20 ms·

> The new company has until now kept a low profile, and when it was started is not even clear. Any more details? Where is it located? Who is working there, Fo

by aschobel 10mo ago

> The new company has until now kept a low profile, and when it was started is not even clear. Any more details? Where is it located? Who is working there, For $6.2 billion raised I’m surprised their aren’t more details

sionisrecur 10mo ago
Is that a thing in the US? You start a company and there's no need to register it with the government? Or it gets registered but there's no public records of it?
- nicole_express 10mo ago
  You can basically form a corporate entity with a nominal Delaware office, but it doesn't need to give any details about where the actual work takes place, yeah.
  - reactordev 10mo ago
    You can even LegalZoom one for $200.
    - deleted 10mo ago
      [deleted]
- Aurornis 10mo ago
  All companies are registered. They have to be registered to be legal entities, have bank accounts, and comply with tax laws. Private companies don’t need to publicly divulge a lot, though. It’s between the company and their investors. It’s only once a company wants to trade publicly that they have to provide a lot of public details and financials.
  - trollbridge 10mo ago
    You don’t have to register a general partnership as long as it has one of the partners’ last name in the partnership name, although I guess you have to get an EIN to file partnership taxes. A sole proprietorship doesn’t have to register anything ever at all.
    - Aurornis 10mo ago
      Great point. I suppose I should have said all companies like this (the corporation Bezos is involved with) are registered entities. There are ways to do business activities yourself without registering an official business, though it’s generally discouraged because forming an LLC is so cheap and easy and provides some protections and benefits.
    - SoftTalker 10mo ago
      Although in most cases it’s sensible to register a single member LLC instead of operating as a sole proprietor. That way the LLC can be separate from the owner’s personal assets.
- paxys 10mo ago
  There are thousands of companies registered every day across the US. This one is probably a subdivision of a subdivision of some holding company owned by Bezos. Pretty much impossible to track using just public data.
  - trollbridge 10mo ago
    In my state, zero information is given to the state about who the owners are.
    - SirFatty 10mo ago
      Let me guess: Texas?
      - trollbridge 10mo ago
        Nope. TX actually has quite a bit more transparency. One of the more absurd things I can do is have two LLCs own each other, and then have outside management.
        haneefmubarak 10mo ago
        Wyoming?
        deleted 10mo ago
        [deleted]
- limagnolia 10mo ago
  A company can be a sole proprietership or partnership without registering with anyone, but in this case in most states they must either conduct business in the owners/partners names or register a DBA with the state(s) they are doing business in. (the rules are state specific, and I think there are some states that don't do kr require DBA registration). In most cases, a company with billions invested in it will be formed as a formal entity such as an LLC or Corporation in a state. Again, the specifics vary from state to state. If you knew the legal name of this entity, and what syate it was registered in, you could probably look up when it was registered in that state. However, details like owners and organizers aren't always Available. It gets further complicated with Series LLCs. Congress passed a law that would have required "beneficial ownership" registration with law enforcement (FinCen), however, this registration would not have been public. Further, it was found unconstitutional and enforcement of the registration requirement indefinitely suspended. In general, if you are doing business in a state under a name or entiry other than your own legal name, you will be required to file something with the state, and that filing will include a registered agent where legal process can be served on the business, and this information will be public. But if they aren't doing business publicly yet, no one will know the name of the business, so they can't look it up! It sounds like the name mentioned in the article may just be a code name.
  - dmux 10mo ago
    Interesting. If one were to legally change their name to their desired DBA name, I wonder how that would go over.
    - limagnolia 10mo ago
      Legal name changes are handled in state courts, so there may be different rules depending on your state, but generally I think you could get away with it if you really wanted to... but doing business as a sole proprietor means you are personally liable for everything the business does. Way simpler and better to just form an LLC in most cases.
freehorse 10mo ago
$6.2 billion which are prob to be invested in amazon to be invested in the startup to be invested in amazon, so I would not assume such an amount actually implies the size where this would be surprising.
- stock_toaster 10mo ago
  More circular financing to keep the AI house of cards from falling?
  - weird-eye-issue 10mo ago
    Yeah since there isn't any actual real spend going into AI...
    - freehorse 10mo ago
      There is money going in, but not as much as what these valuations and investments imply. The numbers are inflated and that's common knowledge by this point.
      - weird-eye-issue 10mo ago
        > that's common knowledge by this point. No it's not. Go short the AI companies though if that's what you think
        freehorse 10mo ago
        The circular deals going on are documented. There is no point in discussing if this happens or not. The numbers just cannot be added up. Now if things will fail, how and when is a different discussion.
        weird-eye-issue 10mo ago
        Two things can be true Yes there are circular deals going Yes there is actual underlying spending from the average consumer and business that makes these valuations largely realistic
skeeter2020 10mo ago
Q: could this be an "experiment" in AI financing? i.e. he's bankrolled 6.2B, then strategic quasi-purchases and cross investments will multiply that money without ever needing to spend it on anything - except AWS hosting of course
bfeynman 10mo ago
based on linkedin it looks like they took a failed company thats existed for a year "General agents" which had what just looked like a single browser agent and now have rebranded that.

sionisrecur 10mo ago

Is that a thing in the US? You start a company and there's no need to register it with the government? Or it gets registered but there's no public records of it?

nicole_express 10mo ago
You can basically form a corporate entity with a nominal Delaware office, but it doesn't need to give any details about where the actual work takes place, yeah.
- reactordev 10mo ago
  You can even LegalZoom one for $200.
  - deleted 10mo ago
    [deleted]
Aurornis 10mo ago
All companies are registered. They have to be registered to be legal entities, have bank accounts, and comply with tax laws. Private companies don’t need to publicly divulge a lot, though. It’s between the company and their investors. It’s only once a company wants to trade publicly that they have to provide a lot of public details and financials.
- trollbridge 10mo ago
  You don’t have to register a general partnership as long as it has one of the partners’ last name in the partnership name, although I guess you have to get an EIN to file partnership taxes. A sole proprietorship doesn’t have to register anything ever at all.
  - Aurornis 10mo ago
    Great point. I suppose I should have said all companies like this (the corporation Bezos is involved with) are registered entities. There are ways to do business activities yourself without registering an official business, though it’s generally discouraged because forming an LLC is so cheap and easy and provides some protections and benefits.
  - SoftTalker 10mo ago
    Although in most cases it’s sensible to register a single member LLC instead of operating as a sole proprietor. That way the LLC can be separate from the owner’s personal assets.
paxys 10mo ago
There are thousands of companies registered every day across the US. This one is probably a subdivision of a subdivision of some holding company owned by Bezos. Pretty much impossible to track using just public data.
- trollbridge 10mo ago
  In my state, zero information is given to the state about who the owners are.
  - SirFatty 10mo ago
    Let me guess: Texas?
    - trollbridge 10mo ago
      Nope. TX actually has quite a bit more transparency. One of the more absurd things I can do is have two LLCs own each other, and then have outside management.
      - haneefmubarak 10mo ago
        Wyoming?
      - deleted 10mo ago
        [deleted]
limagnolia 10mo ago
A company can be a sole proprietership or partnership without registering with anyone, but in this case in most states they must either conduct business in the owners/partners names or register a DBA with the state(s) they are doing business in. (the rules are state specific, and I think there are some states that don't do kr require DBA registration). In most cases, a company with billions invested in it will be formed as a formal entity such as an LLC or Corporation in a state. Again, the specifics vary from state to state. If you knew the legal name of this entity, and what syate it was registered in, you could probably look up when it was registered in that state. However, details like owners and organizers aren't always Available. It gets further complicated with Series LLCs. Congress passed a law that would have required "beneficial ownership" registration with law enforcement (FinCen), however, this registration would not have been public. Further, it was found unconstitutional and enforcement of the registration requirement indefinitely suspended. In general, if you are doing business in a state under a name or entiry other than your own legal name, you will be required to file something with the state, and that filing will include a registered agent where legal process can be served on the business, and this information will be public. But if they aren't doing business publicly yet, no one will know the name of the business, so they can't look it up! It sounds like the name mentioned in the article may just be a code name.
- dmux 10mo ago
  Interesting. If one were to legally change their name to their desired DBA name, I wonder how that would go over.
  - limagnolia 10mo ago
    Legal name changes are handled in state courts, so there may be different rules depending on your state, but generally I think you could get away with it if you really wanted to... but doing business as a sole proprietor means you are personally liable for everything the business does. Way simpler and better to just form an LLC in most cases.

freehorse 10mo ago

$6.2 billion which are prob to be invested in amazon to be invested in the startup to be invested in amazon, so I would not assume such an amount actually implies the size where this would be surprising.

stock_toaster 10mo ago
More circular financing to keep the AI house of cards from falling?
- weird-eye-issue 10mo ago
  Yeah since there isn't any actual real spend going into AI...
  - freehorse 10mo ago
    There is money going in, but not as much as what these valuations and investments imply. The numbers are inflated and that's common knowledge by this point.
    - weird-eye-issue 10mo ago
      > that's common knowledge by this point. No it's not. Go short the AI companies though if that's what you think
      - freehorse 10mo ago
        The circular deals going on are documented. There is no point in discussing if this happens or not. The numbers just cannot be added up. Now if things will fail, how and when is a different discussion.
        weird-eye-issue 10mo ago
        Two things can be true Yes there are circular deals going Yes there is actual underlying spending from the average consumer and business that makes these valuations largely realistic

skeeter2020 10mo ago

Q: could this be an "experiment" in AI financing? i.e. he's bankrolled 6.2B, then strategic quasi-purchases and cross investments will multiply that money without ever needing to spend it on anything - except AWS hosting of course

bfeynman 10mo ago

based on linkedin it looks like they took a failed company thats existed for a year "General agents" which had what just looked like a single browser agent and now have rebranded that.