Billionaire investor Peter Thiel is leaving Silicon Valley and maybe even the board of Facebook. Thiel, a vocal supporter of President Trump, is reportedly growing frustrated over the intolerance of conservatism in Silicon Valley. He is moving his home and investment firms from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The investor will take a step back from the tech industry and is considering leaving the Facebook board. He's been a member since 2005.
Amazon officially surpassed Microsoft in market valuation. After the market closed on Wednesday evening, Amazon's market value increased to $702 billion, outpacing Microsoft which stands at $699.2 billion. Apple and Alphabet are still ahead of Amazon in being the most valuable companies.
Microsoft is now the fourth most valuable company.
Congressman Darren Soto (D-FL) joins us from Capitol Hill to share his thoughts on the deadly high school shooting in Parkland, Florida. Unfortunately, Rep. Soto has dealt with a similar tragedy before as he represents Florida's 9th district. That district includes Orlando, the site of the deadly Pulse nightclub shooting in the summer of 2016. Soto is frustrated that Congress has been unable to pass meaningful gun reform in the wake of these mass shootings. He notes how powerful the NRA's influence is over certain members of Congress.
Plus, we speak to the CEO of Celebrity Cruises and others for our Business of Travel show. Lisa Lutoff-Perlo discusses Celebrity's partnership with the Malala Fund. The new "Celebrity Edge" ship will debut later this year, and Malala Yousafzai has been named the ship's Godmother. Perlo also talks about Celebrity's diversity initiatives. She's made it her mission to hire more women. Under her watch, Celebrity named its first-ever American woman as captain.
Disney content has gone dark on YouTube TV, leaving subscribers of the Google-owned live streaming platform without access to major networks like ESPN and ABC. That’s because the companies have failed to reach a new licensing deal to keep Disney channels on YouTube TV. Depending on how long it lasts, the dispute could particularly impact coverage of U.S. college football matchups over the weekend — on top of other news and entertainment disruptions that have already arrived. In the meantime, YouTube TV subscribers who want to watch Disney channels could have little choice other than turning to the company’s own platforms, which come with their own price tags.
President Donald Trump said he has decided to lower his combined tariff rates on imports of Chinese goods to 47% after talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on curbing fentanyl trafficking.
Universal Music Group and AI platform Udio have settled a copyright lawsuit and will collaborate on a new music creation and streaming platform. The companies announced on Wednesday that they reached a compensatory legal settlement and new licensing agreements. These agreements aim to provide more revenue opportunities for Universal's artists and songwriters. The rise of AI song generation tools like Udio has disrupted the music streaming industry, leading to accusations from record labels. This deal marks the first since Universal and others sued Udio and Suno last year. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
