The Information

Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz. Photo by Bloomberg

Andreessen Horowitz Returns Slip, According to Internal Data

By Zoë Bernard · Sep 16, 2019 7:02am PDT · 6 comments

One of Silicon Valley's best-known venture firms, Andreessen Horowitz, saw its performance slip significantly after the blockbuster results of its initial fund, internal data show, illustrating just how cutthroat venture capital has become as even big names struggle to deliver outsized returns. The funds the firm raised in 2010 and... One of Silicon Valley's best-known venture firms, Andreessen Horowitz, saw its performance...

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon. Photo by Bloomberg

Goldman Hires AWS Executive in Boost for Cloud Ambitions

By Kevin McLaughlin and Carleton English · Sep 12, 2019 7:01am PDT · 6 comments

Goldman Sachs has hired a well-known executive from Amazon Web Services for a top tech role, the clearest signal yet that the bank wants to increase its use of public cloud services. Marco Argenti, who has spent the past six years at AWS as vice president of technology, is joining Goldman as co-chief information officer, succeeding Elisha... Goldman Sachs has hired a well-known executive from Amazon Web Services for a top tech role, the...

The entry of an Amazon Go store. Photo by Bloomberg

No ‘Go’ Soda Lines: Amazon’s Search for Ideal Cashierless Store

By Priya Anand · Sep 11, 2019 7:02am PDT · 4 comments

This summer, Amazon sought to answer a key question about its cashierless Go convenience stores: How small could it go?Employees at Amazon were seeking to determine the smallest possible size and design for a Go store in order to hit its target of $2 million in annual sales from each store, according to an internal analysis prepared in June and... This summer, Amazon sought to answer a key question about its cashierless Go convenience stores:...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg

Internal Facebook Memo Reveals Guidelines for Showcasing News

By Alex Heath and Jessica Toonkel · Sep 10, 2019 3:26pm PDT · 1 comment

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg

Internal Facebook Memo Reveals Guidelines for Showcasing News

By Alex Heath and Jessica Toonkel · Sep 10, 2019 3:26pm PDT · 1 comment

Facebook has said repeatedly that it isn’t in the journalism business, but a team of human editors responsible for an upcoming news initiative by the company will exercise significant control over the presentation of top stories, including judging them over their use of anonymous sources, according to internal guidelines seen by The... Facebook has said repeatedly that it isn’t in the journalism business, but a team of human...

An Amazon Go store in Seattle. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Forecast $639M for ‘Go’ Stores by 2020 but Openings Fall Short

By Priya Anand · Sep 9, 2019 7:01am PDT

Shortly after Amazon opened its first Amazon Go mini-mart to the public in Seattle last year, the company privately mapped out its ambitions for building more of the high-tech, cashierless stores. It projected that annual revenue from all Amazon Go stores would balloon from a mere $28 million in 2018 to as much as $639 million... Shortly after Amazon opened its first Amazon Go mini-mart to the public in Seattle last year, the...

David Rhodes. Photo by AP.

Spotify Taps Former CBS Exec to Help Expand News Offering

By Jessica Toonkel · Sep 6, 2019 12:46pm PDT

Spotify has tapped former CBS News President David Rhodes as a consultant to help drive an expansion into news programming, say people familiar with the situation. A news push is part of a broader ramp-up of Spotify’s podcast offerings to diversify the company’s revenue beyond music. Additionally, Spotify is looking to grow its... Spotify has tapped former CBS News President David Rhodes as a consultant to help drive an...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Change Causes Scramble Among Private Messaging App Makers

By Aaron Tilley · Sep 5, 2019 7:01am PDT · 4 comments

A change Apple is making to improve privacy in an upcoming version of its iPhone operating system has alarmed an unlikely group of software makers: developers of privacy-focused encrypted messaging apps. They warn the change, which is already available in public test versions of iOS 13, could end up undermining the privacy goals that prompted it... A change Apple is making to improve privacy in an upcoming version of its iPhone operating system...

A WeWork office in London in 2017. Photo: Bloomberg

Can WeWork Make Money? Marketing Costs Are One Obstacle

By Cory Weinberg · Sep 4, 2019 7:01am PDT · 4 comments

A WeWork office in London in 2017. Photo: Bloomberg

Can WeWork Make Money? Marketing Costs Are One Obstacle

By Cory Weinberg · Sep 4, 2019 7:01am PDT · 4 comments

As WeWork’s losses have climbed, potential investors have scoured for signs that the company has a pathway to profitability. A key piece of that puzzle: Can WeWork reduce how much it spends to open each new office location? The company has tried to highlight signs that it is making progress on that front. “Net capex per... As WeWork’s losses have climbed, potential investors have scoured for signs that the...

Max Beauchemin, a Preset founder. Photo by Preset

New Open Source Startups Emerge After Acquisition, IPO Flurry

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Sep 3, 2019 10:01am PDT

After a flurry of mega-acquisitions and initial public offerings of open source companies, a new batch of entrepreneurs are trying their hands at startups based on free software projects.Former engineers from Uber and Airbnb who created tools that the companies later released as open source software—known as M3 and Apache Superset,... After a flurry of mega-acquisitions and initial public offerings of open source companies, a new...

Art by Josh Brill

Huawei Was Prepared for Anything—Except Losing Google

By Juro Osawa · Sep 3, 2019 7:01am PDT · 9 comments

Over the years, people inside Huawei at times worried the Chinese technology powerhouse, now the world’s second largest smartphone company, was too dependent on some U.S. technologies. To reduce its reliance on American-made chips inside its phones, for example, Huawei switched to alternatives that it made in-house. But when it came... Over the years, people inside Huawei at times worried the Chinese technology powerhouse, now the...

Actors from Starz's drama "Power" at a recent screening. Photo by AP

Comcast Plans to Drop Starz in Latest Sign of TV Upheaval

By Jessica Toonkel · Aug 30, 2019 10:29am PDT

As streaming services grow, cable services are getting pickier about the TV channels they’re willing to carry.In the latest sign of that trend, cable giant Comcast has told Lionsgate that it plans to drop Lionsgate’s premium channels Starz and Starz Encore from its main bundle of channels at the end of the year, according to people... As streaming services grow, cable services are getting pickier about the TV channels...

Sather Tower, on the UC Berkeley campus. Photo by AP.

Huawei Boosted Research Spending at Berkeley Before Sanctions, Documents Show

By Matt Drange · Aug 29, 2019 7:02am PDT · 1 comment

Sather Tower, on the UC Berkeley campus. Photo by AP.

Huawei Boosted Research Spending at Berkeley Before Sanctions, Documents Show

By Matt Drange · Aug 29, 2019 7:02am PDT · 1 comment

Huawei sharply increased its spending on research projects at the University of California, Berkeley last year and this year, immediately before the university cut ties with the Chinese telecom manufacturer amid U.S. government sanctions, according to documents obtained by The Information.The documents show that Berkeley accepted nearly $1.5... Huawei sharply increased its spending on research projects at the University of California,...

A WeWork location in New York City. Photo: Bloomberg

At Fast-Growing WeWork, an HR Department in Turmoil

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 27, 2019 7:01am PDT

WeWork sells prospective customers on the idea that its energetic workplace culture will rub off on tenants, keeping their employees happy and productive. But WeWork’s own employees have noticed an irony about the pitch: Executives in charge of keeping WeWork’s workforce humming haven’t stuck around.Nearly a dozen leaders and... WeWork sells prospective customers on the idea that its energetic workplace culture will rub off...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Puts ‘Walkie Talkie’ iPhone Project on Hold

By Aaron Tilley · Aug 26, 2019 10:00am PDT · 5 comments

Apple has shelved a novel wireless technology project that would have allowed people with iPhones to reach nearby companions in areas without cellular coverage, such as on ski slopes or on hikes in remote areas, said two people familiar with the project.Although the reasons for suspending the effort couldn’t be learned, the departure of... Apple has shelved a novel wireless technology project that would have allowed people with iPhones...

A Waymo self-driving vehicle. Still photo from a Waymo video

Waymo’s Backseat Drivers: Confidential Data Reveals Self-Driving Taxi Hurdles

By Amir Efrati · Aug 26, 2019 7:00am PDT

One passenger in a Waymo self-driving car complained that the awkward end to his ride felt like he was getting dropped off by his dad. Others said their Waymo rides made them late to work. Another praised his car for coping admirably with “idiot drivers” of the human variety during his ride.The rider feedback is part of a trove of... One passenger in a Waymo self-driving car complained that the awkward end to his ride felt like...

A Waymo self-driving vehicle. Still photo from Waymo video

Waymo Riders Describe Experiences on the Road

By Amir Efrati · Aug 26, 2019 7:00am PDT

A Waymo self-driving vehicle. Still photo from Waymo video

Waymo Riders Describe Experiences on the Road

By Amir Efrati · Aug 26, 2019 7:00am PDT

The Information analyzed internal feedback about the performance of Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving taxis on public streets, covering more than 10,500 rides in July and part of August. The reports from riders using the service in suburban Phoenix and in the San Francisco Bay Area, portions of which we describe below, provide an unprecedented... The Information analyzed internal feedback about the performance of Alphabet’s Waymo...

Illustration by Josh Brill

Growing Pains: Facebook Pushes Instagram to Earn Its Keep

By Alex Heath · Aug 22, 2019 7:01am PDT · 8 comments

Inside a conference room at Facebook headquarters in January 2018, a discussion among senior executives—a group known within the company as the “M Team”—turned to Instagram, the photo-sharing app that Facebook acquired in 2012 for roughly $1 billion.Facebook’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, congratulated... Inside a conference room at Facebook headquarters in January 2018, a discussion among senior...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple’s Former Siri Boss Joins Microsoft AI Group

By Aaron Tilley · Aug 19, 2019 10:51am PDT

Bill Stasior, the longtime former Apple executive overseeing its Siri digital assistant, has joined Microsoft, continuing a reshuffling of artificial intelligence leadership at big tech companies. Starting this month, Stasior, whose move to Microsoft hasn’t been previously reported, will become a corporate vice president of... Bill Stasior, the longtime former Apple executive overseeing its Siri digital assistant, has...

Andy Jassy and Adrian Cockcroft of Amazon Web Services. Photos by Bloomberg; Linux Journal/Flickr

Big Customers Pressure AWS to Step Up Open Source Support

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Aug 19, 2019 7:01am PDT · 4 comments

In some parts of the open source community—the loosely affiliated bands of developers who work on free software projects—Amazon Web Services is viewed as a mooch, a company that makes money from those projects without contributing enough to their advancement. It turns out executives at AWS, as the cloud computing unit of the internet... In some parts of the open source community—the loosely affiliated bands of developers who...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg

Developers Call Apple Privacy Changes Anti-Competitive

By Aaron Tilley · Aug 16, 2019 12:54pm PDT

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg

Developers Call Apple Privacy Changes Anti-Competitive

By Aaron Tilley · Aug 16, 2019 12:54pm PDT

Apple has said upcoming changes to its iPhone operating system will better protect the privacy of users. But a group of app developers recently told Apple some of those changes will hurt their businesses, while accusing the company of anti-competitive behavior in the way it subjects its own software to the new rules.In an email to Apple CEO Tim... Apple has said upcoming changes to its iPhone operating system will better protect the privacy of...