Bloomberg: Quant trading firm XTX, managing $250B+ in daily trades, plans to invest €1B+ on five data centers in Finland to support its growing use of machine learning — - Billionaire's quant firm plans five data centers in Finland — The move bucks trend of relying on third-party infrastructure
Adam Kucharski / Bloomberg: A 2024 study of 205 randomly chosen Community Notes on X about COVID-19 vaccines found that 97% of the notes were accurate and ~50% cited high-quality sources — Crowdsourcing accuracy online is complicated. But Community Notes, when used correctly, can be a valuable tool.
Mackenzie Hawkins / Bloomberg: US officials have struck binding deals for 85% of the CHIPS Act funding; sources: Gina Raimondo said her successor, Howard Lutnick, is committed to the program — - Officials have struck binding contracts for 85% of grant money — Trump Commerce pick told Raimondo he's committed to program
Matt Day / Bloomberg: Amazon suspends drone deliveries in Texas and Arizona to fix the drones' software after two of its latest models crashed in rainy weather at a testing facility — - Deliveries halted in Texas, Arizona, pending a software repair — Drone program suffering setbacks 11 years after its unveiling
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg: In a first, Samsung will pay 50%-100% of executive bonuses in stock starting January 2026, linking compensation to share performance amid chipmaking struggles — - Company is linking pay for senior executives to performance — The overhaul comes as Samsung cedes market share to rivals
Bloomberg: Crypto wallet Phantom raised a $150M Series C co-led by Sequoia Capital and Paradigm at a $3B valuation, more than double its $1.2B valuation in January 2022 — Phantom raised $150 million from big-name investors. — Cryptocurrency-wallet provider Phantom Technologies Inc. has raised $150 million …
Maggie Eastland / Bloomberg: E-commerce marketing startup Rokt agrees a secondary share sale at a $3.5B valuation ahead of a 2026 IPO, and acquires customer data startup mParticle for $300M — - Rokt separately agrees to $300 million purchase of mParticle — E-commerce group has plans to go public in first half of 2026
Bloomberg: Sources: the biggest shareholders of viral app Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, are in talks to sell part of their holdings at a valuation of at least $20B — - Existing VC backers are in talks to unload some of their stock — Xiaohongshu on track to regain 2021 peak as TikTok ban looms
Bloomberg: China plans to probe whether the US gives its chipmakers an unfair advantage through grants or undercuts Chinese products illegally, escalating the chip war — - Beijing is investigating after local firms protest subsidies — The probe escalates a tit-for-tat US-china chips conflict
Kate Clark / Bloomberg: Insight Partners raised $12.5B for its 13th flagship fund, down from its initial target of $20B, making it one of the biggest tech-focused funds — The firm reduced its initial fundraising target from $20 billion. — Insight Partners, a New York-based venture capital and private equity firm …
Bloomberg: Official report: Chinese hackers who breached the US Treasury accessed 400+ computers and stole over 3K files; classified data and email systems were safe — - Hackers likely stole more than 3,000 files from department — Treasury found no evidence of lingering access or malware
Bloomberg: The Philippines' decision to supercharge its online gambling sector has been disastrous, opening the door to crimes, including money laundering, in the country — A casino raid in a sleepy town revealed the mayor's business connections to Singapore's $2 billion money-laundering scandal, and sparked allegations of Chinese espionage.
Bloomberg: The VisionTrack Composite Index, which tracks the performance of 130 crypto-focused hedge funds, rose 40% in 2024, compared to Bitcoin's 120% surge that year — - Many crypto hedge funds notched double-digit returns in 2024 — But fewer were able to beat Bitcoin's 120% advance last year
Cagan Koc / Bloomberg: The Netherlands tightens export control rules, requiring ASML and ASM International to seek licenses from the Dutch government for some chipmaking tools — The Netherlands tightened export control rules to make ASML Holding NV apply for licenses with the Dutch government instead of Washington for some of its tools.
Hannah Miller / Bloomberg: DirecTV launches MySports, a sports streamer featuring games from NFL and other major leagues, and access to 40 channels, in 24 US metro areas for $70/month — - $70 package will offer content from ESPN, Fox Sports and NBC — The Venu sports streaming service was scrapped last week
Bloomberg: A profile of Dubai property tycoon Hussain Sajwani, who, alongside Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, pledged a $20B investment in US data centers, drawing skepticism — - Hussain Sajwani has seen big wins from Dubai's property boom — Sajwani has pledged to invest $20 billion in US data centers
Bloomberg: The Biden admin finalizes a rule banning the import or sale of connected vehicles with hardware or software that have a “sufficient nexus” to China or Russia — - Biden finalizes ban on Chinese vehicles and moves to widen it — US to lease federal land to AI companies to build data centers
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is leaving following a botched app revamp that upset customers and stymied growth; board member Tom Conrad is named interim CEO — - 'We've let far too many people down,' company tells staffers — Former Snap and Pandora executive Tom Conrad named interim CEO
William Shaw / Bloomberg: A survey finds that global banks could cut as many as 200K jobs in the next three to five years as AI encroaches on tasks currently carried out by human workers — - Back, middle office roles at risk, Bloomberg Intelligence says — Banks' profits could surge due to improved productivity
Tyler Cowen / Bloomberg: US export controls may have slowed China's AI progress but they also spurred DeepSeek to innovate and release DeepSeek-V3, a top LLM, without the latest chips — A promising new model shows that innovations in artificial intelligence don't necessarily depend on the latest chips.
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg: An interview with Arkady Volozh, CEO of Nebius, formerly Yandex NV, on selling Yandex's Russian business in 2024, competing with US AI startups, and more — The co-founder of internet company Yandex went into exile after the war began. — It's noon, and Arkady Volozh is ready to christen …
Jo Constantz / Bloomberg: A look at the burgeoning underground market connecting job seekers to anonymous employees willing to make a referral at Microsoft, Nvidia, Spotify, and others — Recommending strangers to companies like Microsoft and Nvidia has become a side hustle for enterprising employees — Copy, paste, refer.
Josh Wingrove / Bloomberg: Biden assailed Meta over its move to end third-party fact-checking on its social media platforms in the US, saying “it's really shameful” — - President gives impromptu press conference on Friday evening — Biden looks to defend economic legacy with Trump returning
Bloomberg: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, and, a source says, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg are planning to attend Trump's inauguration events this month — - Tech companies, executives donated to Trump's inaugural fund — Industry trying to boost relationship with new administration
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Apple opposes a shareholder measure calling for an end to DEI efforts, saying the proposal was an inappropriate attempt to restrict Apple's business operations — Apple Inc. disclosed a 18% pay increase for Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook ahead of its annual meeting next month …
Cecilia D'Anastasio / Bloomberg: More than half a dozen celebrity video game streamers returned to Twitch in 2024, after their multimillion-dollar contracts with YouTube and Kick expired — YouTube, Kick offered multimillion-dollar deals but viewers didn't necessarily follow. — Video-game influencers are returning …
Ashley Carman / Bloomberg: Internal data: Spotify had ~55M US subscribers as of Q3 2024, of which only ~607,000 had switched to the cheaper “basic” plan that doesn't include audiobooks — Until now, no specifics have been shared publicly about the company's new ‘basic’ plan — Hello, and welcome back to Soundbite.
Marissa Newman / Bloomberg: How wartime GPS jamming has negatively impacted agriculture in Israel; in 2021, ~70% of Israeli farmers used GPS-guided equipment and precision-farming tech — The military's jamming of navigational signals has undercut an agricultural formula that's heavily dependent on advanced technologies.
Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg: Meta will launch a test in Germany, France and the US to publish eBay listings on Facebook Marketplace, after it was fined €798M by EU for abusing dominance — - Company was fined €798 million by EU for abusing dominance — Meta still challenging landmark fine through EU courts
Jeran Wittenstein / Bloomberg: Major quantum computing stocks, up 300%+ in the past year, fell on January 7 after Jensen Huang said “very useful” quantum computers are likely decades away — The shares of IonQ Inc. and other companies linked to quantum computing tumbled in premarket trading on Wednesday …
Fahad Abuljadayel / Bloomberg: Magnitt: VC funding in the Middle East fell 29% YoY to $1.5B in 2024, with Saudi Arabia accounting for $750M, down 44% YoY, while the UAE saw $613M, down 8% YoY — - VC funding in the Middle East fell 29% in 2024: Magnitt — Saudi Arabia continues to lead the region in deal values
Yuan Gao / Bloomberg: Micron plans to invest $7B over the next several years to expand its manufacturing footprint in Singapore, with a new HBM chip plant set to open in 2026 — - US memory chip maker expects to operate new plant in 2026 — HBM chips are widely used in AI data centers across the world
Saritha Rai / Bloomberg: Inside Naver's 1784, a 36-level office tower in Seoul, which has ~4,500 employees working with 120 robots and serves as a testbed for various AI technologies — An office building called 1784 on the outskirts of Seoul offers a glimpse into the robotic future that artificial intelligence developers say is just around the corner.
Cagan Koc / Bloomberg: Chipmaker NXP agrees to buy Austrian automotive software developer TTTech Auto for $625M in cash to build out its products for software-defined vehicle makers — Chipmaker NXP Semiconductors NV agreed to buy Austrian automotive software developer TTTech Auto for $625 million in cash to build …
Sarah McBride / Bloomberg: PitchBook: US startups raised $209B in 2024, up ~33% from 2023; AI startups raised $97B, the largest portion on record; VCs raised $76.1B, the lowest since 2019 — VC investors piled into AI megarounds in the US last year. — Venture capitalists put $97 billion into artificial intelligence startups …
Bloomberg: Sources: India plans $2.7B in fresh subsidies and import tariff cuts to boost local manufacturing, especially of smartphones made by companies like Apple — - Proposed incentives will help smartphone makers like Apple — Final decision to be made by cabinet; details likely in budget
Teresa Xie / Bloomberg: Advertising company Outfront, whose clients include Mercury, Brex, and Venmo, says fintech ad spend over the past three years has grown an average of 45%+ YoY — - Fintech ad spend has grown average of more than 45%: Outfront — Push comes as companies mature and IPO, M&A buzz builds
Josh Tyrangiel / Bloomberg: Q&A with Sam Altman on OpenAI's and ChatGPT's first few years, his removal as CEO, OpenAI's structure, AGI, AI safety, nuclear fusion, Trump, Musk, and more — On Nov. 30, 2022, traffic to OpenAI's website peaked at a number a little north of zero. It was a startup so small and sleepy …
Bloomberg: Sources: Italy is in advanced talks for a €1.5B, five-year SpaceX deal to provide the government with secure telecom services, Europe's largest such project — - Starlink would provide secure internet for Italian government — Prime Minister Meloni met with Trump in Florida on Saturday
Jane Lanhee Lee / Bloomberg: Foxconn reports Q4 revenue of ~$64.6B, up 15% YoY vs. est. of a 13% rise, boosted by data center spending, with December 2024 bringing in ~$19.8B, up 42% YoY — - Company sees significant sales growth for the first quarter — December revenue advances 42% on strong AI server sales
Katrina Manson / Bloomberg: How China-linked Volt Typhoon hackers breached local utilities and the US DOD's sensitive networks in Guam, a US territory vital for defending Taiwan militarily — Small-scale telecommunications networks and utilities on a remote Pacific island are up against what US intelligence agencies say is an unprecedented Chinese cyberwar plan.
Bloomberg: Sources: Getty Images is exploring a merger with rival Shutterstock; Getty jumped 13% for a $983M market value, Shutterstock rose 7.9% for a $1.1B market value — - Getty weighing how to structure combo with stock-photo rival … Getty has been weighing how to structure a combination …
Bloomberg: China plans to extend its national consumer subsidies to smartphone, tablet, and smartwatch purchases to boost domestic spending as external headwinds pick up — - Expanded trade-in program to cover also tablets, smartwatches — Beijing last month made boosting domestic demand top priority
Bloomberg: Car rental app Turo, which uses a risk algorithm to screen drivers, was used to book trucks in both fatal New Year's Day incidents in Las Vegas and New Orleans — - Startup uses risk algorithm to determine price of each rental — Attacks in New Orleans, Las Vegas, used Turo vehicles
Bob Van Voris / Bloomberg: Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon pleads not guilty before a US federal judge in New York to nine counts, including wire fraud, over the $40B TerraUSD collapse — - Kwon was extradited from Montenegro earlier this week — He is also facing fraud prosecution in his native South Korea
Bloomberg: Sources: China-backed hackers accessed the computers of senior US Treasury officials; the department's email system and classified data were not breached — - Treasury breached in cyberattack US officials blame on China — Email system, classified data weren't breached by attackers
Emily Mason / Bloomberg: Fintech themes to watch in 2025: relaxed regulation in the second Trump administration, more IPOs, M&A, and VC deal activity, and the expansion of stablecoins — The clouds that hung over the financial-technology industry in 2024 appear to be clearing as interest-rate cuts …
Ram Anand / Bloomberg: Malaysia says X and Google haven't applied for a new social media license; X cites under 8M Malaysian users, while Google disputes YouTube's classification — Elon Musk's X and Alphabet Inc.'s Google, which operates video streaming platform YouTube, have not applied for a social media …
Bloomberg: Alibaba sells Sun Art Retail stake to PE firm DCP for ~$1.6B, after paying ~$3.6B in 2020 to double the stake to 70%+, as it focuses on its core online business — - Sun Art had attracted interest from other private equity firms … China's e-commerce pioneer said it could receive gross proceeds …
Bloomberg: Sources: Mobvista explores selling mobile ad platform Mintegral after getting interest from buyers like Bain Capital; Mobvista stock in HK surged ~190% in 2024 — - Company is working with financial adviser on Mintegral sale — Mobvista's HK-listed shares have climbed almost 190% this year