logo
Air taxi maker Archer raises $850 million after Trump executive order

Air taxi maker Archer raises $850 million after Trump executive order

The Star19 hours ago

(Reuters) -Air taxi maker Archer Aviation on Thursday said it raised $850 million in funding following executive orders signed by U.S. President Donald Trump to boost electric air taxis.
Trump's orders also focused on bolstering U.S. defenses against hostile drones, and supporting the development of supersonic commercial aircraft.
Earlier this year, Archer secured $300 million in a funding round led by institutional investors, including accounts managed by BlackRock .
In April, Archer unveiled plans to establish an air taxi network in New York City in partnership with United Airlines.
The company has also been named the official air taxi service for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
(Reporting by Preetika Parashuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Analysis-Meta's $14.8 billion Scale AI deal latest test of AI partnerships
Analysis-Meta's $14.8 billion Scale AI deal latest test of AI partnerships

The Star

time43 minutes ago

  • The Star

Analysis-Meta's $14.8 billion Scale AI deal latest test of AI partnerships

(Reuters) -Facebook owner Meta's $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI and hiring of the data-labeling startup's CEO will test how the Trump administration views so-called acquihire deals, which some have criticizedas an attempt to evade regulatory scrutiny. The deal, announced on Thursday, was Meta's second-largest investment to date. It gives the owner of Facebook a 49% nonvoting stake in Scale AI, which uses gig workers to manually label data and includes among its customers Meta competitors Microsoft and ChatGPT creator OpenAI. Unlike an acquisition or a transaction that would give Meta a controlling stake, the deal does not require a review by U.S. antitrust regulators. However, they could probe the deal if they believe it was structured to avoid those requirements or harm competition. The deal appeared to be structured to avoid potential pitfalls, such as cutting off competitors' access to Scale's services or giving Meta an inside view into rivals' operations - though Reuters exclusively reported on Friday that Alphabet's Google has decided to sever ties with Scale in light of Meta's stake, and other customers are looking at taking a step back. In a statement, a Scale AI spokesperson said its business, which spans work with major companies and governments, remains strong, as it is committed to protecting customer data. The company declined to comment on specifics with Google. Alexandr Wang, Scale's 28-year-old CEO who is coming to Meta as part of the deal, will remain on Scale's board but will have appropriate restrictions placed around his access to information, two sources familiar with the move confirmed. Large tech companies likely perceive the regulatory environment for AI partnerships as easier to navigate under President Donald Trump than under former President Joe Biden, said William Kovacic, director of the competition law center at George Washington University. Trump's antitrust enforcers have said they do not want to regulate how AI develops, but have also displayed a suspicion of large tech platforms, he added. "That would lead me to think they will keep looking carefully at what the firms do. It does not necessarily dictate that they will intervene in a way that would discourage the relationships," Kovacic said. Federal Trade Commission probes into past "aquihire" deals appear to be at a standstill. Under the Biden administration, the FTC opened inquiries into Amazon's deal to hire top executives and researchers from AI startup Adept, and Microsoft's $650 million deal with Inflection AI. The latter allowed Microsoft to use Inflection's models and hire most of the startup's staff, including its co-founders. Amazon's deal closed without further action from the regulator, a source familiar with the matter confirmed. And, more than a year after its initial inquiry, the FTC has so far taken no enforcement action against Microsoft over Inflection, though a larger probe over practices at the software giant is ongoing. A spokesperson for the FTC declined to comment on Friday. David Olson, a professor who teaches antitrust law at Boston College Law School, said it was smart of Meta to take a minority nonvoting stake. "I think that does give them a lot of protection if someone comes after them," he said, adding that it was still possible that the FTC would want to review the agreement. The Meta deal has its skeptics. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts who is probing AI partnerships involving Microsoft and Google, said Meta's investment should be scrutinized. 'Meta can call this deal whatever it wants - but if it violates federal law because it unlawfully squashes competition or makes it easier for Meta to illegally dominate, antitrust enforcers should investigate and block it," she said in a statement on Friday. While Meta faces its own monopoly lawsuit by the FTC, it remains to be seen whether the agency will have any questions about its Scale investment. The U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust division, led by former JD Vance adviser Gail Slater, recently started looking into whether Google's partnership with chatbot creator was designed to evade antitrust review, Bloomberg News reported. The DOJ is separately seeking to make Google give it advance notice of new AI investments as part of a proposal to curb the company's dominance in online search. (Reporting by Jody Godoy and Milana Vinn in New York; Editing by Chris Sanders and Matthew Lewis)

Trump Media's registration for bitcoin treasury deal becomes effective
Trump Media's registration for bitcoin treasury deal becomes effective

The Star

time43 minutes ago

  • The Star

Trump Media's registration for bitcoin treasury deal becomes effective

FILE PHOTO: Representations of cryptocurrency Bitcoin are seen in this illustration taken November 25, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo (Reuters) -Trump Media and Technology Group said on Friday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has declared effective the registration for its bitcoin treasury deal. The company said it raised about $2.3 billion through a mix of debt and equity agreements with participation from around 50 investors. It said in May that the bitcoin will be held on Trump Media's balance sheet alongside existing cash and short-term investments totaling $759 million as of the end of the first quarter. Several companies, including video game retailer GameStop and Strategy, are adding bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to their balance sheets to capitalize on rising token prices as the Trump administration embraces digital assets. (Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)

Trump urged EchoStar, FCC chair to cut a deal on spectrum -Bloomberg
Trump urged EchoStar, FCC chair to cut a deal on spectrum -Bloomberg

The Star

time43 minutes ago

  • The Star

Trump urged EchoStar, FCC chair to cut a deal on spectrum -Bloomberg

FILE PHOTO: A satellite model is placed on EchoStar Satellite Services logo in this picture illustration taken April 4, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump urged EchoStar Corp Chairman Charlie Ergen and Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr to reach a deal over the fate of the company's wireless spectrum licenses, Bloomberg reported on Friday. EchoStar shares were up 52% in after-hours trading Friday on the report. On Thursday, Trump met with Ergen and he telephoned Carr, who came to the White House to join the meeting, Bloomberg reported. The White House and EchoStar declined to comment. The FCC did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment on Friday. EchoStar has been trying to shield its cache of wireless spectrum licenses from the threat of revocation by the FCC. U.S. satellite TV provider DirecTV terminated its agreement to acquire EchoStar's satellite television business last year, which includes rival Dish TV, over a failed debt-exchange offer. In May, the FCC told EchoStar it was investigating the company's compliance obligations to provide 5G service in the U.S., questioning EchoStar's buildout extension and mobile-satellite service. EchoStar said the FCC disclosure was "harming EchoStar's ongoing deployment and threaten its viability as a wireless provider as well as endanger the video and broadband satellite services upon which millions of consumers rely." The company added "the possibility of reversing prior grants of authority related to spectrum for which EchoStar paid billions and in which it invested billions more, in contravention of long-standing commission precedent." EchoStar has previously disclosed that it missed roughly $500 million in interest payments, citing uncertainty around the ongoing FCC review. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store