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1.	SpaceX Acquires xAI for $250 Billion By Jessica E. Lessin, Theo Wayt and Katie Roof Source: The Information

Elon Musk’s SpaceX acquired xAI for $250 billion in stock, said a person familiar with the situation. SpaceX was valued at $1 trillion in the deal, another person familiar with the deal said. The news, without the price, was confirmed by Musk in a press release posted to SpaceX’s website Monday. Musk did not provide details of the purchase price or how the deal could affect SpaceX’s potential IPO this year.

“SpaceX has acquired xAI to form the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world’s foremost real-time information and free speech platform,” Musk said in the press release published on SpaceX’s website.

Most of the release focuses on SpaceX’s plans to launch data centers into space, which Musk says will be “the lowest cost way to generate AI compute” within two to three years.

2.	Waymo Raises $16 Billion in Funding at $126 Billion Valuation By Katie Roof Source: Waymo

Self-driving ridesharing service Waymo said Monday it has raised $16 billion at a $126 billion valuation. The valuation includes the size of the investment, according to an investor in the round.

Dragoneer Investment Group, DST Global and Sequoia Capital led the round, it said. Waymo said that Alphabet remains a majority shareholder. Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global Management and Bessemer Venture Partners are amongst the investors who participated.

The Information was first to report that Waymo was in talks to raise a new round of financing at a valuation of over $100 billion.

Waymo said that in 2025 it more than tripled its annual volume of rides to more than 15 million, with expansion to Tokyo and London this year.

The company has come under scrutiny recently for some recent incidents, including a child struck by one of its vehicles in Santa Monica and its vehicles stuck at intersections during a San Francisco power outage, Waymo has touted its safety record, claiming that its vehicles reduce serious injury crashes by 90%.

3.	Snowflake Paying OpenAI $200 Million For Access to AI Models By Kevin McLaughlin Source: The Information

Snowflake has inked a $200 million, multi-year agreement with OpenAI, under which it will incorporate the startup’s AI models in its own application-building service and equip its employees with OpenAI’s business version of ChatGPT.

The agreement with Snowflake, which sells a cloud database widely used among Fortune 500 companies, is the latest sign of OpenAI’s efforts to compete for large AI deals with rivals like Anthropic and Google. While OpenAI already has many business customers, agreements with major enterprise software providers could help it make more inroads with technology decision makers.

OpenAI’s Snowflake agreement also shows how the startup is moving out of the shadow of its Microsoft partnership. Snowflake customers will now get direct access to OpenAI’s models, while previously they had to use Microsoft’s Azure cloud service to use them. That could entice Snowflake’s customers to build more AI-powered applications that tap the data they store in its database.

4.	Disney’s Entertainment Profits Fall Despite Higher Streaming Results By Martin Peers Source: The Information

Walt Disney Co. reported a sharp drop in profits from its entertainment segment for the December quarter, as lower profits from its TV networks offset better results from its streaming business. Profits from Disney’s sports segment, which includes ESPN, also fell.

Overall Disney reported 5% higher revenue but 9% lower operating income. The company’s entertainment segment, which includes the ABC broadcast network as well as cable channels like FX and its Disney+ and Hulu streaming services, reported a 35% drop in operating income to $1.1 billion on 7% higher revenue.

Disney’s disclosures showed that its entertainment streaming operations increased revenue 11%, while operating profits jumped 72% to $450 million. But Disney’s older entertainment businesses saw their profits fall 55%. Disney changed how it reported its results for the quarter, reducing the amount it discloses about its older businesses. It also stopped reporting its streaming subscriber numbers. Disney stock was trading down in pre market trading.

5.	Elon Musk Appears to Confirm SpaceX and xAI Merger Plan in X Post By Theo Wayt Source: The Information

Elon Musk appeared to confirm that SpaceX and xAI are considering a merger in an X post on Monday.

Musk responded “yes” to a post from a space-focused investor who quoted a Bloomberg story about SpaceX and xAI being in advanced merger talks. In the post that Musk responded to, the investor Aaron Burnett placed a handshake emoji between mission statements associated with xAI (“Understand the Universe”) and SpaceX (“Explore the Universe”).

The Bloomberg report that Burnett quoted said that SpaceX and xAI are in advanced merger talks. SpaceX is also considering an initial public offering this year, The Information has reported.