Bloomberg:
AI video startup Runway raised $308M led by General Atlantic, sources say at a $3B+ valuation, and plans to hire more filmmakers, screenwriters, and others — The deal, which is set to be announced Thursday, pushes Runway’s value to just over $3 billion, according to people familiar …
Tanaya Macheel / CNBC:
Bitcoin fell ~5% to ~$81K, ether dropped 7%, and Solana fell 13% after President Trump unveiled new tariffs; Coinbase’s and MicroStrategy’s shares are down 6%+ — Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were under pressure Thursday after President Donald Trump’s big tariffs reveal jolted the stock market.
Anton Shilov / Tom’s Hardware:
Intel unveils a new slogan, “That’s the power of Intel Inside”, building on its Intel Inside campaign in 1991; its current marketing focuses on the Core series — From inside to outside? — Ever since Intel launched its ‘Intel Inside’ campaign in 1991, its brand identity …
Andrew Webster / The Verge:
Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on: larger than the Switch without being uncomfortable, flagship games play well, and the Joy-Con’s mouse-like mode mostly works well — The value proposition of the Nintendo Switch 2 may seem pretty clear, but it’s much more obvious when you use one.
Financial Times:
Plaid raised $575M at a $6.1B valuation, below its peak $13B+ valuation in 2021, mostly to cover employees’ tax bills for those converting RSUs to common stock — Pioneer of open banking will use $575mn raised from BlackRock and others to cover employee taxes and share buybacks
Samuel Stolton / Bloomberg:
Sources: Ireland’s DPC will fine TikTok €500M+ before the end of April for illegally shipping European users’ data to China, after a lengthy GDPR investigation — The penalty is likely to be the third highest ever dished out by the Irish watchdog following earlier fines of €746 million …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Microsoft has halted talks for, or delayed development of, data center projects in Indonesia, the UK, Australia, Illinois, North Dakota, and Wisconsin — The software company has recently halted talks for, or delayed development of, sites in Indonesia, the UK, Australia, Illinois …
Tracy Qu / Wall Street Journal:
PDD-owned Pinduoduo says it plans to allocate ~$13B over the next three years to support its merchants, following other Chinese e-commerce companies — PDD, which also owns Temu, reported slower quarterly profit and revenue growth in the fourth quarter — Chinese bargain shopping platform …
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
Q&A with Christopher Bishop on leading Microsoft’s AI for Science lab, why scientific discovery will be AI’s single most important application, and more — The AI for Science lab director discusses the technology’s capability to accelerate time-consuming research
Ryan Weeks / Bloomberg:
President Trump’s tariffs are set to disrupt the Bitcoin mining sector, with many of the largest miners based in the US and the supply chain rooted in Asia — Lauren Lin is in a hurry. She has less than 48 hours to ship about 5,600 Bitcoin mining machines from Thailand to the US …
