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Crib bumpers and drawstring hoodies, which U.S. regulators say pose health hazards to youth, on Temu and Shein's websites. Photos via Shein and Temu. Art by Shane Burke

On Shein and Temu, Deadly Baby and Toddler Goods Are Easy to Find

By Ann Gehan · Aug 13, 2024 6:00am PDT

Two years ago, Congress passed a law banning the sale of padded crib bumpers, saying they posed a suffocation hazard for babies. But in recent weeks, U.S. shoppers could have bought as many as four different styles of padded bumpers in a variety of colors and patterns on bargain site Temu. On the site of Temu’s main rival, Shein, shoppers... Two years ago, Congress passed a law banning the sale of padded crib bumpers, saying they posed a...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

TikTok’s Latest Growth Hack: Buying New Users With Discounts

By Kaya Yurieff · Aug 9, 2024 12:30pm PDT · 1 comment

TikTok is testing a truism: Money talks. TikTok users in the U.S. who invite their friends to the app can now get steep discounts on goods, such as digital cameras and hair styling tools marked down to just a penny, as part of a promotion the ByteDance-owned company introduced in recent weeks. That builds on a referral scheme TikTok has been... TikTok is testing a truism: Money talks. TikTok users in the U.S. who invite their friends to the...

Photo by Freyr

U.S. President of Freyr Battery Leaves in Latest Shakeup

By Steve LeVine · Aug 9, 2024 12:06pm PDT

In a new shakeup, Jeremy Bezdek, president of Freyr Battery’s U.S. division, has left the company, according to a person familiar with the situation. The unexpected move comes two months after CEO Birger Steen left the next-generation battery maker 10 months after taking the job. The move is surprising. Senior company executives did not... In a new shakeup, Jeremy Bezdek, president of Freyr Battery’s U.S. division, has left the...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Amazon Enlists TikTok, Pinterest in Quest to Sell Everywhere

By Theo Wayt · Aug 8, 2024 11:43am PDT · 4 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Amazon Enlists TikTok, Pinterest in Quest to Sell Everywhere

By Theo Wayt · Aug 8, 2024 11:43am PDT · 4 comments

Amazon’s e-commerce business is huge but slow-growing, while shopping on social media has been taking off. That’s prompted Amazon to look for ways to team up with popular social media apps. It’s finally landed a key partner. TikTok will enable users to buy items from Amazon advertisements without leaving the TikTok app, an... Amazon’s e-commerce business is huge but slow-growing, while shopping on social media has...

Photo via AP

Snowflake Looks to an AI Deal to Jump-Start Growth

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Aug 8, 2024 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Snowflake had been riding high before the artificial intelligence boom. But questions about the usefulness of its data management products for AI developers—a growing source of revenue for rivals like Databricks—and a broader pullback in business software spending have sent its stock plummeting 42% so far this year. Now, in an effort... Snowflake had been riding high before the artificial intelligence boom. But questions about the...

A Jio store in Kolkata, India. Photo by Getty

Meta in Talks With Indian Tech Giant Jio Over Possible VR Deal

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan, Wayne Ma and Amir Efrati · Aug 7, 2024 10:03am PDT

Meta Platforms is in talks to license its Horizon virtual reality software to Indian technology company Jio, according to three people with knowledge of the situation, the latest sign of how Meta is trying to extend its influence in VR and augmented reality beyond its own devices. The talks, which may not lead to a deal, center on Meta providing... Meta Platforms is in talks to license its Horizon virtual reality software to Indian technology...

Art by Clark Miller.

Zillow’s Mortgage Push Has Some Critics Crying Foul

By Michael Roddan · Aug 7, 2024 6:00am PDT

Zillow, the online real estate listings powerhouse, has tried for years to diversify its business away from advertising. It tried flipping homes but abandoned that effort after losing lots of money. Now, its biggest chance at branching out is using its strength in home listings and tight relationships with real estate agents to grow its mortgage... Zillow, the online real estate listings powerhouse, has tried for years to diversify its business...

Klarna's headquarters in Stockholm. Photo by Erika Gerdemark/Bloomberg via Getty.

Klarna Weighs Secondary Share Sale Ahead of IPO

By Natasha Mascarenhas, Kate Clark and Cory Weinberg · Aug 6, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Klarna's headquarters in Stockholm. Photo by Erika Gerdemark/Bloomberg via Getty.

Klarna Weighs Secondary Share Sale Ahead of IPO

By Natasha Mascarenhas, Kate Clark and Cory Weinberg · Aug 6, 2024 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Klarna, the Swedish “buy now, pay later” firm, has been preparing what would be one of next year’s first big tech initial public offerings. First it wants to see if investors think it’s worth more than the roughly $7 billion valuation awarded during its last fundraising. The Sequoia Capital–backed startup has been... Klarna, the Swedish “buy now, pay later” firm, has been preparing what would be one...

OpenAI cofounder Greg Brockman. Photo via Getty

Trio of OpenAI Leaders Depart, Take Leave of Absence

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Jon Victor and Amir Efrati · Aug 5, 2024 5:31pm PDT · 7 comments

Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president and one of 11 cofounders of the artificial intelligence firm, is taking an extended leave of absence. Another cofounder and key leader, John Schulman, has decamped to Anthropic, a fierce rival founded by ex-OpenAI researchers. And Peter Deng, a product leader who joined the company last year after leading... Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president and one of 11 cofounders of the artificial intelligence...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang with the Blackwell AI chip. Photo by Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty

Nvidia’s New AI Chip is Delayed, Impacting Microsoft, Google, Meta

By Qianer Liu and Anissa Gardizy · Aug 2, 2024 8:00pm PDT · 17 comments

Nvidia’s upcoming artificial intelligence chips will be delayed by three months or more due to design flaws, a snafu that could affect customers such as Meta Platforms, Google and Microsoft that have collectively ordered tens of billions of dollars worth of the chips, according to two people who help produce the chip and server hardware... Nvidia’s upcoming artificial intelligence chips will be delayed by three months or more due...

Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, and Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Photos via Getty.

Nvidia Faces DOJ Antitrust Probe Over Complaints From Rivals

By Anissa Gardizy, Stephanie Palazzolo and Amir Efrati · Aug 1, 2024 5:49pm PDT · 2 comments

Antitrust officials at the U.S. Department of Justice are investigating complaints that Nvidia is allegedly abusing its market dominance in selling chips that power artificial intelligence. In recent weeks, U.S. officials reached out to several Nvidia competitors, including Advanced Micro Devices and AI chip startups, to gather information about... Antitrust officials at the U.S. Department of Justice are investigating complaints that Nvidia is...

Art by Clark Miller. Michelle Ritter photo via BFA, Eric Schmidt via Getty.

An Eric Schmidt Investment Firm Crumbles After Mismanagement, Soured Romance

By Cory Weinberg and Michael Roddan · Aug 1, 2024 10:01am PDT · 14 comments

Art by Clark Miller. Michelle Ritter photo via BFA, Eric Schmidt via Getty.

An Eric Schmidt Investment Firm Crumbles After Mismanagement, Soured Romance

By Cory Weinberg and Michael Roddan · Aug 1, 2024 10:01am PDT · 14 comments

Michelle Ritter felt stuck. She knew it was an odd thing to say last month, as she sat on the living-room carpet of the 13-bedroom Bel Air mansion—previously owned by the Hilton family—that she currently lives in. The owner of the mansion is Eric Schmidt, the 69-year-old former Google CEO, whom Ritter, 30, began dating in 2020 when... Michelle Ritter felt stuck. She knew it was an odd thing to say last month, as she sat on the...

XAI founder Elon Musk. Photo by Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

Musk’s xAI Has Considered Buying Character.AI

By Natasha Mascarenhas, Stephanie Palazzolo and Kalley Huang · Jul 31, 2024 4:18pm PDT · 2 comments

XAI, Elon Musk’s one-year-old artificial intelligence startup, has considered acquiring chatbot maker Character.AI as it looks for more ways to test its Grok AI models, according to a person who spoke with xAI leadership about the deal. The discussion may not result in a deal. But the internal debate at xAI points to the types of pairings... XAI, Elon Musk’s one-year-old artificial intelligence startup, has considered acquiring...

TikTok Spending Drove Microsoft’s Booming AI Business

By Aaron Holmes · Jul 31, 2024 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Microsoft has had success reselling OpenAI’s artificial intelligence to its cloud customers, a core part of its plan to build a new multibillion-dollar profit machine. New data show which customers are powering the business. TikTok, for instance, was paying nearly $20 million per month to buy OpenAI’s models through Microsoft as of... Microsoft has had success reselling OpenAI’s artificial intelligence to its cloud...

John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco Systems. Photo by Thibault Camus/POOL/AFP via Getty.

Veteran Dealmaker John Chambers to Join Board of Embattled AI Startup Humane

By Stephanie Palazzolo and Natasha Mascarenhas · Jul 29, 2024 1:00pm PDT · 2 comments

Humane, the maker of a wearable device that aimed to replace smartphones, has told investors that former Cisco CEO John Chambers is joining its board of directors, according to two people with knowledge of the decision. The move came after the six-year-old San Francisco startup recently considered a sale after reviewers panned the device, and it... Humane, the maker of a wearable device that aimed to replace smartphones, has told investors that...

A Pinterest banner at the New York Stock Exchange on May 15, marking the fifth anniversary of the company's listing. Photo via AP.

Pinterest, LinkedIn Team Up With Publishers to Sell Ads

By Sahil Patel · Jul 29, 2024 6:00am PDT

A Pinterest banner at the New York Stock Exchange on May 15, marking the fifth anniversary of the company's listing. Photo via AP.

Pinterest, LinkedIn Team Up With Publishers to Sell Ads

By Sahil Patel · Jul 29, 2024 6:00am PDT

Social media platforms such as Pinterest, TikTok and LinkedIn are trying a new tack to gain a bigger share of digital advertising—getting news outlets and other publishers to help them sell ads. Pinterest, for instance, is testing a new program through which publishers would be able to sell advertising on their Pinterest pages using the... Social media platforms such as Pinterest, TikTok and LinkedIn are trying a new tack to gain a...

Photo via Stord.

Logistics Startup Stord Buys Part of Pitney Bowes’ E-Commerce Business

By Ann Gehan and Theo Wayt · Jul 26, 2024 12:44pm PDT

Logistics startup Stord is acquiring the e-commerce fulfillment services operations of publicly traded shipping services company Pitney Bowes, according to an internal memo sent to Pitney Bowes staff. It’s the second acquisition so far this year by the Kleiner Perkins– and Founders Fund–backed startup, which aims to help... Logistics startup Stord is acquiring the e-commerce fulfillment services operations of publicly...

Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

DoorDash Hires Flexport Executive to Deliver More Than Just Takeout

By Ann Gehan and Theo Wayt · Jul 26, 2024 6:00am PDT

DoorDash is doubling down on its push to deliver more than just takeout noodles and late-night fast food. The company has hired an Amazon veteran and current Flexport executive, Parisa Sadrzadeh, as vice president of strategy and operations, a spokesperson confirmed. Her hire will help boost DoorDash’s efforts to deliver more types of... DoorDash is doubling down on its push to deliver more than just takeout noodles and late-night...

Art by Mike Sullivan

How Snapchat Struggled to Protect Teens From Drug Dealing, ‘Sextortion’

By Erin Woo · Jul 25, 2024 6:00am PDT

In the spring of 2021, Snap leapt into action. After the teenage son of a television host died from what his parents said were fentanyl-laced Xanax pills purchased on Snapchat—Snap’s social media app—the company declared a “code red,” an expression it uses for its highest-priority projects, according to two people... In the spring of 2021, Snap leapt into action. After the teenage son of a television host died...

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Photo by Getty

Nvidia Devises Special Server Design to Boost China Sales

By Qianer Liu · Jul 24, 2024 7:49am PDT · 1 comment

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Photo by Getty

Nvidia Devises Special Server Design to Boost China Sales

By Qianer Liu · Jul 24, 2024 7:49am PDT · 1 comment

Nvidia has a new workaround to U.S. export rules that block the sale of the most advanced artificial intelligence chips to China—pairing the chips with a special server. The company will next year launch a new AI chip specially tailored for the Chinese market that will be sold alongside a new server designed to maximize the performance of... Nvidia has a new workaround to U.S. export rules that block the sale of the most advanced...