Want to send thoughts or suggestions to\u00a0Fortune Tech?\u00a0Drop a line\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Apple AI chief John Giannandrea heads for the exits Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n At long last, John Giannandrea is leaving Apple.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company said Monday<\/a> that the embattled exec\u2014who quickly became the face of Apple\u2019s AI struggles, from its underwhelming Apple Intelligence features to its relatively inept Siri assistant\u2014would step down from his position as SVP for Machine Learning and AI Strategy and ultimately retire \u201cin the spring of 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n Giannandrea, who reported to CEO Tim Cook, will be replaced by fellow Google veteran Amar Subramanya. Subramanya will join as VP of AI, reporting to SVP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi.<\/p>\n Subramanya will take over teams focused on Apple\u2019s foundation models, machine learning, and AI safety. The rest of Giannandrea\u2019s org\u2014smaller than it once was after Siri and robotics teams were removed from his purview earlier this year\u2014will report to either COO Sabih Khan or SVP of Services Eddy Cue.<\/p>\n Interestingly, Subramanya left Google after 16 years to join Microsoft just five months ago. Who says Apple can\u2019t have some AI talent poaching fun? \u2014AN<\/p>\n Netflix makes an aggressive bid for Warner Bros. Discovery<\/p>\n Who will go home with a storied Hollywood enterprise?<\/p>\n The media conglomerate known as Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly fielded a second round of bids on Monday in an auction that could end as soon as this week.<\/p>\n Among them: A mostly cash offer from Netflix, according to a Bloomberg report<\/a>.<\/p>\n Netflix is vying for Warner Bros alongside CBS owner Paramount Skydance (David Ellison) and NBCUniversal owner Comcast (Brian Roberts).\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that none of the bidders are interested in WBD\u2019s linear television stations\u2014CNN, Discovery, Food Network, TLC, etc\u2014which are planned to be spun out as Discovery Global.\u00a0<\/p>\n No, it\u2019s all about HBO and a film studio with attractive IP (DC Comics, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones) and an even more attractive lot in Burbank, Calif. (LA real estate ain\u2019t getting any cheaper, folks.)<\/p>\n These latest offers are binding; WBD\u2019s board could very well sign off on a deal if it meets the $30 per share it\u2019s looking for. (WBD shares are trading around $24.) And then, as Porky Pig famously says: That\u2019s all, folks. \u2014AN<\/p>\n Are we headed toward another crypto winter?<\/p>\n The price of Bitcoin plunged more than 6% on Monday, to below $85,500, in its biggest one-day drop since March.<\/p>\n That\u2019s 30% lower than Bitcoin\u2019s peak of about $126,000, set in the first week of October 2025.<\/p>\n Anyone holding tokens of the world\u2019s most popular digital currency is certainly used to volatility, but they\u2019d be lying if they said they weren\u2019t a little nervous.<\/p>\n The Bitcoin pain has spread to other cryptocurrencies (e.g. Ether, Solana) and reignited worries that the asset might be headed toward another dreaded \u201ccrypto winter.\u201d<\/p>\n In each crypto winter, investors lost faith. The 2022 plunge, for example, was predicted on concerns about fraud.\u00a0<\/p>\n This time, crypto might keep sliding purely because it\u2019s considered a riskier investment at a time when investors are pessimistic about the broader economy and looking for safer bets.<\/p>\n How low could it go? One investing pro told the Wall Street Journal<\/a>thatBitcoin could drop to $60,000, effectively turning the clock back to September 2024: \u201cWe don\u2019t think the pain is over.\u201d \u2014AN<\/p>\n More tech<\/p>\n \u2014Instagram\u2019s RTO mandate<\/a>. U.S. staff must report to the office five days a week starting in February.<\/p>\n \u2014Nvidia\u2019s $2 billion stake in Synopsys.<\/a> Yet another AI-fueled strategic partnership.<\/p>\n \u2014Shopify suffers an outage<\/a>on Cyber Monday, of all days.<\/p>\n \u2014India\u2019s gov\u2019t orders phonemakers<\/a> to preload devices with a security app called Sanchar Saathi.<\/p>\n \u2014Amazon Now launches in Philly, Seattle.<\/a> Thirty-minute delivery service for household essentials.<\/p>\n \u2014The hottest new university major?<\/a> AI, of course.<\/p>\n![\"Apple](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2157001708.jpg\"\/)
<\/a>Apple CEO Tim Cook (left), Apple SVP of machine learning and AI strategy John Giannandrea (center), and Apple SVP of software engineering Craig Federighi on June 10, 2024 in Cupertino, California.<\/p>\n