Two years ago, streaming-device maker Roku circulated a presentation to partners that showed a school of fish swimming toward an area marked “subscription.” Meanwhile, a lone fish labeled “Roku” was heading away from the group toward an area called “advertising.” The implication: Roku was swimming against the tide by launching a free, ad-supported streaming ...

The explosion in demand for TV shows driven by streaming services is lifting all boats, but one genre may be rising more than most: children’s programming. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and Disney’s upcoming streaming service are all ordering more kids shows or movies. Among the beneficiaries are some little-known startups that are drawing investments from big Hollywood names, such ...

Amazon may be the Goliath of online retail. But venture capitalists last year poured more money into startups that are hoping to carve out niches in areas where they feel they can build businesses around the e-commerce giant’s edges, data show.

U.S. venture capitalists put about $5 billion into internet retail startups last year, according to data from Pitchbook. That’s up from $3.8 ...

The government shutdown continues, stymieing developments in crypto that require regulators’ approval. Bakkt’s platform for bitcoin futures trading, which was set to launch next week, is being held back by the furlough at the CFTC. There is a silver lining for some crypto market participants, however: A lawyer tells me the shutdown is giving defense attorneys more time to prepare ...

Publicly, Apple and Facebook have brawled over privacy issues, with Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg trading high-profile barbs over the past year. But behind the scenes the two companies are fighting what may be a more consequential battle for leadership in messaging, vying for customers’ attention and loyalty through Facebook’s Messenger and WhatsApp, and ...

The news that Slack wants to go public through a highly unconventional direct listing, in which it doesn’t sell new shares to raise money, has come as a surprise to some. But the messaging startup has built a strong enough cash position to pull it off, according to financial documents viewed by The Information and a person familiar with the matter.

As of October 2018, the firm had ...

Last January, at drinks before an offsite for NBCUniversal’s digital executives in New York City, someone asked NBCU CEO Steve Burke when the Comcast-owned entertainment company was going to launch a service to compete with Netflix, according to a person who was there.

Mr. Burke went through an analysis of how much it would cost to compete with the streaming giant. He told the group, ...

SoftBank’s Vision Fund plans to double down on Katerra, a startup run by electronics industry veterans trying to build apartments and hotels faster and cheaper than traditional construction firms. The massive fund is expected to lead a $700 million round of financing that would value Katerra at more than $4 billion, up slightly from its previous valuation, people familiar with the matter ...

Didi Chuxing is restructuring for the second time in a year, placing new emphasis on safety and user experience to jump-start domestic growth in its ride-hailing business.

With his new mobile video startup Quibi, veteran Hollywood executive Jeffrey Katzenberg is trying to turn short videos for mobile phones into can’t-miss programming. He has promised to stack Quibi with 5,000 10-minute episodes of various movies or TV shows within its first year of launch. But at a time when there’s no shortage of deep-pocketed buyers hungry for content, whether ...

This time of year, recommended reading lists abound. But if there is one thing we know about The Information subscribers, it’s that you are curious, smart and always looking to expand your knowledge. So we pulled together a list of books that you told us you love, spanning categories from tech to self-improvement to yes, even fiction! There are selections to help you understand ...

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Nearly every major media company in recent years has launched video streaming services that cost viewers a few dollars a month and don't carry ads, looking to compete with Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. Viacom, owner of MTV and Nickelodeon, wants to expand in a different part of the market—free, ad-supported streaming video.

Viacom in recent weeks has held talks to acquire Tubi TV, a free ...

One of the more controversial legal protections internet companies like Facebook and Google receive—not being liable for offensive or illegal content posted by users on their services—faces a growing challenge in Washington, prompting intensifying lobbying on both sides of the issue.

While the privacy of consumer data held by tech companies has garnered a lot of attention in the ...

Executives from self-driving carmakers and software companies who gathered this week at CES, the giant annual electronics show in Las Vegas, appeared to agree on at least one thing: It’s time to lower expectations about autonomous vehicles.

In the aftermath of a deadly accident last year involving a car in Uber’s self-driving fleet, and as Waymo has slow-rolled the launch of an ...

Amazon is developing a service for streaming videogames over the internet, joining Microsoft, Google and other companies that are building similar offerings in what could be an important new battleground in online entertainment, two people briefed on the plans said.  

Streaming services represent a potentially significant shift in the games business by, in some cases, eliminating the ...

The increasing price tags on smartphones is often blamed for the stagnation in sales of the devices. Unfortunately, the next big thing in smartphones—super-fast 5G wireless networks—isn’t likely to make the devices any cheaper.

Optimism abounds in the wireless industry that 5G will spark sales growth by giving smartphone users internet speeds comparable to what they experience ...

New Year's greetings to everyone. I got back from a trip to Japan last week to find slogans like “Crypto Without Chaos” and “Revolutions Need Rules” plastered across New York City subway cars and on yellow cabs—part of an extensive new marketing campaign by the exchange Gemini to portray itself as the adult in the room. But the ads have had mixed reviews from ...