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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon 2 spacecraft carrying supplies to the International Space Station lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. This is the 22nd resupply mission for NASA by SpaceX.
Paul Hennessy | LightRocket | Getty Images

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said on Monday that he’s bullish on space, noting that he’s an investor in Elon Musk’s SpaceX along with start-ups Astra, Swarm Technologies, and Planet Labs.

But don’t expect Benioff to join Jeff Bezos on a space trip anytime soon. Bezos, who is stepping aside as Amazon CEO in July, said on Monday that he’ll fly on the first passenger flight of his space company Blue Origin, which is expected to launch on July 20.

In an interview that aired on CNBC’s “Closing Bell,” Benioff commended Bezos on the announcement.

“I think it’s very exciting that he’s willing to basically say, ‘If you want to use my product, I will use it first,'” Benioff said. “And I think that that’s 100% the right move.”

But he’s not sure he’s personally interested in taking a similar trip.

“I think I might have to take a couple of Ativans before I climb in there,” Benioff said. (Ativan is an anti-anxiety medication.)

One of Benioff’s space investments, Astra, came out of stealth early last year. Astra said in February that it’s going public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that values the business at $2.1 billion. On Monday, the company announced the acquisition of electric propulsion maker Apollo Fusion.

While Benioff’s investment in Astra has been reported, his involvements in the the other three companies he named have not been disclosed, and none are included among his 122 deals listed by PitchBook.

Most notable is SpaceX, the private space company that was valued by investors earlier this year at $74 billion. Benioff has commended SpaceX in the past, including a retweet of Musk in May 2020, in which Benioff said “visionary leadership.” That was just as SpaceX was preparing to launch astronauts into space.

Benioff also said he’s an investor Planet Labs, whose satellite technology takes images from space, and Swarm, which aims to provide internet connectivity from satellites.

“I actually think that space is a huge category that we should invest in,” Benioff said, noting that it’s an area where Time Ventures is active. “I think those companies are amazing in the work they’re doing. and the entrepreneurs.”

— CNBC’s Michael Sheetz contributed to this report.

WATCH: Marc Benioff says company is about to surpass SAP

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Meta shares hit all-time high as Mark Zuckerberg goes on AI hiring blitz

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Meta shares hit all-time high as Mark Zuckerberg goes on AI hiring blitz

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc., during the Meta Connect event on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images


Meta shares hit a record high on Monday, underscoring investor interest in the company’s new AI superintelligence group.

The company’s shares reached $747.90 during midday trading, topping Meta’s previous stock market record in February when it began laying off the 5% of its workforce that it deemed “low performers.”

Meta joins Microsoft and Nvidia among tech megacaps that have reached new highs of late, all closing at records Monday. Apple, Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla remain below their all-time highs reached late last year or early this year.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been on an AI hiring blitz amid fierce competition with rivals such as OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet. Earlier in June, Meta said it would hire Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang and some of his colleagues as part of a $14.3 billion investment into the executive’s data labeling and annotation startup.

The social media company also hired Nat Friedman and his business partner, Daniel Gross, the chief of Safe Superintelligence, an AI startup with a valuation of $32 billion, CNBC reported on June 19. Meta’s attempts to buy Safe Superintelligence were rebuffed by the startup’s founder and AI expert Ilya Sutskever, the report noted.

Wang and Friedman are the leaders of Meta’s new Superintelligence Labs, tasked with overseeing the company’s artificial intelligence foundation models, projects and research, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. The term superintelligence refers to technology that exceeds human capability.

Bloomberg News first reported about the new superintelligence unit.

Meta has also snatched AI researchers from OpenAI. Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, said during a podcast that Meta was offering signing bonuses as high as $100 million.

Andrew Bosworth, Meta’s technology chief, spoke about the social media company’s AI hiring spree during a June 20 interview with CNBC’s “Closing Bell Overtime,” saying that the talent market is “really incredible and kind of unprecedented in my 20-year career as a technology executive.”

WATCH: Meta’s AI talent spending spree

Meta escalated talent war with OpenAI

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Joby Aviation stock pops 12% after delivering first flying taxi to UAE

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Joby Aviation stock pops 12% after delivering first flying taxi to UAE

An electric air taxi by Joby Aviation flies near the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., November 12, 2023. 

Roselle Chen | Reuters

Joby Aviation stock soared about 12% as the flying air taxi maker got closer to launching a service in the United Arab Emirates.

The electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, company said Monday that it delivered its first aircraft to the UAE and has completed piloted flight tests as it readies for a 2026 launch in the region.

“Our flights and operational footprint in Dubai are a monumental step toward weaving air taxi services into the fabric of daily life worldwide,” said founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt in a release. He called the Middle East nation a “launchpad for a global revolution in how we move.”

Joby’s planned launch in the UAE was announced in February 2024 as part of an agreement with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority. The deal included exclusive rights to conduct air taxi service in Dubai for six years.

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As part of the project, Joby said in November that it began building one vertiport at Dubai International Airport, with three additional locations slated for Palm Jumeirah and Dubai’s downtown and marina. Joby also announced an air taxi agreement with three Abu Dhabi government departments in 2024.

The California-based company has made other expansion moves in the Middle East. Shares jumped earlier this month after Saudi Arabian firm Abdul Latif Jameel announced a roughly $1 billion investment for up to 300 eVTOLs. The firm participated in Joby’s Series C funding round.

Joby shares have surged more than 32% this year, swelling its market capitalization to over $9 billion.

Demand for air taxis, which take off and land similar to helicopters, has gained momentum in recent years. The service faces regulatory and safety hurdles but has been lauded for its ability to cut traffic congestion and slash emissions.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that included a pilot program for testing electric air taxis.

WATCH: Joby Aviation shares pop on Saudi Investment

Joby Aviation shares pop on Saudi Investment

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Oracle stock jumps after $30 billion annual cloud deal revealed in filing

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Oracle stock jumps after  billion annual cloud deal revealed in filing

Oracle CEO Safra Catz speaks at the FII PRIORITY Summit in Miami Beach, Florida, on Feb. 20, 2025.

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

Oracle shares jumped more than 5% after a recent filing showed a cloud deal that would add over $30 billion annually.

CEO Safra Catz is slated to share the deal news at a company meeting Monday, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The revenues are expected to start hitting in the 2028 fiscal year.

“Oracle is off to a strong start in FY26,” Catz is expected to say, according to the filing. “Our MultiCloud database revenue continues to grow at over 100%, and we signed multiple large cloud services agreements including one that is expected to contribute more than $30 billion in annual revenue starting in FY28.”

The deals revealed Monday by Catz will not affect the company’s 2026 guidance, according to the filing.

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Oracle shares hit record high

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