MSFT

Protest at Microsoft Event: A Microsoft employee, Ibtihal Aboussad, disrupted the company's 50th-anniversary event, accusing it of complicity in war crimes related to AI technology used by the Israeli military.

Stock Impact: Following the incident, Microsoft's stock fell by 3.56%, with an additional decline in after-hours trading, reflecting investor concerns over the controversy.

Protest at Microsoft Event: During Microsoft's 50th anniversary celebration, CEO Mustafa Suleyman was interrupted by employee Ibtihal Aboussad, who protested against the company's ties with Israel and accused it of being a "war profiteer" due to its AI technology's involvement in military operations.

Response and Consequences: Microsoft acknowledged the protest but emphasized that it provides channels for employees to express their views without disrupting business. Following the protest, Aboussad and another employee reportedly lost access to their work accounts.

OpenAI's Release Plans: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that the company will release o3 and o4-mini in a couple of weeks, followed by GPT-5 in a few months, aiming to enhance its capabilities significantly.

Integration Challenges: Altman noted difficulties in integrating systems smoothly and emphasized the need for sufficient capacity to meet expected high demand for their products.

Microsoft and Broadcom Outlook: Despite recent declines in stock prices due to macro uncertainties and competition, Wall Street remains optimistic about Microsoft and Broadcom, citing strong fundamentals and growth potential, with analysts recommending buying opportunities for both companies.

Palantir's Mixed Sentiment: While Palantir Technologies has seen significant stock gains, concerns over its high valuation and insider selling have led to a Hold consensus rating from analysts, indicating caution compared to the bullish outlook on Microsoft and Broadcom.

Market Decline: The technology sector experienced a significant downturn, with the "Magnificent Seven" companies losing $1.55 trillion in market capitalization this week, marking their largest weekly decline on record, alongside a total of $5.6 trillion lost in the U.S. stock market.

Historical Comparison: Rob Arnott, chairman of Research Affiliates, draws parallels between the current tech slump and Microsoft's decline in 2000, which negatively impacted the entire tech industry and took 14 years for recovery.

Microsoft's 50th Anniversary Celebration: During the celebration, Microsoft's AI assistant, Copilot, humorously roasted former and current CEOs Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, and Steve Ballmer in a lighthearted interview, showcasing the company's legacy and camaraderie.

AI's Role in the Future: The conversation highlighted the playful banter between the CEOs and Copilot, with discussions about AI's growing intelligence and its potential impact on leadership, culminating in a humorous exchange about AI's capabilities in cricket.

Steve Ballmer's Concerns: Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer expressed worries that President Trump's new tariffs could disrupt the economy and negatively affect consumers, particularly in the tech industry, as Microsoft's stock has seen a significant decline this year.

Market Reactions and Economic Implications: The tariffs have led to halted data center projects by Microsoft, with analysts divided on their potential impact; some view them as harmful while others see them as a catalyst for long-term change in globalization.

Microsoft's 50th Anniversary and AI Strategy: During Microsoft's 50th birthday celebration, CEO Mustafa Suleyman emphasized the importance of tracking the "rate of successful sessions" (SSR) for their AI assistant, Copilot, as a key metric for guiding their strategy in artificial intelligence.

New Features for Copilot: Microsoft showcased new features for Copilot, including personalized podcasts and tools for complex queries, while also enhancing its consumer interface to be more engaging and user-friendly.

Microsoft's AI Strategy: Microsoft is focusing on developing AI models that are slightly behind the cutting edge, allowing for cost savings and targeted use cases, as explained by Mustafa Suleyman, CEO of AI at Microsoft.

Partnerships and Future Plans: Despite a strong partnership with OpenAI, which has seen significant investment from Microsoft, there are emerging competitive dynamics, prompting Microsoft to emphasize building its own AI capabilities independently while maintaining collaboration until at least 2030.

Impact of Tariffs on AI Infrastructure: President Trump's newly imposed tariffs may increase costs for businesses developing the infrastructure necessary for artificial intelligence, potentially raising prices for AI services.

Role of Cloud Companies in AI Development: Companies like OpenAI and Anthropic depend on major cloud providers such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Oracle to manage the physical computing needed for AI, with nearly a trillion dollars invested in this infrastructure expansion.

Microsoft's 50th Anniversary Celebration: Microsoft celebrated its 50th anniversary with a gathering at its headquarters, showcasing new AI features for its Copilot assistant that will enhance user personalization and task management.

Future of AI and Leadership Vision: CEO Satya Nadella emphasized the company's focus on innovation and empowering users, while co-founder Bill Gates expressed optimism about the future capabilities of AI, hinting at the potential for Copilot to play a significant role in Microsoft's next chapter.

Stock Market Selloff: All 11 sectors of the stock market experienced a significant decline following President Trump's announcement of new tariff plans.

Impact on Financial Institutions: Banks and private-equity firms were particularly affected, as investors are concerned about potential recession impacts leading to reduced borrowing and dealmaking activities.

Lawsuit Overview: The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft for allegedly using its copyrighted articles to train the ChatGPT model without permission, with a federal judge allowing the case to proceed based on evidence of copyright infringement.

Court Decision Details: U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein rejected parts of OpenAI and Microsoft's motion to dismiss the case, allowing claims related to user infringement to continue while dismissing some other allegations, indicating a significant legal challenge for the tech companies regarding copyright law.

Impact of Tariffs on Microsoft: President Trump's new tariffs are expected to negatively affect consumers and investors, with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer noting a significant drop in Microsoft's stock and potential turmoil from the tariffs.

Future Outlook for Microsoft: Despite current challenges, including declining stock performance and economic uncertainty, Microsoft remains a leader in software markets, with a focus on AI and cloud computing as key areas for future growth.

Impact of Tariff Announcements: President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcements significantly disrupted the stock market.

Weekly Stock Review: The Score provides a weekly analysis of major stock movements and the news influencing them.

Market Decline and Tech Valuations: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attributes the recent market sell-off to a reassessment of tech valuations, particularly following advancements in AI, rather than solely to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indices are experiencing significant declines, with major tech companies like Apple and Tesla suffering substantial losses.

Tariffs and Economic Strategy: Bessent defends the use of tariffs as a means to enhance economic security and promote domestic manufacturing, arguing that they have minimal impact on U.S. prices while aiming to reshape global supply chains. He believes that the current trade dynamics place the U.S. in a stronger position compared to surplus nations like China and Germany.

Analyst Upgrade: Mike Genovese upgraded Coherent Corp from Neutral to Buy, lowering the price target from $115 to $85, citing strong demand for AI transceivers and optimism about the company's growth in the sector through 2030.

Market Performance: Despite a recent stock decline of 9% to $49.06, Coherent has shown consistent revenue growth in its 800G Datacom transceiver sales and is expected to see further acceleration in sales driven by new product shipments in late 2025.

Protest at Microsoft's Anniversary: During Microsoft's 50th anniversary celebration, employee Ibtihal Aboussad interrupted the event to accuse the company of enabling genocide by supplying AI technology to the Israeli military, claiming that Microsoft has blood on its hands. Another engineer, Vaniya Agrawal, also protested and announced her resignation over similar concerns.

Concerns Over Military Contracts: Both employees expressed their discontent regarding Microsoft's involvement in the military-industrial complex, highlighting a trend among AI companies to partner with defense contractors and the Department of Defense, which they believe compromises ethical standards and human rights.

$3 Trillion Club Status: For the first time in years, no companies are part of the $3 trillion club as Apple, Microsoft, and NVIDIA have all fallen below this valuation threshold due to significant stock declines.

Market Impact: The broader tech sector, represented by the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF, has also seen a notable drop, raising concerns about the sustainability of mega-cap tech stocks amidst ongoing market sell-offs.

U.S. Tech Companies Collaborate with Rapidus: Major U.S. tech firms, including Apple and Alphabet, are in discussions with Japanese chipmaker Rapidus to mass-produce advanced semiconductors by 2027, with interest from other companies like Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft.

Advancements in Chip Production: Rapidus has begun partial operations of a prototype chip line in Hokkaido and plans to release process design kits for early customers after July, aiming to compete with TSMC while addressing supply chain security concerns amid geopolitical tensions.