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The future of Tesla Supercharging is uncertain following CEO Elon Musk’s disbanding of the Supercharging team as part of a broader restructuring. The roughly 500 layoffs included senior director of EV charging Rebecca Tinucci and Daniel Ho, director of vehicle programs.

Musk’s abrupt decision has raised concerns about the future of Tesla’s EV charging system, which has grown to be one of the largest EV charging networks in the world, with more than 55,000 charging ports, according to the company.

I would describe the Supercharger network as one of the crown jewels of Tesla,” said Andres Pinter, co-CEO of Bullet EV Charging Solutions. “Instead of doing victory laps and building the Supercharger network and reaping the benefits of this asset, suddenly there’s this pause.”

Bloomberg reported on Monday that Tesla has started hiring back some of the laid-off employees in the group, citing people familiar with the matter.

It’s been a difficult stretch for Tesla, as the EV maker grapples with market pressures and heightened competition in the sector.

Tesla formed a partnership with Ford Motor, General Motors and others last year, opening up some of the Supercharging network to non-Tesla drivers.

Musk said in a post that Tesla still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just at a slower pace. He also said it will invest $500 million in a network expansion and create thousands of new chargers this year. Still, experts question how the recent cuts will affect the overall EV charging landscape.

“We have really relied on Tesla’s leadership here in North America,” said Matt Teske, the founder and CEO of Chargeway. “I think to all of a sudden have the sensation of that leadership seemingly paused or stopped or halted, it brings into question, where do we go from here and who will step up?”

As Tesla navigates its next steps, stakeholders and EV buyers are waiting to see how the decision will affect not just the charging landscape but also the broader adoption of electric cars.

Watch the video for the full story and to learn how the cuts might shape the future of electric car charging and possibly impact Tesla’s position in the market. Tesla didn’t respond to a request for a comment.

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Pinterest shares rocket 19% on strong revenue and user growth

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Pinterest shares rocket 19% on strong revenue and user growth

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Pinterest shares surged 19% after beating Wall Street’s fourth-quarter sales estimates and showing robust user growth from a year ago.

The image-sharing company reported revenues of $1.15 billion, ahead of a $1.14 billion estimate from analysts surveyed by LSEG. The figure represented 18% year-over-year growth.

Along with the revenue beat, the company offered an upbeat sales outlook. Pinterest said its expects revenues between $837 million and $852 million during the first quarter, versus and LSEG estimate of $833 million.

“Our strategy is paying off,” said Pinterest CEO Bill Ready in a statement. “People are coming to Pinterest more often, the platform has never been more actionable and our lower funnel focus is driving results for users and advertisers.”

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Global monthly active user figures also surpassed estimates, showing 11% growth from a year ago. Pinterest reported 553 million users during the period, versus the 547.4 million expected by Wall Street. Revenue per user also topped estimates.

The results come amid a flurry of strong earnings reports from social media companies in recent weeks. Snap shares surged after the bell Tuesday on better-than-expected results, while Meta Platforms recently topped results and reaffirmed plans for heavy artificial intelligence spending.

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Softbank set to invest $40 billion in OpenAI at $260 billion valuation, sources say

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Softbank set to invest  billion in OpenAI at 0 billion valuation, sources say

Faber Report: Softbank set to invest $40 billion in OpenAI at $260 billion valuation, sources say

SoftBank is close to finalizing a $40 billion primary investment in OpenAI at a $260 billion pre-money valuation, sources told CNBC’s David Faber.

SoftBank would pay out the funding, which would mean a $300 billion post-money valuation for OpenAI, over the next 12 to 24 months, with the first payment coming as soon as spring, Faber reported Friday. SoftBank would be able to syndicate as much as $10 billion of the amount.

The new funding would mean SoftBank surpasses Microsoft as the artificial intelligence startup’s top backer. OpenAI was last valued at $157 billion by private investors in October.

The round was initially expected to award OpenAI a valuation of $340 billion, but a source familiar with the matter later told CNBC that the amount would be closer to $300 billion.

Part of the funding is expected to be used for OpenAI’s commitment to Stargate, sources told CNBC. Stargate is a joint venture between SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle that was announced by President Donald Trump in January. The plan calls for billions of dollars to be invested in U.S. AI infrastructure.

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OpenAI launched its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022, kicking off the generative AI race. Since then, the company has aggressively competed against the likes of Elon Musk’s xAI, as well as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta and Anthropic. The generative AI market is predicted to top $1 trillion in revenue within a decade.

The latest funding round comes after SoftBank on Monday committed to spending $3 billion per year on OpenAI’s tech for itself and its subsidiaries, including British chip designer Arm. SoftBank and OpenAI also announced a joint venture, billed as “SB OpenAI Japan,” which will market OpenAI’s enterprise tech to companies in Japan.

OpenAI in January released ChatGPT Gov, an AI platform built specifically for the U.S. government. The startup pitched the new platform as having more security than ChatGPT Enterprise. ChatGPT Gov will allow government agencies to feed “non-public, sensitive information” into OpenAI’s models while operating within their own secure hosting environments, the company said.

The government offering follows a series of moves by OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman that appeared to be aimed at appeasing Trump. Altman contributed $1 million to Trump’s inauguration, attended the event alongside other tech CEOs and has publicly signaled his admiration for the president. 

OpenAI’s new funding comes after Chinese rival DeepSeek saw its app soar to the top of Apple’s App Store rankings in January after its debut. DeepSeek’s breakthrough R1 model roiled U.S. markets on reports that the powerful model was trained at a fraction of the cost of U.S. competitors’ models.

Altman described DeepSeek’s R1 as “impressive,” and wrote on X that “we will obviously deliver much better models and also it’s legit invigorating to have a new competitor!”

WATCH: Sam Altman: OpenAI has been on the ‘wrong side of history’ post-DeepSeek

Sam Altman: OpenAI has been on the 'wrong side of history' post-DeepSeek

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NFL goes after Gen Z fans by courting creators on YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat

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NFL goes after Gen Z fans by courting creators on YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat

Katie Austin normally publishes fitness content to her Instagram and YouTube channel. But this week, she’s been posting a steady trickle of content from New Orleans.

That’s because Austin, 31, from California, is one of hundreds of creators who have swarmed the Big Easy for Super Bowl 59, getting paid large contracts to make social media content for big-name brands like Electronic Arts and Nike.

Austin was sent to New Orleans this week by Snap and the NFL to give her fans a behind-the-scenes look at the Super Bowl. She’s also involved in integrations around the games with brands like Microsoft and Verizon, for whom she is hosting a promotional fan event.

“I can reach a lot of people myself,” said Austin, who has about 2 million followers across all platforms. “So sending a creator like me to an experience, I am engaging my followers to get that awareness.”

As the 2024 NFL season concludes, viewership and engagement among Generation Z and Generation Alpha has hit a record high, according to the NFL. Austin’s role underscores a new reality where online creators are treated just like traditional celebrities, in an attempt to attract younger audiences to football.

The NFL has made this push in partnership with social apps like YouTube and Snapchat, highlighting the league’s evolving marketing strategies that are increasingly focused on digitally native audiences.

“You start to look at these different cohorts of fans, especially the ones that are a little more difficult to reach through linear and you start to see the role in which creators can play and broaden that audience,” said Ian Trombetta, NFL senior vice president of social, influencer and creator marketing. 

For this year’s Super Bowl, featuring the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles, brands like Nike and EA are sponsoring creators to attend the event and post content.

Austin didn’t say how much she’s getting paid for the content she’s making at Super Bowl 59, but some brands have signed deals of up to six figures with some creators to promote the event, said Victoria Bachan, global president of Sixteenth, a creator talent management company.

“You can no longer really have a media strategy for tentpole opportunities like this that do not include a creator level,” said Bachan.

Brands are increasing their spending on influencer activations for this year’s Super Bowl between 25% and 35%, and they’re diverting funds from traditional TV-only advertising to do so, according to a study by Captiv8, an influencer marketing platform.

The push for creators comes after concerns about younger audiences’ lack of interest in sports had grown. A 2022 Emory Goizueta Business School study found that 27% of Gen Z identify as “anti-sports,” compared with 7% of millennials and 5% of Generation X.

The NFL’s push to engage creators, which began in 2019, has already paid off. The percentage of Gen Z and Gen A who identify as fans has grown steadily for the last three years to an all-time high as the league’s investment in creators has grown, according to the NFL.

Besides Austin, Snapchat sent a handful of other creators to the Super Bowl to post behind-the-scenes content using augmented reality filters.

Meanwhile, YouTube, which secured a $2 billion-per-year deal for the rights to “NFL Sunday Ticket” in 2022, has established itself as pivotal to connecting the league with digital audiences. This year, YouTube will debut as the first official sponsor of the Super Bowl Tailgate, which will feature events with top creators like Kristy and Desmond Scott and a livestreamed performance by rapper Post Malone before the game on Sunday.

To adapt to these changes, the NFL has eased up on restrictions around the use of official league footage by creators on their YouTube channels. 

The league and YouTube in January expanded their “Access Pass” program to allow retired NFL players like Cam Newton, Jason Kelce and Kurt Benkert to use league footage in their videos. 

“There’s this pathway now that certainly did not exist five to 10 years ago,” Trombetta said. “It’s really cool especially as these athletes showcase more of their personalities off the field.”

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