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Here’s what you need to know
A rare Singapore corruption scandal has ensnared Formula 1’s Grand Prix. The September event is still on the books, but resignations and bribery accusations among race authorities are swirling.
The US is drowning OPEC in oil. The US is producing more oil than any country in history, some 13 million barrels of it per day, and all those barrels are coming at OPEC’s expense.
Reddit is finally, actually going to go public. Following years of preparations, a report says shares could be trading by March, debuting at a $10 billion valuation.
Speaking of going public, Birkenstock had some bad news for its fresh investors. Prices are going up because its profit outlook is going down (much like its stock).
The world’s largest chipmaker has its own bad news. Taiwan’s TSMC announced fresh delays at its $40 billion facility in Arizona because of a shortage of skilled workers.
What the heck is up with tech layoffs?
The first two weeks of 2024 are over, and they brought with them more than 7,500 layoffs in the tech industry.
What exactly is happening? It’s a confluence of things.
😞 A continuing comedown from 2021’s boom (and overhiring)
🤖 New priorities—mainly that of generative AI
🪡 An inherent startup ethos of being nimble
Quartz’s Laura Bratton has a breakdown of each layoff in the sector so far this year—take a look at her timeline.
Tesla has Hyundais and Kias riding its bumper
Tesla has its cruise control on when it comes to leading the electric car market, but there are two brands on its tail: Hyundai and Kia.
In 2023, the Hyundai Motor Group affiliates collectively sold 69,259 battery-powered vehicles in the US, helping cut Tesla’s 2022 65% dominance by 10%.
To be fair, Hyundai and Kia have to slam the pedal to the floor: Tesla still holds more than half (55%) of the EV market in the US. That’s why they’re going all in on their aggressive expansion plans and throwing cash at hopeful buyers. Maybe it’ll work, if Hyundai and Kia can avoid some major potholes in the road—recalls, $200 million settlements, and easy-to-steal cars can be quite hazardous.
Sam Altman and Will.i.am have dueling visions for the future
Quartz’s Heather Landy got to hear words from both OpenAI chief Sam Altman and musician-turned-activist-turned-Davos-regular Will.i.am on the sidelines at the World Economic Forum.
Which quote is Altman’s, and which is Will.i.am’s?
1️⃣ “We can be way more creative; I think the quality of media and entertainment is going to go nuts in a really wonderful way... Eventually we can all have, like, a whole company’s worth of cognitive ability and we can create whatever we imagine.”
2️⃣ “That’s kind of inhumane, how we can have a world where items have more funding to be intelligent than humans.”
The annual meeting of the World Economic Forum may be wrapping up today, but you can catch up on all our coverage here and, of course, back issues of Need to Know: Davos 2024. See you in the Alps in 2025!
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🤑 More than 250 billionaires and millionaires tell world leaders: ‘Tax us…’
🤑🤑 …while Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and the world’s richest men got $465 billion richer in 4 years
Surprising discoveries
A Shiba Inu named Peanut Butter is great at playing video games as fast as possible. While he didn’t beat his last PR, he’s of course, as Kotaku’s Zack Zwiezen so eloquently put it, “a really good boy who was fed plenty of treats and given lots of pets and who has never done anything wrong in his life.”
Solar-powered chargers may one day be strong enough to juice up our indoor devices. The tech is getting much more sophisticated than those panels on pocket calculators that didn’t work that well.
Maybe people aren’t leaving Austin? A new study shows several US cities, including Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, will shrink in the coming decades, but not the Texas capital.
Never-before-seen photos of the computer that helped win World War II were released. Too bad Wes Anderson couldn’t access it for some Asteroid City (2023) scenes.
Spotify has helped afrobeats travel around the world. The Swedish music streamer’s CEO may not think he’s that important, but the platform has been for the beat-heavy, electronic music from Nigeria—which we can’t help but be obsessed with.
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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, pats for Peanut Butter, and your useless Texas Instrument calculators to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.