Things To Do In SW Florida

A new attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom puts polar bears in your face, introduces one very wet walrus, presents a buff buffalo clad in Lycra and solves a mystery, all in 10 minutes.

It’s all digital, fortunately. “Zootopia: Better Zoogether,” an animated 4D show, opens to the public inside the park’s Tree of Life Theater on Friday.

Its arrival comes just ahead of the release of “Zootopia 2,” which comes to theaters Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving. It’s the sequel to 2016’s “Zootopia” from Walt Disney Animation Studios.

“Better Zoogether” and the new film were in production at the same time, which allowed for cross-over and cooperation between Walt Disney Imagineering and the studios.

The two creative arms bounced back ideas for a couple of years, Jared Bush, chief creative officer at the studios, said after a preview of “Better Zoogether” at the theme park this week.

“Obviously, they can do things that we can’t. We can’t get someone to be spit upon by a walrus,” Bush said. “That’s the sort of interactive, immersive quality … that’s really, really spectacular.” read more

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, one of Tesla’s biggest investors, said Tuesday that it will vote against a proposed compensation package that could pay CEO Elon Musk as much as $1 trillion over a decade.

There will be more than a dozen company proposals up for a vote Thursday during Tesla’s annual meeting, but none have generated more division than Musk’s potentially massive pay package.

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“While we appreciate the significant value created under Mr. Musk’s visionary role, we are concerned about the total size of the award, dilution, and lack of mitigation of key person risk consistent with our views on executive compensation,” said Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the country’s Government Pension Fund Global. “We will continue to seek constructive dialogue with Tesla on this and other topics.” read more

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

Denny’s said Monday that it’s being acquired by a group on investors in a deal that will take the breakfast chain private.

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Denny’s board unanimously approved the deal, which values Denny’s at $620 million including debt. Denny’s will be purchased by private equity investment company TriArtisan Capital Advisors, investment firm Treville Capital and Yadav Enterprises, which is one of Denny’s largest franchisees.

Under the agreement, Denny’s shareholders will receive $6.25 per share in cash for each share of Denny’s common stock they own, or a total of $322 million. That represents a 52% premium to Denny’s closing stock price Monday. read more

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

Starbucks said Monday it is forming a joint venture with Chinese investment firm Boyu Capital to operate Starbucks stores in China.

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Under the agreement, Boyu will acquire a 60% interest in Starbucks’ retail operations in China, which is valued at $4 billion. Starbucks will retain a 40% interest in the joint venture and will own and license the Starbucks brand.

Starbucks said its business in China will have a total value of more than $13 billion, including the proceeds from the sale of the controlling interest to Boyu, the value of its 40% stake and the value of its royalties. read more

By MICHELLE CHAPMAN

Microsoft has entered into a $9.7 billion cloud services contract with artificial intelligence cloud service provider IREN that will give it access to some of Nvidia’s chips.

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  Denny’s to be acquired and taken private in a deal valued at $620 million

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The five-year deal, which includes a 20% prepayment, will help Microsoft as it looks to keep up with AI demand. Last week the software maker reported its quarterly sales grew 18% to $77.7 billion, beating Wall Street expectations while also surprising some investors with the huge amounts of money it is spending to expand its cloud computing infrastructure and address the growing need for AI tools. read more