An entrepreneur who returned as CEO of his company in early 2024 describes reorganizing its technology strategy around profitable growth just as large language models surged in prominence. Rather than chasing AI investment without restraint, as he observed many companies doing, he prioritized cost discipline, setting a goal of $100 million in free cash flow within three years while using AI to address internal data problems that mirror those of the company's merchant customers.
Lionel Messi, who this week announced his retirement from Argentina's national team, has for years operated a venture capital fund called Play Time HoldCo, co-founded with Razmig Hovaghimian in October 2022 with an initial target of about $200 million. The fund holds stakes in AI startups including World Labs, Field AI, Fish Audio, Perceptron, Intangible and SuperAnnotate, and Messi separately holds equity in Sorare, KRÜ Esports, and Inter Miami, now valued at $1.45 billion.
A new NBER working paper examines how New York City's congestion relief zone, launched January 5, 2025, affected emergency medical service response near the toll boundary at 60th Street. Using half a million EMS dispatch records and traffic camera data, researchers found hospital transport times fell by 54-59 seconds and total EMS travel time dropped by roughly 63-70 seconds within a 5-kilometer band around the zone's edge.
John Ternus sent his first internal memo after officially becoming Apple's CEO, thanking outgoing chief Tim Ternus... rather Tim Cook for his guidance and years of leadership, and welcoming him into his new role as executive chairman. Ternus told staff a 'huge launch' is coming next week and hinted at further undisclosed products in development.
Waymo has opened its self-driving ride service to the public in three new cities, bringing its commercial footprint to 14 U.S. metros. The rollout, which will expand gradually, pushes Waymo's fleet of Jaguar I-Pace vehicles and its new Ojai minivan past 4,000 cars.
A divided Supreme Court, in a 5-4 order, allowed construction to continue on President Trump's planned $400 million White House ballroom while legal challenges to the project move through lower courts. The majority found the National Trust for Historic Preservation likely lacked standing to sue, citing government claims the project addresses security concerns, while Chief Justice Roberts led a dissent arguing the project is likely unlawful without congressional approval.
Saab has unveiled the A3, a tailless, supersonic, double-delta-wing uncrewed combat aircraft concept designed to fly alongside its Gripen E fighters starting in the early 2030s. The company positions the A3 as a high-end 'peer-capable' companion rather than a low-cost attritable drone, and views it as a technological bridge toward Sweden's planned crewed fighter replacement in the 2040s.
Apple has asked a court for expedited discovery in its lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming the company delayed handing over a former employee's MacBook and that messages show discussion of restoring devices to erase forensic traces. Apple says an inspection of the laptop, turned over in August, revealed a former Apple engineer named Chang Liu had downloaded a confidential circuit schematic and used it while working at OpenAI.
A new technical explainer breaks down why the browser's main thread—not slow code or large bundles—is usually the real cause of stuttering scrolling, delayed button clicks, and laggy typing in highly interactive web apps. It notes that JavaScript execution, rendering, event handling, and network callbacks all compete for the same single thread, so once an app becomes interaction-heavy, main-thread contention becomes the dominant performance bottleneck.
Waymo has started offering driverless rides to the public in San Diego, Tampa and Denver, marking its first commercial operations in Colorado, while Amazon's Zoox announced plans to begin testing its vehicles with human safety drivers in Houston and San Diego. Zoox says it will operate in 12 U.S. markets once those two cities launch, though its only paid service remains in Las Vegas.
A writer describes discovering that Google's AI produced a false claim, which required manual fact-checking to disprove. The episode is used to argue that AI-generated answers should be treated with the same skepticism given to unreliable human sources.
Entrepreneur magazine, working with Statista, is collecting recommendations from founders, startup employees, investors and service providers about their favorite business tools and services across finance, legal, HR, marketing, product and tech support. The findings will be compiled into a ranking of the most valued startup resources, to be published in an upcoming issue of Entrepreneur magazine.