Ford EV and technology chief leaves automaker
Doug Field, a prominent executive who has shaped Ford’s electric vehicle (EV) and technology strategy over the past five years, is leaving the company. Mr. Field’s departure was announced Wednesday as part of a broader reorganization of the company’s management team. Field joined Ford in 2021 with a solid resume from Silicon Valley, having led […]
Wait, could they actually break up Live Nation?
A federal jury ruled Wednesday that Live Nation has been operating as an illegal monopoly. The verdict could lead to a split between the entertainment giant and its ticketing subsidiary Ticketmaster, and provide relief to concertgoers fed up with dynamic pricing and mysterious service fees. The ruling came as internal Slack messages surfaced during the […]
Monarch Tractor’s collapse ends with acquisition by Caterpillar
Monarch Tractor’s assets were acquired by construction giant Caterpillar after the company struggled to transform itself into a software services business, according to a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The acquisition, first reported by Bloomberg, caps a tough few years for Monarch, as the company experienced multiple layoffs, was sued by three […]
High Touch achieves $100 million ARR with AI-powered marketing tools
Traditionally, marketers relied on designers and other creative professionals to develop images and videos for personalized online advertising campaigns. In late 2024, seven-year-old startup Hightouch launched an AI-powered service that allows marketing professionals to create custom content for brands like Domino’s, Chime, PetSmart, and Spotify without involving brand design teams or advertising agencies. This proposal […]
LinkedIn data shows AI is not to blame for job losses…yet.
LinkedIn’s Blake Lowitt, the Microsoft-owned professional networking site’s chief international affairs and legal officer, acknowledged in an interview this week at the Semaphore Global Economic Summit that his company’s data shows employment will be down about 20% starting in 2022. But he pushed back against the idea that AI was to blame. “LinkedIn…has an economic […]
Can AI judge journalism? Teal-backed startup says yes, even at risk of intimidating whistleblowers
Aaron D’Souza says he saw something broken in America’s media system after he helped lead the lawsuit that bankrupted media company Gawker. Those who felt hurt by the coverage had little recourse to fight back. His solution is software. D’Souza says his latest startup, Objection, aims to use AI to determine truth in journalism. And […]
Anthropic is currently valued at more than $800 billion and is ignoring funding offers from VCs.
VCs like to go after the hottest startups, but startups aren’t always interested in selling more shares. The same goes for Anthropic, sources told Bloomberg. Venture capital firms have offered upfront funding rounds to OpenAI’s competitors that would value the company at more than $800 billion, roughly matching or exceeding its competitors. OpenAI closed a […]
Motorola sues social platforms and creators over posts as speech concerns grow in India
Motorola is suing social media platforms and content creators in India over allegedly defamatory posts, raising concerns that critical coverage of the company could be weakened, experts said. The lawsuit, filed in a Bengaluru court and obtained by TechCrunch, names platforms including X, YouTube, and Instagram, as well as dozens of content creators, and seeks […]
Airwallex seeks to take on Stripe and the rest of the payments industry in the physical world
After spending a decade quietly building a global payments infrastructure, Australian fintech company Airwallex is moving towards in-person payments. The move deepens the conflict with Stripe across the payments stack, allowing the startup to take direct aim at Square and Adyen in one of the last major battlegrounds in financial technology. Airwallex launches POS products […]
After selling its shoe business, Allbirds shifts focus to AI
After selling its shoe brand and assets for $39 million last month, Allbirds is pivoting to AI. Of course, since shoe brand Allbirds was also participating in the sale, the company will also change its name. Introduction: NewBird AI, a “fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service and AI-native cloud solutions provider,” the company announced Wednesday via its investor […]