Verdict: Google Can Have Their Cake and Eat It Too (but they have to share)

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Hundreds of investing and finance newsletters hit my (and maybe your) inbox every week. This is the best of the best of tech from the past week. Every Monday, we’ll tackle policy, and every Wednesday, we’ll recap finance.

This week, on Tech Wrapped, we’ve got…

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It was a BIG week for Google and robots- we’ll break that down below…

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After years of courtroom drama, Google’s monopoly case ended with a whimper. Judge Amit Mehta kept Chrome and Android intact, let Google keep paying Apple billions for default search placement, and only added minor tweaks like one-year contract limits. Analysts from Wedbush summed it up best: “Government Folds Like Cheap Suit.”

The real threat to Google isn’t the DOJ; it’s AI. Apple is reportedly building its own AI-powered search tool, “World Knowledge Answers,” while OpenAI and Perplexity circle the market. The court’s data-sharing requirement could give these challengers a boost, but Morgan Stanley still calls Google the most likely winner in search.

Meanwhile, Big Tech is trimming fat. Amazon and Meta are running leaner, startup-style teams that have juiced profits but rattled employees. Amazon’s profit per worker is up 5x since 2022, but its back-to-office mandates and phone monitoring are sparking pushback. Meta’s compact “superintelligence labs” are moving fast but fueling internal rifts. Wall Street loves the efficiency, but the human cost is mounting.

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Tesla opened the waitlist for its Robotaxi app to anyone with an iPhone, though the “autonomous” fleet is still just 30 cars in Austin with a human monitor riding shotgun. In the Bay Area, it’s basically Uber with Tesla’s supervised self-driving. The stock nudged higher on the news, but the rollout still looks like a pilot program.

Car sales tell a different story. Deliveries are down 13% this year, India was a flop, and rivals like BYD and GM are eating its lunch. Musk is pitching investors on humanoid robots and robotaxis, making up 80% of Tesla’s value, but revenue details are vague and timelines are slippery. The market is still pricing Tesla at 191x earnings, betting on their sci-fi dreams instead of sedans.

It’s a mixed market: Investors aren’t exactly running from the hype, but they have been favoring safer retail plays. These days, Tesla is less a car company and more a speculative AI hardware play. If you want exposure, treat it like a high-volatility side bet, not the cornerstone of your portfolio.

This episode of This Week in Tech digs into the messy intersections of AI hype, government backdoors, and who really controls the internet.

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That’s all for today. Write us and let us know your thoughts on the market, the newsletter, or the weather—we’d just love to hear from you.

Till next time,
— Brandon and Blake