MSFT Carbon Credits Deal: Is It Greenwashing?

MSFT Carbon Credits Deal: Is It Greenwashing?

Microsoft [MSFT] has struck a deal to purchase carbon credits by restoring parts of Brazil’s Amazon and Atlantic forests, the Financial Times reported. It will acquire 3.5 million credits over 25 years from Re.green, a Brazilian start-up, with a view to offsetting a surge in emissions connected to artificial intelligence (AI); such efforts have been labelled ‘greenwashing’ in the past. 

AI Supergroup Announced

SoftBank [SFTBY], OpenAI and Oracle [ORCL] are launching a $100bn, Trump-backed joint venture to accelerate AI infrastructure development in the US, with plans to scale to $500bn. The venture will fund data centers and campuses, Bloomberg reported. SoftBank will lead on financing, OpenAI will oversee operations, and partners like Arm [ARM], Microsoft and Nvidia [NVDA] will provide tech support.

Netflix: Strong Q4, Price Hike 

Boosted by the second series of Squid Game and high-profile sports events, Netflix [NFLX] added nearly 19 million subscribers in late 2024. In its earnings call on Tuesday it reported that quarterly net profit doubled to $1.8bn, according to the BBC, while sales climbed from $8.8bn to $10.2bn. The streaming giant also announced it is to raise prices in the US, Canada, Argentina and Portugal.

Verizon Q4 Earnings Preview 

Verizon [VZ] is an established telecommunications giant — the world’s third largest in terms of market cap as of January 21. Despite its prominence, the company has struggled with an eye-watering twelve-figure debt, and the stock price has reflected these struggles, failing to convincingly recover from major dips in 2023. Could its Q4 2024 earnings call on January 24 mark the start of a turnaround?

Google Boosts Anthropic Stake

Alphabet’s [GOOGL] Google is injecting over $1bn into Anthropic, an OpenAI rival, furthering its $2bn commitment to the AI start-up. Anthropic, known for its Claude AI models, competes in the generative AI space alongside Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s GPT-4. This investment signals Alphabet’s commitment to diversifying its AI portfolio, according to the Financial Times.

ByteDance Goes Big on AI

Regardless of the ongoing furor around its US operations, ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, is set to invest over $12bn in AI infrastructure this year. The company will allocate RMB40bn to AI chip acquisitions in China by 2025, doubling last year’s spend, and invest $6.8bn overseas for model training with Nvidia chips. Around 60% of its domestic chip orders will go to Chinese suppliers like Huawei and Cambricon [688256:S]. 

“Minimize Risk”: Michael Gayed Joins OPTO Sessions

Michael Gayed is Founder of the Lead-Lag Report, a newsletter and research site that gives investors weekly advice, trading strategies and insights into market trends. He has 138,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, 170,000 readers on his Substack and 750,000 followers on X. He recently joined OPTO Sessions to discuss the macro backdrop, as well as why AI might be a bubble and how the narratives around bitcoin are “stupid”.