Apple has said upcoming changes to its iPhone operating system will better protect the privacy of users. But a group of app developers recently told Apple some of those changes will hurt their businesses, while accusing the company of anti-competitive behavior in the way it subjects its own software to the new rules.

In an email to Apple CEO Tim Cook last Friday, the leaders of seven app ...

Chinese online retailer JD.com is in talks with bankers to list shares of its online supermarket joint venture in the U.S. next May, looking to capitalize on the growth of China’s e-commerce sector, which is a bright spot in the country’s otherwise weakening economy.

Dada-JD Daojia, a joint venture controlled by JD.com and 10% owned by Walmart, which earlier sold its own China-based ...

Digital media publisher Axios is planning to enter a new business that includes selling software for helping companies create newsletters for their employees. The move comes at a moment when more media businesses are seeking to diversify their revenue through software sales.

Axios wants to sell the software, which it is beta testing, to communications and human resources departments at ...

A host of startups have sought to build residential housing’s answer to office giant WeWork: a modern property manager that offers flexible leases and a friendly atmosphere for residents. One of the tech industry’s most prominent investment firms is backing a newer entrant to the field, even as the concept as a whole has struggled to catch fire. 

Bungalow Living, a San ...

Toptal, a service that connects companies with freelance software engineers, is a Silicon Valley success story. Founded in 2010, it soon attracted funding from well-known investors including Andreessen Horowitz and hired scores of employees who were promised stock if things went well and the company raised more money.

And things did go well. So well, in fact, that Toptal has grown at least 30% ...

Two years ago, Walt Disney Co. decided to unify the ad sales operations of most of its TV networks and websites. The idea was to make it easier for advertisers to buy spots across all Disney properties.

But the transition didn’t go smoothly, as Disney struggled to integrate new technology. The episode, which hasn’t previously been reported, underscores the challenge Disney faces as ...

Amazon has assembled all the pieces necessary to become a force in the video game industry. And to help put those pieces together, Amazon has turned to video game veteran Bing Gordon.

Gordon, a former Amazon board director who is best known for helping build video-game maker Electronic Arts into one of the industry’s dominant companies, has been advising Amazon on its various ...

Apple is taking a swipe at Facebook and other messaging apps by making a small but significant change to its mobile operating system. 

The change will restrict a feature that apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp used to make voice calls over the internet. Right now, the calling feature in these apps runs in the background even when it’s not in use, ensuring the apps can connect ...

Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick lately has gone on a hiring spree to staff his latest startup, CloudKitchens—snapping up at least four senior engineers from Uber. And that appears to have sparked an unusual warning from Uber Chairman Ron Sugar at the company’s latest board meeting two weeks ago.

Mr. Sugar told his fellow directors—who include Mr. Kalanick—that they ...

In mid-January, Eventbrite co-founder and CEO Julia Hartz gathered staff at the company’s San Francisco headquarters to lay out her strategy for the year ahead. A few months removed from the excitement of going public, Ms. Hartz described ambitious plans to expand into dozens of overseas markets and grow faster in existing ones.

But these goals ignored signs that Eventbrite’s core ...

In a big shift, Facebook plans to signal its control of Instagram and WhatsApp by adding its name to both apps, according to three people familiar with the matter. The social network will rebrand the apps to “Instagram from Facebook” and “WhatsApp from Facebook,” the people said.

Employees for the apps were recently notified about the changes, which come as antitrust ...

Apple has moved a high-profile software executive into the company’s secretive augmented reality team, a shift seen internally as intended to bring some order to the team developing a long-anticipated AR headset.

Kim Vorrath, who led program management in the software team for more than 15 years, has moved over to the team headed by Mike Rockwell, the vice president of AR and virtual ...

Facebook has approached Netflix, Disney and other media companies about putting their streaming services on a new Facebook device for making video calls from televisions, The Information has learned. 

The device, which Facebook is aiming to release this fall, will use the same video-calling technology that is in Facebook’s camera-equipped smart speaker, called Portal, which has a ...

Website-design software maker Webflow is expected to raise at least $20 million in new funding led by venture firm Accel at a pre-investment valuation of more than $200 million, according to a person briefed on the deal.

Initially backed by startup fund Y Combinator, Webflow is one of a class of software companies that develops tools to help startups and other businesses simplify corporate ...