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1.	Departures Accelerate at Elon Musk's xAI as Yet Another Cofounder Leaves By Juro Osawa Source: The Information

Jimmy Ba, a cofounder of Elon Musk's xAI and a prominent AI scientist, said late Tuesday that he just left the company. Ba's exit comes the day after another xAI cofounder, Tony Wu, announced his resignation.

"It's time to recalibrate my gradient on the big picture," Ba said in a post on X. "2026 is gonna be insane and likely the busiest (and most consequential) year for the future of our species."

Ba, who reported to Musk at xAI, is also a professor at the University of Toronto, where he got his doctorate under the supervision of Nobel Prize winner Geoffrey Hinton.

On the same day, several other xAI employees, including Hang Gao and Chace Lee, also said  in posts on X that they had left the company. Gao worked on image and video models, while Lee was part of the firm's AI software team known as Macrohard.

The departures come at a time when xAI is going through major changes. Earlier this month, Musk's aerospace company SpaceX announced a merger with xAI. The deal valued SpaceX at $1 trillion and xAI at $250 billion.

2.	U.S. Lawmakers Urge Trump to Close Chip-Equipment Loopholes By Wayne Ma Source: The Information

The chairs of the U.S. House China and Foreign Affairs committees sent a letter urging the Trump administration to close loopholes in export controls that allow China to gain access to advanced chip-making equipment.

The push comes after media reports in December that China made progress developing advanced chip-making machines, either by upgrading older equipment or by building prototypes using scavenged parts.

While the U.S. has already worked with the Netherlands to restrict the sale of advanced chip equipment made by Dutch supplier ASML to China, the export controls still have "critical gaps," said House Select Committee on China Chairman John Moolenaar and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast. ASML is the world's largest supplier of extreme ultraviolet lithography tools, which are critical to making advanced chips.

Some of the current U.S. restrictions target specified entities in China rather than impose a blanket countrywide ban on equipment entering China, they said. The lawmakers urged the Trump administration to press U.S. allies to implement "countrywise controls" for China on all the key chip-making equipment and subcomponents that China can't produce.

They added they wanted the Trump administration to brief them by next month on its strategy for strengthening these export controls, along with a timeline for the goal.

3.	Meta's Zuckerberg Buys South Florida Home By Jyoti Mann Source: The Wall Street Journal

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are reportedly purchasing a mansion on Indian Creek, a man-made island in South Florida often referred to as "Billionaire Bunker."

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Zuckerberg told one of his future neighbors in Indian Creek—Irma Braman, the wife of billionaire auto dealer Norman Braman—that he plans to move into the property by April. It's unclear whether Zuckerberg intends to give up his California residency, but the relocation could be a response to the state's proposed billionaire tax.

A number of other wealthy Silicon Valley tech executives, including Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have reportedly purchased or are in talks to purchase homes in Florida. The Meta chief's sprawling real estate portfolio also includes properties in Palo Alto, the Hawaiian island of Kauai, Lake Tahoe and Washington, D.C.

4.	Spotify's Revenue Rises 7%, as Ads Fall Again By Martin Peers Source: The Information

Spotify's revenue grew 7% in the fourth quarter of 2025, the music streaming and podcast service reported, in line with the third quarter. A 4% drop in ad revenue partly offset 8% higher subscription revenue.

But the company reported an improvement in its gross margin, which translated to an increase in its operating profit margin of several percentage points. Spotify's operating profit rose 47% to 701 million euros. Spotify also reported 10% growth in the number of paying subscribers. Spotify stock was trading up 15% on Tuesday morning.

Spotify's ad business has suffered declining revenues for the past few quarters, despite promises from the company last spring that it was poised for growth. On a conference call with analysts on Tuesday, Spotify executives said the business should pick up in the second half of this year.

5.	Lyft's Revenue Grows 3% As Legal and Regulatory Reserves Mar Top Line By Martin Peers Source: The Information

Lyft, the no. 2 ridehailing firm, reported 3% higher revenue of $1.6 billion in the fourth quarter, sending its stock plunging 15% in after-hours trading. But Lyft said that excluding changes to legal, tax, and regulatory reserves, its revenue would have risen 13%.

The company reported 19% growth in gross bookings, the total dollar value of transactions done on the service. Free cash flow hit $227.6 million in the quarter, and $1.1 billion for the year.

On a conference call with analysts, Lyft CEO David Risher said the company's nascent ad sales business—putting ads on vehicle and in the app—had reached a $100 million revenue run rate in the fourth quarter.

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