Quicken Loans CMO on Partnership With League of Legends Expansion Team
*By Jim Roberts*
A marriage between a mortgage company and an esports expansion team may not immediately seem to be a no-brainer, but for Quicken Loans Chief Marketing Officer Casey Hurbis, that’s exactly what it felt like when he connected with 100 Thieves and its owner, esports legend “Nadeshot.”
“We found a partner that we could absolutely align with right off the bat,” Hurbis said in an interview with Cheddar’s Jon Steinberg at the Esports Business Summit in Las Vegas. “We met 100 Thieves and quite honestly it was an easy conversation once we got to know each other a little bit.”
“We’re both very tech-forward,” he said. “At Quicken Loans, we’re a fintech company, tech forward, always looking to innovate. And here was a team that was coming into the league as an expansion team with an owner that is one of the most famous gaming personalities in Nadeshot,” otherwise known as Matthew Haag.
According to Hurbis, Quicken was attracted to Haag’s vision for his League of Legends franchise as a lifestyles brand, “going into content, a clothing line, and now we’re starting to see expansion, going into the other leagues, like Fortnite.”
Quicken’s online brand Rocket Mortgage was 100 Thieves’s first major sponsor. As part of the partnership, the company is sponsoring the 100 Thieves’s Team House, a luxury home and training facility in Venice, Calif. The home was designed to help players develop their skills while giving them access to nutritionists, personal trainers, and sports psychologists.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/quicken-loans-sponsors-new-league-of-legends-team).
Wealthfront’s CFO Alan Iberman talks the $2.05B IPO and the major moment for robo banking as the company bets on AI, automation, and “self-driving money."
A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
