Last night and this morning, the world's largest companies | OpenAI launches AI short video system Sora, and Nike will lay off more than 1,600 employees

OpenAI launched Sora, an AI short video system. Bezos sold Amazon shares this month totaling $6 billion. Duan Yongping's U.S. stock institutional account was dug up. Stellantis is still going all-in on electric vehicles. Nike will lay off more than 1,600 employees. Eni Group and Albemarle announced their results. OpenAI has launched a new technology that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate high-quality, vivid, and seemingly realistic short videos based on text descriptions. OpenAI calls this new system Sora. Sora receives text prompts from the user and then generates a detail-rich video through AI. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote on X. "Don't worry if your request is too detailed or too difficult!" OpenAI said, adding that it is sharing the text-to-video technology with a select group of researchers and academics who will study Sora and find the risk of abuse of the AI program. Sora has not yet been released to the public.

OpenAI CEO Altman is discussing an AI chip project with investors, raising a lot of questions. The project could potentially raise as much as $7 trillion, a figure that exceeds the combined gross domestic product of the United Kingdom and France, reflecting just how hot the chips that power AI and its power. The biggest risk of overthrowing too much money too quickly into AI chips is overcapacity, which will soon become commonplace. Chips are getting faster and software is getting more efficient, and companies are likely to spend much less on chips in the future than they predict today. Speculation and overinvestment are a dangerous combination.

Driven by global investors' optimism about artificial intelligence, chip foundry giant TSMC's share price has surged more than 24% since 2024, with a total market capitalization of $575 billion, ranking 13th in the world. Driven by the hot demand for AI chips, TSMC's total revenue in the fourth quarter of 2023 was basically the same as the historical high level of the same period last year, while significantly exceeding market expectations. TSMC is currently the only chip foundry for NVIDIA's AI chips, which are in extremely strong demand - A100/H100, and NVIDIA is the absolute leader of the global AI chip market, accounting for up to 80%-90% of the market share.

Facebook's parent company, Meta Platforms, encourages advertisers to use workarounds to avoid paying Apple a 30% service fee. This workaround is particularly useful for "boosted posts". Later this month, Meta will begin charging a 30% service fee to U.S. advertisers who continue to buy push posts through apps on iPhones and iPads, which will be paid to Apple. To avoid paying this service fee, Meta encourages advertisers who rely on push posts to now access Facebook and Instagram's websites through a web browser on a computer or mobile device.

Billionaire Jeff Bezos sold another $2 billion in Amazon Inc. (Amazon.com) stock, bringing his total stock sell-off this month to around $6 billion. The Amazon founder and executive chairman sold about 12 million Amazon shares on Tuesday and Wednesday. Bezos began selling Amazon stock on Feb. 7 as part of his pre-arranged plan to sell up to 50 million Amazon shares by the end of January 2025. So far, he has sold about 36 million Amazon shares, with each lot being about 12 million shares. Bezos still holds about $166 billion worth of Amazon stock.

Carlos Tavares, the chief executive of Chrysler's parent company, Stellantis, is still fully committed to electric vehicles, despite slowing sales growth in the industry and rivals scaling back production plans. Stellantis plans to sell eight BEVs in the U.S. by the end of 2024, with another 40 BEVs sold globally. Mr. Tang said his company's current sales of electric vehicles are profitable, but it needs to improve its profit margins in order to better compete with Chinese automakers in the coming years. Tang Weishi said that Stellantis is working hard to introduce more affordable products for customers.

Carl Jenkins, head of hardware at Cruise, the self-driving subsidiary of General Motors, said on Thursday that he had resigned from the company. It is the latest in a series of executive departures since Cruise suspended its U.S. operations in October. Jenkins, Cruise's senior vice president of autonomous vehicle platforms, is leaving the company after six years. Jenkins' team at Cruise is responsible for developing autonomous driving hardware, including microchips, sensors and computers, and working with General Motors to develop products. Last November, the company's then-CEO Kyle Vogt and co-founder Dan Kan resigned.

The U.S. stock institutional account of investment tycoon Duan Yongping was recently dug up, and the account name used in the U.S. stock market is H&H International Investment, and the long position of the account will be disclosed on a quarterly basis, with a total market value of $14.456 billion in H&H holdings in the fourth quarter. Among the top five heavy stocks, Apple ranks first, with a market capitalization of 80% of the portfolio. Berkshire is second with a market capitalization of 12% of the portfolio.

Deutsche Bank's decision to ban employees from working from home on Friday and the following Monday has added a new rule to the ongoing game between bosses and employees. In companies that require three days a week, employees often choose to work from home on Friday and the following Monday. Starting in June, the company will also require managing directors to come to the office at least four days a week, compared to three days for other employees. The bank said the regulation was made to ensure consistency across the bank. Companies that spend millions of dollars on office buildings tend to have empty offices at the beginning and end of each workweek.

Global LNG demand is expected to grow by 50% by 2040 as the world transitions to cleaner fuels, Shell said in its latest annual LNG outlook. Global demand for natural gas will peak after 2040, and will continue to grow despite the shift from coal to relatively cleaner fuels in China and developing Asia.

At a time when Boeing is reeling in the latest crisis, Airbus is extending its lead over the American rival and threatens to upend the duopoly that has long dominated the airline industry. Airbus broke an industry record for the number of new orders won last year. The company currently has a backlog of orders spanning more than a decade, the longest ever. Boeing, meanwhile, is grappling with its second major crisis in five years. The U.S. airline giant has scaled back production, no longer providing guidance and alerting customers that there will be new delivery delays.

Nike, the sporting goods giant, said Thursday that it would cut about 2 percent of its workforce, or more than 1,600 people, to cut costs. John Donahoe, CEO of Nike, said the company will use resources to increase investment in categories such as running collections, women's clothing and the Jordan brand. The layoffs are not expected to affect employees in Nike stores and distribution centers, nor will they affect employees on Nike's innovation team. The current round of layoffs is expected to begin this Friday, with the second phase of layoffs to be completed by the end of the quarter.

Financial Reporting Information

Italian energy giant Eni Group (ENI) has announced its fourth-quarter and full-year 2023 financial results. Sales in the fourth quarter were 24.6 billion euros, compared to 31.5 billion euros in the prior-year quarter, down 22 percent year-on-year. Adjusted operating profit for the quarter was 2,769 million euros, compared to 3,582 million euros in the prior-year quarter, down 23 percent year-on-year. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the company for the quarter was 149 million euros, compared to 627 million euros in the prior-year quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 76%. Sales for the full year amounted to 93.7 billion euros, compared to 132.5 billion euros in the previous year. Adjusted operating profit was 13.8 billion euros, compared to 20.4 billion euros in the previous year. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the company for the full year was 4.747 billion euros, compared to 13.9 billion euros in the same period of the previous year, a year-on-year decrease of 66%.

Albemarle announces fourth quarter and full year 2023 results. Net sales in the fourth quarter were $2,356 million, compared to $2,621 million in the year-ago quarter. Net loss attributable to the company for the quarter was $618 million, compared to a net profit of $132 million in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly adjusted EBITDA loss was $315 million. Net sales for the full year were $9.617 billion, the highest in the company's history, up 31% from $7.32 billion in the previous year. Net income attributable to the Company for the full year was US$1,573 million, compared to US$2,690 million in the previous year.

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