A Florida judge yesterday "temporarily halted the release of police surveillance videos" of Patriots Owner ROBERT KRAFT after prosecutors had "indicated earlier in the day that they were planning to eventually make pixelated copies of the video available to the public." Circuit Court Judge JOSEPH MARX said, "I don’t want this released until I've ruled." He has "scheduled a hearing for April 29" (BOSTON GLOBE, 4/18). Kraft has "turned the dispute over the video into a bare-knuckle legal fight" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/17).
MONEY MATTERS: SERENA WILLIAMS yesterday took to Instagram to formally announce Serena Ventures, her own venture capital firm through which she has been "quietly investing in a variety of start-ups" since '14. The firm's website "lists the 30 start-ups in the VC’s portfolio, so far." The offerings "range from food delivery and razors to cryptocurrencies." Williams said that the firm "focuses on investing in diverse companies with young founders" who "foster collaboration." Serena Ventures VP ALISON RAPAPORT, who previously worked with Wasserman and J.P. Morgan, is "tasked with overseeing and sourcing the firm’s portfolio." The market cap for its portfolio is an estimated $12B (ADAGE.com, 4/17).
A FEELING UNLIKE ANY OTHER: MICHAEL PHELPS attended his first Masters last week and had seats behind the 16th tee on Sunday. Phelps was seen on camera when TIGER WOODS nearly aced the hole en route to winning his fifth green jacket, and the swimmer said it was "one of the coolest shots and coolest things I have ever seen in live sports and definitely in golf." Phelps: "Just watching Tiger come back, watching him be able to do that and get back on top of the mountain, it's so cool." Phelps jokingly said he got a "couple texts" about showing up on the broadcast ("Today," NBC, 4/17).
NAMES: A "second round of layoffs" has hit former Fox units since Disney's acquisition of the assets was completed last month. The latest terminations impact TV ad sales employees in N.Y that "work for the former Fox Networks Group division of 21st Century Fox, a large part of which moved to Disney" (DEADLINE.com, 4/17)....Golfer DANIELLE KANG this season has started a campaign to “raise funds and awareness for UNICEF’s efforts.” She will donate $100 for “each birdie she rolls in during an 11-tournament campaign” -- including this week at the LPGA Tour's Lotte Championship at Ko Olina Golf Club -- and is also “collecting pledges with a goal of reaching $50,000 to benefit UNICEF USA” (STARADVERTISER.com, 4/18)....Cowboys QB DAK PRESCOTT, RB EZEKIEL ELLIOTT, TE JASON WITTEN and other Cowboys players were at American Airlines Center last night “cheering on” the Stars in their Game 4 win over the Predators (STAR-TELEGRAM.com, 4/17).
