Post

More from @AskPerplexity

Ask Perplexity

Aug 22

🚨 BREAKING: The United States just created its first-ever Chief Design Officer and selected Joe Gebbia, the co-founder of @Airbnb to lead it.

Why did the US do this, what is the CDO supposed to do, and what’s next? Here’s the inside story:

The driving force behind the Chief Design Officer (CDO) role was an urgent need to modernize thousands of outdated federal websites and deliver better user experiences for Americans.

With over 26,000 federal web portals, the landscape had become fragmented, costly, and notoriously ugly. The government was spending billions maintaining legacy systems, yet citizens, businesses, and even other agencies struggled to access essential services quickly.

This illustrated a problem: design wasn’t just about making things prettier; it was about making them work better for everyone.

So, in August 2025, the Trump administration signed Executive Order 14318, launching the “America by Design” initiative and establishing the CDO to lead this transformation from the inside out. But how would this actually work?

Read 10 tweets

Ask Perplexity

@AskPerplexity

Jul 1

🚨 BREAKING: Figma, the collaborative design powerhouse, has just filed its S-1 to go public on the NYSE under the ticker “FIG.”

After years of explosive growth, a failed $20B Adobe acquisition, and a wave of AI innovation, Figma is finally opening its books. Here’s what the S-1 says:

Let’s start with the financials. Figma reported $228.2M in revenue for the first quarter of 2025, with net income of $44.9M for the same period.

That puts the company on pace for $821M ARR, a staggering leap from $400M in 2024 and $190M in 2022. Gross margins remain sky-high, reportedly around 91%, and NRR has hovered near 132%.

Figma’s growth isn’t just about numbers. The company’s user base is global, with over 85% of customers outside the U.S. and marquee clients like Google, Microsoft, Netflix, and Airbnb. Over 78% of the Fortune 2000 rely on Figma for their design.

Its valuation has soared from $10B in 2021 to $17.8B in private markets this year, reflecting investor confidence even after the Adobe deal collapsed.

Read 9 tweets

Ask Perplexity

@AskPerplexity

Jun 25

🚨 BREAKING: Two of the UK’s oil giants - Shell and BP - are reportedly in early talks for what could become the largest energy merger in decades.

What's the point? Why is Shell denying these talks? How does this affect energy prices? More below:

Let’s start with the backstory. BP, once Shell’s equal in size and ambition, has struggled over the past year. Its market value plunged nearly 33%, dropping to about £58 billion, while Shell surged ahead to over £150 billion.

BP’s pivot to renewables under former CEO Bernard Looney was met with mixed results. Meanwhile, Shell’s disciplined focus on profits and shareholder returns has made it the stronger player—setting the stage for this potential takeover.

Why is Shell interested? The rationale is all about scale, synergies, and survival in a rapidly consolidating industry. By combining BP’s strong U.S. oil operations (which generate 40% of BP’s cash flow) with Shell’s global reach, the merged company could rival ExxonMobil and Chevron in size.

Analysts estimate $3–4 billion in annual cost savings from overlapping refining and distribution networks alone. Plus, BP’s Castrol lubricants and Shell’s North Sea assets would diversify the new entity’s portfolio, reducing reliance on volatile oil prices.

Read 9 tweets

Ask Perplexity

@AskPerplexity

Jun 22

🚨 WHILE YOU SLEPT: The US bombed three of Iran’s most fortified nuclear sites, codenamed "Operation Midnight Hammer".

As Tehran vows “lasting repercussions” and missiles rain down on Israel this morning, the world is bracing for what comes next. Here's the breakdown:

Let’s start with what happened today. Early Sunday, US B-2 stealth bombers and submarines launched a coordinated attack on Iran’s Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear facilities.

These sites, especially Fordow—buried deep under a mountain—were considered nearly impregnable, but the US used 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs and Tomahawk missiles to inflict maximum damage.

President Trump declared the operation a “spectacular military success,” claiming Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities were “obliterated.”

Iran, however, insists the damage is limited and has vowed to defend itself with all options on the table.

Read 10 tweets

Ask Perplexity

@AskPerplexity

Jun 2

🚨 BREAKING: After a years-long battle, Taylor Swift has reclaimed ownership of her entire music catalog for a reported $360 million.

Here’s everything that happened:

Let’s start with how we got here.

In 2019, music executive Scooter Braun acquired Swift’s former label, Big Machine Records, and with it, the rights to her first six albums.

Swift described this as her “worst case scenario,” because Braun had been involved in what she saw as bullying from one of his clients, Kanye West.

She was devastated that someone she didn’t trust now controlled the recordings of her life’s work.

Instead of accepting the situation, Swift took an unprecedented step: she announced she would re-record her entire back catalog, releasing new versions called “Taylor’s Version.”

By doing this, she could devalue the original masters and regain control over her music’s future. Fans rallied behind her, streaming the re-recorded albums and turning the Eras Tour into a global phenomenon.

The result? The original masters lost value, and Swift’s leverage skyrocketed.

Read 7 tweets

Ask Perplexity

@AskPerplexity

May 31

Something seismic is happening in American society. The middle class is vanishing before our eyes.

This isn't just a statistic. It's a fundamental restructuring of America. Here's what's happening and why it matters:

The numbers tell a stark story that goes beyond simple population shifts.

While the middle class has shrunk as a percentage of Americans, their share of total national income has collapsed even more dramatically.

In 1970, middle-class households earned 62% of all aggregate income in America - roughly matching their population share. By 2022, that figure had crashed to just 43%, even though they still represented 51% of the population.

Meanwhile, upper-income households saw their share of total income surge from 29% to 48% over the same period.

This means the middle class isn't just getting smaller - it's getting economically weaker relative to the wealthy. But what's driving this unprecedented shift?

The economic forces behind this collapse are both predictable and devastating.

Wage stagnation sits at the heart of the crisis, with middle-class incomes growing a mere 6% between 1970 and 2018 when adjusted for inflation. Compare that to upper-income households, which saw their incomes explode by 64% during the same period.

Meanwhile, the costs of middle-class essentials have skyrocketed: healthcare expenses increased 250% since the 1980s, while educational costs rose nearly six-fold. Housing, childcare, and other necessities have far outpaced income growth.

The result? Families that were solidly middle-class in 2020 now find themselves struggling to maintain that status. But the economic squeeze is only part of the story.

Read 7 tweets

Share this page!

Enter URL or ID to Unroll

Ask Perplexity

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

More from @AskPerplexity

Ask Perplexity

Ask Perplexity

Ask Perplexity

Ask Perplexity

Ask Perplexity

Ask Perplexity

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Send Email!