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☆ The DOJ wants Google to sell its Chrome browser. Here are the winners and losers if that happens.
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-21 | by ( Hugh Langley | Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

The Justice Department on Wednesday asked the judge in its antitrust case against Google to force the company to sell its Chrome browser. "Advertisers would find competitors for their business, rather than needing to pay a dominant search engine." When you open Chrome and type something into the search bar at the top, these words are automatically transformed into a Google Search. And when there's an option for users, Google pays partners billions of dollars to set its search engine as the default. For instance, if most people click on the third result, Google's Search engine will likely adjust and rank that result higher in the future.

Persons: Mehta's, John Kwoka, Judge Mehta, Bing, There's, Bill Gurley, Sridhar Ramaswamy, Neeva, Ramaswamy, Teiffyon Parry, Equativ, Parry, Ben Thompson, John Gruber, Lee, Anne Mulholland Organizations: DOJ, Google, Department, Wednesday, Northeastern University, Chrome, Lens, Google's, Gmail, YouTube, Bloomberg

☆ Tesla investors don't seem to trust Elon Musk like they used to. Is that because of Twitter?
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-12 | by ( Peter Kafka | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Elon Musk says self-driving Tesla cabs — something he's talked about for a long time — are just around the corner. The next day, Wall Street declared itself thoroughly unimpressed: Investors knocked down Tesla shares by nearly 9%. Related storiesAnd at the same time, Tesla investors no longer seem so forgiving. Since Musk acquired Twitter — after failing at his attempt to back out of a signed deal to acquire Twitter — Tesla shares are down 4.7%. Something like "Tesla investors don't care about Musk's Twitter travails — at all."

Persons: Elon Musk, he's, aren't, —, Elon Musk —, Musk, Reed Hastings, Tesla, Bill Gurley —, Uber Organizations: Service, Star, Wall Street, Tesla, Twitter, SpaceX, Netflix

☆ Streamlining hiring with AI: Benchmark backs AI start-up Mercor
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-27 | 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 EmailStreamlining hiring with AI: Benchmark backs AI start-up MercorBrendan Foody, Mercor co-founder and CEO, and Bill Gurley, Benchmark general partner, join 'Squawk Box' to discuss using AI to streamline hiring, impact of AI technology on company HR departments, and more.

Persons: Brendan Foody, Mercor, Bill Gurley Organizations: Benchmark

The companies announced an initial $1.25 billion investment in September, and said at the time that Amazon would invest up to $4 billion. The deal was struck at the AI startup's last valuation, which was $18.4 billion, according to a source. Over the past year, Anthropic closed five different funding deals worth about $7.3 billion — and with the new Amazon investment, the total exceeds $10 billion. News of the Amazon investment comes weeks after Anthropic debuted Claude 3, its newest suite of AI models that it says are its fastest and most powerful yet. But multimodality, and increasingly complex AI models, also lead to more potential risks.

Persons: Claude, Anthropic, OpenAI's, what's, Swami Sivasubramanian, OpenAI's ChatGPT, OpenAI, Microsoft's OpenAI, Anthropic's Claude, Daniela Amodei, We've, Tesla, Brendan Burke, Bill Gurley, Gurley, Microsoft's, Lina Khan Organizations: Amazon, Google, CNBC, Fortune, Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple, U.S . Federal Trade Commission Locations: San Francisco, Anthropic, OpenAI

Microsoft had no official say with the board when Altman, the company’s key contact, was fired. That is partly as a hedge for the fact it has no control over the start-up’s board. It involves the holy grail of OpenAI’s work: achieving artificial general intelligence, or A.G.I. Scott Syphax, a corporate governance expert, told DealBook that the deal could raise red flags with regulators if it threatens the nonprofit’s tax-exempt status. Another area Syphax is watching: the valuation that Microsoft placed on OpenAI after its investment and whether it acquired the I.P.

Persons: Altman, Nadella, Kara Swisher, Brockman, ”, Microsoft’s, Scott Syphax, DealBook, Bill Gurley, Satya Organizations: Microsoft, Times Locations: “, Grubhub

Venture capital investor Bill Gurley, a partner at Benchmark, said founders he works with believe Meta 's new large language model, Llama 2, has the "most momentum" in the battle of the large artificial intelligence models. Gurley told CNBC's Julia Boorstin Monday that the open-source nature of Meta's product is threatening to other leaders in the AI space. AI researchers typically compare LLMs when the software performs specific tasks. For instance, some AI researchers have found that Llama 2 outperforms other similar open-source AI language models and is on par with proprietary systems like OpenAI's ChatGPT. Google followed suit with its latest large language model called PaLM 2 in May, which powers the Google's generative AI features like its chatbot Bard.

Persons: Bill Gurley, Gurley, CNBC's Julia Boorstin, Meta, Bard Organizations: Microsoft, CNBC, Meta, Google Locations: OpenAI

☆ 'Where ambition goes to die': These tech workers flocked to Austin during the pandemic. Now they're desperate to get out.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-31 | by ( Ben Bergman | Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Many tech workers in California moved to Austin during the pandemic in search of a new lifestyle. Some tech workers say they regret moving there, given its middling tech scene and "fake" atmosphere. They cited several contributing factors, including extreme temperatures, traffic, overcrowding, and — perhaps most surprising — a middling tech scene that fails to live up to the hype. From Silicon Valley to the Silicon HillsNot long ago, Austin's tech scene was ascendant, with national headlines suggesting it could take on Silicon Valley. He acknowledged there's not much of a tech scene there but will take that over what he perceived as Austin's smoke and mirrors.

Persons: Austin, Mike Chang, Chang, Tesla, Danielle Fountain, Fountain, Elon Musk, Jim Breyer, Joe Lonsdale, Bill Gurley, Musk, Gurley, Emily Chang, John Andrew Entwistle, who's, John Andrew Entwistle Entwistle, Entwistle, oversold, Nicholas Falldine, there's, Nick Thomas, Austin doesn't, Thomas, he's, Sam Parr, I'm, Sheharyar, Redfin, Bokhari, It's, frolic Organizations: Oracle, Facebook, Google, Apple, Breyer Capital, Austin Chamber, Austin, Lone Star, US Postal Service Locations: California, Austin, Los Angeles, Bay, Silicon, Silicon Valley, Austin's, Palo Alto, Westchester County , New York, Fayetteville , Arkansas, Austin , Texas, San Francisco

☆ AI startup cloud deals by Microsoft, Google and Amazon ring 'accounting alarm bells' across Silicon Valley over revenue 'round-tripping'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Eugene Kim | Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Some investors question whether these arrangements are artificially juicing cloud revenue growth. When Microsoft announced a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI earlier this year, the deal made Azure the ChatGPT-maker's "exclusive cloud provider." There's another deal in the works with similar attributes involving Runway AI and a major cloud company. But they are drawing more scrutiny lately because they could artificially inflate cloud revenue, a key driver of growth for Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, according to Ted Mortonson, managing director of financial-services firm Baird. Is OpenAI a regular cloud customer that is getting no investment money from Microsoft?

☆ SVB collapse is double-whammy for tech startups already navigating brutal market
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +11 min

He'd started the process six months earlier during a brutal period for tech stocks and a plunge in venture funding. Investors were just pulling in their horns, the SPAC market had fallen apart, valuations for tech companies were collapsing." In the absence of venture funding, money-losing startups have had to cut their burn rates in order to extend their cash runway. Since the beginning of 2022, roughly 1,500 tech companies have laid off a total of close to 300,000 people, according to the website Layoffs.fyi. Kruze Consulting provides accounting and other back-end services to hundreds of tech startups.

☆ Benchmark's Bill Gurley calls Silicon Valley Bank's collapse 'a black swan event' at SXSW, and casts aside criticism of the move to secure its depositors
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Benchmark's general partner Bill Gurley defended the decision to cover SVB's depositors. The venture capital veteran spoke briefly about the bank after interviewing Tim Ferriss at SXSW. Gurley called Silicon Valley Bank's collapse a "black swan event." Gurley retweeted US Senator Mitt Romney Sunday night after federal regulators announced that depositors in Silicon Valley Bank would have full access to their cash. Bill Gurley shared his thoughts at the end of a conversation with Tim Ferriss at SXSW.

☆ Retail CEO crisis: With recent shakeups at Kohl's, Adidas, Dollar General, and more, the industry's top job is suddenly the hardest to fill
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Matthew Kish | Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

It's the surest sign yet of a crisis facing the retail industry. Supply chains got snarled, shoppers stopped visiting stores, and stimulus payments spiked demand, each making it difficult to measure how business was doing. Then stimulus payments sent demand for everything from sneakers to home goods spiking while supply chains snarled. And just when supply chains started to sort themselves out, inflation hit, and shoppers started to scale back spending. Retail CEOs need 'peripheral vision'Workers at Starbucks stores and Amazon warehouses across the country have pushed to unionize, with many calling out the pay disparity between front-line workers and top executives.

☆ Retail CEO crisis: why the industry's top job is suddenly the hardest to fill
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Matthew Kish | Avery Hartmans | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

As the cost of signing up new customers rises, “lifetime value” is set to become must-use jargon for technology executives, investors and analysts in 2023. The concept of lifetime value is not new, but a common definition remains elusive. The problem is that everyone seems to have a different definition of lifetime value. But lifetime value isn’t a silver bullet, as Gurley noted a decade ago. As with previous buzzwords, investors may find that references to lifetime value do more to confound than clarify.

☆ Elon Musk's Crackdown at Twitter Offers Hope to Fellow Tech Founders
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

But there's one group, almost unnoticed in the midst of the online firestorm, that has been cheering Musk on from the sidelines: other tech executives. To some founders, Musk is simply a monstrous version of the executive they wish they could be. Musk is getting rid of perks like free meals in the Twitter cafeteria — and other tech executives are taking note. Musk's slash-and-burn approach gives tech executives cover for making unpopular decisions. But now, as tech companies cut back to prepare for a recession, the "rough waters out there" have forced his staff to "reevaluate" their demands.

☆ Wall Street ignored Big Tech's bloat during boom times. Now it's ready to slice and dice.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Jake Swearingen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

As tech companies' stock has slumped, Wall Street now has leverage over companies. One reason for those layoffs: Wall Street is increasingly getting a say in how the tech giants are run. But 2022's slumping tech stocks and dismal revenue forecasts mean Wall Street suddenly has leverage. The more open question is whether tech companies are truly bloated regarding headcount. Wall Street will want to see companies cut costs, which will mean more layoffs.

☆ Tech investor says Elon Musk's decision to 'cut deep' in Twitter layoffs could set a new standard for Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tech investor David Friedberg said Twitter's layoffs could encourage other companies to follow suit. Elon Musk laid off about 50% of Twitter's staff, while other tech companies have had more conservative cuts. Tech investor David Friedberg said Musk's cost-cutting measures at Twitter could quickly become a new Silicon Valley standard as companies struggle to address the economic downturn in the months to come. Twitter staff were told to listen to the podcast episode to learn why layoffs were necessary, according to tech newsletter Platformer. However, some experts have pointed to Musk's layoffs — which were conducted via blunt emails signed by "Twitter" — as an example of what not to do.

☆ Young Silicon Valley workers are in for a rude awakening as industry giants make major job cuts and ditch ambitious projects for the first time in their careers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Samantha Delouya | Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Workers now fear layoffs after tech companies that hired thousands of workers with high pay face a slowing economy. For years, Big Tech companies have competed on pay and perks to lure workers in a tight labor market. It's a first for many tech workers, an entire generation of whom have known nothing but non-stop growth and a bull market. Earlier, the company told managers not to approve employee travel and team offsites unless they are "business critical." Younger tech workers don't just have to fear losing perks.

☆ Now might be 'as good a time as you've had in a decade' to build a company from scratch, says famed investor Bill Gurley
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Venture capitalist Bill Gurley talked about the environment for startups on a McKinsey podcast. Gurley said now might be as good a time as any in the past decade to build a company from scratch. The environment of the past five years was "really crazy" to start a company, Gurley said. In the macro environment, Gurley said events like Russia's war in Ukraine and Chinese escalations in Taiwan "are not things that start-ups can impact or control." So while they may "add anxiety," Gurley said they're not things that will "have any real impact" on startups.

☆ Meet the brightest investors and dealmakers under 35 from firms like Blackstone and Bridgewater navigating today's choppy markets.
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-29 | by ( Aaron Weinman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

After months of interviews and countless rounds of fact checking, meet 25 best-in-class investors, traders, and dealmakers under the age of 35, from firms like JPMorgan, BlackRock, and Apollo, among others. Here is the latest crop of rising stars — Wall Streeters under the age of 35 who are pushing their teams to the top. The end result celebrates people from all walks of life who are infusing new ideas at the biggest firms. He works across the firm's funds TPG Capital and TPG Growth, and also covers TPG's impact-oriented initiative called The Rise Fund. HBCUvc's operating chief reviews hundreds of applications for the program that offers paid internships at VC firms.

☆ Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bill Gurley said he 'hates' small rounds of layoffs: 'You get 100 percent of the pain and very little gain'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bill Gurley talked about startups in today's economy on a podcast. In the interview, Gurley said small-scale layoffs bring more pain and "very little gain." Gurley said that, compared to 2001 and 2009, which "had broadscale layoffs," layoffs today "happen so infrequently." "I hate the 5 to 10 percent layoffs," Gurley said in the podcast. Despite an unpredictable environment for startups, Gurley said right now is a good time for people "to build something from scratch."

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