66 h. ago AI boom adds more than half a trillion dollars to wealth of US tech barons in 2025

Elon Musk’s net worth increased by nearly 50% to $645bn with founders of Google and Amazon also seeing huge wealth gainsA stock market boom in artificial intelligence companies has added more than half a trillion dollars to the wealth of America’s tech barons in the past year, data shows.The top 10 US founders and bosses of some of the world’s largest technology companies saw their finances swell to nearly $2.5tn, up from $1.9tn, in the year to Christmas Eve, according to figures from Bloomberg. Continue reading...

Science

67 h. ago Conservative and Christian? US right champions psychedelic drugs

Texas governor among those to call for expanded access to ibogaine, said to help with treating veterans with PTSDFor half a century, psychedelics largely belonged to the cultural left: anti-war, anti-capitalist, suspicious of the church and state. Now, one of the most politically consequential psychedelic drugs in the US – ibogaine – is being championed by evangelical Christians, Republican governors, military veterans, and big tech billionaires.Many of them see ibogaine, an intense psychedelic derived from a central African rootbark, as a divine technology. In fact, some pointedly do not refer to it as a psychedelic, given the apparent baggage of the term in some circles. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago AI boom adds $500bn to net worth of US tech billionaires in 2025

Elon Musk stays on top as Nvidia’s Jensen Huang powers up the rankings on an AI-fuelled surge in fortunes

Economics

6 d. ago Larry Ellison gives personal guarantee for Paramount takeover of Warner Bros Discovery

WBD had urged shareholders to reject $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount, which is controlled by the Ellisons, following $82.7bn Netflix deal The tech billionaire Larry Ellison has agreed to provide a personal guarantee of more than $40bn for Paramount Skydance’s fight to gain control of Warner Bros Discovery, amid an extraordinary corporate battle over the entertainment giant.WBD urged shareholders to reject a $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount – which is controlled by the Ellisons – last week, having agreed to sell its storied movie studios, HBO cable network and streaming service to Netflix in a $82.7bn deal earlier this month. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Larry Ellison provides personal guarantee for Paramount takeover of Warner Bros Discovery

WBD had urged shareholders to reject $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount, which is controlled by the Ellisons, following $82.7bn Netflix deal The tech billionaire Larry Ellison has agreed to provide a personal guarantee of more than $40bn for Paramount Skydance’s fight to gain control of Warner Bros Discovery, amid an extraordinary corporate battle over the entertainment giant.WBD urged shareholders to reject a $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount – which is controlled by the Ellisons – last week, having agreed to sell its storied movie studios, HBO cable network and streaming service to Netflix in a $82.7bn deal earlier this month. Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Inside Epstein's 'billionaires' dinner' and the tech moguls he dined with AFTER conviction

Democrats on the US House Oversight Committee unsealed 68 photographs taken from the estate of financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday December 18

Science

1 week ago Jeffrey Epstein attended dinner with tech billionaires three years after he was convicted of sex crimes

House Democrats released 68 photographs from Epstein's estateon Thursday, including images taken at the Edge Group's annual dinner in 2011.

Events

1 week ago Billionaire tech CEO spends record $120 million on lavish 3,700

A 3,700-acre estate known as St. Benedict's Monastery broke records after it was purchased by a billionaire for $120million.

Economics

1 week ago Inside the billionaires' dinner of elite tech moguls as new Epstein files dump unveils photos of ritzy event

House Democrats released 68 photographs from Epstein's estateon Thursday, including images taken at the Edge Group's annual dinner in 2011.

Culture

1 week ago Elon Musk’s net worth hits estimated $600bn as SpaceX prepares for IPO

Startup valuation, likely to go public at $800bn, will bolster Musk’s wealth to an estimated $677bn, according to ForbesElon Musk on Monday became the first person ever worth $600bn, according to Forbes. The news comes on the heels of reports that his SpaceX startup was likely to go public at a valuation of $800bn.Musk, who was the first to surpass $500bn in net worth in October, owns an estimated 42% stake in SpaceX, which is preparing to go public next year. No other person has hit the $500bn mark. Continue reading...

Technology

2 w. ago Jared Kushner – and three Arab monarchies – are at the heart of the Paramount

The president’s son-in-law is once again at the center of an international business deal that will require administration approvalOn Monday, Paramount Skydance launched a $108bn takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery, the entertainment giant that owns Hollywood movie studios, along with CNN, HBO and other media businesses. The bid is led by David Ellison, son of the tech billionaire Larry Ellison – a prominent Donald Trump supporter and Republican donor. Netflix had already prevailed over Paramount in a previous bidding competition for the purchase, but Trump announced on Sunday that he would “be involved” in his administration’s review of the Netflix deal. The president suggested the sale “could be a problem” because Netflix is already dominant in the US streaming market.Paramount left out a significant fact in the press release announcing its offer: the bid includes funding from the private equity firm owned by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, as well as three Arab monar...

Politics

3 w. ago 'AI godfather' says tech billionaires are on road to destroying society and themselves

Geoffrey Hinton, one of the 'godfathers' of AI, has warned that tech billionaires pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence might be destroying society and themselves

Science

3 w. ago 'Tech billionaires pushing AI could destroy us and themselves'

Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Ellison called out by the 'godfather of AI' who now regrets his life's work

Science

4 w. ago How big tech is creating its own friendly media bubble to ‘win the narrative battle online’

At a time when distrust of big tech is high, Silicon Valley is embracing an alternative ecosystem where every CEO is a starA montage of Palantir’s CEO, Alex Karp, and waving US flags set to a remix of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck blasts out as the intro for the tech billionaire’s interview with Sourcery, a YouTube show presented by the digital finance platform Brex. Over the course of a friendly walk through the company offices, Karp fields no questions about Palantir’s controversial ties to ICE but instead extolls the company’s virtues, brandishes a sword and discusses how he exhumed the remains of his childhood dog Rosita to rebury them near his current home.“That’s really sweet,” host Molly O’Shea tells Karp. Continue reading...

Events