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☆ CNBC Daily Open: Everyone loves Reddit
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-30 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesThis report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. It's not too surprising, then, that the companies behind those services – Snap , Reddit and Alphabet – reported third-quarter results that beat Wall Street's expectations. While Snap and Reddit didn't report their advertising top line specifically, there were indications both companies are also doing well in that area. Note: CNBC Daily Open will be on a break Thursday, Oct. 31, for the public holiday in Singapore.

Persons: Jakub Porzycki, Evan Spiegel, That's, Reddit, It's, Microsoft isn't, Meta, — CNBC's Julia Boorstin, Jonathan Vanian, Jennifer Elias Organizations: SNAP, Nurphoto, CNBC, Microsoft, Meta Locations: Singapore

☆ CNBC Daily Open: Everyone gave Reddit an upvote
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-30 | by ( Yeo Boon Ping | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. It's not too surprising, then, that the companies behind those services – Snap , Reddit and Alphabet – reported third-quarter results that beat Wall Street's expectations. It's Meta's and Microsoft's turn to report earnings later today. Note: CNBC Daily Open will be on a break Thursday, Oct. 31, for the public holiday in Singapore.

Persons: Rachel Reeves, Reddit, Evan Spiegel, That's, It's, Microsoft isn't, Meta, — CNBC's Julia Boorstin, Jonathan Vanian, Jennifer Elias Organizations: New York Stock Exchange, Inc, CNBC, Finance, Google, Microsoft, Meta Locations: Singapore

☆ Microsoft to cut 650 jobs at its Xbox gaming unit — read the full memo from top exec Phil Spencer
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-12 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesMicrosoft on Thursday said that it is cutting 650 roles at its Xbox gaming division, in the latest major round of layoffs to hit the video game industry. It marks the third series of redundancies in Microsoft's video game unit since the company's blockbuster acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the publisher behind the Call of Duty franchise, for $69 billion in cash. In a memo obtained by CNBC, Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, told employees that the firm had taken this "difficult" decision to align its post-acquisition team structure and "organize our business for long term success." Bethesda publishes major gaming titles, such as the Fallout and The Elder Scrolls series. Major gaming studios have cut thousands of jobs around the world, beginning in 2023 and continuing into 2024.

Persons: Phil Spencer, Patrick T, Spencer, Japan's, Playtika Organizations: Microsoft, Fallon, Bloomberg, Getty, Activision Blizzard, Duty, CNBC, Microsoft Gaming, Xbox, Activision, ZeniMax Media, Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda, Japan's Sony, PlayStation, Gaming Locations: Los Angeles, U.S

☆ Microsoft doubles down on quantum computing and other science projects in latest reorg
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-03 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Microsoft on Monday cut hundreds Azure jobs to focus on AI investments, Business Insider reported. An internal memo said a focus to "define the AI wave" was behind the changes. Microsoft isn't giving up, according to an internal memo detailing cuts in other parts of the company's operations. Business Insider broke the news on Monday that Microsoft is cutting hundreds of jobs from its Azure cloud business. Executive Jason Zander blamed the cuts on Microsoft's need to purse AI investments, according to an internal memo obtained by BI.

Persons: —, Jason Zander Organizations: Microsoft, Business, Service, BI

☆ Microsoft says cloud AI demand is exceeding supply even after 79% surge in capital spending
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

In its earnings report on Thursday, Microsoft said capital expenditures jumped 79% from a year earlier to $14 billion. "We do have demand that exceeds our supply by a bit," Microsoft CFO Amy Hood told analysts on the company's earnings call. During the fiscal third quarter, revenue in Microsoft's Azure cloud rose 31%, with 7 percentage points from AI. Microsoft intends "to scale to meet the growing demand signal for our cloud and AI products," she said. WATCH: Microsoft's capex increase for AI infrastructure is not a surprise, says Deepwater's Gene Munster

Persons: Amy Hood, Hood, Deepwater's Gene Munster Organizations: Microsoft, OpenAI, Nvidia, Amazon Web Services Locations: Bellevue , Washington

☆ Microsoft engineer sounds alarm on company's AI image generator in letter to FTC
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

AdvertisementJones claimed in the letter that Microsoft's AI image generator can add "harmful content" to images that can be created using "benign" prompts. Jones, Microsoft, and the FTC didn't immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment before publication. AdvertisementThis isn't the first time Shane publicly vocalized his concerns about Microsoft's AI image generator. Microsoft isn't the only major tech company that's been slammed for its AI image generator. "In a competitive race to be the most trustworthy AI company, Microsoft needs to lead, not follow or fall behind," he wrote.

Persons: —, Shane Jones, Jones, Vader, FTC didn't, Shane, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Demis Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Federal Trade Commission, Copilot, Business, LinkedIn, Star, CNBC, FTC, Google, Gemini

☆ Copilot dreams and nightmares: Microsoft insiders share what they really think about the company's AI future.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

"Customers trust Microsoft more than OpenAI since they already buy Microsoft's ecosystem," a Microsoft AI researcher told BI. "Almost everyone I know is working on Copilot to a certain extent," the Microsoft AI researcher told BI. "It's too premature to assume this is going to be a race to the bottom on price," another Microsoft executive said. Some Microsoft employees work so closely with OpenAI that they have badges to get into OpenAI's offices, and some OpenAI employees can badge into Microsoft locations. Mistral models will be offered to Microsoft customers along with about 1,600 other models including Cohere and Meta's Llama.

Persons: there's, Morgan Stanley, Satya Nadella, they've, they're, Frank Shaw, Shaw, That's, OpenAI, JPMorgan Chase, It's, Dentsu, Shiva Vannavada, Vannavada, Eric Boyd, Scott, John Montgomery, Asha Sharma, Ashley Stewart Organizations: Microsoft, Business, Enterprise, Walmart, JPMorgan, BI, Google, Dentsu, Product, Technology, Employees, Nvidia, DA Davidson, AI Services, AI Bot, OpenAI Locations: OpenAI, Mistral

☆ Big Tech’s next key market is India. Here’s how four Club portfolio names are playing it
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Just days after delivering a stellar quarter, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was on a whirlwind speaking tour throughout India. The Indian market also represents a largely untapped market that will diversify revenue streams. Over the summer, India became Amazon's first market in Asia to launch its dedicated virtual cargo airline , dubbed Amazon Air. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Morgan Stanley, Chetan Ahya, Ahya, Bernstein, Nadella, Zev Fima, Fima, Tim Cook, Amazon, Sundar Pichai, Jim Cramer's, Jim Cramer, Jim Organizations: Microsoft, Apple, country's Ministry, Skill Development, Entrepreneurship, Club, Foxconn Technology, Media, Amazon, Walmart, Web Services, Google, CNBC Locations: India, Mumbai, Bengaluru, New Delhi, China, Asia, United States, Chennai, Puna, Hyderabad, Tamil Nadu, India's, Gujarat

☆ Microsoft shut down an internal employee discussion on the Israel-Hamas war
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft shut down a discussion between employees about the Israel-Hamas war, internal messages show. "Amidst the ongoing Palestinian Israeli war, it saddens me to witness a company that so strongly promotes Diversity and Inclusion show such strong discrimination and marginalization," the person wrote. The post does not specifically reference which comments from senior leaders the employee viewed as biased. "We have Palestinian employees globally who are deeply concerned for the safety of their loved ones in the region and stand against these acts of terrorism." Are you a Microsoft employee?

Persons: Kathleen Hogan, Hogan, Innocent, Hamas's Organizations: Microsoft, Viva Engage, Microsoft Employee, Group, Hamas, Nvidia Locations: Israel, Palestinian, Gaza

☆ The IRS gave us a window into how much tech titans have dodged in taxes
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft recently revealed that the IRS said it owes nearly $29 billion in back taxes. NEW LOOK Sign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe IRS says Microsoft owes nearly $29 billion in back taxes — and it might signal a greater spotlight on how much tech titans are paying in taxes. Since 2004, we have paid over $67 billion in taxes to the U.S."AdvertisementAdvertisementWhat it means for other tech giantsMicrosoft isn't alone . In the US, around $165 billion in profits were shifted, and the US saw a 16% loss in corporate tax revenue.

Persons: —, Daniel Goff, Natasha, Janet Yellen, Ludvig Wier, Gabriel Zucman, It's, it's Organizations: Microsoft, Service, IRS, titans, Yale Law School, Treasury Department, Danish Ministry of Finance, UC Berkeley Locations: Puerto Rico, U.S

☆ Microsoft to sell AI assistant software to biggest clients starting Nov. 1
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Microsoft said Thursday that starting Nov. 1, large companies will be able to buy Microsoft 365 Copilot, its artificial intelligence supplement to core productivity apps such as Word and Excel. Microsoft 365 Copilot is one result of the company's close collaboration with San Francisco startup OpenAI, which became a household name after ChatGPT, OpenAI's chatbot, went viral last year. In March, Microsoft first revealed plans for Microsoft 365 Copilot. Microsoft 365 Copilot tools are now in preview with small businesses, Colette Stallbaumer, a general manager, said at Thursday's event. Turning Microsoft 365 Copilot into a big business might take time.

Persons: OpenAI's chatbot, underpins, Satya Nadella, Copilot, Colette Stallbaumer, Amy Hood, Hood, McNamee Organizations: Microsoft, San, Edge, Google Locations: San Francisco, New York, Bing

☆ After Salesforce hiked its product prices by an average of 9%, some unhappy customers are considering switching to Microsoft or HubSpot
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Already, consultants see Salesforce customers scrambling to address these price hikes. Jon Winsett, CEO and managing partner at Atlanta-based IT spending advisory NPI Financial, said his firm immediately alerted all its clients to the price increase news. "We were working with one of our accounts right as the price increase was announced, and they were gobsmacked," Winsett said. Customer relationship management software company HubSpot uses customer self-service to sell its software — a stark contrast from Salesforce's sales-driven culture. You don't need a full-time Salesforce admin when you're a HubSpot customer.

Persons: Salesforce, Marc Benioff, Adam Mansfield, — they're, HubSpot, Bernstein, Mark Moerdler, Moerdler, Jon Winsett, Winsett, Microsoft Mansfield, Mansfield, Satya Nadella Justin Sullivan, OpenAI, I've, we're, you've, that's, Yamini Rangan, HubSpot Matt Winkelmeyer, Rishi Jaluria, he'd, Jaluria Organizations: Wall Street, Microsoft, Cloud, Industries, Management, RBC Capital, Salesforce Locations: Salesforce, Atlanta, ChatGPT

☆ Microsoft took down a string of embarrassing travel articles created with 'algorithmic techniques.' But it says AI isn't the problem.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-21 | by ( Nathan Mcalone | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Microsoft took down a string of embarrassing and offensive travel articles last week. The company said the articles were not published by "unsupervised AI" and blamed "human error." Last week, Microsoft took down a string of articles published by "Microsoft Travel" that included a bizarre recommendation for visitors to Ottawa to visit the Ottawa Food Bank and to "consider going into it on an empty stomach." "This article has been removed and we have identified that the issue was due to human error," a Microsoft spokesperson said. Based on the examples I found, whatever human controls Microsoft had in place were so minimal as to be functionally useless.

Persons: Paris Marx, isn't, Lucia Moses, Kai Xiang Teo Organizations: Microsoft, Morning, Ottawa Food Bank, MSN, CNET Locations: Ottawa, Montreal, Canada, Anchorage, Tokyo

☆ Microsoft is touting the size and growth rate of its Salesforce rival Dynamics
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft still isn't disclosing the size of its Azure business, providing only the growth rate for the cloud business and leaving investors guessing how its revenue compares to Amazon and Google . But in its much smaller Dynamics business, which includes software for salespeople, marketers and customer-service agents, Microsoft has suddenly opted for greater transparency. In its annual report to investors last week, Microsoft disclosed Dynamics revenue in a table alongside other products for the first time. He also noted that Microsoft Sales Copilot, a tool capable of writing business-oriented email drafts, integrates with Dynamics as well as Salesforce's software. Partly motivated by Microsoft's AI capabilities, some companies are switching to Dynamics from Salesforce, said Manny Medina, CEO of sales software startup Outreach.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Flipkart, Nadella, Manny Medina, Medina, Salesforce, Bret Taylor, Marc Benioff, they're, Doug Burgum, Adam Mansfield, Mansfield Organizations: Microsoft Corp, Microsoft, Google, Dynamics, Products, Cloud Services, Technology, IDC, Oracle, SAP, CNBC, Industry, Marketing, Commerce Cloud, Plains Software, North, Republican Locations: Mumbai, India, MSFT, Marketing Cloud, Commerce, North Dakota, Great Plains

☆ Microsoft is 'in the lead' with new cloud-based A.I. workloads, CEO Nadella says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

1 when it comes to selling cloud-based AI services. The concept of AI has been around longer than Microsoft, and Microsoft has been running AI models for other companies for several years. That's the reason Microsoft has disclosed how much of the expected Azure cloud growth will come from AI for the past two quarters, Nadella said. That could be worth hundreds of millions of dollars in new Azure AI revenue. "There are two parts to even the AI," Nadella said.

Persons: Satya Nadella couldn't, Microsoft's, Nadella, Bing, OpenAI, Amy Hood, Adam Crisafulli Organizations: Microsoft, Bing, Google, Windows, OpenAI

☆ Microsoft's $13 billion bet on OpenAI carries huge potential along with plenty of uncertainty
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Microsoft's cumulative investment in OpenAI has reportedly swelled to $13 billion and the startup's valuation has hit roughly $29 billion. What does that mean for Microsoft's investment and broader arrangement? The structure changed in 2019, when two top executives published a blog post announcing the formation of a "capped-profit" entity called OpenAI LP. Microsoft has an exclusive license on GPT-4 and all other OpenAI models, the OpenAI spokesperson said. When considering potential exits for OpenAI, Microsoft — which does not hold an OpenAI board seat — would be the natural acquirer given its close entanglement.

☆ Microsoft introduces an A.I. chatbot for cybersecurity experts
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft on Tuesday announced a chatbot designed to help cybersecurity professionals understand critical issues and find ways to fix them. The Microsoft Security Copilot draws on GPT-4, the latest large language model from OpenAI — in which Microsoft has invested billions — and a security-specific model Microsoft built using daily activity data it gathers. Microsoft isn't talking about how much Security Copilot will cost when it becomes more widely available. The service will work with Microsoft security products such as Sentinel for tracking threats. Security Copilot will be available to a small set of Microsoft clients in a private preview before wider release at a later date.

☆ Microsoft knows Bing's AI chatbot gives out some eyebrow-raising answers. An exec said decreasing them is a priority.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Since then, Microsoft has restricted Bing users to five questions per session. A Microsoft spokesperson didn't respond to Insider's request for additional comment ahead of publication. The emerging AI arms race has sparked debate among industry experts and users over whether Bing's AI launch was a responsible choice. When asked about Bing's responses, a Microsoft spokesperson told Insider last week that user feedback is necessary to pinpoint flaws in the chatbot so they can be improved. "It's important to note that last week we announced a preview of this new experience," the Microsoft spokesperson said at the time.

☆ Microsoft pushing you to set Bing and Edge as your defaults to get its new OpenAI-powered search engine faster is giving off big 1990s energy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | Shona Ghosh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft was once king of computing, with more than 90% market share. Microsoft has integrated some OpenAI deep-learning technology into Bing, its ailing competitor to Google, so that the search engine can answer questions in a more nuanced way. And rather than just returning a list of results, Bing will present the information in a more useful way. What is less futuristic is Microsoft's maneuvering to juice its own market share as much as possible. Microsoft is juicing Bing's market share right now Shona Ghosh/InsiderAt present, Bing's share of the search market is a mere 3%, according to data firm Stat Counter.

☆ Microsoft wants to create more competition among game publishers, CEO Satya Nadella says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Sheila Chiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesMicrosoft CEO Satya Nadella says the American tech giant wants to create more competition among game publishers, as it faces an anticompetition probe over its $69 billion offer to buy Activision Blizzard . Activision Blizzard, the American game publisher behind popular franchises such as Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush, could boost Microsoft's mobile gaming presence where it is largely absent. Microsoft has largely been in the console and PC video game businesses, offering access to hundreds of games via their video game subscription services Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass. What can Microsoft uniquely do for gamers and game publishers? When asked about the next step if the Activision Blizzard deal doesn't happen, Nadella said: "We have been in gaming for decades.

☆ Tanium insiders say the $9 billion startup is trying to cozy up to Microsoft and angle itself to be acquired as cost cutting and a market downturn chill hopes for its long-awaited IPO
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-08 | by ( Rosalie Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Current and former Tanium employees say the company has been tightening its belt. Tanium had two rounds of job cuts in the past month as internal hopes for its IPO faded. "Plenty of ink has been spilled over the past few months on this topic," a Tanium spokesperson said of its IPO plans. Even so, many rank-and-file employees are skeptical that either an acquisition or IPO will happen, a current employee said. "All well run organizations look for ways to simplify their structures and adapt to meet changing business requirements and industry shifts," the Tanium spokesperson said.

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