“Today the race begins,” said CEO Satya Nadella, clearly referring to rival Google. Also: Getir is said to have held merger talks with Flink and layoffs at Zoom and Ebay.
Good morning! While you slept, work continued elsewhere in the digital scene.
The top topics:
Microsoft revolutionizes its products with artificial intelligence (AI). CEO Satya Nadella on Tuesday announced a far-reaching transformation of the Bing internet search, which will be expanded to include an intelligent chatbot. This is a clear challenge to the world’s largest search engine provider Google. “The race starts today,” Nadella said at a press conference at the company’s headquarters in Seattle. Microsoft’s Edge browser is also to be expanded with AI.
All of the new features are based on the work of the startup OpenAI. The head of the company, Sam Altman, said: “This is the beginning of a new era.” A desktop version of the new Bing can already be tested, and a mobile version is to follow shortly. Microsoft announced just last week that it would invest ten billion US dollars in OpenAI. According to US broadcaster CNBC, Microsoft is also planning technology to help large companies launch their own chatbots with OpenAI ChatGPT technology. [Mehr bei Handelsblatt, Spiegel, Reuters, CNBC und CNBC]
On Founding scene: Tijen Onaran is a founder, investor, influencer and soon also a lioness. Founder scene just found out that Vox will rely on Onaran in the new season of “The Lion’s Den”. But the influencer is not a one-woman show. Several companies and other leaders stand behind the entrepreneur. You can find out what these are and what role her husband and brother play in the text by Georg Räth. [Mehr bei Gründerszene+]
And here are the other headlines of the night:
Can at the end of last year preliminary talks about a merger with the German competitor Considerable have led. The Turkey-based fast delivery company would strengthen its position in Germany through a merger with Flink. Getir had with the takeover of Gorillas already expanded into the German market. However, an insider told US media The Information that Flink had not shown any interest after the talks. Instead, the German delivery service, which last raised money at the end of 2021 with a valuation of $2.8 billion, would rather raise a new round of capital. [Mehr bei The Information]
Zoom In the face of the uncertain economic situation, like many other tech companies, it caves in and lays off 1,300 employees. This corresponds to about 15 percent of the workforce, as CEO Eric Yuan confirmed. Yuan also announced reduced salaries and canceled bonuses for the video conferencing service’s top management. Yuan wants to reduce his own salary by 98 percent in the coming fiscal year. [Mehr bei Spiegel]
Ebay also announced plans Tuesday to cut 500 jobs, or about four percent of its workforce. Ebay shares were up slightly in extended trading on Tuesday. In a memo to employees, CEO Jamie Iannone wrote that the cuts would strengthen Ebay’s ability to provide better experiences for its customers and focus on areas where it could make the greatest impact. [Mehr bei CNBC]
Softbank is hit hard by the slowdown in the startup space. On Tuesday, the Japanese tech investor had to announce a quarterly loss of 5.8 billion US dollars for its Vision Fund, through which the company invests in young companies. Overall, the company’s quarterly loss was $5.9 billion. While Softbank was still the world’s largest financier for startups in 2021, the Japanese are hardly investing anymore. [Mehr bei Wall Street Journal]
investor and billionaire Ron Baron revealed on Tuesday that Tesla– and Twitter-CEO Elon Musk has promised that he will earn multiples in return for his $100 million investment in the short message service. Ron Baron, who manages one of the top-performing funds, also said that he thinks Tesla could reach $1,500 per share by 2030. Musk has so far brought him $5 billion from a $400 million investment. The Twitter investment is based on his longstanding trust in Musk as a leader and in his marketing prowess. [Mehr bei CNBC]
Our reading tips on Gründerszene: For years, startups only went up – in terms of growth and finances. In many places, founders are now radically cutting back on staff. We have summarized for you which startups have recently had layoffs. [Mehr bei Gründerszene]
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Happy Wednesday!
Your Gründerszene editors
Source: https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/business/microsoft-bing-chatgpt-technik/
