🔍 Alphabet shares drop 6% on departures

Alphabet's stock dropped 6% after DeepMind's Noam Shazeer and John Jumper left for OpenAI and Anthropic, cutting about $250 billion in value.

DeepMind is Alphabet's AI unit, and losing top talent raises retention.

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Examples of companies who have successfully utilized the "7 Powers" framework

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🔽 SpaceX loses most of its IPO gains within days

SpaceX shares jumped from the IPO price to a peak of around $225, briefly pushing the company's valuation close to $3 trillion. Within days, the stock fell to $150 before recovering to roughly $162.

At its peak, SpaceX briefly reached a valuation of nearly $3 trillion, putting it above both Microsoft and Amazon despite being a much smaller business by revenue and profitability.
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For comparison:
• Microsoft: $318B revenue, $125B profit
• Amazon: $743B revenue, $91B profit
• SpaceX: $19B revenue, -$9B profit
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Part of the explanation is structure. Only about 5% of SpaceX shares are publicly traded. The market price of that small float determines the valuation assigned to the remaining 95% held by Elon Musk, employees, and early investors.
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The recent acquisition of xAI has also raised concerns about debt and integration risk, adding pressure after the initial IPO excitement faded.
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There is a reason many IPOs follow a similar path: excitement first, fundamentals later. The chart has repeated often enough to become a pattern.

✔️ @venture

The riskiest time to invest is when the market looks safest.

The safest time to invest is when the market looks riskiest.

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It’s going to be a loooong year for SpaceX

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🍏 Apple raises prices as the AI memory shortage gets worse

Apple has increased prices across 8 major products after surging memory chip costs, a problem CEO Tim Cook recently described as a "hundred-year flood."

The MacBook Air now starts at $1,299 (+$200), the MacBook Pro at $1,999 (+$300), while several iPads, iMacs, and Mac Studio models also received price increases of up to $1,300.
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The issue goes far beyond Apple.

AI data centers are consuming enormous amounts of DRAM and HBM memory, tightening global supply. More than 90% of the world's memory chips are produced by just Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron.
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As AI companies continue buying every available chip, consumer electronics makers are paying more for the same components and passing those costs on to customers.
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The AI boom is no longer affecting only AI companies.
It's starting to reshape the prices of everyday technology.

✔️ @venture

🤖 US Limits Access to GPT-5.6

The Trump administration requires OpenAI to release GPT-5.6 gradually, offering it only to select corporate clients chosen by the government.

OpenAI’s staged rollout marks a shift from earlier open releases, reflecting increased government control over advanced AI models.

Anthropic must suspend access to its Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models for foreign nationals, including some employees without US passports, tightening AI export restrictions.

✔️ @venture

📉 $NFLX has crashed to 52-week lows.

Meanwhile:

🖱325M subscribers in 2025 → ~350M expected in 2026 -

🖱Advertising revenue is scaling rapidly

🖱 Management just authorized an additional $25B share buyback

The market is acting like Netflix is broken.

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On this day in 1967: first ATM unveiled.

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🕯 Micron could be one of the biggest winners of the AI memory boom

For years, memory was one of the worst businesses in tech. AI is changing that.

Modern AI servers require 8-10x more DRAM than traditional servers, while HBM memory has become essential for advanced AI chips. Producing HBM uses roughly 3x more wafer capacity, tightening supply across the entire market.
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That shortage is pushing prices higher. DRAM prices rose more than 170% year over year by the end of 2025, with another 58-63% increase expected in Q2 2026.
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Unlike traditional memory, HBM suppliers must pass lengthy qualification processes tied to specific AI platforms. Once approved, they can remain locked into that ecosystem for years.
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SK Hynix still leads the market, but many investors are watching Micron. The company is receiving $6.1 billion in U.S. manufacturing support and has more room to gain share as AI demand keeps growing.
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The AI boom is creating winners beyond Nvidia. Memory is becoming one of the most important bottlenecks in the entire stack.

✔️ @venture

❕ Trump warns that "the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist" if Iran continues violating the ceasefire

The US has launched fresh strikes on Iran after a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz, marking the biggest escalation since the interim peace deal was signed on June 17, 2026.

Here's what has happened over the last 48 hours:

🖱 On Friday, Iran attacked the commercial vessel Ever Lovely in the Strait of Hormuz.

🖱 The US launched strikes on Iranian coastal radar, missile, and drone storage sites in response to Iran's attack on the commercial vessel Ever Lovely.

🖱 Iran retaliated by striking multiple US military positions in Bahrain.

🖱 On Saturday, Iran then attacked the Panama-flagged tanker M/T Kiku in the Strait of Hormuz.

🖱 CENTCOM said US forces struck 10 Iranian military targets across multiple locations.

🖱 For the past one hours, Air raid sirens are now sounding in Bahrain as Kuwait says its air defenses are intercepting hostile Iranian missiles and drones.

The conflict is continuing to escalate despite the ceasefire signed just two weeks ago.

✔️ @venture

This McDonald’s menu is from the 1950s.

Hamburger: 15 cents
Fries: 10 cents
Coffee: 10 cents

And people still think cash is “safe.”

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📈 Reddit turns its communities into a bigger advertising business

Reddit has launched new advertising products as it doubles down on what it calls its biggest advantage: real conversations between real people.

The company introduced Shopping List Ads, a new format that allows multiple brands to promote products around relevant discussions. It also launched AI-powered ad creation tools and a feature that lets brands use positive Reddit comments directly in advertisements.
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The timing is notable. Reddit's advertising business has already become a major growth engine, generating more than $2 billion over the last fiscal year.
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Ad revenue has climbed nearly 300% in the past three years, rising from $160 million in Q1 2023 to $624.7 million in the latest quarter. Popular communities such as r/AskReddit and r/mildlyinfuriating attract 18 million and 12 million weekly visitors, respectively.
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As AI floods the internet with generated content, Reddit is betting that human conversations become more valuable, not less.

✔️ @venture