Amazon and Meta are tightening their performance reviews. Amazon now requires employees to list 3–5 key accomplishments, while Meta is stacking staff into top, middle, and bottom tiers, rewarding only the highest performers with up to 300% bonuses. Experts warn these moves, coming amid recent mass layoffs, could foreshadow more cuts and push employees to self-select out. (CNBC)

Two more founders have exited Elon Musk’s xAI, meaning exactly half of the lab’s 12-person founding team is now gone. Co-founders Tony Wu and Jimmy Ba announced their departures within 24 hours, joining four others who’ve left over the past year. While exits are being framed as amicable, critics say the timing is awkward: xAI is preparing for an IPO, Grok is battling quality and safety issues, and scrutiny is rising. (TechCrunch)

ByteDance is reportedly building its own AI chip and is in talks with Samsung to manufacture it. The chip, designed for AI inference, could see at least 100,000 units produced this year, with plans to scale much higher. The move would reduce ByteDance’s reliance on Nvidia and hedge against U.S. export controls, while supporting its fast-growing AI products like the Doubao and Dola chatbots. (Reuters)

Google just sold debt that won’t come due until 2126. Alphabet raised nearly $32B in a borrowing spree to help fund its plan to double AI spending to $185B this year, covering everything from chips to data centers. Investors piled in anyway, snapping up the ultra-long bond almost 10x over, a sign that Wall Street still trusts Google’s cash machine to keep running for generations. (CNN)

Heineken is trimming up to 6,000 roles (about 7% of its workforce) as beer demand cools and costs stay high. The brewer says the cuts will free up cash to invest in growth, but it’s also lowering its 2026 profit outlook, blaming weak consumer spending, bad weather, and rising competition. Investors liked the belt-tightening anyway, sending Heineken shares up 4% on the news. (Reuters)

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