Google offers buyouts to workers; OpenAI in talks with Saudi Arabia, Indian investors to raise funds; Meta, TikTok challenge fees in EU court

The Hindu

2 days ago

Google offers buyouts to workers
Google is offering buyouts to more employees in another round of layoffs as the tech giant awaits a court verdict in its search and ads antitrust lawsuit. The Sundar Pichai-led company has confirmed the news although it hasn't disclosed the number of employees who will be affected. The employees are spread across the search, advertising, research and engineering segments. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is deciding whether to ban Google's exclusive agreement with Apple which sets Chrome as its search browser. The judgment is expected to be given before Labour Day after which Google can appeal last year's decision where the company was defined as a monopoly. The federal judge ruled that Google's digital ads business was said to abuse its market power and tamp down on competition. In 2023, the company laid off 12,000 workers post a hiring splurge that Big Tech companies were on during the pandemic.
OpenAI in talks with Saudi Arabia, Indian investors to raise funds
OpenAI is reportedly in discussions with new investors including Saudi's PIF, India's Reliance Industries and existing shareholder United Arab Emirates' MGX to raise $40 billion in funds. The investors are expected to invest at least hundreds of millions of dollars each, a report by 'The Information' said. The funds will be used to develop AI infrastructure as a part of their Stargate venture which is in partnership with SoftBank. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met with Indian IT Minister earlier this year, after which he also planned to meet the Abu Dhabi investment group MGX. The AI firm is also speaking with Coatue and Founders Fund to raise atleast $100 million each. The report also stated that OpenAI could be raising an additional $17 billion in 2027. OpenAI hasn't confirmed the reports yet.
Meta, TikTok challenge fees in EU court
Meta and TikTok are fighting EU regulators on a supervisory fee and that's levied and how it's calculated, in the second highest court in Europe. The social media platforms called the fee disproportionate and measured on a flawed methodology. The companies along with 16 other tech companies had to pay a supervisory fee which was 0.05% of their annual worldwide net income under the Digital Services Act that became a law in 2022. The fee intends to cover the EU's cost of monitoring their compliance with the law. The size of the annual fee is based on the number of average monthly active users for each platform. Meta said that it wasn't trying to avoid its share of the fee but it was questioning the way the amount had been calculated. A representative for TikTok said that the EU had counted users who logged into their phones and from their laptops twice.