The Information

Former Cisco CEO John Chambers. Photo by Bloomberg.

Former Cisco Execs Talk to Microsoft About Startup

By Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 27, 2016 10:21am PDT · 1 comment

Microsoft has talked with four former Cisco Systems engineering executives about backing them in a new networking startup, said a former Cisco employee and another person with knowledge of the matter. The four left Cisco earlier this year after 20 years creating new businesses for the company that now generate billions of dollars in annual... Microsoft has talked with four former Cisco Systems engineering executives about backing them in...

A Snap billboard in San Francisco. Photo by Tom Dotan.

Snap Poaches Engineering Exec from Amazon

By Tom Dotan · Oct 19, 2016 2:30pm PDT · 1 comment

Snap has hired a senior Amazon engineering executive, Jerry Hunter, to help manage the company's engineering teams, according to a person familiar with the matter. Snap confirmed the hiring.Mr. Hunter will serve as a VP of engineering, reporting to Snap engineering chief Tim Sehn. Mr. Hunter has been at Amazon since 2007, most recently as... Snap has hired a senior Amazon engineering executive, Jerry Hunter, to help manage the...

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Photo by Bloomberg.

Amazon Eyes Internet Service Offering

By Amir Efrati and Martin Peers · Oct 18, 2016 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Amazon.com is considering offering internet service directly to consumers in Europe, said a person briefed on the discussion. That would allow Amazon to bundle internet access with its Prime streaming video offering, the person said, making it more competitive with cable operators which already offer a similar broadband-video package.Amazon is... Amazon.com is considering offering internet service directly to consumers in Europe, said a...

Keith Chen. Photo courtesy of Mr. Chen’s website.

Surge-Price Builder Leaves Uber

By Amir Efrati · Oct 17, 2016 6:58am PDT

Keith Chen. Photo courtesy of Mr. Chen’s website.

Surge-Price Builder Leaves Uber

By Amir Efrati · Oct 17, 2016 6:58am PDT

Few people outside Uber have heard of UCLA economics professor Keith Chen or his research. But Uber riders, drivers and employees have benefited from his improvement to the much-reviled “surge price” algorithm, according to two people who worked with Mr. Chen at Uber. Mr. Chen joined Uber in 2014 from UCLA and began redesigning... Few people outside Uber have heard of UCLA economics professor Keith Chen or his research. But...

Splunk representatives at Web Summit in 2012. Photo by Flickr/Web Summit.

Splunk Hires New Product Chief

By Steve Nellis · Oct 15, 2016 6:41pm PDT

Splunk, whose software is used by firms like Coca-Cola and Nordstrom to search through and analyze their data, has tapped Richard Campione as its product chief, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. He succeeds Guido Schroeder, who left the post in April.Mr. Campione most recently was CEO of Findly, a recruiting software firm... Splunk, whose software is used by firms like Coca-Cola and Nordstrom to search through and...

Messenger chief David Marcus at F8 in April. Photo by AP.

Behind Facebook’s Messenger Missteps

By Cory Weinberg · Oct 13, 2016 7:02am PDT · 7 comments

Facebook employees buzzed about Messenger’s personal assistant, known as M, when it launched inside the company and to a test group of thousands of users in California last year. Users could buy movie tickets or even order pinatas for employee birthday parties, although the work was performed mostly by people rather than a computer. The... Facebook employees buzzed about Messenger’s personal assistant, known as M, when it...

Machinima CEO Chad Gutstein. Photo by Bloomberg.

Warner Bros in Talks to Buy Machinima

By Tom Dotan · Oct 12, 2016 2:59pm PDT

Warner Bros. is in advanced talks to buy full ownership of online video network Machinima in a deal that values the company at under $100 million, according to one person close to the talks and another briefed on it. Warner Bros. already has a stake in Machinima, having invested in two previous funding rounds in 2014 and 2015. The movie... Warner Bros. is in advanced talks to buy full ownership of online video network Machinima in a...

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Snap Builds Engineering Team in San Francisco

By Amir Efrati and Tom Dotan · Oct 12, 2016 9:59am PDT

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Snap Builds Engineering Team in San Francisco

By Amir Efrati and Tom Dotan · Oct 12, 2016 9:59am PDT

Snap is for the first time hiring engineers in San Francisco, partly in an effort to strengthen its capabilities in search.Since the summer, the newly renamed parent company of Snapchat has hired fewer than a dozen engineers who are working out of a small office in North Beach. Among the most prominent is Wisam Dakka, a longtime search... Snap is for the first time hiring engineers in San Francisco, partly in an effort to strengthen...

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Took Board Seat at Didi Chuxing

By Amir Efrati and Alfred Lee · Oct 11, 2016 4:16pm PDT · 1 comment

Apple got a seat on the board of Didi Chuxing a few weeks after investing $1 billion in the company, which is known as the ‘Uber of China,’ according to a person briefed on the move. At the time, news reports about the investment quoted Didi as saying Apple hadn't received such a seat.The board appointment occurred in late June,... Apple got a seat on the board of Didi Chuxing a few weeks after investing $1 billion in the...

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at the company's DreamForce conference last week. Photo by Bloomberg.

How LinkedIn Defused Protest Over Microsoft Deal

By Steve Nellis · Oct 10, 2016 7:00am PDT · 3 comments

In the weeks before Salesforce urged European regulators to block Microsoft’s LinkedIn purchase late last month, Salesforce’s legal team tried to get SugarCRM, a rival in the sales software business, to join its lobbying efforts. Salesforce, which also tried to buy LinkedIn, has argued that Microsoft will have an unfair advantage... In the weeks before Salesforce urged European regulators to block Microsoft’s LinkedIn...

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Photo by Bloomberg.

Private Tech Debt Costs Rise

By Alfred Lee · Oct 6, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Data storage company Actifio, which raised money at a $1.1 billion valuation in 2014, borrowed $10 million this year from a venture debt fund. But the interest rate on the loan had a minimum interest rate of 8.75%, up from 8.25% for a loan it took out last year. Other fees went up as well, raising the total cost by another 0.25 percentage... Data storage company Actifio, which raised money at a $1.1 billion valuation in 2014, borrowed...

Uber India President Amit Jain. Photo by Uber.

Uber Claims Lead in India

By Amir Efrati · Oct 4, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Uber India President Amit Jain. Photo by Uber.

Uber Claims Lead in India

By Amir Efrati · Oct 4, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

BANGALORE, INDIA—Three years after launching its on-demand ride service in India, Uber says this country is its No. 2 market in terms of rides after the U.S. The India business is small relative to Uber’s global business, generating about $60 million in gross revenue per month and, after factoring expenses, losing around $30 million... BANGALORE, INDIA—Three years after launching its on-demand ride service in India, Uber says...

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos unveiling the Kindle Fire tablet and a new Kindle e-reader in 2012. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google Hires Amazon’s Former Kindle Hardware Chief

By Kevin McLaughlin · Oct 3, 2016 5:55pm PDT

David Foster, who helped develop the Amazon Kindle and Kindle Fire tablet, joined Google on Monday as vice president of product engineering in its hardware group, Google said. A person familiar with the hiring said Mr. Foster would lead hardware development for Google’s new branded line of smartphones. The position hadn't previously... David Foster, who helped develop the Amazon Kindle and Kindle Fire tablet, joined Google on...

Why Snap’s Spectacles Will Be Elusive

By Tom Dotan · Sep 29, 2016 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

If you were counting on Snap’s new camera-mounted Spectacles to be this year’s big Christmas gift for millennials, you may want to reconsider.The company has considered an unusual “closed” rollout of the product, meaning it wouldn’t be released to the public at large in the near term—according to two people... If you were counting on Snap’s new camera-mounted Spectacles to be this year’s big...

Facebook at Work's director Julien Codorniou. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook’s Rival to Slack, Yammer Coming Next Month

By Cory Weinberg · Sep 27, 2016 10:01am PDT · 7 comments

Facebook is nearing a commercial launch of Facebook at Work, its business-focused social network, and now plans to charge companies based on the number of employees who use the service monthly, a Facebook executive said. That’s a change from Facebook’s earlier plans to offer the software for free but to charge companies based on... Facebook is nearing a commercial launch of Facebook at Work, its business-focused social network,...

August Home co-founder Yves Behar. Photo by Flickr/Eirik Solheim.

How Amazon Might Get Through Front Door

By Steve Nellis and Reed Albergotti · Sep 27, 2016 7:01am PDT

August Home co-founder Yves Behar. Photo by Flickr/Eirik Solheim.

How Amazon Might Get Through Front Door

By Steve Nellis and Reed Albergotti · Sep 27, 2016 7:01am PDT

The days of having your Amazon packages stolen from outside your front door soon could be a thing of the past.Two companies with ties to Amazon.com, smart lock maker August Home and web-connected garage door opener Garageio, are working on a way for delivery people to leave products inside the home when residents aren’t there. As Garageio... The days of having your Amazon packages stolen from outside your front door soon could be a thing...

Google cloud chief Diane Greene. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

AWS, Google Gearing Up For Data Center Battle

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 21, 2016 11:00am PDT · 6 comments

Amazon Web Services and Google are developing storage software for companies to use in their own data centers, a reversal of the cloud providers’ usual efforts to get companies to put all their data in the clouds run by AWS and Google, according to people who have been briefed on the products.The targets are companies like banks that... Amazon Web Services and Google are developing storage software for companies to use in their own...

Google cloud chief Diane Greene. Photo by Bloomberg.

Google Ditching ‘Google For Work’ Branding

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 16, 2016 12:59pm PDT · 2 comments

Google is discontinuing the Google For Work branding it uses for its business-focused products, replacing it with “Google Cloud,” said two people who’ve been briefed on the change. Google For Work includes Google's business-focused productivity apps, cloud services, maps, Chromebooks and Android devices, search, and... Google is discontinuing the Google For Work branding it uses for its business-focused products,...

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger. Photo by Bloomberg.

Michael Dell Calls Gelsinger VMware’s Long-Term CEO

By Kevin McLaughlin · Sep 15, 2016 1:54pm PDT

Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell says VMware chief Pat Gelsinger will stay on at the helm of the company, putting to rest speculation that Mr. Gelsinger would leave in the wake of Dell’s $67 billion takeover of VMware and its majority owner EMC.“Pat is the long-term CEO of VMware. No question,” Mr. Dell said in a text message... Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell says VMware chief Pat Gelsinger will stay on at the helm of...

Dropbox co-founder and CEO Drew Houston. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Dropbox Doubled Down on Business Market

By Steve Nellis · Sep 15, 2016 7:01am PDT

Dropbox co-founder and CEO Drew Houston. Photo by Bloomberg.

How Dropbox Doubled Down on Business Market

By Steve Nellis · Sep 15, 2016 7:01am PDT

Last November, Dropbox’s leaders were preparing for Dropbox Open, a star-studded event in San Francisco where the company would rebrand its workplace offerings as Dropbox Business and then unveil Dropbox Enterprise, a new top tier of the company’s file-sharing and collaboration tools geared toward the largest corporate users. To... Last November, Dropbox’s leaders were preparing for Dropbox Open, a star-studded event in...