The TikTok ban-or-sell drama is an algorithm stuck in a loop. First U.S. President Donald Trump, then his successor Joe Biden, pushed to ban the social media app amid warnings that its ties to China pose a national security threat. Both pulled back from the brink, even if a law mandating its sale or shutdown remains on the books. Now, with Trump back in charge, a long list of mooted, familiar buyers is re-emerging. The simplest way to scroll past this glitch in the feed is to spin TikTok off. Trump has given Chinese parent ByteDance a reprieve to figure

Uber Technologies can shift into dealmaking gear. The $150 billion ride-sharing firm’s stock is richly priced, even after dipping 9% on slower booking growth revealed Thursday. That gives Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi a valuable currency to spend – say, on a mooted approach for flight-booking portal Expedia. Thing is, there are better targets, like grocery-delivery app Instacart. Uber has kicked the tires on $21 billion Expedia, the Financial Times reported, though Khosrowshahi now says his company would likely stick with the small and familiar on M&A. Despite protestations, the appeal of striking big deals now is obvious. Uber’s nearly 69% stock rise in

Qualcomm is humming. The semiconductor company’s market value has risen 50% this year to around $190 billion, and the wireless company’s businesses should generate $11 billion of excess cash for its fiscal year, which ends in September. Now it’s mulling buying part, or even the whole, of Intel. Intel’s size and the scope of its problems make it a tempting target for an ambitious buyer, and a deal may offer some protection from big challenges, such as a showdown with Apple. But even mulling such a risky deal shows Qualcomm’s weaknesses. Qualcomm’s main division designs chips for handsets, cars, and other devices, which

It’s possible OpenAI is worth $157 billion; it just requires a bit of hand waving. Technology giants, venture capital firms, and the usual suspects in the hedge fund and investment world piled into the company started by Sam Altman to give the artificial intelligence company $6.6 billion in new funding. Assuming these investors want a return commensurate with risk, say 20% annually for a decade, OpenAI’s value needs to grow to $1 trillion. That doesn’t immediately compute. OpenAI estimates revenue will triple next year to $11.6 billion, and Altman thinks revenue could reach $100 billion by 2029 according to the New York

Are the biggest technology firms overinvesting in artificial intelligence? Probably. Meta Platforms’ $40 billion in capital spending this year, for example, will be around double what it allocated in 2021. Shareholders have been broadly supportive of that. But what happens if companies give away the results of their investment for free? That’s effectively what CEO Mark Zuckerburg is promising to do. His $1.1 trillion company says that its new AI models – the latest, Llama 3.1, was released on Tuesday – will be given to developers to tweak and freely use, plugging in their own data without having to share

Stripe develops software to facilitate payments, but its financial backers are struggling to receive theirs. Started by John and Patrick Collison in 2009, the financial technology company has given no sign of going public soon, making it hard for venture capitalists to cash out. Enter Sequoia Capital with a plan that will buy some time, but one which if applied too often would distort the investment model. Most successful 15-year-old startups already have been bought by a bigger rival or proceeded with an initial public offering. Stripe hasn’t. To appease limited partners itchy to exit funds from 2009 to 2012,

The trillionaire club is growing quickly. Six years ago, Apple became the charter member, not long before oil titan Saudi Aramco publicly debuted with a 13-digit market capitalization. Few would have predicted five more inductees so soon, and investors are nudging even more companies to join. Chipmaker Broadcom is riding an artificial intelligence wave just like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Alphabet and Meta Platforms. Eli Lilly is on its way thanks to the anti-obesity craze. Hyped megatrends sparking giddy valuations, however, will inevitably lead to disappointment. Broadcom, under boss Hock Tan, has been expanding by acquisition. It bought several rivals before paying almost

Tech giants spending heavily on artificial intelligence will also need to invest in legal advice. Technology is full of natural monopolies, and computers that simulate human intelligence may be no different. That’s the hope of companies seeking to establish profitable empires, and the fear of regulators which prefer to act quickly to stop abusive actors from snuffing out competition. But the Federal Trade Commission may loom larger for Microsoft’s legal team than the Department of Justice will for Nvidia. The government agencies have divided up responsibility for leading investigations of the companies, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing two people

Apple has a cash problem. Not that it is lacking: The $2.8 trillion company produces over $100 billion of excess cash a year. But last week’s reveal that its top line shrank 4% last quarter – and an underwhelming event on Tuesday that launched upgraded iPads and a new Apple Pencil – show the company’s quandary. Tim Cook’s firm needs a better long-term growth plan. Investing in AI may be necessary, but it’s also too risky to go full steam ahead. Beefing up artificial intelligence capabilities seems like a natural way to launch into the next decade. Apple has grown its services

The semiconductor industry has changed immeasurably since Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group bought Arm for $32 billion in 2016. Yet the British chip designer’s fair value may be in that same ballpark, according to a Breakingviews valuation. SoftBank said on Tuesday it was seeking an equity value of $50 billion to $54 billion as part of the roadshow for Arm’s initial public offering, factoring in shares issued to employees that are yet to vest. When the Japanese conglomerate’s boss Masayoshi Son scooped up the Cambridge-based company seven years ago, he was placing a bet on the so-called Internet of Things, the view that

Four years ago, Elon Musk vowed to set up a peanut brittle company to take on Warren Buffett’s iconic U.S. confectioner See’s Candies. Then he changed his mind. It wouldn’t be surprising if Musk’s $44 billion deal to buy social network Twitter went the same way. Sure, the Tesla boss was clearly serious about acquiring Twitter as of recently. The financing from Morgan Stanley is shored up. The agreement includes a fee of $1 billion that he – or Twitter – would have to pay if they renege on the contract. And Twitter’s lawyers even wedged in a so-called “specific performance” clause, which could

Elon Musk can finally say “funding secured” without getting into trouble. The Tesla boss angered U.S. securities regulators in 2018 by falsely claiming he was taking the electric carmaker private. On Thursday, his bid for Twitter became less virtual with the disclosure that he’s lined up financing. It’s also become more risky, though. The entrepreneur is mulling a tender offer for the social network at $54.20 a share, valuing its equity at about $44 billion. Add in Twitter’s $5 billion of debt and about $1 billion of fees, and the total is about $50 billion, excluding cash on the company’s balance