TechCheck

CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa shares details about Tesla’s delay of its robotaxi, the market impact to ride-share companies, and more. Plus, Google has reportedly backed away from acquiring marketing software firm, HubSpot. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

CNBC confirms that OpenAI was hacked in April of last year, and never told law enforcement or the public. It raises of question how much genAI companies should be sharing about security incidents, and how transparent OpenAI is as its influence grows. Plus, the Meta-owned social media app Threads is celebrating its one year anniversary today, and has now hit 175 million monthly active users, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. But AI startups are increasingly putting traditional social apps on the backfoot as AI-generated content becomes king. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Between last week’s debate and today’s Supreme Court ruling, Silicon Valley is thinking more than ever about what another Trump presidency would mean for the tech industry. A friendlier deal environment could benefit megacaps and the small to midcap software names. Gig economy names and American e-commerce would also get some relief from a lighter touch. On the flipside, the Trump short tech basket includes Temu-owner Pinduoduo and social media names. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The world has gone crazy for Nvidia -- or at least, Wall Street has. The stock has almost single-handedly lifted the entire market due to its monster valuation and latest, monster quarter. But the largest companies in the world are also typically the most well-known… and Nvidia is far from being a household name. And the last time a tech company without mass brand recognition became the most valuable in the world? That was Cisco in the late 90s. Is another bubble brewing? This week on TechCheck, the stock everyone owns and no one knows. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Japanese tech investor Softbank is now backing Perplexity with a $10 million to $20 million fresh round of funding, valuing Perplexity AI at $3 billion and making it one of the most valuable startups in the space. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, since Masayoshi Son and his team have been saying for months now that they’re going on the AI offensive, but is another sign of the red hot funding environment for AI startups. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

CNBC's Dierdre Bosa is at Figma's "Config" Conference in San Francisco with Figma CEO Dylan Field. Following a regulatory block of Adobe’s $20 billion acquisition of Figma last December, the San Francisco software design firm received a $1 billion breakup fee and is forging ahead with product launches and further software partnering with Google. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Another major antitrust charge is coming out of the European Union today, saying that Microsoft’s bundling of Teams with other software like Office 365 is an unfair distribution advantage. It comes a day after the EU hit Apple with the first charge under the new Digital Markets Act, accusing its App Store policies of violating competition rules. Investors don’t seem to be worried, but this new chapter in European regulation could lead to tens of billions of dollars in fines. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Apple is being hit with the first charge under the EU’s new Digital Markets Act, with regulators accusing the tech giant of preventing app store customers from being steered to customers alternative, cheaper options. It could have key implications for Apple’s AI strategy, as it reportedly holds talks with longtime rival Meta to form an unlikely alliance, potentially offering Meta’s large language model Llama to Apple Intelligence. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As Nvidia turns lower today, Softbank's Masayoshi Son expressed regret over selling his shares too soon - a stake that would have been worth $160B today. He also doubled down on the narrative that he's now going on the AI offensive, with a new strategy built around the company’s crown jewel and largest holding, Arm. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Retail investors have been crowding into a few pockets of big tech, including the Mag 7, Nvidia, and riskier, turbo-charged Nvidia plays through long-leveraged semiconductor ETFs like NVDL and SOXL, according to new data from Vanda. So far, this narrow strategy has been working, with retail outperforming the S&P, but there is risk in being so indexed to big tech and the AI story, and could add to volatility in these names. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The U.S. Surgeon General is now calling for a warning label to be applied to social media apps, similar to those on alcohol and tobacco products. He says immediate action is needed to protect young people from the potential mental health harms of social media. But the demand would require congressional action, which historically has not acted to curb social media usage in the past. Plus, political deepfakes are now circulating online as election campaigns heat up. We discuss with former North Dakota senator Heidi Heitkamp and a professional of artificial intelligence. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Apple has now leapfrogged leaders Microsoft and Google in the high-stakes AI race by promising the first killer use of AI - a true personal assistant, in the form of.... the iPhone. Even the stock, once a laggard, has jumped to historic highs, anchored by Apple's singular combination of hardware, software and data. But its biggest edge over AI devices like the Humane pin and Rabbit R1 is that it's already in billions of consumers' pockets. This week on TechCheck, Apple takes the AI lead. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Shares of Apple are hitting fresh highs today after showcasing at WWDC that it is not only catching up to the other megacaps, but may actually have leapfrogged the leaders. Its edge is its 2.2 billion install base and its focus on making AI usable by integrating it with your personal information. A slew of bullish commentary from the Street is also helping sentiment, outlining how Apple’s AI features will drive hardware sales later this year. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Shares of Apple are hitting fresh highs today after showcasing at WWDC that it is not only catching up to the other megacaps, but may actually have leapfrogged the leaders. Its edge is its 2.2 billion install base and its focus on making AI usable by integrating it with your personal information. A slew of bullish commentary from the Street is also helping sentiment, outlining how Apple’s AI features will drive hardware sales later this year. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Apple just debuting its generative AI system Apple Intelligence, integrated with chatGPT that can look across your apps to retrieve, compile and take action on information. But after some of the other tech giants’ flagship products faced backlash, such as Microsoft’s Recall and Google’s AI Overviews, should Apple proceed with caution? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Silicon Valley investors held a mega fundraiser for former President Trump in the heart of San Francisco - what was once an overwhelmingly liberal bastion of America. It’s the most visible sign yet of a growing circle of tech elites switching camps -- and they’re vocal, emboldened and rich. This week on a special edition of TechCheck, we go to David Sacks’ mansion, as tech shifts to Trump. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A mega-fundraiser for former president Trump is about to kick off in the heart of San Francisco, what was once a liberal bastion of America, and could raise more than $12 million. Hosted by the prominent venture capitalists David Sacks and Chamath Palihapitiya, the event is an example of a growing circle of tech elites now switching camps – turning against President Biden and warming to Trump. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It worked the first time -- Elliott Management might be hoping the playbook works again. It's now rebuilding a more than $2 billion stake in Softbank and calling for a $15B buyback after pushing successfully for changes in early 2020. At the center of the push is that Softbank as a whole’s market value is far less than the sum of its parts: its 90% stake in Arm alone is worth more than $100 billion, far more than its market cap of around $85 billion. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Elon Musk and Sam Altman are both now facing scrutiny for balancing conflicts of interest with their side ventures. Musk has now seemed to confirm a report that he diverted Nvidia AI chips reserved for Tesla, prioritizing getting them to X and xAI instead, while Altman has a sprawling empire of investments, raising questions of side dealing. The two are also CEOs who best exemplify the Silicon Valley view of the cult of the founder, with some investors willing to look the other way when developing paradigm-shifting technology. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Spotify is hiking prices for the second time in a year, raising a premium individual plan to $11.99 a month. But not all streamflation is the equal. Users are more loyal to audio services than video – plus Spotify’s main competitors are megacaps like Apple and Amazon, which also have other giant businesses that its audio streaming only compliments. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Google is doing damage control again, this time with its newest AI product. It’s scaling back an AI search tool it had unveiled just a few weeks ago, after users reported getting back questionable and even downright bizarre results. They included suggestions that it was good to eat rocks or to use glue to thicken pizza sauce. But the rollbacks might also signal a new, nimbler Google that's now willing to disrupt traditional Search and make mistakes. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Salesforce's quarterly revenue miss and weak guidance has sent shares plunging today, as the threat of AI looms over the cloud. Could it be a trend we're seeing across software, or might Salesforce’s subscription-based model just be harder to justify in the coming age of AI, especially compared to consumption-based names that have posted stronger quarters? We talked exclusively to Box CEO Aaron Levie on the trends he’s seeing in software cycles. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

New details were revealed today around the OpenAI saga that saw CEO Sam Altman ousted and reinstated within a week last fall. A former board member is now speaking out, pointing to a toxic atmosphere, psychological abuse, sketchy safety practices and more. That, along with a flurry of new deals that ChatGPT inked today aligns with the AI darling’s drive for commercialization and monetization, signaling the growing divide between OpenAI and other startups in the space like Anthropic. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Elon Musk's startup xAI is now valued at $24 billion after raising $6 billion in a fresh round of funding. The new raise is backed by a web of Musk's most loyal insiders – including venture capitalists like Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia, who also invested in his acquisition of X, but also includes institutional support from Fidelity and some new faces. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

CNBC’s Dierdre Bosa discusses the AI profit motives behind companies investing all into AI and the latest news on Amazon, home smart speakers, and more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa discusses the latest news on monetizations towards AI features and China’s AI competition. Plus, Brent Thill, software and internet research analyst at Jeffries, shares his reaction to Microsoft’s developer conference, the company’s approach to AI, and more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa breaks down the latest news on executive departures from OpenAI, big tech, AI plans, and more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Gen AI startups are growing up -- through both the underlying tech as we saw with OpenAI’s demo of GPT-4o and Google’s showcase of Gemini and Project Astra, but also the composition of the companies themselves. Recent executive moves and hires are showing how AI startups are now focusing more on products, monetization and commercialization. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

AI has moved into a new era – from chatbots to AI agents capable of having instantaneous, real-time conversations as showcased by Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s GPT-4o and Google’s Project Astra. The news -- bullish for Nvidia and over chipmakers, but Meta, Amazon, Apple and other megacap tech names will have to step up to the plate soon. We break down what’s behind the big leap forward, the risks involved, and sit down with Google CEO Sundar Pichai exclusively on the news Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Shares of Walmart continue to be one of the top S&P performers today, rallying after beating quarterly earnings and revenue estimates while also posting big gains in e-commerce. Could its online shopping gains now threaten the e-commerce king, Amazon? Plus, OpenAI’s debut of its more conversational, real-time GPT-4o model have investors now asking whether it will disrupt sectors from education technology, advertising technology, white-collar jobs and more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Google is now fully integrating generative AI into search, overhauling the 10 blue links we’ve known for decades. Deirdre Bosa spoke to Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Google’s head of search Liz Reid on what this change will mean for advertisers, publishers, and consumers. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai joins CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa at Google I/O developer conference to talk its new AI rollout, project Astra, its response to OpenAI’s search competitor and more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

OpenAI unveiled its new flagship AI model GPT-4o today that it says brings GPT-level intelligence to everyone, including free users. The event now raises the stakes for Google’s all-important developers’ event tomorrow, Google I/O, where the tech giant is set to outline its latest advancements in AI. Google has in the past been relatively slow to roll out its AI features to its wide base of users, so the question hanging over the event tomorrow is whether it will go all-in on gen AI, potentially at the expense of search. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Google has been consolidating its AI efforts and power around one man: Demis Hassabis. As one of the most respected leaders in the space, the DeepMind co-founder has a track record of critical AI breakthroughs. But can an academic also pave the way for Google's genAI commercialization and monetization? Hassabis is the key to Google's lead in AI but his biggest challenge lies ahead. This week on TechCheck, the real test. Can Google and Hassabis show Wall Street, investors, and the public that it can turn AI into actual products? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Money is continuing to flow into AI startups in the private market, with new reports of funding deals for Elon Musk’s xAI at a $18 billion valuation and the French AI startup Mistral’s valuation tripling to $6 billion. It signals that companies that can raise money in the private markets will continue to do so, especially as the kind of scrutiny that goes along with being a public company is exactly what some startups and founders want to avoid. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Stanley Druckenmiller says rate cuts should be entirely off the table and that the Fed fumbled the football on the 5-yard line with the game on the line. We’ll look at the path forward for the Fed. Plus, Disney nearly broke even on streaming, but missed revenue estimates for a fourth consecutive quarter. We’ll ask Oscar-winner Brian Grazer about the future of Hollywood. And Apple unveiling its first iPads since 2022, but today’s news is only an appetizer for next month’s big event. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Uber had a banner year in 2023 – profitability turned a corner, S&P inclusion, and it became free cash flow positive. But what’s next for the stock, especially as it has underperformed other gig names in the last three months? Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb are all set to report quarterly results this week for a check on the gig economy. We take you through what to expect and what’s next. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was the world’s best-performing major stock market in April and has continued to move up another 5% this week. It may be part of a broader market theme, the unwinding of the “long AI, long Japan, short China” trade, but China is a world leader in AI research too, according to a new study from Georgetown University. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Full Self-Driving, or FSD, is one of the most controversial parts of Elon Musk’s Tesla strategy, with regulators calling the branding misleading and dangerous. But love it or hate it, Tesla has unleashed FSD, with a free trial for millions of U.S. drivers. That means more data -- an essential component to any company trying to develop autonomous driving. Tesla's approach to gathering all that data could prove all of Musk’s naysayers wrong, or leave it continuing to play catch up with more advanced self-driving tech. This week on TechCheck, Tesla’s big FSD gamble. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Closing arguments began today in the landmark antitrust case between the DOJ and Google. But what may ultimately matter more than the ruling is the damage already done to Google's market position, especially around generative AI vulnerabilities and progress. The fear is that under the pressure of regulators, Google has been hesitating or second-guessing itself. And the abundance of chatbots now available to consumers also makes the case, while Google’s Search Generative Experience, or SGE, remains in Beta mode. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Capital spending among the megacaps is now surging as Microsoft, Google and Meta all outline plans for tens of billions of dollars a quarter in AI investments. We dig into what’s in store for Amazon as it gets set to report tonight. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The IPO market is "back," according to Colin Stewart, a top Morgan Stanley banker who led the Reddit and Astera Labs debuts. He expects 10-15 more tech IPOs to come this year, and an even better 2025, especially as the market gets more comfortable with paying for growth again. We chat with him about startup valuations, how the presidential election might impact IPO timing, and more. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Over the past year, Mark Zuckerberg has transformed Meta - and himself. He has gone from a brash young CEO to trained MMA fighter, and a trendsetter with his fur jackets and chains. And thanks to his year of efficiency and stellar stock performance, he's now a Wall Street darling, with Meta outperforming Apple and Alphabet, trailing only Nvidia among the Mag 7. But Meta's latest earnings report has shown it's continuing to bleed cash, and Zuckerberg is now facing a moment of truth. Can he deliver on generative AI, the most important platform shift in decades? This week on TechCheck, the reinvention of Zuck and the arrival of his "show me" moment. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Shares of the software maker Rubrik are up about 20% since its debut on the NYSE yesterday. That success is being cheered in Silicon Valley as the latest sign the public market waters are safe to wade into. Plus, Alphabet and Microsoft shares are both popping after the companies beat on the top and bottom lines. The tech giants emphasized the growth of their respective AI businesses, but that also comes at a big cost. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

At the heart of the battle over TikTok is its algorithm - one that overhauled social media, captivated Gen Z, and continues to engage them more than copycats like YouTube Shorts or Instagram Reels. But without it, a sale of TikTok would be a very different proposition, and interested buyers like Steve Mnuchin have said that he would rebuild the app if there’s no technology transfer. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Two Google alumni are among those now turning up the pressure on their former employer. Aravind Srinivas of Perplexity and Dario Amodei of Anthropic are both leading upstart gen AI native companies. This time around, they have less to lose and are unafraid of taking on the giants. Plus, Softbank is reportedly now sinking nearly a billion dollars into developing a new generative AI model -- but is it too little, too late? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This earnings season, could we see Amazon and Alphabet follow Meta’s lead and issue a dividend or boost buybacks? Free cash flow has jumped across the six megacaps in the last two years, with Nvidia and Amazon seeing the biggest increases. In Amazon’s case, it was hard to imagine the tech giant doing so under Jeff Bezos. But CEO Andy Jassy is friendlier to Wall Street and has talked about focusing on profits and efficiency. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Google has been the poster child among big tech for having a more cuddly environment, with kombucha on tap or massuesses on staff. That also applies to what was once an openness for employees to bring social and political causes to work and mix ethics and business. But we're increasingly seeing a tougher Google and CEO Sundar Pichai. In the wake of multi-city protests across the company, he reminded employees in his latest memo that "this is a business." Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

: The latest bottleneck in the AI boom might not be chips anymore - it's energy. Computing for AI requires way more power than traditional data centers, and CEOs including Elon Musk, Andy Jassy and Sam Altman are all sounding the alarm. Plus, the AI race is on -- and it's now faster and more competitive than ever. Meta says its just-released latest AI model, the Llama 3, is the most powerful model that's also freely accessible. Meta is also teaming up with Google to include search results with its new AI chatbot, Meta AI, in a show of force against ChatGPT. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The practice of stack ranking might be making a comeback in Silicon Valley. Sometimes called “rank and yank,” it’s becoming increasingly popular among tech companies during what’s turning into the multiple years of efficiency, with big tech cutting costs and trimming their workforce. The type of merit-based, competitive culture has been around since the 80s, popularized by Jack Welch of GE, and is alive and well in other sectors including banking. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.