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John Giannandrea, now head of Apple's AI efforts, in 2017. Photo by Bloomberg
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Apple Acquires Machine Learning Startup in Boost for AI Group

By Aaron Tilley · Mar 13, 2019 11:57am PDT
Apple has acquired Laserlike, a small Silicon Valley-based machine learning startup, which could help strengthen the company’s artificial intelligence efforts, including its Siri virtual assistant, The Information has learned. An Apple spokesperson confirmed the acquisition of the four-year-old startup, which was founded by three former... Apple has acquired Laserlike, a small Silicon Valley-based machine learning startup, which could...
Vice CEO Nancy Dubuc. Photo by Bloomberg.
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Vice Looks to Raise Money After Rough Year

By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · Mar 12, 2019 12:46pm PDT
Vice Media is looking to raise a new round of financing of up to $200 million, which the company hopes will give it enough cash to reach its goal of becoming profitable in the next 12 months, according to people familiar with the situation. The news of the search for funding, which could be through a mix a debt and equity, comes weeks after the... Vice Media is looking to raise a new round of financing of up to $200 million, which the company...
Waymo CEO John Krafcik speaks at a Google developer conference last May. Photo by Bloomberg.
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Alphabet’s Waymo Seeks Outside Investors

By Amir Efrati · Mar 11, 2019 1:32pm PDT · 1 comment
Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving car division has been seeking financing from outside investors, such as European automakers like Volkswagen, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation. The efforts suggest Alphabet wants to limit how much money it invests in the division, and show how valuable other parties believe it to be.... Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving car division has been seeking financing from outside...
Lime CEO Toby Sun, left, and Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden. Photos by Bloomberg , Bird.
Lime Leapfrogs Bird in Scooter Race, at a Cost
By Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Mar 11, 2019 6:31am PDT · 1 comment
Lime CEO Toby Sun, left, and Bird CEO Travis VanderZanden. Photos by Bloomberg , Bird.
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Lime Leapfrogs Bird in Scooter Race, at a Cost

By Cory Weinberg and Amir Efrati · Mar 11, 2019 6:31am PDT · 1 comment
The two companies leading the electric scooter craze have, until now, followed a similar formula: expand to new cities, rack up big losses, raise more money, expand again.But lately, the strategies pursued by Bird and Lime have diverged sharply. Bird has pared back growth, preferring to focus on getting profitable before expanding further, its... The two companies leading the electric scooter craze have, until now, followed a similar formula:...
Marie Kondo. Photo by AP
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Tidy Guru Marie Kondo in VC Talks About Expansion

By Zoë Bernard · Mar 7, 2019 1:52pm PST · 1 comment
Marie Kondo, the Japanese tidying guru whose advice on cleaning up has made her a household name, is looking to take the next step. Her company, KonMari, has held early talks with venture firms about potentially raising up to $40 million for new business opportunities, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. A spokesperson for... Marie Kondo, the Japanese tidying guru whose advice on cleaning up has made her a household name,...
ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming. Photo by Bloomberg
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China’s ByteDance Plans Slack Rival Even as Losses Mount

By Yunan Zhang and Juro Osawa · Mar 6, 2019 10:09am PST
In 2017 ByteDance, owner of such popular apps as newsfeed service Toutiao, made a slim profit. Last year, after the costly launch of its video app TikTok outside of China, the company lost $1.2 billion, The Information has learned. Results of the expansion were mixed: TikTok has become widely used in India but not in the U.S., according to... In 2017 ByteDance, owner of such popular apps as newsfeed service Toutiao, made a slim profit....
Lime scooters in South Bend, Ind. Photo: AP
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Two Top Policy Executives Departing Lime

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 5, 2019 3:51pm PST
The two top executives leading policy and government relations at scooter startup Lime are leaving, less than a year after they joined. The departures add to the turnover at the fast-growing company as it faces mounting safety problems and a need to win approval to expand into new cities.The two executives were big hires for two-year-old Lime... The two top executives leading policy and government relations at scooter startup Lime are...
Apple's Eddy Cue, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Apple CEO Tim Cook at Sun Valley in Idaho. Photo by Bloomberg.
Disney Weighs Distribution Deals for Streaming Service
By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · Mar 5, 2019 6:31am PST · 1 comment
Apple's Eddy Cue, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Apple CEO Tim Cook at Sun Valley in Idaho. Photo by Bloomberg.
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Disney Weighs Distribution Deals for Streaming Service

By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · Mar 5, 2019 6:31am PST · 1 comment
As Disney nears an April public unveiling of its Disney+ streaming services for Wall Street analysts, some key questions—including whether to distribute through U.S. cable operators or companies like Apple—are still being hammered out.One worry is whether the service will work well from a technical perspective. With that in mind,... As Disney nears an April public unveiling of its Disney+ streaming services for Wall Street...
Parker Conrad. Photo by Bloomberg
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Kleiner Perkins Expected to Lead Investment in Rippling

By Zoë Bernard · Mar 4, 2019 3:29pm PST
Venture capitalists pressured Parker Conrad to step down from his health insurance startup, Zenefits, after the company was found to have skirted insurance regulations. Now, three years later, Mr. Conrad is going back to them for funding for his new company, Rippling.  The Silicon Valley venture firm Kleiner Perkins is expected to be the... Venture capitalists pressured Parker Conrad to step down from his health insurance startup,...
Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire. Photo by Bloomberg
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Crypto Startup Circle Seeking $250 Million in New Funding

By Jon Victor · Mar 2, 2019 9:58am PST
Circle, one of the biggest cryptocurrency startups in the U.S., is seeking to raise about $250 million in a combination of equity and debt, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans. If it succeeds, Circle would be the latest in a series of cryptocurrency firms to raise money as they grapple with the impact of the crash in the... Circle, one of the biggest cryptocurrency startups in the U.S., is seeking to raise about $250...
A Luckin coffee outlet in Beijing. Photo: Bloomberg
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China’s Starbucks Rival Luckin Piles Up Losses Before IPO

By Yunan Zhang · Mar 1, 2019 6:31am PST · 4 comments
Luckin Coffee, China’s fast-growing Starbucks rival, has one thing in common with consumer tech companies going public in the U.S.: It has racked up hefty losses ahead of its planned public listing. The coffee delivery startup estimates that it lost some $232 million in 2018, its first year of operation, on revenue of $117 million,... Luckin Coffee, China’s fast-growing Starbucks rival, has one thing in common with consumer...
Turner president David Levy. Photo by Bloomberg
Top WarnerMedia Executives, Levy and Plepler, Are Out
By Jessica Toonkel · Feb 28, 2019 2:30pm PST
Turner president David Levy. Photo by Bloomberg
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Top WarnerMedia Executives, Levy and Plepler, Are Out

By Jessica Toonkel · Feb 28, 2019 2:30pm PST
Two of WarnerMedia’s highest ranking executives, Turner president David Levy and HBO CEO Richard Plepler, are leaving the company, according to two people familiar with the situation,  apparent casualties of AT&T’s restructuring of the media company.Word of their exits comes days after the federal government lost its appeal... Two of WarnerMedia’s highest ranking executives, Turner president David Levy and HBO CEO...
A Drive.ai shuttle in Frisco, Texas last year. Photo by Drive.ai
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Self-Driving Car Startup Drive.ai Seeks Potential Buyers

By Amir Efrati · Feb 28, 2019 1:09pm PST · 3 comments
One of the better known autonomous vehicle startups, Drive.ai, has been looking for a buyer. The firm hired investment bank Jefferies as an adviser and in recent weeks told bigger rivals it is interested in selling, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter and another briefed on the situation.Drive.ai is testing automated... One of the better known autonomous vehicle startups, Drive.ai, has been looking for a buyer. The...
Liz Gateley. Photo by AP.
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Spotify Taps Lifetime Veteran to Help Build Podcasting Series

By Jessica Toonkel · Feb 28, 2019 9:41am PST
Spotify has hired Lifetime’s former programming chief Liz Gateley to help expand its podcast offerings in comedy, music, sports, news and documentaries, two people familiar with the situation said.The previously unreported hiring of Ms. Gateley follows Spotify’s acquisitions earlier this month of podcast publisher Anchor and Gimlet... Spotify has hired Lifetime’s former programming chief Liz Gateley to help expand its...
Photo by Shutterstock
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Top Mobile Game Developer Playrix Looking to Sell for $3 Billion

By Wayne Ma and Juro Osawa · Feb 27, 2019 5:38pm PST
Playrix Entertainment, the Russia-based developer of some of the world’s most popular mobile games, is on the market for more than $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. And a number of Chinese companies, including iDreamSky Technology and FunPlus, have inquired about buying it, the people said.Playrix makes Gardenscapes... Playrix Entertainment, the Russia-based developer of some of the world’s most popular...
Photo: AP
Google’s Ad Sales From China Are Booming
By Yunan Zhang and Juro Osawa · Feb 27, 2019 6:31am PST
Photo: AP
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Google’s Ad Sales From China Are Booming

By Yunan Zhang and Juro Osawa · Feb 27, 2019 6:31am PST
Google hasn't decided whether to return to China with a search engine and other tools that will meet censors’ demands, but the internet giant already has built a fast-growing business there. Google saw a huge upsurge in revenue from China last year, powered by a wave of Chinese tech companies buying ads outside China to promote... Google hasn't decided whether to return to China with a search engine and other tools that...
VMware's Pat Gelsinger, left, and Microsoft's Satya Nadella. Photos by Bloomberg.
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Microsoft and VMware Working on Cloud Partnership

By Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 26, 2019 6:30am PST
Microsoft and VMware were once fierce rivals in the software business. But even as hostilities ceased in recent years, their business customers couldn’t use VMware’s most popular product inside Microsoft’s cloud computing service without a lot of technical work. That could be about to change. The two companies are jointly... Microsoft and VMware were once fierce rivals in the software business. But even as hostilities...
Photo by Bloomberg
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Lyft Kicks Off Price War With Uber Ahead of IPOs

By Amir Efrati · Feb 25, 2019 4:56pm PST · 38 comments
As Uber and Lyft prepare to go public, both companies are reviving an old and costly tactic to boost market share: discounts.Lyft, which is likely to be first to hit the public market, sharply ramped up discounts for riders in recent weeks, according to people close to both companies. The discounts covered as many as a third of its trips,... As Uber and Lyft prepare to go public, both companies are reviving an old and costly tactic to...
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As AWS Use Soars, Companies Surprised by Cloud Bills

By Amir Efrati and Kevin McLaughlin · Feb 25, 2019 6:32am PST · 9 comments
Pinterest executives got a surprise during last year’s holiday season. Consumers were spending so much time using the online scrapbook that Pinterest’s computing bills on Amazon Web Services—the internet retailer’s cloud offering—had shot past their expectations. Pinterest, which had paid in advance for AWS’s... Pinterest executives got a surprise during last year’s holiday season. Consumers were...
Disney's office at the international TV sales market MIPCOM in Cannes, France in 2017. Photo by AP
To Make Way for Streaming, Disney Is Revamping Overseas TV Business
By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · Feb 21, 2019 6:31am PST · 1 comment
Disney's office at the international TV sales market MIPCOM in Cannes, France in 2017. Photo by AP
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To Make Way for Streaming, Disney Is Revamping Overseas TV Business

By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · Feb 21, 2019 6:31am PST · 1 comment
One of the big questions facing Walt Disney Co. as it prepares to launch its Disney+ streaming app is how aggressively will it retreat from selling TV shows and movies to other networks and streaming services, in favor of keeping everything on its own outlets. If recent signals from the company are any guide, Disney is going all in on its own... One of the big questions facing Walt Disney Co. as it prepares to launch its Disney+ streaming...