| Here’s a look at today's tech briefing: - Justice Department sues to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation.
- Documents suggest OpenAI did not copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT’s ‘Sky.'
- Atari acquires old rival Intellivision.
- South Korea unveils record $19B chip package.
- Nvidia reports record-high revenue.
- Google progressing in HubSpot talks.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | | The U.S. Justice Department sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster, alleging they monopolize the live events industry and inflate ticket prices. The DOJ claims Live Nation's dominance in event ticketing, promotion, and venue ownership creates unfair advantages and raises prices by limiting consumer choice. "It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said. More: - Garland argued Live Nation engages in "unlawful, anticompetitive" practices to maintain monopolistic control over the U.S. live events industry, hurting "fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators."
- Live Nation controls 265+ North American concert venues, 60% of major concert promotions, and manages 400+ artists, according to the DOJ.
- The DOJ and 30 state and district attorneys general filed the antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation today in the Southern District of New York.
- A ruling in favor of the government could potentially undo the 2010 Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger.
- Calls to re-examine the merger intensified after the 2022 Taylor Swift ticket fiasco, which led to high prices, slow online queues, and a Senate subpoena.
Response: - Live Nation dismissed the claim of monopoly power, saying its service charges are often lower than competitors and that it isn't highly profitable.
- The company argued that higher ticket prices are due to increasing production costs, artist popularity, and online scalping, not its practices.
- Live Nation claims Ticketmaster keeps only a small part of service fees and its market share has declined recently.
- In 2022, Ticketmaster held 65% of U.S. ticket sales, while StubHub had 14%, per Bloomberg Second Measure.
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| 2 | | OpenAI shared documents with The Washington Post suggesting that ChatGPT's "Sky" voice was not intentionally designed to imitate Scarlett Johansson. The AI company is accused of copying the likeness of Johansson's voice from the movie "Her." The actress's legal counsel contacted OpenAI for an explanation, leading OpenAI to pause using the Sky voice "out of respect" for Johansson. More: - Johansson says OpenAI CEO Sam Altman twice approached her to license her voice for ChatGPT, and she declined both times.
- However, documents, recordings, and interviews show an unidentified actress was hired to create the Sky voice months before Altman contacted Johansson.
- The voice actress's agent confirmed that OpenAI did not mention Johansson or the movie "Her" during the process, and the actress's natural voice wasn't altered.
- Altman claims that Sky's voice "is not Scarlett Johansson's, and it was never intended to resemble hers."
- However, days before launching a new AI model this month, Altman posted the word "her" on X, suggesting he knew it resembled Johansson.
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| 3 | | Atari acquired Intellivision and the rights to over 200 games, ending their rivalry that began during the first console wars of the 1970s and '80s. Atari said it will distribute legacy Intellivision games both digitally and physically, potentially create new games, and explore licensing and brand opportunities More: - Atari's deal excludes the delayed Intellivision Amico retro gaming console, which lacks a release date.
- Intellivision will rebrand and continue developing the Amico, using an Atari license to release games on the platform.
- The original Intellivision console competed with the Atari VCS, later the 2600, a decade before Nintendo and Sega's rivalry began.
Zoom out: - Atari has focused on its retro gaming business by acquiring Digital Eclipse, Nightdive, RetroAge, and various game IPs, and relaunching mini consoles and classic games on modern consoles.
- "Uniting Atari and Intellivision after 45 years ends the longest-running console war in history," said Mike Mika, head at Digital Eclipse.
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| 4 | | South Korea announced a record 26 trillion won ($19B) package to support its semiconductor industry, citing a need to stay competitive in sectors like contract manufacturing and chip design. South Korea, home to top memory chip makers Samsung and SK Hynix, wants to keep pace with countries like China and the U.S., which are boosting domestic chip production through their own government-funded initiatives. More: - South Korea's package includes 17 trillion won ($12B) to back chipmakers through the state-owned Korea Development Bank.
- The country also will extend tax incentives that were scheduled to end this year.
- A 1-trillion-won ($730K) fund will be created to aid Korean chip equipment manufacturers and fabless companies that design chips and outsource manufacturing.
- The government seeks to raise South Korea's global market share in non-memory chips from 2% to 10%.
Zoom out: - South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said an "all-out national warfare is underway" in the semiconductor industry.
- The U.S. has been subsidizing manufacturers like Intel, TSMC, and Korea's Samsung, which is set to receive up to $6.4B in federal grants to expand its chip manufacturing in Texas.
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| 5 | | Nvidia reported fiscal Q1 earnings that exceeded expectations, with revenue reaching $26B against estimates of $24.65B. The chipmaker projects Q2 revenue of $28B as it rakes in record sales of its advanced GPUs to AI companies. More: - Nvidia's net income surged more than sevenfold to $14.88B in Q1, up from $2.04B a year earlier.
- The company posted record quarterly data center revenue of $22.6B, a 23% increase from Q4 and a 427% rise from the previous year.
- The data center category, Nvidia's biggest business, includes sales of AI chips and components for large AI servers.
- Nvidia also announced it's splitting its stock 10 to 1, potentially making its shares more appealing to investors.
Zoom out: - Companies like Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, and OpenAI continue to purchase billions of dollars worth of Nvidia's costly GPUs for developing and running AI models. In March, Nvidia unveiled its latest and most advanced series of AI chips based on its new Blackwell architecture. The GPUs are expected to ship later this year.
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| 6 | | Google's bid to acquire HubSpot could help it compete against Microsoft in the cloud applications market, according to analysts. Google parent Alphabet is making headway in its talks to acquire HubSpot, which has a current market value of $31B. More: - HubSpot, specializing in CRM for smaller businesses, offers cloud-based software for marketing automation.
- Alphabet's potential acquisition of HubSpot would be its largest, expanding its cloud applications and products that serve companies.
- Alphabet could take market share from Microsoft in the productivity suite, leveraging HubSpot to bundle applications for clients, according to Cowen analyst Derrick Wood.
- Negotiations between Google and HubSpot remain ongoing.
Zoom out: - Buying HubSpot would help Alphabet expand its services in the growing CRM software market, reaching more business customers with marketing and advertising budgets.
- It could bolster Alphabet's competitiveness against rivals like Microsoft, while analysts suggest the deal could improve Google's digital advertising by further leveraging first-party data.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is a contributing editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters. She has written for publications including USA Today, the Arizona Business Gazette, and The Arizona Republic, where she received recognition with a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a First Amendment Award for collaborative reporting on state pension cost increases. You can reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Beth Duckett | |
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