*By Jacqueline Corba*
Salesforce has saved a seat at its executive meetings for Einstein, an artificial intelligence-powered robot developed by the cloud computing company.
"The fact that we are using our own products to really drive our forecasting, it's pretty amazing," said Bob Stutz, CEO of Salesforce's Marketing Cloud. "It is really great to have that tool that you can use every single day to run your business."
Salesforce's chief executive, Marc Benioff, has been an outspoken proponent of the company's use of A.I., and said that Einstein has [been at every weekly senior staff meeting](http://fortune.com/2018/01/25/salesforce-benioff-einstein-davos-ai/) for the last year.
Stutz said Einstein pulls his weight on a team that has grown its quarterly revenue by 41 percent year over year.
"We are on an incredible tear right now," Stutz said in an interview with Cheddar. "It's really helping customers connect with their consumers across sales, marketing, service ー it's a real growth driver for us nowadays."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/inside-salesforce-marketing-cloud-growth).
Snap is reportedly looking to get into gaming, a move that other platforms will likely copy because users are starting to "socialize in these games," says Chris Merwin, esports analyst at Goldman Sachs.
More than a third of GoDaddy's 18 million users are from outside the U.S., a number that will continue to rise, says Wagner. The platform is also adding new services to help it expand beyond hosting websites. "Our goal over the next five years is to really be the place where ideas start, grow, and thrive online."
The messaging tool was down for the better part of Wednesday, affecting workplaces across the country. For its size and how crucial it has become for businesses, an hours-long outage is "really troubling," says Brett Molina, digital editor at USA TODAY.
The ride-sharing company got a new $600 million worth of funding, led by investment firm Fidelity. That raises its valuation to $15.1 billion from about $7.5 billion a year ago. But even with the fresh money, Andrew Hawkins, senior transportation reporter for the Verge, said the company could still IPO before Uber.
The White House announced plans to ease restrictions on Chinese investment in U.S. technology companies on Wednesday. The Trump administration won't block companies with 25 percent or more of Chinese ownership from buying into the U.S. tech sector. Markets rebounded on the news.
The results are in from Tuesday's primary elections. Zach Montellaro, campaign reporter at Politico, joins Cheddar to weigh in on the shocking political upset in New York's 14th district. Political newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated Rep. Joe Crowley, the fourth most powerful Democrat in the House.
Plus, Conagra Brands is buying Pinnacle Foods in a cash-and-stock deal worth $10.9 billion. The deal will create the second largest frozen food company in the U.S., just behind Nestle. Conagra owns Healthy Choice and Pinnacle owns Birds Eye.
Divi Project allows users to send cryptocurrencies to each other with the same ease as PayPal, but without the high transaction fees, since the company doesn't need an intermediary, says Co-Founder Nick Saponado.
The web hosting company's CEO spends a big chunk of time thinking about data rights and privacy, but Scott Wagner says his firm has an advantage over other internet companies because it doesn't rely on selling that info. "GoDaddy's business has always been about protecting information," Wagner said.
Match, which acquired a 51 percent stake in the dating app last week, will help the company scale both domestically and around the world, said Hinge CEO Justin McLeod. Match's portfolio also includes Tinder and OkCupid.
Instagram is now estimated at over $100 billion in value. Venmo rolls out an actual plastic debit card with Mastercard. The FDA approves its first marijuana-derived medication. The newest member of the Bush family is Sully the service dog. The yellow lab has been assigned to President George H.W. Bush, who is 94, and recovering from recent hospitalizations.
Amazon is partnering with American Express to launch a credit card designed for small businesses. But don't expect the financial industry to be the next area the tech giant jumps into, said Autonomous Research partner Lex Sokolin told Cheddar.
