What I Read This Week…
President Trump announces a phased ceasefire between Israel and Iran, Amazon plans to expand to same-day delivery to rural communities, and NEJM publishes data on Eli Lilly’s oral GLP-1 candidate
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Caught My Eye…
Over the weekend, the U.S. military launched a coordinated long-range airstrike targeting Iran’s underground nuclear enrichment infrastructure, including the buried Fordow facility. Multiple B-2 bombers dropped 30,000 lb precision-guided bunker buster munitions without landing in the Middle East. U.S. intelligence assessed that Iran was stockpiling 60% enriched uranium and that diplomatic efforts since March had broken down. The strike aimed to eliminate Iran’s ability to enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels and delay any breakout capability, while also avoiding U.S. casualties or a protracted ground conflict. In response, Iran launched a missile strike at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which was pre-warned and caused no damage to the base. Yesterday, President Trump announced a 24-hour phased ceasefire agreement, with Iran halting attacks at hour 12 and Israel at hour 24. Both sides were reported to have conducted strikes after the agreement, although this could be due to military operations in motion and the lag between ceasefire and full tactical compliance on the ground.
Amazon’s expansion of same-day delivery to over 4,000 rural communities is part of Amazon’s long-standing efforts to address the structural challenge of low-density last-mile economics. Unlike urban areas where delivery routes are dense and predictable, rural logistics require traveling long distances between fewer stops, making the per-package cost much higher. Amazon is tackling this by transforming local delivery stations into hybrid hubs that hold inventory tailored to local demand, guided by AI models trained on regional purchasing patterns. This allows the company to reduce fulfillment time and increase the share of orders that can be delivered directly from nearby facilities. The strategy depends on stimulating more frequent ordering in rural areas, which in turn helps increase delivery density that justifies the infrastructure spend. While this rollout improves convenience and selection for customers, it also expands Amazon’s footprint into previously underserved areas and reduces its reliance on USPS and UPS, especially as those carriers scale back rural service.
Eli Lilly’s experimental oral drug orforglipron could be a breakthrough in obesity and type 2 diabetes treatment by matching the efficacy of leading injectable GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro) in the form of a once-daily pill. In type 2 diabetes patients, 36 weeks of orforglipron at the highest dose resulted in average weight loss of approximately 7.9% (about 16 pounds) and HbA1c reductions between 1.3% and 1.6%, matching or exceeding injectable comparators. This is the first time a non-peptide, small-molecule GLP-1 has demonstrated clinically meaningful weight loss and significant reductions in blood sugar without injections or the strict dosing requirements of earlier oral GLP-1s like Rybelsus. Orforglipron is currently in Phase 3 trials, with Eli Lilly planning to file for FDA approval for obesity by late 2025 and for diabetes in 2026. If approved, the drug could expand access to GLP-1 therapy. As a small-molecule pill, orforglipron can be mass manufactured at lower cost, does not require refrigeration, and avoids needle-related barriers, in contrast to peptide injectables that depend on cold storage and patient willingness to self-inject.
Other Reading
Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Gets Slimmed Down in Senate (Wall Street Journal)
Tesla Launches Robotaxi Service in Austin (Financial Times)
Waymo’s Expands from Austin to Atlanta (The Verge)
People Aren’t Clicking on Publisher Websites on Google (Axios)
Google Cuts Smart TV Budget as It Doubles Down on YouTube (The Information)
Apple May Need to Leave M&A Comfort Zone to Succeed in AI (Bloomberg)
Apple In Last-Minute App Store Negotiations to Avoid Brussels Fines (Financial Times)
Introducing Oakley Meta Glasses, New Category of Performance AI Glasses (Meta)
Zuckerberg Leads AI Recruitment Blitz Armed With $100M Pay Packages (Wall Street Journal)
At Amazon’s Biggest Data Center, Everything Is Supersized for AI (NYTimes)
Amazon Launches Second Batch of Kuiper Internet Satellites (CNBC)
Message from CEO Andy Jassy: Some thoughts on Generative AI (Amazon)
A Look at 2025’s AI Models and What’s Next (Nathan Lambert)
The Gentle Singularity (Sam Altman)
Salesforce Launches Agentforce 3 (Constellation Research)
Pompliano’s ProCap Raises Over $750M, Goes Public via SPAC (CNBC)
U.S. Military Demand Strains Specialist Metal Supply Chains (Chemistry World)
Western Brands Struggling to Compete in China (Jing Daily)
On X…
Thanks Chamath, love these