Kylie Robison is a elder AI newsman moving pinch The Verge’s argumentation and tech teams. She antecedently worked astatine Fortune Magazine and Business Insider.
The high-stakes world of Formula 1 racing conscionable became the latest battleground for AI companies.
AI-powered hunt startup Perplexity has been successful negotiations to motion a sponsorship woody pinch Red Bull Racing, worthy $5 cardinal a year. But aft some parties had agreed to the terms, the woody was blocked by Oracle, the team’s biggest sponsor, according to sources acquainted pinch the matter and documents viewed by The Verge.
Two issues are astatine the bosom of the conflict, according to the sources. Oracle has made a bid to acquisition TikTok, and Perplexity is a rival bidder. Oracle is besides a backer of Stargate, the $500 cardinal task to build information centers for OpenAI, which competes pinch Perplexity.
All caller Red Bull Racing partnerships request to beryllium approved by Oracle, the team’s biggest sponsor. Their five-year deal, signed successful 2022, is worthy around $300 million and is considered to beryllium 1 of the astir important partnerships successful Formula 1. Oracle and Red Bull Racing did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Perplexity declined to remark connected the negotiations.
Formula 1 is nary alien to tech companies courting their teams. Google has a business pinch McClaren, CrowdStrike is partnered pinch Mercedes-AMG Petronas, and Atlassian conscionable inked a woody pinch Williams Racing.
This business would person marked 1 of Perplexity’s first awesome sponsorships, and astir 1 percent of the startup’s latest backing round. The astir three-year aged institution recently closed a $500 cardinal backing information that tripled its valuation to $9 billion.
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