Author: TechBrunch
Elon Musk's X is now valued at less than a quarter of its $44 billion purchase price, according to new estimates from investor Fidelity. The asset management firm that helped Mr. Musk buy the social network formerly known as Twitter valued its holdings in X shares at the end of August, based on newly released disclosures from Fidelity's blue-chip growth fund. With further reductions, the total price reduction rate reached 78.7%. According to the fund's latest report, the fund currently values X shares at approximately $4.18 million. For context, Fidelity originally invested $19.66 million in X through its Blue Chip…
In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom considered 38 AI-related bills, including the highly controversial SB 1047, which the state Legislature sent to him for final approval. He vetoed SB 1047 on Sunday, ending California's controversial AI bill that seeks to prevent AI disasters, but signed more than a dozen other AI bills in September. did. These bills seek to address the most pressing issues in artificial intelligence, from AI risks and deepfake nudes created by AI image generators to Hollywood studios creating AI clones of deceased performers. “California, home to most of the world's leading AI companies, is leveraging these…
California Governor Gavin Newsom has vetoed SB 1047, a high-profile bill that would regulate the development of AI. The bill, authored by state Sen. Scott Wiener, would hold companies that develop AI models responsible for implementing safety protocols to prevent “significant harm.” This rule only applies to models that cost at least $100 million and use 10^26 FLOPS (Floating Point Operations, a measure of computation) during training. SB 1047 is expected to appeal to many in Silicon Valley, including companies like OpenAI, prominent technologists like Meta's chief AI scientist Yan LeCun, and even Democratic politicians like U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna.…
Kevin Ryan has had a long and storied career as a leading figure in New York City's technology. He is the founder and CEO of AlleyCorp, an investment firm that has invested in a variety of startups, and is a serial founder who has participated in the early stages of companies such as Business Insider, Zola, Gilt, Pearl Health, and Transcend Therapeutics. there is. As president and CEO in the 1990s and early 2000s, he helped found the ad tech company DoubleClick, which was later acquired by Google for $3.1 billion in 2007, transforming the online advertising industry. He later…
Apple faces a deadline to submit more than 1 million documents related to recent changes to the App Store. On Friday, Judge Thomas S. Hixon rejected the company's attempt to extend that deadline, calling the request an “egregious act.” Therefore, Apple's deadline is still Monday, September 30th. “It's up to Apple how they meet the deadline, but Monday is certainly the deadline.” This is just the latest chapter in an ongoing legal dispute between Apple and Fortnite maker Epic Games, which is battling Apple's App Store rules. Apple almost won in U.S. District Court, but the court ordered the company…
For years, Silicon Valley and Wall Street have questioned Mark Zuckerberg's decision to invest tens of billions of dollars in Reality Labs. This week, Meta's wearables division unveiled a prototype of its Orion smart glasses. This is a form factor that the company believes could one day replace the iPhone. The idea seems crazy…but maybe a little less crazy than it was a week ago. Orion is a prototype headset that combines augmented reality, eye and hand tracking, generative AI, and a gesture-detecting wristband. Through its micro-LED projector and silicon carbide lenses (which are very expensive), Meta appears to have…
When the US Federal Reserve lowered interest rates by half a percentage point last week, it was good news for venture capitalists who back struggling startups, fintechs, and especially companies that rely on loans for cash flow to operate their businesses. Ta. These companies include corporate credit card providers like Ramp and Coast, which offer cards to fleet owners. Card companies make money from exchange rates, or transaction fees charged to merchants. “But they have to finance it with loans,” says Shel Mornaut, co-founder and general partner of fintech-focused firm Better Tomorrow Ventures. “The terms of that loan have gotten…
Apple's iPad comes with built-in productivity tools like Notes, Calendar, and Reminders, but if you want to maximize your productivity and explore new ways to organize your life, there are plenty of apps to help. While the iPad started out as a device that could be used to stream content and browse the web on the go, Apple has essentially made the iPad capable of handling a variety of tasks for personal, work, and school use. I changed it to a computer. As a result, there are many apps that can help you create a single place to organize your…
While online discussions tend to suggest that venture firms are retreating to the Bay Area and that San Francisco is the most important place to found a startup, Index Ventures is expanding its New York-based investment team. We are considering. Shardul Shah, a partner at Index Ventures, told TechCrunch that the company is currently looking to hire another New York-based investor, adding three or four new people to the team within the next year. He plans to add it. He is a positive addition to the current 10-member team. “For venture funds, that's hyper-growth,” Shah said, adding that Index is…
WordPress.org blocked hosting provider WP Engine earlier this week, but has lifted the ban until October 1st. This block prevented several sites from updating their plugins and themes, exposing them to potential security risks. WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg has been in a battle with WP Engine for over a week, blaming WP Engine's private equity investor Silver Lake. “We have heard from WP Engine customers who are frustrated that WP Engine does not allow updates, plugin directories, theme directories, and Openverse to work on their sites. It's sad to see this negatively affected,” Mullenweg said on the WordPress.org blog. “WP…