Netflix and the Aggregation Endgame
The $82.7 billion all-cash bid isn't about content libraries. It's about the structural logic that was always going to win.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says selling AI chips to China is like “selling nuclear weapons to North Korea” and has “incredible national security implications”
Anthropic Chief Executive Officer Dario Amodei said selling advanced artificial intelligence chips …
OpenAI rolls out age prediction on ChatGPT globally to identify users under 18 and apply automatic content protections as it prepares to introduce adult content
OpenAI on Tuesday said it is rolling out age prediction on ChatGPT globally, to determine whether an account is likely owned by a minor …
Netflix reports Q4 revenue up 18% YoY to $12B vs. $11.97B est., 325M paid subs, 2025 revenue up 16% to $45.2B, plans to increase content spend by 10% in 2026
Netflix Inc. delivered fourth-quarter results that largely beat Wall Street estimates but issued a cautious forecast for the months ahead …
Filings from Elon Musk's OpenAI lawsuit detail Microsoft's decade-long OpenAI relationship, like establishing a new subsidiary for Sam Altman while he was fired
The launch of the AI lab that would redefine Microsoft caught the tech giant by surprise. — “Did we get called to participate?”
The US FTC says it will appeal to revive its case accusing Meta of bolstering an illegal monopoly by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp; Meta won the case in 2025
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission will file an appeal seeking to revive its case accusing Facebook parent company Meta Platforms …
Humans&, founded by ex-Anthropic, xAI, and Google staff to build collaborative AI, raised a $480M seed from Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, and others at a $4.48B valuation
As a research scientist at Anthropic, one of the world's leading A.I. companies, Andi Peng was part of a team that tried …
Netflix adds a real-time voting feature with the premiere of its Star Search reboot, available on mobile, smart TVs, and streaming devices, but not in a browser
OpenAI and ServiceNow sign a three-year deal to integrate OpenAI's models into ServiceNow's business software, including using OpenAI's AI agents for IT tasks
The AI model maker and business-software provider signed a three-year pact that underscores how AI agents are increasingly being embedded in corporate software
The US DOJ says at least two DOGE employees accessed Social Security data that was off-limits under a court ruling and shared agency data on third-party servers
- At least two DOGE employees, the filing reveals, were in touch with a political advocacy group that asked them to analyze data …
World Economic Forum panel: Palantir CEO Alex Karp says AI-driven job displacement will “make it hard to imagine why we should have large-scale immigration”
Is that what we want? Because that doesn't sound very America first and would undermine our technological dominance.Forums:r/worldnews:Palantir CEO Says AI to Make Large-Scale Immigration Obsolete
Netflix and WBD say Netflix revised its WBD offer to an all-cash deal for $27.75/share, with the same $82.7B value; its original bid had $59B in debt financing
In an ongoing struggle over the future of Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix says it is now prepared to pay all cash for Warner Bros. and HBO …
xAI co-founder Greg Yang says he is stepping back from the startup into an informal advisory role to focus on his health after being diagnosed with Lyme disease
Greg Yang, one of the co-founders of Elon Musk's startup xAI, is stepping down from the company after being diagnosed with Lyme disease. — Yang will be an informal adviser …
Sony and TCL sign a nonbinding deal to spin off Sony's TV and home audio hardware business into a joint venture, split 51% TCL and 49% Sony, by the end of March
The two companies are planning to form a new joint venture that will carry the ‘Sony’ and ‘Bravia’ branding.
Elon Musk and Sam Altman clashed on X after Musk shared a post about a man who committed a murder-suicide following delusional conversations with ChatGPT
Elon Musk and Sam Altman traded barbs on X this week over media reports of deaths linked to OpenAI's ChatGPT and other AI-related safety issues.
Setapp Mobile, one of the first alt iOS app stores launched in 2024 after the EU's DMA, plans to shut down, blaming “still-evolving and complex business terms”
Ukraine-based developer MacPaw is set to close Setapp Mobile, its alternative app store for iOS devices in the European Union, next month.
Ukraine says it plans to share nearly four years of wartime combat data, like millions of hours of drone footage, with allies to help train AI military models
Ukraine will establish a system allowing its allies to train their artificial intelligence models on Kyiv's valuable combat data collected throughout …
Snap reaches an agreement to settle a social media addiction lawsuit in California, a week before the start of a trial in the first of several such lawsuits
The settlement means Snap will avoid a trial where plaintiffs had planned to argue that social media platforms are inherently defective …
The World Economic Forum in Davos is now dominated by tech giants, whose interests shunt aside topics like climate change, as Trump and AI take center stage
Sources: AI inference startup Baseten raised $300M led by IVP and CapitalG at a $5B valuation, more than doubling its previous valuation; Nvidia invested $150M
The move follows other investments from the chip giant to improve the delivery of artificial-intelligence services to customers
A Massachusetts judge grants a preliminary injunction blocking Kalshi from letting state residents bet on sports through its online platform
A Massachusetts judge on Tuesday ruled prediction-markets operator Kalshi cannot let state residents bet on sports through its online platform …
Taiwanese media: Asus Chair Jonney Shih says the company won't release any new smartphones in 2026, which may signal the brand's exit from the Android market
Demis Hassabis says there aren't “any plans” to put ads in Gemini and, in response to OpenAI testing ads, says “maybe they feel they need to make more revenue”
During our convo in Davos, Demis Hassabis and I chatted about ads in AI, Google's new deal with Apple, humanoids, and Gemini 4.
Sensor Tower: Reels accounted for 50%+ of all Instagram ads in 2025, up from 35% in 2024; Reels accounted for 46% of time spent on Instagram in the US in 2025
More than half of all ads on Meta's Instagram ran in the service's short-form video Reels product in 2025, up from 35% in 2024 …
Sources: internal Google data shows Gemini API calls surged from ~35B in March 2025 to ~85B in August 2025; Google says Gemini Enterprise has hit 8M subscribers
Google's improvements to its Gemini AI models are boosting the company's top line. — Over the past year …
Meta VP of Public Policy Simon Milner, Meta's most senior Asia-Pacific policy executive who joined in 2012, says he will retire from full-time work in H1 2026
Meta Platforms Inc. is losing its most senior public policy executive in the Asia-Pacific at a time when the company faces several …
How Zynga uses a secretive VIP program with personal account managers and exclusive sweepstake entries to keep top players spending on games like FarmVille
How a16z found success with 2024's $1.25B AI infrastructure fund, focusing on early funding and the largest investments at ~$60M, as it expands the fund to $3B
Sources: Microsoft is preparing to launch a session-based ad-supported Xbox Cloud Gaming tier in 2026; users note Xbox Cloud Gaming now references “ad support”
Q&A with FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam, only the second CEO in the company's history, on humanoid robots, automation, AI, drones, US-China trade tensions, and more
Ethernovia, which builds advanced packet processors and Ethernet networking chips for vehicles and edge devices, raised a $90M+ Series B led by Maverick Silicon
The NYSE plans to use its tech that matches buyers and sellers, plus blockchain networks, to facilitate the real-time trading of tokenized securities in 2026
The New York Stock Exchange is building a venue using blockchain technology to allow for trading tokenized stocks and exchange-traded funds around the clock.
Source: Elon Musk donates $10M to boost pro-Trump Senate candidate Nate Morris, who is seeking to replace Mitch McConnell, in Musk's largest-yet Senate donation
Substack challenger Beehiiv says it expects to nearly double its annual revenue to $50M in 2026 and now has 40K+ MAUs, including nearly 15K paying subscribers
Beehiiv expects to nearly double annual revenue to $50 million this year as the newsletter startup challenges larger rival Substack …
On Joe Rogan's JRE, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck discuss Hollywood and AI; Damon says Netflix wants movies to restate the plot because viewers are on their phones
Filings: Michael Saylor's Strategy has bought $3B+ in bitcoin since January 5, its biggest two-week purchase since December 2024; Strategy holds ~$65B in crypto
Michael Saylor's Strategy Inc. acquired almost $2.13 billion in Bitcoin over the previous eight days, marking the digital asset treasury …
Sources: after five Thinking Machines staff left, investors are rattled, potentially impacting fundraising; two researchers quit via Slack during an all-hands
Legal AI startup Ivo, which aims to reduce hallucinations by breaking legal reviews into 400+ tasks, raised a $55M Series B, a source says at a ~$355M valuation
Artificial intelligence startup Ivo raised $55 million in a funding round, led by existing investor Blackbird …
Chinese smartphone shipments fell 1.6% YoY in Q4 2025 and 0.6% in 2025 due to weak demand after memory shortages increased prices; iPhone shipments rose 28% YoY
Nielsen: Christmas Day 2025 set a record for US streaming usage with 55.1B minutes, or 54% of all TV viewing for the day, up by 3.9B minutes on Christmas 2024
The month of December also marked another all-time high for streaming usage. — With three streaming-exclusive NFL games …
Portugal orders Polymarket to cease operations and blocks it in the country after heavy activity tied to its recent presidential election, with €110M+ in volume
Partner offers — Quick Take — Portugal's gambling regulator has ordered prediction market platform Polymarket …
The UK government plans to take a £25M stake in Octopus Energy's tech spin-off Kraken, last valued at $8.65B, in an effort to encourage Kraken to list in London
Vibe coding startup Emergent raised a $70M Series B led by Khosla and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, after a $23M Series A in September 2025, and claims 5M+ users
- Emergent is an AI software creation platform that helps anyone build web and mobile applications.
Sources: Seoul-based AI chip designer FuriosaAI seeks to raise a $300M to $500M Series D to fund mass production of its second-gen RNGD chip and eyes a 2027 IPO
Sources: Baidu's Ernie Assistant passes 200M MAUs, as competition intensifies among Chinese tech giants in AI; Ernie is linked to apps like JD.com and Meituan
Ernie Assistant is integrated into its flagship Baidu search-engine app and on personal computers
Sources: UK and Chinese security officials set up a forum to discuss cyberattacks after hacking accusations, the first of its kind, to help prevent escalation
British and Chinese security officials established a forum to discuss cyberattacks following a spate of hacking accusations that soured relations between the two countries.
Anthropic's Claude Cowork launch revives investor fears about disruption that weighed on SaaS stocks in 2025; Morgan Stanley's SaaS index is down 15% YTD
The new year was supposed to bring opportunities for beaten-down software stocks. Instead, the group is off to its worst start in years.
OpenAI executive Chris Lehane says the startup is “on track” to unveil its first device in H2 2026; reports suggest it won't have a screen and may be a wearable
OpenAI is “on track” to unveil its first device in the second half of 2026, the company's policy chief, Chris Lehane, said Monday at Axios House Davos.
Sources: China broadens its probe into Temu owner PDD, dispatching 100+ investigators to its Shanghai HQ, after staff exchanged physical blows with regulators
China has broadened a probe into PDD Holdings Inc. after its employees exchanged blows with regulators, dispatching over 100 investigators …
Private equity firm Everstone combines Delhi-based Wingify, which helps A/B test websites, and Paris-based AB Tasty, which provides experimentation software
Private equity firm Everstone Capital is bringing together India's Wingify — a company that helps businesses test different versions …
The UK Treasury committee says the government and Bank of England's “wait-and-see approach” to AI risks in the financial sector exposes the UK to “serious harm”
Government, Bank of England and FCA criticised for taking ‘wait-and-see’ approach to AI use in financial sector
Paris-based accounting software startup Pennylane raised €175M led by TCV, a source says at a ~$4.25B valuation; Blackstone, Sequoia, and others also invested
Pennylane, a French startup that sells accounting software, has raised €175 million ($204 million) in a funding round led by growth equity investor TCV.
Cursor recently experimented with using hundreds of AI agents to build a web browser; they ran for close to a week, writing 1M+ lines of code across 1,000 files
Scaling long-running autonomous coding. Wilson Lin at Cursor has been doing some experiments to see how far you can push a large fleet of “autonomous” coding agents:
A look at South Korea's Independent AI Foundation Model competition, which aims to find the best homegrown AI models, in a bid to compete with the US and China
The state-backed survival contest aims to find the best indigenous AI models. — Late last year, more than a thousand people converged …
Pune-based supply chain robotics startup Unbox Robotics raised a $28M Series B in a mix of primary and secondary capital, after raising $15M in earlier rounds
SUMMARY — The round was a mix of primary and secondary capital, with employees getting liquidity through the ESOP programme
UK ministers launch a consultation on whether to ban under-16s from using social media, alongside restrictions on addictive app features like infinite scrolling
Move comes as peers prepare to vote on an amendment to a bill that would enact a ban within a year of the bill passing
Sources: ByteDance expands its cloud via sales hires and lower prices; IDC: ByteDance had nearly 13% of China's AI cloud market in H1 2025, vs. Alibaba's 23%
Deep discounts, vast data and bespoke AI agents fuel new challenge in China's multibillion-dollar enterprise market
Q&A with Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan on using AI in game development, the gaming community's pushback against AI, concept products, partnering with Grok, and more
We're back to start the year off with a very special live interview with Razer CEO Min-Liang Tan, which we taped in front of a terrific audience …
xAI faces a growing outcry from global regulators over Grok generating nonconsensual explicit photos, but has faced little legal or regulatory action in the US
Despite global uproar over the generation of non-consensual explicit photos, Elon Musk has continued to downplay the issue.
The UK Gambling Commission says Meta is letting illegal gambling sites advertise on Facebook and Instagram, calling its ad library a “window into criminality”
Meta Platforms Inc. is turning a blind eye to illegal gambling sites that advertise on Facebook and Instagram, according to the UK's Gambling Commission.
Anthropic details the “Assistant Axis”, a pattern of neural activity in language models that governs their default identity and helpful behavior
Read the full paper — When you talk to a large language model, you can think of yourself as talking to a character.
Demis Hassabis says Chinese AI companies are about six months behind leading western labs and the response to DeepSeek's R1 in 2025 was a “massive overreaction”
Bloomberg:NEW
Netflix's ad revenue hit $1.5B in 2025, up by more than 2.5x vs. 2024, and viewing hours grew 2% YoY in H2, driven by a 9% rise in viewing of branded originals
Dade Hayes /Deadline: