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🗞️Diversity and inclusion news🗞️ |
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👀BTF IS BACK👀
YEP you read that right. The biggest event of its type is back and the key date for your diary is 9 October 2025 back @ Drumsheds in London
Early bird tickets are available here |
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🌈Put your rainbow away🌈
Pride seasons is coming around but this year don't expect to see as many brands try and pink wash changing their logos into rainbows. Why? Well as CNBC puts it Companies that were once loud and proud in supporting LGBTQ+ community celebrations are pulling back.
LGBTQ+ Pride festivals across the the world have faced significant sponsorship challenges this year, with some losing corporate partners that collectively provided six-figure donations. As a result, organizations say they’ve had to modify their programming, pivot to other funding sources and reconsider their dependencies on corporate dollars.
“For this many companies to be dropping off, I think, points to that we’re in a different political environment than we have been maybe in a long, long time,” San Francisco Pride executive director Suzanne Ford told CNBC.
Ryan Bos, Capital Pride Alliance’s executive director, said economic uncertainty, safety and security issues, and fear of losing federal funding have all discouraged companies from returning as sponsors. He highlighted President Donald Trump’s executive order ordering government agencies to investigate and sue companies supporting DEI.
You can read more of the coverage here |
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🧠Things that make you go hmmm🧠 |
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➡️And you can't Doge that➡️
This week, Tesla posted a 71% drop in profits, a 9% dip in revenue, and conveniently omitted a $97 million crypto loss from its adjusted earnings — giving its numbers a cheeky 12% glow-up. Shoutout to GAAP’s sassier cousin, non-GAAP, otherwise known as “earnings before the bad stuff.”
(Bloomberg).💸
So what does this mean, its actually huge news as its one of their worst Quarters ever with Tesla reporting a 20% drop in car sales for the first three months of the year, compared with the same period last year, while profits fell more than 70%📉.
And yes, Tesla still holds around $1 billion in crypto. Because when your EV sales are slumping and your CEO is moonlighting as a government czar, why not double down on Bitcoin too?💰
🤖 Elon’s Side Hustle Gets a Time Limit
Musk says he’ll soon spend “far more” time on Tesla and just 1–2 days per week on his government gig — leading Trump’s cost-cutting initiative known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Not a meme (although it has been conveniently named after and been treated as one).
(BBC, AP)🤔
That announcement followed massive protests, boycotts, and backlash for what many see as Musk choosing MAGA over Model Ys. Even with Trump saying he’d “love to keep” Musk around, the Tesla boss knows investors were losing patience. We suppose this is something they can't blame on DEI? Perhaps one may suppose there is a come back to bashing those who are "woke" and like EV's because of their climate impact.👀
Nevertheless it's nice to be loved and shares popped 5% after Elon said he'd recommit to the company — though they’re still down over 40% this year.📊
Tesla’s quarterly update also warned of pain ahead. Not only is changing political sentiment putting off buyers, but Trump’s China tariffs are squeezing Tesla’s supply chains. Sure, Teslas are made in the US, but those batteries and parts? Not so much.🇨🇳
Musk says Tesla is “least affected” by tariffs due to its regional supply chains. Then again, he’s also in a very public spat with Trump’s trade adviser, who called Tesla “just a car assembler.” (Musk responded by calling him a moron. Because diplomacy.)😅
💡 So What?
Nothing is Teflon and brand damage can stick. Whilst it may be a tad overplayed, competition from Chinese EV's are very real and Tesla is feeling the heat of that and tariffs. Maybe the strategy of being close to the President may pay off. We don't know the counterfactual but the secondment/internship at the White House has cost Tesla, Elon and shareholders Billions
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💸Fine time💸
In the latest episode of “Big Tech vs the EU,” the EU came swinging with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and slapped Apple with a €500 million fine and Meta with €200 million. Yes, that’s real money — even if Apple could probably find it in Tim Cook’s AirPods case😅.
According to the European Commission, both companies violated the DMA, with Apple being called out for gatekeeping developers on the App Store (again) and Meta for its pay-or-consent model that said, “either pay us or let us watch everything you do.”📖 Source: Yahoo Finance👀
And as expected, both companies are deeply offended.
Apple said the fines are bad for user privacy, security, and just plain unfair. Meta, meanwhile, accused the EU of anti-American bias and claimed the fine is like “a multi-billion-dollar tariff.”💰 (Funny how the word tariff suddenly matters a whole lot more when it’s not coming from The US administration itself👀)
This isn’t happening in a vacuum with noises coming out of White House suggesting the reaction has them fuming, with a spokesperson calling the fines a “novel form of economic extortion.” And with the EU escalating its regulatory pressure, U.S.-EU trade relations just got a lot spicier.🇪🇺
At the same time, Google and Elon’s X are still under investigation, and if the EU’s regulator Teresa Ribera has her way, we can expect more fireworks 🎇
🍏🍔 Apple's Side of the Apple
To avoid further drama, Apple made some changes — like letting users pick browsers more freely — and that saved them from another fine. But their Core Technology Fee and resistance to sideloading are still under scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Meta is negotiating with the EU over its updated ad tracking policies, hoping the newer, slightly-less- (some would call it creepy) version of consent tracking will pass the sniff test.
💡 So What?
🔍 Regulation is real — and the days of digital giants acting with impunity appear numbered with it appearing The DMA is not just performative but has teeth.
💰 Fines are just the start. These aren’t just parking tickets but they may be the new cost of doing business in markets where public values (privacy, competition) are catching up to platform power.
🌍 It’s global now. This isn’t just an EU thing. With U.S. courts finding Google’s ad business illegal and microsoft under the gaze too, the world’s two biggest markets are increasingly interested in Big tech’s dominance. |
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🤳🏾We'll track everything you do🤳🏾
In the latest episode of “AI Startups Doing the Most,” Perplexity’s CEO, Aravind Srinivas, announced that their upcoming browser, Comet, will track everything users do online to serve “hyper personalized” ads.🧑🏾💻 The bet is you won't mind because the ad's will be so good and relevant you'll disregard any privacy concerns🤔
Srinivas argues that work-related queries in AI apps don’t provide enough personal data. So, naturally, the solution is to monitor your online shopping, hotel bookings, and restaurant searches to build a comprehensive user profile TechCrunch cite.
Because nothing says innovation like reinventing the surveillance wheel but at least they're being honest about it😅.
Perplexity isn’t just stopping at search; it’s aiming to be the next Google. With plans to raise up to $1 billion at an $18 billion valuation and partnerships like pre-installing their app on Motorola’s Razr series , they’re making bold moves.📲TechCrunchTechCrunch
They even expressed interest in acquiring Google’s Chrome browser if it were to be divested due to antitrust rulings. It'd certainly be interesting to see the browser market get shaken up💻
💡 So What?
It appears we are at that watershed moment where data is so necessary that the arms race to get it has heated up so much, people have moved beyond trying to hide it, but now being open about wh ythey want to know absolutely everything they can |
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👩🏾⚕️X's turn around👩🏾⚕️
Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter, always chaos) is back in the headlines — and this time, it's... sort of good news? According to Financial Post, X is showing some signs of life, but don’t call it a comeback just yet.
The numbers tell an interesting story:
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📈 $91 million from data licensing and subscriptions in February alone – that's a 30% jump year-on-year.
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🖼️ Ad revenue? Grew too… but only by 4% (so, basically the equivalent of finding a fiver in your old jeans).
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🏦 Cash on hand? Nearly $1.1 billion, up from the “couch-cushion money” levels of $120–$320 million last year.
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🧮 Debt? Oh, just a casual $12.5 billion still looming, with over $1.3 billion a year in interest payments. (Fun reminder: X spent $200 million just servicing debt in March.)
Apparently, Elon’s "fix" involves bundling X together with xAI under XAI Holdings, like some messy tech group project no one volunteered for. Investors have bought in again — even ponying up $900 million at a valuation eerily close to Musk’s original $44 billion price tag. Nostalgia is powerful, eh?
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley is helping sling Musk’s expensive leftovers, refinancing some of that eye-watering 14% debt to a “discounted” 9.5%. Progress, we guess?💸
💡 So What?
"Turnarounds" in tech aren’t always as shiny as they look. Sure, X is diversifying beyond ads — but it’s also balancing precariously on an Everest of debt, in a climate of rising tariffs, plummeting trust, and investors with famously short attention spans.
Musk’s grand pivot to AI is may be about "visionary strategy" but that also may just be about reading the room and f finding new buzzwords people want to spend money on to plug the financial black hole. 🚀💸 |
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🍟We'll take some fries with that🍟
🚨 Big news in the food delivery world! 🚨
Deliveroo is in advanced talks for a £2.7 billion ($3.6 billion) takeover by US-based DoorDash.
Uk Food tech company Deliveroo — Founded in 2013, operates across 10 countries, IPO’d in 2021 with a peak valuation of £7.6 billion before having subsequent years of struggle and a sort of bail out by amazon
DoorDash — Also founded in 2013 but in the USA, is one of the big four 4 delivery giants (Just Eat, Grubhub, and Uber eats) operating in over 30 countries
As Agam Garg on Linkedin put it
📍DoorDash is offering 180 pence per share.
📍For DoorDash, it’s a strategic leap into 10 new markets.
📍For Deliveroo’s founder Will Shu, it could mean a £170 million payday.
💡 So What?
Making money from delivery is hard and its probably a battle of how you scale and well bigger is better in these markets
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📈 The tools behind the tech📉
📦Product📦
📏Design📏
👩🏿💻Code👩🏿💻
🏢The business behind the tech🏢
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🌐Partner Events & Opportunties 🌐 |
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Roles at ARM
Staff Firmware Engineer
Arm Neoverse is the foundation for the next era of digital infrastructure. This role provides an outstanding opportunity to develop and contribute to the success of Arm Neoverse CSS based solutions.
Edge AI Ecosystem Lead
Arm has revolutionised multiple industries and is now defining the future of AI on edge computing. The IoT Line of Business is rapidly moving inference from being a cloud centric compute, to a distributed local computing experience with all the benefits of reduced latency, privacy and cost this change will deliver.
AI System Architect
This is an opportunity for an experienced application developer to have broader impact, significantly influencing an AI platform that is used by billions of people every day, in every major cloud and the vast majority of smartphones.
Community Coordinator (12 Month FTC)This role will support the Software Communities organisation. The ideal candidate will bring strong detail oriented, execution and organisational skills to help drive the impact of Arm in the Software community.
Deskside Support EngineerThe deskside engineering team is responsible for all support requests that cannot be fulfilled by our service desk or remote support teams, from new user device orientation to support of sophisticated desktop issues. This includes covering our Cambridge Office Tech Hub on a rota basis.
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🎓Our latest partnership🎓
Colorintech is excited to announce its new partnership with the Government Digital Service (GDS), the leaders of the Government Digital and Data profession in the UK government. GDS plays a vital role in transforming public services, setting digital strategy, and ensuring services are user-centred, efficient, and accessible to all.
This partnership aligns with the UK government’s Blueprint for Modern Digital Government, which sets out a vision for a more connected, innovative, and resilient digital public sector. By working together, Colortech and GDS will focus on building a diverse and highly skilled digital workforce, ensuring that government services are shaped by talent that reflects the communities they serve.
Roles to check out
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🙌🏾The latest from the Colorintech team🙌🏾 |
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