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Art by Mike Sullivan.

ByteDance’s Revenue More Than Doubled in 2020

By Juro Osawa and Yunan Zhang · Jan 26, 2021 6:01am PST · 2 comments

You might have thought TikTok’s owner ByteDance had a tough year in 2020, what with President Trump trying to ban TikTok and India actually taking that step. But none of that mattered to ByteDance’s actual business, which grew like gangbusters. ByteDance’s revenue last year more than doubled to about $37 billion, people with... You might have thought TikTok’s owner ByteDance had a tough year in 2020, what with...

A truck next to an Amazon delivery station in New Jersey in October. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Expands Secretive Trucking Program

By Paris Martineau · Jan 25, 2021 6:00am PST · 2 comments

Amazon’s effort to exert control over the trucking of goods to its customers is moving quickly. In a little over a year, more than 130 small trucking companies around the globe have agreed to transport freight exclusively for Amazon, The Information has learned. Those companies have leased over 1,100 Amazon-branded tractors, the cab units... Amazon’s effort to exert control over the trucking of goods to its customers is moving...

Clubhouse Co-Founder and CEO Paul Davison. Photo: Bloomberg

Clubhouse Gets Investment Interest at $1 Billion Valuation

By Zoë Bernard, Kate Clark and Alex Heath · Jan 22, 2021 6:24pm PST · 17 comments

Update: On Sunday, Clubhouse confirmed it raised a Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Read more details in our brief. The race to invest in social audio app Clubhouse is on again. Venture capital firms have approached the startup’s founders in recent weeks about leading its potential next round of funding at a roughly $1... Update: On Sunday, Clubhouse confirmed it raised a Series B round led by Andreessen...

Zach Perret, CEO and co-founder of Plaid, spoke during the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit in Salt Lake City last year. Photo: Bloomberg

Plaid Shareholders Field Offers at $15 Billion After Merger Collapse

By Kate Clark · Jan 21, 2021 1:47pm PST · 2 comments

Zach Perret, CEO and co-founder of Plaid, spoke during the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit in Salt Lake City last year. Photo: Bloomberg

Plaid Shareholders Field Offers at $15 Billion After Merger Collapse

By Kate Clark · Jan 21, 2021 1:47pm PST · 2 comments

Normally CEOs that opt to sell their companies aren’t happy when the government blocks the deal over antitrust concerns. But that doesn’t appear to be the case with Plaid, a fintech startup that has seen a surge in investor interest since federal regulators blocked its merger last week with Visa. So far, the prospective investors... Normally CEOs that opt to sell their companies aren’t happy when the government blocks the...

Patreon CEO Jack Conte. Photo courtesy of Patreon

Patreon Considers Public Listing as Soon as This Year

By Ross Matican and Amir Efrati · Jan 20, 2021 6:45pm PST

Patreon, the online service that allows podcasters, musicians and other artists to receive direct financial support from fans, is considering a public listing as soon as this year, said a person with knowledge of discussions. The San Francisco startup has met with banks and has been approached by special purpose acquisition companies, though the... Patreon, the online service that allows podcasters, musicians and other artists to receive direct...

Rioters breached barricades to enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Photo: Bloomberg

Airbnb Used Facebook and Twitter to Weed Out Hate Groups

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 20, 2021 6:02am PST · 1 comment

For the past few years, a specialized team of about half a dozen employees within Airbnb has been assigned an urgent task: preventing white nationalists and other potentially dangerous fringe groups from renting homes on the site. Working inside the company’s trust and safety unit, the employees comb through Facebook, Twitter and far-right... For the past few years, a specialized team of about half a dozen employees within Airbnb has been...

Andreessen Horowitz co-founders Marc Andreessen (left) and Ben Horowitz. Photo by Bloomberg.

Andreessen Horowitz Looks to Launch Opinion Publication as Its Media Ambition Grows

By Zoë Bernard · Jan 19, 2021 5:39pm PST · 5 comments

Silicon Valley investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, which once courted attention from the news media, is ramping up its own media efforts. The firm plans to expand its publication of content related to technology and business on its website through an opinion section that publishes articles from outside contributors, according to people briefed... Silicon Valley investment firm Andreessen Horowitz, which once courted attention from the news...

Vice CEO Nancy Dubuc. Photo by Bloomberg.

Inside Nancy Dubuc’s Quest to Rehabilitate Vice

By Jessica Toonkel · Jan 19, 2021 6:00am PST · 4 comments

Vice CEO Nancy Dubuc. Photo by Bloomberg.

Inside Nancy Dubuc’s Quest to Rehabilitate Vice

By Jessica Toonkel · Jan 19, 2021 6:00am PST · 4 comments

When television veteran Nancy Dubuc took over as CEO of Vice Media in the spring of 2018, cash was so tight that company executives were debating whether they should cancel the Friday morning ritual of free donuts and bagels for staff. Once the irreverent darling of the new media sector, known for its online news and TV documentaries, Vice was... When television veteran Nancy Dubuc took over as CEO of Vice Media in the spring of 2018, cash...

David Barrett, CEO of Expensify. Photo courtesy of Expensify.

Expensify in Talks With SPACs About a Potential Merger

By Ross Matican · Jan 15, 2021 4:39pm PST

Expensify, a startup that sells expense management software, has been in talks with special purpose acquisition companies about a possible merger to take it public, say two people familiar with the discussions. The 13-year-old software company is also considering a direct listing with an accompanying capital raising, said one of the people. Its... Expensify, a startup that sells expense management software, has been in talks with special...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Plans Podcasting Subscription Service in Threat to Spotify

By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · Jan 15, 2021 9:26am PST · 8 comments

Apple—long considered the sleeping giant in the podcast space—is waking up. The company, which runs the most widely used podcasting app in the industry, is discussing launching a new subscription service that would charge people to listen to podcasts, according to people familiar with the matter. Such a service could pose a threat to... Apple—long considered the sleeping giant in the podcast space—is waking up. The...

Samsung QLED televisions on display at the company's Digital Plaza store in Seoul. Photo by Bloomberg.

Samsung’s Peacock Standoff with NBCUniversal Shows Power of TV Makers

By Jessica Toonkel · Jan 15, 2021 6:00am PST · 5 comments

As streaming TV becomes the default viewing option for Americans, the makers of streaming devices are taking the place of cable operators as gatekeepers, deciding what streaming services will be available to viewers. Increasingly the gatekeepers include not only Roku and Amazon but smart TV makers such as Samsung. NBCUniversal is learning that... As streaming TV becomes the default viewing option for Americans, the makers of streaming devices...

Snap's Ben Schwerin on stage at the virtual Snap Partner Summit 2020. Screengrab via YouTube

Snap Names New Content Leader in Push to Counter TikTok

By Alex Heath · Jan 14, 2021 6:24pm PST

Snap's Ben Schwerin on stage at the virtual Snap Partner Summit 2020. Screengrab via YouTube

Snap Names New Content Leader in Push to Counter TikTok

By Alex Heath · Jan 14, 2021 6:24pm PST

Snap has promoted executive Ben Schwerin to be its new senior vice president of content and partnerships, a move that signals the company’s ambitions to compete more aggressively with TikTok and to cut more deals with media companies and app developers. As part of the change, Chief Strategy Officer Jared Grusd, who previously oversaw... Snap has promoted executive Ben Schwerin to be its new senior vice president of content and...

Zapier founders from left to right: Mike Knopp, Bryan Helmig and Wade Foster. Photo courtesy of Zapier

Sequoia Buys Shares in Elusive Startup Zapier at Multibillion-Dollar Valuation

By Kate Clark · Jan 14, 2021 2:44pm PST · 11 comments

Zapier isn’t a household name outside Silicon Valley, but the world’s top venture capitalists have long been trying to own a piece of the booming enterprise software firm. The problem for investors was that Zapier, whose software automates personal computing tasks, didn’t need their money. It raised just $1.3 million in... Zapier isn’t a household name outside Silicon Valley, but the world’s top venture...

Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, in 2016. Photo by Bloomberg

Telegram Founder in Talks to Raise Debt Amid App’s Explosive Growth

By Alex Heath and Cory Weinberg · Jan 13, 2021 11:04am PST

Telegram in the past week experienced a sharp influx of new users who flocked to the private messaging app after rival WhatsApp changed its privacy policies and Facebook and Twitter took a harder line on President Donald Trump and users promoting violence. That growth comes with mounting costs. The Dubai-based startup, which has yet to generate... Telegram in the past week experienced a sharp influx of new users who flocked to the private...

An advertisement for Tencent's WeChat Pay displayed outside a restaurant in Hong Kong last September. Photo: Bloomberg

Tencent Ramps Up Consumer Lending as Rival Ant Group Struggles

By Wayne Ma · Jan 13, 2021 6:00am PST

Chinese tech giant Tencent is planning a big new push into consumer lending in China just as its archrival, Alibaba affiliate Ant Group, is reeling from a regulatory crackdown. Tencent, already a force in payments through its hugely popular WeChat messaging app, is working with a consortium of investors to form a consumer finance company, a... Chinese tech giant Tencent is planning a big new push into consumer lending in China just as its...

Facebook's Menlo Park, Calif., campus. Photo by Bloomberg

Following Trump Ban, Facebook Tells Employees to Avoid Wearing Company-Branded Apparel

By Alex Heath · Jan 11, 2021 5:40pm PST · 5 comments

Facebook's Menlo Park, Calif., campus. Photo by Bloomberg

Following Trump Ban, Facebook Tells Employees to Avoid Wearing Company-Branded Apparel

By Alex Heath · Jan 11, 2021 5:40pm PST · 5 comments

Facebook on Monday told employees to avoid wearing or carrying company-branded clothing and other items in public following the company’s suspension last week of President Donald Trump’s account and its more recent crackdown on content mentioning “Stop the Steal,” an online movement that falsely claimed the presidential... Facebook on Monday told employees to avoid wearing or carrying company-branded clothing and other...

AWS CEO Andy Jassy and WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar. Photos by Bloomberg

WarnerMedia Extended AWS Deal to Win Key HBO Max Concession

By Jessica Toonkel · Jan 8, 2021 9:54am PST · 5 comments

For six months after WarnerMedia launched HBO Max, the growth of the high-profile new streaming service suffered because the company couldn’t reach deals to distribute the service on popular streaming devices, including those made by Amazon. The impasse was so paralyzing that John Stankey—CEO of WarnerMedia’s parent company,... For six months after WarnerMedia launched HBO Max, the growth of the high-profile new streaming...

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. Photo by Bloomberg

BuzzFeed Has Held Discussions With Rascoff’s SPAC

By Ross Matican and Jessica Toonkel · Jan 8, 2021 6:00am PST

BuzzFeed has held discussions with at least one special purpose acquisition company, Spencer Rascoff’s Supernova Partners Acquisition Co., in a sign that it is actively exploring going public, say people familiar with the situation. BuzzFeed’s interest comes as Group Nine Media has launched its own SPAC to raise $200 million for... BuzzFeed has held discussions with at least one special purpose acquisition company, Spencer...

Hipcamp campers at a site in Maryland last year. Photo: AP

Hipcamp, ‘Airbnb of the Outdoors,’ Raises $57 Million

By Cory Weinberg · Jan 7, 2021 9:45am PST · 1 comment

Hipcamp, a VC-backed startup that offers people places to stay or pitch a tent in rural areas, closed a $57 million funding round that values it at more than $300 million, according to financial filings, more than double the valuation of its last major financing in 2019. New investors in the round include Index Ventures and Mary Meeker’s... Hipcamp, a VC-backed startup that offers people places to stay or pitch a tent in rural areas,...

Syndio CEO Maria Colacurcio. Photo provided by Syndio

Pay Equity Startup Raises $17.1 Million in Round Led by Bessemer

By Nick Wingfield · Jan 7, 2021 8:46am PST · 1 comment

Syndio CEO Maria Colacurcio. Photo provided by Syndio

Pay Equity Startup Raises $17.1 Million in Round Led by Bessemer

By Nick Wingfield · Jan 7, 2021 8:46am PST · 1 comment

Most subscription software companies aren’t at the white-hot center of social justice movements, but one that is—Syndio—has seen a surge in corporate customers, including Coinbase. Syndio’s product identifies employee pay disparities based on gender, race and ethnicity. Now Syndio is taking advantage of the growth in its... Most subscription software companies aren’t at the white-hot center of social justice...