The Information

Francis Davidson, CEO of Sonder. Photo: Bloomberg

VC-Backed Sonder Cuts One-Third of Staff as Travel Plummets

By Cory Weinberg · Mar 24, 2020 9:00am PDT · 2 comments

Sonder, a venture capital-backed operator of apartment-based lodgings for tourists and business travelers, laid off or furloughed more than 400 people, about one-third of its staff, in a bid to offset a declining number of bookings as the travel market collapses.The San Francisco-based company is the largest of a raft of startups that have... Sonder, a venture capital-backed operator of apartment-based lodgings for tourists and business...

Attendees looked at a Didi autonomous vehicle at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai in August. Photo: Bloomberg

SoftBank Nears Deal to Invest in Didi’s Autonomous Driving Unit

By Yunan Zhang · Mar 23, 2020 8:18am PDT

SoftBank is close to finalizing a deal to lead a $300 million investment in the autonomous driving subsidiary of Didi Chuxing, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The move would broaden SoftBank’s commitment to Didi, even as the Japanese investment giant reels from the impact of the economic crunch caused by the... SoftBank is close to finalizing a deal to lead a $300 million investment in the autonomous...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo: Bloomberg

Facebook Plans $1,000 Bonuses to Help Employees During Coronavirus Crisis

By Jessica Toonkel and Alex Heath · Mar 17, 2020 8:03am PDT · 3 comments

Facebook will pay a $1,000 bonus to every employee, one of the first big companies to offer workers cash to help them during the coronavirus outbreak. It follows a similar move by enterprise software firm Workday on Monday.Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement early Tuesday in an internal company notice, saying that the company... Facebook will pay a $1,000 bonus to every employee, one of the first big companies to offer...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg

Microsoft Turns Up the Heat on Snowflake

By Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 12, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Photo by Bloomberg

Microsoft Turns Up the Heat on Snowflake

By Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 12, 2020 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

If data analytics startup Snowflake goes public this year, as was expected before the coronavirus-driven market downturn, investors’ demand for its stock is likely to be intense. The company, which tripled its valuation to $12.4 billion in a fundraising just last month, is growing quickly as businesses increasingly try to organize the... If data analytics startup Snowflake goes public this year, as was expected before the...

Ruth Porat (left), Sundar Pichai, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. Photos by Bloomberg; illustration by Mike Sullivan

Google’s Parent Trap

By Nick Bastone and Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 11, 2020 7:02am PDT · 4 comments

In early 2015, Google co-founder Larry Page had a problem. His once nimble startup had become a slow-growing behemoth, missing out on big tech innovations and struggling to incubate new products. Page’s answer was Alphabet, a new corporate entity that would allow Google’s cash cow—its search engine—to coexist... In early 2015, Google co-founder Larry Page had a problem. His once nimble startup had become a...

Hulu's former CEO Randy Freer. Photo by Bloomberg

AT&T Approaches Kilar, Freer for WarnerMedia CEO Job

By Jessica Toonkel · Mar 10, 2020 5:46pm PDT

A recruiter working for AT&T has approached Hulu’s recently departed CEO, Randy Freer, and Hulu’s founding CEO, Jason Kilar, about taking the top job at WarnerMedia, said people familiar with the situation. Also approached was Tom Staggs, the former chief operating officer of Disney, although that didn’t lead anywhere, the... A recruiter working for AT&T has approached Hulu’s recently departed CEO, Randy Freer,...

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Photo by Bloomberg

Are Jack Dorsey’s Twitter Days Numbered?

By Kevin Dugan, Alex Heath and Jessica E. Lessin · Mar 6, 2020 3:36pm PST · 3 comments

In 2016, as Twitter’s market capitalization shriveled to around $10 billion from a high of $35 billion, Silicon Valley investor Chamath Palihapitiya decided to make a bid for control of the onetime tech pioneer. He and a partner wanted to invest $1 billion in the company in a deal that would make him executive chairman and Adam Bain,... In 2016, as Twitter’s market capitalization shriveled to around $10 billion from a high of...

Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei's consumer business, on stage last September when Huawei unveiled its Mate 30 smartphone. Photo by Bloomberg

Huawei Projects Big Drop in Smartphone Sales Amid U.S. Sanctions

By Juro Osawa · Mar 6, 2020 7:02am PST

Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei's consumer business, on stage last September when Huawei unveiled its Mate 30 smartphone. Photo by Bloomberg

Huawei Projects Big Drop in Smartphone Sales Amid U.S. Sanctions

By Juro Osawa · Mar 6, 2020 7:02am PST

Huawei is projecting that its annual smartphone shipments will fall around 20% this year, in what would be its first year-on-year decline, as a result of U.S. sanctions on its business. The rapidly spreading coronavirus, which has hurt manufacturing and retail sectors in China, could worsen that outlook.Huawei shared its internal projection for... Huawei is projecting that its annual smartphone shipments will fall around 20% this year, in what...

An employee at a Foxconn factory in India. Photo by Bloomberg.

Inside Apple’s Search for an Indian Supply Chain

By Wayne Ma · Mar 5, 2020 7:01am PST · 5 comments

Several years ago, employees at Apple investigated whether components for the iPhone could be made in India. The results weren’t encouraging. While the employees found some companies that could make power adapters or packaging, none could make phone speakers, headphones or small mechanical parts. Many Indian suppliers weren’t... Several years ago, employees at Apple investigated whether components for the iPhone could be...

David Marcus, head of blockchain for Facebook. Photo by Bloomberg

Facebook Revamps Libra Plans, Bowing to Regulators

By Alex Heath · Mar 3, 2020 1:15pm PST · 2 comments

Facebook is scaling back its ambitious plan to upend the global financial system with a new digital currency.Succumbing to pressure from regulators, Facebook has decided to offer its users digital versions of government-backed currencies, including the U.S. dollar and the euro, in addition to the proposed Libra token, according to three people... Facebook is scaling back its ambitious plan to upend the global financial system with a new...

Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy. Photo by Bloomberg

AWS Plans to Double Size of Sales Team as Microsoft Looms

By Kevin McLaughlin · Mar 2, 2020 7:01am PST

Amazon Web Services, faced with declining sales growth and mounting competition from Microsoft, plans to double the size of its current sales team this year, according to a person with direct knowledge and three people who have been briefed on the cloud provider’s plans. Part of the hiring spree, announced at a sales kickoff meeting... Amazon Web Services, faced with declining sales growth and mounting competition from Microsoft,...

Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiling a new line of iPads last year. Photo by AP

Apple Planning iPad Keyboard With Trackpad

By Wayne Ma · Feb 27, 2020 12:13pm PST · 1 comment

Apple CEO Tim Cook unveiling a new line of iPads last year. Photo by AP

Apple Planning iPad Keyboard With Trackpad

By Wayne Ma · Feb 27, 2020 12:13pm PST · 1 comment

Apple is planning to release an iPad keyboard accessory later this year that will include a built-in trackpad, the latest step in its effort to position the tablet device as an alternative to laptop computers, according to a person familiar with the matter. Apple is preparing the keyboard for mass production, and one of its main... Apple is planning to release an iPad keyboard accessory later this year that will include a...

Oyo CEO Ritesh Agarwal. Photo by Bloomberg

How SoftBank-Backed Hotel Chain Oyo Lost Its Way in the U.S.

By Cory Weinberg · Feb 27, 2020 7:00am PST · 3 comments

Oyo Rooms’ 26-year-old CEO Ritesh Agarwal spent Christmas 2018 driving around Texas, meeting with owners of budget motels near interstate highways. Flush with cash from SoftBank’s Vision Fund, the startup was looking to pay these motels for control of their marketing and sales—the same strategy that turned it into a hotel giant... Oyo Rooms’ 26-year-old CEO Ritesh Agarwal spent Christmas 2018 driving around Texas,...

Grab President Ming Maa. Photo by Bloomberg

Uber’s Old Rivals in Southeast Asia Hold Merger Talks

By Juro Osawa · Feb 24, 2020 12:14pm PST · 1 comment

Grab and Gojek, Southeast Asia’s two largest ride-hailing and food-delivery apps, valued at $14 billion and $9 billion respectively, are discussing a merger that would create one of the world’s most highly valued startups, people familiar with the talks said.A deal would be the latest step in a consolidation of the broader... Grab and Gojek, Southeast Asia’s two largest ride-hailing and food-delivery apps, valued at...

Art by Josh Brill

Meet ByteDance’s Biggest Homegrown Rival

By Yunan Zhang · Feb 21, 2020 10:01am PST · 1 comment

While China’s ByteDance and its TikTok video app are getting a lot of buzz in the U.S., a smaller rival called Kuaishou has quietly become one of the most highly valued tech startups in the world. Kuaishou (KWHY-shoh) has built a social network of more than 300 million daily active users in China—an audience three-quarters the... While China’s ByteDance and its TikTok video app are getting a lot of buzz in the U.S., a...

Clay Bavor, the head of virtual and augmented reality at Google. Photo by Bloomberg

As Apple and Facebook Embrace AR Fully, Google Takes It Slow

By Nick Bastone · Feb 14, 2020 7:00am PST

Clay Bavor, the head of virtual and augmented reality at Google. Photo by Bloomberg

As Apple and Facebook Embrace AR Fully, Google Takes It Slow

By Nick Bastone · Feb 14, 2020 7:00am PST

The leaders of Apple and Facebook have each described augmented reality as the next big thing in tech. Google, though, still seems to be figuring out its AR plans. In 2017, after Apple’s release of a software kit for building primitive AR experiences for mobile phones caught Google off guard, the company made an all-out sprint to match... The leaders of Apple and Facebook have each described augmented reality as the next big thing in...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Roku Tries Brinkmanship in the Streaming Wars

By Tom Dotan and Jessica Toonkel · Feb 12, 2020 12:02pm PST · 3 comments

The streaming war between Disney and Netflix has captured the attention of investors, the media and viewers. But a lower-profile yet equally high-stakes battle is underway in the streaming video market—between entertainment companies and a new generation of gatekeepers. The players range from big tech giants like Amazon to smaller firms... The streaming war between Disney and Netflix has captured the attention of investors, the media...

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son. Photo by Bloomberg

SoftBank’s Global Vision Tested by China’s Uber for Trucks

By Juro Osawa · Feb 12, 2020 7:00am PST

In 2018, when SoftBank led a $1.9 billion investment in Chinese truck-hailing app Manbang, CEO Masayoshi Son urged the startup to go global, pointing to the worldwide success of his other bets, like Uber and Indian hotel chain Oyo, according to a person familiar with the matter. Two years later, Uber is struggling to cut losses and Oyo has... In 2018, when SoftBank led a $1.9 billion investment in Chinese truck-hailing app Manbang, CEO...

Jigsaw CEO Jared Cohen. Photo by Bloomberg

Google Swallows Another Alphabet Unit—Jigsaw

By Nick Bastone · Feb 10, 2020 3:53pm PST · 1 comment

Another arm of Alphabet, the holding company for Google and a collection of other businesses, has gone away. Within the past month, Alphabet quietly moved Jigsaw, a technology incubator that creates tools to curb online misinformation, harassment and other issues, under Google management, The Information has learned. It previously operated... Another arm of Alphabet, the holding company for Google and a collection of other businesses, has...

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. Photo by Bloomberg

YouTube in Talks to Follow Amazon and Apple Into Video Subscriptions Market

By Jessica Toonkel and Alex Heath · Feb 10, 2020 2:31pm PST · 1 comment

YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. Photo by Bloomberg

YouTube in Talks to Follow Amazon and Apple Into Video Subscriptions Market

By Jessica Toonkel and Alex Heath · Feb 10, 2020 2:31pm PST · 1 comment

YouTube is sending signals that it wants to become a destination site for every part of the TV universe. The Google-owned video giant is considering giving people the ability to sign up, through YouTube, for a wide range of subscription-streaming services run by entertainment companies, according to people familiar with the situation. YouTube... YouTube is sending signals that it wants to become a destination site for every part of the TV...