The Information

Apple executive Jimmy Iovine. Photo by Bloomberg.

Apple Sends Mixed Signals to Hollywood

By Tom Dotan · Nov 16, 2016 7:01am PST · 1 comment

Earlier this year, Apple executives met with representatives for comedian Chris Rock about a potential video deal, according to two people familiar with the discussions. It was just one example of the kind of meetings Apple executives have been having since they announced they would finance original programming for Apple TV a year ago.The... Earlier this year, Apple executives met with representatives for comedian Chris Rock about a...

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Photo by Bloomberg.

Airbnb Tries to Grow by the Beach

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 14, 2016 10:01am PST · 4 comments

Vacasa, a Portland, Oregon-based startup, manages about 4,300 vacation homes around the world in ski towns like Beaver Creek, Colorado, and beachside villages around the Mediterranean Sea. And for the first time next year, the company plans to start listing some of its homes on Airbnb.It’s the sort of business Airbnb needs to win to... Vacasa, a Portland, Oregon-based startup, manages about 4,300 vacation homes around the world in...

Source: Portfolio reports

VC Returns Slid This Year

By Alfred Lee · Nov 14, 2016 7:01am PST · 1 comment

A slowdown in private tech valuations over the past year took a sizeable bite out of venture capital returns, a review of public records show. Many high-profile VC firms, including True Ventures, Union Square Ventures and Foundry Group, saw long-term returns of some funds shrink.Broadly speaking, the data confirms the findings of previously... A slowdown in private tech valuations over the past year took a sizeable bite out of venture...

People waiting for Uber rides at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. Photo by Bloomberg.

Snap Poaches Uber Lawyer

By Amir Efrati · Nov 8, 2016 11:13am PST

People waiting for Uber rides at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. Photo by Bloomberg.

Snap Poaches Uber Lawyer

By Amir Efrati · Nov 8, 2016 11:13am PST

Snap last month hired a top lawyer from Uber, one of three executives who quietly left Uber in the past few months.Katherine Tassi, who was an associate general counsel at Uber in charge of privacy issues, moved from San Francisco to Snap’s headquarters in Venice, Calif., to take on a similar role, reporting to general counsel Chris... Snap last month hired a top lawyer from Uber, one of three executives who quietly left Uber in...

An UberEats delivering takeaway food at a launch event in Japan. Photo by Bloomberg.

Uber’s Second Act Makes Progress, Creates New Dilemmas

By Amir Efrati · Nov 7, 2016 7:00am PST · 3 comments

Now that Uber has largely conquered the ride-sharing market in the U.S., CEO Travis Kalanick is accelerating his long-term plan to challenge Amazon.com in delivering goods to people’s homes. But he has to overcome a key problem: how to expand in delivery of food and other goods without undermining Uber’s core business.Those secondary... Now that Uber has largely conquered the ride-sharing market in the U.S., CEO Travis Kalanick is...

Facebook's VP of messaging products, David Marcus. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook Preps Larger Rollout for Messenger Games

By Tom Dotan · Nov 4, 2016 1:54pm PDT · 2 comments

Facebook is preparing to launch a new way to play games on Messenger called “Instant Games,” according to two people briefed on the product. It could roll out as soon as this month, one of these people said.Earlier this year Facebook quietly launched a few games—basketball, soccer and chess games—as experiments. The... Facebook is preparing to launch a new way to play games on Messenger called “Instant...

Snap's co-founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy. Photo by AP.

Snap’s Founders to Maintain Voting Control after IPO

By Alfred Lee and Tom Dotan · Nov 4, 2016 12:39pm PDT · 1 comment

Snap Inc. has authorized a new class of shares that ensures founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy will retain control after the company goes public, according to a restated company charter filed in Delaware on Monday.The new class of shares ensures the founders would keep the supervoting rights they already have—a common move for a... Snap Inc. has authorized a new class of shares that ensures founders Evan Spiegel and Bobby...

A professional videogamer at a live championship in South Korea. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook Preps Bigger Plunge into E-Sports

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 1, 2016 7:01am PDT

A professional videogamer at a live championship in South Korea. Photo by Bloomberg.

Facebook Preps Bigger Plunge into E-Sports

By Cory Weinberg · Nov 1, 2016 7:01am PDT

Facebook is stepping up plans to broadcast popular e-sports tournaments, in a potential challenge to Twitch and YouTube.Facebook had “extensive conversations” with the developer of popular mobile e-sport “Vainglory” to stream professional competitions, said Kristian Segerstrale, chief operating officer of developer Super... Facebook is stepping up plans to broadcast popular e-sports tournaments, in a potential challenge...

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...