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Jon Keegan

Report: OpenAI seeks to revise Microsoft deal to clear the way for IPO

After ditching its plan to demote its controlling nonprofit arm last week, OpenAI is busy haggling with partner Microsoft to make changes to its agreements as it looks toward a future IPO, according to reporting from the Financial Times.

A lot is riding on OpenAI completing its transition to a for-profit public benefit corporation.

The startup could lose out on billions of promised investments if it doesn’t pull off the conversion, resulting in big slices of equity for early investors like Microsoft, Nvidia, and SoftBank.

According to the report, Microsoft is willing to reduce its equity in exchange for longer-term access to OpenAI technologies. The current $14 billion deal only covers up until 2030.

Recent tensions between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella have added urgency to the negotiations.

The startup could lose out on billions of promised investments if it doesn’t pull off the conversion, resulting in big slices of equity for early investors like Microsoft, Nvidia, and SoftBank.

According to the report, Microsoft is willing to reduce its equity in exchange for longer-term access to OpenAI technologies. The current $14 billion deal only covers up until 2030.

Recent tensions between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella have added urgency to the negotiations.

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Amazon closes at all-time high

Fresh off strong earnings Thursday, Amazon saw its stock price end the week at a record closing high of $244.22.

The stock is up 10% so far this year.

The e-commerce and cloud giant beat analysts’ revenue and earnings, and its massive gain was responsible for more than all of the positive return delivered by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF on Friday.

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Google uses an AI-generated ad to sell AI search

Google is using AI video to tell consumers about its AI search tools, with a Veo 3-generated advertisement that will begin airing on TV today. In it, a cartoonish turkey uses Google’s AI Mode to plan a vacation from its farm before it’s eaten for Thanksgiving.

Like other AI ad campaigns that have opted to depict yetis or famous artworks rather than humans, Google chose a turkey as its protagonist to avoid the uncanny valley pitfall that happens when AI is used to generate human likenesses.

Google’s in-house marketing group, Google Creative Lab, developed the idea for the ad — not Google’s AI — but chose not to prominently label the ad as AI, telling The Wall Street Journal that consumers don’t actually care how the ad was made.

Google’s in-house marketing group, Google Creative Lab, developed the idea for the ad — not Google’s AI — but chose not to prominently label the ad as AI, telling The Wall Street Journal that consumers don’t actually care how the ad was made.

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Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft combined spent nearly $100 billion on capex last quarter

The numbers are in and tech giants Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and Microsoft spent a whopping $97 billion last quarter on purchases of property and equipment. That’s nearly double what it was a year earlier as AI infrastructure costs continue to balloon and show no sign of stopping. Amazon, which reported earnings and capital expenditure spending that beat analysts’ expectations yesterday, continued to lead the pack, spending more than $35 billion on capex in the quarter that ended in September.

Note that the data we’re using here is from FactSet, which strips out finance leases when calculating capital expenditures. If those expenses were included the total would be well over $100 billion last quarter.

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