Originally published in Svenska Dagbladet by Björn Jeffery, October 28, 2025
What should we do when AI has made our jobs more efficient? Ask super-agent Ari Emanuel and the answer is: go to the theatre and watch TV. Now he is betting billions on a four-day week.
The spectacular character Ari Gold from the TV series Entourage quickly became a fan favourite. Gold, played by Jeremy Piven, was a Hollywood agent who fought for his clients and went hard at his perceived enemies. He was most famous for shouting and swearing a lot in the office.
The character is based on a real agent with the same first name — Ari Emanuel. Known for the same manner of speaking and an extraordinary career in Hollywood, Emanuel has become a highly influential player in the industry. Now he is betting billions on his latest insight: the five-day working week for employees is dead. And it is AI that makes it possible.
In the podcast The Town, Ari Emanuel is interviewed about his new plans at the company Mari — a blend of his and colleague Mark Shapiro’s first names. The thesis is that the world is moving toward a four-day working week, driven by increased productivity through AI.
Emanuel talks about data he has seen showing the trend is already under way and visible. Thursdays are becoming the new Fridays in this scenario. Long weekends are becoming longer, and the hotel and restaurant industries are examples of sectors that could benefit.
But Emanuel is primarily in the entertainment business. And here he sees a business opportunity: owning the leisure time that AI creates. He has already made his first move in this direction.
Last week Mari bought ticket company Today Tix. They primarily sell tickets to theatre performances, Broadway for example. And if you believe that interest in that kind of entertainment is going to increase, it could be a smart move to own the company that handles a large share of ticket sales.
Mari already owns other entertainment-adjacent businesses. The art fair Frieze and the tennis tournaments Madrid Open and Miami Open are some examples.
Emanuel and Shapiro have watched the development close up. Through other companies they own, for example, the fighting league UFC and the American wrestling league WWE — entertainment and sport in an enormously successful combination. In 2024, Forbes named the two brands the most valuable in the broader category of boxing and combat sports. Building strong entertainment brands to capture audience attention is something they have done better than most in Hollywood.
Another consequence of a shorter working week is that people have more time to entertain themselves from the sofa too. And here Emanuel believes — admittedly with some self-interest in the question — that a new era of high-investment content could be beginning.
Two forces are at play here. On the one hand, AI will reduce the costs of film and TV production, which will cost a great many jobs — the same effect as for the world at large, in other words. And on the other hand, interest in video content will increase as people have more free time.
Emanuel predicts that the volume of series and films will increase again and competition will intensify. The golden age of streaming that has passed could conceivably experience a renaissance. That would be excellent news for someone who earns more money the more his clients work.
Mari is one of the most concrete examples of a new type of company, adapted for a time when AI is taken for granted. Just as during the pandemic, certain types of behaviour were cemented and have persisted long afterwards. AI could plausibly follow the same path.
Even if it does not hit all industries simultaneously — or in the same way — the mere concept of a four-day working week would be something of a minor revolution for many. Mari is betting here that all employees will not merely find new tasks to fill their days with. They will need to work less.
