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Eliot Brown

@eliotwb.bsky.social
345 followers 92 following 62 posts

WSJ reporter. Based in London

PostsRepliesMedia
Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Beautiful piece from Evan Gershkovich, WSJ reporter and pal, on being imprisioned in Russia for 16 months. Excerpt from his book out tomorrow: This Cursed Beautiful Land www.newyorker.com/culture/essa...
newyorker.com
The Cellmate Who Taught Me the Codes of Russian Prison
The journalist Evan Gershkovich details the delicate rapport he developed with his cellmate at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Foreign Lambos in London's luxury lanes: get parking ticket, don't pay; repeat.
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Wendy Siegelman @wendysiegelman.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Drone-Defense Startup Needed Connections, so It Hired Eric Trump Space-Eyes’ CEO Jatin Bains gives President Trump’s son 6% stake to tap in to his ‘network of contacts’ www.wsj.com/business/dro...
wsj.com
Drone-Defense Startup Needed Connections, so It Hired Eric Trump
Space-Eyes’ CEO gave President Trump’s son a 6% stake to tap in to his “network of contacts.” Eric Trump said he isn’t involved in day-to-day operations.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Let's check back on this one
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Huge congrats to former WSJ colleagues and pals @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social and Tripp Mickle on their Pulitzers
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Paul Krugman @pkrugman.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Sometimes you wonder. Bloomberg this morning saying that you can't both believe that AI is a big deal and that we're in a bubble. But you absolutely can! That's exactly the story of the tech bubble of the 90s, major economic impact but not big profits. Sigh.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Our piece on kids of Trump + others in the administration making it big in crypto www.wsj.com/finance/curr...
wsj.com
One Generation Runs the Country. The Next Cashed In on Crypto.
Sons of top Trump administration officials made billions for their families, but their investors didn’t always fare so well.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
whew www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAiC...
youtube.com
Rep. Meeks Tells Bessent to Stop Being Trump's 'Flunky'
YouTube video by Bloomberg Television
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
👀 www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Top Democrat Launches Probe Into ‘Spy Sheikh’ Deal With Trump Company
World Liberty Financial said lawmakers are “harassing a private American business to score political points.”
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
A new twist: Jared Kushner drops plan for a Trump hotel in Serbia after local backlash www.wsj.com/world/trump-...
wsj.com
Jared Kushner Drops Plan to Build a Trump Hotel in Serbia
For more than two years, the U.S. president’s son-in-law had sought to build a complex of towers in a central Belgrade site once bombed by NATO.
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The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 15/12/2025
For more than two years, Jared Kushner has sought to build a Trump-branded complex of towers in central Belgrade, Serbia. But the plans are meeting resistance.
on.wsj.com
Jared Kushner’s Plan to Build a Trump Hotel in Serbia Is Running Into Resistance
For more than two years, the U.S. president’s son-in-law has sought to build a complex of towers in a central Belgrade site once bombed by NATO.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Jared Kushner wants to build a Trump-branded hotel complex on a Belgrade site bombed by NATO. It's getting messy. Serbian protesters are taking to the streets; an alleged forgery investigation; Serbian parliamentary fights and vows to occupy the site www.wsj.com/world/trump-...
wsj.com
Jared Kushner’s Plan to Build a Trump Hotel in Serbia Is Running Into Resistance
For more than two years, the U.S. president’s son-in-law has sought to build a complex of towers in a central Belgrade site once bombed by NATO.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
on a nuclear plant's fish boomboxes (part of a £700 M fish deterrent); a replica air-raid shelter just for bats, and a bat tunnel at a cost of over $500k per bat www.wsj.com/world/uk/the...
wsj.com
Britain Asked a Power Plant to Build a ‘Fish Disco.’ It’s Not Going Well.
Plans to use a deep-sea boom box to keep fish away from a coastal nuclear station have gone awry. DJing for marine life, it turns out, is a nightmare.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
People say this a lot; they have many differences with big tech, but it WAS giant companies financing the dotcom boom. The telecoms were the biggest spenders -- and biggest losers -- of the era, investing in the infrastructure (like today's data centers) for the Web
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
lol
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
Jay-Z + TBZ
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
www.wsj.com/business/dea...
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 26/09/2025
Robbie Whelan and I did a piece today on the AI bubble (?) Increasingly loud echoes of dotcom fiber boom-turned-bust www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-b...
wsj.com
Spending on AI Is at Epic Levels. Will It Ever Pay Off?
Tech companies are pouring hundreds of billions into data centers, taking on heavy debt, but current revenue is relatively tiny. Critics warn of a new dot-com bubble.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 01/09/2025
holy octopus www.thetimes.com/life-style/f...
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
"Spokespeople for both City Hall and the city’s Transportation Department directed questions to the New York Police Department, which in turn told The Wall Street Journal to ask City Hall." www.wsj.com/lifestyle/ne...
wsj.com
New York Has a New E-Bike Speed Limit—and No Way to Enforce It
When the city announced a speed limit in June, haters rejoiced. But the plan had some holes.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
👏
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
UK press staple: Politician 'refuses to rule out' x
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Oracle CEO on investor call: "Stargate is not formed yet"
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Ted Mann @whereisted.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Musk is out (or so he says). But the DOGE mindset remains, evident in gutted agencies and a demoralized workforce. “Nobody else in the world is doing this kind of thing. And it’s basically going to get shelved.” www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Musk Exits DOGE Leaving Threadbare Agencies and Strained Workers
The full effects of a drastic cost-cutting campaign are coming into focus as its billionaire architect departs from the government
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Dana Mattioli @danamattioli.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Elon Musk wasn't happy about Stargate UAE. On a call w/ G42, Musk warned those assembled: Their plan had no chance of Trump signing off on it unless his company xAI was included in the deal. Scoop w/ @eliotwb.bsky.social + Josh Dawsey www.wsj.com/tech/elon-mu...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Elon Musk Tried to Block Sam Altman’s Big AI Deal in the Middle East
Musk warned those involved that President Trump wouldn’t bless the OpenAI data-center project in Abu Dhabi unless his xAI company was included in the deal, according to people familiar with the matter...
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
San Francisco is so dea... www.wsj.com/articles/aus...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Austin’s Reign as a Tech Hub Might Be Coming to an End
Regional tech hubs across the U.S. are losing talent as workers return to the coasts, with Austin being one of the hardest hit.
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Jeff Horwitz @jeffhorwitz.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
Until I start my new job, I will be pursuing my hobby of removing feral honey bee colonies from people’s homes on a semi-pro basis. I hope to post a lot of bee-related content, mostly on LinkedIn, because I think that would be funny. This is my new business venture. I will be making T-Shirts.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
my piece on UAE's Trumpian charm offensive to win access to AI chips It worked well www.wsj.com/tech/how-gul...
wsj.com
How Gulf Sheikhs Played Their Trump Cards Into a Massive AI Chip Deal
The U.A.E.’s ruling family used headline-grabbing investment numbers, deals with Trump family businesses and ties with tech executives to score an Nvidia deal.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Our piece on Trump Inc racking up deals with Middle East government ties as Trump heads to the Gulf to do policy www.wsj.com/world/middle...
wsj.com
Trump’s Family Is Rapidly Striking Business Deals in the Mideast
Golf resorts, crypto deals and financial investments blur the line between private business and public policy.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
😭
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Here's our super cool podcast on Neom from the Journal Part two: THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES Find within: -screaming executives -a giant hole in a mountain -trillions in budget overruns -financial manipulation www.wsj.com/podcasts/the...
wsj.com
Neom, Pt 2: The Emperor’s New Clothes - The Journal. - WSJ Podcasts
Andy Wirth and Tony Harris moved halfway across the world to help build Neom: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s futuristic new city in the Saudi desert. But what they found wasn’t the desert utopia o...
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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 27/03/2025
How is the CoreWeave IPO going?
media.tenor.com
a man in a suit and tie is shaking hands with another man in an elevator and saying `` not great , bob ! ''
ALT: a man in a suit and tie is shaking hands with another man in an elevator and saying `` not great , bob ! ''
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Robert Smith @bondhack.ft.com · 27/03/2025
“A data centre field of dreams, or the WeWork of the AI bubble?” @bryce.lol just put out 3,000 words of searing analysis on CoreWeave for FT Alphaville. If you are thinking of committing money this IPO, it’s essential reading. Even if you’re not, it’s bloody brilliant. on.ft.com/3Y3Oo2M
on.ft.com
Eight odd things in CoreWeave’s IPO prospectus
[FREE TO READ] A data centre field of dreams, or the WeWork of the AI bubble?
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New Civil Engineer @social.newcivilengineer.com · 12/03/2025
The anticipated cost of the Neom gigaproject in Northwest Saudi Arabia have exploded from the original $500bn (£386bn) estimate to $8.8 trillion (£6.8 trillion) Full story:
buff.ly
Anticipated cost of Saudi Arabia’s Neom gigaproject explodes from $500bn to $8.8 trillion
Neom is a series of megaprojects that will see the construction of futuristic cities and holiday des...
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
My story on Neom Inside: a $45 M party w/ Alicia Keys, a $8.8 T capex estimate, an internal audit alleging "financial manipulation" by top executives, $130 M of McKinsey fees in a year, and the chandelier, an ornamental 30-story tower hanging upside down www.wsj.com/finance/saud...
wsj.com
What Went Wrong at Saudi Arabia’s Futuristic Metropolis in the Desert
Neom executives shielded Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from the challenges of his fantastical plans, including by engaging in ​“deliberate manipulation​” of financials, an internal report​ ​found
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The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 09/03/2025
At a cost of more than $50 billion, the Saudi crown prince’s sci-fi-inspired dreams for his Neom metropolis—including the Line, a pair of 106-mile-long Empire State Building-height skyscrapers—have collided with reality
wsj.com
What Went Wrong at Saudi Arabia’s Futuristic Metropolis in the Desert
Neom executives shielded Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from the challenges of his fantastical plans, including by engaging in ​“deliberate manipulation​” of financials, an internal report​ ​found
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Is hacksaw really the best analogy from the WH press corps?
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
A large number of fantastic journalists in WSJ's tech buro were sadly laid off yesterday. Happy to vouch for them if anyone is hiring.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
"telecom Capex was approximately $120 b in 2000 dollars, or ~$213 b in today’s dollars. This is one of the largest bases of capital ever built in such a short amount of time, and this capacity led to a glut in fiber that took almost a decade to backfill." www.fabricatedknowledge.com/p/lessons-fr...
fabricatedknowledge.com
Lessons from History: The Rise and Fall of the Telecom Bubble
The Internet and Telecom bubble. Lessons in leverage, rates, and a smattering of fraud. What can we learn from that period to compare it to today?
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
"The result was a technological breakthrough that brought the explosive growth of the internet—and an air of irrational exuberance that brought economic tumult." internethistory.org/wp-content/u...
internethistory.org
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
SoftBank-backed fish (?) startup that misrepresented its financials: "In essence, eFishery was “operating like a traditional trading business without technology,” the presentation said, " www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
SoftBank, Temasek Among eFishery Investors Facing Near Wipeout
Investigators hired by the board of eFishery Pte. have determined the Indonesian startup is in far worse shape than they previously thought, and that investors are likely to get back less than 10 cent...
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
"That means southern England had experienced just over 1.5 hours of sunshine each day on average in 72 days of winter." www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...
standard.co.uk
London goes seven days without any sunshine in gloomiest winter for years
But Londoners can finally expect the weather to turn after a miserably grey February so far
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
Very well reported story www.wsj.com/politics/ele...
wsj.com
Exclusive | How the Trumps Turned an Election Victory Into a Cash Bonanza
The first lady’s documentary deal with Amazon, the president’s legal settlements and other transactions near $80 million so far, with the Trump library a major beneficiary.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Market to SoftBank: Why are you going all-in on OpenAI? SoftBank:
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Sam Altman on 9-day-old AI agent “My vibes-based estimate is that it does about 5 per cent of all tasks in the economy today,” Altman said. www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
Open AI’s Sam Altman: ‘We’re about to empower people more than ever before’
Speaking to The Times before the Paris summit, the tech billionaire says he believes the good will outweigh the bad in the march of AI — but admits the transition will be ‘pretty painful’
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Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 07/02/2025
Hardly new info, but BSky should know: Warsaw's water quality is monitored by eight clams with magnets attached to their shells. If contamination in the water causes the clams to close, the magnets trigger an alarm and shut off the city's water supply. Thank you, little guardian molluscs. 🧪🌏🚰
A clam with a spring attached to the shell. The spring has a magnet placed above a sensor.
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
"Trump's newly appointed AG Pam Bondi sent out an email announcing the immediate closure of the DOJ's Kleptocracy Initiative... responsible for making life difficult for the world's most creative accountants and their politically-connected clients." whalehunting.projectbrazen.com/breaking-chr...
whalehunting.projectbrazen.com
Breaking: Christmas Comes Early for Kleptocrats - DOJ Shutters Anti-Corruption Units
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
Rude way to refer to New Jersey www.ft.com/content/da95...
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Eliot Brown @eliotwb.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
US business, 2025 Tesla's "financial performance and Bloomberg consensus for revenue, margin, earnings, and cash flow all keep coming down, but analyst price targets and the company’s share price keep going up." - JPM analyst www.ft.com/content/9cc3...
ft.com
Financial TimesFinancial Times
News, analysis and opinion from the Financial Times on the latest in markets, economics and politics
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