Data Point

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Data Point

Airbnb Costs Under Microscope as Travel Shrinks

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 31, 2020 7:00am PDT · 3 comments
Airbnb shut down its marketing efforts last week, saving an estimated $800 million annually. But it likely will need to make more-substantial cost reductions across the board as the spread of coronavirus ravages its business. An analysis of Airbnb’s profit statements shows that the company spends much more on fixed costs—such as... Airbnb shut down its marketing efforts last week, saving an estimated $800 million annually. But...
Data Point

Amazon’s Retail Power Could Grow During Pandemic

By Priya Anand and Ashley Gold · Mar 24, 2020 7:02am PDT
Amazon’s critics were worried about the company’s growing power in retail before the coronavirus pandemic. It may be even more powerful by the time the crisis is over. There’s a credible argument that the shutdown of many retail stores, along with a general anxiety about going out in public, could end up increasing... Amazon’s critics were worried about the company’s growing power in retail before the...
Data Point

Money Pit: Self-Driving Cars’ $16 Billion Cash Burn

By Amir Efrati · Feb 5, 2020 7:01am PST · 12 comments
A group of 30 companies has spent at least $16 billion on developing fully self-driving cars over the past few years—and so far they have little, if any, revenue to show for it. But billions more will likely be needed before the technology is ready for primetime.Just three companies spent half of that money—Alphabet’s Waymo,... A group of 30 companies has spent at least $16 billion on developing fully self-driving cars over...
Venture Capital’s New Normal: Outsized Checks and Unsolicited Offers
By Kate Clark · Feb 4, 2020 10:01am PST · 2 comments
Data Point

Venture Capital’s New Normal: Outsized Checks and Unsolicited Offers

By Kate Clark · Feb 4, 2020 10:01am PST · 2 comments
Last year, Papaya Global, a financial services business based in New York City and Tel Aviv, pitched investors on its hopes of raising $15 million to expand the business, according to a person familiar with the situation. But after talks with venture capital firm Insight Partners, Papaya ended up raising a $45 million Series A round from a group... Last year, Papaya Global, a financial services business based in New York City and Tel Aviv,...
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifying before Congress last October. Photo by Bloomberg
Data Point

Facebook Is Already Paying a Regulatory Tax—in Its Stock Price

By Martin Peers · Jan 27, 2020 10:00am PST · 1 comment
Washington’s antitrust investigations into big tech are probably years away from finishing. But already Facebook, at least, appears to be getting hit by a “regulatory tax” of at least $160 billion—on its stock price.The social networking giant is trading at the lowest valuation, relative to its earnings growth rate, of... Washington’s antitrust investigations into big tech are probably years away from finishing....
Data Point

Where Slack Outspends Bigger Firms

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 9, 2020 10:01am PST · 4 comments
When it comes to tech companies arming themselves against competition, Slack may be hard to beat. At least, that is, when it comes to spending on research and development, the route to new product development. Slack spent the equivalent of 38% of its revenue on R&D in its first three quarters of last year, a percentage that was... When it comes to tech companies arming themselves against competition, Slack may be hard to beat....
Data Point

Trump Visa Crackdown Hits Outsourcing Firms

By Wayne Ma · Dec 5, 2019 10:08am PST · 4 comments
Tech outsourcing firms known for bringing workers from India to the U.S. have seen rejection rates for new skilled worker visas surge under the Trump administration, according to an analysis of U.S. government data.Most affected are companies such as Cognizant Technology Solutions, Capgemini America, Tech Mahindra, IBM and Tata Consultancy... Tech outsourcing firms known for bringing workers from India to the U.S. have seen rejection...
After Hiring Binges, Google, Facebook See Profits Per Employee Slide
By Nick Bastone · Nov 21, 2019 7:01am PST · 1 comment
Data Point

After Hiring Binges, Google, Facebook See Profits Per Employee Slide

By Nick Bastone · Nov 21, 2019 7:01am PST · 1 comment
The two biggest internet advertising companies—Facebook and Alphabet, the parent of Google—have long been among the most profitable in tech. But after hiring binges, both companies have seen significant declines by one profit measure, net income per employee.     Those are among the takeaways from an analysis... The two biggest internet advertising companies—Facebook and Alphabet, the parent of...
What Pinterest Could Learn From Facebook and Snap
Data Point

What Pinterest Could Learn From Facebook and Snap

By Tom Dotan · Nov 12, 2019 11:14am PST
Here’s a tip for Pinterest executives: Think about hiring some overseas ad sales people from Snap, Facebook or Twitter. Third quarter earnings from the four major social media companies—Facebook, Twitter, Snap and Pinterest—show that Pinterest by a wide margin trails the three others in how much money it makes off its... Here’s a tip for Pinterest executives: Think about hiring some overseas ad sales people...
Data Point

Reality of Global Streaming Market May Fall Short of Forecasts

By Martin Peers · Nov 5, 2019 10:09am PST · 3 comments
If you believe all the projections from big entertainment companies and Wall Street analysts, the number of people globally signing up for one of the video streaming services from Disney, Apple, WarnerMedia and Netflix will reach roughly 600 million by the mid-2020s—nearly four times the number who now pay for Netflix alone. Throw in... If you believe all the projections from big entertainment companies and Wall Street analysts, the...
Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma at a promotional event for "Green Book" in Beijing earlier this year. Photo by AP
Data Point

What Trade War? Hollywood Movies Invade China

By Wayne Ma · Oct 29, 2019 7:01am PDT · 1 comment
Although China is buying less food and tech from the U.S. because of the trade war, one U.S. import is still strong: Hollywood films. The number of foreign films imported into China has risen steadily over the past few years. The trend was most pronounced last year, when the total reached 124 compared to 108 in 2017. So far this year, the... Although China is buying less food and tech from the U.S. because of the trade war, one U.S....
What Wall Street’s Short-Selling Bets Say About Uber, Peloton, Zoom
By Carleton English · Oct 18, 2019 7:01am PDT
Data Point

What Wall Street’s Short-Selling Bets Say About Uber, Peloton, Zoom

By Carleton English · Oct 18, 2019 7:01am PDT
Stock prices of Peloton Interactive, Uber and Zoom Video have further to fall, judging by big short-selling bets placed by investors in recent months, new data shows. It also reveals that investors have drastically scaled back short-selling bets on Lyft since the summer.The data is a reminder that the looming expiration of lockup restrictions... Stock prices of Peloton Interactive, Uber and Zoom Video have further to fall, judging by big...
Data Point

Where Amazon Trails: Digital Payments

By Priya Anand · Oct 16, 2019 12:03pm PDT
Amazon grew into the most powerful online retailer in part by making it effortless for shoppers to buy things with one click. An Amazon effort to become the payment system for other retailers has mostly bombed, though, despite modest improvements in its market position in recent years, new data shows.The good news for Amazon Pay—as the... Amazon grew into the most powerful online retailer in part by making it effortless for shoppers...
Data Point

A Reality Check for Microsoft’s Surface Business

By Nick Wingfield · Oct 10, 2019 7:01am PDT · 3 comments
Last week, Microsoft held what has become an annual event for the company, a fall showcase for its latest Surface devices. The widespread praise that greeted the new products was a pinch-yourself moment for those of us old enough to remember when Microsoft didn’t make computers and was often blasted for its bad design taste. But... Last week, Microsoft held what has become an annual event for the company, a fall showcase for...
Data Point

The Secret Weapon in the Streaming Wars

By Beejoli Shah · Sep 30, 2019 7:00am PDT · 5 comments
If the success of a streaming service were to be purely determined by its cache of popular old TV shows, Disney would be hard to beat. Its recent purchase of Fox’s TV studio means it owns more of the most popular TV shows from the past couple of decades than anyone else, according to an analysis by The Information. But almost as strong... If the success of a streaming service were to be purely determined by its cache of popular old TV...
Troubled IPOs Raise Questions for Future Deals
By Carleton English · Sep 27, 2019 9:21am PDT
Data Point

Troubled IPOs Raise Questions for Future Deals

By Carleton English · Sep 27, 2019 9:21am PDT
What was expected to be a bumper year for tech IPOs has turned sour.The sharp drop in Peloton Interactive shares on the stock’s opening day Thursday, the same day Endeavor canceled its IPO and a week after WeWork postponed its offering, confirmed what Uber and Lyft discovered this past spring—public market investors are wary of... What was expected to be a bumper year for tech IPOs has turned sour.The sharp drop in Peloton...
Data Point

In India, Many Internet Users, but Little Ad Revenue

By Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Sep 10, 2019 7:02am PDT · 4 comments
India, home to 1.3 billion people, offers a temptingly huge target for global tech companies: one of the world’s fastest growing economies and more than half a billion internet users, second only to China. American titans like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Walmart and Uber, as well as China’s ByteDance and Alibaba, are all trying to grab... India, home to 1.3 billion people, offers a temptingly huge target for global tech companies: one...
Data Point

Founders Are Maintaining Less Ownership This IPO Season

By Ross Matican · Sep 4, 2019 11:34am PDT · 5 comments
Being a tech founder in 2019 isn’t what it was. Just ask Lyft’s John Zimmer and Logan Green.The two are the most extreme examples of how founders of companies going public this year did so with much smaller equity stakes than was the case for some of the better known tech companies in the past. That’s partly because tech firms... Being a tech founder in 2019 isn’t what it was. Just ask Lyft’s John Zimmer and Logan...
Data Point

AWS Growth Rate Slows Amid Shifts in Cloud Market

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Aug 2, 2019 7:02am PDT
Amazon Web Services, the dominant provider of cloud computing services, has seen a gradual dip in its annual sales growth rate over the past two quarters. Part of that is a natural slowdown as AWS gets bigger—its sales now top $25 billion a year—and faces growing competition. But it could also reflect a shift in the cloud computing... Amazon Web Services, the dominant provider of cloud computing services, has seen a gradual dip in...
Tech and Media Layoffs Surge in May, Taper in June
By The Information Staff · Aug 1, 2019 1:01pm PDT
Data Point

Tech and Media Layoffs Surge in May, Taper in June

By The Information Staff · Aug 1, 2019 1:01pm PDT
The volume of layoffs announced by technology and media companies surged in May, driven by a large round of cuts at IT services firm DXC Technology, before slowing in June. So far this year, tech and media companies have laid off far more employees than at this point in 2018, according to state regulatory filings, news reports and data collected... The volume of layoffs announced by technology and media companies surged in May, driven by a...