That's Quite the Little Napoleon Complex |
Little Napoleon, as we all know, is a goat's cheese made by Zingerman's Creamery based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is produced by gentle handling of the cheese curds. A young Little Napoleon has a light creamy feel with a touch of acidic flavor. As it ages to about three weeks, it becomes semi-firm with a strong, savory flavor. The fully matured cheese is hard and is pungently goaty. In other words? You guessed it: It's a lot like this newsletter. Speaking of ambitious people who want to take over the world, I have on oil painting of myself as Napoleon crossing the Alps on a horse, in my bedroom. And we've got at least a couple more Little Napoleons featuring prominently in today's Cheddlines. But which are they? You choose: History is a set of lies that people have agreed upon! —Matt Davis, Need2Know Chedditor P.S. We've got Advanced Voice Mode for Chat GPT on our Instagram. |
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"This is one of the great corporate dramas of recent years." – James Stewart |
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1. Rapper Common Wants Your Kids on the Internet |
More than 17 million school-aged children in the U.S. still lack reliable Internet access, making connectivity more urgent than ever. T-Mobile's Project 10 million has already provided affordable Internet to over 6 million learners. The megastar rapper Common has partnered with Project 10 million and is committed to ensuring every child has the tools to succeed. He joined us at the New York Stock Exchange to talk about the project.
"Growing up, my mother was a teacher, so that automatically, like, set a tone for me," he said in his unmistakably deep and slightly raspy voice. "But what I noticed was most of the kids around me who had access to education programs, they ended up like being productive and happier children, more fulfilled in their dreams and purposes. For me, that access meant a lot."
Common started his relationship with T-Mobile doing some partnerships and commercials. He did a Super Bowl ad, got talking to the team, and they brought up Project 10 Million.
"I was shocked, to be honest, that it was that amount of people who don't have Internet access," he said. "Don't you know that connectivity is super important?" Watch Now |
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2. Sam Bankman-Fried's Tearful Ex 😢 Gets Two Years for (Checks Notes) $8 Billion Fraud |
A tearful Caroline Ellison, who worked for FTX's founder Sam Bankman-Fried, got a two-year prison sentence earlier this week for participating in an $8 billion Fried fraud at the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange.
That's one year in prison for every $4 billion of fraud. Or one month in jail for every $300 million. For context, Lee Carroll Brooker is a disabled U.S. army veteran from Alabama, who was sentenced at age 75 to life in prison without parole after being convicted of marijuana possession a decade ago. Let that sink in for a moment.
Let's hope that when she gets out in two, Caroline might consider devoting some of her time and energy to advocating for fairer sentencing across the United States.
Despite her substantial cooperation with prosecutors, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan refused to dispense a lighter sentence as he did not want to set a precedent for remorse and cooperation being a way to avoid jail time entirely, given the gravity of the case.
"There's no way you're ever going to do something like this again, I am persuaded," the judge told Ellison. "But here's the thing: This was, if not the very greatest financial fraud ever perpetrated in this country or anywhere else, close to it."
Ellison ran Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund Bankman-Fried founded, from 2021-22. She said she thought about leaving Alameda many times.
"Every time I thought about it, I heard Sam's voice in my head," Ellison told the judge. "Ignoring that voice in my head and speaking out would have been brave," she said, beginning to choke up and sniffle. "I'm sorry I wasn't brave." Read More |
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| You'll want your sound on for this.
OpenAI is rolling out Advanced Voice Mode for ChatGPT, enhancing conversations with more natural audio interactions.
Initially available to paying customers in the Plus and Teams tiers, Enterprise and Edu users will gain access next week. The feature now sports a blue animated sphere instead of the previous black dots. Try: "Chat GPT, write an ode to me, on my birthday, then read it aloud. Kthxbye." |
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3. Good News for Rage-Quitters: Google Rehires Disgruntled AI Pioneer for $2.7 Billion |
Google has rehired AI pioneer Noam Shazeer in a blockbuster deal that underscores the tech industry's high-stakes competition for AI talent. Shazeer, known for a crucial research paper that spurred the AI revolution, left Google in 2021 after the firm refused to release his chatbot project. He then founded a startup, Character.AI, which struggled despite early success.
Google has now shelled out approximately $2.7 billion to license Character.AI's technology, in a move largely aimed at securing Shazeer's return to the company. The payment also netted Google his expertise, as Shazeer is a central figure in developing Google's new AI technology, Gemini.
Critics in Silicon Valley wonder if big tech is overspending on AI talent, but Shazeer's track record at Google, including his role in developing a precursor to recent AI conversational models, may justify the cost. After Google passed on Shazeer's chatbot, similar technologies like OpenAI's ChatGPT have shown significant public interest, validating Shazeer's vision.
Upon rejoining, Shazeer has resumed a research-focused role and is working on advancing Google's AI initiatives. The deal also involved acquiring Character.AI tech and talent. Sergey Brin, Google co-founder, has expressed support for a more proactive approach in AI deployment and was pleased about Shazeer's return.
Entirely unrelatedly, anti-competition watchdogs have expressed concern about "reverse acqui-hires" where large firms buy up all the talent from AI startups by acquiring them in…this exact manner. But I'm sure it's fine. Read More |
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4. It's Every Bob for Himself: Inside the Dramatic Power Struggles at Disney |
New York Times reporter James "Don't Call Me Jimmy" Stewart joined us to discuss his recent investigation—the inside story of how Bob Iger undermined and outmaneuvered Bob Chapek, his chosen successor, and returned to power at Disney.
"This is one of the great corporate dramas of recent years," he said, in no way angling for a book deal or anything. "And I was driven to look into this by the mystery of how Bob Iger came back after picking his own successor, after the board signed off, suddenly, in less than two years."
Iger's CEO-ship garnered him "great power, great wealth, celebrity," James said. "And I think what happened here is it was clear from the very first press conference that Bob Iger had with his chosen successor that he didn't like the idea of no longer being in charge."
Entertainment has been "an industry that's been in crisis for a number of years," James said. "So, it was in crisis even before Iger left. There were a lot of things going on there that would have been a challenge for anyone to deal with."
Throw in the pandemic, the pressure to grow subscribers in the streaming market, and things got pretty challenging for the other Bob (Chapek). Bob Iger talked about running for president (of the United States). He also got knighted by Queen Elizabeth (the second). Meanwhile, "Chapek knew nobody," James said. "He came up through consumer products and theme parks. He had a big hill to climb."
Iger's contract is up in December 2026. Then again, Vladimir Putin's term limit as president of Russia expired back in 2008. And yet... Read More |
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5. How Citizens Financial Emerged 💪 From Last Year's Regional Banking Crisis |
We spoke with the head of consumer banking at Citizens Financial, Brendan Kaplan, on the tenth anniversary of the bank's IPO. The firm's stock is up 51.3% over the last year, partly because it emerged stronger from the regional banking crisis of March 2023 when its rival, First Republic, declared bankruptcy. Citizens Bank even hired 300 private bankers and wealth managers from First Republic.
"Thinking back to March of 2023 and the disruption of the bank failures, there was a perception about a regional banking crisis and instability in regional banks," he said. "What we've learned since then is that really the regional banking crisis was idiosyncratic with a couple of banks that really didn't look like your traditional commercial and retail bank, which is really what we are. Very quickly through March, we realized that we were on very solid footing. Our bank is grounded with a big retail franchise, very granular, and we have balance sheet management that those firms have we didn't have. We were able to play some offense."
The bottom line is: Don't go bankrupt (especially if you're a bank, because then it's ironic). Hope other people do. Then hire their staff. That's cheddar in the cheese drawer! Watch Now |
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