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An Uber self driving car in Phoenix in February. Photo by AP
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Uber’s Losses Mount at Self-Driving Car Unit

By Amir Efrati · Aug 15, 2018 7:01am PDT · 7 comments
Uber has been spending between $125 million and $200 million a quarter on its self-driving car unit over the past 18 months, The Information has learned, equivalent to between 15% and 30% of the company’s quarterly losses. The previously undisclosed spending highlights the financial burden that self-driving car development has imposed on... Uber has been spending between $125 million and $200 million a quarter on its self-driving car...
Mike Sullivan
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Tensions Flare Behind the Scenes of ‘League of Legends’

By Wayne Ma and Juro Osawa · Aug 13, 2018 7:00am PDT · 3 comments
Chinese tech giant Tencent became one of the world’s biggest videogame makers thanks to its 2011 acquisition of U.S. game studio Riot Games, maker of blockbuster “League of Legends.” But relations between the two companies have often resembled a war game, forcing Tencent to cut costly deals to keep Riot happy.New details... Chinese tech giant Tencent became one of the world’s biggest videogame makers thanks to its...
NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke. Photo by Bloomberg
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NBCU’s Latest Online Video Idea: Paying Viewers

By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · Aug 9, 2018 11:53am PDT · 3 comments
The battle to win over viewers online may be reaching new levels of intensity. Comcast’s NBCUniversal is considering the launch of a streaming service that would pay people to watch it.The tentative name for the service is Watch Back and it would feature episodes of TV shows and web series from NBCUniversal’s own TV... The battle to win over viewers online may be reaching new levels of intensity. Comcast’s...
Uzabase co-CEO Yusuke Umeda. Photo by AP
How Quartz’s New Owner Aims to Become a Digital News Force
By Jessica Toonkel · Aug 9, 2018 7:01am PDT
Uzabase co-CEO Yusuke Umeda. Photo by AP
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How Quartz’s New Owner Aims to Become a Digital News Force

By Jessica Toonkel · Aug 9, 2018 7:01am PDT
The latest entrant in the overcrowded field of online news is a 37-year-old onetime investment banker from Japan, Yusuke Umeda, co-CEO of a financial data firm called Uzabase. What he lacks in name recognition, though, he makes up in ambition.Last month Uzabase completed the purchase of Quartz, the business-oriented news site founded by the... The latest entrant in the overcrowded field of online news is a 37-year-old onetime investment...
Illustration by Danielle Davis
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Behind Some Low Amazon Prices: Stolen Goods

By Reed Albergotti · Aug 8, 2018 7:02am PDT · 2 comments
A few years ago, GoPro was grappling with an exasperating problem: Unknown sellers were offering stolen GoPro cameras on Amazon.com at a discount.While the stolen items accounted for only a small percentage of GoPro’s total sales, the discounting created a domino effect as competitors tried to match the low price. Amazon would first cut... A few years ago, GoPro was grappling with an exasperating problem: Unknown sellers were offering...
Photo: Bloomberg
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Airbnb Looks to Settle Old Fights, Faces New Threats

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 7, 2018 7:01am PDT · 5 comments
Airbnb’s regulatory roller-coaster ride has taken new twists as the company enters its second decade. When the home rental site sent employees updates on its talks with local governments in June, it heralded positive momentum with politicians in two of its “toughest markets,” Barcelona and Berlin. It decried a... Airbnb’s regulatory roller-coaster ride has taken new twists as the company enters its...
Amazon's Echo and Echo Plus devices. Photo by Bloomberg
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The Reality Behind Voice Shopping Hype

By Priya Anand · Aug 6, 2018 10:01am PDT · 10 comments
Amazon and Google both tout voice shopping—the ability to make purchases and check on the status of orders with verbal commands—as significant features of their smart speakers. Some forecasts call for annual voice shopping sales to reach $40 billion in just a few years. But it appears that only a small fraction of smart speaker... Amazon and Google both tout voice shopping—the ability to make purchases and check on the...
Uber Eats delivery people in Moscow. Photo by Bloomberg
How Uber Eats Became a Hit Business
By Amir Efrati · Aug 6, 2018 7:01am PDT · 5 comments
Uber Eats delivery people in Moscow. Photo by Bloomberg
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How Uber Eats Became a Hit Business

By Amir Efrati · Aug 6, 2018 7:01am PDT · 5 comments
In 2015, then-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was under pressure. His beloved product, the food delivery service that was supposed to prove Uber could be more than a ride-hailing company, was struggling. To offer fast delivery, the company was buying a few kinds of prepared meals ahead of time and waiting for people to order them. Demand was... In 2015, then-Uber CEO Travis Kalanick was under pressure. His beloved product, the food delivery...
Carsten Breitfeld, co-founder and chief executive of Byton. Photo: Bloomberg
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China’s Byton Seeks to Eclipse Rivals With Didi Deal

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Aug 3, 2018 10:34am PDT
The two German automobile executives who founded Byton, a Chinese electric car startup, are confident that they can build a reliable vehicle. But they worry that manufacturing alone won’t make their company a success.That’s why Byton also wants a piece of China’s $30 billion ride-hailing market. The company is in talks with... The two German automobile executives who founded Byton, a Chinese electric car startup, are...
Google CEO Sundar Pichai at an event last month in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg
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Google Developing News App for China

By Wayne Ma and Juro Osawa · Aug 1, 2018 9:41pm PDT · 5 comments
Google is developing a news-aggregation app for use in China that will comply with the country’s strict censorship laws, part of a plan to re-enter the world’s largest internet market in the near future, according to three people familiar with the project.Google has been working on the app since last year and had been meeting with... Google is developing a news-aggregation app for use in China that will comply with the...
Cristiano Amon (L) and Anand Chandrasekher. Photos by Bloomberg
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Intel CEO Search Yields New Candidates

By Aaron Tilley · Aug 1, 2018 7:01am PDT · 1 comment
Two new names have landed on the list of executives Intel is considering to become its CEO—Anand Chandrasekher, a former Intel and Qualcomm executive, and Cristiano Amon, Qualcomm’s current president—a person briefed on the chip giant’s search said.Intel is still in the early stages of its hunt for a replacement for... Two new names have landed on the list of executives Intel is considering to become its...
A Capital One branch in New York. Photo: Bloomberg
Google Inks Cloud Apps Deal With Capital One
By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 31, 2018 11:07am PDT · 2 comments
A Capital One branch in New York. Photo: Bloomberg
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Google Inks Cloud Apps Deal With Capital One

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 31, 2018 11:07am PDT · 2 comments
Capital One Financial Corp. is in the process of moving more than 40,000 employees from Microsoft’s cloud email and productivity applications to Google’s competing products, according to two people with knowledge of the agreement. A Capital One spokeswoman confirmed the deal late Monday.Capital One is the latest big-name customer to... Capital One Financial Corp. is in the process of moving more than 40,000 employees from...
A bullrider during a Professional Bull Riders event. Endeavor now owns the Professional Bull Riders. Photo by AP.
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Endeavor Eyes Sports Expansion

By Jessica Toonkel · Jul 27, 2018 7:02am PDT · 1 comment
Endeavor, the talent and sports agency formerly known as WME-IMG, wants to become the ESPN of niche sports.The company, backed by Silver Lake Partners and SoftBank, already owns bullfighting and martial arts competitions, and runs streaming services for both. But now it is considering how to expand these efforts. Endeavor has held talks with the... Endeavor, the talent and sports agency formerly known as WME-IMG, wants to become the ESPN of...
Pedestrians walk past a Yum Brands KFC restaurant in Shanghai. Photo: Bloomberg
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Hillhouse Eyes Buyout of KFC Operator Yum China

By Yunan Zhang and Juro Osawa · Jul 26, 2018 6:48am PDT
One of China’s most prominent tech investors, Hillhouse Capital Group, is in talks to acquire Yum China, the country’s biggest fast-food operator, according to three people briefed on the matter. Yum China, whose shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange with a market capitalization of nearly $13 billion, operates more than... One of China’s most prominent tech investors, Hillhouse Capital Group, is in talks to...
Illustration by Scotty Reifsnyder
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How Snap Made Direct Response Ads a Big Business

By Tom Dotan · Jul 24, 2018 7:01am PDT · 1 comment
In the run-up to Snap’s second quarter earnings due Aug. 7, several Wall Street analysts have lowered their estimates for what the company has already warned will be a weak quarter. The after-effects of Snap’s troubled app redesign earlier this year hurt user growth, which is expected to be weak in the three months ended June 30.But... In the run-up to Snap’s second quarter earnings due Aug. 7, several Wall Street analysts...
A poster for the Disney movie "Alice Through the Looking Glass" at a movie theater in Yichang in China in 2016. Photo by AP.
Hollywood Wins Concession From China, but Overall Deal Stalled
By Wayne Ma and Matt Pressberg · Jul 19, 2018 10:00am PDT · 1 comment
A poster for the Disney movie "Alice Through the Looking Glass" at a movie theater in Yichang in China in 2016. Photo by AP.
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Hollywood Wins Concession From China, but Overall Deal Stalled

By Wayne Ma and Matt Pressberg · Jul 19, 2018 10:00am PDT · 1 comment
For more than a year, the U.S. has been negotiating with China to let Hollywood film studios expand their business in China. The U.S. made some progress late last year when, The Information has learned, Chinese officials tentatively agreed to an increase in the number of major Hollywood films that could be released annually to 44 from 34. But on... For more than a year, the U.S. has been negotiating with China to let Hollywood film studios...
Tom Gruber. Photo: Flickr/JD Lasica
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Siri’s Last Remaining Cofounder Is Out at Apple

By Aaron Tilley and Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 18, 2018 6:59pm PDT · 1 comment
Tom Gruber, one of the original Siri cofounders, has left Apple, where he was recently the head of Siri’s Advanced Development group, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. Apple’s head of search, Vipul Ved Prakash, has also left the company. An Apple spokeswoman confirmed both departures. Mr. Gruber is retiring and... Tom Gruber, one of the original Siri cofounders, has left Apple, where he was recently the head...
Visitors on the Great Wall of China. Photo by shankar s./Flickr
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Airbnb Looks to Keep China Momentum

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 18, 2018 10:01am PDT
Airbnb’s increasing popularity with young Chinese travelers has made the country an important growth driver over the past year. Revenue from Airbnb’s China division is expected to climb by more than half to roughly $130 million this year, two people familiar with the matter said. While that growth rate is lower than last year’s... Airbnb’s increasing popularity with young Chinese travelers has made the country an...
Illustration by Mike Sullivan
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Instagram’s Growing Bot Problem

By Reed Albergotti and Sarah Kuranda · Jul 18, 2018 7:01am PDT · 4 comments
Instagram, which recently reached a billion users, might have as many as 95 million bots posing as real accounts on its platform, according to a new study conducted for The Information by the research firm Ghost Data.That tally is somewhat higher than in a similar study the research firm did in 2015. The increase is concerning, experts say,... Instagram, which recently reached a billion users, might have as many as 95 million bots posing...
Vudu's app on an iPhone. Photo by Bloomberg
Walmart Plots Rival to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video
By Jessica Toonkel, Tom Dotan and Priya Anand · Jul 17, 2018 10:32am PDT · 7 comments
Vudu's app on an iPhone. Photo by Bloomberg
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Walmart Plots Rival to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video

By Jessica Toonkel, Tom Dotan and Priya Anand · Jul 17, 2018 10:32am PDT · 7 comments
Walmart is considering launching a subscription streaming video service to compete with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, people familiar with the situation told The Information. Such a move could be enormously costly for the retailer but would demonstrate its determination to compete on multiple fronts with Amazon in particular.The Bentonville,... Walmart is considering launching a subscription streaming video service to compete with Netflix...