Data Sheet—Apple and Goldman Sachs Make an Unlikely Team
Free as in beer. Free stock trading app Robinhood raised $ 363 million of venture capital in a deal that valued the company at $ 5.6 billion, more than four times what it was worth when it last raised money a year ago. The company is adding free digital currency trading to its app. “We expect by the end of the year to be either the largest or one of the largest crypto platforms out there,” co-CEO Baiju Bhatt tells Fortune.
Kinda not quite there yet. On Wall Street, graphic chip leader Nvidia failed to impress even though its revenue jumped 66% to $ 3.2 billion, more than analysts expected, and net income more than doubled to $ 1.98 per share. But the company also said volatile buying from digital currency miners was likely to fall, sending its shares down 2% in premarket trading on Friday. Dropbox slightly exceeded expectations, with revenue growing 28% to $ 316 million and the number of paying users growing 24% to 11.5 million. Its shares were also down 2%.
Heavy metal. The smelting of aluminum is not an environmentally friendly process, not by a long shot. So Apple is getting together with two suppliers, Alcoa and Rio Tinto, in a venture called Elysis to push a new process that eliminates greenhouse gas emissions from the smelting. Apple is throwing in $ 10 million but won’t get an equity stake. The metal companies are investing $ 43 million and the Canadian and Quebec government are each investing $ 47 million.
Banner year. The market for online advertising grew 21% last year to $ 88 billion, according to IAB. Search ads increased 18% to $ 40.6 billion, banner ads rose 23% to $ 27.5 billion, and video ads jumped 33% to $ 11.9 billion. Social ads (across all three formats) grew 36% hitting $ 22.2 billion. While digital ad sales squeaked by TV ad sales in 2016, last year they decisively exceeded TV by $ 18 billion.
Open the pod bay doors. Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios announced on Thursday that the White House is creating an artificial intelligence task force, consisting of officials from a variety of government agencies like the National Science Foundation and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. “We cannot be passive. To realize the full potential of AI for the American people, it will require the combined efforts of industry, academia, and government,” Kratsios said at an AI summit.
What’s your major. Speaking of AI, Carnegie Mellon announced it would offer degrees in artificial intelligence from its computer science school, the first such AI degree program in the country. “Specialists in artificial intelligence have never been more important, in shorter supply or in greater demand by employers,” Andrew Moore, the school’s dean, said.
Truthiness. Remember back in December, the day after the Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal its net neutrality rules, when chairman Ajit Pai went on television and said: “Those who have said the Internet as we know it is about to end have been proven wrong starting this morning”? Well, on Thursday, the FCC finally filed the paperwork to repeal the rules effective June 11. In other words, the protective rules were–and still are–in effect.
