This Week in Tech: A $110B Deal, AI Billions, and Parental Alerts

Two separate $110 billion stories. One in Hollywood. One in AI. Add Elon's court dismissal, new safety tools on Instagram, and a flagship phone, and you get this week.

Paramount Buys WBD

Paramount agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in an all-cash deal at $31 per share, valuing WBD at roughly $110 billion. Netflix had previously bid $27.75 and chose not to raise it. Paramount also paid a $2.8 billion breakup fee to Netflix to close that chapter, so from here, it's shareholder votes and regulatory review. Big number.

OpenAI Raises at a $110B Valuation

OpenAI secured a funding round reportedly valuing it around $110 billion, with backing from Amazon, Nvidia, and SoftBank. This is long term infrastructure money. More compute, more data centers, more competition at the top.

Instagram Adds Parent Alerts for Risky Searches

Instagram will notify parents or guardians in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia if their teens repeatedly search for terms related to self-harm or suicide. The feature is opt-in, runs through Family Center and sends alerts to the guardian’s account. The goal is early awareness.

Musk’s Trade Secret Claim Dismissed

A judge dismissed Elon Musk’s claim that OpenAI stole xAI trade secrets. The court wanted specifics and did not get them. Without detailed evidence of what was taken and how, the case did not move forward. For now, that case is off the table.

Galaxy S26 Drops

Samsung’s Galaxy S26 adds more AI features alongside camera and performance upgrades, and a privacy filter that's layered physically into the display. AI hardware isn't really optional in flagships now.

React Moves Beyond Meta

React isn’t owned by Meta anymore. As of February 24, 2026, the React Foundation has been set up under the Linux Foundation, with support from major tech companies including Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Vercel. Nothing changes for devs.

China Tightens AI Rules as AI Companions Rise

In China, more people are turning to AI chatbots for companionship while the country deals with a shrinking population and low birth rates. Regulators in Beijing are responding by tightening oversight around how these AI systems operate and what they are allowed to do. Nothing changes for users, just more rules, more compliance, more scrutiny.

That's all. See you next week?