📉Nvidia Loses $600B

🌞Good morning. It's Tuesday, Jan. 28, and we're covering, Nvidia Loses $600B In Market Cap As DeepSeek’s AI Model Challenges Chipmaker Dominance, Alibaba's Qwen Team Unveils AI Models Capable Of Controlling Devices, Roman Abramovich Accused Of Dodging Millions In Tax with Superyacht Scheme, and much more. First time reading? Sign up to get this newsletter: Sign up here.

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MARKETS

Cryptocurrency Prices by Market Cap

• The global cryptocurrency market cap today is $3.51 Trillion, a 4.44% increase in the last 24 hours.

• The total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours is $160.3B, which makes a 10.33% increase.

• The total volume in Defi is currently $10.15B, 6.33% of the total crypto market 24-hours.

• The volume of all stablecoins is now $145.38B, which is 90.70% of the total market 24-hour volume.

• Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 58.04%, a decrease of 0.32% over the day.

MicroStrategy Continues Bitcoin Acquisition With $1.1B Purchase

MicroStrategy has continued its Bitcoin buying spree, acquiring an additional $1.1 billion worth of Bitcoin between January 21 and January 26, bringing its total Bitcoin holdings to about $47 billion. To support this strategy, the company announced plans to raise capital by offering $250 million in perpetual preferred stock. The stock offering will help finance further Bitcoin purchases as part of MicroStrategy’s broader plan to raise $42 billion through 2027. (Read Deeper)

BUSINESS & FINANCE

Nvidia Loses $600B In Market Cap As DeepSeek’s AI Model Challenges Chipmaker Dominance

Nvidia’s market cap dropped by $600 billion after the release of DeepSeek’s R1 AI model, which showed that AI models can achieve impressive results using fewer resources and less computing power compared to traditional U.S. models. This has raised concerns for Nvidia, whose stock fell 16.9%. The R1 model challenges the need for high-end chips, threatening Nvidia’s dominance in the AI sector.

Takeaway: The timing is significant as former President Biden’s executive order restricted AI chip exports to China, where DeepSeek is based. Trump reversed the order and introduced a new infrastructure plan to invest in AI data centers. DeepSeek’s rise signals that the U.S. may need to look beyond just hardware to maintain global AI leadership. (Read Deeper)

TravelPerk Raises $200M, And It Acquires Yokoy To Expand Into Expense Management

TravelPerk, a Barcelona-based business travel management platform, has raised $200 million in Series E funding, nearly doubling its valuation to $2.7 billion. The company also announced the acquisition of Swiss startup Yokoy, a spend management platform, to integrate expense management directly into its offerings. With the travel industry recovering to pre-pandemic levels, corporate travel is projected to reach a record $1.5 trillion in 2024.

Why It Matters: The company aims to capitalize on the growing need for unified travel and expense solutions, especially as remote and hybrid working models create more demand for offsite corporate travel. TravelPerk plans to expand its global footprint, with a particular focus on the U.S. market. The acquisition of Yokoy will help provide a more seamless solution for managing both travel and expenses, leveraging AI to enhance efficiency. (Read Deeper)

TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE

Alibaba's Qwen Team Unveils AI Models Capable Of Controlling Devices

Alibaba's Qwen team has unveiled its new family of AI models, Qwen2.5-VL, which can perform advanced text and image analysis tasks. These models excel in areas like video understanding, document analysis, and object recognition, outperforming models like OpenAI's GPT-4 and Google's Gemini in certain benchmarks.

Takeaway: Qwen2.5-VL can also control PCs and mobile devices, demonstrating the ability to launch apps and perform tasks like booking flights. However, the model has restrictions on certain sensitive topics due to China's internet regulations. The models are available on platforms like Hugging Face, with commercial usage restricted for large companies.(Read Deeper)

Trump Announces Microsoft Talks To Acquire TikTok

U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok and expressed interest in seeing a bidding war for the app. Microsoft declined to comment, and TikTok did not immediately respond. TikTok, owned by ByteDance, faces national security concerns due to its Chinese ownership, and Trump had previously signed an executive order delaying enforcement of a law requiring ByteDance to either sell TikTok or face a ban.

Takeaway: Trump is also discussing with other parties, including Elon Musk, about the app's future. Additionally, AI startup Perplexity AI proposed merging with TikTok, with the U.S. government potentially gaining a stake in the new entity. This marks the second time Microsoft has been involved in talks to acquire TikTok after a previous attempt in 2020. (Read Deeper)

AROUND DE WORLD & POLITICS

Roman Abramovich Accused Of Dodging Millions In Tax with Superyacht Scheme

Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch, was involved in a decade-long tax evasion scheme using his fleet of luxury yachts. The yachts, including the famous Eclipse, were falsely presented as part of a commercial leasing operation to avoid millions of euros in VAT. Leaked documents reveal how Abramovich's companies leased the yachts through offshore entities, concealing their true personal use.

Takeaway: The scheme involved backdating charter agreements and creating fake commercial activity. The investigation, carried out by the BBC and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, reveals over 400,000 files and 72,000 emails exposing how Abramovich used offshore companies. Despite legal scrutiny, the investigations were blocked after false documents were provided. Cyprus pursued a €14 million VAT bill, but it’s unclear if it was paid. (Read Deeper)

40 People Injured After United Airlines Flight Suddenly Plunges Mid-Air

United Airlines Flight 613, traveling from Nigeria to Washington, DC, experienced a terrifying mid-air plunge 93 minutes after takeoff, injuring nearly 40 people. Of the 245 passengers and crew on board, six were seriously injured. Video footage shows the chaos inside the cabin, with food trays and personal items scattered due to the sudden drop.

Takeaway: United Airlines has ruled out severe turbulence as the cause, and is currently working with aviation authorities in both the U.S. and Nigeria to determine the root cause of the incident. Rescue teams in Nigeria responded quickly, transporting the injured to medical facilities. The aircraft did not sustain any damage. Investigations are ongoing. (Read Deeper)

ENTERTAINMENT & SPORTS

Neymar Set For Santos Return After Saudi Arabian Struggles

Neymar is set to return to Santos, the club where he started his career, after a challenging stint at Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia. The Brazilian forward, who moved to the Saudi club for €90m in August 2023, has struggled with injuries, missing 65 games and only playing seven, during which he scored one goal and provided three assists. Neymar had previously risen to prominence at Santos before moving to Barcelona and then Paris Saint-Germain. (Read Deeper)

Bruno Mars Become The First Artist To Reach 150 Million Monthly Listeners On Spotify

Bruno Mars has made history by becoming the first artist in Spotify’s history to reach 150 million monthly listeners, as announced by the platform on January 27. The achievement comes shortly after Mars broke another record with his Lady Gaga collaboration, "Die With a Smile," which became the fastest song to hit one billion streams. Mars also reached the same milestone with his collaboration with ROSÉ on "APT." (Read Deeper)

PODCAST(WHAT WE ARE LISTENING TO)

• Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and a prominent tech investor, is set to release his latest book, Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future. Hoffman acknowledges the challenges associated with AI, such as disinformation and potential job displacement. (Listen)

EXTRA BREVITI

• Nvidia's market value took a significant hit, losing nearly $600 billion, after the release of DeepSeek's R1 AI model. (Read More)

• Ubisoft is closing its Leamington studio and laying off 185 employees as part of ongoing cost-cutting efforts. (Read More)

• A sudden selloff in global tech markets wiped out $108 billion from the fortunes of the world's 500 richest individuals on Monday, with AI billionaires hit hardest (Read More)

• Google Maps is set to rename the "Gulf of Mexico" to the "Gulf of America" for U.S. users, though the change won’t appear immediately. (Read More)