Heavy! The key figures in the OpenAI infighting turmoil have resigned!

Business figures

2024-05-15 20:25Posted on the official account of Beijing Business People

NEWS

Today's news

OpenAI's infighting turmoil key figures resigned; Melinda withdraws from the Gates Foundation; Dong Mingzhu responded to the Rose Air Conditioner being complained about again; Google announced its full entry into the Gemini era; Operators respond to information leaks of billionaires such as Zhong Sui; Micro Connect issued an internal letter in response to the recent controversy; Tencent's revenue in the first quarter was 159.5 billion yuan; Alibaba: Fiscal year 2024 revenue reached 941.168 billion yuan, Dalian Wanda Commercial Management's 1 billion yuan stake was frozen, Converse announced layoffs, SoftBank reportedly pledged to invest $5 billion in AI, Blue Origin resumed manned flights......

Headlines

Heavy! The key figures in the OpenAI infighting turmoil have resigned!

This morning (May 15), Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, suddenly announced that she was leaving OpenAI. Ilya posted a photo with OpenAI's veterans as a final farewell.

"I'm very sad that Ilya and OpenAI are about to part ways. OpenAI wouldn't be where it is today without him. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said quickly on social media.

Ilya, who played a key role in the infighting at the end of last year, voted on the board to fire Altman, and a few days later expressed regret for his participation in the board and supported Altman's return to the company. Although the infighting storm has subsided on the surface, Su Ilya's situation at OpenAI is still embarrassing.

After the incident, Ilya barely attended any academic lectures or gave any interviews and has since disappeared. After the successful launch of Sora, Ilya was not included in the contributor list. Even Ilya's name is not in the defendant column where Musk sued OpenAI.

This reversal and reversal of OpenAI's infighting turmoil does not seem to have ended as quickly as it seems. I don't know if Ilya's departure is the real end of this turmoil.

figure

Melinda withdraws from the Gates Foundation

Melinda French Gates issued a statement on the 13th local time saying that she decided to resign as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Melinda French Gates issued a statement on social platforms on the 13th, saying that after careful consideration, she decided to resign as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and her last day of work at the foundation will be June 7 this year. Under the agreement with Bill Gates, she will receive an additional $12.5 billion to invest in her work to serve women and families. The Foundation will be renamed the Gates Foundation, and Bill Gates will become the sole chairman.

Founded in 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the world's largest philanthropic foundations, dedicated to health care, culture and education. On May 3, 2021, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates announced the end of their 27-year marriage.

Dong Mingzhu responded to the Rose Air Conditioner being complained about again

On May 14, Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree, once again responded to the complaints of netizens about the rose air conditioner during the live broadcast. She said that we were the first to create the rose air conditioner, and even if everyone thinks it is defective, it is the best, because there is no second one to make it, it is a kind of creation.

Li Yapeng responded to the accusation of unpaid wages

Recently, Li Yapeng was exposed to arrears of employees' wages. On the 14th, Li Yapeng issued a video apology, admitting that he owed employees 60,000 yuan in salary, and promised to settle it before getting off work.

Whether it is marrying Faye Wong, divorcing, or the arrears that continue to appear after the divorce, in recent years, Li Yapeng has continued to become the focus of public opinion.

Large companies

Google has announced its full entry into the Gemini era

In the early morning of the 15th, Beijing time, Google held the 2024 I/O Developer Conference. At the beginning of the conference, Google announced that it had entered the Gemini era. "We see a tremendous opportunity for creators, developers, startups, and everyone. Helping drive these opportunities is what our Gemini era is all about. At the conference, Google showcased examples of large models being incorporated into products such as Search, Photos, Workspace, and Android, and released several upgrades such as the open-source model Gemma 2.

The operator responded to the information leakage of billionaires such as Zhong Sui

According to media reports from the Daily Economic News, the two platforms of Tankecha and Lipinyun sell the personal information of entrepreneurs on a large scale, including 10 billionaires such as Zhong Sui, founder of Nongfu Spring, Li Shuirong, chairman of Rongsheng Group, Tang Lixin, chairman of Xinshang Group, and Zhang Hongfu, the actual controller of Mixue Bingcheng.

As for the data source, the sales staff of the two platforms advertised that they were cooperating with the three major telecom operators. In this regard, China Mobile replied to reporters: It will not sell any users' personal information. China Mobile has always attached great importance to the protection of customers' personal information, formulated a series of systems such as the "China Mobile Data Security Management Measures", and established a normalized protection system for customer information. China Unicom replied: "There is definitely no leakage or sale of entrepreneurs' mobile phone numbers." From the perspective of the company's management system, the disclosure of personal information is definitely not allowed. ” 

Micro Connect issued an internal letter in response to the recent controversy

In response to the recent rumors, Micro Connect issued an internal email on the evening of May 13 to address some of these concerns. In the letter, signed by Li Xiaojia and Zhang Gaobo, they described Micro Connect at this stage as "the departure of a two-stage rocket". The change between "Level 2" and "Level 1" is that the first stage is to test the feasibility of the model with its own money, while the second stage is to "organize the money of the market and the power of the market". This reveals a strategic change in Micro Connect: over the past period, the company's strategic focus has gradually shifted from "investors" to "exchanges".

Tencent's revenue in the first quarter was 159.5 billion yuan

Tencent Holdings released its financial report for the first quarter of 2024 ended March 31: revenue was 159.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6%. Profit attributable to equity holders was RMB41.9 billion, up 62% year-on-year. Non-IFRS profit attributable to equity holders was RMB50.3 billion, up 54% year-on-year. According to the financial report, WeChat's monthly active users reached 1.359 billion in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 3%, and QQ's monthly active users reached 553 million, a year-on-year decrease of 7%. According to the financial report, Tencent Video released a number of popular self-made TV series and animation series, driving the number of paid members of long video to increase by 8% year-on-year to 116 million. According to the financial report, the turnover of a number of games in the local market hit a record high in the quarter. According to the financial report, Tencent's R&D expenditure in the first quarter was 15.678 billion yuan. Tencent also continued to strengthen shareholder returns, with cumulative repurchases reaching HK$14.8 billion in the first quarter, with an average daily repurchase amount of HK$824 million, a record high.

Alibaba: revenue in fiscal year 2024 reached 941.168 billion yuan

Alibaba announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal 2024. According to the financial report, Alibaba's revenue in fiscal year 2024 reached 941.168 billion yuan, and adjusted EBITA profit increased by 12% year-on-year to 165.028 billion yuan. revenue in the fourth quarter was 221.874 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7%; The adjusted net profit was 24.42 billion yuan, down 11% year-on-year. During the quarter, Taobao and Tmall achieved double-digit GMV growth, Alibaba Cloud's core public cloud product revenue grew by double-digit and AI-related revenue grew by triple-digits, and overseas e-commerce achieved strong year-on-year growth of 45%.

The 1 billion yuan equity held by Dalian Wanda Commercial Management was frozen

According to the website of the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, on May 9, Dalian Wanda Commercial Management Group Co., Ltd. added a new information on equity freezing, and the enterprise whose equity was executed was Beijing Fengke Wanda Plaza Co., Ltd., with a frozen equity amount of 1 billion yuan, and the freezing period was from May 9, 2024 to May 8, 2027, and the enforcement court was the Beijing Fourth Intermediate People's Court.

Converse announced plans to lay off employees

On May 15, market news: As part of Nike's cost-cutting plan, Converse announced plans to lay off employees.

Nezha Automobile responds to the Tianjin Nezha S fire incident

On the evening of May 13, Nezha Automobile issued a statement on the fire accident of Tianjin Nezha S, the accident did not cause any casualties, and arranged staff to go to the scene to understand the relevant situation, assist users in handling follow-up work, and cooperate with relevant departments to investigate the cause.

Nezha Automobile's vehicle data monitoring platform analyzed the accident and found that after the incident until the data was interrupted, the vehicle's power battery voltage, temperature and insulation signals were normal, the battery pack was safe and controlled, and the low-voltage circuit of the vehicle did not show abnormality. After the accident, Nezha Automobile's technicians quickly arrived at the scene and conducted a preliminary inspection, confirming that the appearance of the battery pack was intact and the state was under control.

Walmart is reported to have laid off hundreds of employees

Walmart is cutting hundreds of corporate positions and requiring most remote employees to return to the office, according to people familiar with the matter. Employees in smaller offices in Dallas, Atlanta, and Toronto were asked to move to larger centers. Employees will still be allowed to work remotely and part-time as long as they are in the office most of the time, the person said. (Interface News)

Investment and financing

SoftBank is reportedly committed to investing $5 billion in AI

On May 14, it was reported that SoftBank promised to make five investments in the field of artificial intelligence, each with a scale of $1 billion. (Interface News)

"Siruida Materials" completed nearly 100 million yuan in Series A financing

Recently, "Siruida Materials" completed nearly 100 million yuan in Series A financing, which was exclusively invested by Zhongxing Capital. It is understood that SRDA has completed the "1+N" pan-semiconductor + energy storage material matrix layout. （36kr）

"Zhongjing Weishi" completed tens of millions of yuan in Pre-A round of financing

Following the angel round of investment in 2023, "Zhongjing Weishi" recently completed a Pre-A round of financing of tens of millions of yuan, led by Ruihua Capital, followed by Taiyu Investment and Bee Qiao Capital, and Gelu Capital served as the exclusive financial advisor for a long time. This round of financing will help Zhongjing Weishi continue to promote clinical research, marketing, brand building and new technology research and development, and develop more innovative eye health products. （36kr）

New technologies/products/services

Blue Origin resumes manned flights

On the 14th local time, the American "Blue Origin" company announced that it would resume manned space flight business this Sunday, and it will use the "New Shepard" aircraft to carry six crew members for "space tourism", which is the company's first mission after the suspension of manned space flights for nearly two years.

Three models of the Xiaomi 15 series were exposed

The source Android Headline released a blog post sharing information about the Xiaomi 15 series of phones, which is expected to be the first to be equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 processor. The Xiaomi 15 series has a total of three models, of which the Xiaomi 15 Pro is only sold in the domestic market. The database also found a titanium satellite communication version of the Xiaomi 15 Pro, which is also exclusive to the domestic market. The well-known domestic digital zone broke the news blogger Digital Chat Station posted that the comprehensive configuration of this generation of mobile phones is relatively perfect, but the upstream material chips and memory are in a state of price increase, "the original price segment is difficult to keep", suggesting that there is a possibility of price increase in Xiaomi 15 series mobile phones.

*The title image was purchased from Visual China

View original image 99K

•