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OpenAI announced Thursday that it had acquired the online business talk show TBPN<\/em> for an undisclosed sum. The move comes as OpenAI struggles with its public image, which has taken a significant hit in recent months.<\/p>\n Since launching in 2024, TBPN<\/em> has risen in popularity among Silicon Valley circles by offering a daily live stream about the technology industry that\u2019s seen as more tech-friendly than traditional outlets. The show's two hosts, John Coogan and Jordi Hays, offer real-time commentary on breaking news, cycle through viral social media posts, and interview executives from companies including Meta, Salesforce, Palantir and OpenAI. It\u2019s become especially popular among OpenAI staff and other AI researchers, many of whom are addicted to the social media platform X.<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to understand how a media startup fits into OpenAI\u2019s core businesses selling ChatGPT, Codex, and a new super app the company is developing to consumers and enterprises. Last month, OpenAI\u2019s CEO of Applications, Fidji Simo, told staff in an all hands meeting that the company needed to cancel its side projects and refocus around its core businesses.<\/p>\n In a memo to staff announcing the acquisition, Simo said the typical communications playbook does not apply to OpenAI. \u201cWe're not a typical company,\u201d she said in the memo, which was also published as a blog. \u201cWe're driving a really big technological shift. And with the mission of bringing AGI to the world comes a responsibility to help create a space for a real, constructive conversation about the changes AI creates\u2014with builders and people using the technology at the center.\u201d<\/p>\n TBPN<\/em> is a small business compared to OpenAI. The media firm says it generated $5 million in ad revenue last year, and was on track to make more than $30 million in revenue in 2026, according to the The Wall Street Journal. The show reportedly reaches around 70,000 viewers per episode across a variety of platforms. A source close to OpenAI says the company doesn\u2019t expect TBPN<\/em> to contribute financially to the business, though it will help with OpenAI\u2019s communications strategy.<\/p>\n OpenAI has fallen under increased public scrutiny in recent months. After the company signed a deal with the Department of Defense in February, Anthropic\u2019s Claude surged in downloads and claimed the top spot among Apple\u2019s free apps. OpenAI\u2019s leaders are also dealing with a growing QuitGPT movement which is made up of people who vow to never use OpenAI\u2019s products. OpenAI President Greg Brockman cited AI\u2019s popularity issues as a core reason for his increased political spending.<\/p>\n The acquisition makes OpenAI the latest Silicon Valley player to try owning and operating a news business. In recent decades, there have been several notable examples of technology leaders purchasing media firms, including Jeff Bezos buying The Washington Post, Marc Benioff buying Time Magazine, and Robinhood buying the newsletter company MarketSnacks. In each case, the acquisitions raised immediate questions about whether the outlets would remain truly independent. In her memo, Simo told staff that TBPN<\/em> will retain editorial independence.<\/p>\n \u201cTBPN is my favorite tech show. We want them to keep that going and for them to do what they do so well,\u201d said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in a post on X. \u201cI don't expect them to go any easier on us, [and I] am sure I'll do my part to help enable that with occasional stupid decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n OpenAI said TBPN<\/em> will continue to \u201crun their programming, choose their guests, and make their own editorial decisions,\u201d according to Simo\u2019s memo The company also said that TBPN will report directly to OpenAI\u2019s VP of global affairs, Chris Lehane. WIRED previously reported how an economic research team under Lehane had struggled to report on AI\u2019s negative impacts on the economy.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the past year, we\u2019ve had a front-row seat not just to OpenAI, but to the entire ecosystem, covering the daily news, announcements, and launches in real time,\u201d said Jordi Hays, cofounder and host of TBPN<\/em>, in a statement. \u201cWhile we\u2019ve been critical of the industry at times, after getting to know Sam and the OpenAI team, what stood out most was their openness to feedback and commitment to getting this right. Moving from commentary to real impact in how this technology is distributed and understood globally is incredibly important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n This TBPN<\/em> deal comes just a week after OpenAI shuttered its AI social video product, Sora, as part of the company\u2019s broader effort to focus its resources and leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Save StorySave this storySave StorySave this story OpenAI announced Thursday that it had acquired the online business talk show TBPN for an undisclosed sum. The move comes as OpenAI struggles with its public image, which has taken a significant hit in recent months. Since launching in 2024, TBPN has risen in popularity among Silicon Valley […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48600,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-48599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}