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1.	AMD Backstops $300 Million Crusoe Loan By Miles Kruppa Source: The Information

Chipmaker AMD backstopped a $300 million loan Goldman Sachs provided to data center and cloud startup Crusoe so it could purchase the company's AI chips, The Information reported.

AMD agreed to rent its own chips from Crusoe if the startup can't find customers that want to use them, such as AI developers, said people with knowledge of the deal. That helped Crusoe get the loan at a relatively low interest rate of about 6%.

The deal mirrored similar agreements AMD's bigger rival Nvidia has struck with cloud upstarts like CoreWeave. Shares in AMD gained 1.6% in trading on Thursday.

2.	Meta Said to Cut Stock Awards By Laura Mandaro Source: Financial Times

Meta Platforms has cut equity-based awards for employees for the second year in a row, the Financial Times reported Thursday. The cuts come as the Facebook and Instagram owner continues an aggressive AI spending campaign.

Meta cut its annual distribution of stock options by about 5% for most staff, affecting tens of thousands of employees. It cut the distribution 10% last year, the report said.

Last month, Meta said it planned to increase capital expenditures to $115 billion to $135 billion this year, up from $72 billion last year. In the fourth quarter, operating expenses rose 40%. A spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

3.	Blue Owl Restricts Redemptions From Lending Vehicle By Miles Kruppa Source: The Information

Blue Owl Capital limited redemptions from an investment vehicle that provides loans to private companies, sending its shares tumbling and pulling down those of other investment firms with large credit businesses.

The move exacerbated long-brewing concerns about private credit, a growing business for the largest publicly-traded asset managers. Blue Owl said it would return 30% of investor capital in the investment vehicle, Blue Owl Capital Corporation II, by the end of this quarter through a partial sale of the loans in its portfolio.

Craig Packer, co-president of Blue Owl, said Thursday the portfolio sale would provide "significant near-term liquidity" for shareholders. The Blue Owl vehicle is speeding up the process of returning capital to shareholders, he said, instead of halting redemptions.

Shares in Blue Owl, which is also making big investments in data centers, fell almost 6% on Thursday and were down more than 50% over the past year. Apollo Global Management, Ares Management, Blackstone, KKR and TPG shares also slid in trading.

4.	Etsy Looks to Revive Sales Growth After Depop Sale By Ann Gehan Source: The Information

Etsy saw its profit dip in the fourth quarter, even as revenue grew slightly, the company said Thursday, a day after the online marketplace said it would sell the Gen Z-focused clothing resale app Depop to rival eBay for $1.2 billion. Etsy reported revenue of $881.6 million, a 6.6% increase from the previous year, and net income of $110.7 million, a nearly 15% decline. Etsy shares were up more than 10% in morning trading Thursday.

Executives said the sale of Depop would allow the company to focus exclusively on the main Etsy business, where sales have barely been growing the past four years. On Thursday, Etsy said it expected its overall sales volumes for its core marketplace to grow slightly in each quarter this year versus the prior year period.

Etsy last year teamed up with AI companies including OpenAI to allow its merchants to sell through chatbot checkouts, though Etsy said on Thursday that sales through ChatGPT haven't yet been a meaningful source of business. More broadly, customer visits driven by AI tools make up less than 1% of Etsy's overall traffic.

5.	Startup Behind GPS Alternative Mints $1 Billion Valuation By Katie Roof Source: The Information

ZaiNar, a startup that says it has developed an alternative to GPS that uses Wi-Fi and 5G cellular networks to provide superfast location information, recently raised $10 million at a $1 billion valuation, The Information reported Thursday. SpaceX board member Steve Jurvetson sits on its board. The startup has raised $100 million altogether but has kept a low profile for much of its nine years.

The Belmont, Calif.-based ZaiNar says the location services could help staff in hospitals or on construction sites identify where patients or workers are. The technology could also help the burgeoning field of robotics, which is using AI advances to train robots to move and think like humans.

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