Perplexity reportedly had $850 million in the bank at the end of December, leading the company to recently make a bid to buy Google’s Chrome for $34.5 billion.
This Past Weekend began in 2016, steadily climbing the charts to land at the fourth spot on Spotify’s 2024 year-end ranking. The show claims to reach nearly 54,000 monthly listeners. Meanwhile, Von’s YouTube channel boasts 4.15 million subscribers, with some episodes attracting more than a million views.
Given The Past Weekend’s free-flowing, sometimes far reaching interview topics, Shevelenko said: “Unlike ChatGPT, which can be sycophantic, Perplexity gives you facts, and doesn’t encourage you to go with your idea, even if it’s not grounded in anything.”
“The meta strategy for us to be part of where culture is happening,” Shevelenko added.
Von is increasingly associated with the so-called “manosphere,” a cluster of right-leaning, hypermasculine influencers including Joe Rogan. While his political views are relatively monolithic, Von often balances episodes with diverse voices—like interviewing Donald Trump ahead of 2024 election or talking to guests about the Israel-Hamas war, as he did the episode with Aziz Rahman, an American intensive care specialist who traveled to Gaza on a medical mission. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was a guest on Von’s podcast in July.