Data Point

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Data Point

Why Amazon Is Giving Employees Record Amounts of Stock, Even as It Trims Head Count

By Paris Martineau · Aug 10, 2022 10:00am PDT · 4 comments
At a moment when Amazon’s overall workforce is shrinking, the company is awarding stock to employees at a record-breaking clip to keep top talent from heading for the exits. Amazon granted 138 million restricted stock units to employees in the second quarter, as the chart above shows—an 82% increase from the number of restricted... At a moment when Amazon’s overall workforce is shrinking, the company is awarding stock to...
Chart by Sarah Habershon.
Data Point

Why Investors Value a BeReal User Double That of Snap

By Mahira Dayal and Kate Clark · Aug 9, 2022 3:46pm PDT · 1 comment
The siren song of a fast-growing social media network still holds investors spellbound. Take BeReal. The French social app, which once a day urges users to take and share a photo—wherever they are, regardless of what they’re doing—has become a breakout hit, particularly for people in their early 20s. Daily active users reached... The siren song of a fast-growing social media network still holds investors spellbound. Take...
Data Point

Why Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai Are Worried About Productivity

By Stephen Council · Aug 4, 2022 10:00am PDT · 16 comments
Executives at Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Google parent Alphabet are feeling the pressure, so they’re giving employees a kick in the pants. After years of rapid hiring, productivity at the tech giants is suffering, as revenue and free cash flow per employee decline. The reason for falling productivity: Both companies have continued... Executives at Facebook parent Meta Platforms and Google parent Alphabet are feeling the pressure,...
The Metaverse Real Estate Boom Turns Into a Bust
By Aidan Ryan · Aug 3, 2022 2:08pm PDT · 9 comments
Data Point

The Metaverse Real Estate Boom Turns Into a Bust

By Aidan Ryan · Aug 3, 2022 2:08pm PDT · 9 comments
The metaverse is in the midst of a real estate meltdown. Sales volumes and average prices for virtual land have plunged this year, part of a broader slide in crypto and non-fungible token prices. Soaring interest in virtual property spawned an industry that mirrors traditional commercial real estate—buyers develop land by adding virtual... The metaverse is in the midst of a real estate meltdown. Sales volumes and average prices for...
Data Point

Startups That Hired Rapidly Learn the Virtue of Slowing Down

By Mahira Dayal · Jul 26, 2022 12:50pm PDT · 4 comments
Sometimes slow and steady does win the race. Startups that raised a lot of money during the boom years—and avoided spending sprees—now look smart as venture funding dries up. One measure of whether startups will be able to outlast the current downturn is how many people they’ve hired relative to how much money they’ve... Sometimes slow and steady does win the race. Startups that raised a lot of money during the boom...
Data Point

Not Just Tiger: Coatue, Greenoaks Reduce Late-Stage Deals

By Mahira Dayal · Jun 24, 2022 6:00am PDT · 1 comment
Last year, Tiger Global Management led a rush to back startups nearing initial public offerings, piling into late-stage funding rounds for banking app Chime, data firm Databricks and videoconferencing startup Hopin. New data shows just how much Tiger and other deep-pocketed investors have pulled back so far this year. Tiger’s participation... Last year, Tiger Global Management led a rush to back startups nearing initial public offerings,...
Chart by Mike Sullivan.
Data Point

Demand for Specialized Tech Jobs Remains Despite Hiring Freezes and Layoffs

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jun 10, 2022 6:00am PDT · 3 comments
It’s been a grim couple of months in the tech industry, with announcements of hiring freezes or slowdowns, as well as layoffs, seemingly every other day. But for some specialized roles, hiring appears to be holding strong. Between January and May, job postings for positions in artificial intelligence and machine learning rose more than 60%... It’s been a grim couple of months in the tech industry, with announcements of hiring...
Coinbase Shopped for Amazon Employees Before Hiring Freeze
By Aidan Ryan · Jun 7, 2022 6:04am PDT
Data Point

Coinbase Shopped for Amazon Employees Before Hiring Freeze

By Aidan Ryan · Jun 7, 2022 6:04am PDT
Before a hiring freeze brought its eye-popping expansion to a screeching halt, Coinbase went shopping at Amazon: for employees. The e-commerce giant was the top source of new hires for Coinbase in the first five months of this year, unseating Google from the No. 1 spot and accounting for 11% of the people joining the crypto firm through May. (By... Before a hiring freeze brought its eye-popping expansion to a screeching halt, Coinbase went...
Data Point

Netflix Cancellations Rise Among Long-Standing Subscribers

By Jessica Toonkel · May 18, 2022 6:00am PDT · 5 comments
Netflix is losing its grip on long-standing subscribers. New data show that people who have been subscribers to Netflix for more than three years accounted for a significantly greater share of cancellations in the first quarter than they did two years earlier. The data help illuminate why Netflix’s subscriber growth stalled suddenly in the... Netflix is losing its grip on long-standing subscribers. New data show that people who have been...
Graphic by Mike Sullivan
Data Point

The Cost of Amazon’s ‘Too Much Space’ Problem

By Paris Martineau · May 5, 2022 6:00am PDT
Amazon has carried out a massive physical expansion over the last two and a half years, adding more than 200 million square feet of new facilities and doubling its physical footprint as the company accelerated plans to grow its already sprawling distribution network in response to a surge of demand from homebound consumers. All that spending... Amazon has carried out a massive physical expansion over the last two and a half years, adding...
Data Point

Tech Pay Rundown: Snap Surges While Netflix Sinks

By Mark Matousek · Apr 21, 2022 6:04am PDT · 1 comment
Tech workers saw their paychecks swell last year as their employers became increasingly desperate to hire and retain them, but the gains were unevenly distributed. Take Snap and Netflix. The median salary at the social media firm increased 28% last year, an analysis of company disclosures shows. But at the streaming giant, median pay actually... Tech workers saw their paychecks swell last year as their employers became increasingly desperate...
Which Tech Companies Are Returning to the Office, Staying Remote or in Between
By Akash Pasricha and Stephen Nellis · Apr 6, 2022 2:22pm PDT · 7 comments
Data Point

Which Tech Companies Are Returning to the Office, Staying Remote or in Between

By Akash Pasricha and Stephen Nellis · Apr 6, 2022 2:22pm PDT · 7 comments
After many fits and starts over the past two years, a critical mass of tech workers is finally returning to the office. Some companies, like Google and Uber, are requiring workers in their seats at least two days a week. Others like Salesforce are leaving commutes mostly up to employees and managers. Still others, such as Coinbase and... After many fits and starts over the past two years, a critical mass of tech workers is finally...
Data Point

Facebook’s iPhone Ad Pain is Google’s Gain

By Sarah Krouse · Mar 31, 2022 10:44am PDT
It’s well known that when Apple last year enabled an iPhone privacy feature that blocks advertisers from tracking users, Facebook parent Meta Platforms suffered. What’s also becoming clearer: Google was among the biggest beneficiaries of Facebook’s pain. This month, nearly a year after Apple’s privacy rule went into... It’s well known that when Apple last year enabled an iPhone privacy feature that blocks...
The new Crypto.com Arena sign at the former Staples Center on December 22, 2021 in Los Angeles. Photo by Shutterstock.
Data Point

The Top 15 Crypto Startups That Moonlight as VC Investors

By Aidan Ryan · Mar 17, 2022 11:00am PDT
The venture capitalists and hedge funds competing to back crypto startups are increasingly facing a third set of rivals: other startups. In just the past year, at least eight highly valued crypto startups—ranging from crypto exchange Gemini to peer-to-peer payments startup Circle—have launched venture capital arms to invest in other... The venture capitalists and hedge funds competing to back crypto startups are increasingly facing...
Data Point

Why AWS Makes Money and Google Cloud Doesn’t

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Mar 7, 2022 6:00am PST
Google’s cloud computing arm is the company’s biggest hope of creating a substantial moneymaker outside of advertising, but it has been struggling to make up meaningful ground against industry pioneer Amazon Web Services. That extends to profitability: Last year, despite generating $19 billion in revenue, the kind of scale that... Google’s cloud computing arm is the company’s biggest hope of creating a substantial...
What’s Driving Amazon and Walmart’s Ad Prices in Different Directions
By Mark Di Stefano · Feb 15, 2022 6:04am PST
Data Point

What’s Driving Amazon and Walmart’s Ad Prices in Different Directions

By Mark Di Stefano · Feb 15, 2022 6:04am PST
While the cost to buy ads on Amazon’s main marketplace has surged in the past year, prices at Walmart and Instacart have dropped as these retail rivals have added more ad space. The divergence suggests the companies eager to copy Amazon, which has created a $31 billion ad powerhouse, may have success luring merchants by touting cheaper ad... While the cost to buy ads on Amazon’s main marketplace has surged in the past year, prices...
Data Point

The Biggest Winners of Pre-IPO Funding Rounds

By Aidan Ryan · Feb 4, 2022 6:36am PST
There’s a reason hedge funds like Tiger Global Management have moved aggressively into the venture capital market over the last few years: The gains from buying private shares in startups like Zoom, Coinbase or Affirm, even in the last rounds before a public listing, can be huge. That’s especially true when compared to the... There’s a reason hedge funds like Tiger Global Management have moved aggressively into the...
Data Point

Affirm Is Finally Shaking Its Reliance On Peloton — And It Has Amazon to Thank

By Malique Morris · Feb 3, 2022 6:00am PST · 1 comment
Investors who are worried about Affirm’s ties to Peloton may not be giving the fintech firm enough credit for branching out. Peloton has long been Affirm’s biggest revenue driver, accounting for between 20% and 30% of revenue in recent years. Peloton’s sales surge early in the pandemic was a boost for Affirm, which provides... Investors who are worried about Affirm’s ties to Peloton may not be giving the fintech firm...
Data Point

Microsoft’s ‘Netflix for Games’ Could One Day Tame Yo-Yoing Gaming Revenue

By Nick Wingfield · Feb 1, 2022 6:00am PST
Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard for $68 billion—the biggest deal in the software giant’s history—in large part to help it supercharge a Microsoft subscription game service that could shake up how people pay for console games. That service has a long way to go before it transforms Microsoft’s games business,... Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard for $68 billion—the biggest deal in the software...
As Alphabet and Others Tie Execs’ Pay to Climate and Diversity Goals, Shareholders Scrutinize Their Approach
By Sarah Krouse · Jan 12, 2022 12:23pm PST
Data Point

As Alphabet and Others Tie Execs’ Pay to Climate and Diversity Goals, Shareholders Scrutinize Their Approach

By Sarah Krouse · Jan 12, 2022 12:23pm PST
Four of the highest paid executives at Google parent Alphabet just gained access to a new pot of cash: up to $2 million in additional annual bonuses if they help the company achieve goals like using more carbon-free energy and recruiting diverse candidates. Alphabet is among the seven large tech companies that, over the past six months, decided... Four of the highest paid executives at Google parent Alphabet just gained access to a new pot of...