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Disney CEO Bob Chapek. Photo by Bloomberg.

Disney+ U.S. Growth Slows Sharply in First Half of 2021, Internal Data Shows

By Wayne Ma and Jessica Toonkel · Jul 2, 2021 10:24am PDT · 1 comment

U.S. subscriber growth at Disney’s Disney+ streaming service slowed sharply in the past few months, according to internal data reviewed by The Information, with most of the growth in the service this year coming from India and Latin America. The slowdown is sure to intensify a debate about whether Disney should broaden the programming on... U.S. subscriber growth at Disney’s Disney+ streaming service slowed sharply in the past few...

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev. Photo: Bloomberg

Robinhood Valued at $55 Billion on Secondary Market Ahead of IPO

By Kate Clark · Jul 1, 2021 2:06pm PDT · 5 comments

Anticipation of Robinhood’s upcoming initial public offering, which took a step forward when the stock-trading app filed paperwork for the offering with the SEC on Thursday, has prompted secondary market investors to offer to buy its private shares at an implied valuation of $55 billion. That’s two-thirds higher than... Anticipation of Robinhood’s upcoming initial public offering, which took a step forward...

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Photo by Bloomberg

SoftBank’s $12 Billion Bet on Didi Returns 14%

By Amir Efrati, Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Jun 30, 2021 2:31pm PDT · 2 comments

SoftBank Group has been hailed as a big winner from Didi Chuxing’s initial public offering on Wednesday. But in actuality, its returns are piddly. SoftBank invested a total of around $12 billion in the company, according to a person familiar with the matter. Based on Didi’s closing price today of $14.14—up 1% from its IPO... SoftBank Group has been hailed as a big winner from Didi Chuxing’s initial public offering...

Jack Antonoff of Bleachers performing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2019. Photo by AP

Spotify Explores Expansion Into Events

By Jessica Toonkel · Jun 30, 2021 9:00am PDT

Jack Antonoff of Bleachers performing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in 2019. Photo by AP

Spotify Explores Expansion Into Events

By Jessica Toonkel · Jun 30, 2021 9:00am PDT

Spotify is considering entering the events business, using data about consumer interests gleaned from its music-streaming service to host virtual and possibly live concerts, according to people familiar with the situation. The move could help Spotify improve its relations with music artists, which historically have been strained, with musicians... Spotify is considering entering the events business, using data about consumer interests gleaned...

Image courtesy of Waymo

Investors Pressured Waymo to Focus on Business Sooner

By Sarah Krouse · Jun 30, 2021 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

When dozens of self-driving Jaguar prototypes developed by Alphabet’s Waymo started criss-crossing San Francisco in February, it was a sign that the pioneering company had decided it was ready to graduate from the suburbs of Phoenix, the first place where it charged customers for driverless rides, to a more difficult urban environment. But... When dozens of self-driving Jaguar prototypes developed by Alphabet’s Waymo started...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Apple’s Spending on Google Cloud Storage On Track to Soar 50% This Year

By Amir Efrati and Kevin McLaughlin · Jun 29, 2021 6:00am PDT

Apple executives have taken swipes at Google in the past over its privacy practices. But the iPhone maker trusts Google enough so that over the past year it has dramatically increased the amount of Apple user data it stores in Google’s cloud, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The increase cements Apple’s... Apple executives have taken swipes at Google in the past over its privacy practices. But the...

Benchmark partners Sarah Tavel (l), Eric Vishria(center) and Peter Fenton (r). Photos by Getty Images, Bloomberg. Photo illustration by Mike Sullivan.

Benchmark’s VC Model Strained by Newcomers, Supersize Rivals

By Berber Jin · Jun 28, 2021 6:01am PDT

In April of last year, Michael Grinich got a call most startup founders only dream about. Eric Vishria, a partner at Benchmark, one of the most prestigious VC firms, said he was interested in investing in Grinich’s then-two-year-old software startup, WorkOS, which helps other software startups sell their products to large companies.... In April of last year, Michael Grinich got a call most startup founders only dream about. Eric...

Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Marc Benioff. Photos by Bloomberg.

FTC Heard Concerns From Salesforce, Zendesk Over Facebook’s $1 Billion CRM Buy

By Josh Sisco · Jun 25, 2021 8:01am PDT · 1 comment

Mark Zuckerberg, left, and Marc Benioff. Photos by Bloomberg.

FTC Heard Concerns From Salesforce, Zendesk Over Facebook’s $1 Billion CRM Buy

By Josh Sisco · Jun 25, 2021 8:01am PDT · 1 comment

Salesforce and Zendesk, which sell customer relationship management software, expressed concern about Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of a smaller CRM firm to Federal Trade Commission lawyers reviewing the deal, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. That’s one reason the proposed acquisition, which just a few... Salesforce and Zendesk, which sell customer relationship management software, expressed concern...

Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan. Photo by Bloomberg

New FTC Chair Lina Khan Appoints Antitrust Chief, Other Key Staffers

By Josh Sisco · Jun 24, 2021 12:54pm PDT · 1 comment

Lina Khan, the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission, on Thursday named three top staff members amid one of the most radical shifts in the agency’s history, according to a memo viewed by The Information. Holly Vedova, who was an adviser to FTC commissioner Rohit Chopra, a Democrat, on antitrust issues, is now the acting director of the... Lina Khan, the new chair of the Federal Trade Commission, on Thursday named three top staff...

Apps on a Vizio television set, including for YouTube and YouTube TV. Photo from Vizio

YouTube’s Audience on TVs Soars, But TV Advertisers Go Slow

By Sahil Patel · Jun 23, 2021 6:00am PDT

Viewers of YouTube, who have long watched the popular video service on their phones and computers, are now increasingly watching it on television sets, according to new data shared with The Information. But despite the shift, some traditional TV advertisers are still balking at moving their ad dollars to the service. Nearly 40% of ads that air... Viewers of YouTube, who have long watched the popular video service on their phones and...

A screengrab of One Piece: Blood Routes via YouTube

TikTok Owner ByteDance Finds Game Success Through Influencers

By Juro Osawa · Jun 22, 2021 9:01am PDT · 2 comments

ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, has proved it can generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue from online ads on its blockbuster video apps. Now it may finally have figured out how to get a bigger piece of the huge games market, after having made repeated missteps in the category. In April, ByteDance launched a new mobile... ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok, has proved it can generate tens of billions of...

Photos by Bloomberg. Photo illustration by Mike Sullivan.

Amazon Says Its Suppliers Must Protect Whistleblowers. This One’s in Jail

By Wayne Ma · Jun 22, 2021 6:01am PDT

Photos by Bloomberg. Photo illustration by Mike Sullivan.

Amazon Says Its Suppliers Must Protect Whistleblowers. This One’s in Jail

By Wayne Ma · Jun 22, 2021 6:01am PDT

Amazon says it expects its manufacturers to protect whistleblowers, but that wasn’t enough to help a manager who raised alarms about labor violations involving teenage workers at a Chinese factory that made Kindles and Echos. In 2019, the manager secretly sent records showing how the factory’s student interns were underpaid and... Amazon says it expects its manufacturers to protect whistleblowers, but that wasn’t enough...

Photo: Bloomberg

Shopify Seeks to Challenge Amazon Through Deals With BuzzFeed, Other Sites

By Jessica Toonkel and Sahil Patel · Jun 21, 2021 6:01am PDT · 2 comments

Shopify, which has become a major force in e-commerce by providing online tools to merchants, is rolling out a new service that will allow content publishers to link to merchants in the Shopify network in exchange for a cut of transaction revenue, according to people familiar with the situation. The nascent move into an area known as affiliate... Shopify, which has become a major force in e-commerce by providing online tools to merchants, is...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The New York Times and The Athletic End Acquisition Talks

By Sahil Patel · Jun 17, 2021 3:07pm PDT · 1 comment

The New York Times and subscription sports news site The Athletic have ended their acquisition talks, according to people familiar with the matter. The demise of the deal—which would have united one of media’s best known legacy brands with a respected up-and-comer—came down to money. The people familiar with the matter said the... The New York Times and subscription sports news site The Athletic have ended their acquisition...

Photo of Jonah Peretti by Bloomberg. Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Inside Jonah Peretti’s Rollup Playbook

By Jessica Toonkel and Sahil Patel · Jun 17, 2021 6:01am PDT · 1 comment

In 2018, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti issued a cri de coeur to the digital media industry, telling his fellow moguls that all of them, BuzzFeed included, needed to start merging so they could more effectively stand up to Google and Facebook, the internet’s advertising powerhouses. But then a funny thing happened: Peretti went dark on the... In 2018, BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti issued a cri de coeur to the digital media industry, telling...

Art: Mike Sullivan

Google’s Next AI Move: Teaching Foreign Languages

By Sarah Krouse · Jun 16, 2021 9:01am PDT

Art: Mike Sullivan

Google’s Next AI Move: Teaching Foreign Languages

By Sarah Krouse · Jun 16, 2021 9:01am PDT

Google CEO Sundar Pichai last month previewed an artificial intelligence model that he said would enable people to have open-ended conversations with technology. But current and former employees who have worked with the language model say enabling coherent, free-flowing and accurate dialogue between humans and technology remains a tall order. As... Google CEO Sundar Pichai last month previewed an artificial intelligence model that he said would...

Photos provided by Amazon

Amazon’s Airplanes Move Cargo for U.S. Postal Service

By Paris Martineau · Jun 15, 2021 8:00am PDT

Over the past several years, Amazon has dramatically expanded its fleet of aircraft to help it ship Amazon orders to customers faster. The growth has been so dramatic that it has fueled speculation Amazon would eventually begin flying cargo from other companies, not just Amazon packages, on its jets, whose tail fins are emblazoned with its... Over the past several years, Amazon has dramatically expanded its fleet of aircraft to help it...

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, left, and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Photos by Bloomberg; AP

Nvidia’s $40 Billion Takeover of Arm Faces New Foe: European Vacations

By Josh Sisco · Jun 15, 2021 6:00am PDT

Nine months after Nvidia, the second-most valuable microchip developer in the world, announced its $40 billion takeover of SoftBank-owned chip designer Arm Holdings, the companies are facing delays in submitting the deal for approval by the European Union’s antitrust regulator, according to three people involved in the process. The... Nine months after Nvidia, the second-most valuable microchip developer in the world, announced...

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. Photo by Bloomberg.

BuzzFeed To Raise $200 Million in Bonds As SPAC Deal Nears

By Jessica Toonkel, Martin Peers and Sahil Patel · Jun 10, 2021 11:09am PDT

BuzzFeed is in discussions to raise about $200 million in convertible bonds to supplement cash it will raise by merging with a special purpose acquisition company, say people familiar with the situation. The financing will help BuzzFeed fund the acquisition of digital lifestyle publisher Complex Networks, which is being negotiated at an equity... BuzzFeed is in discussions to raise about $200 million in convertible bonds to supplement cash it...

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Photo by Bloomberg.

SoftBank Ramps Up Software Bets With $1.3 Billion Tungee Talks

By Yunan Zhang, Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Jun 9, 2021 10:03am PDT

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Photo by Bloomberg.

SoftBank Ramps Up Software Bets With $1.3 Billion Tungee Talks

By Yunan Zhang, Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Jun 9, 2021 10:03am PDT

SoftBank is ramping up its software bets—as aggressively as ever. The investment firm is in talks to invest in Chinese software as a service firm Tungee at a $1.3 billion valuation, even as a group of other venture capitalists are investing in the firm at a $1 billion valuation, two people with knowledge of the fundraising discussions... SoftBank is ramping up its software bets—as aggressively as ever. The investment firm is in...