Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket sits on the launchpad at the Kennedy Space Center (Gregg Newton/Getty Images)

Bezos’ Blue Origin just scrubbed the debut launch for its flagship rocket

The SpaceX rival has grand plans for the New Glenn rocket, if it ever gets off the ground.

1/13/25 11:28AM

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin called off the debut launch of its largest-ever rocket on Monday morning because of a last-minute “subsystem issue” — another blow to the company’s bid to compete with SpaceX in the commercial space race.

The 30-stories-tall, partially reusable New Glenn launcher is the culmination of a decade-long, multibillion-dollar development spanning three CEOs and numerous delays.

Up, up, and away

Not content with dominating this planet, the new favorite hobby of the billionaire class is to compete in space, with the richest and second-richest men in the world, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, engaged in a futuristic face-off for the final frontier.

Unfortunately for the Amazon founder, he’s losing right now.

Commercial Space Race Chart — Sherwood News

Indeed, Musk’s company SpaceX is dominating the industry, responsible for a skyrocketing ~65% of the total licensed commercial launches in the US since its founding. Blue Origin’s total launch count since its inception is only 16% of what SpaceX managed in 2024 alone.

New Glenn will unlock what Amazon’s founder and Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos hopes will be a long line of contracts, as the rocket — which is expected to be twice as powerful as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 — reportedly carries the first prototype of a maneuverable spacecraft, which Blue Origin wants to sell to the Pentagon and beyond. If it ever gets off the ground, that is.

Rani Molla17h

Palo Alto Networks surges after it beats revenue and earnings estimates

Cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks jumped more than 10% in postmarket trading after reporting fiscal third-quarter results that beat analyst revenue and earnings expectations.

The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $0.85, versus the FactSet analyst consensus estimate of $0.79 on $3 billion in revenue. (Wall Street had expected $2.94 billion.)

The company also boosted its guidance for the full fiscal year. The company now expects non-GAAP EPS in the range of $3.77 to $3.79, compared to its previous projection of $3.65 to $3.70 (and analysts’ expectations of $3.68). It also forecast revenue of $11.415 billion to $11.425 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 24%, compared to previous growth expectations of 22% to 23%.

Through Tuesday’s close, the stock had risen more than 60% in the past month.

Jon Keegan18h

Microsoft releases 7 new models, next-gen quantum chip at Build conference

Microsoft is making it clear it can stand on its own as a competitor in the AI arena.

Today at its annual Microsoft Build developer conference, the company made a flurry of announcements that move it further away from the shadow of its complicated relationship with partner OpenAI.

Among the products announced:

New Nvidia-powered Windows PCs: the Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface RTX Spark Dev Box.
Seven new homegrown AI models: MAI Image-2.5, MAI Image-2.5-Flash, MAIN Transcribe-1.5, MAI Thinking-1, MAI Voice-2, MAIN Voice-2-Flash, and MAI Code-1-Flash.
Majorana 2, the company’s next-gen quantum chip.
Microsoft Scout, an integrated always-on agent built on OpenClaw.
Project Solara, an AI gadget operating system.

Investors were unimpressed, however, as shares were down over 4% after the announcements.

PHASE 2: Noon - Microsoft Build 2026

New Nvidia-powered Windows PCs: the Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface RTX Spark Dev Box.
Seven new homegrown AI models: MAI Image-2.5, MAI Image-2.5-Flash, MAIN Transcribe-1.5, MAI Thinking-1, MAI Voice-2, MAIN Voice-2-Flash, and MAI Code-1-Flash.
Majorana 2, the company’s next-gen quantum chip.
Microsoft Scout, an integrated always-on agent built on OpenClaw.
Project Solara, an AI gadget operating system.

Investors were unimpressed, however, as shares were down over 4% after the announcements.

Rani Molla6/2/26

Amazon’s Prime Day is coming early this year

Amazon is moving its four-day Prime Day event up from July, where it’s been for the last five years, to June 23 through 26.

The retail giant cites scheduling clashes with the FIFA World Cup and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence as reasons for the move. Prime Day is one of Amazon’s biggest sales events of the year, helping drive $24.1 billion in US online spending last year, according to Adobe Analytics.

More concretely, the move means Amazon will pull a massive chunk of sales from one of its biggest events into Q2, which ends June 30, rather than Q3.

Beyond the top-line revenue shift, Amazon is also using the event to flex its newer strategic muscles, aggressively cross-promoting its same-day grocery delivery networks and its Amazon Haul discount storefront.

Rani Molla6/2/26

Tesla’s China-made EV sales grew 39% in May, marking 7 straight months of growth

Sales of Tesla vehicles made at its Shanghai plant — produced for China, Europe, and other international markets — grew 39% in May to 85,982 vehicles, a record for the year.

The data marks the company’s seventh straight month of year-over-year wholesale growth for made-in-China vehicles and the company’s continued stabilization overseas. Across the entire Chinese auto industry, overall wholesale volume of so-called new energy vehicles — EVs and hybrids — produced domestically grew 12% from May 2025.

The China Passenger Car Association will report China-only sales later this month, offering a clearer picture of performance in Tesla’s second-largest market. On Monday, several European markets posted year-over-year sales growth for Tesla.

Tesla China May wholesale volume reaches 85,982 units, highest this year

Rani Molla6/1/26

Alphabet announces $80 billion equity raise to fund AI infrastructure, including a $10 billion bet from Berkshire Hathaway

To fund its rapidly expanding AI infrastructure push, Alphabet just announced a whopping $80 billion equity capital raise.

While concerns over share dilution sent the stock down slightly after-hours, the deal secured a major anchor partner: Berkshire Hathaway, which is backing the offering with a $10 billion investment. (Berkshire was run by Warren Buffett until he stepped down as CEO at the beginning of this year, handing the reins to Greg Abel.)

Alphabet plans to spend up to $190 billion on capex this year.