Elon Musk's X.AI wins $6 billion in private funding as the latest unicorn to avoid an IPO

 X.AI, a competitor to ChatGPT parent OpenAI, disclosed a large round of funding without the need to become a public company

X.AI, the Elon Musk business that competes with ChatGPT parent OpenAI, has raised $6 billion in private funding as the latest example of a big startup taking its time to float an initial public offering.

X.AI said in a filing that it drew in $6 billion from a total of 97 investors.

The funding round took place quickly, with the first sale recorded on Nov. 22, followed by a closing on Thursday.

The funding round marks at least the second big Musk-backed startup that's been able to raise large sums of money while remaining private.

Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Musk's SpaceX business is raising money in private markets at a valuation of $350 billion.

With private-market investors eager to pour money into hot tech startups, it's less likely that companies such as SpaceX, X.AI and others will be in a rush to complete IPOs and trade their shares on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq.

Large technology companies find themselves avoiding public markets due to high regulatory costs and potential exposure to broad selloffs in equities that have nothing to do with the performance of a specific company.

Meanwhile, X.AI announced earlier this week that it would expand its "Colossus" supercomputer facility in Memphis from plans originally unveiled in June, according to a statement from the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce.

X.AI plans to build at least one million graphics processing units in what's been described as the largest capital investment in the history of the region.

Nvdia Corp. (NVDA), Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL) and Super Micro Computer Inc. (SMCI) are also planning an increased presence in Memphis, which is billing itself as the "digital delta."

X.AI disclosed in May that it raised $5 billion from 139 investors, according to a filing.

In December of 2023, the company raised about $135 million.

https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20241206357/elon-musks-xai-wins-6-billion-in-private-funding-as-the-latest-unicorn-to-avoid-an-ipo

Haemonetics started at Overweight by JPMorgan

 Target $116

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=HAE&p=d

Strategic Syrian City Of Homs Poised To Fall To Anti-Assad Advance

 Making their way rapidly south down the center of Syria, hordes of jihadist insurgents led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) are already with a few miles of Homs and are set to besiege the city, after taking Aleppo and nearby Hama in just less than a week.

Thousands of Homs residents have been witnessed fleeing, as HTS has declared it ultimately wants to take Damascus, seat of the Assad government. Rastan and Talbiseh – in the governorate of Homs – are said to have fallen to the invaders backed by Turkey and based out of Idlib.

HTS and Al-Qaeda linked terrorists outside Aleppo International Airport, which they captured days ago.

Homs is about 30 miles south of Hama, which only fell Thursday, but is much more strategically important given it links to Damascus and the coast along a key highway.

Samer AbdelJaber, head of emergency coordination at the UN’s World Food Programme, has been quoted in Al Jazeera saying that with some 280,000 people already displaced in a week, these numbers could soon swell to 1.5 million.

People from Aleppo, Hama, and Homs, have been fleeing toward coastal enclaves. It is especially religious minorities, many of them Christians, who are worried about an ethno-religious genocide, given the Al-Qaeda pedigree of the so-called 'rebels'. Alawites too fear extermination by the radical Islamists. 

Al Jazeera details, "A Syrian army officer told the Reuters news agency that Russian bombing overnight had destroyed the Rastan bridge along the key M5 highway linking Hama to Homs." Towns in Homs governate which have been captured are located on the Homs side of the bridge, putting HTS within close striking distance of Homs.

By all accounts it's not looking good amid unverified Friday reports that Syrian Army units have begun exiting Homs before even much heavy fighting ensues.

And in another worrying development, suggesting all manpower is being ordered to focus defense on Damascus and its environs, and the coast (such as Latakia) is that Syrian Army troops have "suddenly" exited Deir ez-Zor city and the whole area.

Israel has meanwhile bombed another Lebanon-Syria border crossing, specifically the Arida and Jousiyeh crossings, claiming that it is disrupting Hezbollah supply lines.

An HTS operations room has told the citizens of Homs, "Your time has come" - and has urged them to rise up against Assad forces.

Russian and Syrian warplanes have continued to pound their various positions, but without much resistance on the ground, HTS has been able to more forward at rapid pace.

Syrian forces possibly withdrawing to ultimately defend 'fortress Damascus'...

Again, the area has many Syrian Christians - many of which have been the first to flee. Once source writes, "With the fall of Hama, new battleground will be in Homs. Valley of the Christians with its 200,000+ Christians may soon be the target of these battles, hosting many refugees also from Suqaylabiyah and Mhardeh. It's not an overstatement to say the danger may exceed that of 2012-2014."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/strategic-syrian-city-homs-poised-fall-anti-assad-advance

Biden Regime Quietly Revokes Veterans Hiring Preference For Civil Service Jobs

 by Debra Heine via American Greatness,

The Biden regime has quietly revoked the veterans hiring preference for civil service jobs and promotions, which since the 1944 Veterans Act gave eligible veterans preference over others for appointments in federal civil service selection, a memorandum obtained by American Greatness shows.

The goal of the veterans’ preference law was to “provide a uniform method by which qualified veterans [could] receive special consideration for federal employment,” according to Military.com.

By law, veterans who are disabled or who served on active duty during certain specified time periods or in military campaigns are entitled to preference over non-veterans both in hiring from competitive lists and in retention during reductions in force.

New guidelines from the Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service (DCPAS) now stipulate that “veterans’ preference should be considered on an equal basis as other qualified candidates.”

The week before Thanksgiving,  DCPAS Director, Daniel Hester sent civilian personnel the memo in an email detailing an “Extension and Amendment of the Government-wide Direct Hire Appointing Authority for Scientific, Technical, Engineering and Mathematics Positions, Acquisitions, and Cybersecurity and Related Positions.”

“The purpose of this e-Advisory is to provide the widest dissemination on the Extension and Amendment of Government-wide Direct Hire Appointing Authority for STEM, Acquisitions, and Cybersecurity Positions,” the memo states.

"Direct Hire Authority (DHA) is an appointing authority that allows federal agencies to expedite the hiring process for positions where there is a critical hiring need or severe shortage of candidates. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has extended and amended the Government-wide Direct Hire Authority (DHA) for critical STEM, acquisitions, and cybersecurity roles, allowing expedited hiring for positions with severe candidate shortages. This authority supports the Department of the Air Force’s (DAF) goal to attract top talent to key mission-critical roles. OPM has identified STEM, acquisitions, and cybersecurity roles as critical hiring needs, warranting the extension of direct hiring authorities to streamline recruitment and reduce hiring timelines. New amendments to the DHA also expand coverage to include criminal investigation and data science positions at specific grade levels. This hiring flexibility enables federal agencies to bypass standard competitive procedures to fill positions urgently needed for federal operations."

The memorandum states that under the updated authorities, “individuals may be appointed to competitive service career, career-conditional, term, or temporary position, without applying veterans’ preference and competitive rating and ranking procedures at the grade levels.”

A source from the U.S. Air Force told American Greatness:

“This is government-wide hiring has ramped up like never before seen. They are literally packing the federal workforce with as many loyalists and subversives as they can. Worst of all, they think it is their duty to do so.”

He added:

“Since DEI is getting pettifogged rather harshly (and rightly so) this is yet another way they can worm into the bureaucracy—at the expense of veterans.”

The source told American Greatness that “veterans are being cast aside for this new workforce (wokeforce).”

Tab 1_DCPAS Message 2024115 – Extension of the Government-wide Direct Hire Appointing Authority for STEM Positions, Acquisitions, and Cybersecurity and Related Positions

Tab 2_DCPAS Hiring Authorities Matrix -Updated October 2024

Tab 3 Supplement Guidance – OPM Extension and Amendment of DHA for STEM Positions Aquisitions and Cybersecurity and Related Positions (1)

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-regime-quietly-revokes-veterans-hiring-preference-civil-service-jobs

Coalition Forces Evacuate Crew After Ship Paralyzed In Critical Maritime Chokepoint

 A potentially dangerous situation is unfolding in the southern Red Sea, a critical maritime chokepoint in the global shipping supply chain.

The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center (UKMTO) announced Friday morning that a commercial vessel is "listing astern" in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait about 105 nautical miles northwest of Al Hudaydah, Yemen. 

"A military source indicates that a merchant vessel is listing astern and poses a hazard to shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait," UKMTO wrote on X, adding, "The crew has been evacuated by coalition forces to Djibouti." 

UKMTO said all commercial vessels transiting the maritime chokepoint have been cautioned and asked to report any "suspicious activity." 

UKMTO has not provided any information on what caused the ship to "list astern." This could result from a cargo shift, adverse weather conditions, or a potential attack by Iran-backed Houthis.

Earlier this week, US Central Command confirmed two US Navy destroyers intercepted missiles and drones targeting three US merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden near the Bab al-Mandab Strait. 

The Washington Institute's Noam Raydan reported in October that Houthi rebels launched 80 attacks on commercial ships in the critical maritime chokepoint in the southern Red Sea, sinking two ships and killing four sailors. This has since sparked a global supply chain crisis, pressuring container rates higher. 

*This is a developing story.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/coalition-forces-evacuate-crew-after-ship-paralyzed-critical-chokepoint

Sagimet started at Outperform by Oppenheimer

 Target $30

https://finviz.com/quote.ashx?t=SGMT&p=d

'FDA Outlines Accelerated Review Guidelines in Waning Days of Biden Admin'

 

The program has recently become controversial as a number of high-profile advanced approvals were granted only for the drugs to fail a confirmatory trial later on. Now, the FDA has clearly laid out expectations.

As the Biden administration winds down, the FDA is setting out guidance on its current thinking around accelerated approvals, an issue that rose to the top of Commissioner Robert Califf’s to-do list amid a flurry of controversy around a handful of such drug approvals.

Accelerated approvals are granted to drugs that address an unmet medical need for serious or life-threatening conditions. Sponsors can get a drug approved based on a surrogate endpoint such as a biomarker that is reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. They must also conduct a confirmatory trial to turn the accelerated approval into a regular approval.

The program has been around for decades, but has recently become controversial as a number of high-profile advanced approvals were granted, only for the drugs to fail a confirmatory trial later on.

During his tenure, Califf has overseen some changes to the accelerated review program. He set out the expectation that drug sponsors must have the confirmatory trial underway at the time of accelerated approval, or at least have a plan to get one started swiftly. That directive is codified in the new guidance, although the document is nonbinding.

The guidance also says that the label for the drug will include “a succinct description of the limitations of usefulness of the drug and any uncertainty about anticipated clinical benefits.”

If an adequate and well-controlled trial cannot be conducted, accelerated approval should not be considered, the guidance explains.

The FDA also defines surrogate endpoints and provides examples of recent ones that have been used to support an accelerated approval, such as a decrease in iron stores for patients with iron overload caused by beta thalassemia. The agency also recommends that sponsors intending to seek accelerated approval start regulatory conversations early in the drug development process to gain alignment with the FDA on a surrogate endpoint. These conversations can occur as soon as at the end of Phase I.

Once accelerated approval is granted, sponsors must conduct their confirmatory trial “with due diligence,” the guidance explains. The proposed trial protocol should be submitted to the FDA for review as early as possible, with trial timelines clearly explained.

Going forward, the FDA intends to require that these trials be underway before an accelerated approval is granted except in very limited circumstances , the guidance explains. These trials should stick close to the intended population that is already able to access treatment and can even be an extended duration of the trial that was used to support the accelerated approval.

In some cases, the FDA can withdraw an accelerated approval if certain conditions aren’t met. The guidance gives examples such as the sponsor failing to conduct the confirmatory trial with due diligence, the study failing to confirm clinical benefit, safety concernsand the sponsor disseminating false or misleading promotional materials about the product.

If a withdrawal is considered, the FDA center that approved the drug should convene an advisory committee meeting. This will allow a robust public discussion and give the sponsor an opportunity to provide evidence and data.

The FDA has rarely stepped in to request withdrawals of high profile products, even those that fail confirmatory trials, leaving the decision up to the sponsor.

For example, Pfizer recently withdrew the sickle cell disease drug Oxbryta from the market and ended ongoing clinical trials voluntarily after evidence suggested a higher risk of death and complications in treated patients. The drug received accelerated approval in November 2019.

By contrast, Elevidys, a Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy by Sarepta Therapeutics, failed a confirmatory trial last year and the company opted to keep it on the market, eventually securing full approval and a label expansion, though questions remain about the treatments’ efficacy.

However, in June 2022 the FDA did withdraw an advanced nod for TG Therapeutics’ lymphoma drug Ukoniq after it showed a possible increased risk of death.

https://www.biospace.com/fda/fda-outlines-accelerated-review-guidelines-in-waning-days-of-biden-administration