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Sankamap Metals Inc. (CSE: SCU) (‘Sankamap’ or the ‘Company’) further to the Company’s news releases dated October 21, 2025, November 4, 2025, and November 18, 2025, the Company continues to work towards the filing of its annual audited financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025 (the ‘Required Filings’). The Company has obtained approval from the Alberta Securities Commission to extend the Management Cease Trade Order (‘MCTO’) under National Policy 12-203 Management Cease Trade Orders (‘NP 12-203’) until December 28, 2025.

While the audit of Sankamap’s private subsidiary has now been completed, timing adjustments in the subsidiary’s audit resulted in a brief postponement of fieldwork and the review of Sankamap’s audit file. The upcoming holiday period is also expected to affect scheduling. To support timely completion of the audit, the Company intends to appoint the subsidiary’s auditor as its auditor, as their familiarity with the Company’s mineral property and the Solomon Islands jurisdiction is expected to facilitate an expedited process. A change of auditor is underway, and the Company expects to file the required change of auditor documentation shortly.

The Required Filings were due to be filed by October 28, 2025. In connection with the anticipated delays in making the Required Filings, the Company made an application for a Management Cease Trade Order (‘MCTO‘) under National Policy 12-203 Management Cease Trade Orders (‘NP 12-203‘) to the Alberta Securities Commission, as principal regulator for the Company, and the MCTO was issued on October 29, 2025. The MCTO restricts all trading by the Company’s CEO and CFO in securities of the Company, whether direct or indirect. The issuance of the MCTO will not affect the ability of persons who are not directors, officers or insiders of the Company to trade their securities. The MCTO will remain in effect until the Required Filings are filed or until it is revoked or varied.

The Company expects to proceed with the filing of its interim first-quarter financial statements shortly after the Required Filings have been completed and submitted.

The Company confirms that it intends to satisfy the provisions of the alternative information guidelines described in NP 12-203 by issuing bi-weekly default status reports in the form of a news release until it meets the Required Filings requirement. The Company has not taken any steps towards any insolvency proceeding and the Company has no material information relating to its affairs that has not been generally disclosed.

About Sankamap Metals Inc.

Sankamap Metals Inc. (CSE: SCU) is a Canadian mineral exploration company dedicated to the discovery and development of high-grade copper and gold deposits through its flagship Oceania Project, located in the South Pacific. The Company’s fully permitted assets are strategically positioned in the Solomon Islands, along a prolific geological trend that hosts major copper-gold deposits; including Newcrest’s Lihir Mine, with a resource of 71.9 million ounces of gold¹ (310 Mt containing 23 Moz Au at 2.3 g/t P+P, 520 Mt containing 39 Moz Au at 2.3 g/t indicated, 81 Mt containing 5 Moz Au at 1.9 g/t measured, 61 Mt containing 4.9 Moz Au at 2.3 g/t Inferred).

Exploration is actively advancing at both the Kuma and Fauro properties, part of Sankamap’s Oceania Project in the Solomon Islands. Historical work has already highlighted the mineral potential of both sites, which lie along a highly prospective copper and gold-bearing trend, suggesting the possibility of further, yet-to-be-discovered deposits.

At Kuma, the property is believed to host an underexplored and largely untested porphyry copper-gold (Cu-Au) system. Historical rock chip sampling has returned consistently elevated gold values above 0.5 g/t Au, including a standout sample assaying 11.7% Cu and 13.5 g/t Au2; underscoring the area’s significant potential.

At Fauro, particularly at the Meriguna Target, historical trenching has returned highly encouraging results, including 8.0 meters at 27.95 g/t Au and 14.0 meters at 8.94 g/t Au3. Complementing these results are exceptional grab sample assays, including historical values of up to 173 g/t Au3, along with recent sampling by Sankamap at the Kiovakase Target, which returned numerous high-grade copper values, reaching up to 4.09% Cu. In addition, limited historical shallow drilling intersected 35.0 meters at 2.08 g/t Au3, further underscoring the property’s strong mineral potential and the merit for continued exploration. With a commitment to systematic exploration and a team of experienced professionals, Sankamap aims to unlock the untapped potential of underexplored regions and create substantial value for its shareholders. For more information, please refer to SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca), under Sankamap’s profile.

1.Newcrest Technical Report, 2020 (Lihir: 310 Mt containing 23 Moz Au at 2.3 g/t P+P, 520 Mt containing 39 Moz Au at 2.3 g/t indicated, 81 Mt containing 5 Moz Au at 1.9 g/t measured, 61 Mt containing 4.9 Moz Au at 2.3 g/t Inferred)

2. Historical grab, soil and BLEG samples from SolGold Kuma Review June 2015, and SolGold plc Annual Report 2013/2012

3. September 2010-June 2012 press releases from Solomon Gold Ltd. and SolGold Fauro Island Summary Technical Info 2012

QP Disclosure

The technical content for the Oceania Project in this news release has been reviewed and approved by John Florek, M.Sc., P.Geol., a Qualified Person in accordance with CIM guidelines. Mr. John Florek is in good standing with the Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (Member ID:1228) and a director and officer of the Company.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

s/ ‘John Florek’
John Florek, M.Sc., P.Geol
Chief Executive Officer
Sankamap Metals Inc.

Contact:
John Florek, CEO
T: (807) 228-3531
E: johnf@sankamap.com

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not approved nor disapproved this press release.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made and information contained herein may constitute ‘forward-looking information’ and ‘forward-looking statements’ within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. These statements and information are based on facts currently available to Sankamap and there is no assurance that the actual results will meet management’s expectations. Forward-looking statements and information may be identified by such terms as ‘anticipates,’ ‘believes,’ ‘targets,’ ‘estimates,’ ‘plans,’ ‘expects,’ ‘may,’ ‘will,’ ‘could’ or ‘would.’

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding management’s expectations about obtaining the MCTO and completing the Required Filings within the anticipated timeline. Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Sankamap does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements or information, except as required by applicable securities laws. For more information on the Company, investors should review the Company’s continuous disclosure filings that are available at www.sedarplus.ca.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/276869

News Provided by Newsfile via QuoteMedia

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Here’s a quick recap of the crypto landscape for Wednesday (December 3) as of 9:00 a.m. UTC.

Get the latest insights on Bitcoin, Ether and altcoins, along with a round-up of key cryptocurrency market news.

Bitcoin and Ether price update

Bitcoin (BTC) was priced at US$92,758.95, up by 4.1 percent over 24 hours.

Bitcoin price performance, December 3, 2025.

Chart via TradingView.

After Bitcoin stared the week with its largest single-day decline in a month, it rallied about 6.6 percent in 24 hours to reclaim US$93,000. This now marks Bitcoin’s highest intraday level in more than two weeks.

Despite the cryptocurrency’s rebound, analysts are still urging caution and advising investors to await clearer macro signals before fully re-entering higher-risk assets.

Ether (ETH) also regained ground and is currently priced at US$3,051.34, up 7.1 percent over 24 hours.

Altcoin price update

  • XRP (XRP) was priced at US$2.19, an increase of 4.6 percent over 24 hours.
  • Solana (SOL) was trading at US$142.17, up by 6.6 percent over 24 hours.

Today’s crypto news to know

Strategy faces possible removal from MSCI indexes

Michael Saylor’s Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) is in discussions with index provider MSCI as the company thinks about removing Strategy from major stock indexes, according to Reuters.

MSCI is considering cutting companies whose business model is to buy crypto. Strategy currently holds about 650,000 BTC and has relied on new debt and equity issuance to add to its holdings.

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) estimates a removal could trigger up to US$8.8 billion in outflows if other index providers follow suit. Saylor said the company is participating in MSCI’s review process, but questioned the scale of possible selling projected by JPMorgan. A verdict is expected by January 15 of next year.

Sony partner launches stablecoin for Soneium

Startale Group has launched USDSC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar that is designed to serve as the default settlement currency on Sony Group’s (NYSE:SONY,TSE:6758) Soneium blockchain.

According to a Decrypt report, the launch includes a new rewards program called STAR Points that is geared at encouraging user activity across payments, liquidity supply and app interaction. Soneium went live earlier this year following a test phase that drew 14 million users and processed 50 million transactions.

Startale CEO Sota Watanabe said USDSC aims to support payments and yield generation across the network’s creator-focused ecosystem. Stablecoin infrastructure firm M0 is providing backend support for issuance and liquidity.

A waitlist for the Startale app is open to users seeking early access to USDSC features and rewards.

SEC blocks rollout of high-leverage ETFs

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has halted the approval process for multiple ultra-leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs), citing concerns about investor risk.

Warning letters were sent to nine issuers, including Direxion, ProShares and Tidal, affecting products designed to offer more than 2x exposure to equities, commodities and cryptocurrencies.

The SEC said the proposals exceed regulatory limits on allowable leverage and rely on benchmark definitions that may fail to reflect true market volatility. Some of the planned funds target exposure to highly volatile assets. No 3x or 5x single-stock ETFs currently exist in the US due to existing restrictions.

Leveraged ETF trading has surged since 2020, with total assets rising to around US$162 billion.

Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

This post appeared first on investingnews.com

Tech billionaires Michael and Susan Dell announced Tuesday that they are pledging $6.25 billion to create some 25 million additional ‘Trump Accounts’ for children across the country.

These accounts will be seeded with $250 each, and available for children who missed the eligibility cutoff for the $1,000 federally funded ‘Trump Accounts’ for babies born after Jan. 1, 2025.

Children living in ZIP codes with median incomes below $150,000 will be the first to receive the funds, the White House said.

‘The greatest investment that we could possibly make is in children,’ Susan Dell said alongside President Donald Trump at the White House.

‘It’s really an amazing moment that two people would do that kind of a contribution,’ Trump said.

The president said he was also talking to other wealthy donors and friends to potentially make similar contributions.

Michael Dell; President Donald Trump.Errich Petersen; Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Asked how this donation came to be, Michael Dell said: ‘We started talking about Texas only at the beginning. And then we thought about it some more, and we went back and forth, as we do on these things, and this is where we ended up.’

The Dells said they considered making the pledge for a long time. But they said they didn’t want the pledge to be the end of their involvement.

Michael Dell encouraged states to ‘really grow financial literacy’ to help educate families about how the accounts and markets work.

‘These deposits will reach the accounts of most children age 10 and under who were born prior to the qualifying date for the federal newborn contribution,’ the Dells said in a statement issued by their foundation.

‘Children older than 10 may benefit, too, if funds remain available after initial sign-ups,’ the Dell family said. ‘It is an incredibly practical and direct step to help families begin saving today.’

The Dells say they ‘believe this effort will expand opportunity, strengthen communities, and help more children take ownership of their future.’

The Dell family gift “is expected to reach nearly 80% of children age 10 and under across 75% of U.S. zip codes,” according to the nonprofit Invest America.

Children born after Jan. 1 and until Dec. 31, 2028, will receive an account infused with a $1,000 investment from the U.S. Treasury, as part of the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill.

The accounts will open and begin accepting contributions starting on July 4, 2026. The accounts will initially be held by a financial firm designated by the Treasury Department, but later will be able to be transferred to any brokerage firm.

Those accounts will also be eligible for additional contributions of up to $5,000 per year until the beneficiary child reaches age 18. Withdrawals from the accounts are not permitted until the children reach that age.

Trump accounts can be invested only in low-cost index funds or ETFs that either mirror the S&P 500 or ‘another American stock index,’ according to the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

‘These investment accounts are simple, secure, and structured to grow in value through market returns over time,’ the Dell family said.

‘Trump Accounts represent a potentially valuable tool for building up savings and tapping the power of compound growth for the young,’ Charles Schwab tax planning director Hayden Adams recently wrote.

If a family could contribute and invest the maximum $5,000 per year in the accounts, and with a reasonable growth rate of about 6%, ‘by age 18, the child’s account would hold around $191,000 in assets.’

Once a child turns 18, the accounts are eligible to be converted to a traditional individual retirement account, ‘meaning it could continue to accumulate potential gains on a tax-free basis’ for many years.

The Dells are one of the wealthiest families in America, with a fortune of nearly $150 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires. The family’s primary source of wealth is Dell Technologies, the company founded by Michael Dell in 1984.

In recent years, the value of Dell shares have been fueled by the booming AI revolution, for which Dell is a supplier of servers and other technology.

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Apple’s top artificial intelligence executive is stepping down and will retire in 2026, the company announced Monday.

John Giannandrea had been at Apple since 2018, where his official title was senior vice president for machine learning and AI strategy.

He will be replaced by Amar Subramanya, who comes to Apple after a brief stint as corporate vice president of AI at Microsoft and more than a decade at Google.

Subramanya will report to one of CEO Tim Cook’s deputies, Craig Federighi, rather than to Cook directly, as Giannandrea had.

‘AI has long been central to Apple’s strategy, and we are pleased to welcome Amar to Craig’s leadership team and to bring his extraordinary AI expertise to Apple,’ Cook said Monday.

The abrupt change at a company known for its careful succession planning highlights Apple’s challenge as it tries to compete with top AI developers such as Google, ChatGPT owner OpenAI, Meta and Microsoft.

Earlier this year, Apple delayed the release of an upgraded version of Siri with AI powered features. At the time, it said it was going to ‘take us longer than we thought’ to develop the new version.

The company said it anticipated rolling out new features ‘in the coming year,’ but it has not offered any more specifics.

‘We’re making good progress on it, and, as we’ve shared, we expect to release it next year,’ Cook said on the company’s quarterly earnings call in late October.

“With Apple Intelligence, we’ve introduced dozens of new features that are powerful, intuitive, private and deeply integrated into the things people do every day,” Cook said on the Oct. 30 call

The company is targeting the spring to release the upgraded Siri, Bloomberg News recently reported.

When a user grants permission, Siri can tap into ChatGPT’s broad world knowledge and present an answer directly.Apple

While Apple’s iOS and macOS are integrated with ChatGPT, those features are somewhat limited.

In recent weeks, Apple has reportedly neared deals to integrate with Google’s Gemini, as well as AI models from Perplexity and Anthropic.

Apple introduced Apple Intelligence on June 10, 2024.Apple

Apple’s stock has also felt the effect of what some perceive to be its lagging AI services.

This year, Apple shares have returned 13%, which tops both Amazon and Microsoft. But shares of Oracle have popped 20%, Nvidia has surged 34%, and Google parent company Alphabet has soared 65%.

Still, Apple remains the world’s second-largest publicly traded company, with a market value of $4.2 trillion, behind only Nvidia.

Overall, the S&P 500 has risen almost 16% this year.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Starbucks will pay about $35 million to more than 15,000 New York City workers to settle claims it denied them stable schedules and arbitrarily cut their hours, city officials announced Monday.

The company will also pay $3.4 million in civil penalties under the agreement with the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. It also agrees to comply with the city’s Fair Workweek law going forward.

A company spokeswoman said Starbucks is committed to operating responsibly and in compliance with all applicable local laws and regulations in every market where it does business, but also noted the complexities of the city’s law.

“This (law) is notoriously challenging to manage and this isn’t just a Starbucks issue, nearly every retailer in the city faces these roadblocks,” spokeswoman Jaci Anderson said.

Most of the affected employees who held hourly positions will receive $50 for each week worked from July 2021 through July 2024, the department said. Workers who experienced a violation after that may be eligible for compensation by filing a complaint with the department.

The $38.9 million settlement also guarantees employees laid off during recent store closings in the city will get the chance for reinstatement at other company locations.

The city began investigating in 2022 after receiving dozens of worker complaints against several Starbucks locations, and eventually expanded its investigation to the hundreds of stores in the city. The probe found most Starbucks employees never got regular schedules and the company routinely reduced employees’ hours by more than 15%, making it difficult for staffers to know their regular weekly earnings and plan other commitments, such as child care, education or other jobs.

The company also routinely denied workers the chance to pick up extra shifts, leaving them involuntarily in part-time status, according to the city.

Starbucks Workers United members and supporters picket outside a Starbucks in New York on Nov. 21.Michael Nagle / Bloomberg via Getty Images

The agreement with New York comes as Starbucks’ union continues a nationwide strike at dozens of locations that began last month. The number of affected stores and the strike’s impact remain in dispute by the two sides.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

MILAN — The Prada Group announced Tuesday that it has officially purchased Milan fashion rival Versace in a 1.25 billion euro (nearly $1.4 billion) deal that puts the fashion house known for its sexy silhouettes under the same roof as Prada’s “ugly chic” aesthetic and Miu Miu’s youth-driven appeal.

The highly anticipated deal is expected to relaunch Versace’s fortunes, after middling post-pandemic performance as part of the U.S. luxury group Capri Holdings.

Prada said in a one-line statement that the acquisition had been completed after receiving all regulatory clearances.

Prada heir Lorenzo Bertelli will steer Versace’s next phase as executive chairman, in addition to his roles as group marketing director and sustainability chief.

The son of co-creative director Miuccia Prada and longtime Prada Group chairman Patrizio Bertelli has said he doesn’t expect to make any swift executive changes at Versace. But Bertelli has said that the company, which places among the top 10 most recognized brands in the world, has long been underperforming in the market.

Prada has underlined that the 47-year-old Versace brand offered “significant untapped growth potential.’’

Versace has been in the midst of a creative relaunch under a new designer, Dario Vitale, who previewed his first collection during Milan Fashion Week in September. He had previously been head of design at Miu Miu, but his move to Versace was unrelated to the Prada deal, executives have said.

Capri Holdings, which owns Michael Kors and Jimmy Choo, paid $2 billion for Versace in 2018, but had been struggling to position Versace’s bold profile in the recent era of “quiet luxury.″

Versace represented 20% of Capri Holdings 2024 revenue of 5.2 billion euros. An analyst presentation for the Prada deal said that Versace would represent 13% of the Prada Group’s pro-forma revenues, with Miu Miu coming in at 22% and Prada at 64%. The Prada Group, which also includes Church’s footwear, reported a 17% boost in revenues to 5.4 billion euros last year.

The Prada Group has already begun preparations to incorporate crosstown rival Versace into its Italian manufacturing system, a point of pride for the group.

“Making a bag for one brand or another, the know-how is the same,″ Bertelli told reporters last week at the group’s Scandicci leather goods factory, which already makes bags for the Prada and Miu Miu brands and will soon add Versace.

The Prada Group’s has invested 60 million euros in its supply chain this year, including a new leather goods factory near Siena, a new knitwear factory near Perugia as well as increasing production at its factory Church’s footwear factory in Britain and expanding another Tuscan factory. That’s on top of 200 million euros in investments from 2019-24.

Prada’s efforts include an academy that has trained some 570 new artisans over the last 25 years in an in-house training academy operating in the Tuscany, Marche, Veneto and Umbria regions.

Last year, Prada hired 70% of the 120 artisans who trained in the academy. The number of trainees rose by 28% to 152 this year.

This post appeared first on NBC NEWS

Outages on Shopify’s e-commerce platform have been resolved, the company said late Monday, bringing to an end a daylong glitch on the annual ‘Cyber Monday’ shopping day.

Some merchants that use Shopify’s service to sell goods online said they experienced issues with checkouts through the company’s point-of-sale system.

Businesses that run on Shopify also had trouble logging into their administrative portals.

In a statement, Shopify said: ‘We had a system degradation that has now been mitigated.’

Throughout the day, business owners posted angry messages directed at the company on X, where Shopify President Harvey Finkelstein had posted ‘HAPPY CYBER MONDAY! Let’s finish strong!’ earlier in the day, with an emoji of a flexed arm.

One business, Costack Spices, based in London, replied: ‘How??? [We] cannot fulfill orders or log on,’ with three red-faced emojis. In a follow-up, the company posted, ‘This is unbelievable.’

Another user wrote, ‘@ShopifySupport I haven’t been able to access it for the last couple hours.’

Shopify replied to most users on X with the same message: ‘We are aware of an issue with Admins impacting selected stores, and are working to resolve it.’

In 2024, merchants using Shopify services recorded $11.5 billion in sales from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, the company said, with more than 76 million customers buying from businesses powered by the platform.

Shopify provides website design tools, online checkout services and digital advertising products to businesses of all sizes. The company says that millions of merchants use its services.

While Shopify’s share of Cyber Monday sales may be limited, smaller businesses that rely on the company to process their transactions may have missed out on crucial sales at the start of the all-important holiday season.

Total Cyber Monday sales are expected to be more than $53 billion, according to Salesforce.

Shopify stock ended the trading day down 5.9%.

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Denny Hamlin, the NASCAR driver and co-owner of 23XI Racing with Michael Jordan, returned to the witness stand on Day 2 of the NASCAR antitrust trial. From their own attorney, Hamlin fielded a question that cuts to the heart of the federal lawsuit.

Was it a hard decision not to sign the charter agreement this year?

The costly charter agreements guarantee teams a spot in the Cup Series races and a portion of NASCAR’s revenue. But 23XI Racing called the terms a take-it-or-leave-it-deal and, along with Front Row Motorsports, refused in 2024 to sign the last charter agreement.

“I don’t sign because I know that this is essentially my death certificate for the future,’’ said Hamlin, the three-time Daytona 500 winner.

Did he think it was the right decision?

“I think it was the only decision,’’ he said.

It was a decision that ultimately led to the antitrust trial that could reshape or damage the current state of stock car racing.

Hamlin’s testimony was among the highlights in the federal courtroom Tuesday, Dec. 2 in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the case is being heard. Jeff Gluck of The Athletic wrote of the testimony that lasted about four hours over two days, ‘It was extremely bitter and emotionally charged, as Hamlin’s anger toward NASCAR was on full display.”According to the Associated Press, Hamlin was asked why on podcast appearances he paints a rosier picture of NASCAR?

“You can take all my things out of context and paint a picture that everything is fine,” Hamlin said, according to the Associated Press. “The reality is, (being) negative affects me in (technical inspection), getting called to the hauler, NASCAR not liking what I said.”

Hamlin also tried to explain texts on possibly selling part of his share of the team, according to Bob Pockrass of FOX Sports, who of Hamlin’s explanations wrote on X, ‘He said at one point he was frustrated and needed to get the ownership group attention. And long term he would want to sell to make money, that’s business 101.’

NASCAR executive takes stand

Scott Prime, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for NASCAR, took the stand Tuesday.

FOX Sports’ Pockrass wrote on X that Prime was ‘being grilled by 23XI atty Jeffrey Kessler on early charter negotiation strategy” and his and NASCAR President Steve O’Donnell’s reaction to LIV Golf and early team negotiating demands.’

Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal wrote, ‘(Kessler) said NASCAR’s actions and internal messages show its executives tried to ward off potential competition and had taken note of how LIV Golf was disrupting golf. The teams charge that NASCAR did this through actions such as tying up tracks with onerous exclusivity agreements, underpaying teams and putting intellectual property patents on its race cars to make them unusable elsewhere.’

NASCAR finances

Jenna Fryer of the Associated Press filed a report with revealing financial figures that offer context in the court case.

$20 million: How much Hamlin said it costs a year to run one race car a year, while NASCAR CEO Jim France said it should cost only $10 million a year.

$100 million: How much Hamlin said he and Jordan have spent building 23XI Racing since it was founded in September 2020.

$100 million: NASCAR made slightly more than that during 2024, according to the pretrial discovery process. It’s also the amount Front Row Motorsports has lost since it started in 2004, according to team owner Bob Jenkins, whose team is a plaintiff in the case.

$5 billion: The value of NASCAR based on a 2023 evaluation by Goldman Sachs, according to attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who represents 23XI Racing.

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

Pray for Jake Paul.

So said heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk when asked about the upcoming boxing match between Paul and former world champion Anthony Joshua.

“If Anthony Joshua wants, he (can) kill this guy,’’ Usyk told Boxing Scene, comparing Joshua to a Rolls-Royce and Paul to a Fiat. “… I will pray (for) Jake Paul because I want (to) fight Jake Paul in the Octagon.’’

The projections seem to be growing more dire with Paul set to fight Joshua Dec. 19 at the Kaseya Center in Miami in an eight-round bout to be livestreamed by Netflix.

Joshua has held the unified heavyweight championship twice. Paul has fought the likes of retired MMA fighters, a retired NBA player and a 58-year-old Mike Tyson.

Tony Bellew, a retired boxer who was 30-3-1 and now works as a commentator, said Paul is in for a terrifying experience against Joshua.

“When (Joshua) touches him for the first time with a pair of 10-ounce gloves on, he’s going to get the fright of his life,’’ Bellew told IFL TV.

Bellew also expressed doubt the fight will take place, saying of Paul, “I don’t believe he’s going to get in the ring with 10-ounce gloves on.’’

David Haye, a former heavyweight champion, told Sky News that Paul’s life will be at risk when the 6-foot-1 social media-star-turned-boxer climbs into the ring against the 6-foot-6 Joshua.

‘It could be his last day on Earth,’ said Haye, 45, who held world titles as a heavyweight and cruiserweight.

But Louis Durkin, president of the Association of Ringside Physicians, told USA TODAY Sports he has no safety concerns about the boxing match.

‘Although Jake should be a considerable underdog, he has real skills and AJ is a little past his prime,’ said Durkin, Chairman of Emergency Medicine at Mercy Medical Center in  Springfield, Massachusetts. ‘Should be a good match and I think (a) strong chance it goes the distance.’

On safety concerns being aired by others, Durkin said, ‘They don’t want to believe a YouTuber is good enough. He took the shortcut to the top.’

Durkin said the difference between Paul and Joshua in terms of experience and size counts ‘on paper.’

‘But if you look at the individual fighters, I don’t think it rises to the level of safety concern,’ Durkin said. ‘Now whether (Paul) deserves a shot at Joshua is a different question. But I think that gets confused with the level of danger.’

This post appeared first on USA TODAY

The University of Colorado’s athletic department is projecting that it will run a $27 million deficit during the current fiscal year ending in June 2026, in addition to needing $11.9 million in institutional support from the university and $2.2 million from student fees, according to budget figures obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

Those numbers are not final. The athletic department is hoping to bring that deficit down by the end of June with revenue from donations, sponsorships and concerts at Folsom Field. But it has never reported a deficit that big before, which could potentially leave the athletic department in need of more than $41 million in subsidies from the university, including the institutional support and student fees.

It also comes at a critical time:

  • Athletic director Rick George announced recently he’s stepping down at the end of the fiscal year in June.
  • Colorado nearly doubled the pay of football coach Deion Sanders in March, giving him a new five-year contract worth more than $10 million annually. His team just finished 3-9 in 2025 as attendance started to wane after selling out his first season in 2023.
  • Like other major college sports programs, Colorado is committed to providing players with up to $20.5 million in annual benefits and direct payments under terms of the NCAA-House legal settlement. That cost is new this year, with the $20.5 million cap going up by 4% next year and the year after.

The latter two costs are the biggest reasons for the projected deficit — the $20.5 million for players and the $10 million per year for Sanders. Colorado previously told USA TODAY Sports in September it was “to be determined” how it would come up with the money to pay for those two big new costs.

Colorado says it won’t cut sports

The projected answer now is that it will run a deficit with the university as the potential backstop for funding.  Asked who would be paying for these expenses if not the university, spokesman Steve Hurlbert said, “The mechanics of that are still to be determined.”

The school said it will “not cut sports nor cut any resources for student-athletes” but will look to cut expenses.

Hurlbert also stressed tuition money and state funds will not be used to address the deficit.

However, some observers who are familiar with Colorado’s budget expressed skepticism about that claim because money is fungible. The money the university provides to athletics also is discretionary.

“This notion that they’re spending resources that otherwise couldn’t be spent on putting more kids through college or funding cancer research is just absurd,” said Jack Kroll, a former member of the university’s Board of Regents. “There’s no truth to that whatsoever.”

‘The university will have to fill the gap’

The projected revenue for fiscal year 2026 is $136.7 million with $163.7 million in expenses. The biggest expense is football at $60.4 million. The department is still finalizing its numbers for fiscal year 2025, which ended in June 2025, but said it expects a “balanced” budget of $141 million in revenues and expenses for that year, including $24 million in institutional support revenue from the Boulder campus and the university’s president’s office.

Colorado isn’t the only school facing these challenges. In fiscal 2024, at least 33 athletic departments received at least $30 million in university support, including Colorado ($31.9 million), Houston ($38.4 million), Arizona State ($51.7 million) and South Florida ($63.7 million), according to public records collected by USA TODAY Sports in conjunction with the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database at Syracuse University.

The House settlement added a potential new $20.5 million expense to their bills starting July 1, 2025.

At Colorado, last year the university projected a small but growing budget deficit for the campus starting in fiscal 2027. It even told faculty and staff to move forward by “being comfortable with being uncomfortable.” This has led to concerns about how football is paying for its big new expenses.

“With a lame-duck athletic director, a dismal football season, who-knows-what to happen with the (transfer) portal, donor fatigue, the distancing of football leadership from football alums — the prospects for making much of a dent in that deficit seem very slim,” said Roger Pielke, an emeritus professor at Colorado who previously taught sports governance in the CU athletics department. “That would mean that the university will have to fill the gap.”

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

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