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☆ Musk’s A.I. Firm Raises $6 Billion in Race With Rivals
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-27 | by ( Jason Karaian | More About Jason Karaian | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, said on Sunday that it has raised $6 billion, helping to close the funding gap with OpenAI, Anthropic and other rivals in the red-hot industry. Mr. Musk, who founded xAI in July, said in a social media post the funding round valued the company at $18 billion, not including the new money. Investors included the Silicon Valley heavyweights Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital, along with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Investors and large tech companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft have poured billions into the businesses developing A.I. systems, which require huge amounts of processing power to generate text, sounds and images.

Persons: Musk, Andreessen Horowitz, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Organizations: Elon, xAI, Sequoia Capital, Saudi, Investors, Google, Meta, Microsoft

Tesla plans to lay off more than 10 percent of its work force in an effort to cut costs, Elon Musk, the automaker’s chief executive, told employees on Monday. The job cuts, amounting to about 14,000 people, come as the company faces increasing competition and declining sales. The email was earlier reported by Electrek, an online news site, and Handelsblatt, a German business newspaper. The move is the latest sign that Tesla may not be as unstoppable as it once seemed. The company’s sales are no longer growing at a rapid pace, and it has been slow to introduce new models.

Persons: Tesla, Elon Musk, Mr, Musk, ”, Electrek Organizations: Elon, The New York Times Locations: Asia, Europe

☆ Microsoft’s Stock Recovers After Hiring OpenAI Outcasts
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Jason Karaian | More About Jason Karaian | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The unexpected ouster on Friday of Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and chief executive, set off a chain of events that erased tens of billions from Microsoft’s market value, a sign of how important OpenAI is to the tech behemoth. Microsoft has invested more than $13 billion in OpenAI, and Apple, Google and Meta have rushed to catch up with their own A.I. Microsoft’s stock has been on a roller coaster since Mr. Altman’s departure from OpenAI, dropping on Friday and continuing to slide in after-hours trading. The decline of more than 2 percent translates into an enormous loss of value for a company with a market capitalization approaching $3 trillion. Microsoft’s stock price served as a referendum of sorts on its partnership with OpenAI.

Persons: Sam Altman, OpenAI’s, Altman’s, Mr, Altman Organizations: Microsoft, Apple, Google, Meta, OpenAI Locations: OpenAI, Silicon Valley

Most economists think that while the hit could be substantial, it will not be so big that it would plunge America into a recession. Goldman Sachs analysts expect renewed student loan payments to cost households about $70 billion per year. But the student loan payments will also restart at the same time consumers face a number of other headwinds, including shrinking savings piles, a cooler job market and higher price levels after two years of rapid inflation. Retailers have begun to publicly fret that the resumption of student loan payments could collide with those other developments, pushing their shoppers closer to a breaking point. Executives from companies like Walmart, Macy’s, Best Buy and Gap have all warned analysts and investors that student loan payments may put pressure on shoppers’ budgets, eating into some of their sales in the process.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Biden, Julia Coronado, “ It’s, ” Organizations: Hollywood, United Auto Workers, Retailers, Walmart, Macy’s

Already, it was the biggest weekend haul in North America since 2019, and the fourth-largest ever, before adjusting for inflation. The weekend was also noteworthy for its variety, with “Barbie” collecting $162 million, “Oppenheimer” $82.4 million and the rest of the features, including “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” and “Sound of Freedom,” adding nearly $70 million. Typically, the biggest weekends for domestic ticket sales have been dominated by a single blockbuster. During the highest grossing weekend, in April 2019, “Avengers: Endgame” accounted for nearly 90 percent of the box office. “Barbie,” by comparison, accounted for just over half of the box office over the weekend.

Persons: “ Barbie, “ Oppenheimer, ”, ’, “ Barbie ” Organizations: Hollywood, “ Locations: North America

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