The Information

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, left, and Apple CEO Tim Cook. Photos by Getty.

How the Partnership Between Apple and Goldman Sachs Soured

By Lauren Tara LaCapra and Wayne Ma · Jul 25, 2023 11:54am PDT · 5 comments

Apple and Goldman Sachs were in test runs before embarking publicly on one of the biggest-name partnerships ever between tech and finance. Engineers from the Silicon Valley giant and the Wall Street titan were pulling an all-nighter a few months before launch, scrambling to find a solution to a problem that had cropped up: Tim Cook... Apple and Goldman Sachs were in test runs before embarking publicly on one of the biggest-name...

Left to right: Kyriakos Mitsotakis, prime minister of Greece; Haris Karonis, CEO of Viva Wallet; and Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase. Photos by Getty.

JPMorgan’s Greek Fintech Unicorn Draws Regulatory Blitz

By Michael Roddan · Jul 24, 2023 6:00am PDT

When JPMorgan Chase signed a deal last year to buy 49% of Greek payments fintech Viva Wallet for $800 million, Jamie Dimon flew to Athens to stand alongside Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who hailed the purchase as a “vote of confidence in the country.” The deal crowned Viva Wallet as Greece’s first tech unicorn, valued at... When JPMorgan Chase signed a deal last year to buy 49% of Greek payments fintech Viva Wallet for...

Ryan Breslow. Photo by Getty

Bolt Probed by SEC, Investors Over Statements Made During Fundraising

By Erin Woo · Jul 21, 2023 7:10am PDT · 6 comments

The Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed e-commerce software startup Bolt and sent a notice to co-founder and former CEO Ryan Breslow last year over their past statements to current and potential investors, according to an April 2023 letter from a lawyer representing two of Bolt’s major investors. Brian Reinken of WestCap... The Securities and Exchange Commission subpoenaed e-commerce software startup Bolt and sent a...

Cameo CEO Steven Galanis. Photo by Getty

At Cameo, Deep Layoffs Followed a Dash for Cash

By Kaya Yurieff, Natasha Mascarenhas and Kate Clark · Jul 21, 2023 6:08am PDT · 4 comments

Cameo CEO Steven Galanis. Photo by Getty

At Cameo, Deep Layoffs Followed a Dash for Cash

By Kaya Yurieff, Natasha Mascarenhas and Kate Clark · Jul 21, 2023 6:08am PDT · 4 comments

Last week, things finally seemed to be stabilizing for employees of Cameo—an online marketplace where people can pay supporting cast members of “Seinfeld” and other celebrities to record personalized video messages. After two rounds of layoffs in 2022 that had gutted the size of its staff, Cameo had flown dozens of employees to... Last week, things finally seemed to be stabilizing for employees of Cameo—an online...

iPhone 14 series go on sale on September 16, 2022 in Shanghai. Photo by Getty

Apple Struggling With Manufacturing Larger Screen for iPhone 15 Pros

By Wayne Ma · Jul 20, 2023 9:22am PDT

Apple is facing challenges assembling its two upcoming new iPhone models, the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, which could lead to a shortage of units at launch in September, according to two people with direct knowledge of the issue. Apple’s suppliers are using a new manufacturing process for the two models, the most expensive of the upcoming... Apple is facing challenges assembling its two upcoming new iPhone models, the iPhone 15 Pro and...

Sequoia China's Neil Shen. Photo by Getty

Sequoia Capital China in Talks for New $2.8 Billion Fund, Defying Malaise

By Jing Yang and Juro Osawa · Jul 20, 2023 6:00am PDT

Sequoia Capital’s Chinese affiliate, which is preparing to split from the Silicon Valley venture firm, is in talks to raise around 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) for a new Chinese currency fund from domestic backers including the government of the city of Hangzhou, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Hangzhou’s... Sequoia Capital’s Chinese affiliate, which is preparing to split from the Silicon Valley...

Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters speaking at an event in Barcelona in early March. Photo by Getty

Netflix Signs Up 1.5 Million U.S. Subscribers for Ad Tier So Far

By Sahil Patel · Jul 19, 2023 10:25am PDT

Around 1.5 million people in the U.S. have signed up to pay for Netflix’s tier of service that carries ads, the streaming service has told advertisers in the past two weeks, according to industry executives. That’s a tiny fraction of both Netflix’s total U.S. subscribers and the roughly 30 million subscribers who pay for... Around 1.5 million people in the U.S. have signed up to pay for Netflix’s tier of service...

Mike Moritz (left) and Mike Vernal (right). Photos via Getty Images and Wikimedia.

Shake-Up at Sequoia as Five Partners Exit

By Kate Clark · Jul 19, 2023 9:12am PDT · 3 comments

Mike Moritz (left) and Mike Vernal (right). Photos via Getty Images and Wikimedia.

Shake-Up at Sequoia as Five Partners Exit

By Kate Clark · Jul 19, 2023 9:12am PDT · 3 comments

Five Sequoia Capital partners have left the firm, the biggest shakeup to the storied venture firm’s leadership since its leader Roelof Botha took over a year ago. Sequoia on Wednesday told its limited partners that longtime partner Michael Moritz would leave and focus on the firm’s independent wealth management business, Sequoia... Five Sequoia Capital partners have left the firm, the biggest shakeup to the storied venture...

Photo by AP.

Meta Scales Back Ambitions for AR Glasses

By Wayne Ma · Jul 19, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

In March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to transform the world, the company then known as Facebook struck a deal to buy all the augmented reality displays made by British firm Plessey. At the time, the deal appeared to be a savvy way of squeezing out Apple in the competition to develop AR glasses, as Plessey was one of the few makers of AR... In March 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic began to transform the world, the company then known as...

Cameo CEO and founder Steven Galanis with co-founders Devon Townsend and Martin Blencowe at a Cameo-hosted Super Bowl watch party in 2022. Photo by Getty.

Cameo Cuts Staff to Fewer Than 50 After Financial Stumble

By Natasha Mascarenhas and Kaya Yurieff · Jul 18, 2023 11:54am PDT · 5 comments

Cameo, the video shoutout app that gained in popularity during the pandemic shutdowns, told employees on Tuesday that it was laying off at least 80 workers because of financial pressures, according to two former employees involved in the layoffs. The cuts leave fewer than 50 people at the startup, according to the employees, or down nearly 90%... Cameo, the video shoutout app that gained in popularity during the pandemic shutdowns, told...

A SpaceX rocket lifts off in Florida in May. Photo by Getty

SpaceX Forecasts Doubling of Revenue to $8 Billion

By Becky Peterson and Cory Weinberg · Jul 17, 2023 1:12pm PDT

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, the most highly valued private tech company in the U.S., has told some investors it expects to bring in about $8 billion in revenue in 2023, roughly doubling its revenue from the previous year, according to people familiar with the discussions. The expectation for rapid growth helps explain the... Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, the most highly valued private tech company in...

Pat Bajari, Amazon's former chief economist. Photo by Getty.

Architect of Amazon’s Economist Army Exits

By Theo Wayt · Jul 17, 2023 6:01am PDT · 3 comments

Pat Bajari, Amazon's former chief economist. Photo by Getty.

Architect of Amazon’s Economist Army Exits

By Theo Wayt · Jul 17, 2023 6:01am PDT · 3 comments

Over the past decade, Amazon has built an army of several hundred economists with doctorates who inform executives’ decisions in e-commerce, cloud computing and other businesses—an approach other tech giants have copied. The architect of that buildout, Chief Economist Pat Bajari, quietly left in March, he confirmed to The... Over the past decade, Amazon has built an army of several hundred economists with doctorates who...

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang

With Nvidia’s Help, Revenue Surges at Smaller Cloud Providers

By Aaron Holmes, Anissa Gardizy and Amir Efrati · Jul 14, 2023 2:22pm PDT · 9 comments

The demand for artificial intelligence chips is turning into a boom for several upstart cloud-server providers, thanks to the complicated politics of the tech industry. Consider the case of one young cloud provider, CoreWeave. The company has received a generous allotment of the latest AI server chips from Nvidia, the dominant force behind... The demand for artificial intelligence chips is turning into a boom for several upstart...

Art by Mike Sullivan

Why Meta Finally Went for Twitter’s Throat

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan and Kaya Yurieff · Jul 14, 2023 11:42am PDT · 5 comments

Meta Platforms’ successful launch of its Twitter-like app, Threads, came together in just six months of furious work by a tiny team of engineers. But the desire within Meta’s top ranks to take on Twitter goes back years. The company’s Instagram unit even began building a text-based prototype similar to Twitter, which they... Meta Platforms’ successful launch of its Twitter-like app, Threads, came together in just...

Foreground: Source Code Capital founder Charlie Cao. Background: Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance. Photos via Source Code Capital and Getty.

For Early ByteDance Investor and China Venture Star, the Results Are a Paper Tiger

By Juro Osawa · Jul 13, 2023 6:00am PDT

In some ways, Source Code Capital is China’s version of Andreessen Horowitz—it’s a relative newbie to venture investing that has surged to the top echelons of the Chinese venture capital industry and raised billions of dollars—in large part thanks to founder Cao Yi’s early bet on ByteDance. In fact, some of the... In some ways, Source Code Capital is China’s version of Andreessen...

Naveen Rao, CEO of MosaicML, and Jake Heller, CEO of Casetext. Photos via Getty and YouTube/Casetext; Art by Shane Burke.

VCs’ Latest Foe in Race for AI Startup Deals: Buyout Offers

By Kate Clark and Erin Woo · Jul 12, 2023 3:25pm PDT · 2 comments

Naveen Rao, CEO of MosaicML, and Jake Heller, CEO of Casetext. Photos via Getty and YouTube/Casetext; Art by Shane Burke.

VCs’ Latest Foe in Race for AI Startup Deals: Buyout Offers

By Kate Clark and Erin Woo · Jul 12, 2023 3:25pm PDT · 2 comments

Venture capital investors face stiff competition in artificial intelligence startup deals from Google and Nvidia, which are increasingly winning stakes in the startups by offering founders price breaks on cloud computing or chips. But VC investors face competition from another quarter: corporations that are willing to pay top dollar to buy... Venture capital investors face stiff competition in artificial intelligence startup deals from...

Photo by Getty.

Liquid Death Hires Goldman Sachs, Aiming for 2024 IPO

By Cory Weinberg, Maria Heeter and Erin Woo · Jul 12, 2023 2:58pm PDT · 13 comments

The parched market for initial public offerings is likely to see a new entrant soon: a canned water company. Liquid Death, the irreverent water brand backed by venture capitalists, has hired Goldman Sachs to lead a potential IPO as soon as next spring, according to a person familiar with the matter. The decision follows one of the few IPO... The parched market for initial public offerings is likely to see a new entrant soon: a canned...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

Sam Altman’s Tangle of Investments

By Natasha Mascarenhas · Jul 12, 2023 11:11am PDT · 4 comments

Among the many unusual facts about OpenAI, the buzzy startup behind the hugely popular chatbot ChatGPT, the most extraordinary may be that Sam Altman, its CEO and co-founder, doesn’t have any equity in it. He gave up the opportunity for a huge potential payday, he says, simply because he doesn’t need the money. But Altman, 38, has a... Among the many unusual facts about OpenAI, the buzzy startup behind the hugely popular chatbot...

Wiz CEO, Assaf Rappaport. Photo by Getty.

Cloud Security Startup Orca Sues Biggest Competitor, Wiz, for Patent Infringement

By Aaron Holmes and Kate Clark · Jul 12, 2023 9:53am PDT · 1 comment

Fierce competition between two of the hottest and most highly valued security startups has turned into a legal battle. Orca Security, which became known for spotting glaring security flaws in Microsoft software, on Wednesday sued its biggest competitor, Wiz, alleging it illegally copied patented software that monitors data stored on cloud... Fierce competition between two of the hottest and most highly valued security startups has turned...

TSMC's chief executive officer, C. C. Wei. Photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

World’s Largest Chip Maker Rethinks Security, Responding to Pressures on Hiring

By Wayne Ma · Jul 12, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

TSMC's chief executive officer, C. C. Wei. Photo by Getty. Art by Mike Sullivan

World’s Largest Chip Maker Rethinks Security, Responding to Pressures on Hiring

By Wayne Ma · Jul 12, 2023 6:00am PDT · 1 comment

HSINCHU, Taiwan—For decades, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest chip manufacturer, has been notorious for its extreme culture of secrecy and security, designed to both prevent cyberattacks and to ensure that employees and outsiders don’t steal information about the company’s sophisticated... HSINCHU, Taiwan—For decades, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s...