TikTok's clock is ticking
Thanks to legislative maneuvering by House Speaker Mike Johnson, a push to either split TikTok from its Chinese owner ByteDance or ban it in the United States is gaining momentum.
The bill's development comes as the Times reveals the story behind the video platform's genesis and the central role played by a Chinese subsidiary of Republican donor Jeff Yass' trading company. Ta.
Prime Minister Johnson bundled the TikTok bill into a foreign aid package. He said Wednesday that he plans to vote on spending measures for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan this weekend, including a revised version of the TikTok divestment bill.
The move could force the Senate to vote: The House overwhelmingly passed the bill last month, but the Senate is in no hurry to consider it.
Tying TikTok's measures to aid to Ukraine could force the Senate to act. “The move to package TikTok is certainly unusual, but it could be successful,” Paul Gallant, a policy analyst at financial services firm TD Cowen, told the Times.
That won't please ByteDance investors. a group called Includes major American financial companies such as General Atlantic and Sequoia Capital. The other company, Susquehanna International Group, which Mr. Yas founded, holds about a 15% stake worth billions of dollars on paper.
The Times' Mara Vistendahl and Dealbook's Lauren Hirsch detail the role Susquehanna's Chinese subsidiary, SIG China, played in the creation of ByteDance.
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SIG China helped ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming navigate his career. This led to him becoming CEO of 99Fang, an online real estate platform, in 2009 and supporting his efforts to start a social media company in 2012. A Susquehanna director in China wrote years later that this residential land deal “led to the birth of ByteDance.” ”
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SIG China staff introduced Mr. Susquehanna to ByteDance's predecessor company from an early stage. The investment memo described a prototype app created by Zhang in which users selected content to increase its virality and “stickiness.” He further added that “social network technology will be used to track user behavior, predict user interests, and build relevance and recommendation engines.”
The documents were revealed in a Pennsylvania lawsuit in which former Susquehanna contractors accused the company of bringing search technology to ByteDance for free.
A spokesperson for Susquehanna told the Times: “These allegations are baseless and we will vigorously defend them.”
What's next? The Senate could vote on a foreign aid package that includes the TikTok bill as soon as next week.
However, opposition to the move has not disappeared. Yas is reportedly funding groups opposed to the ban, and Chinese diplomats are lobbying Congressional staff.
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Microsoft may avoid antitrust claims over its contract with OpenAI. According to Bloomberg, the European Union will not launch a formal investigation into the $13 billion investment. That's because the investment does not constitute an outright acquisition of ChatGPT's parent company, nor does it give Microsoft control over the startup's future. The deal remains subject to scrutiny from antitrust regulators in the UK and US.
Google has fired 28 employees following sit-ins protesting its contract with Israel. The layoffs came after dozens of employees took part in demonstrations against Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract with Amazon to provide cloud computing services to the Israeli government. This is the latest sign of deepening tensions between Google employees and executives over work for Israel in light of the war in Gaza.
The NBA has banned Jontay Porter from gambling. The league said the Toronto Raptors forward tipped off bettors about his health during his time in a lower league, restricted him from participating in at least one game to control bets on his plays and revealed that he had bet on the match. Porter is the first active player or coach to be banned for gambling since 1954, and is a reminder of the risks sports leagues take when accepting gambling.
Musk's long road to big paychecks
Tesla made headlines Wednesday with investors and critics after asking shareholders to vote again on a $47 billion payment to Elon Musk that a Delaware judge rejected because of the way it was devised. Ta.
But while the proposal has sparked debate about the richest payday in corporate American history, there are still many steps to be taken before Musk can finally get his hands on the money. If he ever does.
Remember what's happening: Investors seek reauthorization of the stock grant, which was overwhelmingly approved in 2018, after Delaware Chancellor Kathleen McCormick said Tesla's board was too cozy with Musk. It is being The plan always required Mr. Musk to raise a series of financial performance hurdles, which he achieved.
This vote aims to address that criticism, along with further disclosure about how the package was created.
The plan will probably be approved again. Four of Tesla's 10 largest shareholders, including T. Rowe Price, said they support Tesla. “We believe our 2018 plan demonstrated strong alignment with the interests of long-term investors, followed by a period of impressive value creation validation,” the mutual fund giant said.
Thousands of retail investors also voiced their support at board meetings and on Musk's social network X.
But Tesla has to Also McCormick's decision was successfully appealed. Until then, the package remains invalid under Delaware law. Additionally, that appeals process will not begin until after a July 8 hearing on attorneys' fee claims for shareholders who objected to the compensation package. (They demanded $6 billion worth of Tesla stock.)
In the meantime, investors have other concerns. Tesla is scheduled to report first-quarter results next week, but analysts and investors aren't holding out high expectations. The company had already announced a significant drop in sales over the same period, its first quarter-on-quarter decline since 2020, and announced it would lay off 10% of its workforce.
Barclays on Wednesday cut its price target on Tesla stock by 20% to $180. The closing price was $155.45.
That leads to the central question posed by the vote on Musk's salary. Is he still qualified to lead Tesla? He has already threatened to turn his attention to other companies if he is not given more voting rights, but some investors and analysts have questioned his focus on lowering prices and self-driving cars. ing.
“This vote is a test of where investors want to go,” tech investor Roger McNamee told CNBC.
AI power is running out
The artificial intelligence boom is unabated, with Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC saying this morning that demand for its processors is “insatiable.”
But powering that operation could be a major challenge, leading technology executives to warn that more power supplies are needed.
AI requires huge amounts of power. The International Energy Agency estimates that global energy demand related to this technology will more than double by 2026, but power grids are not equipped to handle that change.
Spending could exceed $225 billion this year alone, according to research group Dgtl Infra. Analysts at Bank of America predict that U.S. data center power consumption will double in the next three to five years.
Tech giants are investing heavily in energy infrastructure; Including nuclear power and solar power generation. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy emphasized the company's focus on AI in his annual letter to investors last week. But he cautioned that there is “not enough energy right now” to drive new generative AI services. Amazon said it is in regular contact with U.S. officials about the power grid.
AI also has the potential to drive geographic shifts in technology. Virginia is a hub for data centers, but tight power supplies will put pressure on companies to look elsewhere.
Analysts at Bank of America say that in parallel with renewable energy power plants, companies will be able to generate electricity in less congested regions such as the central and southeastern United States, where “power capacity is underutilized and power prices are low.” We expect more data centers to be built.
“I was ignored. I was told not to fall behind. Frankly, I was told to shut up.”
— Sam Salepour, a Boeing engineer turned whistleblower spoke out during a Senate hearing on the company's safety protocols. Salepour testified about a culture of retaliation against those who raised concerns. Boeing said it is encouraging employees to speak up.
Baltimore Bridge Supply Chain Detour
Three weeks after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse forced the closure of the Port of Baltimore, how the U.S. supply chain industry is coping with the loss of a major hub for moving goods domestically and internationally. I'm thinking about what to do.
Railroads, truckers and shipping companies are finding workarounds across the East Coast to avoid disruptions like those seen in 2021 and 2022. Other ports, including the Port of New York and the Port of New Jersey, are also recovering some of their decline, including cars and foreign goods.
But as The Times' Peter Eavis reports, the turmoil is still causing a lot of pain.
The trucking industry is under tremendous stress, and executives say they are struggling to get drivers and cargo where they need to go on time and without losing money.
Akram Ayyad, owner of 410 Transport, a Maryland trucking company, said he now has to ship cargo even farther, to the ports of New York and New Jersey instead of Baltimore, driving up costs and hurting his customers. He said he was thinking twice about carrying luggage. To pay more.
“We're going to die here,” he said.
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Information of sale
policy
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The International Monetary Fund has warned that the US budget deficit, expected to reach 7.1% of GDP next year, poses a “significant risk” to the global economy. (FT)
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Donald Trump is reportedly considering cutting taxes for the middle class if he is re-elected. (Reuters)
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Colorado has become the first U.S. state to expand privacy rights to consumers' brain data, which is increasingly coveted by tech companies. (New York Times)
the best of the rest
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Columbia University President Nemat Shafik testified to members of Congress that the university is taking strong action against anti-Semitism on its campus. (New York Times)
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“Universities make billions of dollars administering your medicine” (The Lever)
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Caitlin Clark's WNBA team, the Indiana Fever, has a salary of $1.2 million. The lowest-paid NBA benchwarmer earns $1.5 million. (Axios)
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