Good morning. And a very happy birthday to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who turns 41, and Google X and Udacity cofounder Sebastian Thrun, who turns 58.
A celebratory, recreational cup of coffee to them both. Today’s tech news below. —Andrew Nusca
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Airbnb takes on the hotel in a totally new way
Seventeen years in, Airbnb will expand into the kinds of services that hotels often offer—with no lodging reservation necessary.
Among the services on tap in a redesigned app, according to the company’s Tuesday announcement: catering, fitness training, photography, and all manner of aesthetic pursuits, from hair and makeup to nails and spa fare.
“Now you can Airbnb more than an Airbnb,” CEO Brian Chesky said in a tech quote for the ages.
The San Francisco company also reworked its nine-year-old Experiences business, which offers local-led tours and the like.
Moving forward, it will emphasize high-quality activities at a lower cost—such as a Notre Dame cathedral tour by one of the architects who helped restore the Paris landmark or a ramen-making class with a professional chef in Tokyo—as well as its own collection of “original” experiences offered exclusively through its platform.
Airbnb ended 2024 with a record $11.1 billion in revenue, up 12% from the year prior. At that time, the company said it planned to invest upwards of $250 million in new initiatives to enhance guest experiences and diversify its revenue beyond mere accommodation. —AN
Microsoft will lay off 6,000 workers
Microsoft began laying off almost 3% of its total workforce on Tuesday. At a tech giant that employed 228,000 people as of June, that’s about 6,000 employees.
More than half of the workers are based in the U.S., but the cuts apply to many geographies, levels of seniority, and lines of business, from LinkedIn to Xbox.
The reductions are focused on reducing the number of managers, the company said, but no additional reasons were given.
It’s Microsoft’s largest layoff in more than two years.
The company’s last big cut came in early 2023 when it laid off 10,000 people, or almost 5% of its workforce, amid a rash of post-pandemic reductions across the tech industry. It cut another 1,900 employees the following year in the wake of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Among the so-called Magnificent Seven tech companies, Microsoft has one of the largest workforces. By comparison, Amazon had 1.56 million staffers at last count, Alphabet had 183,000, and Apple had 164,000.
Mere weeks ago, Microsoft reported strong quarterly results that beat Wall Street expectations. The company spent $80 billion over the last fiscal year to build the infrastructure it believes it needs to compete in the global AI arms race. —AN
Apple probes next frontier with new brain implant standard
Apple showcased its latest sci-fi vision on Tuesday by announcing that users of its products may one day be able to control them with brain signals.
The initiative, aimed at making devices compatible for people with ALS or spinal cord injuries, shows that Apple still has its eye on cutting-edge innovation.
But it also highlights the company’s challenge: Much of that innovation isn’t destined for the general public or ready to be a big seller any time soon.
What Apple really needs, according to Wall Street, is something far more mundane: Growth in sales of its all-important iPhone. Nearly three years of largely stagnant revenue from the device is weighing on the tech giant’s shares.
Last year, Apple had a chance to lift its business when it started selling its Vision Pro augmented reality goggles. Many reviewers praised Apple’s innovative design, but the device hasn’t appealed to a broad public because it looks awkward and costs a pricey $3,500.
Other ambitious efforts, like its decade-long, multi-billion dollar project to develop self-driving car technology, fared even worse. Apple pulled the plug on that project in 2024.
Apple’s new brain-computer interface effort promises to help disabled people use its devices and give Elon Musk’s Neuralink some competition—though Apple made no mention of its project ever leading to wide commercial use.
In the meantime, Apple’s iPhone sales growth problem is still waiting to be solved. —Verne Kopytoff
More tech
—eToro’s IPO is today. At $52 a share, it’s worth $4.2 billion. It trades on the Nasdaq under ETOR.
—Humain partners with Nvidia, AMD. OK, it’s official: Big AI infrastructure investments in Saudi Arabia are on tap in the next five years.
—Chime files for IPO. The fintech firm would trade on the Nasdaq under CHYM.
—U.K. lords push back on gov’t AI plan. An amendment to a data bill requires that AI companies reveal which copyrighted material they have used.
—Google adds “AI mode.” The search button replaces “I’m feeling lucky” in new tests.
—Apple piles on accessibility. Labels that call out app accessibility features, a Mac magnifier, a Braille note-taker, and more.
—U.S. AI diffusion rule, dashed. The Commerce Dept. formally rescinds the order, which would have limited U.S. AI chip exports.
—No AI regulations for 10 years? Language in a U.S. bill attempts to diminish state regulation efforts.
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