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OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo via Getty

OpenAI’s Annualized Revenue Tops $1.6 Billion as Customers Shrug Off CEO Drama

By Maria Heeter, Amir Efrati and Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 30, 2023 7:00am PST

OpenAI recently topped $1.6 billion in annualized revenue on strong growth from its ChatGPT product, up from $1.3 billion as of mid-October, according to two people with knowledge of the figure. The 20% growth over two months represented in that figure—a measure of the prior month’s revenue multiplied by 12—suggests that the... OpenAI recently topped $1.6 billion in annualized revenue on strong growth from its ChatGPT...

BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti. Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images.

BuzzFeed’s Complex Sale Price Is Likely to Fall Short

By Sahil Patel and Martin Peers · Dec 29, 2023 11:47am PST

After months of discussions, BuzzFeed is close to an agreement to sell most of its Complex Networks business to Ntwrk, a live video shopping and e-commerce startup, but at a price that will be a little above $100 million—significantly below what BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti was originally seeking in a sale, said people familiar with the... After months of discussions, BuzzFeed is close to an agreement to sell most of its Complex...

A Shein warehouse in Indiana. Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images.

Shein Taps Political Heavyweights to Help Win Over Washington Critics

By Ann Gehan · Dec 28, 2023 7:00am PST · 2 comments

As Shein prepares to go public, it is looking for help in winning over its biggest critics in Washington. With that in mind, the China-founded fast fashion giant has tapped political heavyweights as advisers. David Dreier, a former longtime Republican representative and key architect of the North American Free Trade Agreement, has been playing a... As Shein prepares to go public, it is looking for help in winning over its biggest critics in...

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and Haris Karonis, CEO and co-founder of Viva Wallet. Photos via Getty.

JPMorgan Clashes With Partly Owned Greek Fintech

By Michael Roddan · Dec 27, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and Haris Karonis, CEO and co-founder of Viva Wallet. Photos via Getty.

JPMorgan Clashes With Partly Owned Greek Fintech

By Michael Roddan · Dec 27, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

It’s been just 12 months since JPMorgan Chase spent $800 million to buy 49% of Greek fintech startup Viva Wallet, in an effort to expand the bank’s reach into the small business payments sector across Europe. But already the two companies appear to have fallen out. Two of JPMorgan’s three representatives on Viva’s board... It’s been just 12 months since JPMorgan Chase spent $800 million to buy 49% of Greek...

Daniela Amodei, president of Anthropic, and CEO Dario Amodei. Photo via YouTube/Bessemer Venture Partners.

Anthropic Projects At Least $850 Million in Annualized Revenue Rate Next Year

By Maria Heeter and Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 26, 2023 2:37pm PST · 4 comments

Anthropic, an OpenAI rival backed by Amazon and Google, has projected it will generate more than $850 million in annualized revenue by the end of 2024, according to two people with knowledge of its financial picture. Just three months ago, Anthropic told some investors it was generating revenue at a $100 million annualized rate and expected that... Anthropic, an OpenAI rival backed by Amazon and Google, has projected it will generate more than...

Elon Musk. Photo by Antonio Masiello via Getty Images.

Musk’s xAI Incorporates as Benefit Corporation With ‘Positive Impact’ Goal

By Becky Peterson · Dec 26, 2023 1:02pm PST · 1 comment

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is following in the footsteps of rivals OpenAI and Anthropic in opting for an unusual corporate structure. xAI has been organized in Nevada as a for-profit benefit corporation, a structure that allows the company to prioritize having a positive impact on society over its obligations to... Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is following in the footsteps of rivals...

Reddit CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman. Photo via Shutterstock.

Reddit Falls Short of Ad Growth Targets Ahead of Likely 2024 IPO

By Cory Weinberg and Sahil Patel · Dec 26, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

If the market for initial public offerings recovers in the new year, one company that aims to go public early on is Reddit. An IPO will put the spotlight on the prospects for Reddit’s advertising business, which has fallen short of ambitious growth targets outlined by executives two years ago. Reddit expects to finish this year with... If the market for initial public offerings recovers in the new year, one company that aims to go...

Photo via Getty

Why Cisco is Paying a High Price to Acquire a Cloud Networking Startup

By Anissa Gardizy · Dec 22, 2023 12:51pm PST · 2 comments

Photo via Getty

Why Cisco is Paying a High Price to Acquire a Cloud Networking Startup

By Anissa Gardizy · Dec 22, 2023 12:51pm PST · 2 comments

Cisco Systems’ acquisition of Isovalent, a cloud networking and security startup backed by Google and Microsoft, announced on Thursday, suggests that the enterprise software stock rebound is also boosting startup valuations in the sector. Cisco, a pioneer in data center networking equipment that has shifted to serve cloud customers, is... Cisco Systems’ acquisition of Isovalent, a cloud networking and security startup backed by...

Art by Mike Sullivan

TikTok Parent’s Gaming Stumble Shows Limits of Founder’s Vision

By Juro Osawa · Dec 22, 2023 6:00am PST · 5 comments

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming was getting impatient. During a video call with executives from the company’s gaming team in Sept. 2022, he complained about a lack of progress at the division, called Nuverse. He also pointed out that user numbers for the ByteDance-owned Moonton game studio hadn’t grown even though its headcount had... ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming was getting impatient. During a video call with executives from...

Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen. Photo By Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images.

Flexport’s 2024 Goals: Triple Revenue While Slashing Costs

By Theo Wayt · Dec 21, 2023 2:29pm PST

Flexport has set ambitious targets for both revenue growth and cost-cutting in 2024, even as it reels from a sagging freight market and its cash pile continues to shrink. The freight company is targeting $330 million in net revenue in 2024, a dramatic increase from current annualized net revenue of less than $100 million, according to people... Flexport has set ambitious targets for both revenue growth and cost-cutting in 2024, even as it...

Patrick and John Collison. Photos by Getty.

Stripe Swings to a Profit as Business Rebounds

By Cory Weinberg · Dec 21, 2023 6:00am PST

Payments giant Stripe, a bellwether of the startup world, kept a lid on spending for engineers and salespeople this year after business slowed in 2022. Now it’s reaping the benefits: as revenue growth has re-accelerated, it’s making money again. Stripe’s net revenues—what the firm takes in from payments it processes after... Payments giant Stripe, a bellwether of the startup world, kept a lid on spending for engineers...

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic. Photo via Getty.

Anthropic to Raise $750 Million in Menlo Ventures-Led Deal

By Maria Heeter, Anissa Gardizy and Natasha Mascarenhas · Dec 20, 2023 3:33pm PST · 2 comments

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic. Photo via Getty.

Anthropic to Raise $750 Million in Menlo Ventures-Led Deal

By Maria Heeter, Anissa Gardizy and Natasha Mascarenhas · Dec 20, 2023 3:33pm PST · 2 comments

Anthropic is in talks to raise $750 million in a venture round led by Menlo Ventures that values the two-year-old artificial intelligence startup at $15 billion not including the investment, more than three times its valuation this spring, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The round hasn't finalized. The final... Anthropic is in talks to raise $750 million in a venture round led by Menlo Ventures that values...

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri. Photo via AP/Art by Shane Burke.

Behind Instagram Head Adam Mosseri’s Mixed Record on Youth Safety

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kalley Huang · Dec 20, 2023 6:00am PST · 3 comments

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has built a public reputation as someone who is concerned about the safety of young people on Instagram. During an appearance on CBS in 2019, he said user well-being was a “No. 1 priority.” At a Senate hearing in 2021, he described youth online safety as “critically important.” And when... Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has built a public reputation as someone who is concerned about the...

Google's chief business officer, Philipp Schindler. Photo via Getty

Google Plans Ad Sales Restructuring as Automation Booms

By Jon Victor and Amir Efrati · Dec 19, 2023 4:54pm PST · 1 comment

Google plans to reorganize a big part of its 30,000-person ad sales unit, an executive told some staff last week, prompting anxiety that some departments will face job cuts. The planned reorganization comes as Google is relying more on machine-learning techniques to help customers buy even more ads on its search engine, YouTube and other... Google plans to reorganize a big part of its 30,000-person ad sales unit, an executive told some...

Henrik Fisker, CEO of Fisker Inc., unveils the Fisker Ocean electric SUV in Los Angeles in Nov. 2021. Photo by Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg via Getty Images.

EV Upstart Fisker Faces Angry Customers, Falling Stock Price

By Maria Heeter and Michael Roddan · Dec 19, 2023 10:47am PST · 6 comments

Retired technology executive Gary Stuart’s garage is full of electric cars—a Rivian truck for himself and a Lucid Motors sedan for his wife. He was so eager to own an electric SUV from another fledgling firm, Los Angeles–based Fisker, that he put down a $5,000 deposit for a vehicle last year. He even invested nearly $100,000 in... Retired technology executive Gary Stuart’s garage is full of electric cars—a Rivian...

AWS sales chief Matt Garman. Collage by Clark Miller

AWS Overhauls 60,000-Person Sales Team to Fix ‘Fiefdoms,’ Customer Complaints

By Anissa Gardizy · Dec 19, 2023 6:00am PST · 5 comments

AWS sales chief Matt Garman. Collage by Clark Miller

AWS Overhauls 60,000-Person Sales Team to Fix ‘Fiefdoms,’ Customer Complaints

By Anissa Gardizy · Dec 19, 2023 6:00am PST · 5 comments

Matt Garman, head of sales at Amazon Web Services, plans to reorganize his more than 60,000-person team to address problems that have pierced the world’s biggest cloud provider’s aura of invincibility and created an opening for Microsoft and other rivals. Early next year, Garman will consolidate teams that developed conflicting sales... Matt Garman, head of sales at Amazon Web Services, plans to reorganize his more than...

Dylan Field, CEO of Figma. Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch.

Figma Grew Fast Even as Executives Failed to Clinch Adobe Deal

By Cory Weinberg and Maria Heeter · Dec 18, 2023 11:17am PST · 12 comments

The decision by Adobe and Figma to spike their $20 billion merger on Monday dented the imminent dream of startup riches for Figma investors and employees. But Figma’s business is still growing quicker than that of most mature startups, potentially putting it in position for an initial public offering in 2025 or later. And the... The decision by Adobe and Figma to spike their $20 billion merger on Monday dented the imminent...

Art by Mike Sullivan

TikTok Asks Advertisers to Spend 50% More Next Year

By Sahil Patel · Dec 15, 2023 11:41am PST · 3 comments

TikTok is doubling down on efforts to take ad dollars from TV networks and Instagram owner Meta Platforms. The hugely popular Chinese-owned video app is asking top ad-buying firms to increase their spending by between 50% and 150% next year, according to people with knowledge of the matter, in requests that ad executives say are unreasonable.... TikTok is doubling down on efforts to take ad dollars from TV networks and Instagram owner Meta...

Art by Mike Sullivan

OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft Chase Wearable AI

By Erin Woo, Jon Victor and Anissa Gardizy · Dec 14, 2023 4:35pm PST · 2 comments

Next year’s artificial intelligence battle is coming into focus—and it’s all about glasses. As they release more powerful AI that can understand images and language, Meta Platforms, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and others are racing to apply the technology to smart glasses and other wearable devices with forward-facing cameras.... Next year’s artificial intelligence battle is coming into focus—and it’s all...

Arvind Jain, CEO of Glean. Photo by Harry Murphy via Getty Images.

Startup Founded by Ex-Google Search Team Nears $2 Billion Valuation

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 13, 2023 5:04pm PST · 8 comments

Arvind Jain, CEO of Glean. Photo by Harry Murphy via Getty Images.

Startup Founded by Ex-Google Search Team Nears $2 Billion Valuation

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Stephanie Palazzolo · Dec 13, 2023 5:04pm PST · 8 comments

Glean, a startup founded by former Google search engineers that uses OpenAI’s large language models to help workers search through their companies’ internal data, is in talks with investors to raise at least $200 million at a $2 billion pre-money valuation, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions. Kleiner Perkins,... Glean, a startup founded by former Google search engineers that uses OpenAI’s large...