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☆ SoftBank is betting on AI and an IPO revival after swinging to a $7.7 billion profit
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-12 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

SoftBank reported a $7.7 billion quarterly profit on Tuesday after a loss last year. SoftBank Vision Fund's CFO told BI that "macro tailwinds" helped its public portfolio. AdvertisementGains for its Vision Fund 1, a $98.6 billion investment vehicle launched in 2016 with backing from Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth funds, totaled $3 billion in the second quarter. Despite the investment gain, Vision Fund 2 has lost an overall total of $21 billion since its inception. The results come as SoftBank gears up for a huge investment spree in AI to realize Son's ambitious vision.

Persons: SoftBank, —, Masayoshi, Didi Chuxing, Navneet Govil, Ola, Govil, PayPay Organizations: Service, Funds, Vision, IPOs, Nvidia Locations: Abu Dhabi, Saudi, China, OpenAI, Mexico, India, ByteDance

☆ 23andMe appoints new board members as it works to stem the company's slide
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-30 | by ( Lauren Edmonds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

23andMe said it appointed three new independent directors to its board on Monday. Advertisement23andMe has appointed three new independent directors to its board following the mass resignation of all seven of its previous members last month. The seven previous board members resigned in September in a letter addressed to Wojcicki, citing the company's direction. Wojcicki shared a proposal to take 23andMe private in a July SEC filing, which was reviewed by a special committee formed by the board of directors. The special committee responded less than a week later, writing they were "disappointed" in the proposal.

Persons: 23andMe, —, Andre Fernandez, Mark Jensen, Jim Frankola, Fernandez, Jensen, Frankola, Anne Wojcicki, Kimberly White, Wojcicki Organizations: Service, SEC, Deloitte, 23andMe Board, Company, Business Locations: American

☆ 23andMe appoints three new board members following abrupt resignations
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-29 | by ( Ashley Capoot | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

23andMe appointed three new independent directors to its board, the company announced Tuesday, one month after all seven of its previous directors abrubtly resigned. Fernandez, Frankola and Jensen will all serve on the board's audit committee and compensation committee, the company said. The company's stock was trading around $5 on Tuesday morning. To help 23andMe explore potential paths forward, the previous independent directors on the company's board formed a special committee in late March. In the weeks following the board members' departures, Wojcicki has repeatedly said she remains committed to taking the company private.

Persons: Anne Wojcicki, Kelly Sullivan, 23andMe, abrubtly, Andre Fernandez, Jim Frankola, Mark Jensen, Fernandez, Frankola, Jensen, Wojcicki Organizations: Deloitte, 23andMe Board, Company Locations: ATHERTON , CALIFORNIA, Atherton , California

☆ America's New Economic Supercycle: Growth, Prices, Stock Market Chaos
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-20 | by ( Linette Lopez | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

First, higher interest rates will reward savers, making it more expensive to take risks. And with interest rates so low, companies could suddenly load up on debt: From 2007 to 2017, global nonfinancial corporate debt doubled, to $66 trillion. Now, with the arrival of a new supercycle, money managers are once again being forced to adapt to a changing set of economic realities. Normally, when the Fed hikes interest rates rapidly, the stock market tanks. Rising interest rates will make loans more expensive, forcing businesses to make more-thoughtful decisions about debt.

Persons: Josh Hirt, Silas Myers, Myers, Hirt, you've, Joe Quinlan, they'll, Quinlan Organizations: Investors, Vanguard, Mar Vista Investments, Federal Reserve, Capital, . Venture, Nasdaq, Bank of America, Big Tech, Federal Trade Commission, Treasury, European Union, Aerospace Locations: Washington, China, Unemployment, Europe, America, Japan, United States

☆ Want to Understand America? Watch ‘Shark Tank.’
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-17 | by ( Jordyn Holman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +19 min

“Shark Tank” Over the Years Season 1 (2009-10) The show premiered against the backdrop of the Great Recession. “‘Shark Tank’ is not a game show,” said Kevin O’Leary, a cutthroat investor known sarcastically in the tank as Mr. “Shark Tank” debuted less than a year after the subprime mortgage crisis devastated the global economy. But those kinds of companies are rarely reflected on “Shark Tank” for one simple reason: They don’t make for good TV. “The buyer gave us a shot at Target because of the ‘Shark Tank’ appearance.”“We turn you into a rock star and you become part of the ‘Shark Tank’ culture and the lore of ‘Shark Tank’,” said Mr. O’Leary.

Persons: Tod Wilson, Mark Cuban, Shark Lori Greiner, ”, Kevin O’Leary, Barbara Corcoran, Corcoran, Mark Burnett, Lehman Brothers, “, Daymond John, John, ” Mr, Wilson, Ms, Angela Lee, Halle Tecco, Jamie Siminoff, Siminoff, O’Leary, Siminoff “, Mr, Robert Herjavec, Burnett, Herjavec, TJ Maxx, Lori Greiner, Greiner, Michael Jones, Taryn Jones Laeben, ” Tod Wilson, Lee, Sarah Paiji Yoo, Dave Heath, Ann Crady Weiss, Hatch, Weiss Organizations: ABC, Sharks, QVC, Amazon, Bombas, Corcoran Group, “ Tigers, “, Twitter, Marketplace, Valley . Producers, Las, Columbia Business School, Halle, Four, Smart Tire Company, TJ, Tank, Tank Venture, Science Inc, Forbes, IRL Ventures, Educators, Blueland Locations: Angeles, Valley, Manhattan, America, Britain, Canada, United States, Houston, Somerset, N.J, Las Vegas, cybersecurity, Target, U.S, Los Angeles, Wegman’s, Minneapolis, Queens

☆ OpenAI's AI-adjusted earnings numbers have echoes of Groupon and WeWork
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-11 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Is it OK for an AI company to exclude the cost of training its AI models when it reports earnings? Related storiesFor an AI company like OpenAI, training models will be an ongoing process. The world is constantly evolving, and new data is being generated, which will have to be incorporated into AI models' understanding. Let's call it "AI adjusted earnings" for an AI company. They are a private company," McKenna said.

Persons: we've, Francine McKenna, McKenna, OpenAI, It's, Groupon, WeWork Organizations: Google, Facebook, MarketWatch, Revenue, Big Tech, KPMG Consulting, SAP, Oracle, Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC Locations: It's

☆ There are 3 signs that generative AI might be reaching peak market froth — and it's not just OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-05 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

There are signs across AI models, chips, and new form factors that the market is getting frothy. Investors spent the summer wondering if top AI stocks could continue to justify soaring valuations in the face of absent returns from their massive AI spending. Now, signs have emerged that they're not yet done with generative AI mania. OpenAI reaches dizzying new heightsSam Altman's OpenAI secured a $157 billion valuation after raising $6.6 billion in its latest funding round. In short, a lossmaking startup must justify its $157 billion valuation.

Persons: Cerebras, —, Andrew Feldman, Ramsey Cardy Cerebras, here's, Abu, Cerebras —, Altman's OpenAI, OpenAI, Elon Musk's xAI, OpenAI's, Ilya Sutskever, Gary Marcus, OpenAI's Sam Altman, David Sacks, Darius Rafieyan, Mira Murati, Mark Zuckerberg, Andrej Sokolow, frothiness, Jensen Huang, Alex Heath, Rahul Prasad, Snapchat Organizations: Nvidia, Service, Investors, Microsoft, Saudi Aramco, Bloomberg, OpenAI, LLMs, Financial Times, Anthropic, Craft Ventures, Tiger Global, The New York Times, Getty, company's Connect, Meta, Orion Locations: Sunnyvale, Abu Dhabi, Silver, Saudi, Silicon Valley, —

☆ OpenAI's investors include Silicon Valley's most prolific bubble chasers. Is that a bad sign for the company's future?
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-03 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

AdvertisementOpenAI has officially closed a historic funding round. AdvertisementTiger Global is also one of the firms that backed OpenAI in this latest funding round. AdvertisementNotably absent from the list of OpenAI investors was Apple, which is said to have dropped out of the deal at the 11th hour. Apple's inclusion in OpenAI's funding round may have gone a long way toward quieting doubts about OpenAI's palace intrigue and general chaotic vibe. A few weeks ago, this funding round was being talked about as the arrival of the adults in the room.

Persons: OpenAI, —, Adam Neuman, Masayoshi Son, Neuman, SoftBank, Morningstar, You'd, Goldman Sachs, Tim Cook, Cook, Elon Musk Organizations: Nvidia, United, United Arab Emirates, Service, SoftBank's, Business, Ark Venture, BI, Apple Locations: United Arab, Silicon, Silicon Valley

☆ Elon Musk called OpenAI 'evil' for telling investors not to fund his company and other rivals
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-03 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

OpenAI just secured $6.6 billion in its latest funding round. The company asked investors not to back its rivals like Elon Musk's xAI, per Reuters. Musk, who is in an ongoing feud with OpenAI, called the company "evil." That funding round, which included big-name investors like Thrive Capital, Microsoft, and Nvidia, had a stipulation that Musk isn't so happy with: Don't support OpenAI's rivals. Some of OpenAI's investors have already backed other AI startups.

Persons: OpenAI, Elon Musk's, Musk, —, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, Anthropic, Ilya Sutskever's, Musk's, Altman Organizations: Elon, Elon Musk's xAI, Reuters, Service, Microsoft, Nvidia, Financial Times, OpenAI, Street Locations: OpenAI

☆ Adam Neumann's new startup is reworking WeWork's old business model
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-03 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | Geoff Weiss | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Workflow has a different business strategy than Neumann's previous company, Bloomberg reports. Neumann told the outlet that investors at Andreessen Horowitz will help keep him disciplined. Ben Bergman/BI"The lack of community and the disconnection that people feel is even more relevant today" than in the days of WeWork, Neumann told Bloomberg of Workflow. Neumann says he's learned his lessonCritics didn't just zero in on WeWork's business model but also on Neumann's management. We're really not sure that we know the answer, therefore we're taking our time," Neumann told Bloomberg.

Persons: Adam Neumann, Neumann, Andreessen Horowitz, —, WeWork, he's, WeWork's, Insider's Ben Bergman, Ben Bergman, Justin Sullivan, Ben Horowitz, Marc Andreessen, Andreessen, Noam Galai, TechCrunch Neumann, We're Organizations: Bloomberg, Service, Fort, Business, Flow, TechCrunch Locations: Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, WeWork's

OpenAI's $6.6 billion funding raise attracted some big names across the industry. The $6.6 billion round gave OpenAI a $157 billion post-money valuation and minted it into one of the most valuable startups in the world. MicrosoftMicrosoft invested a little under $1 billion into OpenAI's latest funding round, according to The Wall Street Journal report. FidelityFidelity also participated in OpenAI's latest funding round. AdvertisementAltimeter Capital ManagementAltimeter Capital Management also contributed to OpenAI's latest funding round, according to reports.

Persons: —, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Here's, Anderson Cooper, Josh Kushner, Instagram, Kushner, Altman, josh, SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, Son, Marco Bello, Wood, Morningstar, Bing, Jensen Huang, Sam Yeh, Elon Musk's, Brad Gerstner, Gerstner, Vinod Khosla, Vaughn Ridley, Khosla, MGX Organizations: Service, Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, Getty, Capital, Business, VC, Wall Street, Reuters, Vision Fund, Venture, ARK Invest, ARK Venture Fund, SpaceX, Microsoft Microsoft, Wall, Rival Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia Nvidia, Nvidia, Tiger Global Management, Fidelity Fidelity, Elon, Elon Musk's xAI, Fidelity, Capital Management, . Khosla, Getty Khosla Ventures, Sun Microsystems, United Arab, Bloomberg Locations: OpenAI, Silicon Valley, OpenAI ., Tokyo, Saudi, ARK, AFP, IPOs, America, United Arab Emirates

☆ Masayoshi Son is the $100 billion gambler who went from dirt track to tech titan — and he isn't done betting yet
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-28 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son has spent his life putting bold bets on the future of technology. SoftBank, the media-technology conglomerate Son founded two decades prior, was riding high on the glory it attained in the dot-com boom. He was told he was special," Barber told BI. "He wants to be seen as the great modernizer transforming this petrostate into a truly modern economy where technology is at the forefront," Barber told BI. But as previous cycles in Son's life dictate, the flurry of enthusiasm is typically followed by failure.

Persons: Masayoshi Son, Lionel Barber, —, Son, Bill Gates, Masa —, Uber, Barber, Vladimir Putin, Barack Obama, — he's, Jack Ma's Alibaba, Wang, he's, Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, Qin Shi Huang, Emperor of, Microsoft's Gates, Jordan Strauss, Mitsunori, SoftBank, Rupert Murdoch, Larry Ellison, Jack Welch, Steve Jobs, Masayoshi, Justin Sullivan, Rajeev Misra, Nikesh Arora, Phil McCarten, Abu Dhabi's Mubadala, Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi, Michael Moritz, Kim Jong, Adam Neumann, Donald Trump, Wirecard, Jesus, NurPhoto, He's, Allen Lane Organizations: Service, Financial Times, Kremlin, Yahoo, Popular Electronics, Vision, Deutsche Bank, Google, Reuters, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Vision Fund, Valley's, Sequoia Capital, Greensill, Nvidia, Signal Publishers Locations: Tokyo's Roppongi, Japan, Masayoshi, Washington, Wayne, Emperor of China, Kyushu, United States, Riyadh, Berkeley, Las Vegas

Sovereign wealth funds out of the Middle East are emerging as key backers of Silicon Valley's artificial intelligence darlings. In the past year, funding for AI companies by Middle-Eastern sovereigns has increased fivefold, according to data from Pitchbook. Few venture funds have deep enough pockets to compete with the multibillion-dollar checks coming from the likes of Microsoft and Amazon . MGX was launched as a dedicated AI fund in March, with Abu Dhabi's Mubadala and AI firm G42 as founding partners. For the U.S., having sovereign wealth funds invest in American companies, and not in global adversaries like China, has been a geopolitical priority.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Prince Mohammed bin Salman's, Uber, LIV, UAE's Mubadala, MGX, Abu Dhabi's Mubadala, Anthropic, Andreessen Horowitz, Jamal Khashoggi, It's, Bpifrance, WeWork spiraled, Jared Cohen, there's Organizations: United, CNBC, Microsoft, Gulf Cooperation Council, Saudi Public Investment Fund, Abu, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Qatar Investment Authority, BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners, Saudi, U.S, Saudi Company, Artificial Intelligence, Washington Post, SoftBank, Goldman Sachs Global Institute Locations: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Pitchbook, Abu Dhabi, Temasek, Singapore, China, UAE

☆ Adam Neumann's climate startup is quietly refunding investors after failing to launch a crypto token, report says
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-12 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Adam Neumann's climate tech startup is quietly refunding investors, Forbes reported. Flowcarbon has reportedly been refunding its Goddess Nature Token after failing to launch it. Flowcarbon, which aimed to enable companies to purchase carbon credits with cryptocurrency, has reportedly been issuing refunds for its Goddess Nature Token after failing to launch for years. Founded in 2021, Flowcarbon claimed that tokenizing carbon credits would make them easier to trade and help projects access funding more easily. The company said its Goddess Nature Token would shed light on the "opaque and fractured market infrastructure" for carbon credits — but the tokens have yet to emerge.

Persons: Adam, Forbes, Flowcarbon, cryptocurrency Organizations: Service, Business

☆ The female 'founder mode' double standard
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-07 | by ( Melia Russell | Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

From the moment Paul Graham dropped his essay on "founder mode," people online analyzed it like a stone tablet found bearing the new commandment of startupdom. But there's one group that has been privately wrestling with "founder mode" since before it had a meme-able name: female founders. Four female founders told Business Insider that a stark double standard prevents them from operating their startups as their male counterparts do. Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd wrote on Instagram that she was "in founder mode for 10 years and got attacked for it every single day." But unlike female founders, he and Neumann, the WeWork founder, enjoy the luxury of being given second chances by investors.

Persons: Paul Graham, Tobias Lütke, Baron Davis, Jessica Lessin, Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, that's, There's, they'll, Amanda E, J Morrison, Julie Products, Adam Neumann, Sophia Amoruso, it's, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Morrison, We've, they're, Clara Brenner, They're, she's, Julie, Christie Horvath, Wagmo's, Horvath, there's, Anna Barber, Barber, Jenny Fielding, Fielding, Elon, Sara Mauskopf, Slack, Musk, Mauskopf, Neumann, It's, Ty Haney, athleisure —, Haney, Graham's Organizations: Service, Founders, Spotify, Urban Innovation Fund, CVS, M13 Ventures, Ventures, TechCrunch

☆ A man was left stranded on a mountain by his colleagues in a work retreat gone wrong
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-29 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewA Colorado man was rescued after getting stranded overnight on a 14,230-foot mountain during a work retreat, local authorities said. Related storiesBy 9 p.m., Chaffee County Search and Rescue South said it had been alerted and activated two teams, a drone pilot, and a helicopter. Chaffee County Search and Rescue South posted this image from the search. Chaffee County Search and Rescue SouthBut just as those groups set out, the man regained cell service and managed to make a 911 call, the search and rescue team wrote. The man told rescuers he'd fallen more than 20 times and ended up in a gully, unable to get up.

Persons: —, Shavano, Danny Andres, he'd Organizations: Service, Business, Employees, Industry Locations: Chaffee County, Chaffee

☆ Adam Neumann's new startup Flow faces trouble in Nashville
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-20 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Read previewAdam Neuman's post-WeWork venture Flow was launched with a $350 million check and stakes in six buildings. Now, one of those buildings is struggling, and equity investors risk being wiped out. Crowdfunding platform Yieldstreet, which has helped raise money for the property, recently told its equity investors that their investments could be wiped out. Flow launched in 2022 with investments in six apartment buildings, including the now-troubled Nashville property, and a $350 million check from venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. A Flow spokesperson sought to distance the Miami-based startup from the 2010 West End property, saying that Flow has never managed the building and is only the minority equity owner.

Persons: —, Adam Neuman's, Andreessen Horowitz, Neumann, WeWork, Neumann's, Yieldstreet, Nazare, Adam Neumann, They're, they're Organizations: Service, Business, Nazare, Yieldstreet, BI, SEC Locations: Nashville, Miami, Denver, Fort Lauderdale

☆ Inside The Engine Accelerator, the anti-Y Combinator for 'tough tech' startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-16 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The Engine Accelerator is part coworking space and part startup accelerator, though it doesn't invest. The Engine AcceleratorThe Engine Accelerator provides shared resources like chemistry fume hoods, flow cytometers, microscopes, spectrometers, ovens, and lathes. The anti-Y CombinatorThe Engine Accelerator isn't a typical accelerator in one key way. The Engine Accelerator separated into a venture fund and an accelerator late last year. Correction: August 16, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated what the Massachusetts Institute of Technology provided for The Engine Accelerator.

Persons: —, Emily Knight, Y Combinator, Knight, Adam Slavney, Jinyoung Seo, Slavney, Pascal, Peña, Peña Feliz, He's, MacroCycle Organizations: Service, Business, Minks, Harvard, MIT, Pascal, Khosla Ventures, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engine Ventures Locations: Cambridge , Massachusetts

☆ Secret to Startup Success: Being an Obnoxious Risk-Taker
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-13 | by ( Nate Silver | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Of the billionaires on the 2023 Forbes 400 list — the 400 richest people in the United States — 70% are basically self-made. In 1982, only 40% of the Forbes 400 had started their own business; the majority were simply scions of inherited wealth. The Forbes 400, however, is the extreme right tail of the curve. But you're not sniffing the Forbes 400 list, where the bidding starts at about $3 billion. I don't think VCs are deliberately picking founders they think are unreliable, although sometimes it seems like it.

Persons: Raj Chetty, That's, Chamath Palihapitiya, Palihapitiya, Josh Wolfe, Wolfe, Elon Musk, Thiel, Jeff Bezos, we're, Sam Bankman, Andreessen Horowitz, A16z, Adam Neumann, Neumann, WeWork, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Horowitz, they've, Benchmark's Gurley, Gurley, Nate Silver Organizations: Forbes, United States —, Social Capital, Burger, Lux, VCs, New York Times, Penguin Press, Penguin Publishing, Penguin Random Locations: United States, America, Sri Lanka, Canada, Coney, Israeli, Silicon, Canyon Point , Utah

☆ Forget Uber and Airbnb: Some people are going back to doing things the old-fashioned way to save money
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-03 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

"If I was using rideshares and the delivery apps and everything the way I was, I would run out of money each month," she said. For some, like Manley, it means going back to the old-fashioned way of doing certain things: shopping around for hotel deals, taking public transit more, and working out at home with fitness classes on video. AdvertisementGrant Plotkin, 26, is a Gen Zer who experienced the pre-2020 millennial subsidy as a young adult. The next iteration of the millennial subsidy might be gamifying surge pricing for groceries or a side of fries. AdvertisementHas the loss of the millennial subsidy affected your finances or lifestyle?

Persons: Sarah Manley, Manley, She's, they'd, Millennials, YipitData, Grant Plotkin, Zer, he's, Plotkin, Ubers, Brett House, that's, Bilal Baydoun, Baydoun Organizations: Service, Business, Bloomberg, Netflix, Columbia Business School, Dollar, Aldi, Big Tech, American Locations: Baltimore, it's

☆ SoftBank stock hits its first record high in 24 years — Arm and AI helped it get there
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-04 | by ( Arjun Kharpal | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

The rise of the internet and of Yahoo pushed SoftBank's stock to a peak closing price of 10,111.1 yen on Feb. 18, 2000. After lingering near then-record highs in March 2021, SoftBank's stock fell sharply, alongside other global tech stocks. "Softbank Vision Fund had to write down various investments due to a combination of equity values declining and a tougher private financing environment. Dan Baker, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said a lot of SoftBank's price appreciation comes down to Arm. Baker said the SOTP valuation remains just under 50% this year, meaning SoftBank's stock does not truly reflect the value of its various businesses and investments.

Persons: Kosuke Okahara, Masayoshi Son, Softbank, SoftBank, Son, Oliver Matthew, Paul Golding, Golding, Dan Baker, I'm, Baker, " Baker, . Organizations: ARM, SoftBank, Bloomberg, Getty, Yahoo, Vision, Vision Fund, Beijing, CNBC, Macquarie U.S, Morningstar, Nikkei Locations: Tokyo, British, Japan, U.S, Alibaba

☆ An ex-Googler reveals why she's selling her construction startup to a Saudi company with still a year of runway in the bank
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-02 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

She's now selling her startup to WakeCap, a Saudi Arabia-based company that has contracts with many of the kingdom's construction megaprojects such as "desert cities." Instead, Eisnor exited early, selling her startup to help it scale faster. WakeCapBuilt toughFor nine years, Eisnor had a front-row seat at a tech rocketship, Waze, the Israeli-born maps and navigation company. "There is a reality in construction software that a lot of the names that you might know, they're going to be hovering around, say, $10 million in ARR. Eisnor is staying on as chief strategy officer, and Crews by Core's chief technology officer, Gene Gutnik, now leads tech for the combined company.

Persons: Ann Eisnor, Crews, Eisnor, I'm, Caterina Fake's, Hassan Albalawi, Albalawi, Kajima, —, WakeCap's Albalawi, they're, Gene Gutnik, WakeCap Organizations: Service, Business, NFX, GV, Google, McKinsey & Company, Autodesk, Core, Core's Locations: Saudi Arabia, United States, Saudi, Silicon, Silicon Valley, Israeli, hyperscale, WeWork

☆ Jared Kushner's post-White House deal-making included badly timed bet on Amazon aggregator
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-14 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +16 min

Kushner started Affinity in 2021, shortly after leaving his advisory role in the White House alongside his wife, Ivanka Trump. Neumann, who was ultimately ousted from WeWork by top SoftBank execs, introduced Kushner to Unybrands early the following year. Affinity's investment in Unybrands, which hasn't previously been reported, was one of the private equity firm's earliest deals. Following a continued slide, the company laid off roughly 10% of its staff in November 2022, according to people familiar with the matter. The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into the investment in 2022, looking into whether Kushner's financial interests influenced Trump's foreign policy.

Persons: Jared Kushner, Alex Brandon, Kushner, Weeks, Ivanka Trump, Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Jamal Khashoggi, WeWork, Adam Neumann, Neumann, Unybrands, hasn't, —, Catterton, Jason Somerville, Somerville, it's, didn't, headcount, Donald Trump, Gary Cohn, Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, Jonathan Ernst, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Carolyn Maloney, Ron Wyden, Kushner didn't, Ulrich Kratz, Goldman Sachs, Kratz, Kushner's, Ian Brekke, Asad Naqvi, Bret Pearlman, Roger McNamee, Max Fink, Neumann's, Brekke, Naqvi, Pearlman, Fink, Shahar Azran, Eugen Miropolski, Robyn Laguette, Mark Goldfinger, Joe Biden, Lex, Jeff Bezos, Sam Altman, Ye, I've Organizations: U.S . Capitol, Capitol, Reuters, Affinity Partners, Companies, White House, Affinity, Saudi Crown, Unybrands, WeWork, CNBC, Amazon, BlackRock, Khosla Ventures, GW Partners, Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, United Arab, Saudi Arabia's, Crown, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Saudi, Republicans, Crayhill Capital Management, Barclays, Goldman, Kushner, Investments II, Blackstone, Partners, Financial Services, CNBC it's, Israeli American Council, IAC, Getty, Kanye Locations: Washington, Amazon's, South Florida, Miami, Silicon Valley, Saudi, Saudi Arabia, Unybrands, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Riyadh, Yemen, American, Austin , Texas, Gulf, Israel

☆ WeWork emerges from bankruptcy, announces John Santora as new CEO
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-11 | by ( Genna Contino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

WeWork , the shared office space company once valued at $47 billion, emerged from bankruptcy on Tuesday and named Cushman & Wakefield executive John Santora as its new CEO. WeWork filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November, with total liabilities of $18.65 billion against assets of $15.06 billion. Santora becomes WeWork's fourth permanent CEO in five years after the company's failed initial public offering in 2019 and subsequent restructuring. He replaces David Tolley, who began service as interim CEO in May 2023 before assuming the permanent CEO position in October. WeWork also announced a new board, including Anant Yardi, CEO of property management software company Yardi Systems.

Persons: John Santora, WeWork, Santora, David Tolley, Anant Yardi, Adam Neumann, Miguel McKelvey, Neumann Organizations: Cushman & Wakefield, Yardi Systems, State

☆ 'Going up against them is insane.' Brave startups are trying to usurp Nvidia's AI throne.
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-06 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

You could have invested a lot of money in AI chip startups several years ago. "Us going up against them is insane," said Thomas Sohmers, CEO of Positron AI, a chip startup that emerged from stealth a few months ago. "The model of AI chip startups needing to raise 10s to 100s of millions of dollars before they actually test product market fit is insane," he added. TigrisOpenAI's Altman may also be working on an AI chip startup of his own. So it stands to reason that Masa has been trying to raise money for an AI chip startup.

Persons: —, Graphcore, Thomas Sohmers, Nvidia Thomas Sohmers, Sohmers, Groq, Googlers, Puneet Kumar, Mark Hayter, Rivos, Andrew de los Reyes, Gavin Uberti, Chris Zhu, Nvidia's, OpenAI's Sam Altman, OpenAI's Altman, Altman, Masa, Softbank, Son Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Samsung, Business, Nvidia, MediaNews, Boston Herald, Getty, MIT, Google, Chrome, Matrix Capital, Intel, Harvard, Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Locations: Silicon Valley, Swiss, Groq, GroqWare, WeWork

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