Bytes: Week in Review — TikTok’s new bidders, Tesla sales slump and OpenAI raises $40 billion
OpenAI — the maker of ChatGPT — keeps raising more money, this time in a $40 billion round led by SoftBank. We’ll get into the strings attached in Marketplace “Tech Bytes — Week in Review.” Plus, what’s going on with Tesla’s sales slump? And how much is its polarizing CEO, Elon Musk, to blame? But first, the clock is ticking on a TikTok sale. The extended deadline, which may or may not be a real deadline according to President Donald Trump, is coming Saturday. As of this episode’s recording, the hugely popular short-form video app was supposed to find a U.S. buyer or be banned, and plenty of suitors have thrown their hats into the ring. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Maria Curi, tech policy reporter at Axios, about all these topics and more.