The AI data center boom put American-funded, America-based data centers on Middle East soil. Here’s how the war—and Iran’s drone attacks on Amazon data centers—is impacting how these capital-intensive projects are thinking about security. My latest for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Read the whole piece, but also note that the authors demonstrate - implicitly, but quite correctly - that DE’s business registry is *more secretive* than the UAE’s equivalent. This should be top of mind when you hear DE pols (even WFP allied progressives!) defend the corporate franchise revenues.

Sheikh Tahnoon is crushing it— This VC firm! Funneled hundreds of millions to Trumps and Witkoffs by investing in World Liberty Financial! Routed $2B of World Liberty’s stablecoin to Binance! And… He’s the UAE’s national security advisor!

An excellent example of how deeply intertwined Silicon Valley is with the Persian Gulf. Any interruptions of that capital flow pose a serious risk to the Valley's future viability, esp when AI is so debt-hungry.

A workplace lawsuit has opened the lid on the little-known ownership structure of Insight Partners, an investor in OpenAI and Anthropic: It is now partially owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. Read for more details. With @iainmartin.bsky.social for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/iainma...

A workplace lawsuit has opened the lid on the little-known ownership structure of Insight Partners, an investor in OpenAI and Anthropic: It is now partially owned by the government of Abu Dhabi www.forbes.com/sites/iainma...

The AI giant's abrupt Sora shutdown is just one example. As it announces one of the biggest funding rounds in history, #OpenAI has trumpeted hundreds of billions in other deals + products that haven’t yet become reality. With @rashis.bsky.social for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

The OpenAI Graveyard: All The Deals And Products That Haven’t Happened. With @pheebini.bsky.social. www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Three months after a blockbuster $20 billion deal, Nvidia announced its plans for Groq’s inference-speed tech. Here's how it came together and what's next. My latest for @forbes.com, with @iainmartin.bsky.social, @richardnieva.bsky.social and Anna Tong: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

The $10 billion company building the first phase of Stargate says the new initiative is an “and,” not an “or,” to its bet on the world’s biggest data centers. My latest (from yesterday) with Anna Tong for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/annato...

Speaking of AI, @pheebini.bsky.social unpacked the stories of the 45 new billionaires who joined the list thanks to AI: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Our colleagues were back last weekend in the hometown of @forbes.com CEO Sherry Phillips to spread the news that she is a union buster who continues to deny our members a fair contract. 👎 @nyguild.bsky.social

Rob Walton bought the Broncos in 2022 for a then-record $4.65B, outbidding the pack by $400M. He's quietly continued that spending spree, picking up 10% of the DBacks in 2024. With @ebennovywilliams.bsky.social and @soshnick.bsky.social at @sportico.bsky.social: www.sportico.com/business/tea...

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1/ The U.S. ouster of Maduro in Venezuela and the attacks on Iran have been a boon for oil tanker billionaires. Tanker rates are up to record highs, tanker stocks are up by 60%+ so far this year and tanker resale prices are up to decade highs as well. www.forbes.com/sites/giacom...

OpenAI and Anthropic allege improper distillation of their models. Investors have pushed Chinese AI valuations sky-high anyway—raising a harder question about pricing power. My latest for @forbes.com on the above + a couple of new billionaires: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

By @forbes.com' estimates, the elder Ellison, who is also Oracle’s largest shareholder, doesn’t have enough cash to fulfill his part of Paramount’s $111 billion offer for Warner Bros. We'll know more in the coming days, but here’s how it could play out: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

The Oracle cofounder’s official residence is now in Manalapan, Florida, not the Hawaii island that he famously bought in 2012, according to previously unreported county records. More details in my latest for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Inside a new edition of The Prototype: why @helionenergy.bsky.social latest milestone is a big deal for fusion power, @microsoft.com's project to encode data on glass, and why you shouldn't expect mass job displacement from AI in the near future. Check it out! www.forbes.com/sites/the-pr...

OpenAI and Anthropic spent more on lobbying in 2025 than ever. My latest for @forbes.com is a breakdown of what the big #AI model makers lobbied on last year and why: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Thiel, the king of contrarian investors, told Epstein to pass on Spotify, and also advised against investing in Palantir, the defense-tech firm he co-founded, saying the price was "below market."

Jeffrey #Epstein had access to tech billionaires like Thiel and Musk. But he walked away from deals with major startups—including Spotify & SpaceX—that could have netted him hundreds of millions in total. Deep dive from @iainmartin.bsky.social + me for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/iainma...

New edition of my emerging tech newsletter, The Prototype, is out! This is a space-packed issue, looking at the investment boom into space startups, the recent evacuation from ISS and more. www.forbes.com/sites/the-pr...

"They need to make sure big swings are reasonably hedged while raising additional capital. Truly cashing in on the AI boom, though, will mean making a bet and committing to it. Otherwise they’ll be playing an ongoing game of catch up in an AI race where speed is everything."

NEW: "Rep. Julia Letlow Discloses Over 200 Stock Trades After Deadline As Ban Debate Grows In Congress" #whoops me, for @forbes www.forbes.com/sites/zachev...

The mainstreaming of AI is turning into a trillion dollar business, yet the two biggest data center real estate firms have lagged in public markets. Here’s why—and how they could catch up. My latest for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Checkr, which got its start running criminal record checks on Uber drivers and gig workers, has seen its revenues jump 14% to $800 million as companies try to spot a flood of AI-generated CVs and faked financial documents. www.forbes.com/sites/iainma...

And this vital story by @aniloza.bsky.social and @jaspar.bsky.social looking at the impacts of funding cuts to early-career scientists. They found that in the first 270 days of 2025, fewer early-career grants were awarded than in any similar period since 2016. www.statnews.com/2025/12/08/t...

After her most recent grant announcement on Tuesday, MacKenzie Scott is now America's third-most-generous philanthropist by dollar amount, and second by percentage of wealth. More insights and context in my latest for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

MacKenzie Scott (former wife of Jeff Bezos) is a quiet rockstar #philanthropist. She gave away $7 billion in the past year. per @forbes.com @pheebini.bsky.social that vaults her even higher among the ranks of the country's most generous givers www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

After #investing in the likes of OpenAI, ElevenLabs and Flock Safety, former SV Angel managing partner (and former professional opera singer!) Beth Turner is striking out on her own. My latest for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

ICYMI, last week's edition of my newsletter talked about why LLMs are vulnerable to poetic attacks, how seaweed might be a better way to harvest rare earths and why learning a second language is good for you. Subscribe so you don't miss the next one! www.forbes.com/newsletter/t...

Forbes raised questions about the massive funding round metaverse-turned-AI firm #Napster announced as a done deal in January. The money is never coming, the company said Thursday. With @iainmartin.bsky.social for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

NEW: The FBI spied on a Signal group chat of NY immigrants' rights volunteers organizing court watch+ labeled activists “anarchist violent extremist actors.” Joint FBI/NYPD report shows law enforcement accessed private planning convo of ppl monitoring ICE Docs obtained by @propertyofthepeople.org

"Democratic Congresswoman Indicted In Alleged $5 Million FEMA Fund-Stealing Scheme" Antonio Pequeño IV for @forbes.com

The Musk-led #AI company has a lot of cash in the bank. But it still needs more—and more. It’s using some creative off-balance-sheet financing to get it. Some details on xAI's financials and weird/novel capital raise, from Anna Tong and me for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Big tech needs access to the grid for AI data centers. In many cases, crypto got there first. Free link: www.wsj.com/business/ene...

You can oversee the bloody dismemberment of a Washington Post journalist with a bone saw, and the president of the United States will smile, shake your hand and threaten to pull the license of a news outlet whose reporter asks you a question about it. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...

NEW: Amazon’s Zoox launches ride service in San Francisco in robotaxis with no steering wheels — or fees for now #selfdrivingvehicles www.forbes.com/sites/alanoh...

I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered. He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here : www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...

Facebook cofounder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna cofounded Open Philanthropy to find charities that create the biggest impact/$. Now, they’re changing its name and encouraging others to join. See table for their biggest grantees. My latest for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

So just how much money is OpenAI dumping on this firehose of imbecilic video? More than $5 billion annualized, or around $15 million per day, according to Forbes estimates and conversations with experts www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

Have you been using #Sora? Some back-of-napkin math suggests OpenAI is spending more than a quarter of what it’s making to power its AI slop factory. There are also potential silver linings (more training data + future tax savings). My latest for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...

We spoke to experts who pointed out that chief dealmaker Altman, who has claimed he has no stake in the company, doesn’t have much to lose. “He can commit to as much as he wants... Either he uses it, he renegotiates it, or he walks away.” www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

One likely scenario is that the AI company pays for and utilizes only a portion of the compute it has booked said D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria. “They don't want OpenAI to go bankrupt, so their incentive is to renegotiate,” he told Forbes. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

OpenAI has gone wild with compute deals this year, committing to spend far more than its balance sheet can currently sustain. So who takes the fall if it can’t pay? Latest for @forbes.com with @pheebini.bsky.social and @richardnieva.bsky.social. www.forbes.com/sites/rashis...

1/3 Reddit’s popularity has exploded in recent years. Daily users have approximately doubled since the summer of 2023. It’s become one of the top sources cited by AI chatbots. And organic search to the platform has skyrocketed (you may have noticed more Reddit results when you Google these days).

“Timothy Mellon Has Likely Donated More Than Half His Fortune To Politics” @pheebini.bsky.social for @forbes.com

One week of @wsj.com heds.

Thanks to his $130 million donation to pay troops during the gov shutdown, Mellon has likely given away a bigger % of his fortune than any person ever: more than half. A breakdown of his giving and how he made his millions—not just from inheritance!—for @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/phoebe...