🎯 The Big Picture
OpenAI has acquired popular tech industry talk show TBPN — Technology Business Programming Network — making this the AI giant’s first acquisition of a media company. The show will report to OpenAI’s chief political operative, Chris Lehane. TBPN, hosted by former tech founders John Coogan and Jordi Hays, delivers daily live show that airs on YouTube and X for three hours, focusing on tech, business, AI, and defense.
📖 What Happened
The show has gained a cult following in Silicon Valley, a safe space where industry power players can speak candidly and be questioned by fellow insiders. The show has a reputation for being something of a Sports Center for the tech industry — a place where top tech CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg, Satya Nadella, Marc Benioff, and, yes, Sam Altman, come to chop it up, react to the news of the day, and occasionally make some of their own. TBPN will continue to live on as its own brand, which OpenAI will help scale.
Not that it necessarily needed help on that front; TBPN has grown into an empire that’s on track to pull in more than $30 million this year, according to The Wall Street Journal . OpenAI already has its own podcast for long-form conversations with the people building tech at the company. ” Simo went even further, noting that TBPN’s prowess is necessary for an atypical company like OpenAI where “the standard communications playbook just doesn’t apply.
” tes in the 2024 election. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who said in a social media post that TBPN is his favorite tech show, seems to believe the acquisition won’t change TBPN’s commentary and even criticism of the company. “I don’t expect them to go any easier on us, am sure I’ll do my part to help enable that with occasional stupid decisions,” he wrote.
💰 By the Numbers
| 📊 Metric | 💡 Context |
|---|---|
| $30 million | Not that it necessarily needed help on that front; TBPN has grown into... |
🎤 Highlights
• The show has gained a cult following in Silicon Valley, a safe space where industry power players can speak candidly and be questi...
• Not that it necessarily needed help on that front; TBPN has grown into an empire that’s on track to pull in more than $30 million ...
• ” tes in the 2024 election. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who said in a social media post that TBPN is his favorite tech show, seems to b...
🚀 Why It Matters
TBPN, meanwhile, sees the acquisition as a means to do more than just commentary. “While we’ve been critical of the industry at times, after getting to know Sam and the OpenAI team, what stood out most was their openness to feedback and commitment to getting this right,” Hays said in a statement. “Moving from commentary to real impact in how this technology is distributed and understood globally is incredibly important to us.
⚡ The Bottom Line
TBPN, meanwhile, sees the acquisition as a means to do more than just commentary. “While we’ve been critical of the industry at times, after getting to know Sam and the OpenAI team, what stood out most was their openness to feedback and commitment to getting this right,” Hays said in a statement. “Moving from commentary to real impact in how this technology is distributed and understood globally is incredibly important to us.
📰 Source: TechCrunch AI 🔗