Tech
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Elon Musk’s judge has ‘significant misgivings’ about $1.5 million Twitter settlement—but approves it anyway
A federal judge questioned the propriety of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s $1.5 million settlement with Elon Musk, in a case alleging that the world’s richest person saved $150 million by allegedly skirting stock disclosure rules at public market shareholders’ expense. But despite what she called “serious misgivings” and “red flags,” Washington, D.C. district…
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Amazon’s $25 billion ‘surprise’ bond sale dangled extra yield to lure in buyers—and flashed a warning sign about the AI boom
Bond investors haven’t been rattled as they’ve watched AI giants rack up $270 billion in debt this year. But on Tuesday, Amazon gave them a shake. The company plunked what Bank of America called a “surprise” $25 billion bond sale on the market on July 7, bringing the amount of debt issued by the tech…
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Exclusive: Fi is bringing Starlink satellite technology to dog collars
Jonathan Bensamoun has a 100-pound German Shepherd named Thor—and a story every dog owner knows. A few years ago, while in the Hamptons, his perfectly-trained shepherd spotted a family of deer. “He looks at me, looks at the deer,” Bensamoun recalled. “And he just bolted.” For several minutes, Bensamoun was powerless. Luckily Thor returned on…
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The billionaires’ ‘summer camp’ that media moguls built is now run by the tech titans trying to replace them
When Allen & Co. convened its first Sun Valley conference in 1983, it was a media-finance gathering: 35 guests, one speaker, and a New York investment bank looking to bind itself to the moguls who ran America’s newspapers, studios, and broadcast networks. Four decades later, the media chiefs are still there, but they’re no longer…
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Nomagic’s new AI lab headed by former Google DeepMind researcher claims success in early deployment of ‘AI brain’ for warehouse robots
“Embodied AI” and “physical intelligence” are all the rage with Silicon Valley investors these days. The idea is that AI’s next frontier will be systems that don’t just use software but can take action in the real world through robotic devices, from self-driving cars to humanoid robots. Many startups are chasing AI models that can…
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Exclusive: Fleek, an online marketplace connecting vintage clothing wholesalers and retailers, raises $25 million in new funding
Abhi Arora, like many people, liked to buy vintage clothes. But he had never given too much thought to exactly how they arrived in second-hand shops. Then one day, Arora’s favorite vintage clothing shop near Brick Lane, in London’s East End, announced it was closing. Surprised, Arora asked the shop owner why. She told him…
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AI’s productivity gains are years away, but if it doesn’t deliver, it could make unsustainable debt levels even worse, Deutsche Bank economist says
Economists are waiting for data to indicate AI has delivered on its promises of productivity gains, but that moment is likely years away, according to Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank Research Institute global head of macro and thematic research. Reid predicted that AI would, indeed, create new jobs and increase workplace efficiency, but said people are…
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Cognition CEO says tech companies got ‘carried away’ with token leaderboards and should measure employees on output instead
The trend of tokenmaxxing has gone too far. That’s at least according to Cognition CEO Scott Wu, who argues that as companies scramble to rein in AI spending, they should focus on employee productivity instead of AI use. In an episode of the “Founders” podcast with David Senra, Wu said that as companies are shelling…
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SK Hynix—which supplies memory chips to Nvidia—is about to test Wall Street’s appetite for the next wave of tech IPOs
Good morning. Another major AI supply-chain company is launching a U.S. listing. South Korean memory-chip maker SK Hynix, a key Nvidia supplier, is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq this Friday. This follows Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which went public on June 12, listing on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker SPCX. The…
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The $1.2 billion startup that wants to become Amazon Prime for savings
In 2022, Hussein Fazal flew 200 of his employees to Las Vegas to cash a $200 check at a payday loan shop. He then asked them to buy a week of groceries for a family on what was left so they could understand their customers’ experience. His company, Super.com was worth approximately $700 million at…