Journals

Sam Fleming / Financial Times: A PwC survey of 4,702 CEOs ahead of Davos: 25% expect generative AI to lead to up to 5% headcount cuts, 46% expect GenAI to boost profits in 12 months, and more  —  Impact of… Read More »A PwC survey of 4,702 CEOs ahead of Davos: 25% expect generative AI to lead to up to 5% headcount cuts, 46% expect GenAI to boost profits in 12 months, and more (Sam Fleming/Financial Times)

Thomas Seal / Bloomberg: Vodafone and Microsoft agree to a 10-year, $1.5B deal to develop AI, digital payments, IoT, and other businesses; Vodafone will use OpenAI for customer service  —  – Microsoft also plans to invest in Vodafone’s IoT spinout … Read More »Vodafone and Microsoft agree to a 10-year, $1.5B deal to develop AI, digital payments, IoT, and other businesses; Vodafone will use OpenAI for customer service (Thomas Seal/Bloomberg)

Damilare Dosunmu / Rest of World: How Spotify’s on-the-ground work in Nigeria, like hiring local staff, contributed to the success of Afrobeats, which grew 550% on Spotify between 2017 and 2022  —  The Swedish music giant is pushing to make… Read More »How Spotify’s on-the-ground work in Nigeria, like hiring local staff, contributed to the success of Afrobeats, which grew 550% on Spotify between 2017 and 2022 (Damilare Dosunmu/Rest of World)

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: Despite nine years of music industry growth thanks to streaming, companies like Spotify and UMG are tightening payouts or laying off employees  —  After years of a streaming boom, record labels are searching for their next… Read More »Despite nine years of music industry growth thanks to streaming, companies like Spotify and UMG are tightening payouts or laying off employees (Lucas Shaw/Bloomberg)

Federico Maccioni / Reuters: Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority grants OKX Middle East a license, allowing the crypto exchange to offer its services to retail clients in the UAE  —  OKX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has been… Read More »Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority grants OKX Middle East a license, allowing the crypto exchange to offer its services to retail clients in the UAE (Federico Maccioni/Reuters)

IDC: Global smartphone shipments declined 3.2% YoY to 1.17B units in 2023; Apple gained the top spot for the first time with 234.6M, followed by Samsung with 226.6M  —  The last time a company not named Samsung was at the… Read More »Global smartphone shipments declined 3.2% YoY to 1.17B units in 2023; Apple gained the top spot for the first time with 234.6M, followed by Samsung with 226.6M (IDC)

Zheping Huang / Bloomberg: HashKey, which operates a licensed Hong Kong crypto exchange, raised a ~$100M Series A at a $1.2B+ valuation; sources: OKX Ventures is among the lead investors  —  – The company says its valuation now exceeds $1.2… Read More »HashKey, which operates a licensed Hong Kong crypto exchange, raised a ~$100M Series A at a $1.2B+ valuation; sources: OKX Ventures is among the lead investors (Zheping Huang/Bloomberg)

Edwin Chan / Bloomberg: Elon Musk says he would rather build AI products outside of Tesla if he doesn’t have ~25% voting control in the company; Musk currently owns 12%+ of Tesla  —  – The billionaire says he would be… Read More »Elon Musk says he would rather build AI products outside of Tesla if he doesn’t have ~25% voting control in the company; Musk currently owns 12%+ of Tesla (Edwin Chan/Bloomberg)

Wall Street Journal: John Deere plans to use SpaceX’s Starlink service to provide satellite internet connections for tractors, harvesters, and other equipment in remote areas  —  Farm machinery maker hires SpaceX’s Starlink service to provide satellite internet connections for tractors,… Read More »John Deere plans to use SpaceX’s Starlink service to provide satellite internet connections for tractors, harvesters, and other equipment in remote areas (Wall Street Journal)

Dan Primack / Axios: Uber is shutting down alcohol delivery service Drizly, which had operated “independently within the Uber family” since its $1.1B acquisition three years ago  —  Uber has decided to shutter Drizly, an alcohol delivery service it bought… Read More »Uber is shutting down alcohol delivery service Drizly, which had operated “independently within the Uber family” since its $1.1B acquisition three years ago (Dan Primack/Axios)