The Information

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A Tangled Mess of Tech: JPMorgan’s Tall Task to Integrate First Republic

By Michael Roddan · Aug 31, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

In the hours after JPMorgan Chase bought troubled First Republic Bank for $10.6 billion in a government fire sale, its consumer banking chiefs Marianne Lake and Jennifer Piepszak—both potential successors to CEO Jamie Dimon—flew to California. What they found when they arrived the morning of May 1 was startling: The business JPMorgan... In the hours after JPMorgan Chase bought troubled First Republic Bank for $10.6 billion in a...

The founders of AI21 Labs. Left to right: Yoav Shoham, Ori Goshen and Amnon Shashua. Photo via AI21 Labs.

OpenAI Challenger AI21 Labs Nears Funding at $1.2 Billion Valuation

By Stephanie Palazzolo, Aidan Ryan and Erin Woo · Aug 30, 2023 12:29pm PDT · 1 comment

AI21 Labs, an Israel-based rival to OpenAI, has neared a new round of funding that would value the six-year-old startup at $1.2 billion, before the new capital, according to two people familiar with the matter. It’s the latest sign of investor appetite for firms developing conversational artificial intelligence as the technology becomes a... AI21 Labs, an Israel-based rival to OpenAI, has neared a new round of funding that would value...

Antonio Gracias. Photo by Getty.

Valor Equity Returns Show Limits of Musk Halo

By Becky Peterson · Aug 30, 2023 11:59am PDT · 3 comments

Valor Equity Partners made a name for itself thanks to early bets on Elon Musk companies such as Tesla, and its repeat investments in Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies have paid off handsomely. Yet despite the Musk glow, Valor’s recent and biggest funds are only performing slightly better than those of its venture capital peers,... Valor Equity Partners made a name for itself thanks to early bets on Elon Musk companies such as...

AWS CEO Adam Selipsky (left) and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Art by Clark Miller/Photos by Getty

How AWS Stumbled in AI, Giving Microsoft an Opening

By Anissa Gardizy and Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 30, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

AWS CEO Adam Selipsky (left) and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Art by Clark Miller/Photos by Getty

How AWS Stumbled in AI, Giving Microsoft an Opening

By Anissa Gardizy and Kevin McLaughlin · Aug 30, 2023 6:00am PDT · 3 comments

Long before ChatGPT arrived on the scene last year, Amazon Web Services was developing artificial intelligence software akin to the technology that powers the hit chatbot from OpenAI. AWS had hoped to unveil the software, then known inside the company as Bedrock, at its annual customer conference late last November, but had to postpone it due to... Long before ChatGPT arrived on the scene last year, Amazon Web Services was developing artificial...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo via Getty

OpenAI Passes $1 Billion Revenue Pace as Big Companies Boost AI Spending

By Amir Efrati and Aaron Holmes · Aug 29, 2023 3:58pm PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI is currently on pace to generate more than $1 billion in revenue over the next 12 months from the sale of artificial intelligence software and the computing capacity that powers it. That’s far ahead of revenue projections the company previously shared with its shareholders, according to a person with direct knowledge of the... OpenAI is currently on pace to generate more than $1 billion in revenue over the next 12 months...

Composite by Clark Miller. Apple Vision Pro photo by Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images.

Apple Hopes Chinese Suppliers Can Solve Vision Pro’s Display Challenges

By Wayne Ma · Aug 29, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

When Apple dealt with Chinese manufacturers in the past, it was to buy low-level components such as small metal parts, paper boxes and batteries. For advanced parts such as displays and chips, the iPhone maker turned to firms headquartered in the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Times are changing. Apple is currently testing advanced... When Apple dealt with Chinese manufacturers in the past, it was to buy low-level components such...

Chamath Palihapitiya. Photo by Variety via Getty Images.

Chamath Palihapitiya’s Venture Firm Offered to Sell Hundreds of Startup Stakes

By Maria Heeter · Aug 28, 2023 12:36pm PDT · 8 comments

Social Capital, the investment firm led by venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, tried to sell stakes in hundreds of young companies in June of this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The stakes for sale were worth $312 million in total based on the valuations at which the companies last raised money, the people said. ... Social Capital, the investment firm led by venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, tried to sell...

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Amazon in Talks With Disney About ESPN Streaming Partnership

By Sahil Patel · Aug 24, 2023 3:02pm PDT · 1 comment

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Amazon in Talks With Disney About ESPN Streaming Partnership

By Sahil Patel · Aug 24, 2023 3:02pm PDT · 1 comment

Amazon has had early talks with Disney about working on the streaming version of ESPN it is developing, said people familiar with the matter. The tech giant could offer the service through one of its streaming offerings, helping to expand its distribution, while possibly also taking a minority stake in ESPN. Such an arrangement could shore up... Amazon has had early talks with Disney about working on the streaming version of ESPN it is...

Connie James, StubHub's next CFO. Photo via YouTube/Light & Wonder.

StubHub Hires New CFO With Eyes on 2024 IPO

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 24, 2023 12:37pm PDT

Ticket-reselling company StubHub has hired a new finance chief to try to take it public next year, following the departure of its previous CFO in 2022, according to people familiar with the matter. StubHub’s new CFO is Connie James, the people said. She stepped down last month from the same post at Light & Wonder, a publicly traded... Ticket-reselling company StubHub has hired a new finance chief to try to take it public next...

Photo by Convoy.

Digital Trucking Company Convoy Explores Options Including a Sale

By Maria Heeter · Aug 24, 2023 12:11pm PDT · 4 comments

Convoy, a digital trucking marketplace that counts Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates as angel investors and Fidelity and T. Rowe Price as later-stage backers, is weighing strategic options that could include a sale of the company, according to people familiar with the matter. The company, which competes with Uber Freight, hired an investment bank... Convoy, a digital trucking marketplace that counts Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates as angel investors...

Art by Clark Miller

Chip Startup Sued By Apple Has Struggled to Raise Capital

By Wayne Ma · Aug 23, 2023 7:40pm PDT

Rivos, a server chip developer that Apple sued for alleged trade secret theft, has since struggled to raise funds from investors and recruit employees, its co-founders have told some staff. Apple sued the startup last year after it hired numerous employees from Apple’s chip design unit. Rivos last week laid off nearly two dozen employees,... Rivos, a server chip developer that Apple sued for alleged trade secret theft, has since...

A SpaceX rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying 60 Starlink satellites in 2019. Photo by Getty

SpaceX Working with Cloudflare to Speed Up Starlink Service

By Becky Peterson · Aug 23, 2023 12:38pm PDT

A SpaceX rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station carrying 60 Starlink satellites in 2019. Photo by Getty

SpaceX Working with Cloudflare to Speed Up Starlink Service

By Becky Peterson · Aug 23, 2023 12:38pm PDT

Space Exploration Technologies, Elon Musk’s rocket company, is working with Cloudflare to boost the performance of SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink, according to a person with direct knowledge of the project. The two companies are working on a way to increase Starlink’s terrestrial network of mini data centers... Space Exploration Technologies, Elon Musk’s rocket company, is working with Cloudflare to...

TikTokers advertising products for TikTok shop. Photos via TikTok. Art by Shane Burke.

TikTok Shop on Track to Lose More Than $500 Million in U.S. This Year

By Erin Woo and Jing Yang · Aug 23, 2023 6:00am PDT · 5 comments

The cost of TikTok’s online shopping expansion in the U.S. is beginning to add up. TikTok Shop, the app’s nascent shopping service, is expected to lose more than $500 million in the U.S. this year, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The loss reflects TikTok’s heavy investment in hiring, building a... The cost of TikTok’s online shopping expansion in the U.S. is beginning to add up. TikTok...

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff. Photo by Getty

Salesforce Leads Financing of AI Startup at More Than $4 Billion Valuation

By Jon Victor and Amir Efrati · Aug 22, 2023 2:04pm PDT · 1 comment

Salesforce is leading a financing round in Hugging Face, one of the most highly valued startups helping businesses use artificial intelligence, at a valuation north of $4 billion, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. The roughly $200 million funding round more than doubles the share price and private valuation of the New... Salesforce is leading a financing round in Hugging Face, one of the most highly valued startups...

Aidan Gomez, CEO of Cohere. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Tiger Global Nears Deal to Sell Slice of Cohere Stake at $3 Billion Valuation

By Maria Heeter, Kate Clark and Jon Victor · Aug 22, 2023 1:19pm PDT

Tiger Global Management is nearing a deal to sell part of its stake in OpenAI rival Cohere at a roughly $3 billion valuation, a markup of more than 40% from Cohere’s last financing round in June, according to people familiar with the matter. Tiger is selling a stake of roughly 2.1% of Cohere for about $63 million, equal to the dollar... Tiger Global Management is nearing a deal to sell part of its stake in OpenAI rival Cohere at a...

Ant Group's office building in Nanjing, China. Photo by Getty.

Ant Group Will Cut Foreign Investors Out of Fast-Growing Database Business

By Jing Yang · Aug 22, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

Ant Group's office building in Nanjing, China. Photo by Getty.

Ant Group Will Cut Foreign Investors Out of Fast-Growing Database Business

By Jing Yang · Aug 22, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

When international investors such as General Atlantic and the Carlyle Group invested in Chinese fintech firm Ant Group in 2018, they likely hoped for a big payoff given its dominance in facilitating payments for both Chinese brick-and-mortar merchants and e-commerce sites such as Alibaba. Those hopes were dashed in 2020, when Chinese authorities... When international investors such as General Atlantic and the Carlyle Group invested in Chinese...

Instacart’s Revenue Rose More than 30% in First Half

By Cory Weinberg · Aug 19, 2023 10:54am PDT · 11 comments

When Instacart executives begin their initial public offering pitch to investors as early as next week, they face a challenge. Order volume in Instacart’s core grocery-delivery business is barely growing, new data reveals, although the company is showing revenue expansion by keeping more of the dollars spent on each order and from a... When Instacart executives begin their initial public offering pitch to investors as early as next...

President Biden. Photo by AP.

Biden Order Could Hit Chinese VC Firms Run by Americans

By Juro Osawa and Jing Yang · Aug 19, 2023 9:43am PDT · 10 comments

Some of China’s most prominent venture capitalists are U.S. citizens or green-card holders. That could soon become a problem for their firms. President Joe Biden’s executive order last week, limiting certain American investments in China, could also curtail the activities of Chinese investment firms whose leaders are U.S. citizens.... Some of China’s most prominent venture capitalists are U.S. citizens or green-card holders....

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Verizon Has Talked With Disney About ESPN Partnership

By Sahil Patel · Aug 18, 2023 8:21am PDT

Disney CEO Bob Iger has said he’s looking for strategic partners to help launch a streaming version of the ESPN cable channel. One key distributor, Verizon, has already thrown its hat into the ring. The telecom giant has been in touch with Disney about potentially partnering on a new ESPN streaming service, according to people familiar... Disney CEO Bob Iger has said he’s looking for strategic partners to help launch a streaming...

Photos via Shutterstock and CoreWeave.

Nvidia-Backed CoreWeave Feels the Pain of Rapid Growth

By Anissa Gardizy · Aug 18, 2023 6:00am PDT

Photos via Shutterstock and CoreWeave.

Nvidia-Backed CoreWeave Feels the Pain of Rapid Growth

By Anissa Gardizy · Aug 18, 2023 6:00am PDT

CoreWeave, a fast-growing cloud computing provider that rents access to Nvidia’s hard-to-get artificial intelligence chips, has raised more than $2.7 billion in debt and equity this year to obtain more chips and space in data centers. Now CoreWeave may be feeling growing pains. The company recently lowered its projected revenue and capital... CoreWeave, a fast-growing cloud computing provider that rents access to Nvidia’s...