The Information

Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. Photo by Bloomberg.

Rude Awakening for Uber’s China Employees

By Yunan Zhang and Amir Efrati · Aug 4, 2016 7:00am PDT · 2 comments

Talk that Uber was selling its China business to Didi Chuxing had circulated internally at Uber for a couple of weeks before it was announced on Monday. For many of UberChina’s 800 employees, though, confirmation came in a more jarring way. When they got to work on Monday, they couldn’t get access to their Uber email and other Uber... Talk that Uber was selling its China business to Didi Chuxing had circulated internally at Uber...

Snapchat co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. Photo by AP.

Snapchat Deal Shows High Cost of SPVs

By Alfred Lee and Yunan Zhang · Aug 3, 2016 7:01am PDT · 4 comments

Small individual investors have more access to the hottest private tech firms nowadays, thanks to the growing popularity of special purpose vehicles raised to invest in a single company. But the fees are high, particularly when investors buy through one SPV investing in another SPV.One Snapchat case illustrates the example. At some point in the... Small individual investors have more access to the hottest private tech firms nowadays, thanks to...

Grab CEO Anthony Tan. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber Now Poised to Grab More of Southeast Asia

By Amir Efrati · Aug 2, 2016 10:00am PDT · 2 comments

Now that Uber is shifting its focus away from China to other overseas markets, one region where it may have a better shot at overcoming a local incumbent is southeast Asia, say people involved with the company. In countries like Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, Uber is going up against the early... Now that Uber is shifting its focus away from China to other overseas markets, one region where...

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel. Picture by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Snapchat Explores New Scannable Ads

By Tom Dotan and Amir Efrati · Aug 2, 2016 9:06am PDT · 8 comments

Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel. Picture by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Snapchat Explores New Scannable Ads

By Tom Dotan and Amir Efrati · Aug 2, 2016 9:06am PDT · 8 comments

Snapchat is working on a new type of ad that would allow people to use their smartphone cameras to unlock special sponsored content in the app. The feature lets people scan an image or barcode on a poster or a website, which later gives them a special deal on a product, according to two people briefed on the company’s ad strategy.The ad... Snapchat is working on a new type of ad that would allow people to use their smartphone cameras...

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman. Photo by Bloomberg.

Private Equity Ponders Hewlett Packard Enterprise Buyout

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 29, 2016 10:07am PDT

Several private equity firms including KKR, Apollo Global Management and Carlyle Group are sniffing around Hewlett Packard Enterprise, contemplating a buyout of the firm, said a person who has had talks with representatives of the firms. Such a deal would be worth more than $40 billion.A buyout would allow HPE, currently the world’s... Several private equity firms including KKR, Apollo Global Management and Carlyle Group are...

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman. Photo by Bloomberg.

K.C. Choi Leaves Hewlett Packard Enterprise

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 27, 2016 2:22pm PDT

Veteran Hewlett Packard technologist K.C. Choi has left the company, a person close to Hewlett Packard Enterprise said. His departure could complicate CEO Meg Whitman’s hopes of promoting a new computing architecture that is central to the revival of the company formed in the break-up of H-P last year.UPDATE: Mr. Choi has joined storage... Veteran Hewlett Packard technologist K.C. Choi has left the company, a person close to Hewlett...

Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Jeffrey Katzenberg’s Next Venture

By Tom Dotan and Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 20, 2016 10:05am PDT

Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg is contemplating a new venture to produce high-quality short videos. The veteran movie executive has been trying to recruit people, according to two media executives who have either talked to Mr. Katzenberg about the project or have heard from people who have been pitched.Mr. Katzenberg reached a deal... Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg is contemplating a new venture to produce...

Symphony Communication Services CEO David Gurle. Photo by Bloomberg.

Symphony Moves to Google’s Cloud

By Steve Nellis · Jul 20, 2016 7:31am PDT

Symphony Communication Services CEO David Gurle. Photo by Bloomberg.

Symphony Moves to Google’s Cloud

By Steve Nellis · Jul 20, 2016 7:31am PDT

Symphony Communication Services, the bank-backed messaging startup taking on Bloomberg LP, is moving most of its cloud computing business to Google from Amazon Web Services, Symphony CEO David Gurle told The Information in an interview.The deal is a symbolic win for Google, which is running a distant third behind Amazon Web Services and... Symphony Communication Services, the bank-backed messaging startup taking on Bloomberg LP, is...

A scene from Starz's "Outlander" series. Photo by Starz.

Amazon a Surprise Force in Internet TV

By Tom Dotan · Jul 19, 2016 10:00am PDT · 2 comments

Late last year Amazon.com added a new aisle in its store: selling subscriptions to online streaming services like Starz and Showtime as an add-on to a Prime membership. The new offering has proved surprisingly popular, new figures show, demonstrating Amazon’s potential to become a powerhouse in subscription TV.For instance, Amazon has sold... Late last year Amazon.com added a new aisle in its store: selling subscriptions to online...

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative principals Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Zuckerberg Philanthropy May Target Housing

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 18, 2016 10:01am PDT · 2 comments

The philanthropic organization started by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan is exploring ways to help alleviate the Bay Area’s most vexing problem: the high cost of housing.Representatives from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC have met with several housing experts affiliated with local governments, real estate groups and academia in... The philanthropic organization started by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan is exploring ways to...

WeWork CEO Adam Neumann. Photo by Flickr/TechCrunch.

Property Developers Balk at Co-Living Firms

By Cory Weinberg · Jul 14, 2016 10:01am PDT · 3 comments

It looked like a perfect match: a 235-unit apartment building planned for San Francisco's hot South of Market neighborhood and WeWork's millennial-friendly co-living division, dubbed WeLive. But WeWork's efforts to lease the proposed building last year unraveled for an all-too-familiar reason—a banker got skittish.The... It looked like a perfect match: a 235-unit apartment building planned for San Francisco's...

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Photo by Bloomberg.

Hope for Tax Break on Private Tech Options

By Reed Albergotti · Jul 11, 2016 7:01am PDT

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. Photo by Bloomberg.

Hope for Tax Break on Private Tech Options

By Reed Albergotti · Jul 11, 2016 7:01am PDT

One of the biggest drawbacks for startup employees who receive stock as part of their compensation can be taxes. When employees’ restricted stock vests or they exercise options, they have to pay taxes on any built-in gains, even if they can’t sell the stock. A congressional bill expected to be introduced early this week aims to... One of the biggest drawbacks for startup employees who receive stock as part of their...

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam at Sun Valley this week. Photo by Bloomberg.

Changes Likely Afoot for Ownership of AwesomenessTV

By Tom Dotan and Amir Efrati · Jul 8, 2016 8:47am PDT

SUN VALLEY, ID—Pay TV rivals Verizon and Comcast will soon find themselves unlikely partners in AwesomenessTV, perhaps the most successful digital media studio in recent years. But Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam on Thursday dropped a hint that this state of affairs wouldn’t last.That raises the possibility that Verizon will move to buy... SUN VALLEY, ID—Pay TV rivals Verizon and Comcast will soon find themselves unlikely...

Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger. Photo by Bloomberg.

ESPN Takes a Baby Step Outside the Bundle

By Amir Efrati and Tom Dotan · Jul 7, 2016 7:05pm PDT

Walt Disney’s ESPN sports network plans to unveil a package of live programming it will offer directly to consumers on the Web, said a person with knowledge of the plans. The move is a baby step towards ESPN becoming a direct-to-consumer service.ESPN’s new offering won’t include high-value content like professional football or... Walt Disney’s ESPN sports network plans to unveil a package of live programming it will...

Chinese angel investor Wang Gang. Photo by Zhang Yong.

The Angel Investor Behind Didi Chuxing

By Zara Zhang · Jul 7, 2016 7:02am PDT

In 2012, two executives at Alibaba pooled money to launch an app to help Chinese people hail taxis. The startup became Didi Chuxing, most recently valued at $28 billion. One of the co-founders, Cheng Wei, became CEO. The other, Wang Gang, has made so much money from Didi and an earlier stake in Alibaba that he is now one of China’s most... In 2012, two executives at Alibaba pooled money to launch an app to help Chinese people hail...

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom. Photo by Bloomberg.

Sharing Decline Blurs Instagram’s Picture

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 30, 2016 7:00am PDT · 4 comments

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom. Photo by Bloomberg.

Sharing Decline Blurs Instagram’s Picture

By Cory Weinberg · Jun 30, 2016 7:00am PDT · 4 comments

Five times as many people now use Instagram as did in 2013. But despite that strong growth, Instagram has seen a worrisome trend. Between 2013 and 2015, the number of photos shared on average by each Instagram user fell, said two people briefed on the app’s internal data.And just as its parent Facebook has been trying to reverse a drop in... Five times as many people now use Instagram as did in 2013. But despite that strong growth,...

Huawei's Vice President of Design, Abigail Brody, during the filming of a documentary about the company. Photo by Florian Brody.

How a Former Apple Designer is Updating Huawei’s Look

By Amir Efrati · Jun 22, 2016 7:01am PDT · 3 comments

It’s an interesting turn of events: a Chinese company that wants to be like Apple hires a former Apple designer to make its smartphone software look less like Apple’s. Last fall, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei brought in a former longtime Apple designer, Abigail Brody, to change the look of its smartphone software... It’s an interesting turn of events: a Chinese company that wants to be like Apple hires a...

David Limp, Amazon's Senior Vice President of Devices, showing off the Echo earlier this year. Photo by AP.

Amazon’s High Hopes for Echo Sales

By Amir Efrati · Jun 15, 2016 11:40am PDT · 3 comments

Amazon is hoping to sell as many as 10 million of its voice-activated Echo devices next year, which would make it a roughly $1 billion hardware business, according to a person with direct knowledge of the projections.That would be an increase from the 3 million units Amazon hopes to sell this year—a number that was projected before the... Amazon is hoping to sell as many as 10 million of its voice-activated Echo devices next year,...

Google Senior Vice President for Enterprise, Diane Greene. Photo by AP.

Google’s Secret Weapon in Database Wars

By Steve Nellis and Amir Efrati · Jun 13, 2016 7:01am PDT · 1 comment

Looking for ways to better compete with Amazon Web Services, engineers at Google Cloud Platform have tested how to turn an internal database technology called Spanner into a product it can sell to developers, according to two people briefed on the effort. Spanner is now used to power many Google consumer products.The tests are part of a broader... Looking for ways to better compete with Amazon Web Services, engineers at Google Cloud Platform...

Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster. Photo by Flickr/Web Summit.

Executive Shuffle at Cyanogen Amid Challenges

By Amir Efrati · Jun 9, 2016 2:26pm PDT · 3 comments

Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster. Photo by Flickr/Web Summit.

Executive Shuffle at Cyanogen Amid Challenges

By Amir Efrati · Jun 9, 2016 2:26pm PDT · 3 comments

Cyanogen’s prospects for challenging Google’s domination of the Android mobile operating system are dimming.Several senior managers have departed the high-profile Android software startup in recent weeks, as the firm struggles to show it can offer a differentiated version of Android of value to app developers. Google has updated... Cyanogen’s prospects for challenging Google’s domination of the Android mobile...