Top stories today:

1. Apple resumes Watch sales after ban is put on hold
2. NYT sues OpenAI, Microsoft for copyright infringement
3. Social media generates $11B in ad revenue from minors: study
4. LinkedIn's ad revenue +10% to $4.0B in 2024
5. Unicorn funding drops to $78B in 2023, lowest since 2016

0. Data and calendar

No major news event today, in this slow-news, end-of-year holidays week.

1. Apple resumes Watch sales after ban is put on hold by Court of Appeals

• Ban temporarily paused until the U.S. Customs and Border Protection decides whether redesigned versions of the Watches still infringe Masimo's patents.

  • Jan. 12: U.S. CBP to decide.

  • Ban pause may be further extended until the Court of Appeals rules on the case.

• Masimo CTO Marcelo Lamego joined Apple in 2014 but left a few months later. He “produced and authored key intellectual property related to bio-sensing,” according to his LinkedIn.

  • Masimo's view is that he was hired to copy and patent the blood oxygen sensing technology and left shortly after that.

2. NYT sues OpenAI, Microsoft for copyright infringement over AI training data

The lawsuit includes evidence showing GPT-4 output being copied verbatim from NYT training text

Our view: the ideal solution is for AI companies to improve the attribution capabilities of their models

• Linking out to sources (similarly to what Perplexity AI does), and stopping AI models from copying training content verbatim.

• Yet, the training per se should be not considered copyright violation, as that process is similar to that of a person reading a book, and such a legal stance would radically decelerate AI development.

4. Social media generates $11B in ad revenue from minors: study

Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok led the way:

• Snapchat gets 41% of its revenue from minors, followed by TikTok (35%), YouTube (27%), and Instagram (16%).

5. LinkedIn's ad revenue +10% to $4.0B in 2024, as X advertisers flee

• LinkedIn ad pricing is +30% in some cases, according to one executive, likely led by corporate sponsors leaving X and moving to Microsoft's “safer” platform.

6. Unicorn funding drops to $78B in 2023, lowest since 2016

Tiger, the top unicorn funder in 2021 (193), dropped investments by 99% (now 2)

7. U.S. EV sales +42% YoY in Nov., rapid pace but slower than previously

8. Global bonds +9.5% in 2 months, 30-year record

9. JPMorgan expands lead as largest, most profitable U.S. bank

In $ of assets in their balance sheets:

• JPM's net income is expected to +36% YoY in Q4, vs +1% for the next 5 largest banks.

10. Interesting videos, posts, and memes

11. Other headlines

Tech

• SoftBank gets $7.6B in free T-Mobile U.S. shares, stock +7%.

• Amazon Video's ad-free version to cost $2.99/mo.

• Vision Pro gets new patents: cover, new battery design.

• The CEO Report: become a better leader by subscribing, 100% free.*

• toddle: no-code tool to develop web apps 10x faster. Use coupon: BAYAREA10*

*Sponsored.

Tech & law

• GM Cruise sues SF over $108M tax bill, citing de minimis revenue.

Biotech

• CBO expects little changes to net drug prices due to IRA.

• Cytokinetics stock +83% after positive Ph3 data on exercise capacity.

• Longevity interviews of 2023.

Business

• Iran, Russia ditch USD, to use local currencies for trade.

• FCC rejects call for deregulation of TV, radio ownership.

• Bonner Private Wines: remote wines delivered to your doorstep.*

*Sponsored.

Crypto

• MicroStrategy buys 14.6K BTC, now owning 190K ($8B), 1% of total.

• Scammer, hackers stole $2B of crypto in 2023, from $4B in 2022.

• Vitalik proposes change to Ethereum's proof-of-stake model.

U.S. politics

• CO GOP asks SCOTUS to urgently revert Trump's disqualification.

• Boebert switches districts to one more favorable to GOP.

• Jack Smith asks judge to block Trump from using political arguments.

• Christie pushes back on calls for drop-out in 7-figure NH ad buy.

• House GOP asks Biden whether he knew about Hunter's subpoena defiance.

• Trump's reposts, likes on Truth Social lags behind Twitter days.

• 20% of 18-29 have positive view on Bin Laden: poll.

World

• Houthis continue to launch drones, missiles, as U.S. force destroy them.

• IDF: time running out for diplomatic solution with Hezbollah.

• China has built AI system to track American spies and others: U.S.

• Milei sends Congress extensive reform bill, including 41 privatizations.

• Russia: we have money to increase defense from $71B to $119B/year.

• Taiwan VP hopeful calls for sovereign wealth fund.

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