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An AI startup founder says he’s planning a ‘March for Billionaires’ in protest of California’s wealth tax | TechCrunch

An AI startup founder says he’s planning a ‘March for Billionaires’ in protest of California’s wealth tax | TechCrunch

The war on California’s proposed ‘Billionaire’s Tax’ is getting weird. This week, amid ongoing rancor from tech elites over the much maligned bill, it became apparent that someone was planning a so-called “March for Billionaires” in San Francisco. A website advertising the event popped up online, providing little in the way of context other than a pithy tagline: “Vilifying billionaires is popular. Losing them is expensive.”

The immediate reaction was incredulity, and most people assumed the site was some sort of bizarre hoax. “this is a joke/satire right??” one social media user wrote not long after the news circulated. Now, however, the apparent organizer behind the event has revealed that the march is definitelynot a joke, and that it is scheduled to take place this coming Saturday.

The San Francisco Examiner first reported that the event’s organizer had been revealed as Derik Kaufmann, the founder of AI startup RunRL, which previously participated in Y Combinator’s accelerator program. Kaufmann told the Examiner that the event was not being funded or organized by any outside group, no big monied associations or companies—just him.

In a conversation with TechCrunch, Kaufmann — who also told the Examiner that he was no longer involved with RunRL — confirmed that the impetus for the upcoming rally was California’s proposed wealth tax, which the tech founder said he believed would be “quite damaging to the tech economy.”

The policy in question, the Billionaire Tax Act, was introduced last year, and would require Californians worth over $1 billion to pay a one-time 5% tax on their total wealth. The legislation, which is backed by the state’s healthcare union SEIU (Service Employees International Union), could pay for important public services and help the state offset recent federal funding cuts, according to some experts. Nevertheless, the policy has led to loud protestations from some of the tech industry’s most prominent figures, many of whom have either threatened to leave California or have already left. It has also led to a monsoon of lobbying in the California legislature, in an effort to defeat the bill.

When asked why he opposed the legislation, Kaufmann expressed concern for how the bill could impact the startup economy in Silicon Valley. “This tax in particular is fatally flawed,” he said. “It hits startup founders whose wealth is only on paper. They would be forced to liquidate shares on potentially unfavorable terms, incurring capital gains taxes and giving up control. Not to mention the difficulty of valuing private companies.”

“Many founders would be hit with wildly disproportionate tax bills,” Kaufmann continued. “Additionally, there’s no precedent for this sort of comprehensive wealth tax in the US. Sweden eliminated theirs 20 years ago to avert capital flight and promote entrepreneurship and now has 50% more billionaires per capital than the US.”

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June 23, 2026

Online conversation about Kaufmann’s planned event has continued to alternate between incredulity and ridicule. “I can’t imagine billionaires marching in the street,” one social media user said, of the event.

That person would probably be right.

Kaufmann told TC that, so far, he isn’t aware of any actual billionaires planning to attend the march that has been organized in their honor. Kaufmann said that the event is likely to include “a few dozen attendees,” although he stressed that he really isn’t clear on how many people would show up.

The ongoing outrage over the proposed tax is a little funny, given that it’s already been known for quite some time that the legislation has almost no chance of being enacted. That’s because California Governor Gavin Newsom has already stated that, should the bill somehow pass, he would veto it.

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#startup #founder #hes #planning #March #Billionaires #protest #Californias #wealth #tax #TechCrunch

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Amazon’s running a limited-time deal (you have about 14 hours left) on the Ecovacs Goat A3000 LiDAR Pro robotic lawn mower. Right now, you can get it for ,849 at Amazon, down from ,499.99. That’s a 26% discount or 0.99 in savings.
        
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Unlike older robotic mowers that require you to bury perimeter wires around your property, the Goat A3000 uses wire-free HoloScope 360 Dual-LiDAR navigation and an AI camera. It automatically maps yards up to 3/4 acre and maintains positioning accuracy within less than an inch, even under dense tree cover or along shaded fences. 
It also features a built-in TruEdge trimmer to clean up borders along driveways and garden beds, a 32V power system designed for thick grass types like Bermuda or St. Augustine, and a 7,500 mAh battery that recharges in 70 minutes.

                    
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$2,499.99 Save $650.99

 

Pushing a heavy lawn mower through thick grass in the peak of summer heat is nobody’s idea of a good weekend. If you’ve been waiting for a reason to hand off your yard chores to a robot, now’s the time to pull out your wallet.

Amazon’s running a limited-time deal (you have about 14 hours left) on the Ecovacs Goat A3000 LiDAR Pro robotic lawn mower. Right now, you can get it for $1,849 at Amazon, down from $2,499.99. That’s a 26% discount or $650.99 in savings.

Unlike older robotic mowers that require you to bury perimeter wires around your property, the Goat A3000 uses wire-free HoloScope 360 Dual-LiDAR navigation and an AI camera. It automatically maps yards up to 3/4 acre and maintains positioning accuracy within less than an inch, even under dense tree cover or along shaded fences.

It also features a built-in TruEdge trimmer to clean up borders along driveways and garden beds, a 32V power system designed for thick grass types like Bermuda or St. Augustine, and a 7,500 mAh battery that recharges in 70 minutes.

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$1,849 at Amazon
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Pushing a heavy lawn mower through thick grass in the peak of summer heat is nobody’s idea of a good weekend. If you’ve been waiting for a reason to hand off your yard chores to a robot, now’s the time to pull out your wallet.

Amazon’s running a limited-time deal (you have about 14 hours left) on the Ecovacs Goat A3000 LiDAR Pro robotic lawn mower. Right now, you can get it for $1,849 at Amazon, down from $2,499.99. That’s a 26% discount or $650.99 in savings.

Unlike older robotic mowers that require you to bury perimeter wires around your property, the Goat A3000 uses wire-free HoloScope 360 Dual-LiDAR navigation and an AI camera. It automatically maps yards up to 3/4 acre and maintains positioning accuracy within less than an inch, even under dense tree cover or along shaded fences.

It also features a built-in TruEdge trimmer to clean up borders along driveways and garden beds, a 32V power system designed for thick grass types like Bermuda or St. Augustine, and a 7,500 mAh battery that recharges in 70 minutes.

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Nvidia on Monday said it is joining forces with Microsoft, SpaceX, IBM, and other tech companies to build and share open-source AI security tools.

The new Open Secure AI Alliance said open tools are required to effectively defend against attacks from frontier models. The initiative is a direct response to mounting concerns over the safety of advanced AI systems after a rogue OpenAI model escaped containment and attacked another company during testing. That company, Hugging Face, said it was forced to use a Chinese open-weight model to defend itself due to the strict safety guardrails limiting the usefulness of top US models.

Founding members include Palantir, OpenClaw, the Linux Foundation, Cloudflare, Cloudera, Dell, Cisco, Adobe, Siemens, and DoorDash. Conspicuously absent are leading US AI companies, including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.

The alliance arrives amid growing tensions over whether the world’s most capable AI models should remain open. Chinese companies have released increasingly powerful open-weight models, notably Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3, challenging the strategy pursued by US labs that have largely kept frontier systems closed and proprietary. Nvidia and its partners argue that securing AI requires access to both closed and open models, stressing that defenders need the tools to counter emerging threats.

The announcement also follows reports that the Trump administration considered restricting access to cutting-edge Chinese models and an industry movement — again spearheaded by Nvidia — defending the need for openness in AI. Google and OpenAI signed that letter belatedly, too, though Anthropic remains absent.

#Nvidia #Microsoft #launch #open #security #alliance #OpenAI #Google #AnthropicAI,News,Nvidia,Tech">Nvidia, Microsoft launch open AI security alliance — without OpenAI, Google, or AnthropicNvidia on Monday said it is joining forces with Microsoft, SpaceX, IBM, and other tech companies to build and share open-source AI security tools.The new Open Secure AI Alliance said open tools are required to effectively defend against attacks from frontier models. The initiative is a direct response to mounting concerns over the safety of advanced AI systems after a rogue OpenAI model escaped containment and attacked another company during testing. That company, Hugging Face, said it was forced to use a Chinese open-weight model to defend itself due to the strict safety guardrails limiting the usefulness of top US models.Founding members include Palantir, OpenClaw, the Linux Foundation, Cloudflare, Cloudera, Dell, Cisco, Adobe, Siemens, and DoorDash. Conspicuously absent are leading US AI companies, including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.The alliance arrives amid growing tensions over whether the world’s most capable AI models should remain open. Chinese companies have released increasingly powerful open-weight models, notably Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3, challenging the strategy pursued by US labs that have largely kept frontier systems closed and proprietary. Nvidia and its partners argue that securing AI requires access to both closed and open models, stressing that defenders need the tools to counter emerging threats.The announcement also follows reports that the Trump administration considered restricting access to cutting-edge Chinese models and an industry movement — again spearheaded by Nvidia — defending the need for openness in AI. Google and OpenAI signed that letter belatedly, too, though Anthropic remains absent.#Nvidia #Microsoft #launch #open #security #alliance #OpenAI #Google #AnthropicAI,News,Nvidia,Tech

said it is joining forces with Microsoft, SpaceX, IBM, and other tech companies to build and share open-source AI security tools.

The new Open Secure AI Alliance said open tools are required to effectively defend against attacks from frontier models. The initiative is a direct response to mounting concerns over the safety of advanced AI systems after a rogue OpenAI model escaped containment and attacked another company during testing. That company, Hugging Face, said it was forced to use a Chinese open-weight model to defend itself due to the strict safety guardrails limiting the usefulness of top US models.

Founding members include Palantir, OpenClaw, the Linux Foundation, Cloudflare, Cloudera, Dell, Cisco, Adobe, Siemens, and DoorDash. Conspicuously absent are leading US AI companies, including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.

The alliance arrives amid growing tensions over whether the world’s most capable AI models should remain open. Chinese companies have released increasingly powerful open-weight models, notably Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3, challenging the strategy pursued by US labs that have largely kept frontier systems closed and proprietary. Nvidia and its partners argue that securing AI requires access to both closed and open models, stressing that defenders need the tools to counter emerging threats.

The announcement also follows reports that the Trump administration considered restricting access to cutting-edge Chinese models and an industry movement — again spearheaded by Nvidia — defending the need for openness in AI. Google and OpenAI signed that letter belatedly, too, though Anthropic remains absent.

#Nvidia #Microsoft #launch #open #security #alliance #OpenAI #Google #AnthropicAI,News,Nvidia,Tech">Nvidia, Microsoft launch open AI security alliance — without OpenAI, Google, or Anthropic

Nvidia on Monday said it is joining forces with Microsoft, SpaceX, IBM, and other tech companies to build and share open-source AI security tools.

The new Open Secure AI Alliance said open tools are required to effectively defend against attacks from frontier models. The initiative is a direct response to mounting concerns over the safety of advanced AI systems after a rogue OpenAI model escaped containment and attacked another company during testing. That company, Hugging Face, said it was forced to use a Chinese open-weight model to defend itself due to the strict safety guardrails limiting the usefulness of top US models.

Founding members include Palantir, OpenClaw, the Linux Foundation, Cloudflare, Cloudera, Dell, Cisco, Adobe, Siemens, and DoorDash. Conspicuously absent are leading US AI companies, including OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.

The alliance arrives amid growing tensions over whether the world’s most capable AI models should remain open. Chinese companies have released increasingly powerful open-weight models, notably Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3, challenging the strategy pursued by US labs that have largely kept frontier systems closed and proprietary. Nvidia and its partners argue that securing AI requires access to both closed and open models, stressing that defenders need the tools to counter emerging threats.

The announcement also follows reports that the Trump administration considered restricting access to cutting-edge Chinese models and an industry movement — again spearheaded by Nvidia — defending the need for openness in AI. Google and OpenAI signed that letter belatedly, too, though Anthropic remains absent.

#Nvidia #Microsoft #launch #open #security #alliance #OpenAI #Google #AnthropicAI,News,Nvidia,Tech

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