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Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters speaking at an event in Barcelona in early March. Photo by Getty

Netflix Signs Up 1.5 Million U.S. Subscribers for Ad Tier So Far

By Sahil Patel · Jul 19, 2023 10:25am PDT

Around 1.5 million people in the U.S. have signed up to pay for Netflix’s tier of service that carries ads, the streaming service has told advertisers in the past two weeks, according to industry executives. That’s a tiny fraction of both Netflix’s total U.S. subscribers and the roughly 30 million subscribers who pay for... Around 1.5 million people in the U.S. have signed up to pay for Netflix’s tier of service...

Mike Moritz (left) and Mike Vernal (right). Photos via Getty Images and Wikimedia.

Shake-Up at Sequoia as Five Partners Exit

By Kate Clark · Jul 19, 2023 9:12am PDT · 3 comments

Five Sequoia Capital partners have left the firm, the biggest shakeup to the storied venture firm’s leadership since its leader Roelof Botha took over a year ago. Sequoia on Wednesday told its limited partners that longtime partner Michael Moritz would leave and focus on the firm’s independent wealth management business, Sequoia... Five Sequoia Capital partners have left the firm, the biggest shakeup to the storied venture...

Photo by AP.

Meta Scales Back Ambitions for AR Glasses

By Wayne Ma · Jul 19, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

In March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to transform the world, the company then known as Facebook struck a deal to buy all the augmented reality displays made by British firm Plessey. At the time, the deal appeared to be a savvy way of squeezing out Apple in the competition to develop AR glasses, as Plessey was one of the few makers of AR... In March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to transform the world, the company then known as...

Cameo CEO and founder Steven Galanis with co-founders Devon Townsend and Martin Blencowe at a Cameo-hosted Super Bowl watch party in 2022. Photo by Getty.

Cameo Cuts Staff to Fewer Than 50 After Financial Stumble

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Kaya Yurieff · Jul 18, 2023 11:54am PDT · 5 comments

Cameo CEO and founder Steven Galanis with co-founders Devon Townsend and Martin Blencowe at a Cameo-hosted Super Bowl watch party in 2022. Photo by Getty.

Cameo Cuts Staff to Fewer Than 50 After Financial Stumble

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Kaya Yurieff · Jul 18, 2023 11:54am PDT · 5 comments

Cameo, the video shoutout app that gained in popularity during the pandemic shutdowns, told employees on Tuesday that it was laying off at least 80 workers because of financial pressures, according to two former employees involved in the layoffs. The cuts leave fewer than 50 people at the startup, according to the employees, or down nearly 90%... Cameo, the video shoutout app that gained in popularity during the pandemic shutdowns, told...

A SpaceX rocket lifts off in Florida in May. Photo by Getty

SpaceX Forecasts Doubling of Revenue to $8 Billion

By Becky Peterson and Cory Weinberg · Jul 17, 2023 1:12pm PDT

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, the most highly valued private tech company in the U.S., has told some investors it expects to bring in about $8 billion in revenue in 2023, roughly doubling its revenue from the previous year, according to people familiar with the discussions. The expectation for rapid growth helps explain the... Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, the most highly valued private tech company in...

Pat Bajari, Amazon's former chief economist. Photo by Getty.

Architect of Amazon’s Economist Army Exits

By Theo Wayt · Jul 17, 2023 6:01am PDT · 3 comments

Over the past decade, Amazon has built an army of several hundred economists with doctorates who inform executives’ decisions in e-commerce, cloud computing and other businesses—an approach other tech giants have copied. The architect of that buildout, Chief Economist Pat Bajari, quietly left in March, he confirmed to The... Over the past decade, Amazon has built an army of several hundred economists with doctorates who...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

With Nvidia’s Help, Revenue Surges at Smaller Cloud Providers

By Aaron Holmes, Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati · Jul 14, 2023 2:22pm PDT · 9 comments

The demand for artificial intelligence chips is turning into a boom for several upstart cloud-server providers, thanks to the complicated politics of the tech industry. Consider the case of one young cloud provider, CoreWeave. The company has received a generous allotment of the latest AI server chips from Nvidia, the dominant force behind... The demand for artificial intelligence chips is turning into a boom for several upstart...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why Meta Finally Went for Twitter’s Throat

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kaya Yurieff · Jul 14, 2023 11:42am PDT · 5 comments

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why Meta Finally Went for Twitter’s Throat

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kaya Yurieff · Jul 14, 2023 11:42am PDT · 5 comments

Meta Platforms’ successful launch of its Twitter-like app, Threads, came together in just six months of furious work by a tiny team of engineers. But the desire within Meta’s top ranks to take on Twitter goes back years. The company’s Instagram unit even began building a text-based prototype similar to Twitter, which they... Meta Platforms’ successful launch of its Twitter-like app, Threads, came together in just...

Foreground: Source Code Capital founder Charlie Cao. Background: Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance. Photos via Source Code Capital and Getty.

For Early ByteDance Investor and China Venture Star, the Results Are a Paper Tiger

By Juro Osawa · Jul 13, 2023 6:00am PDT

In some ways, Source Code Capital is China’s version of Andreessen Horowitz—it’s a relative newbie to venture investing that has surged to the top echelons of the Chinese venture capital industry and raised billions of dollars—in large part thanks to founder Cao Yi’s early bet on ByteDance. In fact, some of the... In some ways, Source Code Capital is China’s version of Andreessen...

Naveen Rao, CEO of MosaicML, and Jake Heller, CEO of Casetext. Photos via Getty and YouTube/Casetext; Art by Shane Burke.

VCs’ Latest Foe in Race for AI Startup Deals: Buyout Offers

By Kate Clark and Erin Woo · Jul 12, 2023 3:25pm PDT · 2 comments

Venture capital investors face stiff competition in artificial intelligence startup deals from Google and Nvidia, which are increasingly winning stakes in the startups by offering founders price breaks on cloud computing or chips. But VC investors face competition from another quarter: corporations that are willing to pay top dollar to buy... Venture capital investors face stiff competition in artificial intelligence startup deals from...

Photo by Getty.

Liquid Death Hires Goldman Sachs, Aiming for 2024 IPO

By Cory Weinberg, Maria Heeter and Erin Woo · Jul 12, 2023 2:58pm PDT · 13 comments

The parched market for initial public offerings is likely to see a new entrant soon: a canned water company. Liquid Death, the irreverent water brand backed by venture capitalists, has hired Goldman Sachs to lead a potential IPO as soon as next spring, according to a person familiar with the matter. The decision follows one of the few IPO... The parched market for initial public offerings is likely to see a new entrant soon: a canned...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

Sam Altman’s Tangle of Investments

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Jul 12, 2023 11:11am PDT · 4 comments

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

Sam Altman’s Tangle of Investments

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Jul 12, 2023 11:11am PDT · 4 comments

Among the many unusual facts about OpenAI, the buzzy startup behind the hugely popular chatbot ChatGPT, the most extraordinary may be that Sam Altman, its CEO and co-founder, doesn’t have any equity in it. He gave up the opportunity for a huge potential payday, he says, simply because he doesn’t need the money. But Altman, 38, has a... Among the many unusual facts about OpenAI, the buzzy startup behind the hugely popular chatbot...

Wiz CEO, Assaf Rappaport. Photo by Getty.

Cloud Security Startup Orca Sues Biggest Competitor, Wiz, for Patent Infringement

By Aaron Holmes and Kate Clark · Jul 12, 2023 9:53am PDT · 1 comment

Fierce competition between two of the hottest and most highly valued security startups has turned into a legal battle. Orca Security, which became known for spotting glaring security flaws in Microsoft software, on Wednesday sued its biggest competitor, Wiz, alleging it illegally copied patented software that monitors data stored on cloud... Fierce competition between two of the hottest and most highly valued security startups has turned...

TSMC's chief executive officer, C. C. Wei. Photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

World’s Largest Chip Maker Rethinks Security, Responding to Pressures on Hiring

By Wayne Ma · Jul 12, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

HSINCHU, Taiwan—For decades, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest chip manufacturer, has been notorious for its extreme culture of secrecy and security, designed to both prevent cyberattacks and to ensure that employees and outsiders don’t steal information about the company’s sophisticated... HSINCHU, Taiwan—For decades, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s...

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming. Photo by Getty

ByteDance Plans Share Buyback for TikTok Employees Later This Year

By Kaya Yurieff and Cory Weinberg · Jul 11, 2023 2:00pm PDT

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, plans a share buyback for U.S. employees later this year, according to an email sent to current and former employees. The share sale could indicate that the company isn’t planning to go public anytime soon. Word of the buyback came the same day that ByteDance told employees it was... TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, plans a share buyback for U.S. employees later this...

Andrew Bosworth, chief technology officer of Meta Platforms, speaks during an online event last October. Photo by Getty Images

Meta Tech Chief’s Power Grows, Despite Missteps

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jul 10, 2023 6:00am PDT · 12 comments

Andrew Bosworth, chief technology officer of Meta Platforms, speaks during an online event last October. Photo by Getty Images

Meta Tech Chief’s Power Grows, Despite Missteps

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jul 10, 2023 6:00am PDT · 12 comments

Mark Zuckerberg and his longtime lieutenant, Andrew Bosworth, were at odds. It was mid-2019 and the two men held a series of discussions about Meta Platforms’ plans to build futuristic eyeglasses, part of Zuckerberg’s ambitions to control the hardware underpinnings of the next wave of technology. Bosworth—the imposing 6-foot,... Mark Zuckerberg and his longtime lieutenant, Andrew Bosworth, were at odds. It was mid-2019 and...

Neil Shen of Sequoia China, and Shailendra Singh of Sequoia India, now. Peak XV Partners. Photos by Getty.

Sequoia’s China and India Arms Court Global Backers After Split

By Juro Osawa and Natasha Mascarenhas · Jul 7, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Sequoia Capital’s Chinese and Indian arms are accelerating efforts to ensure that investors around the world back their funds after the Silicon Valley venture firm completes a landmark split from its Asian affiliates, ending a nearly two-decade partnership. Sequoia Capital China, led by star dealmaker Neil Shen, is planning to host a... Sequoia Capital’s Chinese and Indian arms are accelerating efforts to ensure that investors...

Photo by Getty.

Top OpenSea Policy Executive Exits

By Aidan Ryan · Jul 6, 2023 3:55pm PDT · 1 comment

OpenSea, the non-fungible token marketplace that rocketed to a $13.3 billion valuation at the peak of the crypto boom, is looking for a new senior policy and government affairs executive after Loni Mahanta, the policy executive it hired from Zillow, quietly left the company after just over a year. In her first interview since her exit in late... OpenSea, the non-fungible token marketplace that rocketed to a $13.3 billion valuation at the...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Inside Google’s Efforts to Develop Custom Chip for Pixel

By Wayne Ma · Jul 6, 2023 6:00am PDT · 8 comments

Google has big ambitions to develop its own chips for its Pixel phones. So far, however, things haven’t gone according to plan. The search giant has delayed by at least one year the release of its first fully customized chip, which would act as the brains for its Pixel line of smartphones, according to two people with direct knowledge of... Google has big ambitions to develop its own chips for its Pixel phones. So far, however, things...

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti speaks with Justin Killion, former president of Complex Networks, and BuzzFeed's former COO Christian Baesler. Photo by Getty

BuzzFeed’s Peretti Is Hoping to Raise $150 Million From Sale of Complex Assets

By Sahil Patel · Jul 5, 2023 12:49pm PDT · 3 comments

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti speaks with Justin Killion, former president of Complex Networks, and BuzzFeed's former COO Christian Baesler. Photo by Getty

BuzzFeed’s Peretti Is Hoping to Raise $150 Million From Sale of Complex Assets

By Sahil Patel · Jul 5, 2023 12:49pm PDT · 3 comments

For months, BuzzFeed stock has traded so low that the Nasdaq recently threatened the company with delisting. With BuzzFeed’s effort to sell Complex Networks, a group of websites targeted at people in hip-hop, fashion and sports, CEO Jonah Peretti has the chance to transform Wall Street’s view of the company. Peretti is asking $150... For months, BuzzFeed stock has traded so low that the Nasdaq recently threatened the company with...