Lawmakers meet with Apple, Disney CEOs as part of talks on competition with China

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2 years ago

April 7, 2023

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High-profile tech and media executives shared their experiences of working in and competing with China with lawmakers who visited California this week.

A delegation of about 10 members of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party made the trip west to meet with industry leaders and subject matter experts about key areas of concern when it comes to dealing with China.

Over the three-day trip that kicked off on Wednesday, lawmakers were scheduled to meet with Disney CEO Bob Iger and Apple CEO Tim Cook, as well as high-level executives from Google, Microsoft, Palantir and Scale AI. Also on the agenda were events with a group of producers, screenwriters and former studio executives who have experience working with China, as well as with venture capitalists and Stanford University experts, according to a source close to the committee.

The trip highlights the key role tech and media industries play in America’s increasingly complex relationship with China. While these industries often rely on the massive audiences and workforces available in China, dependence on the country raises concerns of human rights and free speech issues because of the government’s censorship controls, as well as supply chain risks.

The trip comes on the heels of a historic meeting in California between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday. That meeting, which former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also praised, enraged the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese government called the meeting a “provocation” and promised “resolute actions.”

In Hollywood, the group of lawmakers from the select committee learned about a range of topics related to competition with China. In a meeting with Disney’s Iger and later at a dinner with unnamed studio executives, censorship of creative content was a big focus, according to the source familiar with the committee’s activities. Executives discussed dealing with self-censorship to try to ensure a movie won’t offend the Chinese government even before filming begins, as well as edit requests they receive from the government in order to show films in the country.

In Silicon Valley on Thursday, according to the source, Microsoft President Brad Smith gave a presentation about artificial intelligence, warning that there is a narrow gap between the U.S. and China in the development of generative AI, which has been made popular by tools such as ChatGPT. He also discussed rare earth mineral mining and processing, which make up key components in certain tech devices. Smith and executives from Google, Palantir and ScaleAI attended a luncheon with committee members.

Lawmakers also met with experts from Stanford University, including those from the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation, according to center founding member Steve Blank. In a phone call following the discussion Thursday, Blank said he communicated the need for a defense strategy that involves more public-private partnerships across different industries to get the U.S. up to speed with China. Blank said he was impressed by the bipartisanship and interest he saw from lawmakers in attendance.

“In general, the questions they asked, you would have been very proud to be an American sitting in that room,” Blank said. “They were bipartisan, and they were to the point and they were very smart. These people understand the issues, and they’re trying to help the country be better.”

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a committee member who represents Silicon Valley, told CNBC in a phone interview ahead of the trip on Tuesday that he was excited for his colleagues to visit his home district. Khanna said it’s always valuable for lawmakers to spend time learning about cutting-edge technologies such as AI, quantum computing and climate tech to better understand how to both regulate and foster it.

“I think it would be wise for every member of Congress to spend a week in Silicon Valley,” Khanna said. “Technology is going to define so many fields from the economy to national security to our issues of citizenship, and we need people to be immersed in it, at least understanding it.”

Khanna and others have described the purpose of the trip as primarily a fact-finding mission. While the conversations will likely inform future policymaking and hearings, lawmakers entered the meetings aiming to learn from industry executives on the ground.

The group was also slated to meet with venture capitalists on Thursday, including Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures and SV Angel. Khanna expected the VCs would discuss how the government could “better collaborate with the private sector” to stay ahead of China in key areas of emerging technology.

On Friday, lawmakers were set to discuss cryptocurrency with experts at Stanford before traveling to Cupertino to meet with Cook at Apple’s headquarters, according to the source familiar with the committee’s plans.

Khanna said he anticipated the business leaders would inform the policymakers of any progress they’ve made in diversifying their supply chains out of China and how they use export revenue from China to invest in the U.S. When it comes to the meeting with Apple’s CEO, Khanna said he expected Cook would “speak candidly about the supply chain issues,” including the complexities and progress of diversifying production outside of China.

In a phone interview partway through the trip on Thursday, Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., said she saw common themes between the sorts of challenges the tech and media industries face when it comes to China and those facing the automotive industry in her home state.

“Every meeting we’ve been in, in my opinion, has related back to Michigan’s economy and our ability to manufacture as a country,” Stevens said. “One of the themes that I came into the committee with as a manufacturing champion and as someone who understands the interrelatedness between manufacturing and tech is: What else do we need to do to incentivize and grow industrial policy in the United States of America?” Stevens said. She pointed to the passage of the Chips and Science Act as an example of incentivizing domestic semiconductor manufacturing.

“Now, we’re looking at other areas specific to supply chain vulnerabilities and weaknesses that are going to impact our economy and, aside from chips, we want to be competitive in quantum and artificial intelligence,” Stevens said.

— CNBC’s Steve Kovach contributed to this report.

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Technology

StubHub IPO is back on for September after ticketing company delayed plans on tariff concerns

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2 hours ago

August 11, 2025

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StubHub IPO is back on for September after ticketing company delayed plans on tariff concerns

StubHub updates S-1 filing effectively restarting IPO process

StubHub, the ticketing marketplace that spun out of eBay in 2020, has resumed its plans to go public and is now aiming to hold its IPO next month, CNBC has learned.

The company originally paused its IPO plans in April as the stock market was reeling from President Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs. The decision came after StubHub submitted its prospectus in March indicating it would list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “STUB.”

StubHub now expects to kick off its IPO roadshow after Labor Day, Sept. 1, and make its debut later in the month, according to a source familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the discussions are confidential.

The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

StubHub also filed an updated IPO prospectus on Monday. It reported revenue growth in the first quarter of 10% from a year earlier to $397.6 million. Operating income came in at $26.8 million for the period, after the company lost $883,000 in the year-ago period, but its net loss widened to $35.9 million from $29.7 million a year ago.

The IPO market has come to life in recent months after an extended dry spell due to high inflation and rising interest rates. A flurry of startups have made their public debuts, including rocket maker Firefly Aerospace, design software company Figma, crypto firm Circle and AI infrastructure provider CoreWeave. Bullish, the cryptocurrency exchange that counts Peter Thiel as an investor, also filed its IPO prospectus last month.

StubHub has been a longtime player in the ticketing industry since its launch in 2000. It was purchased by eBay for $310 million in 2007, but was reacquired by its co-founder Eric Baker in 2020 for $4 billion through his new company Viagogo.

The company had sought a $16.5 billion valuation before it began the IPO process, CNBC previously reported. StubHub didn’t provide an expected pricing range for its shares in the filing.

As it prepares to go public, StubHub is contending with hefty competition in the online ticketing market. In addition to Ticketmaster, which is owned by Live Nation, StubHub is up against secondary market companies, including Vivid Seats, SeatGeek and TicketNetwork

For the first quarter, StubHub reported gross merchandise sales of $2.08 billion, up 15% from a year prior. That was a slowdown from 47% expansion the previous quarter. StubHub said GMS, or the total value paid by buyers for tickets and fulfillment, builds in each quarter and that initial sales for major concert tours typically occur near the end of the year.

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Technology

Trump says he asked for 20% cut from Nvidia, calls H20 an ‘obsolete’ chip

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5 hours ago

August 11, 2025

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Trump says he asked for 20% cut from Nvidia, calls H20 an 'obsolete' chip

U.S. President Donald Trump (L) listens as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang speaks in the Cross Hall of the White House during an event on “Investing in America” on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Andrew Harnik | Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Monday said that he initially asked Nvidia for a 20% cut of the chipmaker’s sales to China, but the number came down to 15% after CEO Jensen Huang negotiated with him.

The comments came after news broke over the weekend that Nvidia agreed to pay the federal government a 15% cut in return for receiving export control licenses that will allow it to once again sell the H20 chip to China and Chinese companies. Nvidia’s Huang visited Trump in the White House on Friday.

“I said, ‘listen, I want 20% if I’m going to approve this for you, for the country,'” Trump said in a press conference in Washington.

Trump said that Nvidia’s H20 is an “old chip that China already has” and is “obsolete.” He compared the H20 chip to Nvidia’s current fastest artificial intelligence chip, which is called Blackwell, and said that he wouldn’t allow those to be sold to China without significant downgrades, such as a 30% to 50% reduction in performance.

“The Blackwell is super-duper advanced. I wouldn’t make a deal with that,” Trump said, adding that it was possible to make a deal for a “somewhat enhanced in a negative way” version of Blackwell.

“That’s the latest and the greatest in the world. Nobody has it. They won’t have it for five years,” Trump said.

One reason for the U.S. export controls is fear that providing advanced chips to China could allow the foreign power to leapfrog the U.S. in AI capabilities. Many have said that could pose a threat to the national security of the U.S.

Trump said that China already has chips with some similar capabilities to the H20.

Huang has said that it is better for U.S. national security if Chinese AI developers use U.S. technology, and that denying them access to Nvidia chips would actually encourage the Chinese chip industry to develop and catch up.

“He’s selling a essentially old chip,” Trump said. “Huawei has a similar chip.”

The H20 is a Chinese-specific chip that has had its performance slowed down. It is related to Nvidia’s H100 and H200 chips that are used in the U.S. The H20 was introduced after the Biden administration implemented export controls on AI chips in 2023.

In April, the Trump administration said it would require a license to export the H20 chip, and in May, Huang said that “effectively closed” the market off to Nvidia. Huang said that Nvidia was expecting to sell about $8 billion in H20 chips in the July quarter before sales were stopped.

“While we haven’t shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide,” an Nvidia spokesperson told CNBC on Monday.

Trump on Monday also said that Huang plans to visit him again to negotiate export licenses for the Blackwell chips.

“I think he’s coming to see me again about that,” Trump said.

A White House official confirmed to CNBC that AMD, the second-place AI chip maker, will also pay 15% to receive an export license for its China-focused AI chip, the Instinct MI308.

WATCH: Nvidia, AMD to pay U.S. 15% of AI chip sales in China to secure export licenses

Technology

Crypto exchange Bullish raises IPO size, seeks nearly $5 billion valuation

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5 hours ago

August 11, 2025

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Crypto exchange Bullish raises IPO size, seeks nearly billion valuation

Pavlo Gonchar | SOPA Images | AP

Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish raised the size of its initial public offering.

Bullish is aiming to raise $990 million, offering 30 million shares priced between $32 and $33 apiece, and targeting a valuation of $4.8 billion, according to a Monday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company, led by former New York Stock Exchange president Tom Farley, had previously marketed 20.3 million shares at a proposed range between $28 and $31 a share and sought a $4.2 billion valuation, per a filing last week.

Bullish granted its underwriters, led by JPMorgan, Jefferies and Citigroup, a 30-day option to sell an additional 4.5 million shares. Bullish stock will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol “BLSH.”

BlackRock and Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management have indicated interest in purchasing up to $200 million of the shares, according to the updated filing.

Bullish, which also owns the crypto media site CoinDesk, is the latest crypto firm to join the public market, reflecting reinvigorated capital markets driven by investor confidence and increasing regulatory support and clarity from Washington. The stablecoin issuer Circle made its highly successful debut in June. In May, Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital uplisted to the Nasdaq and stock and crypto trading app eToro opened trading to the public.