• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

2

Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living

3

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it

1

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

2

Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living

3

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
TechFortune 500

Alphabet’s ‘Moonshot’ Chief Walks Out on ‘Silicon Valley’ Writers: Report

By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Down Arrow Button Icon
June 10, 2016, 12:44 PM ET
Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit - Day 1
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - OCTOBER 08: Entrepreneur, scientist and author Astro Teller speaks onstage during “Slingshots and Moonshots” at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on October 8, 2014 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)Photograph by Kimberly White—Getty Images for Vanity Fair
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Astro Teller, the head of X, Alphabet’s “moonshot” lab where it tries to invent “breakthrough technology,” has a major issue with popular television series Silicon Valley, according to a new report.

The New Yorker this week published a story on Silicon Valley and how it’s able to capture the characters and culture in the real-world Silicon Valley. In a lengthy interview, the show’s creators and writers said that they often meet with people working in the Valley and use what they glean from those conversations for their show. In the vast majority of cases, those people are happy to even be a part of the show. But Astro Teller was a different story.

According to The New Yorker, six Silicon Valley writers met with Astro Teller in a conference room at X. Immediately, writer Carrie Kemper said the meeting was “uncomfortable.” Based on Kemper’s recollection of the events, Teller said that he had never seen the show, only to recite back specific items that might have taken potshots at his team through HoolyXYZ, the “moonshot factory” the show’s writers created to mimic X, which was formerly known as Google X. He was noticeably displeased with the show, Kemper recalls, and took the opportunity to meet with the writers to tell them so.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

“His message was, ‘We don’t do stupid things here. We do things that actually are going to change the world, whether you choose to make fun of that or not,’ ” Kemper told The New Yorker.

The New Yorker added that Teller left the room “in a huff.” But he had trouble getting out in part because he was wearing Rollerblades to the meeting.

“Then there was this awkward moment of him fumbling with his I.D. badge, trying to get the door to open,” Kemper said in the interview. “It felt like it lasted an hour. We were all trying not to laugh.”

Initially, Google didn’t dispute the account in the New Yorker article. It merely joked in a statement that “we believe in the power of compression to make the world a better place” and that “X even hired Pied Piper’s CEO away between seasons.”

But as the news about the apparent bad blood at the meeting spread, Google’s public relations provided a second statement that challenged The New Yorker‘s version of events.

“While Astro happily confirms an occasional lack of grace on his Rollerblades, he remembers this meeting very differently and it ended perfectly amicably,” Google said. “The New Yorker‘s account of things is incorrect.”

Silicon Valley has quickly become a hit HBO show, depicting the lives of young engineers trying to build a startup known as Pied Piper. The show has a decidedly irreverent tone, often poking fun at Silicon Valley, the companies in it, and its unorthodox culture.

Google has been the target of many Silicon Valley jokes, thanks to the show’s creation of Hooli, a big, brooding company based on the search giant. In the past, Google employees have laughed off the fun, realizing it’s all a joke.

But Teller, whose official title is “Captain of Moonshots,” apparently doesn’t believe that poking fun at Google, or perhaps more specifically, X, is a laughing matter. Indeed, he seems fully committed to X’s mission to create “moonshots,” and told Fortune in an interview in 2014 that he considers three factors when he decides to shoot for the moon: whether the problem is big enough, whether there is a radical solution to the problem, and that it’s actually solvable.

For more on X, watch:

The secretive laboratory has worked on decidedly important things, including Project Loon, an air balloon-based system that would deliver Internet to parts of the world where connectivity isn’t available. The division is also working on clean energy, life sciences, and more. It’s also home to the company’s self-driving car and likely many other things it hasn’t yet revealed. And like Teller, the team takes its job seriously.

“We’re makers, engineers, and scientists with deep technical expertise who’ve come to X to bring our creations out of the lab and into the real world,” X writes on its homepage. “And we love the challenge of the seemingly impossible and the potential to have an impact on millions of people’s lives.”

Most impressively, Teller can apparently do all that in Rollerblades.

Update 06/10/16, 1:15 p.m. ET: Added X spokesperson’s statement. Update 06/10/16, 3:29 p.m. ET: Added Google’s second comment.

About the Author
By Don Reisinger
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

Exclusive: Xbox’s CEO on 3,200 layoffs, four studios cut, and her blunt warning that ‘we spread ourselves too thin’
Big TechMicrosoft
Exclusive: Xbox’s CEO on 3,200 layoffs, four studios cut, and her blunt warning that ‘we spread ourselves too thin’
By Sebastian HerreraJuly 6, 2026
13 hours ago
‘Our business today is not healthy’: 1,600 Xbox employees among the 4,800 laid off by Microsoft as it looks to ‘reset’ gaming division
Big TechMicrosoft
‘Our business today is not healthy’: 1,600 Xbox employees among the 4,800 laid off by Microsoft as it looks to ‘reset’ gaming division
By The Associated PressJuly 6, 2026
14 hours ago
EasyJet’s stock shows Castlelake bid is far from a done deal
InvestingEasyJet
EasyJet’s stock shows Castlelake bid is far from a done deal
By Kate Duffy and BloombergJuly 6, 2026
16 hours ago
Torsten Slok holds his hands apart as he speaks on stage.
AIProductivity
Top economist says AI just hasn’t delivered on the productivity hype—and it means a ‘painful repricing’ of markets is very possible
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 6, 2026
17 hours ago
In this photo illustration, a Microsoft logo is displayed on a smartphone with Artificial Intelligence (AI) symbols on the background.
AICFO Daily
Microsoft’s Frontier push aims to turn AI spending into measurable returns
By Sheryl EstradaJuly 6, 2026
18 hours ago
A businesswoman uses a smartphone in modern conference room.
NewslettersFortune Workplace Innovation
The tech attention crisis has hit the workplace. One company thinks AI is the cure
By Kristin StollerJuly 6, 2026
18 hours ago

Most Popular

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
AI
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 5, 2026
2 days ago
Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
Success
Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
By Preston ForeJuly 4, 2026
3 days ago
Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
Success
Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
By Preston ForeJuly 6, 2026
14 hours ago
Gen Z was 'jaded about employment before we ever entered the workforce'—now psychologists say the stare has hardened into something worse
Economy
Gen Z was 'jaded about employment before we ever entered the workforce'—now psychologists say the stare has hardened into something worse
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 6, 2026
23 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 6, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 6, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 6, 2026
18 hours ago
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
Law
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
By Wyatte Grantham-Philips and The Associated PressJuly 2, 2026
4 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.