tech

Rani Molla6/17/25

Ad firms Omnicom, Interpublic, and WPP fall after reports of pharma ad crackdown and Meta’s AI-generated ads

Major ad agencies Omnicom, Interpublic, Publicis, and WPP are each trading down about 2% amid news that the Trump administration plans to crack down on pharma ads, as well as news of AI ad tech updates from Meta and other tech companies.

Meta today said it’s testing a tool that would let advertisers quickly turn still images into full video ads, as part of its continued push into AI ad tech. It’s one of many Big Tech companies, including Amazon and TikTok, upending ad creation.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could disrupt the $10 billion in annual advertising revenue that pharmaceutical companies spend by making it more difficult for them to advertise their products. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the biggest ad agency customers in the US, with IPG making a whopping 29% of its revenue from health ads, according to Barclays.

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Some 8% of kids ages 5-12 have interacted with AI chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini, according to a new Pew Research Center survey of their parents. While that’s nowhere near the usage rates of other devices like smartphones or even voice assistants, it’s still notable for a relatively new technology — especially one that’s already had devastating consequences for young people.

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Ives says he’s “relatively disappointed” in the price point of lower-cost Tesla models

On Tuesday, Tesla unveiled its long-awaited lower-cost cars, which turned out to be downgraded versions of the existing Model Y and Model 3. Tesla bull and Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wasn’t particularly impressed with the price point, noting that it’s “still relatively high versus other vehicles on the market.”

The Model Y Standard and Model 3 Standard cost about $40,000 and $37,000, respectively. That’s more than the Model Y Premium and Model 3 Premium — what previous editions (or “trim levels”) are now called — cost last month, before the US federal government’s $7,500 tax credit expired. And the Standard models are missing a lot of Premium features, including Autopilot, second-row screens, and Tesla’s iconic glass roofs, among numerous other downgrades.

In other words, Tesla buyers will now be paying more for less, in what amounts to car-sized shrinkflation.

The stock closed down 4.5% yesterday on the news.

Ives doesn’t think it’s the end of the world but is “disappointed” in the price tag:

“We believe the launch of a lower cost model represents the first step to getting back to a ~500k quarterly delivery run-rate which will be important to stimulate demand for its fleet with the EV tax credit expiring at the end of September but we are relatively disappointed with this launch as the price point is only $5k lower than prior Model 3’s and Y’s.”

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Nvidia helps boost xAI funding round to $20 billion

xAI’s latest funding round has now doubled to $20 billion from $10 billion a month ago, thanks in part to backing from Nvidia, which invested $2 billion in the equity portion of the transaction, Bloomberg reports. In an interview with CNBC, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang confirmed the investment, adding that his “only regret” was that he didn’t give xAI more money.

The mix of $7.5 billion in equity and $12.5 billion in debt will finance a special purpose vehicle that will purchase Nvidia chips that xAI will then rent. It’s one of many circular AI deals these days that’s contributing to chatter over an AI bubble by some, while being seen by others as a rational way for industry leaders to boost the potential size of the addressable market and lift their longer-term prospects in the process.

Investors in Elon Musk’s other company, Tesla, will vote next month at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on whether to invest in xAI as well — an outcome Musk has he said supports.

Musk’s xAI Nears $20 Billion Capital Raise Tied to Nvidia Chips

Musk’s xAI Nears $20 Billion Capital Raise Tied to Nvidia Chips

The mix of $7.5 billion in equity and $12.5 billion in debt will finance a special purpose vehicle that will purchase Nvidia chips that xAI will then rent. It’s one of many circular AI deals these days that’s contributing to chatter over an AI bubble by some, while being seen by others as a rational way for industry leaders to boost the potential size of the addressable market and lift their longer-term prospects in the process.

Investors in Elon Musk’s other company, Tesla, will vote next month at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on whether to invest in xAI as well — an outcome Musk has he said supports.

Tesla unveils cheaper Model Y and Model 3

The company announced a $39,990 Model Y today.

Tesla new model teaster

Jon Keegan10/7/25

In the past few weeks, OpenAI has announced a flurry of massive deals with Oracle, Nvidia, CoreWeave, AMD, and others as hundreds of billions fly between technology partners racing to expand AI infrastructure at unprecedented scale. The Financial Times tallied it all up and found that the company has signed about $1 trillion worth of deals, and it isn’t clear at all that it will be able to fund them.

The “circular” nature of some of these arrangements is also one factor playing into fears that we’re in an AI bubble.

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