E157: Epic legal win, OpenAI's news deal, FCC targets Elon, the limits of free speech & more

Epic’s Google victory centered on evidence that Google paid and discounted major developers to stop them from bypassing the Play Store. The transcript cites “Project Hug,” Spotify receiving a 0% fee, a $360 million developer payment, and deleted employee chats the judge told jurors to treat as unfavorable—far more concrete than a generic dispute over a 30% commission.

Android’s openness was central to the case: Epic can already sideload Fortnite and take payments outside Google Play. The complaint instead targeted Google’s default-store advantage and security warnings that discourage sideloading, making the dispute about steering and foreclosure rather than a total technical lockout.

The panel’s strongest business argument against app-store fees was margin math, not ideology. Sacks said a 30% cut can consume roughly half a SaaS company’s gross margin, while Kindle on iOS cannot sell books—or explain why—because Amazon refuses Apple’s cut and Apple bars purchase-direction links.

OpenAI’s Axel Springer deal was described as paid access to live, paywalled journalism, not a license to train models on that content. The three-year deal was said to cost tens of millions, with ChatGPT returning summaries and links, pointing toward chat interfaces becoming paid distributors of closed web content.

The most concrete hiring advice was to recruit from co-op universities, where employers can test students on real work before making permanent offers. Waterloo’s model alternates four-month work and school blocks, producing graduates with roughly two years of experience; strong students were said to leave with two or three offers.

Friedberg said he hires against four buckets: horsepower, skills, motivation, and principles, rather than relying on school pedigree. His key test for motivation is whether someone has already taken action beyond the limits of the system around them, because that behavior matters more in company-building than stated ambition.