Techmeme
September 26, 2025, 5:20 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: EA is nearing a deal to go private in a leveraged buyout valuing EA at ~$50B; investors include Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia's PIF; EA closes up 14.87%  —  Investors including Silver Lake eyeing deal that would likely be the largest leveraged buyout ever
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple has developed an internal ChatGPT-like iPhone app, code-named Veritas, to help test and prepare for a major Siri overhaul next year  —  Apple Inc. has developed a ChatGPT-like iPhone app to help test and prepare for a long-anticipated overhaul of Siri coming next year, according to people familiar with the matter.
Dylan Butts / CNBC:
China and its media are quiet about the TikTok deal, a notable silence as China can still decide the app's fate; Chinese social media chatter has been limited  —  Following U.S. President Donald Trump's approval of a deal that could keep TikTok alive in the U.S. on Thursday …
Bloomberg:
The Trump administration's $14B valuation of TikTok's US business falls well below previous estimates of around $40B, considered a bargain by investors  —  The $14 billion valuation that the Trump administration has estimated for TikTok's US business falls well below projections …
Bloomberg:
Sources: ByteDance may get ~50% of TikTok US' overall profit, including a licensing fee of 20% of revenue, despite selling majority ownership to US investors  —  TikTok's Chinese parent company will likely get about half of the profit from the platform's US operation even after it sells majority ownership …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
YouTube is testing AI hosts, who will share stories and trivia about the music users are listening to, in the YouTube Music app through its new Labs program  —  The hosts will share stories and trivia about the music you're listening to. … YouTube is adding AI hosts to radio and mixes …
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Anthropic plans to triple its global workforce and expand its applied AI team 5x in 2025, after growing its business clients from ~1K to 300K+ in two years  —  Anthropic is stepping up its global enterprise ambitions.  —  The $183 billion artificial intelligence startup has grown …
Amrith Ramkumar / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Trump administration is considering requiring chipmakers to produce as many chips in the US as they import, with tariffs on those who fail to comply  —  Administration wants domestic manufacturing to match imports and would impose tariffs on those companies that don't step up production
Bloomberg:
Meta plans to launch paid, ad-free versions of Instagram and Facebook in the UK, each costing £2.99 per month on the web, and £3.99 on iOS and Android  —  Meta Platforms Inc. will soon offer paid versions of Facebook and Instagram in the UK that will remove advertising from both platforms.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Kraken is in advanced talks to raise $200M to $300M from a strategic investor at a valuation of ~$20B, after recently raising $500M at a $15B valuation  —  Kraken is in advanced talks to raise new funding that could value the crypto exchange at about $20 billion …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
Microsoft and Asus open preorders for the first Xbox handhelds, the ROG Xbox Ally for $599 and the ROG Xbox Ally X for $999 in the US, shipping October 16  —  Xbox Ally X and Xbox Ally go on sale with PC-like prices, with preorders starting today. … Today, Microsoft and Asus …
Kate Whannel / BBC:
The UK unveils plans for a digital ID, which will be required to work in the country, to combat illegal immigration; the ID will be stored on people's phones  —  Digital ID will be mandatory in order to work in the UK, as part of plans to tackle illegal migration.
Joice Alves / Reuters:
A look at the use of tools like ChatGPT by retail investors to pick stocks, fueling a robo-advisory market boom, as experts warn of solely relying on AI  —  - Robo-advisory market projected to grow 600% by 2029  — Half of retail investors open to using AI tools, survey finds
Vicky Ge Huang / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: US regulators examined 200+ companies about sharp share-price gains in the lead-up to their announcements about making buying crypto a core strategy  —  SEC, Finra reach out to companies whose shares moved sharply before they announced plans to buy bitcoin, other digital assets
Frederic Lardinois / The New Stack:
Microsoft launches Microsoft Marketplace, combining Azure Marketplace and Microsoft AppSource in a single destination for cloud tools and AI apps and agents  —  Microsoft has long offered a variety of marketplaces for businesses in its ecosystem.  For cloud solutions, there is the Azure Marketplace …

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More News

Michael Nuñez / Venturebeat:
Jacob Judah / MIT Technology Review:
Elissa Welle / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Jennifer Maas / Variety:
Juby Babu / Reuters:
Hayden Field / The Verge: