Silicon Valley's biggest tech companies spent months lobbying for a 10-year ban on state AI regulation. The Senate voted 99-1 to kill it. Meta, Microsoft, and venture capital firms learned that money can't buy everything in Washington.
Grammarly bought email app Superhuman for an undisclosed sum, part of its plan to build an AI productivity empire. With $1 billion in fresh funding, the grammar company wants to put AI agents at the center of your workday.
Google parent Alphabet just placed its biggest bet ever: a $27 billion deal to acquire cloud security powerhouse Wiz. The move dwarfs Google's previous record - the now-quaint $12.5 billion Motorola purchase from 2012.
The deal marks a dramatic turnaround. Just last year, Wiz rejected Google's $23 billion offer over antitrust concerns. Apparently, nine billion dollars helps ease those worries.
Wiz brings serious firepower to Google Cloud. Its AI-powered security tools protect heavyweights like Morgan Stanley, BMW, and even luxury giant LVMH. Yes, your Louis Vuitton handbag now comes with a side of cloud security.
The timing raises eyebrows. Google picked an interesting moment to announce its largest-ever acquisition - right after losing an antitrust battle over its search business. The company seems to believe the Trump administration might view mega-mergers more favorably than its predecessors.
The cybersecurity landscape shifted dramatically after last year's CrowdStrike outage sent companies scrambling for better protection. Google spotted an opportunity and pounced. The Wiz deal follows its $5.4 billion Mandiant acquisition in 2022, when it outbid Microsoft in what we can only assume was a very polite bidding war.
Speaking of Microsoft, its recent security stumbles haven't gone unnoticed. Google's shopping spree suggests it smells blood in the water. The company promises Wiz will keep serving rival clouds - a clever move to appease regulators and keep competitors' data flowing through its new acquisition.
Google's shareholders seem surprisingly unfazed. The stock barely budged on the news, though it's already down 13% this year as investors digest the company's expensive AI adventures. Perhaps a $32 billion security blanket feels reassuring in these uncertain times.
Why this matters:
Google isn't just buying security tech - it's buying trust. In an era of endless cyber threats, that might be worth every billion
The deal's fate will signal whether regulators are ready to let tech giants keep growing through acquisition, or if the antitrust party's finally ending
Cloudflare now blocks AI bots by default and lets publishers charge per scrape. With AI companies taking 17,000+ crawls per referral while Google takes just 14, the internet's biggest traffic handler is reshaping data collection rules.
Apple considers ditching its own AI technology for Siri, eyeing Anthropic's Claude or OpenAI's ChatGPT instead. The potential reversal exposes Apple's struggle in the AI race and internal talent exodus.
Meta hired four more OpenAI researchers this week, escalating Zuckerberg's talent war with $100M packages. The exodus follows Meta's disappointing Llama 4 launch as the CEO personally hunts AI stars to close the innovation gap.
Meta poaches three OpenAI researchers with $100 million signing bonuses as Zuckerberg builds a "superintelligence" team. Sam Altman dismisses the blitz, but departures suggest money talks in AI's talent war.