Episode 517: Neal and Toby cover the feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman after Musk makes a bid to take control of OpenAI, starting a war of words between the two billionaires. Then, Coca-Cola impresses Wall Street with their earnings, but leaves them thirsting for more of the soda company’s success with milk. Also, Kanye West’s controversial ad and website is pulled down by Shopify. Next, a book publisher ends the practice of blurbs which has opened up a fierce debate in the literary world. Finally, a rundown of the latest headlines from the day. 00:00 - Monty wins the Westminster Dog Show 3:15 - Musk-Altman gets personal 8:20 - Coke’s milk is rich 12:00 - Shopify pulls down Yeezy site 18:00 - Book blurb battle 22:30 - Sprint Finish Subscribe to Morning Brew Daily for more of the news you need to start your day. Share the show with a friend, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast app. Check out https://wise.com/business for more! Listen to Morning Brew Daily Here: https://link.chtbl.com/MBD Watch Morning Brew Daily Here: https://www.youtube.com/@MorningBrewDailyShow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who won the Westminster Dog Show?
Then the publishing world is locked in a heated debate over those little blurbs you see on the back of books. It's Wednesday, February 12th. Let's ride.
The Super Bowl wasn't the only contest that everyone you know is talking about this week. The Westminster Dog Show was held last night, and best in show went to a giant schnauzer named Monty. It's the most prestigious prize in the U.S. dog show world, where dogs are judged according to how closely they match the ideal for their breed.
Monty's owner and handler could barely hold back tears on the podium. Puppy did the damn thing, and I'm so proud of him, she said. Having been named the top dog, Monty will now be retiring from competition. Toby, what did you accomplish when you were five years old?
Absolutely nothing compared to Monty. This was Monty's third time in a row representing the working group classification of dogs. Screw the Chiefs dynasty. I'm all in on the Monty dynasty. Hopefully it kicks off a new era for the working group, though. This was its first win since 2004. You also got a feel for Bourbon the Whippet, who is a runner up for the third time at the competition.
And get this, the nine and a half year old Came out of retirement just days before the competition, so what a performance out of Bourbon. Other finalists did include the crowd favorite, Neil, the Bichon Frise representing the non-sporting group. Neil, never heard of a dog called Neil.
That is also the first time I've heard of a dog named Neil, and I feel bad for that dog, to be honest.
But get this, Neil, heel does kind of roll off the tongue. But congrats to Monty. Its owner says it's retiring from the competition on top. What a performance. Now a word from our sponsor, Wise Business. Neil, I notice you've been getting into jigsaw puzzles lately. I love it. Very meditative. But you also do them without looking at the picture on the box. That is wild to me. I like the challenge.
You're puzzling with one hand behind your back. It's like trying to send and receive international payments without using wise. You are choosing to ignore a tool that could make things faster and easier.
Well, I'm not an international business owner. I'm just a humble puzzler.
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Chapter 2: What is the feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman about?
Well, Mom, the billionaires are fighting again. Sam Altman and Elon Musk escalated their beef yesterday with the two trading barbs on X in interviews over Elon's last-ditch attempt to hijack a deal to make OpenAI a for-profit company. Earlier this week, Elon shocked the tech bro world by making an unsolicited bid to purchase the nonprofit arm that controls OpenAI for $97.4 billion.
Elon co-founded the multi-billion-dollar startup with Sam Altman as a nonprofit back in 2015, but has spent much of the past few years railing against Altman's plan to convert the company into a for-profit entity. Through submitting a bid, Elon has thrown a wrench into those carefully laid plans.
OpenAI's board doesn't have a fiduciary responsibility to maximize returns, since it's technically a charity. But by submitting a bid, Elon is setting a public floor price for anything Altman ends up offering, likely forcing him to pay a higher price to take control.
Altman spent much of yesterday morning discrediting Elon's Hail Mary as an attempt to slow down a competitor, reminding everyone that Elon... has his own AI company, XAI. But Altman also took the time to offer up some personal jabs, adding that Elon's whole life is from a position of insecurity and that he, quote, feels for the guy.
Neil, it is real housewives of AI out there with billions of dollars and the future of artificial general intelligence at stake. Yeah.
OpenAI right now is trying to pull off a routine of Simone Biles-level difficulty. What they're trying to do right now is one of the most complex maneuvers in American commercial history. It's got this $500 billion data center project called Stargate with Oracle and SoftBank. At the same time, it's raising $40 billion at a $300 billion valuation.
That would be the largest venture capital round by orders of magnitude in American history. For those to happen, it needs to be able to convert from this nonprofit for-profit structure that it's in right now to streamline that into one cohesive for-profit company that allows it to raise money. Right now, it is, you know, handcuffed, uh, to raise money because of this weird structure that it's in.
So it needs to be able to execute this deal. And Elon Musk, as Sam Altman is probably correctly saying, is trying to throw a wrench in it and slow it down, even if he's not able to stop it. Elon OpenAI has a lot on their agenda, a lot of mouths to feed this very complex maneuver. And Elon Musk is certainly making that more difficult.
Yeah, and what needs to happen is the board needs to pick a side, essentially. OpenAI did completely overhaul its board members. Remember the blow-up that happened between Altman and the old board of directors last year? So in theory, right now, the board is on Altman's side. It oversees the non-profit arm, which in turn controls the for-profit business. Also, who is on that board?
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Chapter 3: Why is Coca-Cola investing in milk products?
Any sort of selling of anything, because remember, he had this big collaboration with Adidas that ended in 2022 over anti-Semitic remarks back then. Remember, he had another big deal with Gap where he was going to partner with them to release a line of clothing that fell through as well. So you have seen Ye had a sports industry that signed athletes like Jalen Brown, Aaron Donald.
They all left back in 2022 as well. So you are seeing just kind of this collapse of the Kanye West economy. Whatever last vestiges there were, it is now completely gone. Up next, what's up with this blurb drama going down on the back of books? This message, it's a paid partnership with Apple Card. Did you know you can earn up to 3% daily cash back on every purchase when you have an Apple Card?
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Chapter 4: Why did Shopify remove Kanye West's site?
Yeah, you've heard this from a bunch of CEOs that these tariff threats and reversals are creating a lot of uncertainty. And Griffin cited multinationals and in particular that you need to plan 5, 10, 15, 20 years in the future because you're about to sink tens of billions of dollars into a factory or another kind of investment.
It requires a lot of planning, requires a lot of money, and you just simply can't make those kind of investments when you're uncertain of the trade policy that the U.S. is going to engage with with the rest of the world. So uncertainty, bad for corporate America, and that's what Ken Griffin is saying. Gulf of America slash Mexico drama at the White House.
The Trump administration barred an Associated Press reporter from entering the Oval Office for an executive order signing ceremony because the AP style still uses the name Gulf of Mexico instead of Gulf of America, despite Trump's renaming of the body of water.
The news service said it was alarming that the White House would punish AP or independent journalism and that, quote, it not only severely impedes the public's access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment. The AP's guidance states that it will refer to that Gulf by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.
And that's because the Gulf of Mexico name has been around for 400 years and people internationally where the AP disseminates news do not recognize the change.
AP Stylebook is not only used by its own journalists either. It is used by news outlets around the globe, which is why this has some global reverberations essentially. And yeah, they are saying that, hey, our journalism doesn't just go out to people in the U.S. It doesn't just affect people in the United States. So we are going to continue on.
offering or referring to it by the name that the rest of the world recognizes it by. That is not the case, though, for Mount McKinley, because Trump changed that name from its former name Denali. That area, Alaska, is clearly in the United States. So Trump does have full authority to change that name. So the AP says it will use the new name Mount McKinley. But I just can't believe how many
words and how much ink has been spilled over this gall darn body of water off the coast of Florida here. But I guess you do have to make decisions. When you run a style book, you have to make these decisions. So yes, it might be making a bigger deal out of it than it probably is in the grand scheme of things. But still, these decisions do have widespread effects.
Finally, if you happen to find yourself in Australia attending a Bryan Adams show, our condolences go out to you. Instead of hearing a delightful rendition of Summer of 69, audiences were sent home after a giant sewer fatberg made of grease and rags forced Adams to cancel his show in Perth.
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