Reed Hastings joins Anthropic board, Elon stirs the pot

Author

Noel Moldvai
May 29, 2025

TL;DR. Former co-founder and CEO, Reed Hastings, has entered the AI race with a seat at the table of one of the frontrunners, while Elon Musk continues to make waves across the 24 hour news cycle with new partnerships and moves aimed at disrupting rival partnerships…guess the rival.

Reed Hastings appointed to Anthropic’s board of directors

Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder and former CEO, has joined Anthropic’s board via the Long Term Benefit Trust. Cited for his leadership and philanthropic focus on education and AI ethics, Hastings’ addition comes as Anthropic scales its mission to build beneficial, interpretable AI systems for society.

Telegram CEO announces $300 million partnership with Elon Musk’s xAI and Grok

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov revealed a $300 million deal with Elon Musk’s xAI to integrate the Grok chatbot, with Telegram earning 50% of related subscriptions. Despite Musk’s vague denial of a signed agreement, the partnership is expected to launch this summer—strengthening Telegram’s financials amid legal scrutiny in France.

Elon Musk tried to block Sam Altman’s big AI deal in the Middle East

Musk attempted to derail OpenAI’s multibillion-dollar Abu Dhabi data center deal unless xAI was included. After lobbying the Trump administration, the project moved forward without Musk, though xAI may still benefit. The power struggle highlights the AI sector’s geopolitical stakes and Musk’s deep entanglement with U.S. politics and AI policy.

The impact of economic downturns on secondary markets

The inner investor in all of us is trained to know that economic downturns signal strife for the market as a whole, including secondaries. 

The sliding stock prices, declining home values, heightened jobless claims, and diminishing output that come with a downturn are bound to spawn a reaction in the market — but how sweeping are the impacts? And how can investors prepare? 

Quick Takes

Cheerio! Until next week.
-Noel