Abandon cart: E-commerce ain't what it used to be

7/28/22 8:00PM

The e-commerce boom is over. At the peak of the pandemic, as we all bought exercise equipment to ignore and houseplants to neglect, the e-commerce industry was one of the major beneficiaries. But online shopping is yet another pandemic trend that seems to be unwinding — the official data shows that the share of retail dollars that are spent online has fallen again in early 2022, sending online retail sales back towards the pre-pandemic trajectory.

Abandon cart

One company that is painfully aware of the change in habits is Shopify. The tech company, which provides online stores with tools and software to run their business, reported another set of underwhelming results this week with CEO Tobi Lutke sharing that 1,000 employees would be let go — cutting the company's workforce by some 10%. Shopify has seen its market cap. fall almost 80% in the last year, wiping out some $160bn of value.

Misery loves company

Although one of the worst affected, Shopify isn't alone in its misery. Yesterday, amidst what was actually a better-than-expected quarter, Amazon declared another 4% annual decline in online sales — the second time in a row that the e-commerce giant has seen its online sales slip.

Jon Keegan3h

Report: Some of Meta’s new AI models will eventually be open-source

Axios reports that Meta is close to releasing its first new AI models after setting up its “superintelligence” team led by former Scale.AI CEO Alexandr Wang, and some of the models will eventually be released with an open-source license.

Per the report, Meta sees an opportunity to focus on consumers, rather than the lucrative enterprise market that both OpenAI and Anthropic have been focusing on.

Meta had previously embraced open-source AI with its Llama models, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg writing a manifesto declaring open-source AI as “the path forward.” Axios says that Meta will be pursuing more of a hybrid strategy of proprietary and open-source models going forward.

The New York Times previously reported that Meta was delaying the launch of its new AI model because of performance issues.

Scoop: Meta will still open-source AI models — just not all of them

The New York Times previously reported that Meta was delaying the launch of its new AI model because of performance issues.

OpenAI’s plan for an AGI world: AI for all and a 4-day workweek

The company’s policy paper calls for a new social contract that includes AI at the center of everything, which could lower costs and create cures for diseases, but also warned it may upend the public safety net.

Jon Keegan3h

🏠 $2.15M

Jon Keegan5h

The median price for a house in San Francisco is now $2.15 million, jumping 18% from last year. The AI startup boom is pushing what was already one of the most expensive housing markets to dizzying new heights. The median price for condos in the city jumped 27% to reach $1.36 million, according to data from Compass, reported by Bloomberg.

Jon Keegan6h

Report: OpenAI on track to burn $85 billion in 2028, expects profitability by 2030

Anthropic and OpenAI are racing to go public this year, and all eyes are on how long they can sustain burning billions in cash before they achieve something that looks like a viable business.

Investors have seen both companies’ projections, and there’s no sign of slowing down, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

OpenAI expects to burn tens of billions per year for the rest of the decade, peaking at $85 billion in 2028, before achieving profitability in 2030, per the report.

Anthropic will also continue to burn cash for years — far less than OpenAI — but it projects that 2026 will be its biggest year of losses. It targets 2029 for profitability, fueled by exploding enterprise revenue.

An Inside Look at OpenAI and Anthropic’s Finances Ahead of Their IPOs

OpenAI expects to burn tens of billions per year for the rest of the decade, peaking at $85 billion in 2028, before achieving profitability in 2030, per the report.

Form Energy iron-air battery system leaving Form Factory 1

Big batteries are the newest answer to Big Tech’s big energy needs

America’s booming energy demand is creating a powerful case for large-scale energy storage.

Patrick Sisson4/2/26