Money

It's the end of an era ... Kenny Mayne announced he's leaving ESPN after an epic 27-year run.

"I am leaving ESPN," Mayne tweeted Monday ... "Salary cap casualty."

61-year-old Mayne -- who started at ESPN in 1994 -- thanked former ESPN execs Vince Doria and Al Jaffe for helping him get hired back in the day ... and also praised the current staff.

"I will miss the people. I will miss the vending machine set up over by the old [Scott Van Pelt] joint. We had everything. IntoTheGreatWideOpen#."

Kenny is one of the most popular ESPN personalities ever -- both as an anchor of SportsCenter and as a feature reporter.

In fact, he was so popular, Mayne was tapped for "Dancing with the Stars" back in 2006 ... but was the first to be eliminated. But, the audience loved him and he would occasionally come back to the show for hilarious cameos.

Before ESPN, Mayne was a pretty solid QB back at Wenatchee Valley Community College in Washington and later played at UNLV.

Mayne signed a free-agent deal with the Seattle Seahawks in 1982, according to ESPN ... but eventually decided on a career in broadcasting.

Floyd Mayweather COULD beat up both Logan Paul and Jake Paul on the same night ... but he won't, according to the man who runs Mayweather Promotions.

Remember, Floyd took the mic at Hard Rock Stadium on Thursday and said he would have no problem beating "two fake fighters" on the same night.

Jake Paul confronted Floyd about the situation -- and with news cameras rolling, Floyd yelled for his manager to draw up the paperwork.

Hell broke loose after that ... but when things finally calmed down, we spoke with Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe and asked if there was any real chance fans would get a 2-for-1 special on June 6.

"Realistically, he could [fight both brothers], but no ... from a business standpoint, no."

Ellerbe continued, "[Floyd] and Logan are gonna have a great exhibition on the 6th of June and the whole world will be entertained."

As for the possibility Floyd could fight Jake on another date down the road? The door seems to be open on that ...

Who knows?! Who knows what the future might hold?!"

Elon Musk cast doubt on Dogecoin during 'SNL' -- but now, it seems his company is trying to take that back ... by sending a satellite to the moon ... funded exclusively by the cryptocurrency.

A company called Geometric Energy Corporation announced Sunday that they'll be launching an 88-lb cube to the moon sometime in early 2022 ... with the help of none other than SpaceX, Elon's pride and joy for space exploration. SpaceX confirmed the news, BTW.

They say this is gonna be the first-ever commercial lunar payload that's paid for entirely with Doge ... meaning, SpaceX is accepting the crypto from Geometric -- which will presumably fundraise/buy Dogecoin for this mission ... one they're calling DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon.

The cube -- which will be equipped with high-tech cameras/sensors to help obtain "lunar-spatial intelligence" upon touchdown -- is flying passengers aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Elon hasn't commented on the momentous moment just yet -- but one of his SpaceX execs did. Tom Ochinero, the Vice President of Commercial Sales, says ... "This mission will demonstrate the application of cryptocurrency beyond Earth orbit and set the foundation for interplanetary commerce." He adds, "We're excited to launch DOGE-1 to the Moon!"

Two things about this -- one, it looks like Elon wasn't kidding in April when he said SpaceX would be sending an actual Dogecoin to the moon. Also, this appears to be major damage control after Elon agreed with Michael Che Saturday, saying Dogecoin was a "hustle."

That comment helped send the meme coin plummeting ... losing upwards of 37% of value in a matter of minutes. Now, it looks like they're trying to re-legitimize it once more.

Elon Musk did well for himself on 'SNL' Saturday night, but his appearance did NOT do well for Dogecoin ... because its value plunged during the show.

Fans of Dogecoin were banking on Musk's on-air explanation of the cryptocurrency to drive the price to $1. That would have been a huge jump because just before the show it was hovering around 70 cents.

The opposite happened ... its value plummeted to 47 cents at the beginning of the show, and then partially recovered by bouncing back to 55 cents at around 2 AM ET.

At the time of this post, Dogecoin is down more than 37%.

The trading platform Robinhood seemed to panic, saying, "We’re currently experiencing issues with crypto trading. We're working to resolve this as soon as possible."

Musk talked about Dogecoin on the "Weekend Update" segment, playing a dude named Lloyd Ostertag who tried to explain to Michael Che and Colin Jost what exactly Dogecoin is, finally coming to the conclusion that didn't do it any favors.

Elon's been a fan of Dogecoin for a while now. We got him out in February when he gave some words of wisdom about investing and caution.

Bill Gates is arguably the world's most eligible bachelor now that he's divorcing his wife, Melinda, and Tinder's got a message for any potential catfishers ... don't swim in this dating pool!!!

The online dating platform is making sure folks who are looking for love don't fall hook, line and sinker for a Bill Gates impersonator ... telling us they've got some serious tools to make sure anyone's plan to pose as Bill will fail.

As for the big safeguard ... in order to verify a Tinder profile, users must scan their mug with facial recognition software to make sure a user matches his or her uploaded profile pics. Someone posing as Bill would almost certainly be busted.

Profiles are also reviewed and scanned for any oddities before going live ... and if someone does make it through the system, other users can flag it to Tinder employees for a closer look and for further verification.

A rep for Tinder tells us they do not yet have information available on how many fake Bill profiles have tried to launch since Melinda filed for divorce.

Now, if you're trying to get with Bill ... you might be better off sending a direct message on social media, instead of swiping through Tinder ... but you'll have to get in line, because lots of folks are sliding into Bill's DMs.

As we reported ... Bill's been lining his estranged wife's pockets with billions in stock ever since they announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage, so Melinda Gates is quite the eligible bachelorette as well.

Folks are shooting their shot with Melinda as well, but as with Bill, Tinder won't be letting any fake Melinda profiles fly.

A signed Tom Brady card PACKED with diamonds was just pulled out of a wild box break this week ... and it's got everyone wondering -- is this the greatest TB12 card ever!?

The piece came from a 2020 Flawless NFL box ... and it's absolutely insane -- with some experts putting a conservative resale price tag of $250,000 on it!!

The card -- a 1-of-1 -- features an image of Brady, the Super Bowl XXXVIII logo, Brady's signature and inscription ... plus over two dozen REAL diamonds!!

It was all pulled thanks to Bryan from Ultimate Box Breaks ... who purchased the $6,000 Panini America box this week and split it 32 ways between collectors.

Bryan tells TMZ Sports some of his followers/card enthusiasts agreed to buy in for around $160 -- and each one was then assigned 1 of the 32 NFL teams.

The deal was simple ... whatever team the player's card was on -- that collector would get the item.

Turns out, the guy who had the Patriots scored BIG TIME -- 'cause Bryan tells us the dude is just a regular Joe who so happens to be a huge New England and Brady fan!

As for his plans for the card now, Bryan says it's unclear whether the guy will sell it or hold it ... but it is clear the card could be worth a small fortune nonetheless.

Remember, Tom's rare cards ALWAYS resale for big numbers ... in fact, one of his rookie pieces just netted $1.72 MILLION at an auction last month.

Bhad Bhabie is calling BS on her critics who say she was way too young to post videos on OnlyFans, chalking it up to jealousy.

We got BB, formerly known as Danielle Bregoli, Friday at The Grove, and she launched on folks who want to change the age of entry on the OnlyFans site from 18 to 21, arguing at 18 it amounts to child grooming. Danielle says these folks are just bitter over her success, and success she has had -- at least monetarily.

BB pocketed a million bucks in just 6 hours in her OnlyFans debut and she thinks the criticism comes from people who are butt-hurt by her cash flow. By the way, OnlyFans confirmed she did indeed cross the million-dollar mark in 6 hours ... a record for the site.

Jay-Z could be in the process of starting his own production company ... at least it seems that way based on the trademark application his company has filed.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ, Hova's company, S. Carter Enterprises, filed to trademark "2/J" on May 3 for "entertainment services in the nature of creation, development, and production" of television programming, TV series, movies and similar projects.

Too early to tell, but it sure seems like Jay's laying the groundwork to start a production co.

It would be rather fitting if Jay-Z, a music and business mogul, starts his own production company. He's already made a fortune on his own cognac with D'Usse, the streaming service Tidal and, of course, his massively successful entertainment firm, Roc Nation. And, just last year, he launched his own premium cannabis brand, Monogram.

Jay would be following in the footsteps of entertainment moguls who have their own production companies ... like Spike Lee's 40 Acres, Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Productions and LeBron James' SpringHill Company, which reportedly has already amassed an impressive portfolio of deals and partnerships in the media world.

Jim Carrey is taking a page from Oprah's playbook, giving away a brand new car ... and the lucky winner is a crew member on his upcoming Sonic movie.

Production sources tell TMZ ... Jim has been up in Vancouver shooting 'Sonic 2' and he wanted to do something fun for the crew and show his thanks for their hard work, so he held a raffle ... and the grand prize was a Chevy Blazer RS.

We're told the winner was picked Friday morning ... and the crew member, who worked as a grip, is getting the keys to their new ride.

Jim's making a pretty big gesture with the free car giveaway ... the base model Chevy Blazer RS retails for just over $40,000.

As you know ... Jim starred in 2020's "Sonic The Hedgehog" as Dr. Robotnik ... and now he's bringing back the evil character for the upcoming sequel.

Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson says his attack on Rangers players earlier this week was completely justified ... insisting all he was trying to do was defend his goalie.

The 27-year-old explained the situation in his first meeting with media members since Monday night's drama ... saying New York players started it all when they messed with Caps goaltender Vitek Vanecek.

"Their guy goes to our net and kicks at our goalie and goes in there with his stick," Wilson said.

"At a young age in hockey, you’re taught to stand up for your goalie, so that’s what I was doing."

Wilson then explained he violently took down Rangers star Artemi Panarin because he claims the dude just straight up jumped on his back in an aggressive way.

"I think anybody’s first reaction would try to be just to throw them off you and wrestle them down to the ice," Wilson said. "And, that’s what I thought about it at the time."

Wilson added he believed it all to be a "fairly routine hockey scrum."

Seemed the NHL agreed, 'cause Wilson was NOT suspended and was only hit with a $5,000 fine ... which enraged the Rangers, who called the punishment complete B.S.

In fact, they were so upset with it ... when the two teams met again on Wednesday night, NY players could not stop going after the Capitals -- inciting brawls seconds after the puck dropped.

The two teams fought so much, Wilson was ultimately forced out of the game due to injury.

Wilson -- who appeared to be contrite about the whole situation at his news conference Friday -- did say he personally reached out to Panarin after the incident, and is glad he's doing better.

The Rangers, meanwhile, paid a $250,000 fine for blasting the NHL's head of player safety, George Parros, in a scathing statement after Wilson's punishment was announced.

Tyrese is looking to transform his crib into cash ... he's selling his mansion for millions, and there's a movie-size Transformer on the property!!!

The 'Transformers' star just listed his 5-bedroom home in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles for a cool $3,499,000 ... and the first thing that jumps out is the huge Bumblebee figurine standing guard over the property.

Bumblebee's chilling on the back patio towering over the pool and hot tub, and this Transformer is so big it's peering into the home's second floor!!!

Sounds like Bumblebee could hang out inside ... the place is 5,225 square feet with 26-foot ceilings ... but he does look pretty epic in the backyard. Totally feng shui.

The master suite comes with dual walk-in closets, plus a steam shower and a soaking tub. Oh and there's a home theater with surround sound, perfect for watching the 'Transformer' movies.

The garage has room for 3 cars -- regulars ones, not Transformers -- and there's a huge kitchen with stainless steel appliances, plus a home gym.

Bill and Melinda Gates are shifting more of their fortune into Melindas' name ... and new documents show she's gonna be a big fan of Mexican Coca-Cola.

Here's what we know ... the day after Melinda filed her divorce docs, the estranged couple filed docs with the Securities Exchange Commission that show she now owns more than 5 percent of Coca-Cola Femsa  ... which is why they had to notify the SEC.

According to the docs, Melinda acquired 25,793,660 shares of the Coke bottler which is based in Mexico, and Bill has zero shares. Those shares would be valued at around $120 million today.

It appears the shares were transferred from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For reference, the Foundation still retains more than 62 million shares of Coca-Cola Femsa.

Another doc, also filed on May 4, shows Melinda now owns more than 155 million shares of Grupo Televisa ... which is a Mexican multimedia company that produces programs, several of which air on Univision.

For those keeping score ... the Grupo Televisa stock is worth about $386 million.

As we reported, nearly $2 billion in shares of AutoNation and the Canadian National Railway were also transferred to Melinda on May 3 ... the day she filed the divorce docs.

One of the best baseball players of this century is now team-less -- the L.A. Angels have cut Albert Pujols ... and it now begs the question, is this the end of the MLB legend's career??

The Angels announced the parting of ways with the slugger on Thursday morning ... saying they've designated the future Hall of Famer for assignment.

"The Angels organization proudly signed Albert Pujols in 2011 and are honored that he has worn an Angels jersey for nearly half of his Hall-of-Fame career," owner Arte Moreno said.

"Albert Pujols' historical accomplishments, both on and off the field, serve as an inspiration to athletes everywhere, and his actions define what it means to be a true superstar."

Pujols inked a massive, 10-year, $210 million with the Angels in '11 after a brilliant career with the STL Cardinals ... but his legendary bat has slowed tremendously over the years.

In fact, the start to this season was one of his worst EVER ... he was hitting just .198 in 24 games before his release Thursday.

Pujols will have the opportunity to catch on with another team ... but at 41 years old, this might be it for the MLB star -- who reportedly had been mulling retirement after this season anyway.

Kim Kardashian was unaware her name was attached to an ancient Roman artifact -- a piece of art the U.S. government is now desperately seeking to return to Italy -- a purchase we're told was made by her estranged husband, Kanye West.

Think "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" meets "Raiders of the Lost Ark" -- in a new lawsuit, the government claims a statue dating back to 1st or 2nd Century Rome ended up getting shipped to the U.S. in 2016.

The problem for Kim is the paperwork listed "Kim Kardashian dba Noel Roberts Trust" as the consignee and importer of said statue. Noel Roberts is, in fact, a trust Kim has used to make other big-ticket purchases -- but a rep for Kim denies she made this deal.

A source connected to the situation tells us Kim only found out this week that the piece was actually bought by Kanye as part of a larger purchase which included more art. We're told it's unclear if Kanye had bought it as a gift, or when he had planned on telling Kim, but our source says she was in the dark.

Now, the reason the feds want it back is because Italy's determined the piece is a cultural treasure that was essentially looted from an archaeological site.

As for the alleged Kardashian ties -- well, there's one smoking gun. The feds say a Belgium designer named Axel Vervoordt shipped the statue to the U.S., and presumably, his company put Kim's name on the customs document. Vervoordt has worked with Kim and Kanye in the past, and back in 2016 -- when the statue was imported -- they were building their Hidden Hills mansion ... which has been compared to a museum.

Still, Kim says she has no knowledge of the statue or its purchase. For his part, Vervoordt tells TMZ ... he acquired the statue "in good faith" from a French gallery, which in turn says it bought it from a German auction house. He adds, "At this point there is no evidence that this piece was illegally imported from Italy. If investigation proves that the piece was actually exported from Italy without a proper export license from the Italian Ministry of Culture, then we will of course take our responsibility."

A source close to Kim says that while she doesn't know the origins of the work, she hopes it gets resolved ASAP.

Ya had to see this one coming -- the New York Rangers have just been slapped with a MASSIVE fine by the NHL ... after the team went scorched earth on a league exec. earlier this week.

Remember, the Rangers were FURIOUS with the league after Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson was handed a measly $5,000 fine for his violent altercation with N.Y. star Artemi Panarin.

The team released a lengthy statement slamming the NHL's head of player safety, George Parros, saying he was "unfit" to serve the position ... and Wilson should have been suspended indefinitely.

Of course, the NHL didn't take kindly to the statement ... handing down a severe $250,000 fine to the organization on Thursday.

Commish Gary Bettman spoke about the punishment minutes ago ... saying, "Public comments of the nature issued by the Rangers that were personal in nature and demeaning of a League executive will not be tolerated."

"While we don’t expect our Clubs to agree with every decision rendered by the Department of Player Safety, the extent to which the Rangers expressed their disagreement was unacceptable.

He added ... "It is terribly unfair to question George Parros' professionalism and dedication to his role and the Department of Player Safety."

Both teams are still dealing with the chaotic fallout from Monday's incident -- the Caps vs. Rangers game on Wednesday started off with a line brawl ... and there were at least 6 total fights in the 1st period alone.

The Bill and Melinda divorce has been a done deal for months, TMZ has learned, and they had a plan to announce it back in March ... a plan that included renting a remote, private island where the entire family -- with one BIG exception -- could avoid the media once the announcement was made ... sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ.

Our sources say Melinda Gates rented Calivigny Island in Grenada ... yes, she rented the entire island for $132,000 a night. The plan was for Melinda and the kids, as well as their significant others, to come to the island -- everyone except Bill. We're told everyone in the family already knew Bill and Melinda were divorcing. There was a considerable amount of acrimony associated with the split and we're told virtually everyone in the family took Melinda's side. Another way of putting it ... we're told they were very angry at Bill, and that's why he wasn't invited.

The reason for going to the island ... so no one from the media could reach them and ask about the split when it was announced during their stay.

But, there was a problem ... lawyers for both Bill and Melinda were trying to hash out a divorce settlement and there were still outstanding issues that couldn't be resolved at the time of the trip. We're told Melinda decided to go anyway ... well, with everyone BUT Bill.

So here's the takeaway. First, we're told this was not a friendly split. We're told Melinda and most of the family were furious at Bill for various things they claim he had done.