City PM tech and media awards 2023: blunders, board battles and the cage fight that got away
Welcome to the inaugural City PM tech and media awards 2023, where we look back on the best, the worst and the downright weirdest moments of the year in the world of tech and media.
Let’s get down to business.
Biggest win of 2023
First, the positives. After a long year of ‘will they, won’t they’ speculation, the UK’s competition regulator approved Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s merger in October – just. It came at a cost to Microsoft though, who has surrendered its cloud rights to existing Activision games such as Call of Duty or any new games released during the next 15 years.
All the same, it was a big win for the two tech companies, particularly since the watchdog had initially raised concerns that the deal could harm UK gamers.
Big Tech blunder of the year
Google’s launch of Bard in February could only be described as a “you had one job” moment. In a race to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google pushed out its own version into the world. But introducing a new generative AI chatbot that promptly flunks its debut test is less than ideal.
The tech giant’s shares tanked immediately after, cutting $100bn from its market capitalisation after Bard answered a question wrong during a promotional video. Awkward. Netizens wasted no time in gleefully pointing out the mistake over social media.
Worst cage fight of the year
Unsurprisingly, there weren’t too many contenders for this award. The cage fight in question was of course Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s challenge to each other broadcast to the world via X. Nobody asked for it but everybody seemed to want it.
Zuck is well known for being a skilled jiu-jitsu practitioner while Musk has been lacking in the practising department. Alas, the fight never happened after the Meta boss called it off, accusing Musk of not being serious about his jibes. Here’s hoping 2024 will bring some much-needed closure to the tale.
Juiciest boardroom beef
The Sam Altman and OpenAI drama takes the cake, even if it lasted just a week. In November, the board ousted Altman as chief executive with little public explanation. But he reclaimed his throne just four days later after the vast majority of OpenAI employees threatened a mass walkout.
The ChatGPT creator also reshuffled its board of directors, naming former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers as a member and ex-Salesforce boss Bret Taylor as chair. The rumour mill suggested a tug-of-war between those advocating for AI regulation and those with less of a palate for the red tape.
Advertising fail of the year
Elon Musk earns another accolade for his recent expletive-laden outburst. It proved to be an expensive mistake for the world’s richest man, who left advertisers reeling after telling them to “go fuck yourself”. Musk’s takeover of the platform, formerly known as Twitter, had already triggered an exodus of advertisers.
This, along with a rise in antisemitic content triggered by the war in Gaza, has pushed even more of them away. Media Matters recently compiled a list of more blue-chip companies who have pulled ads which Musk responded to by filing a lawsuit.