Good morning, Quartz readers!
Here’s what you need to know
Tesla shareholders approved Elon Musk’s $46 billion pay package. Musk also provided updates on Tesla’s self-driving fleet and its Optimus robot at yesterday’s shareholder meeting.
Microsoft accepted that its cybersecurity failed during Russian and Chinese hacks. Its president Brad Smith was drilled by lawmakers yesterday about its failures to prevent the breaches.
Wells Fargo fired more than a dozen employees who weren’t really working. The workers had been accused of using keyboard simulation that made it seem like they were actively online.
Disney and Ron DeSantis made up — and it only cost $17 billion. The Florida governor’s tourism board agreed to a 15-year expansion agreement with Disney World.
Bank of America said Boeing is too big to fail. The plane-making industry’s duopoly will save it, analysts said. Meanwhile, the chief administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration said yesterday that the agency didn’t do enough to regulate Boeing.
OpenAI’s revenue is skyrocketing
Sam Altman had a stat to share with all of OpenAI’s staff this week: In less than a year, OpenAI has more than tripled its annualized revenue.
Annualized revenue is an estimate for a company’s revenue for the year using partial data — you get to it by multiplying the past month’s revenue by 12. For OpenAI, that figure was $1 billion in August 2023, and has catapulted to $3.4 billion as of this month.
OpenAI is by far the most valuable AI startup in the world (Anthropic and Mistral AI don’t even come close to its massive $80 billion valuation), but the company isn’t without its troubles. Quartz’s Laura Bratton has the latest.
Quotable: When lightning strikes in the salad dressing aisle
“When I came back with the team, I said, ‘What if we developed a ranch flavored Dorito?’... We didn’t find this idea by going up and down the snack aisle, we went to a totally different category.” — Former Yum! Brands CEO and Cool Ranch Doritos inventor David Novak, telling Quartz how the beloved chip flavor got its start during a trip to a Texas supermarket in 1984.
On that trip, Novak and his team searched for the biggest food trends outside of the snack aisle, and zoned in on a ranch display. But not all of Novak’s ideas have landed — there was, of course, Crystal Pepsi.
Friday markets haiku
Stock splits and AI —
It’s just a sign of the times.
Broadcom, time to shine.
Quartz’s Vinamrata Chaturvedi reported on the networking chipmaker’s new market high.
More from Quartz
🤔 Apple isn’t even paying OpenAI to put ChatGPT on iPhones…
😬 … and could its new ChatGPT partnership expose Apple to legal risks?
🍔 California’s minimum wage hike has pushed fast food prices up
💵 Tesla can’t duck Europe’s new tariffs on Chinese EVs
⚡ Car dealers and Big Oil are suing the Biden administration over EVs
🪙 Joe Biden may accept crypto donations, following Donald Trump
Surprising discoveries
Ozempic for cats and dogs is coming. Regulators approved the medication for canines way back in 2007 — but human guilt was an unforeseen barrier to its acceptance.
Taylor Swift’s fandom can change airline strategy. Qantas in Australia would never fly the world’s largest jet domestically… unless of course Swifties had to get to a concert.
Zapping through the cosmos is on scientists’ minds. Some are looking into how to make interstellar travel a reality.
Mosquitoes are being dropped in Maui to help save birds. The modified insects won’t be able to reproduce, and could curb instances of avian malaria that are devastating populations of endangered birds.
A medical drill on the International Space Station was accidentally aired and it freaked people out. NASA confirmed there was no emergency.
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Our best wishes for a productive day. Send any news, comments, interstellar routes, and Maui bird well wishes to talk@qz.com. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Morgan Haefner.