Meet the New Guard of Finance—and Save $100 On Your First YearUnlock the List

Briefing
markets e-commerce

Affirm Cuts 19% of Staff, Pulls the Plug on Crypto Service

By
Ann Gehan
· · Source: The Information

Affirm said on Wednesday it’s cutting 19% of staff and shuttering businesses including its crypto service, blaming slower consumer spending and rising costs of funding its installment loans. The company’s gross merchandise volume, which measures total customer transactions, came in at $5.66 billion in the quarter ended in Dec. 31, below the $5.73 billion to $5.83 billion the company had...

Get access to exclusive coverage
Read deeply reported stories from the largest newsroom in tech.
Latest Articles
 
The Briefing microsoft google
Google, OpenAI and the Coming Copyright Storm
By Jessica E. Lessin · March 30, 2023 5:00 PM PDT
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Inc. Photo by Bloomberg.
So here is a question: If you develop some software and train it on random material from the internet to make it smarter, do the creators of that material have any right to the software?What happens if you are Google and you train your software with public conversations generated from a chatbot made by OpenAI, one of your main competitors, which has been hiring your top talent? Is that smart?...
Latest Briefs
 
Coinbase Hires Former Shopify Executive as Country Director
By Aidan Ryan · March 30, 2023
Circle’s USDC Outflows Exceed $10 Billion Since Crypto Bank Crisis
By Akash Pasricha · March 30, 2023
Virgin Orbit Lays Off 85% of Staff, Ceases Operations
By Becky Peterson · March 30, 2023
Stay in the know
Receive a summary of the day's top tech news—distilled into one email.
Access on the go
View stories on our mobile app and tune into our weekly podcast.
Join live video Q&A’s
Deep-dive into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles with our top reporters and other executives.
Enjoy a clutter-free experience
Read without any banner ads.
From left, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Google Brain chief Jeff Dean. Photos by Getty, Bloomberg
Exclusive google ai
Alphabet’s Google and DeepMind Pause Grudges, Join Forces to Chase OpenAI
By Jon Victor and Amir Efrati
OpenAI’s success in overtaking Google with an artificial intelligence–powered chatbot has achieved what seemed impossible in the past: It has forced the two AI research teams within Google’s parent, Alphabet, to overcome years of intense rivalry to work together.
Art by Clark Miller.
Opinion startups
Don’t Build the Wrong Kind of AI Business
By Ben Parr
At a catch-up coffee a few weeks ago, a founder friend asked me, “What AI thing should we build?” It was the third time that week a founder had asked me the same question.
Block chairman and co founder Jack Dorsey. Photo by Getty
markets
Fintech’s Big Wakeup Call
By Ann Gehan
Fintechs were supposed to transform banking by making it dead simple for users to open savings accounts or pay their bills.
Art by Clark Miller.
Market Research e-commerce culture
The Skin-Tech Devices Helping Execs Beautify in a Hurry
By Aja Mangum
I’m always 29 at heart,” said Liyia Wu, CEO of ShopShops, a livestream shopping app for fashion, beauty and lifestyle products.
Art by Clark Miller.
Caffeinated Capitalists venture capital
Venture Capital’s 25 Favorite Cafes
By Annie Goldsmith
Coupa Cafe in Palo Alto. Buck’s of Woodside. The Creamery in SoMa (RIP). Silicon Valley’s coffee shops have undoubtedly seen more dealmaking than any one fancy office building or members’ club.
Art by Clark Miller
Surreal Estate real estate
Silicon Valley’s Realtors, Like Its Bankers, Are Having a Tough Month
By Zara Stone
In early March, Ken DeLeon, founder of DeLeon Realty, a Silicon Valley–based brokerage that sold more than $1 billion in homes in 2021, called one of his venture capitalist clients to discuss the purchase of a $20 million–plus megamansion.