~ FINTECHFRIDAY ~
AI's Winners
and Losers
Google lost $482 billion. Microsoft didn't. Here's what separated them.
Hey guys,
happy Friday.
Hope you're well.
What a week. Google lost $482 billion in a single day as its AI spending outran search growth. Microsoft held steady because its spending still pays for itself. Anthropic filed to go public, Meta is raising $97.5 billion to keep building, and Binance reported a suspected $6.3 billion breach.
The market is now separating AI's winners from its losers, and the difference is who can pay for the build.
Grab a coffee, let's get into it.
Our Fav 5 From
this Week
The five stories that moved money this week.
Tap any card for the full story.
#1
Anthropic
opens its books.
The Claude maker filed to list on Nasdaq as "ANT," with $16.3 billion in first-half revenue, up from $1.16 billion a year ago.
#2
Google's
worst day.
Alphabet fell 12.6% and lost about $482 billion in value, its worst day since its 2004 IPO, after search growth missed.
#3
The $6.3 billion
breach.
Binance is investigating a suspected hack put at about $6.3 billion, and bitcoin fell below $77,000.
#4
Meta
passes the hat.
Meta is selling $97.5 billion of new stock after AI spending pushed its cash flow negative for the first time since 2012. Nvidia and AMD are buying in.
#5
Microsoft's
exit offer.
Microsoft offered buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its staff, then posted its 10th straight record quarter.
Quick Hits
The rest of the week, one line each.
Tap any tile for the source.
Powerball rolls to $760 million for Halloween night.
Americans will spend a record $13.5 billion on Halloween.
DoorDash is buying Instacart for $17 billion.
Apple's new MacBook Pro tops out at $14,549.
Crocs jumped about 25% in a single day.
The Fed held rates, and two officials voted to hike.
C-Level Shake Ups
Who's in, who's out, and what it signals.
~ The ECB: Christine Lagarde will leave on Feb 7, 2027, nine months early.
~ PayPal: CEO Enrique Lores has cut more than 2,000 jobs toward 20% of staff, and raised profit guidance the same week.
~ The Cooper Companies: CEO Albert White stepped down under pressure from activists Jana Partners and Browning West.
~ U.S. Bancorp: Chief risk officer Jodi Richard resigned to join another public company.
~ Odido: The Dutch telecom's CEO stepped down after a hack exposed 6.39 million customers and a €1 billion IPO was shelved.
Hot Takes
This Week
The Rate Cut That Never Came. Two Fed officials voted to hike this week. Mortgages sit at 7.24%, more than a point above a year ago, and refinancing is down more than 60%.
The Debt Collectors Are Back. Nearly 10 million student loan borrowers are in default, and wage garnishment of up to 15% starts next month. Early late payments rose from 1.02% to 1.15% in a single month.
Everyone saw
the headlines.
Few saw the deals
behind them.
Members get the conversations behind weeks like this one, with the founders raising, the investors writing the checks and the executives making the calls.
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