Sebastian Herrera

Microsoft’s Earnings Surge Is Overshadowed by Data-Center Spending Higher than anticipated capital spending and disappointing gaming results from the holiday season weigh on shares.

Microsoft had a big earnings beat Wednesday, but those gains were overshadowed by larger than expected spending on data centers and disappointing gaming results from the holiday season. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/micr...

Microsoft Data-Center Pledges Seeking to Address Electricity Prices Draw Trump’s Praise The software company promised to pay higher utility bills for all of its U.S. data centers powering artificial-intelligence models, a pledge that drew praise from President Trump.

As Microsoft and other large tech companies build out massive data centers for training AI, many local residents have asked: Will my electricity bill go up?

Maybe not. www.wsj.com/tech/ai/trum...

Meta tolerates rampant ad fraud from China to safeguard billions in revenue A Reuters investigation reveals the owner of Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp decided to accept high levels of fraudulent advertisements from China. Internal company documents show Meta wanted to mini...

To grow its ad biz in China, Meta has relied on ad agency partners given the power to create special enforcement-protected ad accounts and share them with resellers. The system produces so much fraud that Meta internally calls China its top “scam exporting nation.”

www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Trump Administration Plans to Boost Tax Break for Corporations The Treasury Department is preparing to release a corporate tax workaround that would deliver large tax savings to companies including Salesforce Inc. and Qualcomm Inc.

NEW: The Treasury Department is preparing to release a corporate tax workaround that would deliver big tax savings to companies including Salesforce and Qualcomm. The change would let companies deduct old R&D investments without triggering the 15% corporate minimum tax. Gift link:

Oracle Shares Tumble as AI Spending Outruns Returns The company’s growing data-center outlays will take longer than investors would like to pay off.

Oracle didn't do much on Wednesday to ease investor concerns about its AI cloud business. www.wsj.com/business/ear...

It’s About Time: The Copilot Usage Report 2025 At MAI, we don’t just build AI tools, we care about how real people interact with them.

microsoft.ai/news/its-abo...

- As the year progressed, more people asked Copilot about topics like society and history.

Microsoft is spending tons of money to get its consumer chatbot to catch on with users. It's paying influencers like Timothée Chalamet to attract people to Copilot.

- On desktop computers, users relied on Copilot for productivity, while using it as a "conversational partner" on mobile.
- People like talking to chatbots about travel during the day. At night and early morning, they are more likely to bring up religion and philosophy.

- “Health and Fitness” is the top use case. People asked Copilot about wellness tracking, health tips and daily routines. As we've reported, health is a top priority at Microsoft AI. lnkd.in/etnynT2W

🧵 Microsoft this morning published a report analyzing 3.7 million chats on its consumer Copilot app. The findings give an insight into how people are turning to AI for every-day needs. Among the findings:

Exclusive | Inside Microsoft’s New AI ‘Super Factory’ The tech giant is building out huge data centers among the most advanced in the world as it rushes to meet demand for AI computing power.

Microsoft is building out giant data centers among the most advanced in the world as it rushes to meet demand for AI computing power www.wsj.com/tech/ai/insi... via @WSJ

Microsoft Lays Out Ambitious AI Vision, Free From OpenAI The tech giant forms a team led by Microsoft AI chief Mustafa Suleyman to build top artificial-intelligence systems and distance itself from its longtime partner.

Microsoft AI Chief Executive Mustafa Suleyman offers a look at Microsoft’s plans to develop AI self-sufficiency from OpenAI www.wsj.com/tech/ai/micr... via @WSJ

Microsoft to Double Data Center Footprint in Two Years The company is seeing more demand for its cloud computing and AI services than it can keep up with, a challenge that is supercharging profits.

Microsoft is seeing more demand for its cloud computing and AI services than it can keep up with, a challenge that is supercharging the company’s income www.wsj.com/tech/ai/micr... via @WSJ

OpenAI Converts to Public-Benefit Corporation With Microsoft Taking 27% Stake OpenAI’s for-profit arm finalized its conversion into a public-benefit corporation and reached a deal with Microsoft that will see the tech giant take a 27% stake.

NEW: OpenAI’s for-profit arm finalized its conversion into a public-benefit corporation and reached a deal with Microsoft that will see the tech giant take a 27% stake in the AI startup www.wsj.com/tech/ai/open... via @WSJ

Exclusive | Inside the Tech CEO Campaign to Stop Trump From Sending Troops to San Francisco Sam Altman, Jensen Huang and Marc Benioff conferred with Daniel Lurie, the city’s mayor, on how to persuade the president not to deploy the National Guard.

NEW: President Trump was ready to send troops into San Francisco. The city’s business leaders needed a way to talk him out of it—and they found it. www.wsj.com/politics/pol... via @WSJ

Meet Mico, Microsoft’s AI version of Clippy Copilot now has its own virtual character for its voice mode.

From The Verge: Meet Mico, Microsoft’s AI version of Clippy www.theverge.com/news/804106/...

It also announced other updates to Copilot, including functions that enable easier collaboration between users, can recall past conversations in depth, connects to services on Google and OneDrive and provides voice-enabled tutoring. And it revealed Mico, the voice-enabled AI character.

Human-centered AI   | Microsoft Copilot Blog Today, we’re dropping the Copilot Fall Release, a big step forward in making AI more personal, useful, and human-centered.   There’s a lot of noise around AI. Headlines, hype, fear.    At Microsoft AI...

Microsoft makes our scoop on the partnership with Harvard Health official: www.microsoft.com/en-us/micros...

The A-List Turned on Marc Benioff. Now He’s Sorry. The Salesforce CEO apologized for his comments on the National Guard.

Our weekend profile of Marc Benioff, who apologized today after starting a firestorm by saying the National Guard should come to San Francisco www.wsj.com/tech/marc-be...

Exclusive | Marc Benioff Apologizes For National Guard Comments The Salesforce CEO had called for President Trump to send the National Guard to San Francisco.

Exclusive: Marc Benioff Apologizes For National Guard Comments www.wsj.com/politics/pol... via @WSJ

Exclusive | Microsoft Tries to Catch Up in AI With Healthcare Push, Harvard Deal The company is seeking to move away from dependence on its partner OpenAI and build a consumer base for its Copilot chatbot.

Scoop: Microsoft is working with Harvard Medical School for a Copilot chatbot update, seeks healthcare push and some tech independence from OpenAI: www.wsj.com/tech/ai/micr...

Microsoft’s probe was triggered by a The Guardian article in August that detailed Israel storing millions of phone calls by Palestinians in Gaza on Microsoft cloud services and using the data to surveil citizens there.

Microsoft Cuts Back Work With Israel’s Defense Ministry The software company found the ministry used cloud services to surveil Gaza citizens.

Big news: Microsoft is disabling certain services and subscriptions by Israel’s defense ministry after the company found the ministry was using cloud services to surveil Gaza citizens www.wsj.com/tech/microso...

Tech’s H-1B Debate: Is Trump’s New Fee a Solution or a Setback? Some in tech say charging $100,000 for visa applications will weed out bad candidates, while others expect it to drive hiring overseas.

The all-out panic in the tech industry has subsided. Now comes the debate: Will President Trump’s move to charge $100,000 to apply for a coveted H-1B visa help or hurt Silicon Valley? www.wsj.com/tech/h1b-vis... via @WSJ

Oracle Names Co-CEOs as Safra Catz Moves to Executive Vice Chair Clay Magouyrk, president of Oracle’s cloud infrastructure business, and Oracle Industries President Mike Sicilia are now its chief executives.

Big news at Oracle this morning: The company has named two new CEOs, Clay Magouyrk and Mike Sicilia, who will replace longtime chief Safra Catz as she transitions to executive vice chair. www.wsj.com/business/c-s...

Seattle, Tech Boomtown, Grapples With a Future of Fewer Tech Jobs Amazon and Microsoft remade the Seattle area. Now its economy is feeling the pain of the industry’s pullback.

There are few places in the U.S., if any, where the local economy rests as heavily on two players like Seattle does with Amazon and Microsoft. So what happens after these two tech giants undergo layoff after layoff and indicate their workforces won't grow? My latest: www.wsj.com/tech/seattle...

How Larry Ellison (Briefly) Became the World's Richest Person - The Journal. - WSJ Podcasts The Oracle co-founder is almost as wealthy as Elon Musk, and he’s in the middle of the AI revolution, the future of entertainment, and maybe even a deal for TikTok. WSJ’s Sebastian Herrera explains wh...

As we've covered over the past week, Larry Ellison seems to be everywhere right now.

I discussed Ellison's early days, rise in Silicon Valley and current power on today's episode of The Journal. www.wsj.com/podcasts/the...

Oracle, Silver Lake consortium to control 80% stake in TikTok in US, WSJ reports TikTok's U.S. operations would be controlled by an investor consortium including Oracle , Silver Lake and Andreessen Horowitz, under a framework the U.S. and China are finalizing, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Oracle, Silver Lake consortium to control 80% stake in TikTok in US, WSJ reports reut.rs/3VWFnqI

Larry Ellison Is More Interesting Than Ever at 81 The 81-year-old is in the middle of the AI revolution, the future of entertainment and maybe even a deal for TikTok.

Our weekend profile of Larry Ellison, who at 81, is back on the main stage after he briefly became the richest man in the world this past week. www.wsj.com/business/lar...

Microsoft, OpenAI Announce Deal to Extend Partnership The agreement is set to remove one of several barriers for the startup, which is seeking to restructure and become a for-profit company.

Microsoft and OpenAI have agreed to extend their partnership, as the startup seeks to become a for-profit company.