TikTok nears U.S. survival deal as Trump delays ban
Trump has declared a deal with China to keep TikTok operating in the US, with the President extending a deadline on a proposed ban to December 16.
“We have a deal on TikTok, I’ve reached a deal with China,” Trump told reporters before departing for his UK state visit.
The Wall Street Journal reports US investors would control roughly 80% of a new entity, with Oracle, Silver Lake, and Andreessen Horowitz forming the consortium. Americans would dominate the board with one government-selected member overseeing operations.
US users would migrate to a new app using content algorithms licensed from ByteDance, preserving TikTok’s core recommendation technology. Oracle maintains its existing agreement to host TikTok servers domestically, addressing lawmakers’ data security concerns.
China’s Wang Jingtao confirmed the framework includes “licensing the algorithm and other intellectual property rights.” The Chinese government will examine technology export and licensing matters according to domestic law.
Rolling Stone rocks Google with AI Overview lawsuit
Penske Media has sued Google, alleging the tech giant’s AI summaries use its journalism without consent and reduce traffic to Rolling Stone, Billboard, and Variety. This marks the first major U.S. publisher lawsuit targeting AI Overviews specifically.
“We have a responsibility to proactively fight for the future of digital media and preserve its integrity,” Jay Penske said. The company claims 20% of Google searches linking to its sites now show AI Overviews, with affiliate revenue falling over a third.
Penske argues Google forces publishers into AI summaries by making website inclusion conditional on content usage rights. The lawsuit claims without this market dominance, Google would need to compensate publishers for republishing their content.
Google defended its position, with spokesperson Jose Castaneda saying AI Overviews “offer a better experience to users and send traffic to a wider variety of websites. We will defend against these meritless claims.”
Microsoft and OpenAI untangle their partnership knot
Microsoft and OpenAI have signed a non-binding deal, allowing OpenAI to restructure into a for-profit company, marking a new phase in their high-profile partnership. The agreement enables OpenAI to pursue capital under conventional governance while maintaining Microsoft ties.
OpenAI seeks a $500 billion valuation with its nonprofit arm receiving over $100 billion, “about 20% of the $500 billion valuation,” according to board chairman Bret Taylor’s memo. This would create one of the most well-funded nonprofits globally.
Microsoft invested $11 billion since 2019 and previously held exclusive rights to sell OpenAI’s tools through Azure. The tech giant now wants continued access even if OpenAI declares humanlike intelligence, a milestone ending current partnership terms.
OpenAI must complete restructuring by year’s end or risk losing billions in tied funding. Regulatory approval from California and Delaware attorneys general remains pending for the conversion.
Luxury gets hacked, data gets bagged
Hackers have stolen private customer details from millions of Gucci, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen shoppers in a June attack on parent company Kering. The breach compromised names, emails, phone numbers, addresses, and total spending amounts at brand stores.
The “Shiny Hunters” group claims data linked to 7.4 million unique email addresses was accessed. No financial information like credit cards or bank accounts was stolen, Kering confirmed.
This marks another luxury sector breach following similar attacks on Richemont’s Cartier and LVMH labels this year. In July, Louis Vuitton faced a leak affecting 419,000 customers in Hong Kong.
Kering immediately disclosed the incident to authorities and notified affected customers per local regulations. The company identified the unauthorized system access but hasn’t specified which countries were impacted.
