Tech Brew Ride Home – December 4, 2025

Episode Title: Meta To Abandon The Metaverse?
Host: Brian McCullough

Overview

In today’s episode, host Brian McCullough explores seismic changes in Silicon Valley, focusing on Meta’s aggressive shift away from the Metaverse amid AI’s boardroom ascendancy. He also covers Amazon’s strained relationship with the US Postal Service, Dario Amodei’s warnings about AI investment risks, massive fundraising for AI legal startup Harvey, and Reddit’s move to personalize its user feeds. The show’s tone is brisk, stakeholder-focused, and tinged with a little skepticism about Big Tech’s direction.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Meta Poaches Apple’s Top Design Talent, Reorganizes Around AI Hardware

(Starts: 01:54)

• Major Talent Coup: Alan Dye, Apple’s VP of Human Interface Design, is leaving Apple to join Meta as Chief Design Officer for Reality Labs. He will lead a new design studio focused on hardware, software, and AI integration.
• Strategic Implications: Dye’s move follows a “seismic shift” in Apple’s design team, which has lost multiple key figures since Jony Ive’s exit in 2019.
  • “With the Dye hire, Meta is creating a new design studio and putting him in charge of design for hardware, software and AI integration for its interfaces.” (Brian, 02:47)
• High-Profile Departures: Along with Dye, senior Apple design director Billy Sorrentino is also moving to Meta. Apple’s turnover is accelerating as key executives retire or consider their futures.
• Design Focus: Dye oversaw the Vision Pro interface, major OS redesigns, Apple Watch, and iPhone X.

2. Meta’s Metaverse Budget Slashed—Pivoting to AI?

(Relevant throughout 03:46–06:44)

• Major Budget Cuts: Meta is planning up to 30% in budget cuts for its Metaverse initiatives in 2026, signaling a sharp course correction.
  • “Sources are also telling Bloomberg that Meta plans deep budget cuts to its Metaverse efforts in 2026, potentially as high as 30% and most likely will lead to layoffs as early as January.” (Brian, 04:31)
• Investor Pressure: The move comes after Reality Labs lost $70+ billion since 2021, with little competitive heat forcing continued investment.
• Strategic De-emphasis: Mark Zuckerberg has largely stopped mentioning the Metaverse publicly or on earnings calls, focusing instead on large AI models and hardware products like Ray-Ban smart glasses.
• Quotes:
  • “Some analysts and investors have long advocated that Zuckerberg rid himself of Reality Labs products that continue to drain resources... In April, Mike Prolux... predicted that Meta would shutter its Metaverse projects like Horizon Worlds before the end of the year.” (Brian, 06:16)

3. Amazon May End Deal With USPS

(Starts: 07:08)

• Contract at Risk: Amazon is considering ending its $6B+/year shipping partnership with the US Postal Service by 2026, opting instead to expand its own delivery network.
  • “Amazon has long been the Postal Service's top customer, providing more than $6 billion in annual revenue in 2025...” (Brian, 07:19)
• Potential Fallout: USPS could lose about 7.5% of its annual revenue, imperiling its already precarious finances (nine years of losses in the past decade).
• Negotiation Breakdown: Talks for a four-year extension broke down; stakes are high for both parties, and lawmakers are already discussing rescue contingencies.

4. Anthropic’s Dario Amodei Warns of “YOLO” AI Spending

(Starts: 09:48)

• Responsible Growth: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei argues at the DealBook Summit that some competitors are irresponsibly risking billions in data center investments.
  • “[There are] some players who are yoloing,... pulling the risk dial too far.” (Brian quoting Amodei, 10:23)
• Strategic Positioning: Anthropic focuses on enterprise products, raises $13B this year, and is perceived as the “sane AI play” compared to OpenAI’s scattershot approach.
  • “Go with Google chips as a hedge against Nvidia dependency, IPO ahead of OpenAI... Present yourself as the sane AI play, secure that bag and batter Sam while he’s down.” (Brian, 10:58)

5. AI Legal Startup Harvey Raises $160M at $8B Valuation

(Starts: 13:30)

• Investor Fervor: Harvey, which creates AI legal tools, raised $760M in 2025 across several rounds. The current raise (led by Andreessen Horowitz) highlights investor appetite for “second order” AI companies (those applying AI in specific verticals).
• IPO Watch: Brian suggests the real tipping point for a new Silicon Valley boom would be these applied AI companies (like Harvey) going public, not just big model-makers.
• Strong Adoption: Harvey now claims half the Am Law 100 and many corporate legal departments as clients; $150 million+ ARR, tripled this year.
• Competitive Pressure: Faces rivals old (Thomson Reuters) and new (Legora). Founder Winston Weinberg says ongoing challenge is user adoption and continuous innovation.
  • Memorable quote: “There's such an enormous amount of growth here, he said. This is an industry that technology has not penetrated that much.” (Winston Weinberg, quoted by Brian, 17:31)

6. Reddit to Retire the r/Popular Feed

(Starts: 17:57)

• Personalization Push: Reddit CEO Steve Huffman explains that r/Popular, the one-size-fits-all feed, is being phased out for new users, with the platform moving to more personalized content recommendations.
  • “For a long time, we were known as the front page of the Internet, but we've outgrown a singular front page for everyone, Huffman says.” (Brian quoting Huffman, 18:10)
• Cultural Shift: Huffman points out that r/Popular doesn’t represent Reddit’s actual user culture and is being replaced to better engage new and casual users.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The move represents a seismic shift in Silicon Valley and shows that Meta is committed to becoming a brand name maker of hardware devices.”
  — Brian, 02:09

• “Meta's vision for the metaverse has not taken off, despite Zuckerberg's conviction... [Reality Labs] has lost more than $70 billion since the start of 2021.”
  — Brian, 06:05

• “We as a company try to manage as responsibly as we can... there are some players who are yoloing”
  — Dario Amodei, via Brian, 10:17

• “At some end state, a lawyer will be using Harvey or some product like Harvey.”
  — David George, Andreessen Horowitz partner, 16:47

• “You have different interests than I do, and your Reddit should look different from mine and from your neighbors or your co-workers or your best friends.”
  — Steve Huffman, Reddit CEO, quoted by Brian, 18:27

Timestamps for Major Segments

• [01:54] – Alan Dye’s departure from Apple to Meta and what it signals
• [03:46] – Meta’s Metaverse slashes – budget cuts, loss analysis, management shift
• [07:08] – Amazon potentially ending USPS partnership; USPS risks
• [09:48] – Anthropic’s Dario Amodei critiques high-risk AI infrastructure investment
• [13:30] – Harvey’s $160M raise and the significance for AI ecosystem IPOs
• [17:57] – Reddit moves away from r/Popular feed toward personalized content

Tone and Final Thoughts

Brian McCullough delivers a mix of skepticism and informed admiration for bold moves in Silicon Valley, noting how fast priorities shift when technologies fail to deliver—like Meta’s metaverse versus the irresistible momentum of AI. The show packs brisk context, trends analysis, and “investment canary” signals for insiders, making it an invaluable daily brief on tech boardroom thinking.

For listeners who missed the episode:
This show tracks how MegaTech companies manage pivots, power struggles, and the continual race to seize (and sometimes abandon) the next tech platform, from the Metaverse to AI—and how players like Amazon, Reddit, and startup darlings like Harvey are reshaping the terrain.