EU antitrust regulators are asking industry participants if Google's multi-year generative artificial intelligence (AI) deal with Samsung hinders rival chatbots on Samsung smartphones, according to an EU document seen by Reuters. The European Commission last month said it would send requests for information to better understand the effects of the deal which would see Samsung embed Google's Gemini Nano in Samsung's Galaxy S24 series smartphones. Regulators also wanted to know if the pre-installation of Gemini Nano limits interoperability between other chatbots and apps pre-installed on Samsung smartphones...

Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav (WBD) made comments over "real consolidation" that will take place with media companies over the next few years. Streaming giants have faced many challenges lately with their subscription models but could there be more challenges for the industry ahead? LightShed Partners partner and media & technology analyst Rich Greenfield joins Catalysts for this week's Media, Streaming, & Investing: What's Next special to weigh in on the challenges major media companies face with consolidation. Greenfield begins by laying out the problem the older media companies are facing: "the amount of usage of applications like Peacock (CMCSA) or Paramount Plus (PARA) Plus or even Max pales in comparison to what is happening at Netflix (NFLX) let alone YouTube (GOOG, GOOGL)... Netflix and YouTube, represent over 45% of all time spent streaming on a television. That's just two players dominating. No one ever dominated linear TV the way Netflix and YouTube dominate streaming TV. And that's a huge problem." Greenfield holds firm to his forecast that "no major M&A would happen this year, and I think that's what played out," believing media M&A deals such as Paramount's merger with Skydance will be finalized in 2025 due to regulatory concerns. "In general, the Republican Party should be more pro-consolidation. Maybe not so much pro-tech... Obviously, former President Trump has certainly made some pretty aggressive comments about his feelings on Facebook and 'Zuckerbucks.' But, you know, the reality is I do think you're going to see forms of consolidation..." Catch more Yahoo Finance coverage on the media and streaming landscapes as part of this week's Media, Streaming, & Investing: What's Next special. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Catalysts. This post was written by Nicholas Jacobino...

When Jaclyn Rice Nelson and Noah Gale launched AI talent and services company Tribe AI in 2019, they had to convince companies that having an AI strategy mattered. After the release of ChatGPT in 2022 and the AI mania it ushered in, the startup has experienced a “massive boom” in demand, Gale told TechCrunch. Rice Nelson, Tribe's CEO, told TechCrunch that when she was working as a Growth VP at Alphabet's growth fund, CapitalG, she saw the writing on the wall. She saw companies the firm was backi...