Business

The New York Times reports that documents shown to potential investors in just another tech company have an interesting detail:

Roughly 10 million ChatGPT users pay the company a $20 monthly fee, according to the documents. OpenAI expects to raise that price by two dollars by the end of the year, and will aggressively raise it to $44 over the next five years, the documents said.

The proposed investment could value the company at $150 billion and give it two years to convert to a for-profit business before the funding becomes debt.

The very-online shortsellers published a report about the AI server-making company. Among the allegations: selling products to Russia in violation of sanctions, accounting violations, and transactions with companies controlled by the CEO’s family. Now the DOJ wants to hear more.

The company with the blood oxygen sensing tech causing issues for Apple Watches has announced its CEO — who we just interviewed — is out after investors voted to remove him from the board amid a proxy battle with Politan Capital Management.

In a filing, Masimo said Kiani filed a claim against the company in California state court related to his employment agreement. Michelle Brennan has been appointed interim CEO.

In a post on his blog, Mullenweg called out the rival hosting service — which is built on WordPress — for “strip-mining the WordPress ecosystem” by disabling certain features like revisions. “What WP Engine gives you is not WordPress,” he says.

WP Engine has since responded the post, saying “recent attacks against us are unfair and untrue and clearly designed to harm our business.”

After multiple reports surfaced Friday saying Qualcomm talked to Intel about a possible acquisition, now Bloomberg reports Apollo Global Management has offered to make an “equity-like investment” of up to $5 billion.

Like the Qualcomm rumor, the details are all tentative at best, but until we find out more, I’m trying to think of who else might want a piece of Intel?

We’ve heard rumors about AI chip manufacturing projects in the Middle East linked to OpenAI Sam Altman and Elon Musk.

Now, the WSJ says Samsung and TSMC execs have visited the United Arab Emirates “recently,” discussing projects worth up to $100 billion despite concerns about water sources and building up local engineering talent.

Turns out the SEC doesn’t like it when you no-show on them. Now the regulator is seeking to penalize Musk for refusing to appear and testify in a probe into his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

Nike is moving on from CEO John Donahoe less than a week after Bloomberg published its unflatteringly-titled profile of his four-year tenure.

Under Donahoe, Nike de-emphasized retail stores to chase direct sales, flooded the market with retros like the Panda Dunks, and put the RTFKT NFT shoe brand on the same level as the Swoosh and Jordan Jumpman.

Today’s announcement doesn’t include the RTFKT logo.

Last year, rumors emerged that Apple could drop Goldman Sachs as the issuer of its Apple Card in favor of a partnership with American Express.

But now, a report from The Wall Street Journal suggests Apple is in discussions to have JPMorgan Chase handle its credit card. This likely won’t happen anytime soon, though, as the WSJ says a potential deal could be “months away.”

After announcing plans to buy the German sim-racing company in May, Corsair has announced that it has signed a “definitive agreement” to snap up Fanatec. The deal’s expected to close within the week.

The gaming accessories market is starting to become a lot more consolidated, especially with Turtle Beach’s acquisition of PDP, Logitech’s Loupedeck buyout, and Corsair’s acquisition of keyboard maker Drop.

A report from The Information details the China-based ByteDance’s plans to mass produce two new AI chips by 2026 with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). The move would help ByteDance save “billions of dollars” as opposed to buying chips from Nvidia.

CEO Sam Altman told employees in a company-wide meeting that OpenAI’s complicated corporate structure as a for-profit endeavor under the umbrella of a non-profit is set to change, “likely sometime next year,” reports Fortune.

The reconfiguring, which has been rumored before, would reportedly shift the company “away from being controlled by a non-profit.” OpenAI told the outlet that the “non-profit is core to our mission and will continue to exist.”

Charter’s Spectrum TV Select package already bundles ad-supported plans for Disney Plus and Paramount Plus, but now subscribers will get access to Max, too. The services are available to customers at no added cost.

Known for its smart locks that still look like regular ones, Level has been purchased by lock giant Assa Abloy, which will operate it as an independent brand.

Assa Abloy exec Lucas Boselli says:

Their innovative platform provides an easy transition from mechanical locking to digital access solutions with minimal effort.

Meanwhile, the Level M arm that focused on multifamily dwellings is spinning off as Ambient Property Technologies, where CEO Mike Rovito says it’s working on a new app.

Correction: Only Level M is being renamed, while Level Lock will keep its name.

They’ve pulled it down, but not before it got archived. Sample comment:

I strongly recommend that a sentence be placed here (or soemwhere in the first part of the speech) to reassure markets that you are not making the speech because you think there is an imminent crisis.

The New York Times meticulously pieced together the bitter power struggle inside Disney between CEO Bob Iger and his successor, Bob Chapek, who was fired in 2022. The piece, which follows up a 2023 report from CNBC, chronicles Chapek’s rise and fall, and Iger’s quest to return to power.

Bending Spoons bought WeTransfer in July and now plans to lay off 75 percent of its employees, reports TechCrunch. CEO Luca Ferrari told TechCrunch it was looking to fulfill a vision “of a smaller, more sharply focused WeTransfer organization.”

The company made similar moves with companies like Evernote, Filmic, Meetup, and Mosaic.

Employees at the Penn Square Mall store, represented by the Communication Workers of America (CWA), will vote on September 22nd whether to ratify the agreement, which includes “up to 11.5%” wage increases, paid time off, and health benefits, according to the CWA.

The agreement follows a Maryland Apple Store that ratified its own union deal last month.

A new study found the number of people working in fashion in the city has dropped by nearly 30 percent since 2014 — just as Fashion Week kicks off on Friday.

The US fashion industry has been declining for decades, but companies like Shein and Temu threaten it even further. I recently discussed the rise of ultra fast fashion on Slate’s What Next podcast.