The Verge’s latest insights into the ideas shaping the future of work, finance, and innovation. Here you’ll find scoops, analysis, and reporting across some of the most influential companies in the world. Our coverage also includes interviews with innovators and policy makers at the frontiers of business and technology on Editor-in-Chief Nilay Patel’s Decoder; a behind-the-curtain look at Silicon Valley with Alex Heath’s Command Line; and exclusive reporting on Microsoft’s strategy in Tom Warren’s Notepad.
One of Tesla’s usually favorable Wall Street analysts, Dan Ives from Wedbush, published a note pleading with CEO Elon Musk to spend less time at DOGE. “Tesla and Musk are facing a defining chapter in their future and how Musk handles this next few months will be pivotal to the long term growth trajectory of Tesla in our view,” Ives wrote. Another thing Ives says Musk needs to do is prepare lower-cost vehicles for 2025.
DoorDash is partnering with Klarna so users can pay for groceries and takeout in installments. “Buy now, pay later” services like Klarna can be a convenient way to split up big purchases, but can also be debt traps. It’s the type of service the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was looking into — before Elon Musk and the Trump administration began gutting the agency.
Elon Musk has publicly railed against Delaware’s corporate law as its judges ruled against his wishes, moving the incorporation of Tesla and other companies out of state. Now, CNBC says a January WSJ report that Meta was considering moving its incorporation spurred immediate action from the governor on a new bill, SB 21, that might make its laws friendlier to folks like Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.
After skipping a typical review by the state’s bar association, it’s passed the state Senate and could be voted on by the state House as soon as Thursday.
That’s how much Google’s parent company will pay if its $32 billion acquisition of the cloud security startup falls apart, sources tell the Financial Times. The deal reportedly wouldn’t have proceeded without such a high termination fee, which the FT calls “among the largest of all time.”
Last summer’s reports that Google was negotiating to acquire Wiz never came to fruition, but now the Wall Street Journal and The Information report that talks have started again. At the reported price of about $30 billion this time, it would be Google’s largest purchase ever -- if it happens and if it’s allowed by the regulators of the new administration.
We’ve heard comments from Big Tech and retailers on the impact of tariffs even if they’re delayed, and now here are a few other reactions:
After filing for Chapter 11 in the US in November, Northvolt — which worked with Volkswagen, Volvo, Audi, Porsche, and BMW — has now filed for bankruptcy in Sweden. The company was founded by two ex-Tesla executives and was one of Europe’s leading efforts to rival US and Asian battery manufacturers before racking up billions in debt.
“As the bankruptcy process unfolds, the court-appointed trustee will determine the future of Northvolt’s businesses and their assets, including technology and production facilities.”
[northvolt.com]
At least, that’s what this SEC filing says. He’s one of several insiders who’ve been selling lately, I notice; the chair of Tesla’s board, Elon Musk’s brother, and Tesla’s CFO all dumped tens of millions in shares last month, too. Tesla shares closed today at $222.15, down 41 percent this calendar year. They’re still up about 25 percent from this time last year. It remains unclear whether the continuing Tesla protests have rendered the brand toxic.
[sec.gov]
The Wall Street Journal publisher’s thoughts on what it takes for journalism to thrive in 2025.
The New York Times reports Trump signed an EO Thursday evening to “establish a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile” consisting of crypto assets owned by the Treasury forfeited in criminal or civil cases.
In a video, the president prepared to sign as a voice offscreen called it “like a digital Fort Knox for digital gold,” however CoinDesk notes that not everyone in crypto feels like they got what they paid for yet, with one exec calling it “the most underwhelming and disappointing outcome we could have expected for this week.”
The 25 percent tariffs Donald Trump announced for Canada and Mexico just a couple of days ago have been quickly pared back. First there was a 30-day exemption for automakers and now, as Bloomberg and the New York Times report, goods from either country covered by the USMCA trade agreement are also exempt, at least until April 2nd.
The suspension effectively abandons many of the tariffs that Mr. Trump had placed on Canadian and Mexican products — levies he said were necessary to stem the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States.
The company recently met with investment bankers “to discuss preparations for an initial public offering as soon as this year,” sources tell The New York Times. Discord was last valued at $15 billion in 2021, but it has since launched several notable upgrades, including more features for Nitro subscribers, along with better integrations on PS5 and Xbox.
How do you say with a straight face that the government needs an XRP stockpile?
After a test of its 18A process last year reportedly failed, Reuters says both Nvidia and Broadcom are actively testing it. The 18A process is a key to Intel’s plan to reestablish itself in the race to build new AI chips.
The Reddit co-founder is now part of “The People’s Bid for TikTok,” a consortium of investors who want to buy TikTok’s US assets and put it on a decentralized, blockchain-based platform. The group, led by real estate billionaire Frank McCourt, submitted its bid for TikTok earlier this year.
This Wall Street Journal report looks into Apple’s history of spending to give some context to its half-trillion-dollar Monday morning announcement.
There’s a note from a UBS analyst outlining that the firm is a “skeptic” because coming up with new funds to invest would mean increasing Apple’s balance sheet leverage or reducing the cadence of stock buybacks. Otherwise, despite accounting for “some new, incremental spending domestically,” the report finds that based on analysts’s existing projections, “Apple’s announced figure is in line with what one might expect the company to be spending anyway, given its financials.”
AI tools are here to stay, Moyer says, but Vimeo wants to build on ‘authenticity.’
