Wednesday, December 31, 2025

Trump Media, owner of Truth Social, plans to distribute a new token to shareholders with partner Crypto.com, expected to operate on the Cronos blockchain (Emily Nicolle/Bloomberg)

Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:
Trump Media, owner of Truth Social, plans to distribute a new token to shareholders with partner Crypto.com, expected to operate on the Cronos blockchain  —  Trump Media and Technology Group Corp. plans to issue a new cryptocurrency, which will be distributed among its shareholders.



Finland seizes a ship suspected of damaging an undersea cable linking Helsinki and Estonia in the Gulf of Finland; Estonia says a second cable was also damaged (Essi Lehto/Reuters)

Essi Lehto / Reuters:
Finland seizes a ship suspected of damaging an undersea cable linking Helsinki and Estonia in the Gulf of Finland; Estonia says a second cable was also damaged  —  Finnish police on Wednesday seized a ship suspected of damaging an undersea telecoms cable running from Helsinki …



Dealroom: 76 European deep tech and life sciences companies spun out from universities reached $1B valuations or $100M in revenue in 2025, or both (Anna Heim/TechCrunch)

Anna Heim / TechCrunch:
Dealroom: 76 European deep tech and life sciences companies spun out from universities reached $1B valuations or $100M in revenue in 2025, or both  —  Universities and research labs have long been Europe's deep tech treasure trove.  Now, academic spinouts have consolidated …



How the AI data center boom boosted Caterpillar's power and energy unit; generator sales are up 28% YoY through Sept. 2025, after growing 22% to $7.8B in 2024 (Bob Tita/Wall Street Journal)

Bob Tita / Wall Street Journal:
How the AI data center boom boosted Caterpillar's power and energy unit; generator sales are up 28% YoY through Sept. 2025, after growing 22% to $7.8B in 2024  —  Sales of generators are powering the manufacturing giant's fastest-growing segment and a race to help data centers skip the grid



Tuesday, December 30, 2025

Sources: Chinese AI startup MiniMax is seeking to raise $600M+ from its Hong Kong IPO, set for January 2026, and has secured Alibaba and the ADIA as backers (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Sources: Chinese AI startup MiniMax is seeking to raise $600M+ from its Hong Kong IPO, set for January 2026, and has secured Alibaba and the ADIA as backers  —  Chinese artificial intelligence startup MiniMax has secured Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as key backers …



Sources: China is requiring chipmakers to use at least 50% domestically made equipment for adding new capacity, in a rule that is not publicly documented (Reuters)

Reuters:
Sources: China is requiring chipmakers to use at least 50% domestically made equipment for adding new capacity, in a rule that is not publicly documented  —  China is requiring chipmakers to use at least 50% domestically made equipment for adding new capacity, three people familiar with the matter said …



Sources: Satya Nadella is focused on the increasing AI competition from Amazon and Google; Microsoft Deputy CTO Dee Templeton says Nadella is in "founder mode" (Rafe Rosner-Uddin/Financial Times)

Rafe Rosner-Uddin / Financial Times:
Sources: Satya Nadella is focused on the increasing AI competition from Amazon and Google; Microsoft Deputy CTO Dee Templeton says Nadella is in “founder mode”  —  Software giant faces intense competition from Alphabet, Amazon and start-ups  —  Satya Nadella has overhauled …



Monday, December 29, 2025

Coupang says it is offering $1B+ in compensation to all 33.7M customers affected by South Korea's biggest-ever data breach, after an ex-staffer accessed data (Shinhye Kang/Bloomberg)

Shinhye Kang / Bloomberg:
Coupang says it is offering $1B+ in compensation to all 33.7M customers affected by South Korea's biggest-ever data breach, after an ex-staffer accessed data  —  Coupang is offering compensation worth more than $1 billion to all customers affected by South Korea's biggest-ever data breach.



PitchBook: the biggest US private startups raised $150B in 2025, surpassing the previous high of $92B in 2021, boosted by large funding rounds by AI startups (George Hammond/Financial Times)

George Hammond / Financial Times:
PitchBook: the biggest US private startups raised $150B in 2025, surpassing the previous high of $92B in 2021, boosted by large funding rounds by AI startups  —  Mega funding rounds create ‘fortress balance sheets’ as investors advise top groups to brace for tougher markets



A Kapwing study of the 15,000 top YouTube channels finds 278 of them have only posted AI-generated "slop" videos, amassing 63B+ views and 221M+ subscribers (Aisha Down/The Guardian)

Aisha Down / The Guardian:
A Kapwing study of the 15,000 top YouTube channels finds 278 of them have only posted AI-generated “slop” videos, amassing 63B+ views and 221M+ subscribers  —  Low-quality AI-generated content is now saturating social media - and generating about $117m a year, data shows



Sunday, December 28, 2025

Global hotel groups are intensifying efforts to get customers to book directly, as they seek to save on online platform commissions and prepare for AI agents (Stephanie Stacey/Financial Times)

Stephanie Stacey / Financial Times:
Global hotel groups are intensifying efforts to get customers to book directly, as they seek to save on online platform commissions and prepare for AI agents  —  Companies including Marriott and Hilton push to improve perks and get more direct bookings  —  Major hotel groups are intensifying efforts …



Lou Gerstner, a former IBM CEO and chairman credited with turning the company around, died at 83; IBM's market value rose from $29B to ~$168B during his tenure (Patrick Oster/Bloomberg)

Patrick Oster / Bloomberg:
Lou Gerstner, a former IBM CEO and chairman credited with turning the company around, died at 83; IBM's market value rose from $29B to ~$168B during his tenure  —  Louis Gerstner, who took over International Business Machines Corp. when it was on its deathbed and resuscitated it as a technology industry leader, died Saturday.



How executives at humanoid robot startups like Agility Robotics and Weave Robotics are managing safety risks and tempering expectations for the technology (Sean McLain/Wall Street Journal)

Sean McLain / Wall Street Journal:
How executives at humanoid robot startups like Agility Robotics and Weave Robotics are managing safety risks and tempering expectations for the technology  —  Despite billions in investment, startups say their androids mostly aren't useful for industrial or domestic work yet



Tracxn: VC funding for Indian startups fell 17%+ YoY to $10.5B in 2025 across 1,518 deals, down ~39% YoY; AI startups raised $643M, up 4% YoY, across 100 deals (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:
Tracxn: VC funding for Indian startups fell 17%+ YoY to $10.5B in 2025 across 1,518 deals, down ~39% YoY; AI startups raised $643M, up 4% YoY, across 100 deals  —  India's startup ecosystem raised nearly $11 billion in 2025, but investors wrote far fewer checks and grew more selective …



PE firm Everstone combines India's Wingify, which helps A/B test sites, and France's AB Tasty, which improves e-commerce UX; Everstone bought Wingify for $200M (Jagmeet Singh/TechCrunch)

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch : PE firm Everstone combines India's Wingify, which helps A/B test sites, and France's AB Tasty, which...