
OpenAI Takes a $150B Haircut
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- Technology
OpenAI neared a $30B bridge round at a $1.25T valuation, down from the $1.4T it pitched, ahead of an IPO. Treasury proposed curbs on US tech investment in China, banks blocked rogue AI agents, and OpenAI launched its Decisions API. Sources: OpenAI nears an up to $30B round led by investors from the UAE and Coatue at a $1.25T pre-money valuation, as an “opportunistic” bridge ahead of an IPO (CNBC) The US Treasury proposes a rule to crack down on US high-tech investments in areas like AI and supercomputing in China, Russia, and other “countries of concern” (AP) DeepSeek...
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Welcome to the Tech Brew Right Home for Friday, October 23rd, 2026. I'm Brian McCullough.
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valuation it pitched. Treasury proposed curbs on U.S. tech investments in China. Banks blocked
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Is this episode right for you?
B2 · Upper-intermediate
Comfortable if you already follow TV news
- 78% of the words are B1 or easier.
- 141 words a minute: a natural pace.
- 166 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.
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The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.
harder words (B2+)
Welcome to the Tech Brew Right Home for Friday, October 23rd, 2026. I'm Brian McCullough. Today, OpenAI neared a $30 billion bridge round at a $1.25 trillion valuation down from the valuation it pitched. Treasury proposed curbs on U.S. tech investments in China. Banks blocked rogue AI agents. OpenAI launched its Decisions API. And in the weekend, Long Reads, the best
use of AI I've heard yet. Here's what you missed today in the world of tech. Oh my pod! That's what you might say when you're first introduced to the pod by 8Sleep. It's a smart mattress cover that goes on top of your existing mattress, actively cooling or heating each side of the bed independently, which is ideal for false changing temperatures. The new Gen Pod 6 is 50%
30% smaller than the previous generation packs 9 times more sensors and delivers more powerful active heating and cooling. This means the pod can now feed an even more accurate signal into autopilot. Members see up to 34% more deep sleep.
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