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🕶️ OpenAI’s $6.5B love story hits legal drama

One got lawyered, one got shelved, and AI is now responsible for a 57% hiring boom.

Author

Lucila Sarquis
June 24, 2025

Sponsored by

Tech giants are learning that viral clout doesn’t guarantee staying power — just ask ByteDance, now shelving its TikTok-powered book dreams and handing authors their rights back. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s $6.5B bromance with Jony Ive hit a legal snag over the name “io”, reminding us that nothing derails a visionary launch quite like a trademark dispute.

On the jobs front, AI isn’t replacing developers—it’s promoting them: 57% of companies expect to hire more AI-specific roles.

NEW Video: The hacker that stole $100M (and walked free)

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Ten bullets of updates

  1. ✍️ LinkedIn’s AI writing tool has seen less popularity among members, despite high demand for AI skills.

  2. 📊 A leak revealed that xAI’s Grok editor may soon support spreadsheets, aiming to compete with Google and Microsoft.

  3. ⚛️ New York plans a 1-gigawatt nuclear power plant with bipartisan political support.

  4. 🎧 Senators urged the FTC to investigate Spotify over bundles that cost publishers $230M in a year.

  5. 📽️ OpenAI pulled a Jony Ive video after acquiring 'io' for $6.5B due to a trademark conflict.

  6. 🛡️ European leaders are reconsidering reliance on Microsoft after email access was revoked during sanctions.

  7. 🌍 Remote leadership is helping global growth, with 83% of recruiters saying remote boosts applicant quality.

  8. đź’µ Katie Haun continues her push for stablecoins, now valued at $250B and rivaling US Treasury holders.

  9. 🧑‍💻 Elon Musk claims he “doesn’t use a computer,” despite regularly posting about his laptops on social media.

  10. 🇨🇳 Chinese EV brands like Xiaomi are drawing crowds to their highly automated factory tours.

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TikTok’s book baby wasn’t a bestseller

ByteDance is shutting down its fledgling book publishing arm, 8th Note Press, less than two years after launching it as an extension of TikTok’s massively influential #BookTok community. Despite the logic of turning viral book buzz into in-house sales, the experiment is ending abruptly, with authors now being notified that their rights will be returned. While the TikTok platform remains a major driver of book sales, ByteDance hasn’t explained why it’s exiting the publishing game so quickly—and has yet to respond to any media inquiries about the closure. See more.

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The hacker that stole $100M (and walked free)

In 2018, a single click on a compromised file gave Russian hackers a window into Wall Street—and they used it to steal $100 million. This is the wild true story of how a PowerShell backdoor on a filing agent’s laptop gave a Russian cybercrime ring early access to earnings reports from companies like Roku and Skechers—allowing them to trade on insider info for years without getting caught. Until one of them went skiing.

🕶️ Watch More Videos Here đź•¶ď¸Ź 

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StartEngine’s $30M Surge — Own a Piece Before June 26

Private markets are having a moment, thanks to companies like StartEngine.

The leading alternative investing platform is helping everyday investors like you access deals once reserved for VCs and insiders, including exposure to private market titans like OpenAI, Databricks, and Perplexity.Âą

How’s it going? In Q1 2025, StartEngine pulled off $30M in revenue, its biggest quarter ever (based on unaudited financials).²

But StartEngine isn’t just a middleman. The company earns 20% carried interest on select pre-IPO offerings, unlocking value for shareholders when these deals succeed.³

How can you tap into this diversification play? By investing in StartEngine.

StartEngine has crowdfunded $85M+ to date, and you can join 45K+ shareholders before the company’s current round closes on June 26.

Reg A+ via StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc. No BD/intermediary involved. Investment is speculative, illiquid & high risk. See OC and Risks on page.

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These companies just raised money

  1. ⚖️ Harvey AI hit a $5B valuation after a $300M Series E and is expanding beyond legal tech

  2. 🏦 Finom raised €115M to provide AI-driven financial tools for Europe’s 26 million SMBs.

  3. 🛠️ AllSpice secured $15M to streamline PCB and CAD workflows with AI tools for hardware teams.

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Start learning AI in 2025

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Slidebean Revenue Data

Mistakes were made as we grew Slidebean, but those mistakes shaped the lessons that helped us thrive. The journey wasn’t just about surviving—it was about learning and evolving.

To give you an honest glimpse into what growth really looks like, we’re sharing our actual financial numbers from the formative years of Slidebean. Download them now and see the ups, downs, and everything in between that built the company we are today.

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From panic to promotion: how AI is actually helping tech careers

AI is reshaping the tech job market more constructively than many developers initially feared, with data from the Linux Foundation’s 2025 State of Tech Talent report showing that it's largely fueling job creation rather than job loss. Survey participants were four times more likely to say AI is increasing software development roles than decreasing them, and 33% reported AI-driven growth in overall headcount at their organizations. The rise of AI-specific roles, like AI/ML operations engineers, is a major contributor—57% of employers plan to expand these positions, and nearly half are focused on upskilling their current workforce to meet AI demands.

Despite the growth, the outlook for entry-level roles remains uncertain. While 24% see AI opening more early-career opportunities, 18% believe the opposite, and a significant number note that traditional entry-level tasks are now handled by AI tools. Still, AI may be improving retention and hiring timelines: only 19% of new hires are let go within six months—down sharply from prior years—and time-to-fill for technical roles has dropped to 3.7 months, suggesting the industry is adapting more efficiently to a shifting talent landscape.

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