Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
Apple removes RFE/RL’s Svoboda app from the Russian App Store at the demand of Roskomnadzor; Apple also removed recent podcasts by Ekho Moskvy and others — U.S. technology giant Apple has notified RFE/RL that it has removed several of its apps following a request from Russia’s media regulator, Roskomnadzor.
Facebook makes Views its primary metric for content, bringing it in line with Instagram; each time a piece of content appears on a screen, it counts as a View (Mia Sato/The Verge)
Mia Sato / The Verge:
Facebook makes Views its primary metric for content, bringing it in line with Instagram; each time a piece of content appears on a screen, it counts as a View — Views will be measured not just on video content but also on photos, text posts, and more. When Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced …
UK mobile operator Virgin Media O2 creates Daisy, an AI-generated “scambaiter” tool that mimics the voice of an elderly woman to waste scammers’ time (Jibin Joseph/PCMag)
Jibin Joseph / PCMag:
UK mobile operator Virgin Media O2 creates Daisy, an AI-generated “scambaiter” tool that mimics the voice of an elderly woman to waste scammers’ time — After a survey found that 71% of Brits want revenge on scammers, mobile operator O2 deploys Daisy, an AI tool that keeps fraudsters on the line to waste their time.
Sources: xAI raised $5B at a $45B valuation, almost double its valuation a few months ago; SpaceX prepares a tender offer that would value the company at $250B+ (Financial Times)
Financial Times:
Sources: xAI raised $5B at a $45B valuation, almost double its valuation a few months ago; SpaceX prepares a tender offer that would value the company at $250B+ — Billionaire’s rocket builder plots huge share sale while AI start-up closes in on $5bn funding round
X sues to block California’s AB 2655, aimed at curbing AI-generated deceptive election content on social media, claiming it impinges on free speech (Peter Blumberg/Bloomberg)
Peter Blumberg / Bloomberg:
X sues to block California’s AB 2655, aimed at curbing AI-generated deceptive election content on social media, claiming it impinges on free speech — Elon Musk’s social media platform X sued to block a California law aimed at curbing AI-generated deceptive election content on social media …
Alibaba reports Q2 revenue up 5% YoY to ~$32.4B, below ~$32.7B est., and net income up 58% YoY to ~$6.07B due to the performance of its equity investments (Ruxandra Iordache/CNBC)
Ruxandra Iordache / CNBC:
Alibaba reports Q2 revenue up 5% YoY to ~$32.4B, below ~$32.7B est., and net income up 58% YoY to ~$6.07B due to the performance of its equity investments — Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba on Friday beat profit expectations in its September quarter, but sales fell short as sluggishness …
Ant Group’s profit grew ~193% YoY in the June quarter to $1.05B, reversing a year-long decline as it regains its footing from the Chinese government crackdown (Lulu Yilun Chen/Bloomberg)
Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg:
Ant Group’s profit grew ~193% YoY in the June quarter to $1.05B, reversing a year-long decline as it regains its footing from the Chinese government crackdown — – The Fintech company posted 7.5 billion in quarterly profit — Ant is seeking overseas and artificial intelligence expansion
A profile of Klarna and its CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski as it filed for a US IPO on November 13; investors hope Klarna can achieve a $150B-$200B valuation (Financial Times)
Financial Times:
A profile of Klarna and its CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski as it filed for a US IPO on November 13; investors hope Klarna can achieve a $150B-$200B valuation — Swedish entrepreneur born to Polish immigrants seeks to list the ‘buy now, pay later’ fintech in New York
Biden admin finalizes its $6.6B CHIPS Act grant to TSMC; money will be disbursed in stages and TSMC is expected to receive at least $1B by the end of 2024 (Yifan Yu/Nikkei Asia)
Yifan Yu / Nikkei Asia:
Biden admin finalizes its $6.6B CHIPS Act grant to TSMC; money will be disbursed in stages and TSMC is expected to receive at least $1B by the end of 2024 — LIMA, Peru — The Biden administration has finalized its $6.6 billion CHIPS Act grant to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. …
Filing: Samsung plans to buy back about $7.2B of its own stock in stages over the next year, in one of the larger shareholder return programs in its history (Bloomberg)
Bloomberg:
Filing: Samsung plans to buy back about $7.2B of its own stock in stages over the next year, in one of the larger shareholder return programs in its history — – Samsung’s stock soared as much as almost 9% on Friday — Investors fear the company is missing out on the AI boom