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☆ Meta slapped with child safety probe under sweeping EU tech law
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC. Facebook parent company Meta on Thursday was hit with a major investigation from the European Union into alleged breaches of the bloc's strict online content law over child safety risks. The Commission added that it is concerned about age verifications on Meta's platforms, as well as privacy risks linked to the company's recommendation algorithms. "This is a challenge the whole industry is facing, and we look forward to sharing details of our work with the European Commission." The EU said it will carry out an in-depth investigation into Meta's child protection measures "as a matter of priority."

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Thierry Breton Organizations: Dirksen, Facebook, Meta, European Union, European Commission, CNBC Locations: Washington ,

☆ Sony-backed computing startup heads for rare IPO in sidelined London stock market
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

British computing startup Raspberry Pi on Wednesday said it plans to list in London, in a rare win for the U.K. stock market. Raspberry Pi, which makes tiny single-board computers, is considering an initial public offering on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. The IPO is a win for the London stock market, which has been struggling to attract high-growth tech companies. A slew of major U.K. tech firms have chosen New York over London for their listings over the last year. Upton established Raspberry Pi in 2012 to make computing more accessible to young people, gaining traction among hobbyists and teachers in the early days.

Persons: Ocado, Eben Upton . Raspberry Pi, Upton, Raspberry Organizations: London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq, Sunday Telegraph, Sky News, Raspberry Pi Foundation, Sony, amortization Locations: London, New York, British

☆ Uber to acquire Foodpanda's Taiwan business for $950 million, creating a potential monopoly
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Sheila Chiang | In Sheilachiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

(Photo by Walid Berrazeg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)Uber Technologies will acquire the Taiwan business of Delivery Hero -owned Foodpanda for $950 million in cash, as Foodpanda focuses on other markets. In a separate agreement, Delivery Hero will sell $300 million in newly issued ordinary shares to Uber. Taiwan's food delivery market is dominated by Foodpanda and Uber Eats. Delivery Hero said in February it had ended talks to sell its Foodpanda business in selected Southeast Asian markets. Östberg told CNBC the same month that the firm was "happy" to hold on to its Foodpanda business in Southeast Asia "forever."

Persons: Walid Berrazeg, Niklas Östberg, Pierre, Dimitri Gore, Uber, Foodpanda, Östberg, – CNBC's Ryan Browne, Dylan Butts Organizations: Getty, Technologies, Coty, Foodpanda, CNBC Locations: TAIPEI, TAIWAN, Taipei, Taiwan, Asia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia

☆ Sony reports 7% drop in annual profit as PlayStation 5 sales miss trimmed target
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The company also narrowly missed its forecast for unit sales of its flagship PlayStation 5 gaming console for the full year. Here's how Sony did in the March quarter versus LSEG consensus estimates:Revenue: 3.5 trillion yen ($22.4 billion) versus 2.89 trillion yen expected. Operating profit: 229.4 billion yen versus 236.81 billion yen expected. Sony's operating profit for the full year, though, came in at 1.2 trillion yen, down 7% year-over-year. That's slightly lower than the revised 21 million unit target that Sony gave investors in February.

Organizations: Sony, PlayStation

☆ Fintech firm Klarna says 90% of its employees are using generative AI daily
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Swedish financial technology company Klarna said Tuesday that nearly 9 out of 10 employees in its 5,000-strong workforce are now using generative artificial intelligence tools in their daily work. Klarna, which lets individuals split their purchases into interest-free, monthly installments, said over 87% of its employees are using generative AI tools, including OpenAI's ChatGPT and its own internal AI assistant. The biggest users of generative AI in the company are those in non-technical groups, such as communications (92.6%), marketing (87.9%) and legal (86.4%), Klarna said. At those rates, Klarna is seeing much higher adoption of generative AI within the company than in the broader corporate world. Klarna has its own internal AI assistant, called Kiki.

Persons: Klarna, OpenAI's, Kiki Organizations: Deloitte

☆ Freetrade, Britain's answer to Robinhood, says its CEO is stepping down
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

s LONDON — The boss of U.K. stock trading service Freetrade is stepping down and leaving the company with immediate effect, the company told CNBC exclusively Monday. Dodds remains the largest individual shareholder in Freetrade, owning a roughly 12% stake, according to company filings. Freetrade is default alive and ready to take on the incumbent platforms in the UK with self-sustaining growth," Dodds said. Dodds added: "I'm very happy to say Viktor will be stepping up to take over the helm as CEO. Nebehaj, Freetrade's incoming CEO, applauded Dodds' eight-year run as CEO and said that "it's natural that different stages of a company's growth require different leaders."

Persons: Adam Dodds, Davide Fioranell, Viktor Nebehaj, Nebehaj, Dodds, he'll, Rafael Henrique, " Dodds, Viktor, Perry Blacher, Freetrade, it's Organizations: CNBC, GameStop Locations: Freetrade, U.S

☆ Amazon-backed Anthropic launches its Claude AI chatbot across Europe
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Anthropic, the artificial intelligence startup backed by Amazon , said Monday it's launching its generative AI assistant Claude in Europe on Tuesday. A paid subscription-based version of Anthropic's Claude assistant, called Claude Pro, will be available to users who want access to all its models, including Claude 3 Opus, Anthropic's most advanced offering. Anthropic is also launching its business-focused Claude Team subscription-based plans, which cost 28 euros ($30) a month before value-added tax (VAT). The AI Act seeks to, among other things, identify and apply rules in accordance with the levels of risk AI poses, dividing categories of risk into low, medium, high and unacceptable. Anthropic said its Claude assistant is highly fluent in French, German, Italian, Spanish, and other European languages.

Persons: Claude, Anthropic's Claude, Claude Pro, We've, Dario Amodei, Anthropic Organizations: Amazon, Claude Team, European Union Parliament Locations: Europe, Anthropic

☆ Early Facebook investor Accel raises $650 million fund to back European and Israeli startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

AccelVenture capital firm Accel said Tuesday it's raised $650 million for its eighth fund targeted at investing in European and Israeli early-stage startups, in a sign the venture capital market may be showing signs of a recovery. "The environment has dramatically changed since then," Nelis told CNBC. Climate-focused VC firm World Fund closed a 300 million euro fund in March. "We're lucky that with DeepMind here in London and with Fair [Facebook AI Research] in Paris, there's at least two big centers that have great AI expertise," Nelis told CNBC. "My expectation is Europe is going to generate some really interesting AI application companies," Nelis told CNBC.

Persons: Harry Nelis, Sonali de Rycker, Andrei Brasoveanu, Luca Bocchio, Philippe Botteri, it's, Nelis, UiPath, Russia's, Wise, Magnus Grimeland, Grimeland, there's, Victor Riparbelli, Synthesia, Riparbelli Organizations: Accel, Accel Venture, Spotify, CNBC, Skype, U.S, Nvidia Locations: Europe, Israel, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, New York, U.S, London, Paris, Synthesia

☆ Microsoft and Amazon to invest $5.6 billion into France as Macron courts tech giants
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft said in a statement Monday that it's committing 4 billion euros ($4.3 billion) toward expanding its cloud and AI infrastructure in France, in addition to funding AI skilling and support for France's technology industry. The announcement was made during the "Choose France" summit, a gathering dedicated to encouraging foreign investment in France. Amazon, meanwhile, made a commitment of its own to invest 1.2 billion euros in France. Collectively, the commitments from Microsoft and Amazon to France amount to $5.6 billion of funding. In total, France reportedly bagged a record 15 billion euros of investment commitments from foreign companies at an annual "Choose France" summit on Monday.

Persons: it's, ”, Brad Smith, “, —, Frederic Duval, Duval, Emmanuel Macron, Macron, Redmond Organizations: Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook, FAIR, Mistral Locations: Athens, Greece, France, French, Mulhouse, Amazon's, Paris, Washington, Mistral

Police confront environmental activists in a forest near the Tesla Gigafactory electric car factory near Gruenheide, Germany, May 10, 2024. Climate protesters angry about Tesla's plans to expand its Berlin-Brandenburg Gigafactory in Germany tried to break into the plant on Friday, according to a statement from local police. "Multiple unauthorized people are trying to enter the ground of the Tesla factory," Brandenburg police said via X Friday. "The situation is dynamic," a Brandenburg police spokesperson told CNBC Friday, adding that there have been multiple roadblocks in the area due to the demonstrations. A Tesla spokesperson was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Persons: Tesla Organizations: Brandenburg, CNBC Locations: Gruenheide, Germany, Berlin, Brandenburg

☆ Stay underweight small caps, rates likely to remain high, says PIMCO's Erin Browne
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailStay underweight small caps, rates likely to remain high, says PIMCO's Erin BrowneErin Browne, PIMCO, joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss equities and her asset allocation outlook.

Persons: PIMCO's Erin Browne Erin Browne

☆ Chip designer Arm's shares plunge 8% after disappointing revenue guidance
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Shares of British chip designer Arm fell 8.22% in premarket trading on Thursday, as disappointing revenue guidance clouded a positive sales quarter driven by demand for artificial intelligence applications. Arm reported fourth-quarter revenue of $928 million Wednesday, marking a 47% year-over-year rise. Arm's royalty revenues, meanwhile, grew 37% year-over-year to $514 million, with the company citing increasing penetration of its recently introduced Armv9-based chips. For the 2025 fiscal year, Arm expects revenue to come in between $3.8 billion and $4.1 billion. Analysts were expecting full-year 2025 revenue of $4 billion.

Persons: Arm

☆ Generative AI's disinformation threat is 'overblown,' top cyber expert says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-09 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

In APAC alone, there was a surge in deepfakes by 1530% from 2022 to 2023, according to a Sumsub report. But one top expert is going against the grain, suggesting instead that the threat deep fakes pose to democracy may be "overblown." However, new generative AI tools do "threaten to make the generation of fake content easier," he added. In any case, it is unlikely that the generation of content is limiting attackers," Lee said. Experts have previously told CNBC that they expect AI-generated disinformation to be a key risk in upcoming elections around the world.

Persons: Martin Lee, Lee Organizations: Cisco's, CNBC Locations: deepfakes

☆ EU seeks information from X on content moderation amid first major probe under new tech rules
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The European Union is seeking information from social media platform X about cuts to its content moderation resources as part of its first major investigation into the company under its tough new laws governing online content. X reduced linguistic coverage within the EU from 11 languages to seven, the Commission said, again citing X's transparency report. X, which was formerly known as Twitter, was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC. X must provide information requested by the EU on its content moderation resources and generative AI requested by May 17, the Commission said. Remaining answers to questions from the Commission must be provided no later than May 27, the agency said.

Persons: it's Organizations: European, European Commission, Digital Services, Twitter, CNBC, EU Locations: EU

☆ Big Tech is eating as much data as it can to win in AI — but it's not 'winner takes all,' CEO says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Matt Calkins, CEO and co-founder of Appian, said that though internet giants like Microsoft , Amazon , and Google are spending billions on the tech, ensuring success in AI is "not just about money." "AI is not a place where money makes more money," Calkins told CNBC in an interview at its London bureau on Tuesday. Microsoft has struck a similar deal with Mistral, taking a 15 million euro ($16 million) stake in the French AI firm. Separately, Amazon has invested a whopping $4 billion into U.S. AI firm Anthropic, which is behind the Claude AI system. "The best AI will be the AI you put your data into, not whoever bought the biggest stack," he said.

Persons: Matt Calkins, Appian, Calkins, Sam Altman, Altman, Claude, you've, —, Sundar Pichai Organizations: Microsoft, Google, CNBC, Mistral, Amazon, OpenAI, Anthropic, British Locations: London, OpenAI, Redmond, Washington, French, Anthropic, Europe

☆ British neobank Monzo boosts funding round to $610 million to crack U.S. market, launch pensions
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

MonzoBritish neobank Monzo said Wednesday that it's raised another $190 million, lifting the total it's raised so far this year to $610 million. Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC also participated in Monzo's latest fundraise, a source familiar with the matter told CNBC. The total $610 million round marks the single-biggest funding round for a European fintech in the past year, according to Dealroom data. "What I like about how we're approaching this is, at the heart of it, it's not just words," Anil told CNBC in an exclusive interview Tuesday. European expansion is also on the cards, Anil said, although he didn't commit to a date for when this will happen.

Persons: Anil, Monzo, it's, GIC, we've, Monzo's, Revolut Organizations: CNBC, Hedosophia, Barclays, NatWest, BlackRock, JPMorgan, Citibank Locations: U.S, Berlin

☆ Self-driving startup Wayve just raised $1 billion from Nvidia, SoftBank, Microsoft and more
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-07 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Alex Kendall, 29, is the co-founder and CEO of autonomous driving startup Wayve. British startup Wayve on Tuesday said it had raised $1.05 billion in an investment round led by Japan's SoftBank to accelerate the growth of its self-driving car technology. The Series C funding round included new investor U.S. chipmaker Nvidia and existing investor, software giant Microsoft , which is a major backer of AI firms. Founded in 2017, Wayve is one of a multitude of startups looking to enable autonomous driving — technology that enables cars to effectively drive without humans at the helm. Unlike Tesla , which manufactures its own cars, Wayve licenses its self-driving technology to other firms, including retailers and automakers.

Persons: Alex Kendall, Japan's SoftBank, Wayve Organizations: Nvidia, Microsoft, Cambridge, Tesla

☆ The Met Gala’s Strange but Fitting Literary Inspiration
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-06 | by ( Jim Windolf | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The threat to their peaceful existence arrives in the form of an army on the horizon. “The Garden of Time” is a fitting but ironic choice as a theme for the year’s most lavish celebration. The sympathies of “The Garden of Time” seem to lie with the count and countess. And yet the author slips in hints that their lovely existence may be empty. When Count Axel puts his arm around his wife’s waist, he realizes that “he had not embraced her for several years.”

Persons: Count Axel, ”, Ballard, Thom Browne, “

☆ Don't rate Tesla's Full Self Driving too highly, tech investor says: 'By no means autonomous driving'
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

News of electric car giant Tesla's progress toward rolling out its advanced driver-assistance feature in China isn't as groundbreaking as investors are treating it, according to a top tech investor. Mark Hawtin, GAM Investment Management's investment director focused on investing in disruptive growth and technology stocks, told CNBC' "Squawk Box Europe" Thursday that such expectations were misleading — not least because Tesla's Full Self Driving service doesn't offer full autonomous driving. "We should say what they're doing — everyone's talking about this full self-driving capability," Hawtin told CNBC. On Monday, shares of Tesla rose sharply, notching their best day since March 2021, after it passed a significant milestone toward the launch of FSD in China. This raised expectations that Tesla's FSD would soon be available in China.

Persons: Mark Hawtin, Hawtin, Tesla, Elon Musk Organizations: Investment, CNBC Locations: China, U.S, China . Local, FSD

☆ The Met Gala theme is ‘The Garden of Time:’ Why culture is obsessed with JG Ballard
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Leah Dolan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

In February, the Met revealed Ballard’s 1962 short story “The Garden of Time” as the forthcoming red carpet theme. Victor Virgile/Gamma-Rapho/Getty ImagesThere is little glitz and glamor in Ballard’s world — or if there is, it doesn’t last for long. David Cronenberg's adaptation of JG Ballard's "Crash" debuted at Cannes Film Festival in 1996. In 2021, American designer Thom Browne’s Spring-Summer catwalk at New York Fashion Week also imagined life behind Count Axel’s garden wall. And now with the Met Gala theme, the beautiful flower that dies as soon as it’s plucked, it connects back to fashion being ephemeral.

Persons: Manus, Andrew Bolton, JG Ballard, Count Axel, Axel, Count, Countess, Thom Browne, Victor Virgile, —, you’ve, Steven Spielberg’s, David Cronenberg’s, ”, it’s, Ballard, David Cronenberg's, Ronald Siemoneit, Thom Browne’s, Browne, Alon Livné, Andrew Groves, Estrella de Mar, ” Groves, McQueen, Jeremy Scott, Marie, Christiane Marek, Jeremy Scott's, Jeremy Scott “, ” Scott, Scott, “, Nigel Coates, Caffè, Coates, Caffè Bongo, brandished Coates, Caffe, Edward Valentine, Charli XCX, Madonna’s, Ian Curtis, Stanley Donwood, Groves Organizations: CNN, York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, West, Technology, Costume Institute, Bolton, New York, Sun, Cannes Film, Estrella de, Paris Fashion, Division, Preachers, Fourth Estate Locations: China, British, France, American, Israeli, London, Estrella, Tokyo, “

☆ Taylor Swift's music returns to TikTok after Universal Music agrees new licensing deal, ending spat
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Taylor Swift attends the 66th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. Universal Music Group , the record label for top music artists including Taylor Swift, struck a new licensing agreement with TikTok, putting an end to a spat between the two companies. In a statement Thursday, UMG said the licensing deal would lead to the return of its artists' music to TikTok. Music by artists including Swift and Drake became unavailable on TikTok, which is owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance. At the heart of the spat was the contention that TikTok allowed its platform to undermine artists' intellectual property with unauthorized AI-generated songs.

Persons: Taylor Swift, UMG, TikTok, Swift, Drake Organizations: Crypto.com Arena, Universal Music Group, TikTok, Poets Department, CNBC, UMG Locations: Los Angeles , California

☆ Bitcoin nosedives below $57,000 to two-month low ahead of U.S. Fed decision
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The logo of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) can be seen on a coin standing in front of a Bitcoin chart. Bitcoin on Wednesday plunged sharply to its lowest level in over two months amid broader risk-off sentiment in markets, as investors kept an eye on the U.S. Federal Reserve's upcoming interest rate decision. Crypto market participants are eyeing the upcoming interest rate decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The Federal Open Market Committee is due to meet on Wednesday afternoon to discuss its latest policy on interest rates. Markets have become more shaky lately, as investors fret over the prospect of a longer path toward interest rate cuts.

Persons: Bitcoin, Jerome Powell, Geoff Kendrick, Kendrick, Changpeng Zhao Organizations: U.S, U.S . Federal, U.S . Federal Reserve Locations: U.S ., CoinGecko, solana, U.S, Hong Kong

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao speaks at a Binance fifth anniversary event in Paris, France, July 8, 2022. Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani agrees, adding that Zhao's personal wealth won't be affected by his sentence. That's a different siutation from Sam Bankman-Fried, the controversial ex-CEO and founder of crypto exchange FTX. Bankman-Fried received a 25-year prison term for crimes connected to the operation of his crypto exchange. "Negative long-term impact on Binance will diminish the value of CZ's investment in the crypto exchange," said Yadav.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Reuters Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, Gabriel Abed, Richard Jones, Tre Lovell, Neama Rahmani, David Ryder, Binance, Braden Perry, Sam Bankman, Joshua de Vos, de Vos, Fried, Yesha Yadav, That's, Forbes, he's, Lucas Kiely, Kiely —, —, Yadav, it's Organizations: Staff, Reuters, CNBC, U.S, U.S . Department of Justice, District, Toyota, Bloomberg, Getty, Bank, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Vanderbilt University, Department, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Locations: Paris, France, Seattle, Zhao, Binance, Los Angeles, Seattle , Washington, Dubai, U.S, bitcoin, Iran

☆ Meta hit with major EU probe into disinformation handling ahead of European elections
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 31, 2024 in Washington, DC. Meta on Tuesday was hit by the European Commission — the executive body of the European Union — with a major investigation into its compliance with the EU's strict internet content rules. The Commission said it is investigating Meta over concerns the company hasn't done enough to ensure effective combatting of disinformation ahead of upcoming European Parliament elections. The European Parliament elections are due to take place on June 6-9. "We look forward to continuing our cooperation with the European Commission and providing them with further details of this work."

Persons: Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Organizations: Dirksen, Meta, European Commission, European, DSA, Services, EU, Facebook, CNBC Locations: Washington ,

Changpeng Zhao, the founder and former CEO of crypto exchange Binance, heads to a Seattle courtroom on Tuesday to learn whether the crimes he admitted to committing will land him in prison for an extended sentence. As part of his plea deal with the Department of Justice, Zhao agreed to step down as CEO. Once a titan of the crypto sector, Zhao grew Binance into the world's largest centralized crypto exchange globally. Unlike rival exchange FTX, which collapsed into bankruptcy when founder Sam Bankman-Fried was criminally charged, Binance has continued to operate. Binance processed a whopping $18.1 trillion worth of trading volume in 2023, according to data from CCData, a crypto market data firm.

Persons: Changpeng Zhao, Zhao, Richard Jones, Binance, Sam Bankman, Fried, Nansen, he's Organizations: Department of Justice, District, Prosecutors, Bank, U.S, Justice Department, Futures Trading Commission, Treasury Department, SEC Locations: Seattle, U.S, CCData, Iran

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