WASHINGTON, D.C.—At a White House briefing, President Donald Trump has announced the Stargate Project, a new private company that aims to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States.

The effort has already sparked a debate between billionaire Elon Musk, who dismissed the project, and Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, who is playing a major role in the Stargate initiative.

The initial equity funders in Stargate are SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX. SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners for Stargate, with SoftBank having financial responsibility and OpenAI having operational responsibility. Masayoshi Son will be the chairman.

At a White House briefing on Jan. 21, the company said it will begin deploying $100 billion immediately.

For Stargate, Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI are the key initial technology partners. The buildout is currently underway, starting in Texas, and the company said it is evaluating potential sites across the country for more campuses as it finalizes finalize definitive agreements.

As part of Stargate, Oracle, NVIDIA, and OpenAI will closely collaborate to build and operate this computing system, building on the collaboration between OpenAI and NVIDIA going back to 2016 and a newer partnership between OpenAI and Oracle.

The effort also builds on the existing OpenAI partnership with Microsoft. OpenAI will continue to increase its consumption of Azure as OpenAI continues its work with Microsoft with this additional compute to train leading models and deliver great products and services.

Elon Musk, who has his own competing financial interests and investments in AI, has already blasted the plan, posting on X that “”They don’t actually have the money.” Musk is leading Trump’s efforts to reduce government spending and regulation.

In response to Musk's criticisms saying they don't have the money, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI posted on X: "wrong, as you surely know. want to come visit the first site already under way? this is great for the country. i realize what is great for the country isn't always what's optimal for your companies, but in your new role i hope you'll mostly put first."

As tech billionaire Elon Musk takes an increasingly high-profile policy role in the incoming Trump administration, a former Federal Communications Commission chair in the George H.W. Bush administration has penned an opinion piece expressing “concern” that the “world’s richest man” is acting as “the president’s voice” on key issues.

In a piece called “Who’s Is President?” Alfred Sikes urged President-elect Donald Trump to “regain control.”

After commenting on the current budgetary crisis, which could result in a government shutdown on Dec. 21, Sikes noted that “within a very short time Elon Musk, America’s richest man and buddy of the president-elect, put his thumb down,” derailing a bipartisan spending plan. “It is said he posted his disapproval on his website 70 times. Ten hours later so did Donald Trump. Not a good look.”

“I don’t apologize for…my concern about the world’s richest man placing himself in a position of at least appearing to be not the President’s whisperer but the President’s voice,” Sikes concluded. “It is not only on the atmospherics a bad thing, it portends a clash of egos that cannot do other than undermine the Presidency. Regain control Mr. President-Elect.”

The opinion piece war first reported on by Policyband.

In response to a comment on his social media platform X, Elon Musk has called the idea of auctioning off broadcast spectrum to pay down the national debt a “great idea.”

Musk could have an influential role in government regulation if Donald Trump is elected. Trump has promised to put Musk, the billionaire who has become a major campaign donor, in charge of a “government efficiency commission” that would make recommendations for cutting spending and changes in government rules.

Musk has also clashed with the FCC in the past over its denial of subsidies to his Starlink broadband service and could profit from changes in those policies.

Musk made the comments in response to a post from venture capitalist David Sachs, who wrote: The major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) operate on free licenses of public spectrum in exchange for requirements to serve the public interest. They no longer do, and this is an obsolete model anyway. The spectrum should be auctioned off, with the proceeds used to pay down the national debt. Of course, the networks can bid on the spectrum, and they will win if broadcast networks are still the most highly valued use. What’s more likely to happen is that valuable spectrum will be reapportioned to the next generation of wireless applications, unleashing many more interesting options for consumers and businesses. The networks can continue to operate on cable, like hundreds of other redundant channels.”

The posts were first reported by Policyband.

DALLAS—Parks Associates has launched its new Broadband Market Tracker with data showing that SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband residential service has already attracted some 1.3 million subs in the U.S. 

The estimate is notable because it means that Elon Musk's Starlink service has overtaken long-time satellite broadband incumbents HughesNet and Viasat. As of Q1 2024, Starlink is the 12th largest residential internet service provider in the US market. The company is on track to become a top 10 residential ISP by market share by the end of 2024, Parks reported. 

"This year, significant changes in the broadband market include regulatory shifts, increasing competitiveness from wireless options, and mergers and acquisitions," said Kristen Hanich, research director, Parks Associates. "The end of the Affordable Connectivity Program has challenged both ISPs and consumers, and growing price sensitivity is driving renewed interest in service bundling. This research will follow this and other trends and measure their impacts on the bottom line of subscriber counts and revenues for all major providers."

As part of the new broadband market tracker, Parks also released a chart showing that nearly one fifth of all home broadband subscribers now have broadband speeds of 1 Gpbs or faster. 

The new annual research subscription service from Parks profiles more than 25 market leaders in the US and Canadian residential internet service markets. The Broadband Market Tracker delivers quarterly reports that analyze market trends, profile market leaders, and provide estimates for residential internet subscribers and revenues for the North American market. More information is available here. 

MENLO PARK, Calif.—As expected, Meta has launched a new social media platform called Threads that will directly compete with Twitter. 

The new app, built by the Instagram teams at Meta, allows users to log in using their Instagram account. Posts can be up to 500 characters long and include links, photos, and videos up to 5 minutes in length.

The launch comes at a time when Twitter has been under fire from users, advertisers and regulators for tech outages, unpopular changes in the way the platform works and concerns by advertisers that their marketing campaigns will be associated with misinformation and objectionable content. 

While some have called the new product a Twitter-killer, the launch will, at minimum, will produce the kind of intense competition in the social media space not seen in years. 

Unlike other Twitter-like platforms that have struggled to gain traction, Meta's new Threads platform would complement Meta’s Facebook and Instagram social media platforms and provide Meta with the ability to promote Threads to the billions of accounts currently using Facebook and Instagram.

To capitalize on that, Threads is very closely tied to Instagram. Users must have an Instagram to signup and the Threads user name is their Instagram handle. 

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said that Threads achieved 10 million signups within seven hours of its launch. 

Meta began exploring the idea of launching a Twitter competitor last fall following problems at Twitter in the wake of Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition. 

Since then other social media platforms competing with Twitter have reported upticks in usage but none have come close to challenging Twitter’s reach of about 450 million users. 

Media researcher and financial analyst Brian Wieser, CFA and founder of Madison and Wall has argued that Meta's market power could allow it to succeed where others have failed.  

“Twitter’s self-imploding antics of the Elon Musk era and the failure of upstarts to capitalize on the situation should mean there is an opportunity for someone to capture significant consumer engagement and advertiser budgets from Twitter,” Wieser noted in a July 5 post. 

“While trust in Meta as a protector of data may be poor and while there are many, many reasons to have antipathy towards the parent company for consumers and advertisers alike, if anyone could take an existing base of producers of content to catalyze usage of such a product, Meta is very well-positioned,” Wieser said. 

One key issue will be addressing advertiser concerns about having their marketing campaigns associated with the objectionable misinformation and racist material that can be found on Twitter. 

If both Twitter under its new CEO Linda Yaccarino and Meta's new Threads platform can overcome those problems, Wieser argues that "this won’t necessarily be a zero-sum game: it’s very possible that a successful Threads could then lead to a vibrant and competitive sector for micro-blogging as a result.”

Others see Threads as a potential Twitter-killer. In an email to TV Tech, Luke Lintz, CEO of the digital marketing and social media company HighKey Enterprises argued that “"In the hyper competitive market of social media, Meta's launch of Threads could be the beginning of the end for Twitter. Not only will the new microblogging platform look and feel nearly identical to Twitter, it will be seamlessly connected to Instagram, which has more than 2.3 billion users and is growing.”

As previously reported, “[t]his could spell bad news for Twitter, which only has 450 million users and has lost more than 32 million users since Elon Musk bought it in 2022,” Lintz argued. “In March, Musk said revenue at Twitter had fallen by 50% over the past two years and it's not clear how it intends to bring those advertisers back.” 

In the announcement launching Threads, Meta said that "Instagram is where billions of people around the world connect over photos and videos. Our vision with Threads is to take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas. Just like on Instagram, with Threads you can follow and connect with friends and creators who share your interests – including the people you follow on Instagram and beyond. And you can use our existing suite of safety and user controls."

As Twitter faces growing complaints from users and advertisers about problems on the social media platform, Meta has decided to jump into the space with a new competitor called Threads. 

Meta hasn't officially announced the product but the app is available for pre-order at the Apple Store, where it is being billed by Meta as a place “where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.”

The launch would complement Meta’s Facebook and Instagram social media platforms and provide Meta with the ability to promote Threads to the billions of accounts currently using Facebook and Instagram.

Meta began exploring the idea of launching a Twitter competitor last fall following problems at Twitter in the wake of Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition. 

Since then other social media platforms competing with Twitter have reported upticks in usage but none have come close to challenging Twitter’s reach of about 450 million users. 

“Twitter’s self-imploding antics of the Elon Musk era and the failure of upstarts to capitalize on the situation should mean there is an opportunity for someone to capture significant consumer engagement and advertiser budgets from Twitter,” noted the influential media researcher and financial analyst Brian Wieser, CFA and founder of Madison and Wall. “But can Meta do it? I think it’s very plausible.”

“While trust in Meta as a protector of data may be poor and while there are many, many reasons to have antipathy towards the parent company for consumers and advertisers alike, if anyone could take an existing base of producers of content to catalyze usage of such a product, Meta is very well-positioned,” Wieser wrote in a July 5 post, adding that Threads’ chances of success increase if it can offer advertisers a safe platform for their marketing.  “[C]onsumers are more likely to use a platform they trust and advertisers are more likely to worry less about whether their sponsorships will be associated with problematic content.”

Wieser stressed that while Meta’s Threads could capture budgets from Twitter, it is also possible that Twitter’s new CEO Linda Yaccarino could manage to "rebuild Twitter without as much involvement from Musk.  If that were to occur, this won’t necessarily be a zero-sum game: it’s very possible that a successful Threads could then lead to a vibrant and competitive sector for micro-blogging as a result.”

Others see Threads as a potential Twitter-killer. In an email to TV Tech, Luke Lintz, CEO of the digital marketing and social media company HighKey Enterprises argued that “"In the hyper competitive market of social media, Meta's launch of Threads could be the beginning of the end for Twitter. Not only will the new microblogging platform look and feel nearly identical to Twitter, it will be seamlessly connected to Instagram, which has more than 2.3 billion users and is growing.”

“This could spell bad news for Twitter, which only has 450 million users and has lost more than 32 million users since Elon Musk bought it in 2022,” Lintz argued. “In addition to this, the number of active users on Twitter is dropping. A new Pew Research report recently found that the most active Twitter users are posting 25% less per month following the acquisition.”

“If that’s not enough, Threads will also have the upper hand when it comes to content moderation standards, making it more appealing to advertisers who have pulled millions of dollars from Twitter after Musk gutted the firm’s content moderation team,” wrote Lintz. “In March, Musk said revenue at Twitter had fallen by 50% over the past two years and it's not clear how it intends to bring those advertisers back.”

Cord cutting has reached record levels as more viewers decide that on-demand streaming video is what they want to spend their time and money on. Pundits have been warning of the death of “traditional TV” (aka cable, broadcast and satellite) for years. 

And yet, as was proven by last night’s disastrous Twitter experience when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis tried to break with tradition and announce his candidacy for President on a little known and little used audio platform, sometimes traditional TV is the only way to go. 

As most of you know by now, the launch announcement on Twitter Space did not go well with constant crashes and glitches that caused the event to be delayed by almost a half hour. When the announcement finally came, it generally followed the prepared script but whatever the now Presidential candidate said was overwhelmed by media coverage of the technical problems (even from Republican-leaning Fox News).

And this was just audio. I don’t want to even think about what would have happened if they had tried to include video (and that was just talking heads).

Color us surprised. Anyone who thought this was going to go well hasn’t been following the news lately. The event was proof positive that not only has Twitter suffered under the auspices of a billionaire who decided to clean house of the social media giants’ technical staff, it also proved that when it comes to an event that can set the tone for your candidacy (and one of the few that said candidate has full control of), sometimes your best friend is traditional media.

In this case, it wasn't the message that made news, it was the medium. 

Broadcasters (and cable operators as well) are required by law to provide a dependable signal to viewers. Broadcasters, in particular, have a crucial responsibility to their communities to keep citizens informed, especially in times of emergencies—Ford’s announcement this week that it would reverse its decision to eliminate AM radio in its cars was a glaring example of the importance of that responsibility. 

Keeping the transmitters on (or the satellite or fiber links properly maintained) are a vital part of broadcasters’ commitment to their communities and to the nation. Unfortunately the field of broadcast engineering is facing a talent crisis that has been building for years, with more technicians choosing to go IT/IP than RF, understandable when you look at the going salaries.

It’s been said many times but we’ll repeat it again: when it comes to live, nothing beats broadcasts’ one-to-many technology vs. IP’s one-to-one connection every time. 

Combined with the recent YouTube TV debacle, which caused many basketball fans to miss the final moments of the Celtics-Heat NBA playoff game, last night’s Twitter disaster is just the latest reminder that when you’re planning for what is perhaps the biggest event of your life (or career), nothing beats good ‘ole dependable traditional TV. 

SAN FRANCISCO—Fox’s free streaming service Tubi has announced an exclusive content deal with Vice Media Group to debut eight Tubi Original documentaries, with the first one, The Cult Of Elon, set to debut on April 24. 

The doc follows the story of Elon Musk and Tesla's success, examining his path to becoming one of the most influential (and controversial) businessman by creating an immensely powerful cult of personality. 

The second original Tubi documentary Vigilante, Inc. will debut on May 6, investigating the volatile world of online vigilantism, as told through a recent manhunt for an arsonist in Los Angeles. 

The remaining documentaries, covering such topics as chatbot technology, mass shootings in the US, and ticket scalping, will debut throughout this year.

"Vice has a longstanding reputation of award-winning investigative storytelling and we're excited to expand Tubi Original Documentaries with their expertise," said Adam Lewinson, chief content officer, Tubi. "These original documentaries will raise the curtain and spark conversation on stories that tap into today's cultural zeitgeist, including ticket scalping, chatbots and the rise of online vigilantism."

Beverly Chase, vice president of current programming at Vice News, will oversee the partnership with Tubi.

SAN FRANCISCO—As expected, Twitter has filed a lawsuit again Elon Musk in Delaware Court of Chancery, seeking to force him to go ahead with the “binding merger agreement,” the two parties signed in April when Musk agreed to acquire the Twitter for $44 billion. 

Twitter’s stock quickly declined after the deal was announced and in recent weeks Musk raised a number of concerns about the deal, particularly complaining about the issue of fake accounts or bots that increased Twitter traffic.  

Last week Musk’s lawyers filed a letter with the Securities & Exchange Commission arguing that “Mr. Musk is terminating the Merger Agreement because Twitter is in material breach of multiple provisions of that Agreement,” including Twitter’s failure to provide “information necessary to `make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform’”

Twitter’s lawsuit follows through on a promise made by the chairman of its board last week when Musk backed out of the deal. 

On July 8, Twitter chairman Bret Taylor tweeted that “The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.”

The lawsuit filed on July 12th, complains that “In April 2022, Elon Musk entered into a binding merger agreement with Twitter, promising to use his best efforts to get the deal done. Now, less than three months later, Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests. Having mounted a public spectacle to put Twitter in play, and having proposed and then signed a seller-friendly merger agreement, Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away. This repudiation follows a long list of material contractual breaches by Musk that have cast a pall over Twitter and its business. Twitter brings this action to enjoin Musk from further breaches, to compel Musk to fulfill his legal obligations, and to compel consummation of the merger upon satisfaction of the few outstanding conditions."

The suit also contends that declines in Musk’s Tesla stock were a key motive for him to try to wiggle out of the agreement and that Musk was merely using the issue of the fake accounts as an excuse to preserve his wealth. 

The full complaint is available here. 

 SAN FRANCISCO—After Elon Musk sent a letter to the Securities and  Exchange Commission “terminating” the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter on July 8, Twitter’s chairman responded with a tweet saying the company plans to sue Musk, setting up what may become a lengthy legal battle over the affair. 

Musk announced plans to acquire Twitter for $44 billion in April but since that time tensions have grown between Twitter and Musk amid growing signs that Musk was looking for a way out of the deal. 

Elon Musk’s lawyers sent a letter to the Securities & Exchange Commission on Friday, July 8, saying that “Mr. Musk is terminating the Merger Agreement because Twitter is in material breach of multiple provisions of that Agreement, appears to have made false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when entering into the Merger Agreement, and is likely to suffer a Company Material Adverse Effect (as that term is defined in the Merger Agreement).”

The letter from Mike Ringler at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP on behalf of Musk’s X Holdings, complained that “[fo]or nearly two months, Mr. Musk has sought the data and information necessary to `make an independent assessment of the prevalence of fake or spam accounts on Twitter’s platform’” and that “Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information. Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr. Musk’s requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr. Musk incomplete or unusable information.”

Under the proposed merger, Musk would have to pay Twitter $1 billion if he backs out of the deal but Twitter seems intent on suing Musk to force the deal to be completed. 

In a tweet, Twitter chairman Bret Taylor said: “The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery.”

Twitter’s stock has declined from a peak of $51.70 on April 25 to $33.79 at 11:30 a.m. ET on July 11. 

SAN FRANCISCO—Twitter, Inc. has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an entity wholly owned by Elon Musk in a transaction valued at approximately $44 billion. 

Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.

Under the terms of the agreement, Twitter stockholders will receive $54.20 in cash for each share of Twitter common stock that they own upon closing of the proposed transaction. The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter's closing stock price on April 1, 2022, which was the last trading day before Musk disclosed his approximately 9% stake in Twitter.

The deal would put the world’s richest man in charge of one of the largest social media platforms. 

"Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated," said Musk. "I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it."

In announcing the deal, Bret Taylor, Twitter's Independent Board Chair, said, "The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders."

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Twitter Board of Directors, is expected to close in 2022, subject to the approval of Twitter stockholders, the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

The company said Musk had secured $25.5 billion of fully committed debt and margin loan financing and is providing an approximately $21.0 billion equity commitment. There are no financing conditions to the closing of the transaction, Twitter said. 

PALO ALTO, Calif.—Tesla cars may soon be their very own entertainment systems, according to a recent tweet from CEO Elon Musk.

“Ability to stream YouTube & Netflix when car is stopped coming to your Tesla soon!” Musk tweeted on Saturday, July 27. “Has an amazingly immersive, cinematic feel due to the comfy seats & surround sound audio.”

While no specific date was announced, Musk elaborated that the new feature would be part of the v10 update for the car. While the streaming services would at first only work when the car is stopped, Musk said that once self-driving mode is approved videos could be played while the car is in motion.