2026.25: The Stuff of Myth(os)
This week’s Stratechery newsletter covered several topics, including Anthropic’s encounter with U.S. export controls, an interview on e‑commerce in the AI era, and the Knicks winning the NBA championship. It also examined Fox’s acquisition of Roku and its market reception, as well as SpaceX’s purchase of the AI tool Cursor. The pieces were accompanied by commentary on the NBA Finals, Victor Wembanyama’s impact, and broader tech trends.
- ▪The Trump administration imposed export controls on Anthropic’s model, forcing the company to make it unavailable to U.S. citizens.
- ▪Ben Thompson and Michael Morton discussed the durability of Shopify and the challenges of AI‑driven e‑commerce in a new interview.
- ▪The New York Knicks captured their first NBA title in 53 years, delivering the league’s highest‑rated Finals in 28 years.
- ▪Fox’s purchase of Roku was met with market criticism, highlighting concerns over its streaming strategy.
- ▪SpaceX announced the acquisition of the AI productivity tool Cursor, expanding its portfolio beyond rockets.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
This Week in Stratechery 2026.25: The Stuff of Myth(os) (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) Welcome back to This Week in Stratechery! As a reminder, each week, every Friday, we’re sending out this overview of content in the Stratechery bundle; highlighted links are free for everyone. Additionally, you have complete control over what we send to you. If you don’t want to receive This Week in Stratechery emails (there is no podcast), please uncheck the box in your delivery settings. On that note, here were a few of our favorites this week. Anthropic Again. Well, Fable was fun well it lasted: last Friday the Trump administration slapped export controls on the model, limiting access to U.S. citizens, leaving Anthropic no choice in the short term but to make the model unavailable.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Stratechery by Ben Thompson.
