The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the conviction of Sam Bankman-Fried, the reassertion of union power and the turmoil at OpenAI were just some of the big business stories in a year full of them.
DealBook has chosen photos from some of the top news, story and trend creators of 2023.
The world races to regulate AI
Artificial intelligence had a good year. The investment was invested in AI startups; large technology companies deployed their cloud computing operations and scale to build ties with the field’s new leaders; and Nvidia became the first chipmaker to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization thanks to demand for its AI semiconductors.
Investor enthusiasm was accompanied by concern from policymakers, who often struggled to keep pace with companies developing the technology. But the first steps towards developing regulations for AI have already been taken. president biden issued an executive order in October he focused on the implications of technology for national security; China imposed restrictions on certain types of AI; and EU lawmakers approved one of the first regimes to regulate technology.
But amid disparate efforts, there was also an attempt to achieve some degree of international collaboration. Last month, more than two dozen countries, including rivals the United States and China, technology executives and researchers attended the AI Security Summit in Britain. The event did not end with an agreement on a new set of rules, but governments warned of the dangers posed by more advanced artificial intelligence systems and agreed to keep talking.
The PGA Tour and LIV Golf agree to a merger
On June 6, the PGA Tour, the world’s top men’s professional golf tour, and LIV Golf, a Saudi-funded rival that poached top players and posed a serious threat, tentatively agreed to join forces. The decision was a stunning setback for the PGA Tour and its commissioner, Jay Monahan, and was negotiated in secret, angering many of the tour’s top players.
The deal demonstrated Saudi Arabia’s growing power in the sports business. The kingdom has spent billions on soccer, boxing and golf as part of an effort to diversify its oil-dependent economy. But many questioned the logic of the deal and pointed to Saudi Arabia’s dismal human rights record. American lawmakers want to know if the Saudi government is using sports to promote its strategic goals as a means of “sports laundering.”
‘Barbenheimer’ dominates the box office
In July, two films opening on the same day provided the long-awaited sign that theaters had recovered from the pandemic. “Barbie” is a comedy based on the Mattel doll and directed by Greta Gerwig. “Oppenheimer” is a biographical film about the creator of the atomic bomb made by auteur filmmaker Christopher Nolan. Together, they gave North American multiplexes their biggest weekend since “Avengers: Endgame” arrived in April 2019. Some moviegoers even watched them back to back.
The bankruptcies of regional banks triggered a crisis
On March 10, in the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis, the government seized Silicon Valley Bank. A summary: Bank customers, spooked by news that the bank was working to shore up its finances and that Moody’s had downgraded its bonds, had withdrawn more than $40 billion of their deposits. On March 12, regulators shut down Signature Bank, a New York-based lender.
The bank failures raised fears about the stability of other midsize lenders. Wall Street’s biggest banks agreed to donate $30 billion to First Republic and Swiss authorities brokered a deal for UBS to take over its domestic rival, Credit Suisse. But even a multibillion-dollar intervention wasn’t enough to save First Republic: Federal regulators seized the lender in May and sold it to JPMorgan Chase.
The UAW carries out a historic strike
On September 14, the United Automobile Workers union began its first strike simultaneously targeting the three Detroit automakers, General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, the parent of Ram, Jeep and Chrysler. The union broke with its traditional approach of shutting down most or all of a company’s operations and instead took action at a limited number of locations at each company. After six weeks, workers reached tentative agreements with all three companies, giving workers their largest pay increases in decades while avoiding a prolonged work stoppage. The UAW’s success inspired it to go after non-union automakers, including Tesla and foreign-owned companies.
Taylor Swift conquers the world
The Eras Tour, Taylor Swift’s career-spanning series of shows, was a box office hit this year, selling $14 million in tickets each night, according to one estimate, putting it on track to potentially reach $1.4 billion. in total sales by the time the tour ends. ends next year. Swift, who in July broke the record for chart-topping albums by a woman, also crafted a new kind of deal for her concert film. She negotiated directly with the AMC Entertainment theater chain to release “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.” That allowed him to avoid the big studios and keep 57 percent of ticket revenue. During its opening weekend in October, the film earned an estimated $95 million to $97 million in three days in North American theaters, easily becoming the biggest concert film opening in history.
Sam Bankman-Fried is convicted
On November 2, after four hours of deliberation, a jury found Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy for stealing billions of dollars from customers and investors. It was a surprising fall for Bankman-Fried, a former poster child of the cryptocurrency industry that was worth $20 billion just a year earlier. After FTX collapsed, many of his closest lieutenants and executives agreed to work with prosecutors and testified against him. At a trial in New York, he was portrayed as a brash young founder, who funneled stolen money into his investments and used it for extravagant expenses.
Bankman-Fried, 31, is expected to appeal. His sentencing is scheduled for March 28.
American companies face new pressures in China
President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held their first face-to-face talks in more than a year last month on the sidelines of a meeting of Asia-Pacific leaders near San Francisco. The discussions were cordial and aimed at reestablishing lines of communication.
But Xi also sought to reassure American business leaders during the trip. He hosted a banquet for business executives. Among those in attendance were Tim Cook, CEO of Apple; Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock; and Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone. Xi sought to convey that foreign companies were welcome in China, despite the growing challenges of operating there amid a crackdown on companies with Western ties and strained relations with the U.S. But the dinner showed that Many American companies are not willing to give up doing business in the country.
Elon Musk berates advertisers who fled X
At the DealBook Summit on November 29, Elon Musk made waves after using profane language to call out companies that had suspended advertising on X following Musk’s endorsement of an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory. He also said that it had not been his intention to support the fans and apologized for his post. The 90-minute interview with Musk, the billionaire whose companies SpaceX, Tesla and
