🌏 Paramount's dismounting drama

Good morning, Quartz readers!

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The Paramount-Skydance merger drama is almost over. Seagram Scion Edgar Bronfman Jr. dropped his last-minute bid for the entertainment giant.

Donald Trump is dropping more NFTs. He advertised a series of portraits of himself by saying he’s the “Crypto President.”

Mark Zuckerberg has some regrets. He thinks Meta should have fought government COVID-19 anti-misinformation efforts harder than it did.

Elon Musk is backing an AI kill switch bill. The xAI threw his support behind a California measure that’s drawn skepticism from Silicon Valley.

Eli Lilly is offering a big Zepound discount. Some doses are half-off—but there’s a catch that might make the deal more expensive than it seems.

ARE AMERICAN WORKERS GETTING ANCY?

A new report from Bankrate suggestions that nearly 1 in 2 employees will be looking for new jobs within the next year, with the figure jumping to 2 in 3 for Gen Z.

Still, that overall figure has creeped down from where it was a year ago, when 56% of the workforce was starting

Quartz’s Ben Kesslen looks at what the figures say for a “normalizing” job market and the future of the U.S. economy.

IS A HOUSING MARKET BLOCKING BECOMING UN-STUCK?

An analysis of federal mortgage data suggests that 85% homeowners have a mortgage below 6%, a bit below the prevailing average market rate.

That’s down from a record 93% in 2022, suggesting that many homeowners might be feeling less locked-in with their lower-cost housing loans than just short while ago.

Quartz’s Rocio Fabbro digs through the numbers and what they might mean for the housing market.

MORE FROM QUARTZ

✏️ 55% of parents are going into credit card debt buying back-to-school tech

🎸 Prince’s guitar and other big-ticket items hitting auction blocks this week

🍎 Apple’s AI play could be worth $4 trillion to its market cap

🏈 Amazon gave Travis and Jason Kelce a $100 million podcast deal

🔬 The government is giving HP $50 million to study ‘microfluidics’

SURPRISING DISCOVERIES

A blast from the past. A donor to London’s National Gallery cheered its destruction of some false building columns from beyond the grave.

Garbage in, energy out. Spain’s Repsol is betting big on recycled biofuels made from cooking oil and waste.

The most boring ‘RoboCop’ sequel ever. Police departments are experimenting with having officers write up reports with AI chatbots.

Weed legalization is bad for weed stocks. Shares in the sector are falling on news that the government might reclassify the drug.

IKEA hopes in-store shoppers buy more online. The furniture retailer is experimenting with a new store format in Tokyo.

Our best wishes on a safe start to the day. Send any news, comments, expensive guitars, or cheap mortgages to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Melvin Backman.