland (Peacemaker) and Dave Annable (Lioness) will star in Brine, a “supernatural Civil War thriller” from director B.J. Golnick. Co-starring Jonah Wharton, Sissy Sheridan, and Grayson Lay the story concerns “a family of Confederate deserters who escape the Union bombardment of Fort Pulaski with a cache of stolen gold and disappear into the Georgia marshlands. When they take refuge in a remote plantation house, what first appears to be salvation slowly reveals itself as part of something ancient, predatory and impossible to escape.”


Untitled Spy Comedy

Deadline also had word Henry Cavill will star alongside Kevin Hart in a currently untitled “spy comedy” at Netflix from director McG. Said to be “based on a short story by Sean Lewis,” the story follows “two rival spies who cross paths in a Lamaze class, and whose wives become fast friends. Their double lives subsequently collide in unexpectedly hilarious and dangerous ways, forcing the two men to reluctantly become confidantes and partners on the road to fatherhood.”


Breeder

Variety reports Daniel Doheny, Dot Marie Jones, Maddie Phillips, and Tanaya Beatty will star in Breeder, a horror movie from director Alex Goyette that sounds quite a bit like Sssssss with poodles. The film concerns “an eccentric poodle breeder who lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with a promise of research funding. As he soon learns, there’s a catch.”


Evil Dead Burn/Evil Dead Wrath

In a recent interview with Deadline, Bruce Campbell stated the Evil Dead franchise has “moved away” from Ash Williams, Sam Raimi, and the cabin in the woods.

No, no. I think I think basically from Evil Dead Rise on, Ash is… you know, they wanted some little gag of Ash at the end of the movie. We did that as a lark. He’s not part of any big overriding story or scheme. [The Evil Dead has] done three things: We moved away from the cabin, we’ve moved away from Sam Raimi, we’ve moved away from Ash and Bruce Campbell. Thankfully, Evil Dead Rise made the most of any money we’ve made from any Evil Dead, so far, and it validated the fact that we can get away from those main elements. You’ve got to find a new audience, because the original Evil Dead fans, you get some of them, you’re not going to get all of them, because they like those original elements. They like me and Sam and Ash and all that sort of crap.


Man of Tomorrow

Lex Luthor pulls a ray gun on Superman in newly-leaked photos from the Man of Tomorrow set.


Avengers: Doomsday

A new slate of tie-in action figures provides the best looks yet at Doctor Doom, Captain America and Thor in Avengers: Doomsday.


Toy Story 5

Taylor Swift has released a music video for her song from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack comprised entirely of Jessie clips.


The Last of Us

According to the Director’s Guild of Canada (via Screen Rant), filming on the third season of The Last of Us has temporarily ceased beginning June 1 and will not resume until June 28. The reason for the hiatus is not currently known.


Ghostbusters: Night Shift

Finally, Netflix has revealed the new Ghostbusters animated series is officially titled Night Shift and is slated for release sometime next tear.

 


 

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Ghostbusters #Cartoon #Title #Release #DateEvil Dead Burn,Ghostbusters: Night Shift,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,Toy Story 5">The New ‘Ghostbusters’ Cartoon Gets a Title and Release Date
                Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom gets an action figure. Bruce Campbell says Evil Dead has “moved away” from familiar favorites. Two new horror movies explore poodle breeding and the Civil War. They’re here already! You’re next! It’s Morning Spoilers!   Brine Deadline reports Jennifer Holland (Peacemaker) and Dave Annable (Lioness) will star in Brine, a “supernatural Civil War thriller” from director B.J. Golnick. Co-starring Jonah Wharton, Sissy Sheridan, and Grayson Lay the story concerns “a family of Confederate deserters who escape the Union bombardment of Fort Pulaski with a cache of stolen gold and disappear into the Georgia marshlands. When they take refuge in a remote plantation house, what first appears to be salvation slowly reveals itself as part of something ancient, predatory and impossible to escape.”  Untitled Spy Comedy Deadline also had word Henry Cavill will star alongside Kevin Hart in a currently untitled “spy comedy” at Netflix from director McG. Said to be “based on a short story by Sean Lewis,” the story follows “two rival spies who cross paths in a Lamaze class, and whose wives become fast friends. Their double lives subsequently collide in unexpectedly hilarious and dangerous ways, forcing the two men to reluctantly become confidantes and partners on the road to fatherhood.”

  Breeder Variety reports Daniel Doheny, Dot Marie Jones, Maddie Phillips, and Tanaya Beatty will star in Breeder, a horror movie from director Alex Goyette that sounds quite a bit like Sssssss with poodles. The film concerns “an eccentric poodle breeder who lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with a promise of research funding. As he soon learns, there’s a catch.”

  Evil Dead Burn/Evil Dead Wrath In a recent interview with Deadline, Bruce Campbell stated the Evil Dead franchise has “moved away” from Ash Williams, Sam Raimi, and the cabin in the woods. No, no. I think I think basically from Evil Dead Rise on, Ash is… you know, they wanted some little gag of Ash at the end of the movie. We did that as a lark. He’s not part of any big overriding story or scheme. [The Evil Dead has] done three things: We moved away from the cabin, we’ve moved away from Sam Raimi, we’ve moved away from Ash and Bruce Campbell. Thankfully, Evil Dead Rise made the most of any money we’ve made from any Evil Dead, so far, and it validated the fact that we can get away from those main elements. You’ve got to find a new audience, because the original Evil Dead fans, you get some of them, you’re not going to get all of them, because they like those original elements. They like me and Sam and Ash and all that sort of crap.  Man of Tomorrow Lex Luthor pulls a ray gun on Superman in newly-leaked photos from the Man of Tomorrow set.  David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult filming “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” in Atlanta   05/06/26 pic.twitter.com/goNKFF8CSw — 🐤 (@hsufhkshndk11) June 6, 2026   Avengers: Doomsday A new slate of tie-in action figures provides the best looks yet at Doctor Doom, Captain America and Thor in Avengers: Doomsday.

  First look at Hasbro’s Doctor Doom, Captain America and Thor action figures for ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ 📷: @idlehandsblog pic.twitter.com/MiqHxoWKWT — Avengers Updates (@AvengersUpdated) June 7, 2026   Toy Story 5 Taylor Swift has released a music video for her song from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack comprised entirely of Jessie clips. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDU4GB1PTxc[/embed]  The Last of Us According to the Director’s Guild of Canada (via Screen Rant), filming on the third season of The Last of Us has temporarily ceased beginning June 1 and will not resume until June 28. The reason for the hiatus is not currently known.  Ghostbusters: Night Shift Finally, Netflix has revealed the new Ghostbusters animated series is officially titled Night Shift and is slated for release sometime next tear.  Can’t contain this one any longer. Ghostbusters: Night Shift, an original animated series, is coming to Netflix in 2027. pic.twitter.com/mZvvmpAnG0 — Ghostbusters (@Ghostbusters) June 6, 2026        Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.      #Ghostbusters #Cartoon #Title #Release #DateEvil Dead Burn,Ghostbusters: Night Shift,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,Toy Story 5

Deadline reports Jennifer Holland (Peacemaker) and Dave Annable (Lioness) will star in Brine, a “supernatural Civil War thriller” from director B.J. Golnick. Co-starring Jonah Wharton, Sissy Sheridan, and Grayson Lay the story concerns “a family of Confederate deserters who escape the Union bombardment of Fort Pulaski with a cache of stolen gold and disappear into the Georgia marshlands. When they take refuge in a remote plantation house, what first appears to be salvation slowly reveals itself as part of something ancient, predatory and impossible to escape.”


Untitled Spy Comedy

Deadline also had word Henry Cavill will star alongside Kevin Hart in a currently untitled “spy comedy” at Netflix from director McG. Said to be “based on a short story by Sean Lewis,” the story follows “two rival spies who cross paths in a Lamaze class, and whose wives become fast friends. Their double lives subsequently collide in unexpectedly hilarious and dangerous ways, forcing the two men to reluctantly become confidantes and partners on the road to fatherhood.”


Breeder

Variety reports Daniel Doheny, Dot Marie Jones, Maddie Phillips, and Tanaya Beatty will star in Breeder, a horror movie from director Alex Goyette that sounds quite a bit like Sssssss with poodles. The film concerns “an eccentric poodle breeder who lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with a promise of research funding. As he soon learns, there’s a catch.”


Evil Dead Burn/Evil Dead Wrath

In a recent interview with Deadline, Bruce Campbell stated the Evil Dead franchise has “moved away” from Ash Williams, Sam Raimi, and the cabin in the woods.

No, no. I think I think basically from Evil Dead Rise on, Ash is… you know, they wanted some little gag of Ash at the end of the movie. We did that as a lark. He’s not part of any big overriding story or scheme. [The Evil Dead has] done three things: We moved away from the cabin, we’ve moved away from Sam Raimi, we’ve moved away from Ash and Bruce Campbell. Thankfully, Evil Dead Rise made the most of any money we’ve made from any Evil Dead, so far, and it validated the fact that we can get away from those main elements. You’ve got to find a new audience, because the original Evil Dead fans, you get some of them, you’re not going to get all of them, because they like those original elements. They like me and Sam and Ash and all that sort of crap.


Man of Tomorrow

Lex Luthor pulls a ray gun on Superman in newly-leaked photos from the Man of Tomorrow set.


Avengers: Doomsday

A new slate of tie-in action figures provides the best looks yet at Doctor Doom, Captain America and Thor in Avengers: Doomsday.


Toy Story 5

Taylor Swift has released a music video for her song from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack comprised entirely of Jessie clips.


The Last of Us

According to the Director’s Guild of Canada (via Screen Rant), filming on the third season of The Last of Us has temporarily ceased beginning June 1 and will not resume until June 28. The reason for the hiatus is not currently known.


Ghostbusters: Night Shift

Finally, Netflix has revealed the new Ghostbusters animated series is officially titled Night Shift and is slated for release sometime next tear.

 


 

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Ghostbusters #Cartoon #Title #Release #DateEvil Dead Burn,Ghostbusters: Night Shift,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,Toy Story 5">The New ‘Ghostbusters’ Cartoon Gets a Title and Release DateThe New ‘Ghostbusters’ Cartoon Gets a Title and Release Date
                Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom gets an action figure. Bruce Campbell says Evil Dead has “moved away” from familiar favorites. Two new horror movies explore poodle breeding and the Civil War. They’re here already! You’re next! It’s Morning Spoilers!   Brine Deadline reports Jennifer Holland (Peacemaker) and Dave Annable (Lioness) will star in Brine, a “supernatural Civil War thriller” from director B.J. Golnick. Co-starring Jonah Wharton, Sissy Sheridan, and Grayson Lay the story concerns “a family of Confederate deserters who escape the Union bombardment of Fort Pulaski with a cache of stolen gold and disappear into the Georgia marshlands. When they take refuge in a remote plantation house, what first appears to be salvation slowly reveals itself as part of something ancient, predatory and impossible to escape.”  Untitled Spy Comedy Deadline also had word Henry Cavill will star alongside Kevin Hart in a currently untitled “spy comedy” at Netflix from director McG. Said to be “based on a short story by Sean Lewis,” the story follows “two rival spies who cross paths in a Lamaze class, and whose wives become fast friends. Their double lives subsequently collide in unexpectedly hilarious and dangerous ways, forcing the two men to reluctantly become confidantes and partners on the road to fatherhood.”

  Breeder Variety reports Daniel Doheny, Dot Marie Jones, Maddie Phillips, and Tanaya Beatty will star in Breeder, a horror movie from director Alex Goyette that sounds quite a bit like Sssssss with poodles. The film concerns “an eccentric poodle breeder who lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with a promise of research funding. As he soon learns, there’s a catch.”

  Evil Dead Burn/Evil Dead Wrath In a recent interview with Deadline, Bruce Campbell stated the Evil Dead franchise has “moved away” from Ash Williams, Sam Raimi, and the cabin in the woods. No, no. I think I think basically from Evil Dead Rise on, Ash is… you know, they wanted some little gag of Ash at the end of the movie. We did that as a lark. He’s not part of any big overriding story or scheme. [The Evil Dead has] done three things: We moved away from the cabin, we’ve moved away from Sam Raimi, we’ve moved away from Ash and Bruce Campbell. Thankfully, Evil Dead Rise made the most of any money we’ve made from any Evil Dead, so far, and it validated the fact that we can get away from those main elements. You’ve got to find a new audience, because the original Evil Dead fans, you get some of them, you’re not going to get all of them, because they like those original elements. They like me and Sam and Ash and all that sort of crap.  Man of Tomorrow Lex Luthor pulls a ray gun on Superman in newly-leaked photos from the Man of Tomorrow set.  David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult filming “Superman: Man of Tomorrow” in Atlanta   05/06/26 pic.twitter.com/goNKFF8CSw — 🐤 (@hsufhkshndk11) June 6, 2026   Avengers: Doomsday A new slate of tie-in action figures provides the best looks yet at Doctor Doom, Captain America and Thor in Avengers: Doomsday.

  First look at Hasbro’s Doctor Doom, Captain America and Thor action figures for ‘AVENGERS: DOOMSDAY’ 📷: @idlehandsblog pic.twitter.com/MiqHxoWKWT — Avengers Updates (@AvengersUpdated) June 7, 2026   Toy Story 5 Taylor Swift has released a music video for her song from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack comprised entirely of Jessie clips. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDU4GB1PTxc[/embed]  The Last of Us According to the Director’s Guild of Canada (via Screen Rant), filming on the third season of The Last of Us has temporarily ceased beginning June 1 and will not resume until June 28. The reason for the hiatus is not currently known.  Ghostbusters: Night Shift Finally, Netflix has revealed the new Ghostbusters animated series is officially titled Night Shift and is slated for release sometime next tear.  Can’t contain this one any longer. Ghostbusters: Night Shift, an original animated series, is coming to Netflix in 2027. pic.twitter.com/mZvvmpAnG0 — Ghostbusters (@Ghostbusters) June 6, 2026        Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.      #Ghostbusters #Cartoon #Title #Release #DateEvil Dead Burn,Ghostbusters: Night Shift,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,Toy Story 5

Robert Downey, Jr.’s Doctor Doom gets an action figure. Bruce Campbell says Evil Dead has “moved away” from familiar favorites. Two new horror movies explore poodle breeding and the Civil War. They’re here already! You’re next! It’s Morning Spoilers! 


Brine

Deadline reports Jennifer Holland (Peacemaker) and Dave Annable (Lioness) will star in Brine, a “supernatural Civil War thriller” from director B.J. Golnick. Co-starring Jonah Wharton, Sissy Sheridan, and Grayson Lay the story concerns “a family of Confederate deserters who escape the Union bombardment of Fort Pulaski with a cache of stolen gold and disappear into the Georgia marshlands. When they take refuge in a remote plantation house, what first appears to be salvation slowly reveals itself as part of something ancient, predatory and impossible to escape.”


Untitled Spy Comedy

Deadline also had word Henry Cavill will star alongside Kevin Hart in a currently untitled “spy comedy” at Netflix from director McG. Said to be “based on a short story by Sean Lewis,” the story follows “two rival spies who cross paths in a Lamaze class, and whose wives become fast friends. Their double lives subsequently collide in unexpectedly hilarious and dangerous ways, forcing the two men to reluctantly become confidantes and partners on the road to fatherhood.”


Breeder

Variety reports Daniel Doheny, Dot Marie Jones, Maddie Phillips, and Tanaya Beatty will star in Breeder, a horror movie from director Alex Goyette that sounds quite a bit like Sssssss with poodles. The film concerns “an eccentric poodle breeder who lures a broke college student to her remote ranch with a promise of research funding. As he soon learns, there’s a catch.”


Evil Dead Burn/Evil Dead Wrath

In a recent interview with Deadline, Bruce Campbell stated the Evil Dead franchise has “moved away” from Ash Williams, Sam Raimi, and the cabin in the woods.

No, no. I think I think basically from Evil Dead Rise on, Ash is… you know, they wanted some little gag of Ash at the end of the movie. We did that as a lark. He’s not part of any big overriding story or scheme. [The Evil Dead has] done three things: We moved away from the cabin, we’ve moved away from Sam Raimi, we’ve moved away from Ash and Bruce Campbell. Thankfully, Evil Dead Rise made the most of any money we’ve made from any Evil Dead, so far, and it validated the fact that we can get away from those main elements. You’ve got to find a new audience, because the original Evil Dead fans, you get some of them, you’re not going to get all of them, because they like those original elements. They like me and Sam and Ash and all that sort of crap.


Man of Tomorrow

Lex Luthor pulls a ray gun on Superman in newly-leaked photos from the Man of Tomorrow set.


Avengers: Doomsday

A new slate of tie-in action figures provides the best looks yet at Doctor Doom, Captain America and Thor in Avengers: Doomsday.


Toy Story 5

Taylor Swift has released a music video for her song from the Toy Story 5 soundtrack comprised entirely of Jessie clips.


The Last of Us

According to the Director’s Guild of Canada (via Screen Rant), filming on the third season of The Last of Us has temporarily ceased beginning June 1 and will not resume until June 28. The reason for the hiatus is not currently known.


Ghostbusters: Night Shift

Finally, Netflix has revealed the new Ghostbusters animated series is officially titled Night Shift and is slated for release sometime next tear.

 


 

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Ghostbusters #Cartoon #Title #Release #DateEvil Dead Burn,Ghostbusters: Night Shift,Man of Tomorrow,Morning Spoilers,Toy Story 5

Lilian Schmidt could not, for the life of her, figure out how to get her daughter to go to sleep.

None of the advice given to her by sleep experts or her pediatrician worked—not using a white noise machine, not buying blackout curtains, not even giving her a massage. “Every single day, it took like two to three hours to put her to bed,” the brand consultant from Zurich recalls. “She’d scream and fight and we would all be so exhausted and frustrated by the end of the day.”

When her daughter was 3 and a half years old, a bleary-eyed and desperate Schmidt turned to a controversial parenting tool: ChatGPT. The advice it offered “was completely opposite from everything I’d heard before,” she says. “It said she needed more stimulation,” suggesting that her daughter chew gum or jump on a trampoline before bed.

To Schmidt’s utter shock, it worked. Within five minutes, her daughter snuggled up next to her and fell asleep. “I was freaking out,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, nobody was able to help me except ChatGPT.’”

From there, Schmidt, who also has a 14-year-old stepson, became something of an AI evangelist. In June 2025, she posted a TikTok video with the caption, “I Turned ChatGPT into my coparent,” and it went viral. Her follower count swelled to 27,000 in just three weeks. She made her own custom GPT, Coparent, and started selling access to it for $37 on her website.

Schmidt is one of a growing cohort of women branding themselves as a new type of momfluencer—not one who uses aspirational imagery to make the mundane labor associated with motherhood more aesthetically appealing, but one who asks whether the labor is even necessary at all. They post videos like “The AI Assistant That’s Basically My Mom Brain Now” and “How to Use AI as a Mom,” and promote customized prompts or handbooks to moms who “want a coparent who never forgets the sunscreen or asks you to write things down,” as Schmidt writes in one TikTok caption.

One person who is relatively absent from Schmidt’s content is her longtime partner. In her videos, she’s doing pretty much all of the parenting labor, including meal prep, grocery-shopping, and kiddie arts and crafts. This is reflective of reality; moms assume the vast majority of the physical and mental labor in US households, with a 2022 Department of Labor survey finding that employed mothers spend an extra 13.5 hours per week doing chores and an average of 12.5 hours per week on childcare—a 40 percent increase from 1975.

That’s not to say that dads aren’t helping around the house. Pew data shows that fathers now spend more than twice as much time on household chores and childcare than they did 50 years ago. But by and large, women are still expected to shoulder most of the household burden.

“It’s not that my partner isn’t helping, because he is,” Schmidt says. “But for women and moms, there is so much invisible labor that you carry and everything is in your hands, and it actually takes time with your kids away from you.” Moms flocked to her page once they saw she was using AI “to actually be more present with my kids and to be more emotionally regulated, so I can be a cool mom and a happy mom and not a stressed-out one.”

Women are less likely (more than 20 percent less likely, according to one 2025 study) to use generative AI in their everyday lives than men are, a discrepancy known as the “AI gender gap.” Generative AI tools suffer from what Stephanie Leblanc-Godfrey, a founder of the company Mother AI who refers to herself as a “maternal technologist,” likes to call a “PMS” problem, meaning they tend to be “pale, male, and stale.”

#Momfluencers #Pitching #Coparent #Menparenting,artificial intelligence,kids,mental health,mom,chatbots">Momfluencers Are Pitching AI as a Better ‘Coparent’ Than MenLilian Schmidt could not, for the life of her, figure out how to get her daughter to go to sleep.None of the advice given to her by sleep experts or her pediatrician worked—not using a white noise machine, not buying blackout curtains, not even giving her a massage. “Every single day, it took like two to three hours to put her to bed,” the brand consultant from Zurich recalls. “She’d scream and fight and we would all be so exhausted and frustrated by the end of the day.”When her daughter was 3 and a half years old, a bleary-eyed and desperate Schmidt turned to a controversial parenting tool: ChatGPT. The advice it offered “was completely opposite from everything I’d heard before,” she says. “It said she needed more stimulation,” suggesting that her daughter chew gum or jump on a trampoline before bed.To Schmidt’s utter shock, it worked. Within five minutes, her daughter snuggled up next to her and fell asleep. “I was freaking out,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, nobody was able to help me except ChatGPT.’”From there, Schmidt, who also has a 14-year-old stepson, became something of an AI evangelist. In June 2025, she posted a TikTok video with the caption, “I Turned ChatGPT into my coparent,” and it went viral. Her follower count swelled to 27,000 in just three weeks. She made her own custom GPT, Coparent, and started selling access to it for  on her website.Schmidt is one of a growing cohort of women branding themselves as a new type of momfluencer—not one who uses aspirational imagery to make the mundane labor associated with motherhood more aesthetically appealing, but one who asks whether the labor is even necessary at all. They post videos like “The AI Assistant That’s Basically My Mom Brain Now” and “How to Use AI as a Mom,” and promote customized prompts or handbooks to moms who “want a coparent who never forgets the sunscreen or asks you to write things down,” as Schmidt writes in one TikTok caption.One person who is relatively absent from Schmidt’s content is her longtime partner. In her videos, she’s doing pretty much all of the parenting labor, including meal prep, grocery-shopping, and kiddie arts and crafts. This is reflective of reality; moms assume the vast majority of the physical and mental labor in US households, with a 2022 Department of Labor survey finding that employed mothers spend an extra 13.5 hours per week doing chores and an average of 12.5 hours per week on childcare—a 40 percent increase from 1975.That’s not to say that dads aren’t helping around the house. Pew data shows that fathers now spend more than twice as much time on household chores and childcare than they did 50 years ago. But by and large, women are still expected to shoulder most of the household burden.“It’s not that my partner isn’t helping, because he is,” Schmidt says. “But for women and moms, there is so much invisible labor that you carry and everything is in your hands, and it actually takes time with your kids away from you.” Moms flocked to her page once they saw she was using AI “to actually be more present with my kids and to be more emotionally regulated, so I can be a cool mom and a happy mom and not a stressed-out one.”Women are less likely (more than 20 percent less likely, according to one 2025 study) to use generative AI in their everyday lives than men are, a discrepancy known as the “AI gender gap.” Generative AI tools suffer from what Stephanie Leblanc-Godfrey, a founder of the company Mother AI who refers to herself as a “maternal technologist,” likes to call a “PMS” problem, meaning they tend to be “pale, male, and stale.”#Momfluencers #Pitching #Coparent #Menparenting,artificial intelligence,kids,mental health,mom,chatbots

ChatGPT. The advice it offered “was completely opposite from everything I’d heard before,” she says. “It said she needed more stimulation,” suggesting that her daughter chew gum or jump on a trampoline before bed.

To Schmidt’s utter shock, it worked. Within five minutes, her daughter snuggled up next to her and fell asleep. “I was freaking out,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, nobody was able to help me except ChatGPT.’”

From there, Schmidt, who also has a 14-year-old stepson, became something of an AI evangelist. In June 2025, she posted a TikTok video with the caption, “I Turned ChatGPT into my coparent,” and it went viral. Her follower count swelled to 27,000 in just three weeks. She made her own custom GPT, Coparent, and started selling access to it for $37 on her website.

Schmidt is one of a growing cohort of women branding themselves as a new type of momfluencer—not one who uses aspirational imagery to make the mundane labor associated with motherhood more aesthetically appealing, but one who asks whether the labor is even necessary at all. They post videos like “The AI Assistant That’s Basically My Mom Brain Now” and “How to Use AI as a Mom,” and promote customized prompts or handbooks to moms who “want a coparent who never forgets the sunscreen or asks you to write things down,” as Schmidt writes in one TikTok caption.

One person who is relatively absent from Schmidt’s content is her longtime partner. In her videos, she’s doing pretty much all of the parenting labor, including meal prep, grocery-shopping, and kiddie arts and crafts. This is reflective of reality; moms assume the vast majority of the physical and mental labor in US households, with a 2022 Department of Labor survey finding that employed mothers spend an extra 13.5 hours per week doing chores and an average of 12.5 hours per week on childcare—a 40 percent increase from 1975.

That’s not to say that dads aren’t helping around the house. Pew data shows that fathers now spend more than twice as much time on household chores and childcare than they did 50 years ago. But by and large, women are still expected to shoulder most of the household burden.

“It’s not that my partner isn’t helping, because he is,” Schmidt says. “But for women and moms, there is so much invisible labor that you carry and everything is in your hands, and it actually takes time with your kids away from you.” Moms flocked to her page once they saw she was using AI “to actually be more present with my kids and to be more emotionally regulated, so I can be a cool mom and a happy mom and not a stressed-out one.”

Women are less likely (more than 20 percent less likely, according to one 2025 study) to use generative AI in their everyday lives than men are, a discrepancy known as the “AI gender gap.” Generative AI tools suffer from what Stephanie Leblanc-Godfrey, a founder of the company Mother AI who refers to herself as a “maternal technologist,” likes to call a “PMS” problem, meaning they tend to be “pale, male, and stale.”

#Momfluencers #Pitching #Coparent #Menparenting,artificial intelligence,kids,mental health,mom,chatbots">Momfluencers Are Pitching AI as a Better ‘Coparent’ Than Men

Lilian Schmidt could not, for the life of her, figure out how to get her daughter to go to sleep.

None of the advice given to her by sleep experts or her pediatrician worked—not using a white noise machine, not buying blackout curtains, not even giving her a massage. “Every single day, it took like two to three hours to put her to bed,” the brand consultant from Zurich recalls. “She’d scream and fight and we would all be so exhausted and frustrated by the end of the day.”

When her daughter was 3 and a half years old, a bleary-eyed and desperate Schmidt turned to a controversial parenting tool: ChatGPT. The advice it offered “was completely opposite from everything I’d heard before,” she says. “It said she needed more stimulation,” suggesting that her daughter chew gum or jump on a trampoline before bed.

To Schmidt’s utter shock, it worked. Within five minutes, her daughter snuggled up next to her and fell asleep. “I was freaking out,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, nobody was able to help me except ChatGPT.’”

From there, Schmidt, who also has a 14-year-old stepson, became something of an AI evangelist. In June 2025, she posted a TikTok video with the caption, “I Turned ChatGPT into my coparent,” and it went viral. Her follower count swelled to 27,000 in just three weeks. She made her own custom GPT, Coparent, and started selling access to it for $37 on her website.

Schmidt is one of a growing cohort of women branding themselves as a new type of momfluencer—not one who uses aspirational imagery to make the mundane labor associated with motherhood more aesthetically appealing, but one who asks whether the labor is even necessary at all. They post videos like “The AI Assistant That’s Basically My Mom Brain Now” and “How to Use AI as a Mom,” and promote customized prompts or handbooks to moms who “want a coparent who never forgets the sunscreen or asks you to write things down,” as Schmidt writes in one TikTok caption.

One person who is relatively absent from Schmidt’s content is her longtime partner. In her videos, she’s doing pretty much all of the parenting labor, including meal prep, grocery-shopping, and kiddie arts and crafts. This is reflective of reality; moms assume the vast majority of the physical and mental labor in US households, with a 2022 Department of Labor survey finding that employed mothers spend an extra 13.5 hours per week doing chores and an average of 12.5 hours per week on childcare—a 40 percent increase from 1975.

That’s not to say that dads aren’t helping around the house. Pew data shows that fathers now spend more than twice as much time on household chores and childcare than they did 50 years ago. But by and large, women are still expected to shoulder most of the household burden.

“It’s not that my partner isn’t helping, because he is,” Schmidt says. “But for women and moms, there is so much invisible labor that you carry and everything is in your hands, and it actually takes time with your kids away from you.” Moms flocked to her page once they saw she was using AI “to actually be more present with my kids and to be more emotionally regulated, so I can be a cool mom and a happy mom and not a stressed-out one.”

Women are less likely (more than 20 percent less likely, according to one 2025 study) to use generative AI in their everyday lives than men are, a discrepancy known as the “AI gender gap.” Generative AI tools suffer from what Stephanie Leblanc-Godfrey, a founder of the company Mother AI who refers to herself as a “maternal technologist,” likes to call a “PMS” problem, meaning they tend to be “pale, male, and stale.”

#Momfluencers #Pitching #Coparent #Menparenting,artificial intelligence,kids,mental health,mom,chatbots

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