bought

Telecinco has just bought the rights to ‘El Rosco’ from ‘Pasapalabra’. The only problem is that ‘Pasapalabra’ is from Antena 3

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Among many other things that have happened in recent years with ‘Pasapalabra’, Mediaset paid a fine of 73 million euros for broadcasting the program without having the rights, lost the program in 2019 and has been watching for six agonizing years how Antena 3 turned it into the most watched contest in Spain. Now, Telecinco announces that it has El Rosco back. The only thing missing is everything else. Back to Mediaset. This Wednesday, Mediaset España confirmed in a very brief press release (consisting, in fact, of a single sentence, which could be interpreted as that Telecinco is not yet completely clear about its plans), that it is preparing “a new program that will include El Rosco as the final and main element.” we already knew that the Supreme Court had forced Antena 3 to withdraw that test from ‘Pasapalabra’, and abundant rumors were already circulating that approximately a year and a half ago Telecinco had closed the agreement to recover the test, conditional on the courts ruling in favor of the Dutch company MC&F, owner of the rights. High hierarchies. To get an idea of ​​how coveted the Rosco is, you only have to keep one thing in mind: the new agreement between Mediaset and MC&F was negotiated directly by Alessandro SalemCEO of the audiovisual group. What Mediaset has acquired is the license to use El Rosco: the circle of letters, the dynamic of “passing the word”, the repetition of unanswered questions and the final stopwatch. What it has not acquired is ‘Pasapalabra’ in its entirety: the full format of the contest belongs to ITV, which maintains its current contract with Antena 3. That is, the new Telecinco program cannot be called ‘Pasapalabra’ nor replicate the tests prior to Rosco. The importance of Rosco. All these shenanigans to acquire a test and not a program, without a doubt, put a question on the table: what is the true drawing power of Rosco alone if it does not have the previous forty minutes that generate tension and familiarize us with the contestants. That is the task that Mediaset now has before it: to build a program of prior tests that firmly support the star challenge. The fine. Telecinco does not come to this acquisition of Rosco with the joy of teenage boyfriends. The Provincial Court of Madrid sentenced Mediaset to pay 73.2 million euros to ITV for broadcasting ‘Pasapalabra’ without authorization between 2012 and 2019. The figure was increased considerably over the initial calculation of 44.3 million because the court estimated that the advertising revenue generated had been higher than those calculated in the first instance. Furthermore, the resolution recognized the “carryover effect”: the indirect benefit that the contest brought to the news and to the prime time later, which increased the main compensation by another 233,134 euros for that specific concept. Delicate moment. The Rosco announcement comes at the worst time in Telecinco’s recent history. The channel closed 2025 with a 9.5% annual quotathe worst record in its history for the fourth consecutive year. December 2025 marked an 8.4% share, the worst month in the regular season of his entire career. January 2026 was even more brutal: 8.5% and its worst start to the yearbelow the aggregate of the autonomous chains. The chain has been chaining minimums since July 2025, and they have taken brutal cost cutting measures such as merge the set of Informativos Telecinco and Noticias Cuatro. How Rosco affects audiences. ‘Pasapalabra’ is the most watched daily program on Spanish television for the sixth consecutive year, with an average share of 18.3% in the 2024/2025 season and a maximum of 21.1% in June 2025. But above all, El Rosco is the mechanism that keeps the viewer glued to Antena 3 until the nightly news. And whoever reaches the news program goes to ‘El Hormiguero’. Telecinco does not have anything comparable in that segment, but El Rosco as the driving force of a new contest would be a good way to fight Antena 3 at the time of day when the largest audience drags towards the final stretch of the day. Meanwhile, Antena 3 can continue broadcasting the already recorded episodes of ‘Pasapalabra’ that include El Rosco, until they receive official notification. Hectic times are coming in the afternoons of traditional television. In Xataka | Four years of historic audience lows: Telecinco is looking for oxygen this summer and its idea is to recycle presenters and formats

bought $87 million worth of ETH and sells it all in one quarter

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The Harvard investment fund prepared to buy Ethereum in autumn of last year. Three months later, he ended up selling everything. At the same time, it has continued to reduce its position in Bitcoinwhich has also been declining quarter by quarter since will reach its all-time high in mid-2025. The institution, which for a few years had been increasingly betting on cryptocurrencieshas experienced first-hand how the landscape has changed in a very short time. The play. The Harvard investment fund, known as Harvard Management Company, revealed in its latest filings with the SEC that it had completely liquidated its position in BlackRock’s Ethereum ETF during the first quarter of 2026. The position, valued at around $86.8 million, lasted just one quarter. In fact, at the time of purchase, the fund had become the largest new buyer of BlackRock Ether, as commented Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart told Fortune. At the same time, Harvard also cut its position in the Bitcoin ETF of BlackRock (IBIT) by 43%, leaving it at about 117 million dollars. It is the third consecutive quarter in which its crypto positions decrease. Why it matters. Harvard is not just any university when we talk about investment. Its endowment (the university’s permanent investment fund) is the largest in the world and many are attentive to its movements. That it has bet (and undone so quickly) on Ethereum gives clues about how institutions are viewing this cryptocurrency. The thing about Ethereum is that it has something that Bitcoin doesn’t have. And its network can host financial applications. That should make it more attractive in theory. However, what the numbers say is something else: the price of Ethereum has accumulated a drop of 29% so far this year, compared to 12% for Bitcoin, and in the last five years Bitcoin has clearly surpassed Ethereum. In detail. Harvard’s crypto story begins in the second quarter of 2025, when bought 1.9 million shares of BlackRock’s IBIT ETF for about 116.7 million dollars, making Bitcoin its largest position in listed equities, even above Nvidia or Alphabet. The peak came in Q3 of 2025, with 442 million in Bitcoin ETF. From there, the road was downhill, with a 21% cut in Q4, simultaneous entry into Ethereum for 87 million, and in Q1 2026 complete exit from Ether and a new 43% cut in Bitcoin. Between the lines. The exit of Ethereum in a single quarter suggests that it was a strategy that did not end up convincing. Harvard’s portfolio of listed equities It is only 16 positionsand this is a tiny fraction of its total $57 billion endowment. Its largest position currently is TSMC, with about 232 million, followed by gold, with about 200 million. Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, counted Fortune that flows into Bitcoin ETFs remain relatively resilient despite the fall it is having in 2026. Regarding Harvard’s position specifically, he noted that, having many other assets that have performed well, “absorbing losses in Bitcoin may be more bearable, with the hope of a recovery.” He also recalled that endowments are “the most difficult institution to convince” to enter ETFs, which makes both entry and exit even more striking. ETFs at other universities. Among the rest of the universities, the panorama is different. Dartmouth maintained its position in IBIT unchanged during Q1 and expanded its crypto exposure with a new entry into Bitwise’s Solana ETF, being one of the first US universities to do so. Brown University He didn’t move his position either. at IBIT. Harvard, for now, is moving in the opposite direction. And now what. Harvard’s crypto strategy could also be conditioned by an internal factor. And NP Narvekar, the director of the endowment since 2016 and the architect of its shift towards alternative assets, has informed the board of his intention to retire, possibly at the end of 2027, according to account the Wall Street Journal. There is still no open successor search process, but it is a factor that may explain why Harvard is getting rid of somewhat riskier positions. Cover image | DrawKit Illustrations and Somesh Kesarla Suresh In Xataka | Two decades ago Apple left Intel because it didn’t know how to be a foundry. Now he comes back because he has learned his lesson

You bought an electric car to save. Here’s why you’re not doing it

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It’s 7:30 p.m. You get home, put away your coat, plug in the car and forget about it. You’ve done it like this every day since you bought the electric one. Until the electricity bill arrives and nothing adds up. The car doesn’t consume gasoline, yes, but something has gone wrong. That something has a name: you’ve been paying the most expensive electricity of the day to charge a battery that could have been filled for half the price while you were sleeping. It’s 7:30 p.m. You get home, put away your coat, plug in the car and forget about it. You’ve done it like this every day since you bought the electric one. Until the electricity bill arrives and nothing adds up. The car doesn’t consume gasoline, yes, but something has gone wrong. That something has a name: you’ve been paying the most expensive electricity of the day to charge a battery that could have been filled for half the price while you were sleeping. The 280 kWh error. Think of any family: apartment, refrigerator, washing machine, some heating. About 290 kWh per month. The day they park an electric car in the garage and start charging it at home, those 290 kWh become 570. The car adds about 280 kWh per month on its own, counting what is lost in the charging itself. If they plug it in in the middle of the afternoon, they are paying for that mass of energy at the most expensive price of the day. The same amount of kWh can cost twice as much depending only on the time at which it is consumed. The key is no longer just how much is consumed, but when it is consumed. The three traps. The first instinct when buying an electric car is to call the company and ask for more contracted power, for fear that the leads will trip if the car is connected with the washing machine running. Alejandro Diego Rosell, energy consultant and professoridentifies it as one of the most common and most expensive mistakes: oversizing the power means paying an unnecessary safety margin every month, even if you never use it. But the thing doesn’t stop there. Many users believe that the regulated market (PVPC) is the safest haven. According to Sergio Soto’s calculations, energy expert Roamsa model household with an electric car would pay about 101.67 euros per month in PVPC, penalized by hourly volatility and increases in prices in certain sections. Cheap when the price drops, yes. But unpredictable when it rises, and rises just when it is most consumed. And there remains the one that is most abundant in advertising and the one that deceives the most: EV rates. Rosell sums it up with a rule that should not be forgotten: “You are still saving 8 euros by charging the car and losing 15 in the rest of the house.” You have to look at the nightly price, but also what they charge during normal hours and what is in the fine print of the fixed term. Some EV rates offer a very cheap early morning to recover the margin the rest of the day. The name does not guarantee anything. The roadmap. For the electric car to be truly profitable, experts propose following these steps: Apply the exact power formula: Rosell proposes a simple account: Necessary power = simultaneous consumption of the house + charger power + safety margin. If at dawn you have a refrigerator, water heater and air heater consuming 1.5 kW and you charge the car at 3.7 kW, you need about 5.2 kW in total. With a safety margin, you would hire 5.75 kW, not 10. And there is a nuance that changes everything: a smart charger can automatically reduce the car’s power if it detects that the house is consuming more. The car waits. The leads don’t jump. Play two powers: Current legislation (2.0TD rates) allows contracting a lower power for the day and a higher power only for the night (valley). This way you don’t pay all day for a power that you only use while you sleep. Escape from commercial trends: Faced with the avalanche of so-called ‘EV Rates’ (specific for electric vehicles), Soto warns that the most economical option is usually a well-optimized classic rate with three-period time discrimination (DH3). In a practical case, this rate would lower the bill to 74.90 euros per month, representing a saving of 26.3% compared to the regulated market. EV rates are still competitive (about 77.50 euros), but they can be slightly more expensive than a good DH3. To compare without trusting advertising: the official comparator of the CNMC and the hourly prices of the PVPC published by Red Eléctrica in ESIOS are the reference tools. Install a smart charger. A conventional plug is slow and offers no control. A wallbox allows you to program the load so that it starts on its own during the cheapest hours and adjusts the energy so as not to exceed the contracted power. Rosell places the cost of the equipment between 400 and 800 euros; Soto, adding the complete installation, between 600 and 1,500 euros depending on the case. Important: the wallbox does not pay for itself only by the kWh saved, but also by the control, security and comfort it provides. And the investment is significantly cut with the Auto+ Plan, which subsidizes up to 70% of the installation for individuals and up to 80% in municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants. What if we collapse the network? With an increase in plug-in vehicle registrations which exceeds 44%it is legitimate to wonder if there will be blackouts when we all charge at dawn. Soto calls for calm: the problem is not that everyone charges at night, but that everyone does it at the same time and at high powers. With smart charging and distributed management, the grid holds up. Rosell adds something more important for the long term: the “eternal cheap night” is … Read more

Amazon had been building its alternative to Starlink for some time. Now the company behind the iPhone SOS has been bought

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If we think about satellite internet, the first thing that comes to mind is usually Starlink. It is logical: SpaceX has managed to occupy a large part of the conversation in this area. But, while that was happening, what we have seen is that Amazon had been building its own bet on low orbit with Leoa project with which he wants to gain relevance in an increasingly disputed market. Now that plan has taken a much more serious step. The company founded by Jeff Bezos has announced an agreement to acquire globalstarthe company that until now supports several Apple satellite functions on compatible iPhones and on the Apple Watch Ultra 3among them Emergency OSS via satellite. At the same time, both companies have communicated an agreement to continue these services and collaborate on future satellite functions supported by Leo. In other words, not only does it buy a strategic piece of the sector, it also fully enters into an already established relationship with Apple. Here the value of Globalstar goes well beyond its name or its relationship with Apple. What Amazon is buying is a combination of satellite fleet, infrastructure, spectrum and operational knowledge accumulated over years in mobile satellite communications. There is also a particularly relevant point: the acquisition gives it immediate access to radio spectrum rights, a piece that can accelerate its plans to offer services on mobile phones and other devices in the future. Furthermore, this operation does not appear in a vacuum. Leo had been trying to gain traction with his own deployment for some time: he already has more than 200 satellites in orbit, although he is still far behind SpaceX. At the same time, the firm has been teaching the product and clients: A few days ago it presented its aviation antenna and already has agreements with JetBlue and Delta to offer inflight connectivity starting in 2027 and 2028, respectively. There is another detail that helps measure the magnitude of the movement without losing sight of caution. The information published by the Financial Times places the agreement in 11.6 billion dollars and places it among the largest purchases in the company’s history, below Whole Foods but above MGMalthough on paper there are still pending steps before considering it resolved. The announcement itself specifies that closure is planned for 2027, provided regulatory approvals arrive and certain technical commitments linked to Globalstar’s satellite program are met. Viewed as a whole, this step helps to better understand where Leo wants to go in the coming years. We are not just facing a large acquisition, but rather an attempt to gain time, capabilities and position in a race in which Starlink continues to set the benchmark. The operation, if it ends up closing as planned, can change the starting point of the American giant quite a bit. Images | Amazon | Apple | globalstar In Xataka | Samsung faces a very serious problem to surpass TSMC with its 2nm chips: the 60% curse

Meta just bought one designed for AI agents

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If we look back, the history of social networks is deeply linked to a very specific idea: connecting people. For years, platforms like Facebook were presented as places to keep in touch with friends, family or co-workers. That logic is still present, but the panorama is beginning to incorporate new actors. Meta has confirmed the acquisition of Moltbook, a platform created for artificial intelligence agents to interact with each other within a social network-like environment. The purchase. We are facing an agreement that does not go unnoticed. As part of the transaction, Moltbook creators Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr will join Meta Superintelligence Labs, the AI ​​unit led by Alexandr Wang, former CEO of Scale AI. The company has not revealed the economic conditions of the operation, but a spokesperson told TechCrunch That the arrival of new talent opens new avenues for AI agents to work for people and companies, and their approach to connecting agents represents a novel step in a rapidly evolving space. A social network for agents. What differentiated Moltbook from other platforms was precisely its approach. Instead of focusing on human profiles, the site allowed AI agents to post messages and interact with each other within a forum-like format. Many of these agents used OpenClawa tool that connects models like Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Grok with common messaging applications, including iMessage, Discord, Slack or WhatsApp. That combination turned Moltbook into a very striking experiment within the technological world, to the point of leaving the most specialized circle. An experiment with risks. The rapid popularity of Moltbook also exposed some major problems. Security researchers discovered that the platform had flaws that allowed human users to impersonate AI agents and publish messages as if they were autonomous systems, so that the environment designed for interaction between agents was not as solid as it seemed. Wiz also detected a vulnerability that exposed private messages, more than 6,000 email addresses, and more than one million credentials. open question. All this leaves an open question that still does not have a clear answer: how will Meta leverage this purchase in its artificial intelligence strategy. While there are clues, he has not explained how exactly he plans to use this project within his products or research. What we do know is that the operation comes at a time when large technology companies are competing for talent, tools and new ideas around autonomous agents. Images | Dima Solomin | Moltbook In Xataka | OpenAI is hitting the brakes with Stargate. The reason: Oracle builds yesterday’s data centers with tomorrow’s debt

They have bought their first Porsche

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In 1956, Antonio Molina and Joselito were playing on Spanish radio stations. But life was very different outside our borders. Then, Elvis Presley launched Heartbreak Hotel and the newspapers of the time reported that in London they had to stop traffic because “dozens of boys, parked in the middle of the street, began to dance to the rhythm of the rock and roll“. It is very likely that that rock and roll will be danced at the wedding Derek Evans and Audrey Evanstwo young people who said yes to each other 70 years ago. Since then, the Evans couple has remained together for seven decades together. And for their platinum weddings, the Evans couple have said another “I do.” This time to get his first Porsche. An electric Porsche “Neither of us are running people but we like the feeling of power and comfort.” The one who expresses herself in these terms is Audrey Evans, who at 94 years old, of which 70 have been by her husband’s side, explains why they have chosen a Porsche as a wedding gift for these seven decades together. “I have always thought that Porsche was unique, so reliable and different from any other brand. We had always fantasized about oneand then we thought: ‘why not now?”, says Mr. Evans in an article that the company itself has published. The Evans couple receiving their first Porsche And from their words, they don’t seem to regret it. “It’s a great feeling when you have a Porsche. It feels like you’re part of an incredible club,” he reaffirms. And with a laugh he tells what happened when a delivery man saw him arrive home with a Porsche 911 that they had borrowed from the dealership: “his mouth almost fell to the floor.” But the brand new Porsche they have bought has been a Macanthe company’s electric SUV, in Cray color. The company has shared photos of the day they picked up the car in Bournemouth, in the south of the United Kingdom. Are they happy? “It’s wonderful fun,” explains Mr. Evans, who drove a Ford 8. His wife took the first wheel with a austin 7. Unlike that delivery man, his children were not in the least surprised that a man and a woman over 90 years old opened the doors of a Porsche dealership and ordered a Macan. “There isn’t a 19-year-old in Dorset (next to Bournemouth) that Dad hasn’t left behind at the traffic lights. They’ve never lived a conventional life, so When they told us they were going to buy a Porsche, we just smiled“explains one of his children. And that passion for leaving behind everything in his path has not died within Derek Evans. If you ask him, he’s clear which Porsche will be next: “a Taycan. It takes me a while to get out of it but… you know, it’s amazing!” What more can be said? Simply, I hope Mr. and Mrs. Evans enjoy their new Porsche Macan very much and intensely. Because here we will always defend buying a car that you simply like. Without further reasons. Photo | porsche In Xataka | Porsche Macan, analysis: there was a day when this car had a gasoline V6, and that’s what Porsche wants you to forget

Madrid has bought so many electric cars that the DGT has ended one of its great incentives

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Electric cars and plug-in hybrids will not be able to circulate in the Bus-HOV lane unless the signs indicate so. The DGT has confirmed that it was one of the most attractive measures for the potential customer of a car with a Zero Emissions label to take the leap. Now, so many cars of this type have been sold in Madrid that they have ended up putting an end to this advantage. What has happened? The DGT has sent a statement announcing the “Resolution on special traffic regulation measures for 2026.” Nothing very juicy except for one detail: the announcement that the Zero Emission cars they have run out of taking advantage the Bus-HOV lane to avoid traffic jams. The DGT explains that from now on, drivers of a Zero Emissions car (electric or plug-in hybrid with more than 40 kilometers of autonomy) will only be able to circulate on this special lane when it is specifically signposted. By default, they will not be able to enter it. Because? According to the DGT, the decision “responds both to the demand of the citizens and to the requests of the public transport companies and the Ombudsman who have conveyed to the DGT their concern about the progressive loss of effectiveness of the HOV lanes that directly affects the regularity and punctuality of the service, discouraging its use and harming thousands of daily users who opt for public transport.” And they provide data: traffic jams on the main roads have increased by 10%, while in the Bus-HOV lanes they have increased by 22%. But the data skyrockets in Madrid. According to their accounts, traffic jams are 20% more frequent on the main road of the A-6 entering and exiting Madrid. In its Bus-HOV lane, traffic jams have increased by 90%. Madrid, absolute leader. According to ANFAC data, Madrid was the Autonomous Community where the most electrified cars (electric and plug-in hybrids because the data also discriminate by non-plug-in hybrids) were purchased. In total, at the end of 2025, 102,245 cars of this type were recorded. Across Spain, 245,629 Zero Emission cars were purchased. The next region in which the most Zero Emission cars were purchased was Catalonia but it remained at 33,309 units. Behind them, only the Valencian Community and Andalusia exceeded 20,000 units. Goodbye to one of the great incentives. Until now, switching to the Bus-HOV lane despite only having one passenger traveling in an electric or plug-in hybrid car was one of the great incentives to get a vehicle of this type. The HOV Bus on the A-6 in Madrid, the only one for which the DGT offers data, is a relief for a road that is clogged daily. Beyond the driving comfort (absence of noise or vibrations) and the savings if we recharge at home, the Zero Emissions cars had two great incentives that were considered “political”. One is the purchasing aid that until now was collected in the MOVES III Plan but that have been frozen waiting for a Auto+ Plan that has not yet materialized. The second was this use of the Bus-HOV lane, since the time saved per day was considerable. However, advantages applied by each municipality such as unlimited access to ZBEsexemptions in the payment of road taxes or free parking in regulated parking areas. These aids are of municipal application and, therefore, vary from one city to another. Goodbye, goodbye. The loss of the unlimited pass for the VAO Bus is only a reminder that Zero Emission cars continue to enjoy some aid that, it is hoped, will end up disappearing. This is what has happened, for example, in Norway, where the exemption from paying taxes has caused a hole of 1.8 billion euros. The solution that has been proposed is to tax the weight of vehicles to alleviate this problem. In other cities, like parisit is also ignored whether the car is electric or not and a similar mechanism is also used to charge in regulated parking areas. Photo | DGT In Xataka | Guide to know if your car will be able to circulate in the ZBEs of Madrid in 2026: labels, registrations and areas

Decathlon has just bought Intersport in Spain. And with this, a business model closes: multi-brand sports retail.

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Decathlon has notified the CNMC the acquisition of Intersport CCS in Spain. The operation would add some 120 stores (30 owned and 90 franchised) to the 176 stores that Decathlon already operates in the country. Now the regulator You have one month to make a statement in first phase. Why is it important. This purchase closes one business model and consolidates another: Intersport represented the retail traditional sports: multi-brand, with Nike, Adidas, Puma and company on its shelves. Decathlon is the opposite: the own brand (Van Rysel, Quechua, Kiprun…) is what dominates, with mainly low prices, or at least lower than those of the big brands, and total control of the value chain. The first has gone bankrupt and the second keeps its locations. The background. Intersport entered bankruptcy in March 2025 with a debt of between 14 and 30 million euros. Tried to get 70% cuts with banks like BBVA and Sabadell, and with suppliers like Nike and Puma, but it didn’t work. In November, Intersport France bought the business for 300,000 euros and now it is Decathlon who takes it entirely. Between the lines. The battle of retail sports is no longer so much about what brands you sell as about how many square meters you control and what you sell within. The big sports brands have opted for direct sales to the consumer (Nike closing distributors, for example, although he got a frog). Intersport was trapped selling brands that no longer needed it to reach the customer, without great differentiation of its own and with very high inventory costs. Nike and Asics are not Kalenji and Artengo. Yes, but. Decathlon buys Intersport largely because it buys key locations before they are occupied by Amazon, Shein (which is about to physically disembark in Europe) or any other e-commerce actor that needs a physical presence at least to facilitate returns and collections. In it retail 2026, the physical store continues to be differential, but only if you sell products that cannot be easily purchased online. A Van Rysel cycling set is not on Amazon. Some Nikes, yes. The contrast. This is not very different from what happens in the food sector: Mercadona dominates because it sells its few own brands and controls the chain. Multi-brand supermarkets (those that only distribute) are in a more complicated position. He retail sports follows the same pattern: consolidate or die. Stores without their own identity tend to disappear. And now what. If the CNMC approves the operation, Decathlon will reinforce its hegemony in Spain. But the news is not so much the number of stores as the model that remains standing. In 2026, those who control what they produce, how they sell it, and where they distribute it survive survive. The rest is noise. In Xataka | Wallapop taught us how to sell used things. Decathlon has learned to make money with it Featured image | Decathlon, Intersport

Agentic AI was the new race for Big Tech and Meta was far behind. It has bought the company most capable of recovering

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Meta has closed the purchase of manusa Singapore-based artificial intelligence startup, for more than $2 billion. Throughout this year, Meta has reinforced its AI operations by acquiring several companies focused on different specialties. In July bought Play AIfocused on voice with AI. In August acquired WaveFormsan audio-focused startup. And in September was done with Rivosa company specialized in the design of semiconductors and RISC-V chips. Manus’s is already the fourth major purchase this year, and it is his hope not to be diluted in the race to dominate AI when all this time he has focused his efforts on Llama and his open weights approach. Why it is important. The Agentic AI (agents capable of performing complex tasks with minimal human supervision) has long become the new battlefield for big technology companies. Although companies like Microsoft or OpenAI had sufficient resources to develop in this field, Meta needed to strengthen its position in this segment if it did not want to be left behind. Manus came to reach 100 million dollars in annual recurring revenue just eight months after its launch, which offers Meta a product that generates money right away, something not very common in this sector. What does Manus do? The startup rose to fame in March with a video demo that went viral, showing how its AI agent was able to produce detailed research reports, build custom web pages, filter job candidates, plan vacations, and analyze investment portfolios. All using AI models developed by companies such as Anthropic and Alibaba. At the time, Manus even claimed to surpass OpenAI’s Deep Research. Currently, the company has around 100 employees, mainly in Singapore, offers subscriptions of $20 to $200 per month and already has a user base of millions. Initial success. Manus emerged a few months after the debut of DeepSeekthe Chinese model that shook the foundations of the industry due to its capabilities supposedly developed with less computing power than its American rivals. Just like account WSJ, the startup secured a $75 million funding round led by Benchmark in April, which valued the company at $500 million. Among its investors are firms such as Tencent, ZhenFund or HSG. Untying ties in China. The parent company behind Manus, Butterfly Effect, was founded in 2022 in Beijing by two Chinese entrepreneurs, including its CEO Xiao Hong, known as ‘Red’. Although most of its researchers and engineers were located in China, Manus launched outside the country because it used American AI models that are not available there. Shortly after securing its investment with Benchmark, the company officially moved its headquarters to Singapore. According to account WSJ, Manus has ruled out developing a version for the Chinese market. Goal declared to Nikkei Asia that, following the acquisition, Manus will have no ties to Chinese investors and will no longer operate in China. All existing investors have been excluded from the operation, according to they count from Bloomberg. What’s coming now? Meta plans to keep Manus running independently while integrating its agents into Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, platforms where Meta AI is available. According to WSJManus CEO Xiao Hong will report directly to Javier Olivan, Meta’s chief operating officer. “Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” Xiao stated in the official announcement. No return guarantees. Mark Zuckerberg continues his mission to prove that AI can deliver tangible returns. Goal plans to spend $600 billion in American infrastructure over the next three years, much of it related to AI. Just like assures Bloomberg, it is an amount that causes some skepticism in some investors, since there are no guarantees that this expense will generate significant income soon. Cover image | TechCrunch In Xataka | NVIDIA has paid $20 billion to “license” Groq’s technology. He actually bought it

Imoo turned the children’s smartwatch into its own genre. Now all the parents who bought it are stuck

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According to CounterPoint Research estimate for the global smartwatch market in 2025… Apple grew 12%. Samsung fell 6%. Imoo grew by 17%. Action replay: A Chinese brand that exclusively sells children’s watches is growing more than Appleand definitely more than Samsung, which is going down. Imoo, what The year has already started growing in quotaalready has 7% of the global smartwatch market. And it doesn’t really compete against the Apple Watch Ultra or the current Galaxy Watch: compete against the anguish of not knowing where your child is when he leaves school. Or rather: against the fear of not knowing if one day something happens. Counterpoint Research projects that the global smartwatch market will grow 7% in 2025 after first falling in 2024. That rebound is partly explained by Apple launching the cheap SE 3 and recovering after seven consecutive quarters of declines. But there is another factor: China went from 25% global share in 2024 to 31% in 2025. And within that jump, Imoo has a specific role that perhaps we are not looking at closely enough. Huawei is reinforcing its focus on health and sports, Apple maintains its inertia, Xiaomi focuses on the watch as part of a domestic ecosystem… and Imoo has turned parental fear into a product category. Their watches have GPS, calls, SOS button or alerts when the child leaves an area geofenced by his parents. As a watch it is not very smart and perhaps fits better in the category of surveillance and emergency aid device. Imoo hasn’t invented parental fear, but it has built a great machine to monetize it. Besides, It is a device that creates functional dependency: Once a parent puts it on their child’s wrist, they get used to the peace of mind it provides. So it is difficult not to renew it when the child stamps it or when it becomes obsolete. This success of Imoo goes beyond technology: when you grow 17% a year selling this type of watches, you do not measure adoption, but rather the number of parents who have decided that the anxiety that would cause them not knowing where their child is (understandable, of course) is worse than the inconvenience of constantly tracking them. Once you cross that threshold, there is no turning back. Previous generations had opaque spacesmoments of disappearance for a few hours before returning to dinner. These spaces are closed with this type of products, colorful and gamified, with a branding questionable but an unquestionable commercial success. Parents do not feel that they “control”, but rather that they protect. And kids don’t feel tracked, at least until they get acne and the bomb goes off, until then they just feel like they have a cool watch. And there is an advantage for parents: if suddenly almost all of your child’s classmates have one, the fact that your child does not have one becomes an anomaly. Imoo’s 7% share (and counting) measures how many children are growing up knowing that their parents can track them at any time. It measures a generation that normalizes permanent connectivity as a default state from the age of six. Counterpoint speaks of the smart watch market with “China-driven growth” and “different strategies to sustain the engagement of the consumer”, but it does not mention that One of those strategies is to redefine a part of childhood. The next son will also wear the watch. And the next one too. Imoo doesn’t need to grow faster than Apple to win. It just requires that each generation of parents find it more unthinkable than the previous one to leave a child unaccounted for. In Xataka | After almost a decade with the Apple Watch, I have switched to a Garmin. And I understood what I was missing Featured image | Xataka

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