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| Today's Inside Business stories include: - 👀 Sam Altman ousted from OpenAI as the board of directors says he was not "candid" in his communication.
- 🛑 Apple, Disney, Paramount, Warner, and other companies paused their advertising over antisemitism controversy.
- 📉 Short Seller Jim Chanos has closed his hedge fund after over 40 years, saying the market has changed.
Thank you! Arbër
p/Arber | |
| 1 | | Sam Altman has been ousted from his position as the CEO of OpenAI as the board of directors claims he "was not consistently candid in his communication with the board." Albanian-born engineer Mira Murati, the company's CTO since 2018, will serve as interim CEO. More: - According to a statement from OpenAI, the board of directors made the decision after a review process in which it concluded there had been a lack of "candid communication between Altman and the board, thus hindering the board's ability to exercise its responsibilities."
- Following the statement, Sam Altman said he "loved his time at OpenAI and will have more to say on what's next later."
- Shortly after the announcement, Greg Brockman, the President of OpenAI, also resigned from his position in the company.
- The decision was reportedly made without prior consultation with Microsoft, which owns 49% of OpenAI, and surprised the company.
- Murati has been OpenAI's Chief Technology since 2018 and has overseen projects such as Dall-E and ChatGPT.
- She has previously worked as a Senior Product Manager at Tesla.
Zoom Out: - Google co-founder Eric Schmidt and Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky publically came out in support of Sam Altman, with Schmidt calling Sam Altman "a hero of mine."
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What happened: Apple, Disney, Warner, and Paramount have announced they have paused their online advertising on X after Elon Musk interacted with a controversial tweet deemed antisemitic. Musk later stated that "clear calls for violence will result in suspension." More details: Earlier this week, Media Matters reported that several companies' ads on X were being shown alongside content that "praised the Nazi party and Adolf Hitler." Following the allegations, Elon Musk stated that expressions such as "decolonization" and "from the river to the sea" imply genocide and, therefore, will not be tolerated on the platform. This clarification was supported by Jonathan Greenblatt, the head of the Anti-Defamation League — a non-government organization founded in 1913 that aims to combat antisemitism and support human rights. What the numbers say: X (formerly Twitter) had an increase in advertisement revenue in 2021 ($4.5B) and 2022 ($4.7B), signaling that there was hope of changing its reputation as a popular but divisive platform. Due to recent controversy, however, the number suggests that the company has suffered another setback in 2023, with $3.3B in ad revenue. | | | |
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| 3 | | Short seller Jim Chanos has announced that he is going to close his hedge funds after more than 40 years. Famously known for shorting Tesla, said that "interest in fundamental stock pickers has waned." More: - As of 2023, Jim Chanos, through his company Chanos & CO, managed $200M, a significant decrease from the $6B he managed in 2008.
- Chanos became known for betting against energy trader Enron before the company went bankrupt in 2001.
- His firm also shorted payments company Wirecard, earning $100M from the position. After failing a financial audit, Wirecard admitted that the $2B it had declared in its accounting books did not exist.
- Recently, Chanos became known for shorting Tesla, a position he consistently held but reduced in size after the EV maker joined the S&P 500.
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| 4 | | Ford union workers have ratified the new UAW deal that is set to give them a 25% wage increase. The deal was reached after a six-week strike from factory workers. More: - The deal was supported by 68.2% of Ford workers who voted. While the deal will be finalized only after all workers have voted, even if they all vote against it, it will not be enough to stop the deal from being ratified.
- According to the new deal, workers will see their wage increase by a minimum of 25% and receive other benefits such as cost-of-living adjustments and retirement benefits.
- Almost all Ford factories voted in favor of this deal, except two plants located in Florida and Kentucky.
- Other UAW workers are also set to ratify the new agreement, as statistics show that 68.4% of the workers at Stellantis approve the deal, while at General Motors, the approval rate is 54.7%.
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| 5 | | Amazon has laid off hundreds of employees in its Alexa division, according to a published memo. The decision will affect employees in North America and India. More: - The decision was announced by Daniel Rausch, Amazon's vice president of Alexa and Fire TV. Rausch stated that this move will allow the company to focus its efforts on generative AI, which matters more to Amazon's customers now.
- The layoff round is consistent with Amazon's cost-cutting policy, which has begun being implemented since last year.
- The company cut over 27,000 jobs in 2022 alone.
- It is unclear how many people currently work at Alexa, but the division had 5000 as many as 5000 employees in the past.
- Rausch added that the company remains "encouraged" by the 500 million Alexa devices sold and the millions of hours consumers spend using them daily.
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| 6 | | EU regulators have stated that Adobe's Figma acquisition could reduce global competition. The stance is a preliminary view from an investigation launched in Aug. 2023. More: - The European Commission has stated through its investigation it has highlighted several aspects where Adobe's $20B acquisition of Figma could result in lessening global competition in the digital design market.
- According to the European Commission, if this acquisition were to go through, it would negatively affect the supply of interactive product design tools and eliminate Figma as a competitor for Adobe's Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
- The regulator authority added that the investigation is ongoing, and that documents provided from the companies will continue to serve as a reference point for the organization.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - The Kubernetes Cookbook is your comprehensive companion equipping you with the knowledge and techniques to harness the full potential of Kubernetes.*
- Anastasiya Pasterick, the CFO of EV company Nikola, has announced she is going to resign. She joined the company in Apr. 2023.
- A group of investors led by Eric Schmidt is funding a research lab that will be based in Paris, France.
- Forward, a healthcare company based in California, has raised $100M from investors such as Softbank, Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Samsung Next, etc.
- Don Box, Meta's head of augmented reality software, has resigned from his position in the company.
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Term of the Day Design thinking: Design thinking methodology involves empathizing with users, defining needs, prototyping, testing, and evaluating the impact of solutions. Question of the Week What perks would convince you to return to the office? Join the conversation |
 | Writer | | Arbër is an Inside writer who also has experience in entrepreneurship. He has experience covering Consumer Tech, Venture Capital, NFTs, Crypto, etc. Arbër holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from XAMK University in Finland. When he is not reading(and writing) business news, he chooses to watch sports or anime...and then read news about sports or anime. | | This newsletter was edited by Vibha Chapparike | |
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