TOPLEY’S TOP 10 August 09 2024

1. Capital Spending by the Big 4

Random Walk, by Moses Sternstein https://www.therandomwalk.co/

2. Capex Not Helping Startups–Struggling AI Startups Look for a Bailout From Big Tech

WSJ
Amazon, Google and Microsoft are using a new type of deal to get employees and technology from artificial-intelligence firms—
By Berber Jin Tom Dotan and Miles Kruppa

Artificial intelligence startups raised billions of dollars last year, aiming to become winners in the latest tech-driven boom. Now many are struggling to survive—and asking Silicon Valley’s biggest companies to bail them out.

At least three once-hot AI startups have been rescued via a new type of deal that many in the tech industry say are acquisitions in everything but name. These deals have the advantage of skirting the typical regulatory process at a time when big tech’s growing control over generative AI is being scrutinized by governments.

On Friday, Character.AI announced a deal for Google to use its technology and hire many of its researchers and executives, including its co-founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel De Freitas. Google negotiated a licensing fee worth $2 billion for the startup’s technology to help buy out early investors, people familiar with the matter said.

The two companies considered an outright acquisition, but concluded that was unlikely to get past regulators, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In June, Adept AI struck a deal in which Amazon agreed to hire most of the startup’s employees and paying about $330 million to license its technology, according to people with knowledge of the arrangement. That was enough, along with Adept’s remaining cash, to pay back investors, but a disappointing turn for a company that just last year was valued at $1 billion.
Microsoft cast the mold for this deal type in March when it hired nearly all the employees from AI developer Inflection to start a new consumer AI division and paid around $650 million to license its technology.

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/struggling-ai-startups-look-for-a-bailout-from-big-tech-3e635927

3. Bitcoin -15% in 7 Trading Days

Nasdaq Dorsey Wright

4. Stock Leader Monster Beverage -27% from Highs…Back to 2022 Levels

5. Micron Top to Bottom Correction -45%

$156 Top to $85 Low

6. Latin America Chart

An International Market Breaking Down…50d thru 200d to downside.

7. Costco Pulling a Netflix Password Clean-Up

Morningbrew Blog
RETAIL Good luck sneaking in here anymore
Soon the only way you’re gonna be getting into Costco without a membership is through the vents: Card scanners are coming to all front entrances “over the coming months,” the retailer of everything in bulk announced this week in an escalation of its Netflix-like efforts to end membership-sharing.
The main change: Instead of showing your pass to a Costco employee (the ones TikTokers have made a trend of foiling), you’ll present your physical or digital membership card to a scanner. But robots aren’t taking jobs—there will still be someone at the door guiding the process.
Here’s why your days of borrowing mom’s card to grab a rotisserie chicken are numbered:

The grocery warehouse makes most of its money from membership fees (they accounted for $4.6 billion in revenue last fiscal year).
It started cracking down on card-sharing over a year ago after noticing more shoppers using memberships that didn’t belong to them, especially at self-checkout. Since then, Costco has tightened up its entrances and started requiring customers to show photo ID if their membership card doesn’t include a picture.

Memberships are also getting a price hike for the first time since 2017. On Sept. 1, the basic Gold Star tier will go from $60 to $65, and the Executive Membership will increase from $120 to $130.—ML
https://www.morningbrew.com/daily