Welcome back to your daily memorandum talking tech, business, AI, markets, and more. 🗞️

In today’s edition, we are tackling the following:

🖥️ Commerce Department backlog stalls Nvidia's H20 chip license applications.
🔍 Bing made Google dance and then stole some search traffic.
💰 Berkshire Hathaway sells $1.21 billion of VeriSign shares in latest move.
📉 Stocks slump on new tariffs and weak jobs data reports.
⚖️ Tesla must pay portion of $329M in damages after fatal autopilot crash.

TECHNOLOGY

• Commerce Department backlog reportedly stalls Nvidia's H20 chip license applications

  • Commerce Secretary gave chipmakers green light to sell certain AI chips in China again.

  • Nvidia still awaits license approval for H20 AI chips despite earlier department authorization clearance.

  • Department faces licensing backlog due to staff losses and communication breakdowns with chip industry.

• Bing made Google dance and then stole some search traffic

  • Microsoft's search revenue grew $1.6 billion or 13 percent over last fiscal year driven by AI.

  • Bing now holds 29 percent US search share and 11.6 percent worldwide share gains since 2023.

  • Google lost 6.1 percentage points worldwide and 1.2 points in US as Microsoft gains market share.

• More details emerge on Windsurf VCs and founders' Google deal payouts

  • Google's $2.4 billion Windsurf deal split equally between investors and employee compensation packages totaling $1.2 billion each.

  • VCs including Greenoaks Kleiner Perkins and General Catalyst achieved approximately 4x returns on original investments.

  • Greenoaks returned $500 million on $65 million investment while substantial portion went to co-founders Mohan and Chen.

BUSINESS

• Berkshire Hathaway sells $1.21 billion of VeriSign shares in latest move

  • Berkshire Hathaway sold 4.3 million Verisign shares on July 30, worth approximately $1.21 billion.

  • The sale was disclosed in a 10% owner filing submitted to the SEC.

  • Verisign shares dropped 8.2% in the past month, possibly linked to reduced institutional holdings.

• Stocks slump on new tariffs and weak jobs data reports

  • US stocks fall sharply with Dow down 1.23% S&P 500 down 1.6% and Nasdaq down 2.24%.

  • Amazon shares tumble 8.3% after cloud computing growth disappoints investor expectations despite quarterly results.

  • Trump imposes new tariffs on Canada, Brazil, India, Taiwan as July jobs data shows unexpected slowdown.

• Tesla must pay portion of $329M in damages after fatal autopilot crash

  • Florida jury finds Tesla partly liable for fatal 2019 autopilot crash involving multiple victims.

  • Tesla must pay portion of $329 million in compensatory and punitive damages to victims.

  • Jury rejected Tesla's defense blaming driver behavior while accepting claims of flawed autopilot marketing.

MARKETS

WORLD

• Top UK court to rule on car finance scandal with billions

  • Britain's highest court prepares to deliver highly anticipated judgment on multi-billion-pound car finance debacle.

  • Crisis draws comparisons to Payment Protection Insurance scandal that cost lenders over £50 billion.

  • RBC Capital Markets analysts slash estimates for potential total costs to affected lending institutions.

• Brunei tweaks Bridgewater bet to secure lucrative 20% stake in firm

  • Brunei's sovereign wealth fund converts investment strategy position into nearly 20% ownership stake in Bridgewater.

  • The move helps boost gains for other institutional investors in Ray Dalio's hedge fund.

  • Brunei Investment Agency joins other longtime clients buying pieces of the $92 billion fund manager.

• Rwanda and Congo agree on economic framework outline for peace deal

  • Two countries outline regional economic integration framework covering energy infrastructure minerals parks and health.

  • Agreement builds on Washington peace deal signed in June aimed at ending deadly regional fighting.

  • Framework seeks to attract billions in Western investment to mineral-rich region including lithium and cobalt.

CONTENT

• Kevin Gordon breaks down market responses to tariffs and future rate predictions

  • Charles Schwab's Kevin Gordon discusses market responses to tariffs and his predictions for interest rates.

  • Gordon analyzes whether 2025 rally represents real strength or market mirage amid current economic conditions.

  • Discussion covers investment themes tariff impacts on earnings and Schwab's asset class positioning strategies.

• Balaji Srinivasan explains how traditional media collapse enabled political capture and clickbait

  • Srinivasan discusses how collapsed newspaper business models led to political capture clickbait and adversarial tech coverage.

  • Conversation explores why "going direct" is essential and how tech became villain in establishment narratives.

  • Discussion covers building new truth infrastructure through decentralized content creation and cryptographic verification methods.

• Ezra Klein discusses Trump's influence Democratic leadership gap and Jewish divisions

  • Klein talks about Trump's influence Democratic Party's leadership gap and growing American Jewish divisions over Israel.

  • Discussion covers future of democracy rising nationalism and strategies for rebuilding trust in US institutions.

  • Conversation explores profiles of next Democratic leaders and lessons from recent political victories and scandals.

FUTURISM

• Palantir secures decade-long $10B Army software and data contract

  • Palantir wins $10 billion US Army contract consolidating 75 separate agreements into single deal.

  • Deal provides purchasing flexibility removes contract fees and streamlines procurement timelines for military operations.

  • Agreement supports Trump administration's cost efficiency push using AI tools while preparing for warfare threats.

• Mistral talks with VC firms MGX to raise funds at $10B valuation

  • French AI startup Mistral seeks $1 billion funding round at $10 billion valuation from various investors.

  • Company launched Europe's first AI reasoning model in June competing with American and Chinese rivals.

  • Funding would accelerate Le Chat chatbot rollout and support continued large language model development efforts.

• Fundamental Research Labs nabs $30M+ to build AI agents across verticals

  • Fundamental Research Labs raises $33 million Series A led by Prosus with Stripe CEO Patrick Collison participating.

  • Company offers consumer assistant Fairies and spreadsheet agent Shortcut targeting different user bases and applications.

  • Founded by former MIT faculty Dr Robert Yang company operates across games prosumer apps and research.

EXTRAS

• Kleiner Perkins having very good week with multiple tech IPO successes

  • Kleiner Perkins scored big with both Figma's hot IPO Thursday and Ambiq Micro's Wednesday debut.

  • Ambiq Micro chip maker shares climbed from $24 initial price to over $42 by Friday close.

  • Kleiner's Figma stake worth over $6 billion plus $91 million from sales totaling massive returns.

• Google drops over 50 DEI organizations from its government funding list

  • Google removed 58 organizations from government affairs funding list containing diversity equity inclusion terminology.

  • Dropped groups had mission statements including words like diversity equity inclusion race activism and women.

  • Company clarifies the list doesn't reflect funding distributed by Google's other internal team divisions

• Fujifilm raises camera and lens prices in US amid new tariffs

  • Fujifilm increases US prices for majority of digital cameras and lenses by hundreds of dollars.

  • Popular X-T5 consumer camera jumps from $1,699 to $1,899 representing a 12 percent price increase.

  • Price hikes reflect impact of Trump administration tariffs reverberating across consumer tech industry sectors.

AND MORE

• Google bets on STAN, an Indian social gaming platform startup.

• Boeing sued by flight attendants over MAX 9 midair panel blowout.

• Nintendo raising original Switch console prices due to market conditions.

• Need to scale an AI team quickly? Athyna delivers vetted talent globally in under a week.*

• Truecaller's call recording feature won't work on iPhones from September.

• TikTok launches TikTok Pro in Europe with built in charity program.

• Big Beer plans sales push from Brazil to China focusing volumes.

• Backed by America’s bourbon legacy, CaskX offers an alternative path for retirement growth with potential tax advantages.*

• Instagram now requires users have 1000 followers minimum to go live.

• Jeffrey Epstein victims and family blast Trump for Ghislaine Maxwell prison transfer.