The Information

Hellobike bikes parked on a sidewalk in Shanghai. Photo: AP

Is China’s Bike Boom Over? Hellobike Says No

By Juro Osawa and Yunan Zhang · May 14, 2019 11:00am PDT · 1 comment

The failed Chinese bicycle app Ofo, which burned through $1.5 billion in venture capital, convinced many investors that bike sharing is a horrible business. But Hellobike, backed by Jack Ma’s Ant Financial, is trying to prove the skeptics wrong as it looks to raise significant new funding. Hellobike is seeking a valuation of $4... The failed Chinese bicycle app Ofo, which burned through $1.5 billion in venture capital,...

John Stankey. Photo by Bloomberg.

WarnerMedia to Put Some Shows on Streaming Service First

By Jessica Toonkel and Beejoli Shah · May 13, 2019 10:52am PDT · 1 comment

Cable TV’s iron grip on the entertainment industry may be starting to loosen.AT&T’s WarnerMedia is planning to run new episodes of some of its popular cable shows—such as TNT’s “The Alienist”—first on its upcoming streaming service, before they debut on cable networks, say several people familiar... Cable TV’s iron grip on the entertainment industry may be starting to loosen....

A plant-based burger from Impossible Foods. Photo by Impossible Foods

Impossible Foods in Talks With Fast Food Chains, Sees Revenue Tripling in 2019

By Zoë Bernard · May 13, 2019 8:12am PDT · 1 comment

Impossible Foods, the hot Silicon Valley maker of plant-based burgers, predicts its revenue will more than triple this year and the company is in discussions with an array of fast food chains, including Little Caesars, about putting its vegetarian meats on their menus, according to documents viewed by The Information. The documents—part of... Impossible Foods, the hot Silicon Valley maker of plant-based burgers, predicts its revenue will...

A Huawei store. Photo by Bloomberg.

Huawei Targets Database Market in Challenge to Oracle

By Juro Osawa · May 10, 2019 2:49am PDT · 2 comments

A Huawei store. Photo by Bloomberg.

Huawei Targets Database Market in Challenge to Oracle

By Juro Osawa · May 10, 2019 2:49am PDT · 2 comments

China’s Huawei Technologies is about to make its biggest-ever attempt to expand into an area of enterprise software currently dominated by Western giants like Oracle, Microsoft and SAP. Huawei is planning to unveil its new cloud database product at an event scheduled for May 15 in Beijing, people familiar with the matter said. A Huawei... China’s Huawei Technologies is about to make its biggest-ever attempt to expand into an...

A Nuro self-driving delivery robot prototype in suburban Phoenix. Credit: Nuro

Uber Talks to SoftBank-Backed Nuro About Autonomous Food Delivery

By Amir Efrati · May 9, 2019 12:39pm PDT

Uber has had discussions with SoftBank-backed self-driving vehicle developer Nuro about using Nuro vehicles to help automate Uber’s hot food delivery service Uber Eats, according to a confidential document reviewed by The Information. Such a deal could someday help Uber reduce losses on Uber Eats, a critical issue for investors as the... Uber has had discussions with SoftBank-backed self-driving vehicle developer Nuro about using...

Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe. Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Harassment Allegations Against Intercom CEO Sparked Departures

By Zoë Bernard · May 9, 2019 6:31am PDT · 1 comment

Eight years ago, a group of Irish entrepreneurs led by an ambitious leader, Eoghan McCabe, relocated their software startup, Intercom, from Dublin to San Francisco, aiming to make a splash on tech’s biggest stage. They succeeded, raising more than $240 million in funding from pedigreed venture capital firms and joining an elite class of... Eight years ago, a group of Irish entrepreneurs led by an ambitious leader, Eoghan McCabe,...

Uber CFO Nelson Chai. Photo by Uber.

Uber’s CFO in Spotlight Ahead of IPO

By Amir Efrati · May 8, 2019 7:00am PDT

In the past couple of months, in the run up to Uber's IPO this week, Uber employees on occasion have asked CFO Nelson Chai during internal meetings whether they should sell their shares once they’re able to, when lock-up restrictions lapse six months after the company goes public. Rather than exhort employees to hold onto their stock,... In the past couple of months, in the run up to Uber's IPO this week, Uber employees on...

Google’s New Plan to Challenge Amazon for Shoppers

By Priya Anand · May 3, 2019 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

Google’s New Plan to Challenge Amazon for Shoppers

By Priya Anand · May 3, 2019 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

Google has struggled for years to build an online shopping business that can seriously compete with Amazon. Now, as Google’s prized advertising business faces a growing threat from Amazon, the search giant is planning new steps to bolster its shopping presence. Google is testing a new feature on its YouTube video service that displays... Google has struggled for years to build an online shopping business that can seriously compete...

Kevin Reilly, chief creative officer for WarnerMedia's new streaming service. Photo by AP

WarnerMedia Taps Lionsgate and Fox Execs for Streaming Service

By Beejoli Shah and Jessica Toonkel · May 2, 2019 1:32pm PDT

AT&T’s WarnerMedia is ramping up hiring and programming efforts for its upcoming streaming service, as it prepares to go head to head with Netflix, Amazon and Disney. To help develop new shows for the service, WarnerMedia has hired Jennifer O’Connell, the former executive vice president of alternative programming at Lionsgate,... AT&T’s WarnerMedia is ramping up hiring and programming efforts for its upcoming...

Uber’s Biggest IPO Winners

By Amir Efrati · Apr 30, 2019 7:01am PDT · 5 comments

In the decade since its founding, Uber has raised $14 billion in equity funding, one of the biggest sums in private tech history. And Uber's investors are likely to see equally history-making returns from its IPO.Uber is expected to go public next week at a valuation of more than $80 billion. The biggest winners include some investors well... In the decade since its founding, Uber has raised $14 billion in equity funding, one of the...

Inside an iPhone. Photo by Bloomberg

Apple Executive Responsible for 5G Efforts Departs

By Aaron Tilley and Wayne Ma · Apr 29, 2019 12:32pm PDT · 1 comment

A longtime Apple hardware engineering leader who oversaw a key wireless component inside its devices has left the company, The Information has learned. The executive, Rubén Caballero, was until recently in charge of working with suppliers to integrate the modems that connect iPhones wirelessly to the internet. That part of Apple’s... A longtime Apple hardware engineering leader who oversaw a key wireless component inside its...

Xandr chief Brian Lesser. Photo by AT&T. Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Inside AT&T’s Effort to Revolutionize TV Advertising

By Jessica Toonkel · Apr 26, 2019 6:32am PDT · 2 comments

Xandr chief Brian Lesser. Photo by AT&T. Illustration by Mike Sullivan

Inside AT&T’s Effort to Revolutionize TV Advertising

By Jessica Toonkel · Apr 26, 2019 6:32am PDT · 2 comments

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson hopes to transform the telecom giant into a media powerhouse with the help of a new targeted advertising business. But he’s run into a major snag: Rival TV networks and major cable operators, which he needs to support the new business, don’t want to play along. Some, like Comcast and a separate... AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson hopes to transform the telecom giant into a media powerhouse with...

China Tech Has Hangover From Last Year’s IPO Party

By Yunan Zhang, Juro Osawa and Shai Oster · Apr 25, 2019 11:16am PDT · 1 comment

Last year, Chinese tech giants such as smartphone maker Xiaomi and on-demand services app Meituan Dianping hogged the global IPO spotlight with some of the world’s biggest initial public offerings. But this year, few blockbuster China tech IPOs are in the pipeline, and Silicon Valley is retaking center stage as startup unicorns such as... Last year, Chinese tech giants such as smartphone maker Xiaomi and on-demand services app Meituan...

Apple CEO Tim Cook on stage at Apple's news and video presentation last month. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Slashed Amazon Cloud Spending 50 Percent in Bid for Self-Sufficiency

By Amir Efrati and Kevin McLaughlin · Apr 25, 2019 6:31am PDT · 8 comments

Apple has cut its spending on Amazon Web Services dramatically over the past year, to around $370 million in 2018 from $775 million in 2017, according to a person with direct knowledge of the figures. The reduction is partly due to Apple’s decision to operate more of its own cloud services, in keeping with the company’s broader... Apple has cut its spending on Amazon Web Services dramatically over the past year, to around $370...

Amnon Shashua, co-founder and chief technology officer of Mobileye, speaks at a conference last year. Photo by Bloomberg

Layoffs Hit an Intel Autonomous Vehicle Team, but Investments Continue

By Aaron Tilley · Apr 24, 2019 5:24pm PDT · 1 comment

Intel has laid off several dozen employees in a Silicon Valley research lab focused on autonomous vehicles as it seeks to reduce overlapping efforts inside the company, The Information has learned. Despite the layoffs, which were confirmed by Intel, the company isn’t backing away from its work on autonomous vehicles. It has begun... Intel has laid off several dozen employees in a Silicon Valley research lab focused on autonomous...

An Amazon warehouse. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Tests Program to Combat Patent Infringement

By Priya Anand · Apr 24, 2019 11:00am PDT · 1 comment

An Amazon warehouse. Photo by Bloomberg

Amazon Tests Program to Combat Patent Infringement

By Priya Anand · Apr 24, 2019 11:00am PDT · 1 comment

Amazon is testing a new program that allows merchants on its marketplace who are victimized by cheap, patent-violating knockoffs to get them removed in a few months for just a few thousand dollars or less—much faster and cheaper than a typical legal process.The new program, which Amazon has been testing since at least the fall, connects a... Amazon is testing a new program that allows merchants on its marketplace who are victimized by...

Sonder CEO Francis Davidson. Photo: Sonder

Sonder and Knotel Near Deals as Real Estate Startups Snap Up Funding

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 24, 2019 6:31am PDT · 5 comments

A new breed of real-estate focused startups is attracting a sudden flood of venture money.The group includes Sonder, a travel rental firm which is finalizing a deal to raise more than $200 million from investors such as Fidelity Investments, according to people familiar with the matter. Just days ago Lyric, a short-term rentals manager,... A new breed of real-estate focused startups is attracting a sudden flood of venture money.The...

Zap's radiosurgery device. Photo by Zap

Zap Surgical, Backed by Foxconn, Seeks New Funding

By Wayne Ma · Apr 22, 2019 10:38am PDT

Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn Technology, lost both his first wife and brother to cancer. The deaths galvanized him to invest in a radiosurgery startup founded by the American neurosurgeon who helped treat his brother. Now the startup, Zap Surgical Systems, which recently came out of stealth... Terry Gou, the billionaire founder of Taiwanese electronics giant Foxconn Technology, lost both...

Mike Sullivan

Bug Juice, Amazon Envy: Inside Airbnb’s Engineering Challenges

By Cory Weinberg · Apr 19, 2019 6:30am PDT · 3 comments

Airbnb software engineers were struggling a couple of years ago to keep up with the number of technical glitches that were piling up with the site. At one point, employees halted all work on new features for a week to try to fix bugs in the code. To toast the effort, CEO Brian Chesky drank a cup of liquefied bugs—one for every problem... Airbnb software engineers were struggling a couple of years ago to keep up with the number of...

Illustration by J. Claeys

Lyft Moves to Restrict Employee Access to Customer Data

By Matt Drange · Apr 16, 2019 6:32am PDT · 1 comment

Illustration by J. Claeys

Lyft Moves to Restrict Employee Access to Customer Data

By Matt Drange · Apr 16, 2019 6:32am PDT · 1 comment

When employees at Lyft log into their computer to look up information about a Lyft customer or driver nowadays, a warning message flashes on their screen with a reminder that their actions are logged and could be audited. Introducing the warning is just one of a series of changes Lyft has made over the past year to better protect customer... When employees at Lyft log into their computer to look up information about a Lyft customer or...