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Happy Thursday, Crunchers! It’s an exciting time to be a tech reporter, with a ton of fun stories coming down the pipe. So let’s get to it! Hasta mañana, Christine and Haje

The TechCrunch Top 3

The house that Mickey built: Disney+ is down about 4 million subscribers in the second quarter, which is the second time in a row that has happened. Manish did a deep dive into the earnings and found that much of that can be attributed to Disney’s Hotstar losing 8.4 million subscribers. Oh, and Disney+ and Hulu are set to combine into one app later this year, Lauren reports.
Can you see the correction?: Manish also reported on SoftBank’s Vision Fund, which lost $32 billion. He notes this comes in a year when startups valuations were cut, writing that SoftBank earlier this year had entered “defense mode.”
Riders on the storm: Peloton recalls millions of exercise bikes, citing faulty assembly, after reports of injuries. Kyle has more.

Startups and VC

Most U.S.-based tech investors are likely familiar with smaller-ticket investor marketplaces AngelList and Carta. In Europe, Germany’s Bunch and the U.K.’s Vauban (acquired by by U.S.-based Carta last year) have attempted to do a similar job. But the backstory to this is that although launching many years ago, AngelList struggled with Europe’s regulatory environment. Mike wonders if Odin could be Europe’s answer to AngelList.

It used to be that having a corporate blog and some paid content was the gist of your marketing department’s content efforts, and that was enough. But as larger companies like Salesforce and HubSpot have launched their own full-blown media arms, it may be time to rethink your content strategy. AudiencePlus wants to help every company run its own media platform, and today the company announced a $5.4 million seed investment, Ron reports.

Another smattering of highlights and lowlights:

Less LSD for the LLM: Writer introduces product that could help reduce hallucinated content in its LLMs, reports Ron.
Fairly repairable headphones: Natasha L reports that Fairphone gets its audio groove on with repairable over-ear BT headphones. 
Hospitals, but Amazon-ier: MediShout wants to bring Amazon-like efficiency to hospital operations, reports Paul.
Hello, this is the pre-crime division: Everseen raises over $70 million for AI tech to spot potential retail theft, reports Kyle.
That’s a pass from me, thanks: Tinder-inspired Cala dares you to swipe left on useless meetings, reports Harri.

Unlocking the M&A code: 5 factors that can make (or break) a deal

Image Credits: mjrodafotografia (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

A merger or acquisition is the start of a new relationship, which is why most people approach exits with optimism.

“But all’s not rosy in the world of M&A,” says SmartBear CEO Frank Roe, who’s completed eight acquisitions in less than five years.

“It is a complex and substantially risky decision, not for the faint-hearted. It is essential to approach the decision and process with diligence and forethought.