Hi Everyone. This is Take Off. We're like a hidden Easter egg in your favorite video game - surprising, delightful, and adding an extra layer of fun to your tech news consumption.

Here's what we're serving up today:

• Masa’s Back in the Casino 🎰

• Asteroids ☄️

• Trending Tools ⚒️

Masa’s Back in the Casino 🎰

You’re in a casino at the poker table. You see a man having a rollercoaster ride where he bets big, wins big and loses big.

But one thing never changes: He’s always in the game and is never taking money off the table.

Meet Masayoshi Son - the man who places billion dollar bets on tech that sometimes leads to epics that revolutionize the world. And he’s back at the table again - this time with a lot of chips.

ARM went public recently in one of the biggest IPOs of all time, which has made Softbank flush with cash again and Masa is ready to go on the offense.

Analysts estimate that ARM’s IPO may have expanded Softbank’s war chest to as much as $65 billion. That’s a lot of dough - dough that the company is ready to invest in AI startups.

Unsurprisingly, OpenAI is one of the companies which is being considered by Softbank for placing their bets on.

Son mentioned that he’s a heavy user of ChatGPT and has developed a close relation with Sam Altman. The Financial Times stated that Masayoshi Son and Sam Altman have become texting BFFs lately.

Softbank rose like a phoenix from the dotcom bust with one of the greatest VC investments of all time - Alibaba. Can the company turn around its fortunes once again as we enter a new era?

☄️ Asteroids ☄️

Cisco to buy cybersecurity firm Splunk for $28 billion. Its their biggest-ever deal made with the aim of strengthening its software business and capitalize on the boom in artificial intelligence. 🧑‍💻🤑 

TikTok is testing a feature to include Google Search within its app! They're also trying out adding Wikipedia entries to search results. Seems like TikTok wants to be our all-in-one app! 📲🌐

YouTube's rolling out new AI tools for creators! Expect AI-made backgrounds, video ideas, and music suggestions. They're even introducing an AI dubbing feature for multilingual content. 🎥🤖

⚒️ Trending Tools ⚒️

🌐 Sidekick - A productivity browser for focused work

🔎 Luigi’s Box - AI‑Powered Site Search and Product Discovery

📹️ Capsule - AI-powered video editor for enterprises

💰️ Makerbox - Marketing for startups made simple

📰 Recommended Reading 📰

Want to get the most entertaining and informative stories based on important events happening around the world? Click here to join Early Chip.

Learn timeless lessons from today's top entrepreneurs weekly. Join 8,000+ founders and creators.

Checkout the latest marketing tools, techniques and news read by teams at Apple, Microsoft and more by clicking here.

That’s it from us today folks! If you liked what today’s edition, here’s a 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! ”