Hi Everyone. This is Take Off. We're like the cheat codes to your favorite video game - empowering, game-changing, and providing an edge in the tech ecosystem.

Here's what we're serving up today:

• Big Tech is getting TOO BIG 💾

• Microsoft’s (ACTIV)ision Deal 🎮🕹️

• Asteroids ☄️

• Wednesday Wires 💰

Big Tech is getting TOO BIG 💾

Big Tech has gone through multiple phases. First there was the OG FAANG. Then Nadella made Microsoft cool again and we got MANGA.

Now, AI, which seems to have upended literally every single thing, has created a new Big Tech Club: The Magnificent Seven.

These high rollers that have been hogging over half the weight of the NASDAQ-100 index are in for a slimming session.

The NASDAQ-100 is getting ready to perform a special rebalance, the third of its kind in history.

• The Magnificent 7 currently make up more than 55% of the index.

• The rebalance will trim the weight of the 5 fattest cats to 38.5% of the index.

They are cutting back the dominance of our favorite tech giants to give the little guys a chance. Fear not, no stocks will be sent to the guillotine or knighted during this rebalance.

In the spirit of keeping things interesting, the Nasdaq 100 will spill the beans about the weight changes on July 14.

Can't wait for that reveal!

AI has given the tech market an unprecedented bull run which has shot up the stocks after their post-pandemic downfall.

The market cap of the Magnificent Seven has grown by 60% this year alone!

So high, in fact, that together they now weigh a staggering $11 trillion - that's nearly 3x Germany's GDP. Three times!

We can’t help but wonder. Is this a bubble just waiting to burst or is this really utopia?

Microsoft’s (ACTIV)ision Deal 🎮🕹️

Remember that time when you turned every couch cushion upside down and raided your piggy bank, all for the sake of scoring that must-have $25 video game?

Microsoft has been going through the same phase, with a slight twist - they're not after a game, but the entire video game company, Activision.

Also, they're not digging in their pockets for a mere $25, but a staggering $69 billion!

And it seems like they got just 1 step closer to that after a federal court rejected FTC’s case against the acquisition.

Incase, you’ve not been following this epic battle between Microsoft and world courts, here’s a quick primer of what you need to know.

• Microsoft wants to acquire Activision Blizzard to get VIP early ticket access to the cloud gaming industry by integrating it with Xbox.

• USA’s FTC and UK’s CMA hit the pause button on the deal as they figured this would lead to a monopolization.

• Microsoft was able to pretty please their way through the EU and has been determined to take out their lawsuit chops against the FTC and CMA.

So, yesterday was a huge win for the company getting the green signal from the federal courts.

This, however is a big blow to the FTC, whose efforts to crack down on Big Tech recently haven't exactly been cracking, after losing out to a lawsuit against Meta as well recently.

The happiest party in all of this was Activision as it saw it’s stock (NASDAQ:ATVI) shoot up by 10%.

☄️ Asteroids ☄️

Microsoft confirms more job cuts on top of 10,000 layoffs announced in January. Not specifying numbers, but they're continuing to tighten the belt post-pandemic. 📉😯

OpenAI’s DALL-E will train on Shutterstock’s library for six more years. They're giving users AI superpowers to edit any image. 🎨🖼️

The team at Semianalysis published a behind-the-paywall post discussing the architecture, infrastructure, costs, and other aspects of GPT-4. Yam Peleg shared a summary of this post on LinkedIn, but he had to remove it a few hours later due to copyright infringement claims. ©🗑

💰 Wednesday Wires 💰

Pano AI, the early wildfire detection whizz, just snagged $17M in a Series A extension. They're keeping firefighters ahead of the game with high-definition, AI-operated cameras detecting smoke before you dial 911. 📹🚒

Vellum.ai, the AI whisperer, just scored a cool $5M seed round! This Y Combinator prodigy is helping companies fine-tune their AI chatter, boosting the business application of large language models. 🤖💬

Ivy, the API superstar for instant bank payments, just bagged $7.7 million in seed funding! Bidding adieu to card network fees, Ivy aims to speed up transactions and make checkouts smoother globally. 🌐💳

That’s it from us today folks! If you liked what you read today, please do read the message from our loving and hard-working team below:

“ We all crave the essentials in life - food 🥑🍕, shelter 🏠, and clothing 👕🩳- and we're no exception! Our must-haves? An ever-growing squad of adoring subscribers like you and for more of those lovely subs, we're counting on you to spread the word! So, blast that newsletter across the universe! ”