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Illustration by Jesus Escudero

The Tech Tussle Over Gartner’s ‘Magic Quadrant’

By Kevin McLaughlin · Apr 5, 2022 6:00am PDT · 6 comments

Jay Chaudhry wasn’t happy when the interlopers arrived in his space—one of the most coveted corners in all of tech. The corner in question was part of a chart called a Magic Quadrant, published by Gartner. The tech research firm used it to show how the products made by Chaudhry’s company—a cybersecurity firm,... Jay Chaudhry wasn’t happy when the interlopers arrived in his space—one of the most...

Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings. Photo by Bloomberg.

Netflix Tells Employees to Be More Careful About Spending, Hiring

By Jessica Toonkel · Apr 1, 2022 12:04pm PDT

Netflix is tightening its belt. In two separate meetings over the past few weeks, Netflix executives cautioned employees to be more mindful about spending and hiring, according to three people familiar with the discussions. The comments, made at an employee town hall on Monday as well as during a management offsite held last month in Anaheim,... Netflix is tightening its belt. In two separate meetings over the past few weeks, Netflix...

Fast CEO Domm Holland at a company event. Photo: Fast

Stripe-Backed ‘Fast’ Seeks Buyer After Struggling to Raise Capital

By Malique Morris and Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 31, 2022 8:56pm PDT · 8 comments

Fast, a startup that develops one-click checkout software for online merchants, is trying to find a buyer after failing to raise a new round of funding, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. Fast has raised about $120 million from investors including payments firm Stripe and Index ventures, but its main product, which helps... Fast, a startup that develops one-click checkout software for online merchants, is trying to find...

Peter Chernin. Photo by Bloomberg.

Chernin Looks to Acquire TV Studios in Expansion Plan

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 31, 2022 9:22am PDT · 1 comment

Peter Chernin. Photo by Bloomberg.

Chernin Looks to Acquire TV Studios in Expansion Plan

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 31, 2022 9:22am PDT · 1 comment

Media mogul Peter Chernin wants to expand aggressively in film and TV production. Chernin, a former top executive at Rupert Murdoch’s empire who has built his own media fiefdom over the past decade, is scouting for acquisitions that could scale his company to a point where it could go public in the next three years, according to people... Media mogul Peter Chernin wants to expand aggressively in film and TV production. Chernin, a...

Signage at Qualcomm headquarters in San Diego. Photo: Bloomberg.

Why Qualcomm Failed to Land Meta as Its Flagship AI Chip Customer

By Stephen Nellis · Mar 31, 2022 6:00am PDT

Qualcomm is the world’s biggest supplier of mobile phone processors, having perfected the art of packing computing capability into power-efficient chips. In 2019, the San Diego company declared its ambitions to use its energy efficiency expertise to break into the fast-growing market for the artificial intelligence chips used in data... Qualcomm is the world’s biggest supplier of mobile phone processors, having perfected the...

Fast HQ in San Francisco. Photo by Fast.

Stripe-Backed Fast Puts Job Cuts on the Table as It Tries to Raise Money

By Malique Morris and Kate Clark · Mar 30, 2022 10:30am PDT · 1 comment

Domm Holland, CEO of one-click checkout startup Fast, is telling potential new investors that the company plans to cut hundreds of jobs, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told The Information. The cuts would mark a dramatic setback for the three-year-old Fast, which has raised a total of $124 million from payments giant Stripe and... Domm Holland, CEO of one-click checkout startup Fast, is telling potential new investors that the...

Lachy Groom. Photo by Getty Images.

Solo Venture Capitalists Go Big

By Kate Clark · Mar 30, 2022 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Solo venture capitalists, a growing breed of individual tech investors who compete with traditional Silicon Valley venture capital firms, are raising bigger funds, writing larger checks and beefing up staff even as worsening macroeconomic conditions push down startup valuations and force cost cutting. Lachy Groom, a former Stripe product leader... Solo venture capitalists, a growing breed of individual tech investors who compete with...

GoPuff advertisements in NYC. Photo by Business Wire

Gopuff Plans Hundreds of Layoffs to Cut $40 Million in Costs

By Berber Jin · Mar 29, 2022 5:34pm PDT · 1 comment

GoPuff advertisements in NYC. Photo by Business Wire

Gopuff Plans Hundreds of Layoffs to Cut $40 Million in Costs

By Berber Jin · Mar 29, 2022 5:34pm PDT · 1 comment

Gopuff, the instant-delivery company valued at $15 billion last fall, is preparing to lay off hundreds of employees, or around 3% of its global workforce, said a person with knowledge of the matter. The cuts are part of an effort to reduce annual head count costs by at least $40 million, said another person who was briefed about the move. The... Gopuff, the instant-delivery company valued at $15 billion last fall, is preparing to lay off...

Photo by Fast.

Why Stripe’s ‘Fast’ Horse Is Losing the One-Click Checkout Race

By Malique Morris · Mar 29, 2022 6:00am PDT · 7 comments

Several startups have been racing to sell software known as one-click checkout to retailers such as The Honest Company and Forever 21 to speed up how their customers pay for products online. But Fast, the only startup in the field backed by payments provider Stripe, has been slow to grow its business and is far behind rivals. The San... Several startups have been racing to sell software known as one-click checkout to retailers such...

Neil Shen, head of Sequoia China, in 2013. Photo: Fortune via Flickr

Sequoia Capital’s China Arm Seeks $8 Billion in New Funds, Defying Tech Rout

By Juro Osawa · Mar 25, 2022 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

The Chinese affiliate of Sequoia Capital, whose vast portfolio includes TikTok owner ByteDance and online fashion startup Shein, is in early talks with U.S.-based and other institutional investors to raise more than $8 billion across four new funds, according to three people familiar with the matter. It is trying to pull off one of the biggest... The Chinese affiliate of Sequoia Capital, whose vast portfolio includes TikTok owner ByteDance...

Ben Silbermann, co-founder and CEO of Pinterest. Photo by Bloomberg; Art by Mike Sullivan

Indecision at Pinterest

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 25, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Last fall, executives at Pinterest were inching toward an agreement to acquire Verishop, an online shopping platform that Pinterest had been negotiating with for at least two months, according to two people familiar with the situation. The deal could have helped the internet scrapbooking service accelerate its belated commerce efforts. But the... Last fall, executives at Pinterest were inching toward an agreement to acquire Verishop, an...

Fidji Simo, chief executive officer of Instacart Inc.

Instacart to Open Gopuff-Like Warehouses for 15-Minute Delivery

By Berber Jin · Mar 23, 2022 12:24pm PDT · 1 comment

Fidji Simo, chief executive officer of Instacart Inc.

Instacart to Open Gopuff-Like Warehouses for 15-Minute Delivery

By Berber Jin · Mar 23, 2022 12:24pm PDT · 1 comment

Instacart plans to launch a 15-minute–delivery service for grocery retailers including Publix as early as next month, said a person with direct knowledge of the matter. For the initiative, Instacart would operate its own network of warehouses, which it calls nano-fulfillment centers, that supermarket chains could use to store their... Instacart plans to launch a 15-minute–delivery service for grocery retailers including...

A photo of Worldcoin operators and the orb device in Chile. Photo: Worldcoin.

Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Back Worldcoin in Deal Valuing Tokens at $3 Billion

By Kate Clark and Berber Jin · Mar 22, 2022 3:30pm PDT · 3 comments

Worldcoin, the cryptocurrency startup co-founded by former Y Combinator president Sam Altman, is raising $100 million from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, a previous backer, and Khosla Ventures through the sale of its Worldcoin tokens, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The new investment values the total... Worldcoin, the cryptocurrency startup co-founded by former Y Combinator president Sam Altman, is...

Illustration by Josh Brill.

The Amazon Rollup Model Starts to Show Strain

By Mark Di Stefano · Mar 21, 2022 6:01am PDT · 1 comment

It was not long ago that Factory14, a Luxembourg-based startup focused on buying small firms that sell directly to consumers on Amazon and other online marketplaces, was flying high. The company came out of stealth mode in May with a $200 million war chest in equity and debt and announced its first acquisition: U.K.-based Pro Bike Tool, a seller... It was not long ago that Factory14, a Luxembourg-based startup focused on buying small firms that...

Photo by AP.

Tech Executives Threatened With Jail Time Under Proposed U.K. Law

By Mark Di Stefano and Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Mar 16, 2022 12:32pm PDT · 6 comments

Executives from Facebook parent Meta Platforms, TikTok and other big tech companies would face the prospect of jail time under sweeping new legislation proposed by the U.K. government that aims to curb illegal and harmful internet content. Under the Online Safety Bill, to be introduced on Thursday, tech executives may face criminal... Executives from Facebook parent Meta Platforms, TikTok and other big tech companies would face...

Google co-founder Sergey Brin wearing Google Glass, the company's failed consumer smart glasses, a decade ago.

Google Buys Hardware Startup Raxium to Fuel AR Ambitions

By Josh Sisco, Stephen Nellis, Mathew Olson and Sarah Krouse · Mar 16, 2022 11:30am PDT · 1 comment

Google co-founder Sergey Brin wearing Google Glass, the company's failed consumer smart glasses, a decade ago.

Google Buys Hardware Startup Raxium to Fuel AR Ambitions

By Josh Sisco, Stephen Nellis, Mathew Olson and Sarah Krouse · Mar 16, 2022 11:30am PDT · 1 comment

Google has struck a deal to buy Raxium, a five-year-old startup that develops tiny light-emitting diodes for displays used in augmented and mixed reality devices, according to people familiar with the deal. The acquisition, which has not been previously reported, is a sign that Google wants to own more of the physical components needed to... Google has struck a deal to buy Raxium, a five-year-old startup that develops tiny light-emitting...

From left: Apple's Tim Cook, Erik Neuenschwander, Craig Federighi, Eddy Cue and Phil Schiller. Photos by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

Inside Apple’s Decision to Blow Up the Digital Ads Business

By Wayne Ma · Mar 14, 2022 6:00am PDT · 7 comments

For years, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been the most vocal privacy champion among all of big tech’s top leaders. But within Apple, a decision to curtail ad tracking of iPhone users in 2020 sparked an intense debate about just how far to push privacy changes poised to upend the digital advertising industry. On one side of the discussions... For years, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been the most vocal privacy champion among all of big...

Workers from Instacart, the same-day grocery delivery service, receive instructions at a grocery store. Photo by AP.

Fidelity, T. Rowe Mark Down Instacart Stake by Up to 18%

By Berber Jin · Mar 11, 2022 1:59pm PST · 1 comment

Some large investors in Instacart have marked down the value of their stakes in the privately held grocery-delivery company by as much as 18% since it raised funds a year ago at a $39 billion post-investment valuation, previously unreported figures show. The moves indicate that the recent sell-off in technology stocks may be starting to affect... Some large investors in Instacart have marked down the value of their stakes in the privately...

From left to right, Bessemer partners Jeremy Levine, Talia Goldberg, Ethan Kurzweil and Charles Birnbaum. Photo credit: Jerry Yoon.

Venture Firm Bessemer Creates DAO, Earmarks $250 Million for Crypto Deals

By Kate Clark · Mar 10, 2022 11:09am PST

Venture capitalists’ efforts to earn the respect of sought-after cryptocurrency entrepreneurs have reached a new peak: The biggest firms are now starting decentralized autonomous organizations, communities that pool cryptocurrency tokens and vote collectively on the group’s activities. Bessemer Venture Partners is one of the first to... Venture capitalists’ efforts to earn the respect of sought-after cryptocurrency...

Disney CEO Bob Chapek. Photo by AP

Bob Chapek is Finally Pushing Disney Out of its Comfort Zone

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 9, 2022 6:00am PST

Disney CEO Bob Chapek. Photo by AP

Bob Chapek is Finally Pushing Disney Out of its Comfort Zone

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 9, 2022 6:00am PST

Bob Iger only left the building at Walt Disney Co.’s headquarters at the end of December, and his successor as CEO, Bob Chapek, is already doing things differently. In the months since Iger’s departure, Chapek has developed plans to launch a cheaper ad-supported version of its flagship Disney+ streaming service and has explored... Bob Iger only left the building at Walt Disney Co.’s headquarters at the end of December,...