
2025 Genesis Invitational to kick off Thursday in San Diego
Korean automaker-backed PGA Tour event to raise relief funds for victims of California wildfires
The 2025 Genesis Invitational will kick off at the Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego on Thursday, Hyundai Motor Group said Wednesday.
As the PGA Tour's signature event again this year, the tournament sponsored by the Korean auto brand will be held through Sunday. A total of 72 professional golfers, including world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 3 Rory McIlroy, are competing at this year's Genesis Invitational.
Throughout the event, Genesis will conduct the California Rise initiative in cooperation with the PGA Tour and TGR Live to support those affected by the recent California wildfires.
Genesis said it will donate 100 vehicles to various nonprofit organizations such as the Salvation Army-Southern California Division, the ThinkWatts Foundation and the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation during the tournament to be used for disaster relief and recovery efforts.
The Korean automaker will also raise relief funds through the game of golf itself. For every birdie and eagle made during the Genesis Invitational, $300 will be donated to California Rises, while a hole-in-one will yield a donation of $10,000.
'Southern California is our home and the location of our North American headquarters and design studio,' said Jose Munoz, president of Genesis.
'We are contributing $8 million in car and cash donations to support organizations instrumental in the relief and rebuilding efforts. Together with our partners at TGR Live and the PGA Tour, the focus of the 2025 Genesis Invitational will be helping those affected by the wildfires through California Rises.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Korea Herald
2 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Tencent seeks to buy stake in Nexon at $15b
Tencent is reportedly considering acquiring a stake in South Korean game giant Nexon at 20 trillion won ($15 billion), a move that would further solidify the Chinese tech giant's presence in the Korean cultural content market. According to Bloomberg, Tencent Holdings has reached out to the family of Nexon's late founder Kim Jung-ju to discuss the possibility of an acquisition. The report added that the size or structure of the deal is unclear. Both Tencent and Nexon have declined to respond to the report. Kim's wife and daughters own about 67.6 percent of the game giant's holding company NXC. Through NXC, they own a 44.4 percent stake in Nexon. Considering the stakes, the deal is estimated to be worth 20 trillion won. The other 30.64 percent stake in NXC is owned by the Korean government. Kim's relatives turned in the shares worth roughly 4.7 trillion won to the government to pay off an inheritance tax. The Finance Ministry has been trying to sell the stake through a tender offer but has failed on multiple occasions. Tencent has long shown interest in Nexon. In 2019, it was named as a potential bidder when NXC was put up for sale. It ultimately did not participate in the bidding. At the time, market big names including Kakao and Netmarble submitted bids, but the sale was eventually called off without a deal. Tencent has been pushing to tighten its grip on the Korean cultural content market through strategic equity investments, holding 34.76 percent stake in Shift Up, 13.71 percent of Krafton, and 17.52 percent in Netmarble, making it the second-largest shareholder in each. It is also the third-largest shareholder in Kakao Games with a 3.88 percent stake. In May, Tencent Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Chinese tech giant, acquired the entire 9.38 percent stake of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment held by Hybe, valued at approximately 200 billion won. The acquisition positioned Tencent as the second-largest effective shareholder of SM. With the talks of an acquisition deal brewing up, shares of Tokyo-listed Nexon surged as much as 10 percent shortly after the market started trading Friday. Seoul-listed Nexon Games saw a 10 percent surge in its share price as well.


Korea Herald
4 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Naver-led consortium to build next-gen AI data center in Morocco
Korean IT giant Naver said Friday that it has formed a global consortium with Nvidia, AI infrastructure specialist Nexus Core Systems and international investment firm Lloyds Capital to establish a next-generation AI data center in Morocco. According to Naver, the consortium aims to build a 500-megawatt, renewable energy-powered data center that will serve as a sovereign AI computing hub for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. Morocco's strategic location, 15 kilometers from Europe and directly connected via multiple subsea fiber-optic cables, played a critical role in the site selection. Naver Cloud, in collaboration with Nexus Core Systems and Lloyds Capital, will oversee the operation of the center's platform. The consortium plans to offer a fully integrated suite of AI services and applications built on an advanced cloud infrastructure. In line with the EMEA region's emphasis on data sovereignty, the center will support a sovereign cloud and AI architecture that ensures data is stored, processed and managed entirely within the local jurisdiction. The first phase of the project is slated to begin in the fourth quarter of this year. It includes the deployment of a 40-megawatt AI supercomputing infrastructure equipped with Nvidia's latest Blackwell GPUs, to be completed by year-end. The center will scale up in phases to reach its full 500-megawatt capacity. To support the initiative, the consortium has signed a strategic power purchase agreement with energy firm TAQA, securing a stable and sustainable renewable energy supply for the facility. 'The latest partnership marks a pivotal moment for Naver as we extend our cloud and AI capabilities beyond Japan, Southeast Asia and the Middle East into the European market,' said Chae Sun-joo, head of strategic business division at Naver. 'We will continue to strengthen our global competitiveness and expand collaboration with partners to play a key role in the rapidly evolving AI value chain," she added.


Korea Herald
a day ago
- Korea Herald
Silicon Valley's first Korean-founded unicorn Moloco sets sights on web, connected TV ad expansion
Moloco, an AI advertising solution provider, announced its strategic vision to expand beyond mobile app advertising into web and connected TV domains during a press conference in Seoul on Thursday. Founded by a Korean entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, Moloco is the first unicorn of its kind. The company develops AI-powered advertising technologies that help apps, e-commerce platforms and OTT services boost their ad revenue. Its solutions are designed to improve user engagement with ads, enabling both advertisers and platforms to maximize profits. 'We aim to create a world where a greater variety of platforms and sellers can grow together through our AI engine, fostering broader diversity and sustainable growth,' said Ahn Ikk-jin, CEO and co-founder of Moloco. According to Ahn, more than 2,000 platforms globally have adopted Moloco's AI engine, which now supports over 180,000 advertisers. Its clients include major global and Korean companies such as LG Electronics, Tving, KT, Coupang Eats and Krafton. Moloco generates approximately $40 billion in gross merchandise volume annually, comparable to Korea's leading portal and e-commerce giants, Naver and Coupang. Explaining how the company's machine learning solution rapidly identifies optimal ad placements for advertisers on mobile apps, Moloco CTO Jeon Dong-hwan outlined plans to expand its capabilities into web and CTV channels. 'Our real-time bidding system, powered by machine learning, currently analyzes over 6 million ad opportunities per second. By simultaneously evaluating campaign contribution and expected cost, we've achieved maximum cost-effectiveness,' said Jeon. 'We're increasing our investment in CTV, in partnership with Tving, and aim to build a unified platform that can optimize campaigns across web, app, and CTV channels.' Moloco, which reached unicorn status with a valuation exceeding 1 trillion won in 2021, is also eyeing an eventual public listing on the Nasdaq. 'Going public, in a sense, means becoming part of society,' said Ahn. He emphasized that the initial public offering is not being pursued as a fundraising or exit strategy, highlighting that the company has remained profitable for over four years, even with more than half its workforce dedicated to research and development. 'Our vision is to become a scaling engine for the internet economy. If we do pursue an IPO, it will serve as a milestone in positioning Moloco as a true enterprise player in the global commerce media industry.'