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Mark Cubans enthusiasm for artificial intelligence is well known. He has called the technology the ultimate time-saving hack and bluntly stated that if youre not learning AI, youre fed. But with his latest investment, the billionaire bypassed the plethora of AI startups and focused instead on something more human-centered. Cuban has invested an undisclosed amount in live events company Burwoodland, which produces nightlife experiences throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. The investment will make him a minority owner in the company. Founded in 2015 by Alex Badanes and Ethan Maccoby, the New York City-based company says it has sold more than 1.5 million tickets to live events like Emo Night Brooklyn, Gimme Gimme Disco, All Your Friends, and Broadway Rave, which center on DJ sets that are themed to a certain musical genre. Its time we all got off our asses, left the house, and had fun, said Cuban in a statement. Alex and Ethan know how to create amazing memories and experiences that people plan their weeks around. In an AI world, what you do is far more important than what you prompt. Thats not the first time Cuban has touted the potential of real-world experiences in an increasingly AI-dominated environment. Last June, he took to social network Bluesky to write, Within the next 3 years, there will be so much AI, in particular AI video, people wont know if what they see or hear is real. Which will lead to an explosion of f2f [face-to-face] engagement, events, and jobs. Burwoodland leans hard into that way of thinking, producing over 1,200 shows per year. Strategic partners of the company include music industry veterans Izzy Zivkovic (founder of artist management company Split Second, which counts Arcade Fire among its clients) and concert promoter Peter Shapiro. Klaf Companies, the investment and advisory platform founded by Justin Kalifowitz (who also created Downtown Music Holdings, which represents songwriting copyrights from John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Ray Davies, and One Direction), is also a partner. Ethan and I started this company because we know firsthand how powerful it is to find your people through the music you love, Badanes said in a statement. That sense of community shaped our lives, and creating spaces where others can feel that connection has always been our purpose. Having the confidence of an investor as respected and accomplished as Mark is a tremendous honor. With concert ticket prices continuing to escalate, Burwoodland keeps entry fees low, offering a low-cost live experience for music lovers. Tickets to its events generally run in the $20 to $40 range, though some events cost more. The company has already booked 2026 events in Milan, Brooklyn, Louisville, Nashville, and Antwerpand later this month will host the Long Live Emo Fest at Brooklyns Paramount theater, which holds up to 2,700 patrons. The experiences have become popular enough that some of the artists being celebrated in the various genres Burwoodland focuses on have shown up at the events, with some even performing. Maccoby and Badanes didnt plan to start a business. The two, who have been friends since childhood, began throwing house parties in college and kept up the practice afterward, when they lived in Brooklyn. When those soirees got too big for their apartment, they took over a nearby bar to host them and Burwoodland (named after an area in London where they grew up) was born. The duo quit their day jobs in 2022 to focus exclusively on the startup. There has been increasing interest in the live event space from investors lately. Last June, NYC-based Fever, a live-entertainment discovery platform, secured a $100 million investment from L Catterton and Point72 Private Investments. And in September, DJ/producer Kygos company Palm Tree Crew (which hosts music festivals) received a $20 million Series B investment led by WME Group, giving it a $215 million valuation.Chris Morris This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.
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Alphabet said on Wednesday it was targeting capital expenditure of $175 billion to $185 billion this year, in yet another aggressive ramp-up in spending from the Google parent as it deepens its investments to push ahead in the AI race. Analysts on average had expected Alphabet to spend about $115.26 billion this year, according to data compiled by LSEG. Shares of the company fell more than 6% in extended trading. Revenue at Google Cloud grew 48%, to $17.7 billion, in the fourth quarter ended December, compared with analysts’ average estimate of a 35.2% jump, according to data compiled by LSEG. Cloud computing majors have poured hundreds of billions of dollars to grow their AI infrastructure, both to meet the growing enterprise demand for their cloud services and to fuel their own development of AI technologies and products. Like larger rivals Amazon Web Services and Microsofts Azure, Google Cloud has been grappling with capacity constraints that have dented its ability to fully cash in on AI demand from its customers. Along with Meta, the three cloud companies are expected to collectively shell out more than $500 billion on AI this year. Meta last week hiked its capital investment for AI development this year by 73%, targeting spending between $115 billion and $135 billion, while Microsoft also reported record quarterly capital expenditure. The aggressive expansion in outlay comes at a time when investors have increasingly grown concerned about payoffs from AI investments. However, Google has been able to show strong progress in its AI efforts. The launch of its latest Gemini 3 model in November saw strong reception and propelled the company forward in the AI arms race. Following the launch, Sam Altman, CEO of AI frontrunner and ChatGPT-creator OpenAI, reportedly issued an internal “code red” to push teams to accelerate development. Google’s Gemini AI assistant app exceeded 650 million users per month in November, while the company’s AI Overviews feature in search also reached more than 2 billion monthly users. Last month, Google struck a deal to power Apples revamped Siri voice assistant with its Gemini models, a partnership that unlocks a huge market for Google, with Apple’s installed base of over 2.5 billion devices. By Deborah Sophia, Reuters
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Pizza Hut is closing hundreds of “underperforming” locations nationwide, according to parent company Yum! Brands, which reported fourth-quarter 2025 earnings on Wednesday. The company said it will shutter about 3% of Pizza Hut’s U.S. locations, or some 250 locations in the first six months of 2026, as the fast-causal chain struggles amid competition from Dominos Pizza and an overall decline in store sales and consumer demand. Fast Company has reached out to Pizza Hut for a list of locations that will be closing. Globally, Pizza Hut opened over 440 new restaurants in the fourth quarter of 2025 and nearly 1,200 restaurants in 2025, in 65 countries. Taco Bell sales soar Yum! Brands reported mixed fourth-quarter results for 2025, with revenue coming in at $2.51 billion, beating expectations of $2.45 billion. It missed on earnings per share (EPS), which came in at $1.73 adjusted, compared to an expected $1.77. Unlike Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC showed strong sales growth, with Taco Bell’s same-store sales up 7% for the quarter. Meanwhile, KFC’s same-store sales were up about 1%, and it hit “an incredible milestone in opening its 30,000th international restaurant,” according to the company’s earnings call. Yum! delivered another year of outstanding results at KFC and Taco Bell with our fundamentals stronger than ever at both brands,” CEO Chris Turner said in an earnings release. “We enter 2026 with a clear strategic focus on accelerating long-term growth, embodied in our multi-year ‘Raise the Bar’ priorities.” Shares of Yum! Brands (YUM) were trading down less than 1% on Wednesday in afternoon trading, and have jumped 6% so far this year.
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