The Information

An Alibaba-owned Hema grocery store in Shanghai. Photo: Bloomberg

Alibaba to Invest $2.9 Billion in Chinese Retail Megastore Operator

By Juro Osawa · Nov 19, 2017 9:00am PST

Alibaba Group has agreed to invest about $2.9 billion in one of China’s largest operators of retail megastores, according to a person familiar with the matter. The investment in Sun Art Retail Group, one of Alibaba’s biggest deals to date, accelerates the e-commerce giant’s expansion into the offline retail world. The deal... Alibaba Group has agreed to invest about $2.9 billion in one of China’s largest operators...

Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, speaking at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Photo: Bloomberg

Nvidia Hires Uber Executive, Targets Mobileye

By Amir Efrati · Nov 16, 2017 12:58pm PST

Nvidia, the top seller of microchips essential to the development of self-driving cars, has hired Claire Delaunay, a co-founder of the self-driving trucking firm Otto that Uber acquired last year. The move is the latest in a hiring spree stretching back to last year, as Nvidia has recruited dozens of autonomous-vehicle software developers from... Nvidia, the top seller of microchips essential to the development of self-driving cars, has hired...

Lyft's strategy head Raj Kapoor. Photo by Flickr/Joi Ito.

How Lyft Is Developing Self-Driving Cars

By Amir Efrati · Nov 15, 2017 7:01am PST · 3 comments

Anyone jumping into the self-driving car field now, eight years after market leader Alphabet’s Waymo began work, has to try some scrappy tactics to have a hope of succeeding. That’s the tack taken by Lyft, the most prominent new entrant to the field, though little has been revealed about its work.Here are some previously unreported... Anyone jumping into the self-driving car field now, eight years after market leader...

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince. Photo by Bloomberg.

Cloudflare Aims to Loosen AWS’ Hold on Customers

By Barbara Darrow · Nov 14, 2017 10:19am PST · 2 comments

Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince. Photo by Bloomberg.

Cloudflare Aims to Loosen AWS’ Hold on Customers

By Barbara Darrow · Nov 14, 2017 10:19am PST · 2 comments

Cloud computing companies like Amazon Web Services make it dirt cheap—actually free—to move customer data into their data centers. But moving that data out again, either back into a customer’s own data center or to a rival public cloud, isn’t as simple—or as cheap.Cloudflare, the content delivery network company... Cloud computing companies like Amazon Web Services make it dirt cheap—actually...

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Photo by Bloomberg.

Employees See Cracks in Airbnb’s Starry Ideals

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 14, 2017 7:01am PST · 3 comments

Airbnb earlier this month fired about 50 full-time employees and more than 100 contractors who prepared meals in its offices, offering them positions at an outside food services company instead. What would have been a routine cost-cutting move at many companies caused an outcry among Airbnb employees, who saw the food team as emblematic of the... Airbnb earlier this month fired about 50 full-time employees and more than 100 contractors who...

At the AWS summit in San Francisco last April. Photo by Bloomberg.

Amazon’s ‘Ironman’ to Take On Google, Microsoft in AI

By Kevin McLaughlin · Nov 13, 2017 7:02am PST

Amazon Web Services is mounting a broad push to upgrade its artificial intelligence products, which includes building its own technology and working closely with several AI startups, according to multiple people with knowledge of AWS’ plans. AWS is hoping to shore up a rare weak spot against competitors like Google and Microsoft and win... Amazon Web Services is mounting a broad push to upgrade its artificial intelligence products,...

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins. Photo by Bloomberg

Cisco Cuts More Jobs—This Time in the Cloud

By Barbara Darrow · Nov 10, 2017 10:58am PST

Cisco Systems laid off about 60 people this week, including the bulk of employees that came to the company via its acquisition of two cloud computing firms, Metacloud in 2014 and Piston Cloud the following year, according to two people close to the company. The layoffs reflect Cisco’s shift away, under CEO Chuck Robbins, from operating its... Cisco Systems laid off about 60 people this week, including the bulk of employees that came to...

Kater Gordon. Art by Matt Vascellaro.

Former ‘Mad Men’ Writer Starts Nonprofit After Alleged Harassment

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 9, 2017 1:17pm PST · 10 comments

Kater Gordon. Art by Matt Vascellaro.

Former ‘Mad Men’ Writer Starts Nonprofit After Alleged Harassment

By Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 9, 2017 1:17pm PST · 10 comments

Eight years ago, then 27-year-old Kater Gordon stood before the who’s who of Hollywood and accepted an Emmy award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, together with “Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner. The young writer—who had been hired a few years before as Mr. Weiner’s personal assistant—seemed to be on... Eight years ago, then 27-year-old Kater Gordon stood before the who’s who of Hollywood and...

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi after a meeting with Brazil's Finance Minister last month. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber’s U.S. Business Hits Bumps as New CEO Stresses Humility

By Amir Efrati · Nov 9, 2017 7:01am PST · 1 comment

Uber’s former CEO Travis Kalanick once compared his mission and disruptive impact on society to that of Martin Luther King Jr.—saying so in front a top MLK scholar. Uber’s new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, is more self-effacing. He told employees at a weekly all-hands meeting Tuesday that “a great team can always beat... Uber’s former CEO Travis Kalanick once compared his mission and disruptive impact on...

Photo by Bloomberg

Snap’s Head of Engineering to Step Down

By Tom Dotan · Nov 7, 2017 5:57pm PST

Snap’s vice president of engineering Tim Sehn is stepping down from the company, say people familiar with the matter. His departure is expected to be announced Wednesday when the company files details of its quarterly results with securities regulators.Mr. Sehn has headed up the company’s engineering team since 2013, according to his... Snap’s vice president of engineering Tim Sehn is stepping down from the company, say people...

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger. Photo by Bloomberg.

VMware Eyes Big Move in Security Market

By Sarah Kuranda · Nov 7, 2017 10:02am PST

VMware has been on the hunt for acquisitions in recent months as the data center software maker looks to expand its security business, people familiar with the matter said.VMware this summer held discussions with a security vendor, Carbon Black, about a possible acquisition, according to three people familiar with the matter. The talks ended... VMware has been on the hunt for acquisitions in recent months as the data center software maker...

Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming. Photo by Bloomberg.

China’s Toutiao Tried to Buy Reddit

By Juro Osawa, Serena Saitto and Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 7, 2017 7:02am PST · 2 comments

Bytedance founder Zhang Yiming. Photo by Bloomberg.

China’s Toutiao Tried to Buy Reddit

By Juro Osawa, Serena Saitto and Jessica E. Lessin · Nov 7, 2017 7:02am PST · 2 comments

Jinri Toutiao, the fast-growing $20 billion Chinese news and entertainment giant, tried to buy Reddit last year, according to people familiar with the offer. The previously unreported move reveals the Chinese company’s ambitions to become a global media juggernaut, according to people familiar with the matter.The Chinese startup... Jinri Toutiao, the fast-growing $20 billion Chinese news and entertainment giant, tried to buy...

Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins. Photo by Bloomberg

Cisco Replaces Cloud Collaboration Unit Chief Amid Weak Sales

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Nov 2, 2017 12:01pm PDT

Cisco has replaced the head of its cloud collaboration unit, which sells software that lets teams of workers communicate via text, voice and video, as it looks to boost the unit’s sluggish sales, said people familiar with the matter. Intense competition from rivals like Slack and Microsoft have hurt sales of the unit’s flagship... Cisco has replaced the head of its cloud collaboration unit, which sells software that lets teams...

VMWare CEO Pat Gelsinger. Photo: Bloomberg

VMware to Acquire VeloCloud, Doubling Down on Networking

By Kevin McLaughlin and Sarah Kuranda · Nov 1, 2017 3:05pm PDT

VMware has struck a deal to acquire software-based networking startup VeloCloud Networks, according to a person close to VeloCloud, in a move that is likely to escalate VMware’s rivalry with Cisco Systems. Terms of the deal couldn’t be learned. For VMware, a data center software company, acquiring VeloCloud is a sign of its... VMware has struck a deal to acquire software-based networking startup VeloCloud Networks,...

Photo by Flickr/Open Grid Schedular

Airbnb China Chief Was Ousted Over Relationship With Subordinate

By Yunan Zhang and Cory Weinberg · Oct 26, 2017 7:45am PDT · 1 comment

Hong Ge, vice president of Airbnb’s China division, resigned earlier this week after the company learned of allegations about an inappropriate personal relationship between him and a subordinate, a person briefed on the decision said.Mr. Ge, who reported directly to CEO Brian Chesky as Airbnb’s first China chief, left after about... Hong Ge, vice president of Airbnb’s China division, resigned earlier this week after the...

Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell. Photo by Bloomberg.

Dell’s EMC Bet Looking Shaky

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Oct 26, 2017 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell. Photo by Bloomberg.

Dell’s EMC Bet Looking Shaky

By Kevin McLaughlin and Amir Efrati · Oct 26, 2017 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

When Michael Dell bought EMC a year ago for $67 billion, he was betting he could defy the shift towards public cloud services like Amazon Web Services that’s eroding sales of older hardware like EMC’s data storage equipment. He hoped to sell Dell’s servers with EMC’s equipment and dominate the market for traditional... When Michael Dell bought EMC a year ago for $67 billion, he was betting he could defy the shift...

Snap Chief Strategy Officer Imran Khan on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange when Snap went public in March. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Snap Is Putting a Lid on Costs

By Tom Dotan · Oct 25, 2017 7:01am PDT · 2 comments

In the summer of 2016, a team of Snap engineers began building a feature known as Snap Map, which would display people’s locations and publicly posted stories on a map. Then, a month before its release to the public last June, Snap acquired Zenly, a French company that had a similar mapping product.The news took many people who worked on... In the summer of 2016, a team of Snap engineers began building a feature known as Snap Map, which...

DFJ founding partner Steve Jurvetson. Photo by Bloomberg.

DFJ Investigating Allegations About Jurvetson

By Serena Saitto and Amir Efrati · Oct 24, 2017 4:23pm PDT · 8 comments

DFJ, the 32-year-old venture capital firm that backed Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX, has hired an external law firm to investigate allegations against founding partner Steve Jurvetson, the firm said.The Menlo Park, Calif. based firm started the investigation in August after rumors began circulating about Mr. Jurvetson, prompting press... DFJ, the 32-year-old venture capital firm that backed Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX, has...

Uber's headquarters in San Francisco. Photo by AP.

Two Women File Complaints Against Uber Over Unequal Pay

By Priya Anand · Oct 24, 2017 9:08am PDT

Two women have filed complaints with the state of California against Uber for allegedly paying them less than men in similar roles. The previously unreported claims were filed with the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency this summer through the Private Attorneys General Act, in what is typically the first step toward a public... Two women have filed complaints with the state of California against Uber for allegedly paying...

Sources: theBoardlist and Qualtrics

Boards Stay Silent on Sexual Harassment

By Serena Saitto · Oct 24, 2017 7:01am PDT · 8 comments

Sources: theBoardlist and Qualtrics

Boards Stay Silent on Sexual Harassment

By Serena Saitto · Oct 24, 2017 7:01am PDT · 8 comments

Only 23% of company boards have discussed sexual harassment or gender discrimination in recent months, according to a survey of 600 company directors done in August. And only 12% of boards have taken any action to address the issues in their companies. The findings suggest that an onslaught of sexual harassment allegations against business... Only 23% of company boards have discussed sexual harassment or gender discrimination in recent...