Epic Games receives $2 billion investment from Sony and Lego’s parent company

Epic Games has received two big briefcases stuffed with cash which will help it “advance the company’s vision to build the metaverse and support its continued growth.” Sony and Kirkbi, the majority owner of The Lego Group, are each plowing $1 billion into the publisher. The funding puts the post-money equity valuation of Epic at $31.5 billion, while founder and CEO Tim Sweeney remains in control.

It’s not the first time that Sony has invested in Epic. It gave the company a $250 million cash injection in 2020 in exchange for a minority stake. Kirkbi also has an existing relationship with Epic. Just last week, the publisher and The Lego Group announced a partnership to build a kid-friendly metaverse, possibly in the hope of challenging the likes of Minecraft and Roblox.

“As we reimagine the future of entertainment and play we need partners who share our vision. We have found this in our partnership with Sony and Kirkbi,” Sweeney said in a statement. “This investment will accelerate our work to build the metaverse and create spaces where players can have fun with friends, brands can build creative and immersive experiences and creators can build a community and thrive.”

Epic has been piecing together a metaverse (a shared virtual world for all manner of experiences) inside Fortnite over the last several years. It built on the success of the core battle royale mode by introducing dozens of crossover skins, virtual items and dance moves; in-game movie nights and concerts; and a creative mode that lets plays build just about anything they can imagine.

Sonos bought a startup that made a light-powered Bluetooth speaker

Sonos has acquired Mayht, a Dutch startup best known for co-creating a Bluetooth speaker powered by light. Mayht specializes in an audio technology called Heartmotion. The company claims to have reinvented “the core of speaker driver” to allow for spea…

WarnerMedia finalizes $43 billion merger with Discovery

WarnerMedia and Discovery have completed their merger. Warner Bros. Discovery, as the new entity is called, will eventually combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single streaming service. The blend of entertainment and reality programming could help Warner Bros. Discovery better compete with the likes of Netflix and Disney+. In the meantime, the company will likely offer a bundle of the two services. WarnerMedia recently launched another streaming service in CNN+.

Not long before the merger closed, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announced his departure. Kilar, who started running the company in May 2020, was behind the controversialplan to release all 2021 Warner Bros. movies on HBO Max and in theaters on the same day amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The move seemed to have paid off, as HBO Max and HBO had 73.8 million subscribers combined at the end of 2021.

As if the departures of Kilar and several other WarnerMedia executives didn’t make things clear enough, Warner Bros. Discovery will have a new leadership structure. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is running the company.

The merger is the latest in several major media consolidation moves in recent years. Amazon sealed its $8.45 billion purchase of MGM only last month. Disney spent $71.3 billion to snap up most of 21st Century Fox a few years back, while Microsoft agreed a $68.7 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard, which is expected to close by June 2023.

AT&T announced last year it was spinning off WarnerMedia in a $43 billion deal that would combine it with Discovery. Now that the T’s are crossed and I’s are dotted, the deal is done and AT&T is more or less out of the content business.

Elon Musk will join Twitter’s board of directors

Elon Musk isn’t just stopping at buying a stake in Twitter — he’ll also have a seat at the table. As CNBCreports, Twitter is appointing Musk to the company’s board of directors. He’ll be of value as both a “passionate believer and intense critic” of the social network, according to chief executive Parag Agrawal.

An SEC filing shows that Musk will serve as a Class II director (that is, not top-tier) with a term that expires at the company’s 2024 annual shareholder meeting. The appointment limits the stake Musk can hold. He can’t own more than 14.9 percent of common stock during his tenure, and for 90 days afterward.

Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey thought well of the deal. In a response to the news, he believed Musk “cares deeply” about the planet and Twitter. Musk and Agrawal “lead with their hearts,” he said.

It’s too soon to say how much influence Musk will have as a director. However, he recently blasted Twitter for allegedly falling short of “free speech principles” and asked the social site’s users if they want an edit button. He clearly intends to make his presence felt, not to mention thumb his nose at the SEC for its crackdown against his finance-related tweets.

GM to buy out SoftBank’s stake in Cruise self-driving unit

General Motors is acquiring SoftBank’s stake in Cruise and pouring even more money into the self-driving unit it purchased in 2016. The auto giant has announced that it’s buying out SoftBank Vision Fund 1’s equity ownership into the company that’s worth $2.1 billion. In addition, it has committed to investing an extra $1.35 billion in Cruise to replace the funding SoftBank promised in February after the self-driving car company started offering robotaxi rides in San Francisco. 

The automaker didn’t say why it’s buying SoftBank’s equity ownership, but GM chief executive Mary Barra said:

“Our increased investment position not only simplifies Cruise’s shareholder structure, but also provides GM and Cruise maximum flexibility to pursue the most value-accretive path to commercializing and unlocking the full potential of AV technology.”

SoftBank, meanwhile, has recently struggled with debt and the plummeting value of its properties. It may no longer be interested in an investment that won’t field returns anytime soon. In February, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son said the company would sell “a good chunk of assets” after ARM’s multi-billion sale to NVIDIA fell through.

As TechCrunch notes, GM could have also bought out SoftBank as a step towards spinning out Cruise or taking it public. A GM spokesperson told the publication that the automaker will “consider all opportunities to create value for [its] shareholders” and that it “has not ruled out a future IPO of Cruise.”

The California Public Utilities Commission recently granted Cruise (and Waymo) permission to charge for robotaxi rides in the state, as long as there’s a human driver behind the wheel. Cruise already applied for a Driverless Deployment permit, but the agency is still reviewing its application. 

Intel plans to build a $19 billion chip plant in Germany

Intel has confirmed plans to build a semiconductor plant in Germany as part of an investment of up to €80 billion ($88 billion) in Europe over the next decade. The initial outlay for the facility in Magdeburg, the capital of Saxony-Anhalt, is €17 billion ($19 billion).

The so-called “mega-site” will actually comprise two factories. Planning will start right away with construction expected to get under way in the first half of next year, as long as Intel gets the thumbs up from the European Commission. Production should commence at what Intel is calling “Silicon Junction” in 2027. As such, the plant won’t help offset the global chip shortage any time soon.

Intel says the dual plants will build chips using its top-of-the-line Angstrom-era transistor tech. It expects to create 7,000 construction jobs for the duration of the build, 3,000 permanent positions and thousands more jobs across partners and suppliers.

Elsewhere, Intel will invest another €12 billion ($13 billion) to expand a factory in Leixlip, Ireland. It will double the manufacturing space and expand foundry services there. The company’s also in discussions with Italy to build an assembly and packing facility there at a cost of up to €4.5 billion ($4.9 billion).

Intel plans to build its European research and development hub near Plateau de Saclay, France. It expects to create 1,000 jobs as a result, with 450 of those opening up by the end of 2024. Intel aims to set up its main European foundry design center in France too. Further investments are earmarked for Poland and Spain.

The company says the plan is “centered around balancing the global semiconductor supply chain with a major expansion of Intel’s production capacities in Europe.” In February, the European Union announced a $49 billion effort to prevent future chip shortages and reduce reliance on parts manufactured in Asia.

“The EU Chips Act will empower private companies and governments to work together to drastically advance Europe’s position in the semiconductor sector,” Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said. “This broad initiative will boost Europe’s R&D innovation and bring leading-edge manufacturing to the region for the benefit of our customers and partners around the world.”