Exclusive

Page 63
Sumo Logic CEO Ramin Sayar. Photo by Bloomberg.
Exclusive

Thoma Bravo, Vista Approach Sumo Logic About a Possible Buyout

By Maria Heeter and Aaron Holmes · Jan 23, 2023 11:50am PST
Private equity firms including Thoma Bravo, Vista Equity Partners and Francisco Partners have approached data analytics software company Sumo Logic expressing interest in a possible acquisition, according to a person familiar with the matter. This adds Sumo to the current list of possible enterprise software buyout targets. Thoma Bravo and Vista... Private equity firms including Thoma Bravo, Vista Equity Partners and Francisco Partners have...
Photo by Bloomberg.
Exclusive

Gemini is Laying Off More Staff, Citing ‘Bad Actors’ in Crypto Industry

By Aidan Ryan · Jan 23, 2023 9:08am PST
Gemini, the crypto startup whose customers have been caught up in the Genesis bankruptcy, is laying off 10% of staff, according to an internal message viewed by The Information. It’s at least the third round of cuts at Gemini in the past eight months. Gemini President Cameron Winklevoss informed staff, known internally as... Gemini, the crypto startup whose customers have been caught up in the Genesis bankruptcy, is...
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg
Exclusive

How Microsoft’s Stumbles Led to Its OpenAI Alliance

By Kevin McLaughlin and Aaron Holmes · Jan 23, 2023 6:00am PST · 4 comments
For more than a decade, Microsoft Research, the company’s in-house research group, has touted artificial intelligence breakthroughs such as translating speech to text and software that could understand human language or recognize objects in images. But the company’s effort to commercialize its AI research moved at more of a crawl,... For more than a decade, Microsoft Research, the company’s in-house research group, has...
Google's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Photo by Bloomberg
Google Laid Off High Performers and Earners While Largely Sparing ‘Brain’ AI Lab
By Amir Efrati and Jon Victor · Jan 20, 2023 2:20pm PST · 3 comments
Google's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Photo by Bloomberg
Exclusive

Google Laid Off High Performers and Earners While Largely Sparing ‘Brain’ AI Lab

By Amir Efrati and Jon Victor · Jan 20, 2023 2:20pm PST · 3 comments
Google's move to lay off 6.4% of staff on Friday didn’t come as a shock to most employees, but it stunned some of the individuals who were cut. Laid-off employees included those who had previously received high performance reviews or held managerial positions with annual compensation packages of $500,000 to $1 million, according... Google's move to lay off 6.4% of staff on Friday didn’t come as a shock to most...
Neil Shen. Photo by Bloomberg.
Exclusive

Sequoia Capital China Chief Leaves Beijing’s Top Political Advisory Body

By Shai Oster and Juro Osawa · Jan 20, 2023 4:06am PST · 4 comments
Neil Shen, the head of Sequoia Capital’s hugely successful Chinese arm, is no longer a member of Beijing’s top political advisory body, raising questions about his relationship with the Chinese government. His absence comes at a time when Sequoia Capital China is navigating a sensitive environment amid growing geopolitical tensions... Neil Shen, the head of Sequoia Capital’s hugely successful Chinese arm, is no longer a...
A woman walks by the New York City Twitter office on January 12, 2023. Photo via Getty Images.
Exclusive

Musk’s Twitter Saw Revenue Drop 35% in Q4, Sharply Below Projections

By Erin Woo · Jan 18, 2023 9:49am PST · 3 comments
Twitter’s fourth quarter revenue fell about 35% year over year to $1.025 billion, a top ad executive revealed at a staff meeting Wednesday, the most detailed sign yet of how much revenue has fallen. That was 72% of Twitter’s internal goal for the quarter, according to a slide showed to employees. The executive, Twitter’s... Twitter’s fourth quarter revenue fell about 35% year over year to $1.025 billion, a top ad...
Photo by Getty Images.
Exclusive

Meta Pressures Average-Rated Employees to Up Their Game

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Lauren Tara LaCapra · Jan 18, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment
At Meta Platforms, meeting expectations no longer meets expectations. Company leaders have told some managers that employees who receive a “meets all expectations” grade in their performance review have to up their game, said a current manager. In the past, employees receiving such a grade were told that was a positive sign. The new... At Meta Platforms, meeting expectations no longer meets expectations. Company leaders have told...
Photo by Bloomberg.
Twitter Manager: Daily Revenue Has Dropped 40%, 500 Top Advertisers Have Left
By Erin Woo · Jan 17, 2023 10:20pm PST · 1 comment
Photo by Bloomberg.
Exclusive

Twitter Manager: Daily Revenue Has Dropped 40%, 500 Top Advertisers Have Left

By Erin Woo · Jan 17, 2023 10:20pm PST · 1 comment
A senior Twitter manager told employees that the company’s daily revenue on Tuesday was 40% lower than the same day a year ago, underscoring the crisis facing its core ads business, according to a person with direct knowledge. In a staff meeting on Tuesday, Siddharth Rao, an engineering manager overseeing the engineers working on... A senior Twitter manager told employees that the company’s daily revenue on Tuesday was 40%...
Apple CEO Tim Cook in 2018. Photo by Bloomberg
Exclusive

Apple Working on Cheaper Mixed-Reality Headset to Reach More Consumers

By Wayne Ma · Jan 17, 2023 6:10pm PST · 2 comments
Apple’s first mixed-reality headset, which it has discussed pricing at around $3,000, could test the limits of how much Apple fans are willing to spend on one of its devices. But the company’s engineers are already at work on a more affordable version of the headset to reach more consumers, according to three people familiar with the... Apple’s first mixed-reality headset, which it has discussed pricing at around $3,000, could...
A ByteDance employee at the entrance to a ByteDance office in Beijing. Photo by Getty Images.
Exclusive

TikTok’s E-Commerce Management Structure Undercuts Claims of Autonomy From China

By Juro Osawa · Jan 17, 2023 6:00am PST · 2 comments
The new head of TikTok’s important push into e-commerce in the U.S. answers directly to a boss at the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, bypassing TikTok’s own CEO. The previously unreported structure could undercut TikTok’s efforts to convince Washington lawmakers that it can operate independently from ByteDance. Sandie... The new head of TikTok’s important push into e-commerce in the U.S. answers directly to a...
Clearco's departing CEO, Michele Romanow, in 2019. Photo by Bloomberg
Exclusive

CEO of SoftBank-Backed Clearco Resigns as Onetime Fintech Darling Cuts Staff

By Jon Victor · Jan 15, 2023 4:49pm PST · 6 comments
The CEO of Clearco, which provides capital to e-commerce businesses in exchange for a cut of future revenue, has resigned the post, according to a person with direct knowledge of the situation. The departing leader, Michele Romanow, co-founded Toronto-based Clearco in 2015 and is one of Canada’s most prominent entrepreneurs. She is being... The CEO of Clearco, which provides capital to e-commerce businesses in exchange for a cut of...
Elon Musk.
Musk’s Twitter Intentionally Suspended Tweetbot, Third-Party Apps, Messages Show
By Erin Woo · Jan 14, 2023 3:03pm PST · 5 comments
Elon Musk.
Exclusive

Musk’s Twitter Intentionally Suspended Tweetbot, Third-Party Apps, Messages Show

By Erin Woo · Jan 14, 2023 3:03pm PST · 5 comments
The mysterious outage of Tweetbot and other third-party Twitter clients that began Thursday night was an intentional suspension, according to internal messages viewed by The Information. The suspension cut off the ability of people to use Twitter on outside apps, forcing them to go to Twitter’s own app. The reason for the suspension... The mysterious outage of Tweetbot and other third-party Twitter clients that began Thursday night...
Art by Mike Sullivan via Shutterstock
Exclusive

General Catalyst, Spark in Talks to Back OpenAI Rival

By Kate Clark, Erin Woo and Amir Efrati · Jan 12, 2023 12:00pm PST
OpenAI is bringing back an element of the tech boom that had briefly gone dormant: steep valuations. As the artificial intelligence developer talks to Microsoft and others about a deal valuing it at more than $20 billion, at least 100 times its projected revenue this year, rival startups are trying to score similarly high prices from venture... OpenAI is bringing back an element of the tech boom that had briefly gone dormant: steep...
Photo by Bloomberg.
Exclusive

Google Cloud’s Top U.S. Sales Execs Depart in Shakeup as Profits Remain Elusive

By Jon Victor, Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Jan 12, 2023 8:46am PST
Google’s cloud computing unit on Thursday made sweeping changes to its leadership, including replacing its top U.S. sales executive and one of her lieutenants, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The changes, announced to employees, include the departure of Kirsten Kliphouse, the top U.S. sales executive. She is being... Google’s cloud computing unit on Thursday made sweeping changes to its leadership,...
Stripe's Bay Area office. Photo by Bloomberg.
Exclusive

Stripe Cuts Internal Valuation by 11%, Implying $63 Billion Valuation

By Maria Heeter · Jan 11, 2023 5:04pm PST · 13 comments
Stripe has cut the internal value of its shares by about 11%, implying a valuation of $63 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. It’s at least the third time since June that the payments startup has cut its internal valuation, following a smaller cut in October, and brings the total reduction to about 40% in the past six... Stripe has cut the internal value of its shares by about 11%, implying a valuation of $63...
Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat. Photo by Bloomberg
Alphabet Job Cuts Widen to Robotics Subsidiary
By Jon Victor · Jan 11, 2023 3:29pm PST
Alphabet Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat. Photo by Bloomberg
Exclusive

Alphabet Job Cuts Widen to Robotics Subsidiary

By Jon Victor · Jan 11, 2023 3:29pm PST
Less than a month ago, Alphabet’s industrial robotics subsidiary Intrinsic said it acquired a team of people from a software development firm called Open Robotics. On Wednesday, Intrinsic went in the other direction by laying off 40 employees, a spokesperson confirmed to The Information. A person close to the company said the layoffs... Less than a month ago, Alphabet’s industrial robotics subsidiary Intrinsic said it acquired...
Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. Photo via Getty Images
Exclusive

Twitter’s Efforts to Court Advertisers Turns Them Off

By Sahil Patel and Erin Woo · Jan 11, 2023 11:54am PST
Twitter’s ad business is not recovering. Clients of WPP-owned GroupM, the world’s largest ad-buying firm, have cut their spending on Twitter by between 40% and 50% since Elon Musk took control of the company in late October, according to people familiar with the matter. Standard Media Index, an ad industry firm that tracks... Twitter’s ad business is not recovering. Clients of WPP-owned GroupM, the world’s...
From left: Peter Thiel, Vinod Khosla, Tim Cook, Satya Nadella, Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai and Marc Benioff. Photos by Bloomberg, Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan.
Exclusive

Microsoft + OpenAI: Inside Tech’s Hottest Romance

By Erin Woo, Aaron Holmes and Jessica E. Lessin · Jan 11, 2023 8:17am PST · 8 comments
Three years ago, as Microsoft sought to overtake Amazon and Google in cloud computing and artificial intelligence, the company made a major move. It invested $1 billion into a project originally co-founded by Elon Musk, former Y Combinator president Sam Altman and other tech leaders to create artificial general intelligence—software that... Three years ago, as Microsoft sought to overtake Amazon and Google in cloud computing and...
A scene from the 2017 day when Okta went public. Photo by AP.
Exclusive

Okta Chief Revenue Officer Departs Amid Sales Shakeup

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 10, 2023 12:38pm PST · 2 comments
Okta’s chief revenue officer, Steve Rowland, is leaving the identity and access management software provider at the end of the month, according to a current Okta employee. Rowland’s departure, less than two years after the enterprise software veteran joined Okta, comes as Okta is grappling with an industrywide slowdown in the... Okta’s chief revenue officer, Steve Rowland, is leaving the identity and access management...
Redfin, with a market capitalization of less than $600 million, had $1.3 billion of convertible debt on its books as of September. Photo by Bloomberg.
The Looming Debt Crunch Facing Tech Companies Like The RealReal
By Cory Weinberg · Jan 10, 2023 8:08am PST · 5 comments
Redfin, with a market capitalization of less than $600 million, had $1.3 billion of convertible debt on its books as of September. Photo by Bloomberg.
Exclusive

The Looming Debt Crunch Facing Tech Companies Like The RealReal

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 10, 2023 8:08am PST · 5 comments
In 2020, a wave of public tech companies—including The RealReal, Vroom and Redfin—began selling record amounts of ultra-low-interest bonds that would convert into shares if the companies’ stocks kept soaring. Instead, stocks have been crushed, and a wall of potentially crippling or course-altering debt now looms over some... In 2020, a wave of public tech companies—including The RealReal, Vroom and...