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Boeing landed its Starliner, and a tentative union agreement, over the weekend

9/9/24 10:48AM

Boeing has had quite a dramatic weekend. First, on Saturday, Boeing's problem-plagued Starliner spacecraft finally returned to Earth — three months late and without its two astronauts after NASA deemed the trip too risky for human passengers. Then, on Sunday, Boeing averted a looming strike by reaching a tentative agreement with union leaders that promises a 25% pay increase over four years for thousands of Boeing employees in its U.S. Pacific Northwest commercial division.

Those union members will vote on Thursday to ratify the deal. If waved through it would mark a significant win for Boeing’s new CEO, Robert “Kelly” Ortberg, who took the helm just a month ago and inherited a business that is battling a quality control crisis, reputational damage, and ongoing regulatory scrutiny. Boeing shares are up 4% in early trading but have shed 35% of their value in the year to date, and are down 57% in the last 5 years.

Boeing’s business is obviously getting things airborne. But selling passenger-carrying airplanes, like the iconic 737, has actually been less than one-third of the company’s revenue so far this year. The union deal comes with a commitment that the company will build its next commercial model in the Seattle area.

Boeing revenue breakdown — Sherwood News

Its defense, space, and security segment also pulled in $6 billion in Q2, though the troubled spacecraft division plays a relatively minor role compared to military aircraft and equipment sales. The company's services division, focused on maintenance and upgrades, contributed an additional $4.9 billion.

With a background as a mechanical engineer and years of experience in the aerospace supply chain, investors are hoping that Ortberg will be the one to get Boeing back on the right trajectory.

Millie Giles

BATTLE OF THE BRANDS

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Which companies have the best and worst reputations, according to Americans?

The 2026 Axios Harris Poll 100 reputation ranking suggests the US prefers Big Tech to Big Media.

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Spotify expands its anti-AI verified badges to podcasts

Spotify introduced verified badges for musician profiles in late April.

Spotify Hosts a "Now Playing" Creator Day at its Los Angeles Campus

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Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind’s CEO and founder, was also an early Anthropic investor

A chess prodigy and an actual a knight of the realm in the UK, it’s perhaps no surprise that Demis Hassabis has made some strategic moves about his exposure to AI upside. According to people familiar with the matter, the influential AI architect became an angel investor in Anthropic, currently behind many of the leading AI models, per Arena AI leaderboards.

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

Google, which bought DeepMind, the company that Hassabis cofounded and heads to this day, for a reported ~$400 million in 2014, is also a key Anthropic investor. The tech giant reportedly plans to invest up to $40 billion in the AI company as part of the mutually beneficial relationship the pair have forged, with reports that Anthropic has committed to spending $200 billion in the other direction on Google’s cloud services over the next five years.

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

In addition to his financial support for Anthropic, Hassabis has also invested in a range of AI startups launched by colleagues, such as Inflection AI, a company set up by DeepMind cofounder Mustafa Suleyman (who is now CEO of Microsoft AI), as well as efforts from other collaborators, like David Silver’s Ineffable Intelligence.

Hassabis also emerged as a recurring figure on the fringes of the recent Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial, cropping up repeatedly in testimonies and court documents and appearing to live, as The Verge put it, “rent-free” in Musk’s head.

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis emerges as early Anthropic investor

The Nobel Prize winner’s position in the Claude creator was previously undisclosed and, per the Financial Times, highlights Hassabis’ “growing influence across the AI industry.”

I’m playing all sides, so I always come out on top

Founded in 2021, Anthropic has recently raised funding at a reported $900 billion valuation, sending it soaring ahead of competitor OpenAI.

Max Knoblauch5/18/26

Jury rules against Musk in lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman

Jurors in Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and OpenAI found the defendants not liable on all claims on Monday.

In a unanimous verdict reached after less than two hours of deliberation, the Oakland jury found that Musk had waited too long to bring his case forward, exceeding the statute of limitations.

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

Jury tosses Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Sam Altman

Musk had alleged that OpenAI abandoned its founding mission as a nonprofit dedicated to developing AI for humanity and instead became a profit-driven company closely tied to Microsoft.

The verdict caps off a three-week blockbuster tech trial that could have seen Altman and Brockman removed from OpenAI leadership.

Millie Giles

WRIST BUMP

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Swatch’s collaboration with Audemars Piguet could help bring hype back to its bottom line

The rival watchmakers have teamed up on a buzzy new collection that’s sparking a global consumer frenzy.