San Francisco Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie taps OpenAI’s Sam Altman and other business leaders for help with transition
Mayor- Elect Daniel Lurie speaks in St. Mary’s square a day after winning the Mayoral race in San Francisco on Friday, Nov. 8, 2024.
Gabrielle Lurie | San Francisco Chronicle | Hearst Newspapers | Getty Images
San Francisco’s Mayor-elect Daniel Lurie has begun tapping tech heavyweights and business leaders to help with his goal of overhauling the city’s image. His transition team includes OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and former Twitter CFO Ned Segal.
Lurie, a centrist Democrat and Levi Strauss heir, ousted incumbent London Breed in a closely-watched race and will step into the role in 2025. San Francisco-based companies need to invest in the city and commit to their communities, Lurie told CNBC in an interview. He named both Visa and Salesforce as models for this “two-way street.”
“I’ve had great conversations with Sam Altman,” Lurie said. “He wants to put down roots here in San Francisco. We want to lean into being the home of AI, which we are, and I will continue to invest in that.”
The city can’t have all its eggs in one basket and needs to expand into other business sectors as well, Lurie said.
“We will go recruit companies from all sectors to come back to San Francisco,” Lurie said. “Whether it’s healthcare, whether it’s technology [or] whether it’s arts and culture, we want to be the number-one spot for business again in this country.”
Lurie, who founded the homelessness nonprofit Tipping Point, has plans that include declaring a state of emergency over the fentanyl crisis on day one in office and a previously disclosed proposal to build 1,500 shelter beds within his first six months in office. A fully-staffed police department and 911 dispatch office will be necessary to help bring businesses and workers back to the city, Lurie said.
“We need to make sure we get our behavioral health crisis under control, which means we need to build more mental health and drug treatment beds,” Lurie said. “We have to get people off the streets. We have to do that compassionately, but we also have to send a message — and we are — to the country and to the world that San Francisco is no longer a place that you come to deal drugs or to do drugs or to sleep on our streets.”
Lurie added, “We didn’t get into this overnight, and it won’t be fixed overnight.”
Part of the solution he envisions will be bringing workers back to offices, modeling that goal with his administration. Lurie says his team will be in five days a week, and he hopes that the administration’s work in cleaning up streets will entice others to do the same. More affordable housing will also be a priority to ensure workers can afford to live in the city, he said.
He’s also hopeful that future events the city will host in the next year and a half — from the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference to the 2025 NBA All-Star Game and Super Bowl LX in 2026 — will help invigorate the city.
“I’ve talked to Jamie Dimon,” Lurie said. “I talked to the commissioner of the NBA. They all want San Francisco to come back.”
Lurie’s election is part of a wider trend in the state of moving to the right of progressive policies and leaders of the past. More conservative district attorneys were voted into office in major counties, including Nathan Hochman in Los Angeles, while Alameda county District Attorney Pamela Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao faced successful recalls. California voters also adopted a proposition that increases penalties for certain drug and theft crimes while rebuffing a measure to raise the state’s minimum wage to $18 an hour. Up and down the state, voters’ focus was on the economy, according to polling from the Public Policy Institute of California, which found the economy, cost of living and inflation were the key issues for 35 percent of voters this cycle .
“In some ways it’s remarkable that California remained as much of a blue state and Democratic stronghold as it is considering the way people were feeling about their own financial circumstances, especially compared to four years ago,” Mark Baldassare, PPIC’s survey director, said.
This comes as California Gov. Gavin Newsom has convened a special legislative session next week in an effort to prepare the state and safeguard policies around climate change, reproductive rights and more ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January.
Lurie told CNBC that he disputes the “shift to the right” narrative in the city, adding that his biggest challenge will be combatting the cynicism around what San Francisco has become.
“What we have done in San Francisco is get back to common sense with this election,” Lurie said. “It’s about getting results for the people of San Francisco — allowing people to struggle and die in our streets is not progressive.”
Eric Yuan, founder and CEO of Zoom Video Communications, speaks at Concordia Annual Summit in New York on Sept. 25, 2024.
Leigh Vogel | Concordia Summit | Getty Images
Zoom shares were down 4% in extended trading on Monday after the video calling software maker announced strong fiscal third-quarter results and gave quarterly guidance that was just slightly above expectations.
Here’s how the company did in comparison with LSEG consensus:
- Earnings per share: $1.38 adjusted vs. $1.31 expected
- Revenue: $1.18 billion vs. $1.16 billion expected
Zoom’s revenue grew about 4% year over year in the quarter, which ended on Oct. 31, according to a statement. Zoom has increased revenue in the single digits for two and a half years, a sharp departure from 2020 and 2021, when the Covid-19 pandemic led the business to triple in size.
Net income, at $207.1 million, or 66 cents per share, was up from $141.2 million, or 45 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.
The company reported 192,400 enterprise customers in the quarter, up 800 customers from the previous quarter.
With respect to guidance, Zoom called for $1.29 to $1.30 in fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share on $1.175 billion to $1.180 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by LSEG were expecting $1.29 per share and $1.17 billion in revenue.
Zoom bumped up its view for the 2025 fiscal year. It expects $5.41 to $5.43 in adjusted earnings per share, with $4.656 billion to $4.661 billion in revenue. The middle of the revenue range implies about 3% growth.
LSEG’s consensus was $5.35 per share on revenue of $4.64 billion. In August, Zoom said it was looking for $5.29 to $5.32 per share and revenue between $4.63 billion and $4.64 billion.
During the quarter, Zoom said in the first half of 2025 it will release a premium Custom AI Companion that could connect to corporate glossaries and services such as ServiceNow and Workday. Zoom also started offering single-use webinar options, with room for up to one million attendees.
As of Monday’s close, Zoom stock was up about 24% this year, while the S&P 500 index had gained 25%.
The company also said its corporate name is changing from Zoom Video Communications to Zoom Communications Inc.
“This change reflects our evolution into an AI-first work platform for human connection and our vision for long-term growth,” Zoom’s founder and CEO Eric Yuan said on a conference call with analysts.
Technology
Intel and Commerce Department close to finalizing roughly $8 billion CHIPS Act grant, source says
Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger speaks prior to President Joe Biden’s remarks at Intel Ocotillo Campus on March 20, 2024 in Chandler, Arizona.
Rebecca Noble | Getty Images
Chipmaker Intel and the CHIPS Act Office are close to finalizing a deal which would award the company a roughly $8 billion grant, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the Biden administration moves to dole out funds before President-elect Trump’s inauguration.
That $8 billion will go towards Intel’s factory-building efforts, said the person. The Commerce Department is expected to finalize the awards in the coming weeks, the person said.
Intel is also in line for a $3 billion contract to manufacture chips for the Department of Defense, a deal announced in September and a rare bright spot in the company’s struggling efforts to grow its fab business. The Commerce Department and Intel declined to comment on the matter.
The Wall Street Journal first reported that the two sides were close to finalizing the grant.
But Intel’s struggles have intensified since the grant was initially announced. The New York Times, citing four people familiar with the matter, reported Sunday that the government had decided to decrease the grant by roughly $500 million due to uncertainties about Intel’s ability to execute on its investment commitment, and because of Intel’s shifting technology roadmap and customer demand.
The U.S. awarded Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company a $6.6 billion grant earlier this month, raising investor expectations that cash funding for Intel would come soon. Intel has benefited from CHIPS Act tax breaks but has not yet received cash awards, something which Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has expressed dissatisfaction with.
“We’re frustrated that hasn’t moved faster,” Gelsinger told CNBC in October, referring to the CHIPS Act grants. “They’ve been too bureaucratic in that process. We’re anxious to see those finished.”
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson had previously said he might look to repeal the bipartisan CHIPS Act, but he then walked back those comments. The Biden administration and grant awardees have touted the legislation as a job-creating machine.
Intel’s struggles have increased significantly this year. The company posted a nearly $17 billion loss last quarter and has been dialing back CEO Pat Gelsinger’s ambitious plans worldwide.
Intel announced earlier this year it would trim back 15,000 jobs via layoffs and voluntary buyouts. It has made moves to make its foundry business more easily separable from its legacy business, and has been working with advisors on activist defense and a broader strategic review, people familiar with the matter previously said. Intel is also seeking to raise cash via a minority stake in the Altera business, CNBC previously reported, and has been sounding out interested acquirers for weeks.
It may also be staring down a once-unthinkable prospect: a potential takeover bid from an ascending Qualcomm, which has a market cap that now dwarfs Intel’s.
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