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Kurt Wagner

@kurtwagner.bsky.social
6.2K followers 79 following 231 posts

Journalist at Bloomberg. Go Mariners. Go Seahawks. Signal: kurtwagner.08

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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
This is the second time in the past year that Meta has employed this investment-recruitment strategy to fill a major exec role at the company Last year it invested more than $14 billion into Scale AI and recruited Alex Wang to run its new AI lab
bloomberg.com
Meta Taps New WhatsApp Boss as Part of $900 Million Investment
Meta Platforms Inc. is investing $900 million into Indian fintech startup Cred, with plans to appoint its founder, Kunal Shah, the new leader of WhatsApp.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
New: Meta has invested $900 million into Indian fintech Cred & recruited its founder, Kunal Shah, to run WhatsApp Current WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart will step into a new role at Meta building consumer products with the help of AI Shah will move from Bangalore to California to lead the team
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
This is happening now! Come join us!
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
agreed and thank you 🙏
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Other details: * 16 weeks severance (minimum) * 18 months Cobra * Meta had to announce this early because the details already leaked via @reuters.com "I know this leaves everyone with nearly a month of ambiguity which is incredibly unsettling," head of HR wrote
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
NEW: Meta just confirmed 10% layoffs coming on May 20, according to an internal memo. 6,000 job openings are also being closed. Head of HR didn’t specifically mention AI, but said this is an effort to “run the company more efficiently and to allow us to offset the other investments we’re making.”
bloomberg.com
Meta Tells Staff It Will Cut 10% of Jobs in Push for Efficiency
Meta Platforms Inc. plans to cut 10% of workers, or roughly 8,000 employees, in an effort to boost efficiency and offset its heavy spending on artificial intelligence.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
100% this is the big fear
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
gift link: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
4/ I know this is a dark problem, but I’d encourage you to read this investigation. As we speed toward a future with AI at the center of everything, it’s important to remember that this technology can also be abused if we aren’t thoughtful about how it’s deployed. Gift link below...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
3/ Adding to the challenge: Federal budgets for investigative task forces that fight these kinds of crimes have barely moved in five years despite a big rise in tips. In some cases, budgets have also been ~6 months delayed. The biggest complaint we heard over and over was a lack of necessary funding
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
2/ The number of AI-related reports of child sex abuse material has gone from 4,700 in 2023 to 1.5 million in 2025. Tech companies often turn to AI to find & report this material. That leads to “junk tips” that don’t have a lot of info or may be irrelevant. Example from an investigator in N.C.:
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
1/ NEW Investigation: AI has supercharged child predators' abilities to harm kids. Underfunded investigators can't keep up. It’s easier than ever to create child porn & investigators have been flooded with tips & can’t always tell what’s real. Predators are now only limited by their imagination
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
this is the opening line in the judge's ruling... "Believing that the only constant in the world was change, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus posited that no man can ever step into the same river twice. In the online world of social media, the current runs fast, too."
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
NEW: Meta won its FTC antitrust trial. The judge found that the company did not violate antitrust laws in its purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram. That means Meta WILL NOT be broken up. It was always a long shot for that to happen, but crisis averted.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
New: Meta will start using chatbot conversations to target people with advertising. This will start in Dec and there is no way to opt-out People use chatbots for all kinds of very personal things. Soon you may see ads on FB/IG related to those personal things. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Meta to Start Using Chatbot Conversations to Target Advertising
Meta Platforms Inc. will soon start using interactions with its AI chatbot to more effectively tailor the content and advertising that people see on Facebook and Instagram.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
The live demo did not work, which was not great at the conference. But I used a neural wristband with glasses last year and found the hands-free technology to be very cool.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
New: Meta's Mark Zuckerberg just debuted a new pair of AI display glasses that work with a neural wristband to enable hands-free messaging. You can see your messages in the periphery of the frame. Story from @markgurman.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
Tesla's board offered Elon Musk, a man running four other companies at the same time, a $1 TRILLION pay package. He would need to hit several ambitious benchmarks over a ten-year period. But my god... $1,000,000,000,000 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Tesla Offers Elon Musk an Unprecedented $1 Trillion Pay Package
Tesla Inc. proposed a new compensation agreement for Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk potentially worth around $1 trillion, a massive package without precedent in corporate America.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Well this is fun… Elon Musk tried to recruit Mark Zuckerberg to help him buy OpenAI (Zuck did not participate) … w/ @rachelmetz.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Musk Tried to Enlist Zuckerberg to Help Finance Bid for OpenAI
Elon Musk tried to enlist Mark Zuckerberg for his unsolicited bid to buy OpenAI this year, the startup said in a court filing.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
New: Meta is restructuring its AI teams again after a big hiring spree. The org now has four distinct teams, all rolling up to Alexandr Wang (formerly Scale AI). This is according to an internal memo sent by Wang this morning... via @rileyraygriffin.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
I don't understand how this can *ever* make it into a policy document as acceptable chatbot behavior. Pretty inexcusable. www.reuters.com/investigates...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
Agrawal is still fighting Musk in court for his $50m (!) in severance, but he's also clearly trying to turn a page here and move on to something new
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
You may recall that Musk fired Agrawal immediately upon closing the Twitter deal, and withheld his severance. (Agrawal now suing.) I would have thought Agrawal would have taken off and hunkered down on a beach somewhere. Instead he immediately started brainstorming new company ideas in Palo Alto.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 14/08/2025
New: Former Twitter CEO @para.ga is moving past the Elon Musk drama & started an AI company. “I don’t think Twitter defines me,” he told us in an interview. “If I do a good job, I’m hoping this company will define me.” www.bloomberg.com/news/article... (gift link w/ @shiringhaffary.bsky.social)
bloomberg.com
Twitter’s Ex-CEO Is Moving Past His Elon Musk Drama and Starting an AI Company
Parag Agrawal says AI agents are the target customers for his new startup, Parallel.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
What happens when Mark Zuckerberg moves into the neighborhood? Great read about the Facebook founder's years-long effort to build a private compound in Palo Alto www.nytimes.com/2025/08/10/u...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
New: Meta found some business partners for its major Louisiana data center project
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Not the pivot I was expecting.... Linda Yaccarino has a new job: Running eMed, "a telehealth company that offers access to weight-loss drugs" www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
New: Zuckerberg has picked a chief scientist for Meta's new superintelligence unit: Shengjia Zhao, who joined Meta from OpenAI in June. He was part of the team behind the original version of OpenAI’s popular chatbot, ChatGPT. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Meta Says Open AI Hire is Superintelligence Group Chief Scientist
Mark Zuckerberg has named Shengjia Zhao, an artificial intelligence researcher who joined Meta Platforms Inc. from OpenAI in June, as the chief scientist for the social media company’s new superintell...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 20/07/2025
What could go wrong?
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
What's it like to cover Elon Musk? I spoke to my good friend and tremendous reporter @teddyschleifer.bsky.social for our Elon Inc. podcast about how he's covering the world's richest man Teddy's covers Musk as closely as anyone - great perspective! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...
podcasts.apple.com
Forget DOGE. Musk Is Suddenly All In on AI
Podcast Episode · Elon, Inc. · 07/15/2025 · 35m
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
No one will ever accuse Zuck of being cheap!
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
New: Meta has nabbed two more top AI researchers from Apple for its Superintelligence Labs group. The hiring spree continues... w/ @markgurman.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
New: Meta's board went to trial Wednesday over shareholder claims that they overpaid the FTC several years ago to personally protect Mark Zuckerberg from being held responsible for Cambridge Analytica This morning the two sides reached a settlement. Zuck was set to testify next week
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Update: Meta has closed its PlayAI deal, and the "entire" PlayAI team is planning to join the company next week, according to an internal memo. The group will report up to Johan Schalkwyk, who just joined Meta from Sesame a few weeks ago.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
I've been wondering for a while now whether X might just slowly fade away from advertising. Its main value seems to be in providing training data to xAI anyways? Linda Yaccarino's departure seems to signal that X is becoming a very different kind of business... www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
"Thank you for your contributions"
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
New: Linda Yaccarino is out as the CEO of X.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
A @markgurman.bsky.social scoop: Meta has hired Apple’s top AI models exec for its new superintelligence group. Ruoming Pang is joining Meta, and so is OpenAI’s Yuanzhi Li and Anthropic’s Anton Bakhtin www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Apple Loses Its Top AI Models Executive to Meta’s Hiring Spree
Apple Inc.’s top executive in charge of artificial intelligence models is leaving for Meta Platforms Inc., another setback in the iPhone maker’s struggling AI efforts.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Here are more details about the restructure (gift link): www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Zuckerberg Announces Meta ‘Superintelligence’ Effort, More Hires
Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg announced a major restructuring of the company’s artificial intelligence group, including a commitment to developing AI “superintelligence,”...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
New: Mark Zuckerberg just announced a major AI reorg internally at Meta. Everything now falls under a new group called "Meta Superintelligence Labs, which will be run by Alexandr Wang and Nat Friedman. Zuckerberg also announced 11 new hires, including several from OpenAI and Google's DeepMind
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Thank you, Mitch! 🙏
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
New: Meta is in advanced talks to make another AI acquisition, this one a small voice AI startup called PlayAI. There is a LOT happening with Meta AI these days... w/ @margimurphy.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Meta in Talks to Buy AI Voice Startup PlayAI in Push for Talent
Meta Platforms Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire PlayAI, a small startup using artificial intelligence to replicate voices, part of the social media company’s push to nab top talent and catch up in...
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Reposted by Kurt Wagner
Max Chafkin @chafkin.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
New Elon Inc, coving the big(?) robotaxi launch(?) and “oh yeah X has an advertising business” with @karacarlson.bsky.social and @kurtwagner.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Robotaxi’s Underwhelming Texas Rollout
In this week’s episode of Elon, Inc., we discuss how Musk’s attempt to catch up to Waymo may earn him some traffic tickets.
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
not fully sure what to make of this if I'm being honest but find it interesting: House Bans WhatsApp From Staffers’ Government-Issued Devices www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
US House Bans WhatsApp From Staffers’ Government-Issued Devices
Meta’s WhatsApp messaging platform has been added to a list of apps banned from government-issued devices for congressional staffers in the US House of Representatives, a move driven by concerns about...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
Full story here w/ @shiringhaffary.bsky.social @rachelmetz.bsky.social (gift link) www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Meta Announces Scale AI Investment, Recruits CEO to AI Unit
Meta Platforms Inc. said it finalized a multibillion-dollar investment in Scale AI and recruited the startup’s chief executive officer to help oversee its artificial intelligence efforts — an unusual ...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
NEW: Meta's Scale AI investment is done. * $14.3B invested * $29B valuation * Scale CEO Alexandr Wang is joining Meta in an senior AI role
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
"several people are typing" this has been the last 4 days in a nutshell
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Get in line!
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
NEW on Zuckerberg's new "superintelligence" team: Meta has hired folks from Google's DeepMind and AI voice startup Sesame. It still plans to hire a chief scientist. Some multi-year comp packages have been 8-figures... story w/ @shiringhaffary.bsky.social www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
bloomberg.com
Meta Hires Top Researchers From Google, Sesame for New AI Lab
Meta Platforms Inc. has poached top engineers from multiple tech firms, including Alphabet Inc.’s Google, for a new team focused on achieving a more advanced form of AI called artificial general intel...
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Kurt Wagner @kurtwagner.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
Scoop from overnight for those who aren't checking Bluesky in their sleep! 👇
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