Good morning, Quartz readers!
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Here’s what you need to know
OpenAI appears to be working on a search app. That should make Google very nervous. Meanwhile, AI has made Nvidia the third most valuable company in the U.S.
Warren Buffett is selling Apple stock and buying Chevron, Oxy, and SiriusXM. Investors pored over the filings to get insight into the Oracle of Omaha’s views on the state of the market.
Elon Musk’s Tesla stake is soaring. Remember when he said he wants to hold 25% of stock or he’ll build robots elsewhere? He’s nearing that stake. Oh, and SpaceX was reincorporated.
General Motors is expanding its self-driving network to 750,000 miles (1.2 million km). New roads are being added incrementally through 2025.
Maybe Abercrombie & Fitch should be a top tech stock
Most of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” tech stocks are having a pretty good year. Apple stock is down 2%, but the big loser of the bunch continues to be Tesla, whose shares have sunk by more than a fifth since the end of 2023. Not so magnificent.
Is Abercrombie a “technology” company? Not exactly, though even the iconic mall clothing retailer is using AI to refine its products. Its stock has been pretty magnificent, though. Last year, it beat out chipmaker and Wall Street darling Nvidia, plus its turnaround strategy positioned it well to take advantage of rising consumer spending. Read our full story here.
News media layoffs are already outpacing last year’s
Big name news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and CBS News have announced layoffs in recent weeks, while news startup The Messenger went belly-up, a signal that the decades-long decline of journalism is only worsening. Great.
Job cuts at news companies made up more than 60% of all layoffs in the media sector in January. If journalism layoffs continue at their current pace, they’ll surpass last year’s — by a long shot. We crunched the numbers for you.
Boeing is watching its rival Airbus fly by
France’s Airbus — not Boeing — is the world’s largest commercial aircraft manufacturer, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to change anytime soon.
Boeing had the upper hand for years until the last major 737 Max crisis, which saw its planes grounded and its order book dry up. Airbus is taking advantage of that.
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Surprising discoveries
The tooth fairy hasn’t escaped inflation. Louis Vuitton bracelets and $100 bills are appearing under pillows.
Stuffed animal makers are feuding over cute plushies. Specific adorable Build-A-Bear’s Skoosherzs look too much like specific adorable Kelly Toys’ Squishmallows, goes the lawsuit.
SpaceX launched what could very well be the first private landing on the Moon. It’ll take the spacecraft six days to make it to the lunar surface.
AI can restore the jobs that automation and globalization killed. Robots could bring about more quality gigs to people without specialty degrees.
Tigers and cheetahs can distinguish certain human voices. We knew house cats could do this, but not their big cousins.
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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, tooth fairy lux goods, and Moon boots to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.