Good morning. Sting famously sang about “sending out an S-O-S.” You might not hear the tune on Mark Zuckerberg’s superyacht though.
Last week, a small skiff off the coast of Alaska ran out of fuel and sent out a call for help. The closest ship was the Launchpad, a 390-foot yacht owned by the Facebook cofounder. Alas, the Launchpad’s crew did not respond to the request, and a nearby cruise ship came to the rescue instead, towing the skiff back to port.
Zuckerberg was not on the yacht at the time, a Meta spokesperson told The Alaska Beacon, and his crew did not initially hear the call for assistance (“by the time the crew reviewed the Coast Guard contact on a different radio channel from the one they were operating on, the assist was already underway”).
So all’s well that ends well in this harrowing sea tale. And, should you ever find yourself stranded on a skiff and in need of help from Zuckerberg’s yacht, we recommend using WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.
Today’s news below.
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Wall Street downgrades Apple
With less than one month to go before Tim Cook hands over the Apple CEO reins to John Ternus, the iPhone maker is facing cascading challenges. Its growth is slowing, surging memory prices threaten to erode its margins, and more financial institutions are souring on the company.
The latest hit came on Monday, as investment firm Jefferies downgraded Apple’s stock from “hold” to “underperform”—the equivalent of a “sell” rating—cutting its price target from $285.56 to $263.66. Jefferies analysts slashed the rating after checks on Apple’s supply chain indicated that the company had canceled a rumored all-glass iPhone expected to launch for the iPhone’s 20th anniversary next year.
“We believe this shows that introducing new form factors in the iPhone to drive higher [average selling price] is more difficult than expected,” Jefferies analysts wrote in regards to the all-glass iPhone, which the firm had expected to sell for a premium. The firm also cited Apple's ongoing struggles countering surging memory prices and limited signs of progress in its AI efforts.
Several Wall Street firms have now posted the equivalent of a sell rating for Apple. Bloomberg estimated that at least six firms have made the move, matching a 2012 high, shortly after the death of founder Steve Jobs. In July, KeyBanc Capital Markets lowered its valuation to underweight due to concerns about iPhone demand. Read the full story here. —Sebastian Herrera
Meta launches new open weight models; Zuck pens 6,500 words
Meta launched its newest family of AI models—Muse Glimmer, a group of open-source models designed to run on a laptop—on Monday, alongside a 6,500-word essay from Mark Zuckerberg making the argument for American open-source AI.
“I do not believe restricting access to foreign open source models is an effective solution. Our goal should be for American open source models to be the best globally. This requires removing the hurdles that make it harder for American open source models to compete,” Zuckerberg wrote in the essay, alluding to Chinese open-source models from DeepSeek and Moonshot which have been getting uncomfortably close to the American frontier.
If some of this sounds familiar, it's because Zuck is on a coordinated media blitz that has included an opinion piece on the same themes in the Wall Street Journal last month and interviews with select media outlets.—Bea Nolan
What happened inside DeepMind?
In a note to staff last Wednesday, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis announced he was handing over day-to-day operational responsibilities for the lab to allow him the “time and space to focus on the big picture and help influence what is to come to the best of my ability.”
Minutes later, news broke that longtime Google chief scientist Jeff Dean and several other prominent researchers were leaving the company. Staff in DeepMind’s London office were shocked and full of questions. Was the move a promotion or a demotion? Would Hassabis retain real control over DeepMind’s direction? And was Google finalizing a power shift from the London lab to its Mountain View headquarters?
Read Fortune's behind-the-scenes account of the surprise shake up within Google's AI operations and what it means for the company's efforts going forward in the cut-throat AI race. —Bea Nolan
More tech
—Intel to sell $15 billion in stock. To 'pursue the growth opportunities ahead'
—OpenAI buys back $7 billion of stock from employees. Pre-IPO liquidity at $852B valuation.
—Air taxi company Archer Aviation acquires Wisk Aero, a Boeing subsidiary developing autonomous electric aircraft.
—Elon Musk's Texas monster chip fab: "The largest and most valuable building on Earth"
—Sergey Brin pumps another $20 million to fight California billionaire tax initiative.
—Michael Saylor's Strategy dumps $109 million worth of bitcoin. HODL me not.
—Another Tolkien-named startup raises $60 million. Corma means ring in Elvish.