Apple execs were reportedly skeptical on headset, with one likening it to a ‘science project’
Apple CEO Tim Cook looks on during an Apple event at their headquarters in Cupertino, California, September 7, 2022.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
Apple’s headset project suffered from CEO Tim Cook’s “distant” approach and lacked the confidence of key company executives at times, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
The augmented reality headset has been in the works for years but has reportedly been hampered by Cook’s “relative noninvolvement,” Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the project, with the project costing over $1 billion annually and having changed direction significantly since work began.
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Cook’s relatively hands-off approach to a marquee project stands in stark contrast to his predecessor, Apple’s late founder Steve Jobs. Jobs was known for his obsessive focus on even the smallest details of a project, and worked closely with his top design executive, Jony Ive.
Cook’s approach is quite different. “He’s the complete opposite of Steve in terms of having strong opinions on the minutiae,” a person familiar told Bloomberg. Cook isn’t alone in keeping his distance, Bloomberg reported.
Top executives including Apple software chief Craig Federighi and hardware executive Johny Srouji have both shown concern about the project, Bloomberg reported. Federighi seemed “wary” and kept his distance, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar, and Srouji compared the headset effort to a “science project.”
But executive concerns may not weigh as heavily on the project’s success as much as consumer response might. Apple made the decision to sell the headset product at cost as opposed to at a loss, as it originally planned to do, Bloomberg reported.
The company has reportedly revised sale estimates down from 3 million a year to 900,000 annually. Those shifting sales estimates have come as the company has revised the headset’s form factor and utility.
Bloomberg reported that Ive, who departed from Apple in 2019 but remained involved in headset development until “about a year ago,” clashed with the executive tasked with exploring “head-worn devices,” Mike Rockwell.
Ive was reportedly pushing for a “maximally portable device,” close to how Cook envisioned the device. Rockwell’s team initially wanted a device that would rely on a Mac-mini-sized base station, an approach that other augmented- and virtual-reality manufacturers have shied away from.
Stand-alone glasses are now at least four years away after Apple decided to postpone any major product development in that arena, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar.
One open question, and potentially the most significant concern, is how consumers will use it. Meta’s Oculus has struggled with some obstacles to adoption despite the company’s onetime bet-the-house approach to virtual reality; Magic Leap, another augmented-reality firm, has pared back its vision significantly.
Chief executive officer of Google Sundar Pichai.
Marek Antoni Iwanczuk | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Google on Friday made the latest a splash in the AI talent wars, announcing an agreement to bring in Varun Mohan, co-founder and CEO of artificial intelligence coding startup Windsurf.
As part of the deal, Google will also hire other senior Windsurf research and development employees. Google is not investing in Windsurf, but the search giant will take a nonexclusive license to certain Windsurf technology, according to a person familiar with the matter. Windsurf remains free to license its technology to others.
“We’re excited to welcome some top AI coding talent from Windsurf’s team to Google DeepMind to advance our work in agentic coding,” a Google spokesperson wrote in an email. “We’re excited to continue bringing the benefits of Gemini to software developers everywhere.”
The deal between Google and Windsurf comes after the AI coding startup had been in talks with OpenAI for a $3 billion acquisition deal, CNBC reported in April. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move ratchets up the talent war in AI particularly among prominent companies. Meta has made lucrative job offers to several employees at OpenAI in recent weeks. Most notably, the Facebook parent added Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang to lead its AI strategy as part of a $14.3 billion investment into his startup.
Douglas Chen, another Windsurf co-founder, will be among those joining Google in the deal, Jeff Wang, the startup’s new interim CEO and its head of business for the past two years, wrote in a post on X.
“Most of Windsurf’s world-class team will continue to build the Windsurf product with the goal of maximizing its impact in the enterprise,” Wang wrote.
Windsurf has become more popular this year as an option for so-called vibe coding, which is the process of using new age AI tools to write code. Developers and non-developers have embraced the concept, leading to more revenue for Windsurf and competitors, such as Cursor, which OpenAI also looked at buying. All the interest has led investors to assign higher valuations to the startups.
This isn’t the first time Google has hired select people out of a startup. It did the same with Character.AI last summer. Amazon and Microsoft have also absorbed AI talent in this fashion, with the Adept and Inflection deals, respectively.
Microsoft is pushing an agent mode in its Visual Studio Code editor for vibe coding. In April, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said AI is composing as much of 30% of his company’s code.
The Verge reported the Google-Windsurf deal earlier on Friday.
Technology
Nvidia’s Jensen Huang sells more than $36 million in stock, catches Warren Buffett in net worth
Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, holds a motherboard as he speaks during the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, on June 11, 2025.
Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang unloaded roughly $36.4 million worth of stock in the leading artificial intelligence chipmaker, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The sale, which totals 225,000 shares, comes as part of Huang’s previously adopted plan in March to unload up to 6 million shares of Nvidia through the end of the year. He sold his first batch of stock from the agreement in June, equaling about $15 million.
Last year, the tech executive sold about $700 million worth of shares as part of a prearranged plan. Nvidia stock climbed about 1% Friday.
Huang’s net worth has skyrocketed as investors bet on Nvidia’s AI dominance and graphics processing units powering large language models.
The 62-year-old’s wealth has grown by more than a quarter, or about $29 billion, since the start of 2025 alone, based on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index. His net worth last stood at $143 billion in the index, putting him neck-and-neck with Berkshire Hathaway‘s Warren Buffett at $144 billion.
Shortly after the market opened Friday, Fortune‘s analysis of net worth had Huang ahead of Buffett, with the Nvidia CEO at $143.7 billion and the Oracle of Omaha at $142.1 billion.
The company has also achieved its own notable milestones this year, as it prospers off the AI boom.
On Wednesday, the Santa Clara, California-based chipmaker became the first company to top a $4 trillion market capitalization, beating out both Microsoft and Apple. The chipmaker closed above that milestone Thursday as CNBC reported that the technology titan met with President Donald Trump.
Brooke Seawell, venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, sold about $24 million worth of Nvidia shares, according to an SEC filing. Seawell has been on the company’s board since 1997, according to the company.
Huang still holds more than 858 million shares of Nvidia, both directly and indirectly, in different partnerships and trusts.
WATCH: Nvidia hits $4 trillion in market cap milestone despite curbs on chip exports
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