alphabet

Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin each saw their fortunes drop by approximately $10 billion following alphabet's announcement of an $80 billion stock sale. This massive fundraising aims to fuel the company's AI expansion amidst intensifying competition and projected significant capital expenditures. The market's reaction to the ambitious plan led to a sharp decline in alphabet's share price.

alphabet has secured a massive $45 billion equity offering, with Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway leading with a $10 billion investment. This substantial capital infusion is earmarked for bolstering Google's AI compute infrastructure, a critical area identified by CEO Sundar Pichai. The company anticipates a total of $85 billion for this AI build-out, underscoring its strategic focus on artificial intelligence.

Google is planning a historic $80 billion equity capital markets transaction to fund its significant investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. This massive fundraising effort includes a $40 billion at-the-market offering and a $10 billion private placement with Berkshire Hathaway, aiming to bolster its AI capabilities amidst fierce industry competition.

Indian markets saw a mixed trend. Wall Street's record rally paused on Tuesday. alphabet's shares dropped significantly after the Google parent announced plans to raise capital for its artificial intelligence investments. Other tech companies like Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Broadcom saw gains. Oil prices eased slightly. Bond markets remained stable ahead of US labor data.

alphabet's Debug initiative is seeking EPA approval to release 32 million specially treated male mosquitoes in California and Florida. This innovative approach uses Wolbachia bacteria to sterilize wild Culex mosquitoes, aiming to significantly reduce the spread of diseases like West Nile virus. Advanced AI and robotics are enabling this large-scale effort, with trials planned over two years.

A new mother's attempt to name her daughter Xfrgolszzzxy, a unique moniker intended to honor her father and set her child apart, was met with resistance from a hospital. Alabama's birth certificate regulations, which prohibit names starting with 'X' followed by a consonant, led to a standoff, sparking widespread online debate about parental rights and naming conventions.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has clarified that Pershing Square's sale of alphabet (Google) shares was not a bearish call on the company. Ackman said his hedge fund offloaded its long-held Google stake to fund a fresh $2.1 billion Microsoft position, betting on the software giant's AI prospects, Azure cloud growth, and Copilot adoption after a steep stock decline this year.

Teradata, a major cloud storage firm, will not give salary increases this year. The company is redirecting funds from employee compensation to invest in artificial intelligence. This decision affects 5,100 employees. While base pay hikes are paused, performance bonuses and equity shares remain. Other tech firms are also prioritizing AI spending over employee benefits.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon believes markets are in a "greed" mode, with ample liquidity to support a significant fundraising wave from major AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. He suggests investors are optimistic and that this exuberance could continue, with markets potentially being early in the cycle for AI-driven growth.

Punchappady govt school banks on incentives, bilingual shift, and community support to attract new students

Europe is poised to hit Google with a massive multi-million euro fine under the Digital Markets Act. The EU's investigation probes allegations of Google unfairly favouring its own services and using publisher content for AI training. This significant penalty signals the EU's commitment to reining in tech giants, with a decision expected soon.

Malaysia has implemented a new rule banning children under 16 from social media. Major platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram must verify user ages. Companies face hefty fines for non-compliance. This move aims to protect minors from harmful online content. The government emphasizes this is not anti-technology but about shared responsibility for child safety online.

Each school may decide the language to be taught based on available teachers and resources or student demand

A rural Kentucky school district secured a $27 million settlement from tech giants like Meta, TikTok, and YouTube. The district sued, alleging their platforms worsened student mental health. While companies deny wrongdoing, this case sets a precedent for over 1,200 other districts pursuing similar claims, with significant financial implications looming.

A farmer's plough struck a tomb in Syria in 1928. This led to the discovery of the ancient city of Ugarit. Archaeologists found clay tablets with a unique cuneiform script. This script was one of the earliest alphabets. The city was a vibrant trade hub connecting Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Aegean world.

So why is America’s Silicon Valley handing Indian-born CEOs the keys to the kingdom in the age of AI? Perhaps because, in the old Silicon Valley debate between Founder Mode and Manager Mode, the age of AI has elevated a third figure: the Operator. For that, we have to, as this column promises, go deep into the rabbit hole.

A look at the contents of the books, which will be used by students from this academic year, revealed every page had illustrations and an activity — from drawing and colouring, to designing posters and songs. Fonts were bigger and a pictorial story preceded almost all lessons — a change in approach compared to last year’s textbooks for the same subject. Concepts such as money, introduced from Class III generally, have been pushed up to Class II

Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis argues companies cutting engineers due to AI are misguided. He believes increased productivity should fuel more projects, not layoffs. Hassabis sees AI as an opportunity to expand ambitions, not shrink workforces, and is eager to hire talent shed by rivals for new ventures like drug discovery and game design.

Google plans a massive $190 billion investment in AI infrastructure, a six-fold increase from 2022, signaling a strong push into custom silicon with its new TPU 8th generation. This strategic move aims to reduce reliance on third-party chip suppliers like Nvidia, enhancing both training and inference capabilities for its AI models and services.

Berkshire Hathaway, under new CEO Greg Abel, has significantly altered its investment strategy. Abel has more than tripled the stake in alphabet (Google's parent company) and completely sold off Amazon shares, a departure from Warren Buffett's long-held tech aversion. Additionally, Berkshire made a substantial investment in Delta Airlines, another sector Buffett previously expressed skepticism about.

Sanjay Mehrotra is CEO of Micron Technology, the memory-chip giant that just crossed a market cap of $1 trillion to break into the top 10 US companies by valuation

Opposition is mounting against SpaceX's proposed IPO due to concerns over Elon Musk's significant control and the company's governance structure. Major pension funds and U.S. public investment officials have raised red flags, warning of weakened transparency and limited shareholder protections. The American Federation of Teachers has also urged the SEC to scrutinize SpaceX's framework before its public trading.

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu warns the AI boom is a massive investment bubble, potentially the largest yet. A viral post claims AI growth relies on 'round trip revenue loops,' where tech giants fund AI startups with cloud credits, which startups then spend on those same giants' servers. This creates inflated revenue and paper profits, mirroring the dot-com crash.