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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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Hims & Hers faces scrutiny from lawmakers over ‘misleading’ Super Bowl ad

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Hims & Hers faces scrutiny from lawmakers over 'misleading' Super Bowl ad

The New York Stock Exchange with a Hims & Hers Health banner is pictured in the Manhattan borough of New York City.

Carlo Allegri | Reuters

Hims & Hers is facing scrutiny from lawmakers over what they claim is a “misleading” advertisement for its weight loss offerings that’s slated to run during the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) wrote a letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday expressing concerns over an “upcoming advertisement” that “risks misleading patients by omitting any safety or side effect information when promoting a specific type of weight loss medication.”

The Hims & Hers ad, which the company released online in late January, is called “Sick of the System” and sharply criticizes the $160 billion dollar weight loss industry. It shows visuals of existing weight loss medications known as GLP-1s, including injection pens that look like Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic.

The ad claims those drugs are “priced for profits, not patients,” and points to Hims & Hers’ weight loss medications as “affordable” and “doctor-trusted” alternatives.

“We are complying with existing law and are happy to continue working with Congress and the new Administration to fix the broken health system and ensure that patients have choices for quality, safe, and affordable healthcare,” a Hims & Hers spokesperson told CNBC in a statement.

The senators do not mention Hims & Hers by name in their letter, but they do reference some of the visuals in the ad, including “imagery of an injection pen with distinctive characteristics reflective of an existing brand-name medication.”

“Nowhere in this promotion is there any side effect disclosure, risk, or safety information as would be typically required in a pharmaceutical advertisement,” the senators wrote. “Further, for only three seconds during the minute-long commercial does the screen flash in small, barely legible font, that these products are not FDA-approved.”

Hims & Hers began offering compounded semaglutide through its platform in May after launching a new weight loss program in late 2023. Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, which can each cost around $1,000 a month without insurance.

Shares of Hims & Hers jumped over 170% last year, thanks to soaring demand for GLP-1s. They rose another 8% on Friday, lifting the company’s market cap to about $9.5 billion.

Compounded GLP-1s are typically much cheaper and can serve as an alternative for patients that are navigating complex supply hurdles and spotty insurance coverage. Hims & Hers sells compounded semaglutide for under $200 a month.

The FDA doesn’t review the safety and efficacy of compounded products, which are custom-made alternatives to brand drugs designed to meet a specific patient’s needs. Compounded products can also be produced when brand-name treatments are in shortage.

Semaglutide is currently in shortage, according to the FDA.

Sens. Durbin and Marshall said that advertisements for brand-name GLP-1 medications include “significant risk disclosures to patients about side effects and contraindications, including warnings about potential gallbladder, pancreas, vomiting, diarrhea, and other implications.”

A release on Durbin’s website says that the ad in question appears to exploit a loophole “regarding promotions of compounded drugs by telehealth companies.”

The senators said they believe the FDA may have the authority to take enforcement actions against marketing that could mislead patients, and they plan to introduce new legislation to address regulatory loopholes.

WATCH: New study reveals why patients stop taking GLP-1 obesity drugs

New study reveals why patients stop taking GLP-1 obesity drugs

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Trump delays cancellation of de minimis trade exemption targeting China imports

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Trump delays cancellation of de minimis trade exemption targeting China imports

Employees package and sort express parcels at an e-commerce company on Nov. 1, 2024, around the Double 11 Shopping Festival in Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province of China.

Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday that puts a pause on his closing of the de minimis trade exemption, a provision commonly used by Chinese e-commerce companies Temu and Shein.

The order states that de minimis will be restored for small packages shipped from China, “but shall cease to be available for such articles upon notification by the Secretary of Commerce to the President that adequate systems are in place to fully and expediently process and collect tariff revenue” on those items.

Trump on Saturday suspended the exemption as part of new tariffs that include an additional 10% tax on Chinese goods. The nearly century-old exception, known as de minimis, has been used by many e-commerce companies to send goods worth less than $800 into the U.S. duty-free, creating a competitive advantage.

It was predicted that its removal could overwhelm U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees, as the mountain of low-value shipments already making their way into the U.S. would suddenly require formal processing.

De minimis has helped fuel an explosion in cheap goods being shipped from China into the U.S. CBP has said it processed more than 1.3 billion de minimis shipments in 2024. A 2023 report from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party found that Temu and Shein are “likely responsible” for more than 30% of de minimis shipments into the U.S., and “likely nearly half” of all de minimis shipments originate from China.

Critics of the de minimis provision say it’s provided an unfair advantage to Chinese e-commerce companies, and created an influx of packages that are “subject to minimal documentation and inspection,” raising concerns around counterfeit and unsafe goods.

The Biden administration proposed a new rule last September to curb the “overuse and abuse” of de minimis. The rule proposes to strengthen the CBP’s information collection requirements for de minimis shipments.

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Amazon scrubs DEI mention from its annual report

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Amazon scrubs DEI mention from its annual report

A person walks by The Spheres at the Amazon.com Inc. headquarters in Seattle, Washington, on Nov. 14, 2022.

David Ryder | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Amazon has removed any references to diversity and inclusion from its most recent annual report.

The company filed its report for 2024 on Friday following the release of its fourth-quarter earnings. The prior annual report included a mention of “inclusion and diversity” in a section titled “Human Capital,” language that does not appear in the latest filing.

The previous report read, “As we strive to be Earth’s best employer, we focus on investment and innovation, inclusion and diversity, safety, and engagement to hire and develop the best talent.”

Now that section reads, “We strive to be Earth’s best employer,” and says the company relies on “numerous and evolving initiatives to implement this objective.”

The change comes after Amazon recently halted some of its diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, programs. Candi Castleberry, Amazon’s vice president of inclusive experiences and technology, told employees in a December memo that the company was in the process of “winding down outdated programs and materials” as part of a broader review of hundreds of initiatives.

Amazon also edited a public-facing webpage that states its policy positions to trim its messaging around DEI issues. Previously, there were separate sections dedicated to “Equity for Black people,” “Diversity, equity and inclusion” and “LGBTQ+ rights.” Those sections were all consolidated into a single paragraph, while any mention of the term “transgender” was removed.

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Companies in Silicon Valley and beyond have been moving swiftly away from DEI policies since President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Google scrapped language around DEI goals in its annual report, and Meta last month announced it was retreating from internal programs designed to increase its hiring of diverse candidates.

McDonald’s, Walmart and Target have also ended or changed some programs, while other companies including Disney, GM, GE and Pepsi are removing mentions of DEI in their annual filings, NPR reported.

Some companies have steered clear of the backlash against DEI. Costco rejected a shareholder proposal to report on the risks of its DEI policies to its stock price. Apple is also resisting a similar proposal. The CEOs of Pinterest, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have indicated they plan to stand by their DEI policies.

Amazon, the nation’s second-largest employer behind Walmart, had more than 1.5 million employees as of Dec. 31. In recent years, Amazon had pledged to double the number of Black employees in senior leadership roles and hire 30% more Black people as corporate employees in the U.S.

The changes in its approach to DEI come as the company pursues a massive investment in artificial intelligence, which CEO Andy Jassy calls a  “once in a lifetime opportunity.” On its earnings call on Thursday, Amazon said it plans to boost its capital expenditures to $100 billion in 2025 with a focus on AI. That is the biggest capex commitment among the megacap tech companies.

WATCH: Amazon falls on guidance

Amazon shares fall on Q1 guidance despite beat

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