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The US oil industry just keeps getting more consolidated. Onetime Texas rivals Diamondback Energy and Endeavor Energy Resources are combining in a $26 billion deal.
Tesla has succeeded in making its charging stations the industry standard. Stellantis has become the last of major automakers to adopt it. Meanwhile, Tesla cut prices of its Model Y car because “most people don’t love to buy cars in the middle of winter,” CEO Elon Musk said.
Speaking of Musk, he and the Kremlin denied that SpaceX is selling Starlink terminals to Russia. Ukraine’s military intelligence agency had accused Russian troops of using Starlink for internet.
Bitcoin’s price has more than doubled in the past year. The biggest driver in the surge of interest is the US government allowing the proliferation of new exchange-traded funds.
Russia’s war economy is looking pretty Soviet
Russia’s hot war with Ukraine—which is boosting the former’s economy—is having some chilly callbacks to the Soviet Union’s longstanding detente with the United States, namely that state military spending is crowding out other forms of economic growth.
Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, made that comparison in an interview with CNBC: “If you look at Russia, today, production goes up [for the] military, [and] consumption goes down. And that is pretty much what the Soviet Union used to look like. High level of production, low level of consumption.” Read more takeaways from her interview.
One big number: $700,000
How much the romantic partners of San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs players make, cumulatively speaking, for every sponsored Instagram post they share
To be fair, nearly all of it is earned by one girlfriend—bet you can guess which one.
The AI craze has made Nvidia worth more than Amazon
AI has gone from “just a lot of buzz” to “actually making money” as its hype cycle nears a close.
Chipmaker Nvidia sailed past Amazon in market value to become the fourth most valuable American company yesterday with a valuation of $1.82 trillion, compared to $1.81 trillion for Amazon. Believe it or not, this isn’t the first time this has happened—but to relive that, you’d have to go back to 2002, when their respective market caps were much, much smaller.
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Surprising discoveries
Cassette tapes are having a revival in Japan. Listeners are drawn to the sound of analog audio.
It’s a tradition in the Chinese business world for American CEOs to dance on stage. Leaders are supposed to appear more relatable when they look dorky, but maybe it’s just awkward.
Meet Goody-2, the world’s most responsible chatbot. It will tell you that you probably shouldn’t get those new boots because of overconsumption.
Don’t ghost people you no longer want to date. Send them a break-up pizza.
One of the fastest companies to make $1 billion in revenue wasn’t one of the ones you’d guess. Booking Holdings generated a billion in just three years—two less than Google.
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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, break-up pizzas, and questions for Goody-2 to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.