John Collison, president and co-founder of Stripe. Christophe Morin | IP3 | Getty Images Rising interest rates crushed technology valuations and had a chilling effect on Silicon Valley. Stripe’s co-founder says it was needed. “Broadly speaking, the effects of higher rates have been quite good,” John Collison, president of the online payments company, told CNBC … Read more
An Amazon delivery drone is on display at Amazon’s BOS27 Robotics Innovation Hub in Westborough, Massachusetts, on Nov. 10, 2022. Joseph Prezioso | AFP | Getty Images Amazon is shuttering its drone delivery operations in Lockeford, California, one of the earliest U.S. test sites for the decade-long project. The program, called Prime Air, has struggled … Read more
If you work for Reed Hastings, you’d better be ready to express your dissatisfaction. Good leaders seek out critical feedback whenever possible, the Netflix co-founder and chairman recently told entrepreneur Tim Ferriss’ podcast, “The Tim Ferriss Show.” Hastings even has a simple, three-word term for the practice: “Farming for dissent.” “If you’re a leader, it’s … Read more
Jeff Bezos wants to build permanent outposts on the moon and colonize space. Richard Branson wants to make spaceflight as commonplace as air travel. Elon Musk wants to settle Mars to make humanity multiplanetary. IBX’s Kam Ghaffarian wants to go even further: the stars. “There’s this common denominator of combining altruism, to do something purposeful … Read more
Photo: NASA/Ben Smegelsky NASA is looking for its next class of astronauts as the space agency ramps up its efforts to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon. While the public is free to apply online until April 16, the strict requirements mean that only a small sliver of the population has the flight … Read more
A rendering of the company’s laser communications system on satellites in orbit. Mynaric CNBC’s Investing in Space newsletter offers a view into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. CNBC’s Michael Sheetz reports and curates the latest news, investor updates and exclusive interviews on the most important companies reaching new heights. Sign … Read more
Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chairman and technology chief, speaks at the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco on September 16, 2019. Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Oracle founder Larry Ellison notched a $15 billion gain on Tuesday after shares of his software company had their best day in over two years and closed at a record. … Read more
Copper plates on wagons ready for onward shipping at the Mufulira refinery, operated by Mopani Copper Mines Plc, in Mufulira, Zambia, on Friday, May 6, 2022. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images KoBold Metals, a mining startup backed by billionaires including Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, is bullish on the discovery potential of some of the most … Read more
For the first time in more than nine months, Elon Musk is no longer the world’s richest person. Musk lost his position atop the Bloomberg Billionaires Index to Jeff Bezos after shares in Tesla Inc. tumbled 7.2% on Monday. Musk now has a net worth of $197.7 billion; Bezos’ fortune is $200.3 billion. It’s the … Read more
Startup Figure AI is developing general-purpose humanoid robots. Figure AI Figure AI, a startup working to build humanoid robots that can perform dangerous and undesirable jobs, just got a big vote of confidence from some of the largest names in artificial intelligence. The company said Thursday that it raised $675 million at a $2.6 billion … Read more
