TechCrunch Top 3

Image Credits: Amazon/IMDb

📽️ Passing the torch: Col Needham has stepped down as the CEO of Amazon-owned entertainment database IMDb after holding the position since he founded the company in 1990. Needham is being succeeded by Nikki Santoro, who was previously the company's COO. Read more

💬 Chattin' with Claude: AI startup Anthropic is planning to release a two-way voice mode for its LLM Claude, in addition to a memory feature, according to CEO Dario Amodei. The company also plans to release "smarter" AI models over the next few months. Read more

🏷️ No merger for Mistral: Mistral co-founder and CEO Arthur Mensch said that the French AI lab is not for sale and will pursue an IPO at some point. I hadn't come across any rumors that Mistral was up for sale, so I'm curious if this means potential acquirers have been circling. Read more

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Afternoon must-reads

Image Credits: David Paul Morris / Bloomberg / Getty Images

😔 Stripe sheds headcount: Fintech giant Stripe let go off 300 employees, mainly from the company's product, engineering, and operations teams. Stripe still plans to hire in 2025 and grow its headcount by 17%. Read more

🥺 A desperate plea: Meta is trying its hardest to capitalize on the uncertainty around TikTok's fate. Today the company announced that qualified TikTok creators could earn "up to" $5,000 in bonuses for posting Reels on Facebook and Instagram. Yipee! Read more

🌬️ A change in the air: One of Trump's first actions as president was issuing an executive order that halts federal leases for offshore wind development in the outer continental shelf. While this doesn't stop existing offshore wind farms, all existing projects will be reviewed. Read more

🤑 The U.K. joins the 21st century: The U.K. government is embracing AI. Today it announced that it will be creating a digital wallet to manage government-issued credentials alongside an AI chatbot thanks to a partnership with OpenAI. Read more

🚙 At odds: Trump is also taking aim at the electric vehicle industry through an executive order that could halt the flow of money for EV charging infrastructure. This would hurt Tesla and is the latest example of Elon Musk's politics going against his business interests. Read more

Around the web

👀 The further PE-ification of venture: After mistakes were made during 2020 and 2021, VCs are increasingly acting more like private equity firms. The latest indication — multiple pedigreed VC firms are dipping their toe into the classic PE roll-up strategy. Read more

📱 Apple AI: Apple is facing multiple analyst downgrades as investors become concerned over softening iPhone sales. One of the reasons analysts predicted demand is down is that consumers don't find AI on a smartphone all that useful. I could have told you that months ago. Read more

Before you go

Image Credits: Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star / Getty Images

🚌 Expelled: The Toronto District School Board sent a letter this week that said 40 years of their student data was breached in the recent PowerSchool hack. That one school system serves approximately 240,000 students a year. Yikes. Read more