Orbi, an emoji character, is displayed on the Sphere, a music and entertainment venue with the largest LED screen on its exterior in the world, in Las Vegas, Nevada (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

Washington, DC, looks set to get America’s second Sphere

Revenue for the Las Vegas version of the big orb has soared, but the Sphere is still a money pit.

Claire Yubin Oh

1/19/26 10:25AM

Following the huge spherical arena’s successful start in the entertainment capital of America, the country’s political capital is the next city pondering a Sphere.

The operator of Las Vegas’ Sphere announced on Sunday that it will be developing its second US location at the National Harbor in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, aiming to build its first smaller-scale, 6,000-seat venue and adding to Sphere Entertainment’s “global network of Spheres” after the company signed a franchise agreement with the governing body of Abu Dhabi last July to build a Sphere in the Middle East.

Rounding up

Though Sphere Entertainment currently has only one namesake landmark operating under its belt, the company, previously under the umbrella of Madison Square Garden Entertainment before a spin-off, has a lot of seasoned executives in the live entertainment world.

Just like the iconic New York venue, the inside of the Sphere works as a sports and entertainment space that can accommodate up to 20,000 people. Hosting acts including the Backstreet Boys and U2 helped to rake in some $156 million in the third quarter, up 37% year on year.

Tasked with growing its glowing ball business, the company has an additional revenue stream other than events — the arena’s LED-lined exterior, known as the Exosphere, used for advertising and signage — that, combined with sponsorship and suite license revenue, brought in an additional $11 million last quarter... along with a flurry of light pollution worries.

But even with that boost, the giant entertainment ball is far from profitable, with operating costs for the Sphere division of the company coming in nearly 50% higher than its revenue last quarter.

Tom Jones7h

OpenAI’s ARR reached over $20 billion in 2025, CFO says

Sam Altman’s $500 billion artificial intelligence behemoth hit a major financial milestone last year, according to a new blog post over the weekend from OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar, as the company confirmed it had hit a more than $20 billion annual revenue run rate at the end of 2025.

Elsewhere in the blog post, Friar spent time addressing the company’s shifting goals, referencing plans to “close the distance between where intelligence is advancing and how individuals, companies, and countries actually adopt and use it.” As has become customary in the AI company press release genre, the CFO was also keen to tout the unending growth of the business, writing:

“Both our Weekly Active User (WAU) and Daily Active User (DAU) figures continue to produce all-time highs. This growth is driven by a flywheel across compute, frontier research, products, and monetization.”
“Compute grew 3X year over year or 9.5X from 2023 to 2025: 0.2 GW in 2023, 0.6 GW in 2024, and ~1.9 GW in 2025.”

And, perhaps most importantly for current backers and those keeping an eye on the private company before its rumored mega IPO:

“Revenue followed the same curve growing 3X year over year, or 10X from 2023 to 2025: $2B ARR in 2023, $6B in 2024, and $20B+ in 2025. This is never-before-seen growth at such scale.”

That latest figure has certainly set tongues in the tech world wagging, just as the company announced it would begin rolling out ads to free and ChatGPT Go users. It also puts the chatbot giant a fair way ahead of competitors like Anthropic, the company behind Claude.

OpenAI Anthropic ARR race — Sherwood News

A business that scales with the value of intelligence

“Both our Weekly Active User (WAU) and Daily Active User (DAU) figures continue to produce all-time highs. This growth is driven by a flywheel across compute, frontier research, products, and monetization.”
“Compute grew 3X year over year or 9.5X from 2023 to 2025: 0.2 GW in 2023, 0.6 GW in 2024, and ~1.9 GW in 2025.”

And, perhaps most importantly for current backers and those keeping an eye on the private company before its rumored mega IPO:

“Revenue followed the same curve growing 3X year over year, or 10X from 2023 to 2025: $2B ARR in 2023, $6B in 2024, and $20B+ in 2025. This is never-before-seen growth at such scale.”

Max Knoblauch

1/16/26

Opponents of the Netflix-Warner Bros. deal take fight to Europe

Europe is the latest frontier of the ongoing tug-of-war for the “Friends” back catalog.

Paramount Skydance To Reportedly Make Bid For Warner Bros. Discovery

Max Knoblauch1/15/26

Ford reportedly in talks to buy hybrid vehicle batteries from Chinese auto giant BYD

Detroit’s Ford and China’s BYD are said to be in ongoing talks to partner on an agreement that would see Ford buy hybrid vehicle batteries from BYD, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal.

The report comes just days after President Trump toured a Ford factory in Michigan and implied openness to Chinese automakers coming to the US.

“If they want to come in and build a plant... that’s great, I love that,” Trump said on January 13. “Let China come in, let Japan come in.”

Last week, China’s Geely Automobile Holdings said it expects to make an announcement about expanding into the US within the next three years. Chinese carmakers currently face huge tariffs and software restrictions, effectively barring their vehicles from the US.

Ford has doubled down on hybrid vehicles amid high EV costs and the end of federal EV tax credits. The automaker is currently building a battery plant in Michigan where it plans to use tech from Chinese battery maker CATL.

Exclusive | Ford, China’s BYD in Talks for Hybrid-Vehicle Batteries After EV Market Flames Out

“If they want to come in and build a plant... that’s great, I love that,” Trump said on January 13. “Let China come in, let Japan come in.”

Still life of Ozempic and Wegovy with weight scale.

Lawsuit alleges Lilly, Novo locked up telehealth to kill compounded GLP-1s

Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar estimated that around 1.5 million US patients are using compounded versions of the company’s drugs.

J. Edward Moreno1/15/26

Big Pharma enters 2026 with an appetite for deals

At the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, biotechs and Big Pharma signaled they’re primed for M&A this year, after a big year for deals in 2025.

J. Edward Moreno1/14/26