Austin Carr

Features writer at @BW @business @technology
Signal: acarr.54

[Austin Carr @AustinCarr]

NEW @BW caper about the Microsoft engineer who stole 152,000 Xbox gift cards + was living off the proceeds in a $1.6 million home with plans to buy a ski chalet, yacht, and seaplane
https://t.co/qA805mDq3D

[Austin Carr @AustinCarr]

More Valve/Steam details here: https://t.co/N6AsvwpgXx

[Austin Carr @AustinCarr]

Yacht diss aside, it's worth remembering that the most profitable US tech company on a per-employee basis isn’t Apple or Google or even Nvidia.

Ahead of them is Valve. By some estimates, Valve employees each generate ~6x the annual profits of Apple/Google and ~1.5x Nvidia (!!)

[Tim Sweeney @TimSweeneyEpic]

Everyone’s being too harsh here. There has been a significant rise in the cost of components that Steam customer spending ultimately funds, and economic trends have created severe disruptions in the component parts supply chain for megayachts.

[Austin Carr @AustinCarr]

Steam only keeps a slice of those store transactions, but assuming Valve has kept small at around 350 employees, based on data from PrivCo, the $$$ math for 2025 breaks down to:

- Nearly $15 million in annual revenue per employee
- $4.3 million in annual net income per employee

[Cecilia D'Anastasio @cecianasta]

New -- Valve: anticorporate hero or big tech, but small?

Gamers know Valve as a freewheeling enterprise, but previously unreported docs show controversial business practices that, critics say, restrict both gamers and game-makers. Feature w/ @AustinCarr: https://t.co/piiNrUXdah

[Bloomberg @business]

Game developers are suing Valve for abusing the power its Steam store has over the PC games market, in litigation with echoes of antitrust suits against Apple and Google https://t.co/jsETB0FJc6

[Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart]

Interesting. Boston is a making a play to lure AI tech talent that doesn't want to pay California taxes https://t.co/Tk821Uq7rQ

[Netflix @netflix]

LOVE IS BLIND: BOSTON 🥂 Coming this Fall

[Bloomberg @business]

Why are Mac minis suddenly hard to find? A boom in Claude-powered AI agents has turned Apple’s smallest desktop into essential hardware https://t.co/1iGjZu7Xl7

[Zeke Faux @ZekeFaux]

new book from @MattCampbell coming this summer.

the evil Indiana Jones behind the Khmer artifacts that fill the world's museums. i've read it and it kicks ass.

get your pre-orders in, book him on your podcasts, put him in your celebrity book club, etc

[Austin Carr @AustinCarr]

@WillManidis @bhalligan Not agreeing/disagreeing with any of your main points, but isn't your estimate for Boston creating just ~$100bn in enterprise value in last couple decades a bit low?

[Austin Carr @AustinCarr]

@bananapeele "This is the Upper East Side...saloon capital of the world"

[Businessweek @BW]

The strange story of how professors from MIT, Rice and UC Irvine got tangled up in a charismatic tech CEO’s alleged Ponzi scheme https://t.co/KKQgy8wLf6

[Bloomberg @business]

For anxious crypto investors, a growing number of firms and third parties are selling peace of mind through supplementary criminal insurance or warranties. But the fine print suggests customers have far less coverage than they think https://t.co/Lq2VNY8UgL

[Austin Carr @AustinCarr]

New @BW feature on the professors from MIT, Rice & UC Irvine who got caught up in what the SEC called an "IP-rich" Ponzi scheme.
https://t.co/rY00UYUZyi

[Austin Carr @AustinCarr]

@TheStalwart I'm assuming you personally funded this museum exhibit? 🐋

[Austin Carr @AustinCarr]

@MikeIsaac https://t.co/jT19K9fpGZ

[Austin Carr @AustinCarr]

@DKThomp Well, certainly not with Copilot

[Techmeme @Techmeme]

How a crew of crypto-focused hackers moved from SIM swap attacks to coordinated, violent home invasions and kidnappings, targeting small-time crypto investors (@austincarr / Bloomberg)

https://t.co/K2CgQTq3Jx

https://t.co/2UR7KjvMtQ

📥 Send tips! https://t.co/wlNZvXuhJs

[Jameson Lopp @lopp]

Very well researched article by @AustinCarr that covers the tactics employed by an organized crypto crime ring that started off with SIM swaps and progressed to wrench attacks.
https://t.co/ISoz2ePeOH